Zoology Ramblings

Welcome to episode 27 of Zoology Ramblings!

We start the episode by sharing some quick conservation good news, including incentivising environmentally friendly behaviours in Copenhagen and the discovery of the world's largest land mammal migration in South Sudan.

We then both talk about Aotearoan species, including the weird and wonderful kakapo and tuatara.

We then delve into pine marten reintroduction to the UK, sharing positive news of how pine martens are spreading across Britain, the importance of wildlife corridors and how pine martens could help native red squirrels.

To stay up to date with what we are doing and/or to get in touch, you can find us on instagram:

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble!

Emma & Robi

Welcome to episode 26 of Zoology Ramblings!

This week, we are back to our regular podcast structure and begin by sharing some quick nature news followed by our animals of the week.

Robi talks about brown hyena phylogeny, and how new research may see it re-classified into an extinct genus. Taxonomy nerds, this one's for you! I talk about the invasive American signal crayfish and how it's come to spread an dominate across UK waterways.

We then share our local news, which mean both of us sharing UK-based stories while Robi and I are in the same country. I talk about the hopeful community-based stories of people drawing inspiration from taking action for nature locally. Robi un-packs a fear-mongering article about great white sharks spotted in Ireland, and how this continues to give these amazing predators a bad reputation.

We then move onto our global conservation stories, where Robi talks about the proposal to kill 1.5 million barred owls in the USA, and I celebrate the amazing female rangers of North Luangwa.

Please let us know which species you'd like us to talk about in our upcoming Rewilding deep dive.

As ever, thanks to Allie for the lovely piano interlude and thanks to you amazing listeners for sticking with us on our long rambles.

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble,

Emma and Robi

To see what we're up to elsewhere check us out on:

@emma_hodson_wildlife

@robi_watkinson_wildlife

Welcome to episode 25 of Zoology Ramblings, where Robi and I do a deep dive into European bison.

Before we do, we talk about very bizarre animals of the week, featuring the slimy, jawless hagfish and an expedition that led to the discovery of tree-dwelling shrimps the size of a grain of sand!

For our deep dive, we delve into how bison were almost completely eradicated from Europe, and how restoration efforts and careful breeding have allowed bison numbers to recover across the continent.

We talk about how bison have been reintroduced (technically) to the UK at the Wilder Blean Project in Kent, and what their plans are for continuing to monitor the impacts of bison as the herd grows.

We talk about the numerous ecological benefits that bison can offer, and look at how using management strategies for African wildlife could be applied to bison in the UK.

We end by ranking the bison out of 10 in terms of its suitability for widespread reintroduction across the UK, and ask you, our lovely listeners, to tell us which species you'd like to hear more about in these deep dives.

Next week, we'll be back to our normal podcast structure. See you in the next episode!

As ever, thanks to Allie for the lovely piano interlude and thanks to you amazing listeners for sticking with us on our long rambles.

We hope you enjoyed our bison deep dive!

Emma and Robi

To see what we're up to elsewhere check us out on:

@emma_hodson_wildlife

@robi_watkinson_wildlife

Welcome to episode 24 of Zoology Ramblings!

This week, Robi and I share exciting news of having met up recently in the UK, with Robi speaking at a Pride Community Campfire that I hosted with my colleagues. This leads onto a wonderful conservation about the innate queerness of nature featuring lesbian bonobos and elephant orgies.

For our animals of the week, Robi talks about good news for the Iberian lynx and I talk about the unusual whistling dogs: Dholes.

Robi then delves into the recent news story of big cat DNA found in the UK, and we discuss whether this evidence is enough to prove that big cats are living here. I then end the podcast by talking about the UK's festival of nature, which is a yearly festival in Bristol and Bath that celebrates local actions being taken for nature.

We look forward to bringing you more regular content as we set up a more regular podcast recording schedule!

As ever, thanks to Allie for the lovely piano interlude and thanks to you amazing listeners for sticking with us on our long rambles.

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble,

Emma and Robi

To see what we're up to elsewhere check us out on:

@emma_hodson_wildlife

@robi_watkinson_wildlife

Welcome to episode 23 of Zoology Ramblings! Sporadic and rambling as ever, Robi and I finally get round to recording another Zoology Ramblings episode.

We fill you in on some life updates, including a very moving experience I had attending the Funeral for Nature in Bath. Robi shares some of his highlights from his recent trip to the Okavango Delta, including the legendary bat hawks!!

We then delve into our species of the week, where I talk about the weird cow-stomached Hoatzin birds (thanks to Solomon for the suggestion) and Robi welcomes two newly described species (Pudu and an anaconda).

We then get a tad political as we share our frustrations about the latest bovine tuberculosis consultation, which ignores science, puts badgers in the firing line and fails to put farmers and cattle first. Robi lightens the mood with an exciting update of a recent WildTrack workshop he attended, looking at how AI and footprint tracking are being used in conservation.

To end this very long podcast, we bond over satellite tagging crocodiles (a niche moment that brought Robi and I together). Robi then gets to nerd out on Skywalker gibbons.

As ever, thanks to Allie for the lovely piano interlude and thanks to you lovely listeners for sticking with us on our long rambles.

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble,

Emma and Robi

To see what we're up to elsewhere check us out on:

@emma_hodson_wildlife

@robi_watkinson_wildlife

Welcome to the 21st episode of the Zoology Ramblings Podcast, where Robi and I are actually together in the same place after over a year!

We share some exciting updates about our recently released Rewilding A Nation documentary, Robi's leopard research for his masters thesis and what 2024 of the Wildlife Champions Programme has in store. We talk about some new species discovered in 2023, and I get very excited about seeing the wonderful Cape Pengiuns! As ever, I go on a tangent about some exciting new beaver releases in the UK, and Robi gets festive talking about Swedish Lapland and the rewilding projects happening there.

A very happy new year from Robi and I, thank you so much for being on this Zoology Ramblings journey with us and we can't wait to continue that throughout 2024.

Feel free to reach out to us on social media- we're always happy to chat!

@robi_watkinson_wildlife

@emma_hodson_wildlife

Welcome back to another very belated episode of Zoology Ramblings! Thanks for putting up with our sporadic podcast recording. In this episode Robi and I give life updates, Robi of his masters project on monitoring leopard density in Namibia and me from Bristol of my job supporting local communities to take action for nature. We take a moment to reflect on key moments in nature and encourage you all to notice nature in your day to day lives. We then go on a big rant about the State of Nature report and the backwards decision of the UK government to approve the largest undeveloped oil field in the UK. We end on some positive beaver and elephant updates.

In episode 19 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I reconnect as he embarks on an exciting new journey in Cape Town and I get my first paid job in conservation! I talk about the awesome project that's helping howler monkeys in Costa Rica by putting up rope bridges and Robi enlightens us about the significance of a beetle ejaculating on a rare orchid. We then take a short break to go eat cheese and crackers and come back to talk about canine distemper virus affecting leopards in Nepal, which is escalating human-wildlife conflict. Robi ends this podcast with a fascinating thought experiment about elephants and their natural predators. 

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble, thank you as ever for listening and engaging with our endless chats about wildlife and conservation. Thanks for the piano tune Allie, you are awesome. 

Emma & Robi 

In episode 18, Robi and I record our latest episode from the middle of nowhere in New Quay, Wales. We talk about how the UK government is taking steps backwards when it comes to key environmental laws and tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. We chat about the reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in India, and why this has proved to be a controversial and divisive topic. For our animals of the week, I go down a marine tangent and talk about Bottlenose dolphins and touch on the research I am conducting at the moment on marine mammals. Robi talks about the black stork, which he saw recently on a trip to northern Greece. We end our podcast with our conservation stories, where I delve deeper into the work of the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre, where I am currently volunteering. Robi talks about the Lions of the Gir Forest, which may be suffering at the hands of pride and stubbornness of the state of Gujarat, who want to keep sole monopoly over these Asiatic lions. 

We hope you enjoy out latest ramble! 

In Episode 17 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the very exciting imminent return of European bison to the UK, some uplifting new nature legislation in the EU, the weird and wonderful springhare whose fur is biofluorescent, the obscure and illusive African finfoot with bright orange feet, an exciting new project to map bee genomes and we break down the different types of Rewilding. We also share some exciting news about a new Rewilding documentary that we are working on at the moment. 

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble. Thanks as always to the lovely Allie for the piano tune and if you want to follow more of what we are up to you can follow us on instagram where we are @emma_hodson_wildlife and @robi_watkinson_wildlife 

Happy listening, 

Robi & Emma