Category: Wildlife
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178: Why Biodiversity Matters with Nigel Dudley
“Why Biodiversity Matters” is fundamentally a philosophy book. However, the author and our guest, Nigel Dudley, is not a philosopher but an accomplished conservation biologist who has accumulated an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience working on conservation projects across the world. He has worked as a consultant ecologist with international organisations like WWF International, IUCN and UNESCO. He is a co-founder of Equilibrium Research and Industry Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of…
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176: Invasive Ants Impact Lion Predation on Zebras, with Adam T. Ford
If you are a regular listener to the podcast or you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I read a fair number of scientific papers on subjects of conservation and ecology. Some of them are related to topics I’m investigating for the podcast and some others are just interesting for me. However, every once in a while I come across a research paper that is so cool, that I just can’t not bring it to your attention.…
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175: SOTKA Wetlands with Veli-Matti Pekkarinen and Heikki Helle
Finnish SOTKA is a large-scale habitat restoration project and a part of a larger Helmi Habitats Programme aimed at restoring Finland’s biodiversity. It is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of the Environment. SOTKA’s objective is large-scale habitat restoration through wetlands rehabilitation, restoration of mires and catchments, non-native (i.e. invasive) predator control and building a network of resting areas for waterfowl. It is also a great example of cooperation between hunting and non-hunting organisations for…
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174: Not A Conservationist
Many people claim they are conservationists. But are they really? Inspired by your comments and some discussions that I had in the past, I decided to talk about this subject. This episode was recorded outdoors, on the beautiful Irish coast of county Kerry. So, don’t be surprised to hear chough calling in the background or some occasional gusts of wind. If you’re interested in hearing more from me, have a suggestion for future episodes or want to leave feedback, please…
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173: The Last Keeper with Tom Opre
I have been waiting for Tom Opre’s new film “The Last Keeper” since I learned in July 2022 that he and his team are working on it. Well, the wait was over for me at the beginning of February 2023, as I was the only person in Ireland to screen the film. The wait will soon be over for you as well since the film premieres in mid-April in Edinburgh. While you are still waiting, you can listen to my…
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171: Rewilding with Steve Carver
It has been a considerable time since the last time we spoke about rewilding on the podcast. I feel that the discussion around the practice as well as understanding of the term has moved on in the last three to four years. So, I decided to get an update on the state of rewilding. To do so, I invited the Director of the Wildland Research Institute at the School of Geography, University of Leeds, Dr Steve Carver who is also…
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169: Species Reintroductions
Species reintroductions, often in the context of rewilding, is a topic that we frequently discuss on this podcast. It is also fiercely debated on social media. I have been asked more than once about my views and opinions on this topic. Do I support species reintroductions? Well, it depends. In this episode, I’m going to break down my take on species reintroductions, the good, the bad and the ugly – as the saying goes. It is another in the series…
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168: Coexistence with Wolves in Estonia with Helen Arusoo
On my podcast, we talk a lot about coexistence with large carnivores and the challenges it poses. Some of those challenges might seem insurmountable to some. To shed some light on overcoming these hurdles, I contacted Helen Arusoo, an Estonian nature journalist and the leader of the National Animal Working Group. In this conversation, we talk about how Estonia overcame these hurdles and created something that I would consider the gold standard of coexistence with large carnivores. Unsurprisingly, the majority…
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163: The EU Review of Wolf Protection Status
The human-wildlife conflict with wolves has been brewing on the ground in the EU for some time. On the one hand, it has been fueled by a remarkable recovery of wolves across the continent, and on the other, by politicians trying to hijack it for their political gains. In September 2023 the European Commission invited “local communities, scientists and all interested parties” to submit the latest data in order to review the conservation status of wolves and decide whether to…
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159: Polar Bears in a Warming World with Andrew Derocher
Last week I published a blog post where I set out to answer the question of whether polar bears are facing impending extinction due to climate change or are they, in fact, doing better than ever. Around the time when I was investigating this question, I got in touch with Professor Andrew Derocher from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, who has studied polar bears for over 40 years. He specialises in ecology, conservation, and management…