When We Talk About Animals

Ep. 51 – Novelist Ned Beauman on venomous lumpsuckers and the price of extinction

Fiction can provide the most profound, incisive truths about the absurdities of our reality. In his most recent novel, Venomous Lumpsucker, Ned Beauman, a master of findi

Ep. 50 – Australian Biologist Danielle Clode on the Extraordinary World of Koalas

Upon seeing an adorable Koala sitting on an eucalyptus branch in Australia, few would expect the beloved marsupial to emit a booming bellow to alert potential mates or ri

Ep. 49 – Dog Cognition Expert Alexandra Horowitz on the Quiddity of Puppies

Most books on puppies are dog-improvement manuals, guiding readers ‘How to Raise the Perfect Dog’ or how to achieve ‘Perfect Puppy in 7 Days.’ Alexandra Horowitz’s profou

Ep. 48 – Patrick Rose on the Fight to Save Florida’s Manatees

Grazing peacefully through shallow waterways, the Florida manatee is one of the state’s most beloved creatures. Due to a multitude of compounding, human-caused crises, th

Ep. 47 – Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil on writing love letters to nature

Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s exuberant book of essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Other Astonishments, has unlocked protective passion for

Ep. 46 – Paleobiologist Thomas Halliday on the Animals of Ancient Worlds

The fossil record acts as both a memorial to life’s spectacular possibilities and as a warning to humanity about how fast dominance can become forgotten history, accordin

Ep. 45 – Rob Dunn on what the laws of biology predict about our future

Amid the cataclysms of the Anthropocene, an era defined by humans’ attempts to control the natural world, it’s easy to forget that we remain as subject as ever to the eco

Ep. 44 – Rick McIntyre on the stories of Yellowstone’s greatest wolves

In 1995, the U.S. government took unprecedented actions to restore the wolf population of Yellowstone National Park, which it had brutally destroyed seventy years prior.

Ep. 43 – Cynthia Barnett on our world of seashells

From tiny cowries to giant clams, seashells have gripped human imaginations since time immemorial. In her magnificent new book, The Sound of the Sea, journalist Cynthia B

Ep. 42 – Edie Widder on the ocean’s spectacular light

Most of us land-lubbers assume that light-making among ocean creatures is an exotic and rare phenomenon. But that’s wrong. The majority of animals in the ocean, which mea

Ep. 41 – Ecologist Hugh Warwick on Loving Your Hedgehogs

Hedgehogs, despite being consistently voted the most beloved mammal in the United Kingdom, have suffered great population losses as industrial agriculture and other human

Ep. 40 – Michelle Nijhuis on the history of the wildlife conservation movement

In “Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction,” science journalist Michelle Nijhuis chronicles the history of the wildlife conservation movement through t

Ep. 39 – Bernie Krause on saving the music of the wild

In 1968, Dr. Bernie Krause was leading a booming music career. A prodigiously talented musician and early master of the electronic synthesizer, Krause was busy working wi

Ep. 38 – Margaret Renkl on discovering wonder, grief, and inspiration in backyard nature

In the long months we’ve all been confined to our homes, many people have become reacquainted with the vibrant life just outside their doors, finding unexpected joy, comp

Ep. 37 – Monica Gagliano on plant intelligence and human imagination

Are plants intelligent? Can they think? Can they hear, see, feel, smell and taste? Throughout history, most Western philosophers and scientists answered those questions w

Ep. 36 – Rebecca Giggs on the world in the whale

In 2013, a sperm whale washed up dead on Spain’s southern coast. In its ruptured digestive tract, scientists found an entire flattened greenhouse that once grew wintertim

Ep. 35 – J. Drew Lanham on finding ourselves magnified in nature’s colored hues

As Dr. Joseph Drew Lanham writes in his beautiful and deeply moving memoir, The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature, from his earliest days gro

Ep. 34 – Daniel Pauly on why overfishing is a Ponzi scheme

Born in Paris to an African-American GI and a French woman at the end of World War II, Dr. Daniel Pauly rose from a difficult and extraordinarily unusual childhood in Eur

Ep. 33 – Valérie Courtois on Indigenous-led land and wildlife stewardship

As wildlife across Canada face unprecedented pressures from climate change and industrial development, Indigenous Peoples, who have relied upon and managed these animals

Ep. 32 – Gene Baur on changing hearts, minds and laws about farm animals

Amid the systematic cruelties and alienating conditions which define our factory farm system, Farm Sanctuary stands out as an exemplar of human kindness. Over the past th