Wild Animals

This is a short introduction to season two of the Wild Animals Podcast

Dr. Martin Wikelski shares the story of Hansai, a young stork that lost his flock while migrating south for the winter. Instead of ending up in Africa, he was stranded in Germany as winter quickly approached. Listen in to hear just how Hansai survived and brought a baby to a farm.

Studying Flammulated Owls is tough work, flailing around with tall catch-poles, at night, on mountain slopes, while avoiding the occasional bear or mountain lion.  The owls don’t make it any easier, and B5 was a bit of a nemesis for Scott as he conducted his research into the movement and ecology of these tiny owls. 

Marijo is a forest elephant living in Gabon where she walks a fine line between remote forests, local farmers, and ivory poachers. Amelia Meier learned the story of Marjio as she followed her GPS tracks and footprints, literally, through the forests of Gabon.  By following close behind, Amelia could find fecal samples and document elephant diet and seed dispersal.  But you never want to get too close to an elephant, as Amelia learned the hard way. 

Lisa Kettemer met Joy the humpback whale when it enthusiastically swam up to the boat and allowed biologists to tag it.  Joy’s story includes intrepid work in frigid oceans and a mysterious but real-life white whale. 

You can find out more about this project including tracks from Joy and other whales here. 

Vanilla Ice is a male coati who would rather hang with the ladies and their kids than do the normal solitary-male coati thing.  Dr. Ben Hirsch uses video and DNA tests to document the coati soap opera and find out why.

You can learn more about Ben’s research at this page.

P22 is a mountain lion that lives under the Hollywood sign in Griffith Park.  He is one of the most urban large cats in the world with one of the smallest home ranges (8 mi2).  As part of his research with Los Angeles carnivores, Dr. Seth Riley has been following P22 since 2012 and joins us to tell his remarkable story.  The survival of P22 for over 10 years shows how large predators and people can survive together, but also highlights the challenges the Los Angeles lion population faces for the future as the remaining natural areas get more and more isolated. The story of P22 shows that there is hope for these big cats, and Seth ends with a bold proposal that could not only ensure the future of Hollywood lions, but help other species as well.  

Bravo Luis was subordinate male in a monkey group who liked to hang out on the edges and never stood up to fight for the group. This all changed when a long rainstorm wiped out the other group males and only Bravo and a few females survived.  Dr. Meg Crofoot has been following Bravo Luis for over 15 years and tells the story of this reluctant monkey leader.

Osito was a young male bat living in a dingy drainage ditch who struggled to maintain the interest of a local pack of young females. Dr. Teague O’Mara tells about Osito’s struggles and expands on his research in Panama into how bats know where to find food. 

You can learn more about Teague’s research at his website teagueomara.com or by following him on twitter teague_o.

Giant pythons have escaped from captivity and started to invade southern Florida.  Biologists are scrambling to learn about how these snakes survive, with the hopes of eventually eradicating this invasive species. Monica Lasky tells the story of Jaeger, a huge snake she radio-tagged and later tracked deep into the Everglades, dodging sawgrass and alligators along the way.