Love, empathy, privilege — those aren’t words you generally hear floating up out of the trenches of conservation battles. Leif Cocks believes — we have to see beyond the mere mechanics of conservation. For over thirty years Leif has shared an intimate connection with what some primatologists call the “second most intelligent” animal on Earth — the orangutan.

Leif Cocks is the founder and president of The Orangutan Project, an Australian-based NGO which seeks to protect all three critically endangered orangutan species and their rapidly disappearing habitats on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.

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Were we formed by fire? Celebrating World Chimpanzee Day, July 14th, we gather around the evolutionary fireplace with Dr. Richard Wrangham, professor of anthropology and primatology at Harvard University for a conversation about the rise of cooking and our closest cousins - chimpanzees. Take a listen to this fascinating conversation about how the food that went into cooking pots of old made some lasting impact on our brains and who we are today.

Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what is happening with and to apes like us. We explore the world of apes and primates with experts, conservationists, and passionate primate people from around the world. Join us as we unpack their weird and wonderful lives piece by piece.

Talking Apes is made possible through generous support from listeners to nonprofit GLOBIO.org. 

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Few people can claim to have seen the four non-human great apes in their wild habitat, but for Dr. Rick Quinn, not only has he ventured far and wide to catch a glimpse of our primate cousins, he's gone on to share them with the world, with his recent photobook Just Like Us. 

Dr. Quinn was working as a veterinary ophthalmologist at the time of his first wild ape sighting. Wanting to do more for apes, he founded Docs4GreatApes, a Canadian nonprofit that emphasizes primate-specific training for budding veterinarians. Join us for this extra-special episode of Talking Apes. 

More on Dr. Quinn, Docs4GreatApes, & Just Like Us here: https://www.docs4greatapes.org/initiatives/just-like-us-book/


Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what is happening with and to apes like us. We explore the world of apes and primates with experts, conservationists, and passionate primate people from around the world. Join us as we unpack their weird and wonderful lives piece by piece.

Talking Apes is made possible through generous support from listeners to nonprofit GLOBIO.org. 

Support the show (https://globio.org/donate)

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Talking Apes is an initiative of the nonprofit GLOBIO.

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What's a baby chimp worth? A sack of pangolin scales, kilos upon kilos of elephant and rhino ivory, an orphaned baby chimp, for Ofir Drori and his team, these horrors are witnessed daily as they arrest wildlife traffickers throughout Equatorial Africa. In this episode of Talking Apes, we welcome wildlife activist and eco-journalist Ofir to discuss the EAGLE Network's fight to end illegal wildlife trafficking, CITES, and that one article that he's never quite finished.

Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what is happening with and to apes like us. We explore the world of apes and primates with experts, conservationists, and passionate primate people from around the world. Join us as we unpack their weird and wonderful lives piece by piece.

Talking Apes is made possible through generous support from listeners like you and nonprofit GLOBIO  Support the show (https://talkingapes.org/donate)

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Talking Apes is an initiative of the nonprofit GLOBIO.

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Conservation is often focused on the future: safeguarding a tomorrow for the flora and fauna to secure strong biodiversity and a safe planet for our children down the road.

But what about the past? The origins of conservation as we know it today? Author and science journalist Michelle Nijhuis joins us on Talking Apes to discuss the conservation story and unpack how this history has shaped our approach to protecting the wild world today.  We discuss her recent book Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction and dive into some of the lessons we can glean from our winding and sometimes problematic conservation history.

Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what is happening with and to apes like us. We explore the world of apes and primates with experts, conservationists, and passionate primate people from around the world. Join us as we unpack their weird and wonderful lives piece by piece.

Talking Apes is made possible through generous support from listeners to nonprofit GLOBIO.org. 

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The bushmeat industry, the illegal pet trade, rampant habitat loss, and much more. All of these combined would wipe out ape and monkey populations across Africa if it weren't for the organizations at the frontlines of conservation. Chief among them is the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), a US-based nonprofit created by African primate sanctuaries to coordinate species-saving efforts around the continent and help craft a more secure future for all African apes- bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, & humans. Join us for this episode of Talking Apes with Gregg Tully, Executive Director of PASA, as we unpack the challenges and complexities of building this future for apes.

Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what is happening with and to apes like us. We explore the world of apes and primates with experts, conservationists, and passionate primate people from around the world. Join us as we unpack their weird and wonderful lives piece by piece.

Talking Apes is made possible through generous support from listeners to nonprofit GLOBIO.org. 

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On this episode of Talking Apes, we chat with Colleen Reed, with the Oregon Zoo and Orangutan Outreach to discuss some of her favorite moments and lessons from her years of work with Orangutans around the USA and with Bornean Orangutan Survival Foundation. Two parts primatology, one part memoir, this episode is a wonderful look at orangutans for beginners and experts alike!

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For nearly 200 years the thinking around conservation has been evolving.

But has it evolved fast enough to effectively connect us to the world around us?   
                 
This time on Talking Apes we are joined by researcher Dr. Aleah Bowie — and journey into the world of conservation psychology. Dr. Bowie is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University and explores human thinking and behavior to improve biodiversity conservation efforts. Her research examines the factors that influence HOW we make decisions about conserving endangered species. 

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Dr. Alexandra Rosati is an assistant professor of psychology and anthropology at the University of Michigan. There Alex leads the cognitive evolution group, where she searches for answers to our mind’s evolution and how it makes decisions  by peering into the minds of apes like us — chimpanzees and bonobos — as well as monkeys and lemurs

She is asking — HOW do our primate relatives think about the world?
And HOW does that influence their decision-making?
We join her with this episode of Talking Apes as she navigates her goal of understanding  HOW our decision-making is ultimately influenced.

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 Virodiversity explores the world of emerging infectious disease and zoonosis with disease detective Dr. Tony Goldberg, a professor of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

For disease detective Dr. Tony Goldberg, the ever-lurking emissaries of infectious disease — viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites — are the epidemiological Easter eggs that nature sprinkles on the landscapes of the world. Hiding in soil, water, plants, insects, and, frequently, other animals are pathogens that seemingly spring from nowhere to sow misery, death, and economic ruin. Join us on this episode to see how this field studies the consequences - sometimes dire - on wild ape populations.

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