The Wild Quiet

Do Animals Have Names for Each Other?

Do animals have names for each other—or is naming one more human idea we keep trying to find reflected in the rest of nature? After giving a backyard downy woodpecker na

Why Does a Wild Animal’s Life Feel Different Once We Know Its Name? — with Samantha Miller

Why does a wild animal’s life feel different once we recognize it as an individual? P-22 was not simply a mountain lion. Grizzly 399 was not simply a bear. Jackie was no

Does A Butterfly Remember Being A Caterpillar?

A caterpillar and a butterfly are the same animal—but they barely seem to have anything in common. One crawls around chewing leaves. The other flies, drinks nectar throu

Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves? — with Peter Kuper

What would humans look like inside a museum curated by insects? Cartoonist and educator Peter Kuper uses art, storytelling and humor to change who appears to be observin

Does A Butterfly Remember Being A Caterpillar?

A caterpillar and a butterfly are the same animal. But after everything that happens inside a chrysalis, could anything the caterpillar learned still be there? Bre start

Why Does a Moth Fly Toward a Light?

Years ago, hundreds of moths appeared inside a tiny cabin in the Black Hills. They covered the walls, flew around the beds and held what appeared to be the annual meeting

What Happens After Dark? — with Leigh Ann Henion

Once the sun goes down, even a familiar backyard can feel like an entirely different place. We often talk about darkness as if it is empty—or as if danger automatically

The Summer Yellowstone Burned

In the summer of 1988, Yellowstone burned. What began as a collection of smaller fires grew into a months-long event that affected nearly 800,000 acres inside the park.

Is a Burned Forest a Dead Forest? — with Dick Hutto

A burned forest can look empty: blackened trunks, bare ground and smoke hanging over what appears to be a dead landscape. But fire ecologist Dick Hutto sees an entire li

What Happens When Animals Can’t Move? with Ben Goldfarb

We tend to think of roads as routes to somewhere else. But for wildlife, those same roads can become moving fences—cutting animals off from food, mates, migration routes,

P-22 and the Lines Animals Can’t See

What happens when one wild animal becomes someone? P-22 was a mountain lion living in Griffith Park, surrounded by Los Angeles. He crossed two enormous freeways, spent m

What Happens When We Really Start Noticing Insects? — with Barrett Klein

What happens when we stop sorting insects into beautiful, useful, annoying, disgusting, or terrifying—and actually look at them? Biologist, artist, and author Barrett Kl

Soap Opera in the Milkweed Patch

What happens when you plant milkweed for monarchs—and discover an entire tiny world living there? What started as a few volunteer milkweed plants in my front yard became

Introducing The Wild Quiet

The Wild Quiet is a new podcast about nature—and our place within it. Every Tuesday, Bre Harris follows a new curiosity about animals, plants, landscapes, and the complic