The popularity of Netflix’s Tiger King brought important issues about big cats in captivity to the public stage. The biggest claim, perhaps, was that zoos are necessary to conserve big cats in the wild.
#29: Cougar Viral Video: Interview with Trail Runner Kyle Burgess
A week ago, I made a YouTube video in response to a cougar “attack/stalking” video that went viral. But what was missing from the cougar viral video is what actually happened. That’s where I came in to get to the truth.
#28: Why Aggressive Elephants? Also, Field Stories, Dung DNA, and Elephant Conservation
In this episode, I follow up on my experiences with aggressive elephants during my field work and hypothesize why what happened to me happened…
#27. Charging Elephants and Fresh Dung: Challenges from the Field
This week’s episode is all about studying elephants non-invasively through their dung and using it as a source of DNA. Did you know that some scientists study elephants completely through their dung? Some never even see the elephants!
Review of the Tiger King Zoo: Joe Exotic Didn’t Love His Animals
Tiger King has taken the world by storm. The Netflix series about exotic animal owner and breeder Joe Exotic and his feud with sanctuary owner Carole Baskin fascinated people across the world. While the Netflix docuseries was definitely captivating, as a wildlife biologist, it was extremely frustrating to watch…
#26. First Field Season with Forest Elephants
In this episode, I talk about what it was like to study forest elephants in my very first field season…