Wild Animals

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. 

Pluie was one of the first animals to wear a satellite tracking collar with global readout, meaning her movements could be tracked no matter how far she went - and did she every go far!  Dr. Mark Hebblewhite tells how the incredible movements of this one wolf inspired a new effort to protect large landscapes, from Yukon to Yellowstone (Y2Y), needed by large carnivores.  She also was featured on an episode of the West Wing.

Introduction to the podcast and to season one.