The Thing About Wildlife

The Thing About Wildlife

By IshikaScienceNature
Download on the App Store

The Thing About Wildlife episodes

  • #14 The Thing About Pulpuli

    Titir Debnath has been engaging with wildlife in many ways since she was in school, and stayed firmly on course through the years that followed. Now, after finishing her masters in environmental science and wildlife biology, she is learning as much as she can about the field of primatology by working on projects with different macaque species in India.

    You can find her on Instagram at @debnathtitir where she often expresses the lighter side of wildlife through memes and reels!

    Select articles in which she features:

    1. Cottonians play important role in Dehing Patkai Reserve Forest

    2. Rhesus Macaque of Guwahati city: Baseline Survey reveals that popular perception about the increase in its population is far from reality

    20 min
  • #13 The Thing About Forest Fires

    Neeharika Gogoi is a PhD scholar with Dr. Narayan Sharma in the Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University.. Her work focusses on the gorgeous capped langur found close to where she lives in Assam, where she studies how their diet varies across wild and human-occupied areas.


    Select popular articles:

    1. Why do we need to save Dehing Patkai?

    2. Pig-tailed Macaque: Elusive Monkey of the Deep Forest


    Journal Article:

    1. Size matters! The largest wild stump-tailed macaque Macaca arctoides troop ever reported, located in the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, northeastern India

    26 min
  • #00 The Thing About Introductions: Season-2

    Welcome to Season-2 and an all-new segment on the podcast: The Thing About Wildlife - In a Nutshell. Here, I talk to researchers, students, educators, artists, field assistants and wildlife enthusiasts who bring you stories from their time in nature. Episode 1 will be up next week! 

    2 min
  • #12 The Thing about Reflection [end of Season 01]

    Dear listener,

    On this last episode of Season One, we revisit our motivation for starting The Thing About Wildlife and reflect on highlights from our guests and what we learnt from them.

    We'll be back with Season Two very soon but until then, we'll keep you entertained with occasional snippets -- stay tuned!

    We're also keen on hearing from you: all feedback - suggestions, compliments and criticism - is welcome! You can DM us on Twitter @PodcastTaw or Instagram @thethingaboutwildlife, or email us at [email protected]

    Thanks for listening!

    Ishika and Akshay


    Episode art for each of the 11 episodes (and our logo!) was designed by the super-talented Deepika Nandan (IG: @deepikanandan)


    Shownotes:

    • Why do Foresters plant trees? - Forrest D. Fleischman
    • Brood parasitism among birds
      • 1 hr 8 min
    • #11 The Thing about Turtles with Nupur Kale

      Nupur Kale is a Project Associate with the Marine Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society - India. Her main research interests are sea turtle biology and conservation, and by extension all things marine. She is also interested in working with communities to ensure effective conservation and sustainable livelihoods.


      Popular articles:

      • The blues and greens of Lakshwadweep
      • Conservation Alliances

        • Journal articles:

        • The olive currency: a comparative account of community based ecotourism ventures in Western India
        • Not in the mood for lighting: hatchling misorientation at Rushikulya, India

          • Shownotes:

          • Dakshin Foundation
          • Sunbirds, bee-eaters, leeches and sandflies
          • Mass nesting (arribada) of Olive-Ridley Turtles in Orissa
          • Turtle festival in Velas (Maharashtra)
          • The Hawaiian Crow Is Once Again Extinct in the Wild
          • Steve Irwin, Jeff Corwin
          • The problem of 'Colonial Science' - Asha de Vos
          • Pre-conference module at the Student Conference for Conservation Science - Bangalore
          • The Thing about Biogeography with Krishnapriya Tamma (Ep-02)
            • 1 hr 18 min
          • #10 The Thing about Plants with Krishna Anujan

            Krishna Anujan is a community ecologist and nature enthusiast, and she's is studying the effect of biodiversity on tropical forest functioning in the Andaman Islands for her PhD at Columbia University. She regularly communicates science to the public through popular articles in English and Malayalam.


            Twitter: @KrishnaAnujan

            Popular Writing:

            • What does the climate crisis mean for the Andaman Islands?
            • Ecology and Natural History of the Andaman Islands (8-part series) 
            • Foraging Food: Eating Wild in the Andaman Islands
            • Scent of a forest: Inhaling the Wonder of Blooms, Leaves and Fruits
            • Un-Gorilla, Un-Adventure: The Realities of Fieldwork


              • Other articles by Krishna, including her series in Mathraboomi (Malayalam)


                • Publications:

                • Trophic complexity alters the diversity–multifunctionality relationship in experimental grassland mesocosms
                • Positive correlations in species functional contributions drive the response of multifunctionality to biodiversity loss
                • Violet Cuckoo in the Andaman Islands


                  • Shownotes:

                  • IISER-Pune, Divya Vasudev, Ramana Athreya, Nandini Velho, Ajith Kumar
                  • Angela Saini's Superior and Inferior
                  • Island Biogeography Theory
                  • The left-brain & right-brain idea is a myth
                  • Productivity (ecology)
                  • Garjan (Dipterocarpus sp.), Kala Lakdi (Diospyros sp.)
                  • File Drawer Problem (Publication bias / negative results)
                  • Women in ecology mentoring scheme (British Ecological Society)
                    • 1 hr 38 min
                  • #09 The Thing About Rivers with Tarun Nair

                    Tarun Nair is a herpetologist and conservationist associated with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore (but views expressed on this podcast are personal). He has worked extensively in river systems across North India, rallying around the enigmatic Gharial.

                    Key popular articles:

                    • Crocodile conservation doesn’t need a straw-man
                    • Saltwater crocodiles in the Andaman and Nicobar have a PR problem
                    • Of Government, God and Gharial: the ecological pogrom in Chambal's badlands

                      • Key Journal articles:

                      • Rigorous gharial population estimation in the Chambal: implications for conservation and management of a globally threa-tened crocodilian
                      • River dolphin distribution in regulated river systems: implications for dry-season flow regimes in the Gangetic basin

                        • Shownotes:

                        • Valley School and Jiddu Krishnamurti
                        • Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT)
                        • Gharial rivers: Chambal (primarily National Chambal Sanctuary), Son, Gandak, Tons, Betwa
                        • Dr Jagdish Krishnaswamy
                        • Imran Siddiqui and HyTiCoS
                        • Rural emmigration and conservation opportunities - papers shared by Tarun (An upside to globalization: International outmigration drives reforestation in Nepal | Implications of Rural–Urban Migration for Conservation of the Atlantic Forest and Urban Growth in Argentina)
                          • 1 hr 23 min
                        • #09 The Thing about Rivers with Tarun Nair

                          Tarun Nair is a herpetologist and conservationist associated with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore (but views expressed on this podcast are personal). He has worked extensively in river systems across North India, rallying around the enigmatic Gharial. 

                          Key popular articles:

                          • Crocodile conservation doesn’t need a straw-man
                          • Saltwater crocodiles in the Andaman and Nicobar have a PR problem
                          • Of Government, God and Gharial: the ecological pogrom in Chambal's badlands

                            • Key Journal articles:

                            • Rigorous gharial population estimation in the Chambal: implications for conservation and management of a globally threa-tened crocodilian
                            • River dolphin distribution in regulated river systems: implications for dry-season flow regimes in the Gangetic basin

                              • Shownotes:

                              • Valley School and Jiddu Krishnamurti
                              • Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT)
                              • Gharial rivers: Chambal (primarily National Chambal Sanctuary), Son, Gandak, Tons, Betwa
                              • Dr Jagdish Krishnaswamy
                              • Imran Siddiqui and HyTiCoS
                              • Rural emmigration and conservation opportunities - papers shared by Tarun (An upside to globalization: International outmigration drives reforestation in Nepal | Implications of Rural–Urban Migration for Conservation of the Atlantic Forest and Urban Growth in Argentina)



                                • 1 hr 25 min
                              • #08 The Thing about Forests with Dr. Meghna Agarwala

                                Dr Meghna Agarwala is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. Her work focuses on the intersection of forest ecology, conservation biology and livelihoods of local people.

                                Dr Agarwala is taking PhD students this year (2021-2022 admit)! Do write to her ([email protected]) if you’re interested.


                                Key Journal Articles:

                                • Improved household living standards can restore dry tropical forests
                                • Untangling impact of de jure and de facto community-based management of natural resources (this article discusses elite capture and representative governance)
                                • Changes in the dry tropical forests of Central India with human use
                                • Impact of biogas interventions on forest biomass and regeneration in southern India
                                • Parks protect forest cover in a tropical biodiversity hotspot, but high human population densities can limit success (with Dr Meghna Krishnadas)
                                • Collateral damage: Impacts of ethno-civil strife on biodiversity and natural resource use near Indian nature reserves (with Dr Nandini Velho)
                                • Comparing compensation rules and practice to understand the goals and politics of wolf conservation

                                  • Shownotes:

                                  Institutions and places: Wildlife Institute of India, Nature Conservation Foundation, Wildlife Trust of India, SERB or Science and Engineering Research Board, Simlipal National Park

                                  People: Sumanta Bagchi, K Sivaramakrishnan, Lisa Curran, Maria Uriarte, Ruth DeFries, Joshua Ginsberg, Alfred Russel Wallace, Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi

                                  1 hr
                                • #07 The Thing About Nature Education with Vena Kapoor

                                  Welcome back to the second of our two-part chat with Vena!

                                  Vena Kapoor works with the Education and Public Engagement Programme at Nature Conservation Foundation in Bengaluru. She is interested in ecology, nature education research and outreach, looking for and documenting spiders and other 6 and 8 legged creatures.

                                  Twitter: @venadavenu

                                  Popular Writing:

                                  • Spiders: the weavers and stalkers among us
                                  • Nature Underfoot: Wild Flora and Fauna on City Pavements and Waysides
                                  • Life on the Vertical: Exploring Nature on City Walls
                                  • Vena's 6 favourite species of spiders from the Western Ghats
                                  • Off to see spiders! - a children's book

                                    • Journal Articles:

                                    • Restoring Rainforest Fragments: Survival of mixed-native species seedlings under contrasting site conditions
                                    • An assessment of spider sampling methods in tropical rainforest fragments of the Anamalai Hills
                                    • Effects of rainforest fragmentation and shade-coffee plantations on spider communities

                                      • Shownotes:

                                      • The Montessori model of education, The concept of climate grief, retaining hope in conservation and the conservation optimism story, the silent-valley agitation and what exactly is iNaturalist?
                                      • People mentioned on the show: Suhel Quader, M D Madhusudan, Birute Galdikas, Diane Fossey
                                      • Wildlife: Mantids, potter wasps, tarantulas, fig-fig wasp associations


                                        • 56 min

                                      About The Thing About Wildlife

                                      From the publisher's feed

                                      The Thing About Wildlife offers long and insightful conversations with Indians working closest to nature: researchers, educators and conservationists.