Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant is a nature podcast that explores the human stories behind wildlife conservation. Hosted by wildlife biologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, each episode features real-life heroes and nature advocates who share their unique experiences and expertise in protecting animal species. From fossil hunting in conflict zones to saving endangered species while in prison, the show highlights the diverse paths people take to champion the natural world. The podcast is produced by PBS Nature and offers an inside look at the adventures and important work of conservationists.
Episodes
Slave Trade Shipwrecks + Saving Sharks: Meet Alannah Vellacott
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Marine ecologist Alannah Vellacott grew up in a Bahamian subsistence fishing community, where wrestling sharks before sunrise was part of daily life. Now she's dedicated to conserving these majestic creatures and uncovering artifacts from slave-trade shipwrecks. In this episode, Alannah shares her journey to becoming
A Metamorphosis Behind Bars
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Carolina Landa's story begins in the orchards of Quincy, Washington and takes a transformative turn within the walls of an Oregon prison. Raised in a Mexican-American immigrant family, Carolina's curiosity and passion for science led her to champion sustainability initiatives behind bars. In this episode, she discusses
Nature: The Cure for Ed Yong's Burnout?
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As a science journalist, Ed Yong spends a lot of time writing about nature without actually being immersed in it. After three years of covering the COVID pandemic, Ed found himself anxious, depressed, and in need of a change - despite winning the Pulitzer Prize. He took a step back from pandemic reporting to write a bo
Fossil Hunting in Conflict Zones
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Ella Al-Shamahi grew up a creationist, but her perspective shifted when she studied evolution at university. Today, she’s a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in unstable territories to uncover the overlooked stories of human evolution. Ella is a fierce advocate for conducting research in places where people don’t u
Fighting Violence Against the Lubicon Cree Land with Melina Laboucan-Massimo
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Growing up in her Lubicon Cree community in northern Alberta, Melina Laboucan-Massimo witnessed the destruction of her once-pristine boreal forests for oil.
A massive oil spill in Melina’s community became the catalyst to launch an initiative that would bring not only clean energy jobs to her community, but a visio
From Foraging to Fame: How Alexis Nikole Nelson Became @blackforager
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Alexis Nikole Nelson, better known to her millions of fans as @blackforager, was raised by a mother who is an avid gardener and a father who loves to cook. Foraging allowed Alexis to fuse her love for wild plants and food from a very young age. But before Alexis became the @blackforager we all know today, the
Season Four is Here!
Welcome back to Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn Grant, a different kind of nature show about the human drama of saving animals. This season, we're talking to all sorts of nature advocates. From a paleoanthropologist who hunts fossils in conflict zones to someone who helped save an endangered species while in prison. We will hear from real-life heroes with widely different expertise and life experienc
Outside/In: Where The Wild Things Grow
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Growing up, Kiese Laymon thought of himself as a city kid. But he spent his childhood with a foot in two worlds: his mom’s house in the capital city of Jackson, Mississippi and his grandma’s house in a rural country town.
It wasn’t until Kiese left Mississippi that he came to understand that this question of city vs. co
Introducing: Sea Change
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This is a special episode from Sea Change, the nature podcast from WWNO and WRKF. Sea Change brings you stories that illuminate, inspire – and sometimes enrage – as they dive deep into the environmental issues facing coastal communities on the Gulf Coast and beyond.
In this specific episode, they take you on a journe
Armchair Explorer: Rewilding Chile with ground-breaking conservationist Kris Tompkins
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Kris Tompkins has spent a lifetime fighting tooth and nail to protect wild lands. In 1993, she stepped down as CEO of outdoor apparel brand Patagonia, and moved to the edge of a windswept road-less fjord in the northern end of Patagonian Chile with her late husband Doug Tompkins (the founder of North Face).
There, the
Women Who Travel: Tracee Ellis Ross Loves Seeing the World Solo
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This week, we're featuring an episode of Women Who Travel with Tracee Ellis Ross:
Tracee Ellis Ross’ earliest memories involved traveling the world with her mother, Diana Ross, but it was at the age of 22 that she discovered what solo travel could give her. This episode, Lale sits down with Tracee to discuss how solo
Is Water Alive?
As a climate solutions advocate, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is often asked “What are some small things people can do to reduce climate change that don’t require sacrifices?” But the truth is electric cars and solar panels won’t be enough. Climate success will require us to change our relationship with the natural world. We must not view nature as resources to manage, but as kin.
In this final e
The Untold Story of California's Mighty Predator
In a city that loves celebrities, one mountain lion became the mascot for conservation efforts that eventually led to the creation of California’s first wildlife corridor. But one wildlife corridor, even if it’s the largest in the world, isn’t enough.
Some populations of mountain lions in Southern California are struggling to survive — threatened by habitat loss caused by urban developments, lack
Meet "The Manatee Man"
In 2016, Hurricane Earl devastated Belize, causing over $100 million worth of damage and displacing thousands of Belizeans across the country. But humans were not the only victims of the storm. Deep in the mangroves, an infant manatee was separated from her mother and washed onto the mainland. She was so tiny when Jamal Galves found her, with her umbilical cord still attached. He named her Hope.
Fight And Flight: Christian Cooper's Story
Long before the infamous Central Park incident went viral (where a white woman called the cops on him during a birdwatching outing), Christian Cooper had been obsessed with birds. It was a love nurtured through his involvement in The Audubon Society, an environmental organization dedicated to bird conservation.
But recently, Christian’s dedication to and love for this organization has been put t
Is This the Bug to End All Bees?
When Samuel Ramsey was a child, he was afraid of bugs. But a trip to the library with his mother changed everything and led him to become a bee entomologist. He grew up gay in a non-affirming religious community, he was the only Black entomologist in his Doctoral program, and today he’s both a Christian AND a scientist in a world that often asks him to choose between his faith and his practice. Bu
The Invisible Organism That’s Saving the Planet
In a remote part of the Amazon rainforest in Peru, there’s a river with water so hot, it actually boils. In fact, it's so extreme and so remote that for a long time people thought the river was a myth. Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza risked life and limb journeying to this boiling river, called Shanay-Timpishka or La Bomba, to explore some of the smallest microorganisms on Earth. Why?? Because the untap
Season 3 is Here!
Welcome back to Going Wild, a podcast about the human drama behind saving animals. This season, on top of stories about animals, we’re going to take a journey through the entire ecological web — from the tiniest of life forms to apex predators.
We’ll be guided by one central question: How can we, humans, look at our relationship to nature differently?
Rae will speak to scientists, activists, and
Black Women in Cinema: From "The Class of 1989"
Hi everyone! We’re still a little ways away from the next season of Going Wild, but today we're sharing an episode of a great new podcast called The Class of 1989. In this episode, Len and Vincent talk about the representation of Black women in the films of 1989 — and how Black women directors would help transform the film world throughout the 1990s and into the present.
Women Who Travel Podcast: Hiking Patagonia, Life in ‘Cold Hawaii,’ and More
It's been a challenging couple of years during the pandemic but we are starting to travel again. Host Lale Arikoglu determines that she needs to challenge herself and goes hiking in Chilean Patagonia in a misty, rainy, and isolated landscape. Closer to home she’s trying to stay upright on a surfboard at New York’s Rockaway beach even though she’s skittish in waves and talks to author Dorthe Nors a
What Is the Most Successful Species on Earth? From NHPR: Outside/In
This week we're sharing a riveting episode from NHPR's show, Outside/In. Take a listen and let us know what you think!
A debate about evolutionary “success.” Who should wear the crown of GSOAT (greatest species of all time), and are humans even in the running?
Humans have had an impressive run thus far; we’ve explored most of the planet (the parts that aren’t underwater anyway), landed on the moon
Together For Conservation: WCS Wild Audio Season 2 Premiere
This week, we're sharing an episode from our friends at the Wildlife Conservation Society. Take a listen and let us know what you think!
Their second season launches in conversation with Mariana Varese, the Peru-based director of WCS’s Amazon Landscapes Program. Mariana describes a new initiative, “Together for Conservation,” that seeks to conserve biodiversity while preventing environmental crime
Highs, Lows and Lowland Gorillas
*Content warning: this episode briefly mentions the topic of suicide.*
From the kitchen floor to the remote jungles of the Congo, Rae grapples with divorce and single-motherhood on an international trip to study lowland gorillas.
For the last episode of season 2, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant talks about a career-changing opportunity to track down one of the most elusive creatures in Central Africa — lowland
A Chicken Saved My Life
Ornithologist (bird scientist), poet, and author Drew Lanham was recently awarded the Macarthur Genius Grant—$800,000 with no strings attached. But despite his deep love for birds he almost never studied the creatures at all. As a young man, he won a full-ride scholarship to any school he wanted, only this award did have strings attached. Drew would have to give up his dreams of ecology and instea
The Lizard Lassoer
*Content warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence that might be disturbing to some listeners.*
Herpetologists do a lot of unique things while studying lizards—cut their toes, pump their stomachs, and capture them by lassoing their necks. That one small word, “lasso,'' wasn't always the word used in the discipline. Herpetologist Earyn McGee, one of the few Black, female scientists in
It's a Shark-Eat-Shark World
Jasmin Graham loves sharks. I mean, really loves sharks. And she always dreamed of becoming a university professor to encourage other people of color interested in shark science. But then, something happened to Jasmin in grad school that caused her to give up her dream. So what does she do when she realizes she has nothing left to lose?
Listen to more "Going Wild" HERE.
Thanks for listening! If y
Death in the Animal (Caretaker) Kingdom
*Content warning: this conversation contains mentions of animal injuries, death, and the topic of suicide.*
Veterinarians deal with death so frequently that they have some of the highest suicide rates of any occupation. Dr. Hollis Stewart has worked with many animals – from domesticated pets in New York City and Fez, Morocco, to wild animals in the Middle East and Africa. Because of that, she’s a
A Coyote Walks Into a Quiznos...
Why are coyotes showing up all over the place? Spoiler alert: evolution can work fast. If you live in the United States, chances are you’ve seen a coyote in the wilderness, or in more unexpected places like on a train, in your backyard, or even in a sandwich shop. But coyotes haven’t always been so bold. Back in the 1900s, coyotes were more like wolves – you mostly found them in forests and other
Hyena Is A Swear Word... in Kenya
Hyenas might be the most misunderstood animal – Are they dogs? Big cats? Evil, trouble-making sidekicks? (Thanks, Lion King!) Dr. Christine Wilkinson relates to this ambiguous perception as a bi-racial woman, especially one working in the fields of science and conservation. She couldn’t wait to go to Kenya to study hyenas, but once there, she was labeled a “Mzungu,” a term often used to describe w
Tracking Jaguars With A Toddler
What do you do when you get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study Jaguars in the Panama rainforest but you can’t find childcare? Bring your kid along! In the first episode of season 2 of Going Wild, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant tells of an expedition searching for an elusive creature in the rainforest with her toddler in tow, but not everything goes as planned.
Thanks for listening! If you want to supp
Season 2 Trailer: Going Wild
This season, you'll hear from wildlife scientists who are doing all kinds of amazing work like studying hyenas in Kenya or working with coyotes in California, and even tracking sharks in Florida. And just like me, they run into all kinds of drama in their work. The animals they study are great, but who they are as people and how that affects their work is just as interesting.
We have brand new epi
Black. Female. Scientist.
Breaking glass ceilings, breaking down barriers, breaking molds: it’s exhilarating. And exhausting. This episode is about what it’s really, truly like to be a Black, female scientist in America.
Since this is the last episode of the season. I want to say, thanks to you. Hosting the show and sharing my stories has been an incredible experience and quite a wild ride. And I'm so glad that you're here
Encore: Not Your Average Field Trip: Meet Rae
If you’re new to “Going Wild”, welcome. You’ve found us at the perfect time. Right now, we’re rebroadcasting the very first episode of the season. It’s all about how I went from an asthmatic teenager, who had never even been on a hike, to the person I am today: a scientist who studies wild animals and practically lives outdoors.
I want to give you a chance to get to know me before we hit you with
Misunderstandings with The Maasai: Part Two
When I was living in Kenya, I learned a lot about animals and conservation, and I also learned about people and culture, sometimes through my own horribly embarrassing mistakes. I told you about one of those moments last week. This week I'm bringing you another story.
If you want to go back and listen to part one, it's here: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/podcast/misunderstandings-with-masaai-on
Misunderstandings with The Maasai: Part One
In part one of two, I share some embarrassing cross-cultural misunderstandings from my time living in East Africa. Hear about two of the biggest ones– and what they taught me about the country, the people, and myself.
Who Killed This Bear?
A dead bear shows up in an unlikely place, and the discovery of how it died and how it got there makes me question my life’s work. A warning: This episode contains details of performing a necropsy of the bear in the woods. It contains language that may not be acceptable for young listeners or those with queasy stomachs.
Please like and follow us (and give us a review!) if you like the show!
For mo
Near-Death Experiences in the Field
Happy Halloween week! There are major risks that come with being a wildlife ecologist– from sleeping with poisonous snakes to provoking hungry bears. Here are a few of my scariest encounters in the field.
Please like and follow us (and give us a review!) if you like the show!
For more episodes: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/podcasts/going-wild/
New episodes of "Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
Lions, Lions & Lions, Oh My!
In the last episode, I told you the story about a giraffe - a dead giraffe, actually - in Tarangire National Park, but I didn't get to share any stories about lions. So, let me take you back to my first day in Tanzania, in the middle of the bush, and introduce you to two very unique lions I still think about to this day. This is a special short episode of "Going Wild."
Pursuing Poachers in Tanzania
Poachers kill a giraffe in Tanzania. What happens to the poachers isn’t surprising. But what happens to the giraffe....is.
Leeches, Rice, Tampons
You already heard about my experience tracking lemurs in this mysterious rainforest in Madagascar in episode 2, but what I left out of that story was just how hard camping there for five weeks was on my body -- especially as the only woman in the entire group. And yes, there was some blood involved. This is a special short episode of "Going Wild."
Go back and listen to episode 2: Tracking Lemurs i
Tracking Lemurs in a Lost Rainforest
Tracking and darting an elusive ringtail lemur might help save a secret rainforest in Madagascar, but it also invites unexpected feelings of homesickness and self-reflection. Immerse yourself in the sounds and story of this magical place while I share one of my favorite tales from the field.
New episodes of "Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant" are released on Tuesdays. Want a season 2 or a story a
Not Your Average Field Trip
Lions, E. coli, and transformation... Being a large carnivore ecologist is no walk in the park. Especially when you have asthma! I share my first experience in the field and you'll quickly learn why our show's tagline is, "Not Your Average Field Trip."
New episodes of "Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant" are released on Tuesdays. Want a season 2 or a story about a specific animal or location? Cont
Introducing: Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
Journey deep into the heart of the world’s most remote jungles, savannas, tundras, mountains, and deserts with wildlife biologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant as she studies wild animals in their natural habitats. Rae and her teams spend years studying these animals – in order to protect their futures. Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant takes you inside their hidden worlds – and the action-packed, suspense-
