ZSL Wild Science Podcast

ZSL #053 A Tiny Frog Facing an Urgent Crisis

Deep in the dense rainforests of southern Chile lives a tiny amphibian. Just 3cm long, expertly blending into the browns and green of the forest floor, with a narrow-poin

ZSL #052 World Swallowtail Day 2026: Celebrating and Saving Iconic Butterflies

Happy World Swallowtail Day to our listeners! 🦋 To mark this special day and celebrate these incredible insects, we catch up with Sophie Ledger, Red List Research Assoc

ZSL #051 From Habitat to Husbandry: Evidence-based animal care

Modern zoos play a critical role in global conservation, but supporting wildlife under human care goes far beyond habitat design. Hear how ZSL's experts use science, beha

ZSL #050 Mapping Nature's Code

How does our DNA, the tiny building blocks that make every species, and every individual, totally distinct, impact our evolution? In this episode, we learn how we can vis

ZSL #049 The forest behind your floorboards

Do you know where the wood in your floorboards comes from? Or your desk, or dining chairs? In this episode, we dig deep into the grain of a global issue that is often hid

ZSL #048 The rubber story and the road to sustainability

What do car tyres, yoga mats and trainers have in common? They all contain natural rubber, tapped from trees by millions of small farmers, mostly in Asia. While natural r

ZSL #047 Shark Tales of North Wales

The coastal waters of Wales are home to a whopping 27 species of sharks, skates and rays, known collectively as elasmobranchs, and they are a fundamental part of Wales' n

ZSL #046 Feeding the Zoo: Nutrition for animals under managed care

Making sure that the animals held in ZSL's two conservation zoos, London and Whipsnade, are fed a diet that can help them thrive is crucial, both for keeping them healthy

ZSL #045 BONUS Nature's Negotiators: Saving the planet one meeting at a time

After our Nature's Negotiators miniseries, where we learned all about the complexities, challenges and importance of United Nations climate and biodiversity meetings, we

ZSL #044 Nature's Negotiators: The UN's Wildest Diplomatic Mission - Part 2

2024 has been a big year for international climate policy, with two UN Conference of Parties, or COPs, taking place in quick succession; COP16 in Colombia followed just a

ZSL #043 Back to the Wild: Assessing disease risks for species reintroduction

What does it take to reintroduce an animal to the wild safely? How do we make sure that disease risk to existing populations, and to the animals being reintroduced, is mi

ZSL #042 Nature's Negotiators: The UN's Wildest Diplomatic Mission - Part 1

You may have heard of a COP, and you've almost definitely heard of the United Nations (UN), but how much do you know about the negotiations that go into getting nature, c

ZSL #041 Reimagining Coral Reefs

Out of sight…but not out of mind? Coral reefs exist largely out of sight for the majority of the world's population, so the vast array of ecosystem services they provide

ZSL #040 Mammal conservation in Korea: Human-carnivore coexistence on the Korean Peninsula

Co-existence between communities living on the Korean Peninsula and carnivores such as leopards, tigers and black bears, has historically presented many challenges leadin

ZSL #039 Wild Science is back for 2024

The ZSL Wild Science podcast is back! After a break, we have returned to explore even more topical issues in zoology, conservation and the environment. New host, Harriet

ZSL #038 Extinct in the wild: the vital role of conservation zoos and aquariums in saving species on the brink of extinction

The world is facing a crisis of species extinction, however targeted efforts in conservation biology can provide a glimmer of hope. A new study led by ZSL, published rece

ZSL #037 How can we recover nature in our cities: rewilding, reconnecting habitats and restoring rivers

It's no secret that cities are generally perceived as spaces of little conservation relevance, yet local urban wildlife underpins a range of ecosystem services. In a time

ZSL #036 What lies beneath: investigating the amazing world of wildlife pathology

Pathology is the science of diagnosing diseases by observing physical changes in animal cells and tissues, either in living, or more commonly dead animals. In this episod

ZSL #035 Nature-based solutions - putting nature at the heart of global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas

The anthropogenically driven climate crisis and unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss are both threatening the foundations of economies, livelihoods, food security, he

ZSL #034 Marine habitat restoration in the UK: tales of oysters, saltmarsh, kelp, and seagrass

Coastal marine habitats are essential to the health of our marine ecosystem, and hold both environmental and social importance. They provide valuable ecosystem services,