Rutendo and Sebastian are looking at stories and whether it matters who is telling them. Paula Kahumbu is a renowned conservationist and film-maker in Kenya who wants to see more African stories told by Africans for Africans. “It's really important that Iam empowered to tell my own story. Not just that it's authentic, which therefore will resonate with the audiences ...but also it boosts my ability to have more impact out there.” Through her programme: ‘Wildlife Warriors’, Paula is training, championing and inspiring future generations of Africans to pursue careers in nature.

Storytelling might feel uniquely human, but it plays an important role in the animal world too, with animals learning certain behaviours by copying family members. Just as human language is passed down through generations, animals learn vocalisations by listening to individuals around them. So what happens when that species is dying out? Daniel Appleby, of the Difficult Bird Research Group atCanberra University, describes how the scarcity of the Regent Honeyeater means the bird is forgetting its own song.

And when an artist uses mushrooms to generate music through a synthesiser, who is the composer – the musician or the fungi?

Credits:

The BBC Earth podcast is presented by Sebastian Echeverri and Rutendo Shackleton.

This episode was produced by Rachel Byrne and Geoff Marsh.

The researchers were Seb Masters and Dawood Quereshi.

The Production Manager was Catherine Stringer and the Production Co-ordinator was Gemma Wootton.

Podcast Theme Music was composed by Axel Kacoutié, with mixing and additional sound design by Peregrine Andrews.

The Associate Producer is Cristen Caine and the Executive Producer is Deborah Dudgeon.

Special thanks to:

Daniel Appleby from the Difficult Bird Research Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Paula Kahumbu from WildlifeDirect.

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