The Wild with Chris Morgan

Anton Mzimba was the head ranger at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. Anton and hundreds of wildlife rangers like him risk their lives every day to protect endangered species, mainly the rhino, from poachers and organized crime.
Anton is the focus of a documentary film called Rhino Man. It tells the extraordinary story of the rhinos, and the brave rangers that are out to protect them. In this episode, filmmaker John Jurko ll tells us about his relationship with Anton, the threats to rhinos and how he finds hope in the face of so much evil.
You can support this work by contributing to a fund for Anton Mzimba’s family and the Future Rangers fund
Audio in this episode and photo courtesy of Rhino Man, © Global Conservation Corps. Music courtesy of composer Simon Wilson.
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Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by joining THE WILD Patreon community at www.patreon.com/chrismorganwildlife and you can donate to KUOW at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.
THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.
Follow us on Instagram @chrismorganwildlife and @thewildpod for more adventures and behind the scenes action!
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisMorganWildlife
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

De-extinction! You probably saw the headlines - big, splashy statements about bringing the dire wolf - the ancient wolf species - back from the dead. But are they really back?
Dr. Helen Pilcher says no. She’s an author, science communicator and an expert on genetically modified wildlife. And she joins me to make sense of this controversial idea of “editing” the genes of animals.
It’s a heated conversation in the scientific community. Because it's not just about bringing back animals from the dead, it's about changing the genetic makeup of animals that still exist.
Today, we’ll dive into the pros and cons of modifying wildlife and the ethics behind changing the very DNA of a wild animal.
Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by joining THE WILD Patreon community at www.patreon.com/chrismorganwildlife and you can donate to KUOW at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.
THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. Writing by Christopher Preston. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.
Follow us on Instagram @chrismorganwildlife and @thewildpod for more adventures and behind the scenes action!
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisMorganWildlife
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I drive across the mountains and forests to a small corner of Washington state, where there's a group of ranchers from the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. They’re known as ‘The Buffalo Boys.’
Generations ago, members of the tribe would migrate hundreds of miles to the great plains to hunt buffalo. There were millions of buffalo until white settlers hunted them to near extinction, and the Kalispel were pushed from their land.
But now, they have a herd of their own.
On today’s episode, I visit the Buffalo Boys and their herd of buffalo to tell the story of how they got these buffalo, and what they’re doing to make sure that this magnificent creature will forever be a part of their lives.
My huge thanks to the Kalispel for their warm hospitality.
Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by joining THE WILD Patreon community at www.patreon.com/chrismorganwildlife and you can donate to KUOW at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.
THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. Writing by Christopher Preston. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.
Follow us on Instagram @chrismorganwildlife and @thewildpod for more adventures and behind the scenes action!
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisMorganWildlife
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Animals and music? What a tantalizing mix! In a fascinating conversation with scientist and musician Dr. Diego Ellis Soto we learn about the way animals move - through music. When animals swarm, mill, or migrate, patterns are revealed. Soto explains that animals all prefer to move together with proper space, time, and direction....just like harmony in music.
Soto’s work combines his academic work and his passion for music to create a fresh look at how we should think about nature in motion. It is a way to express complex data about animal movement in a way that is easy for people to understand. And that can be a powerful tool to inspire conservation.
This episode might just make you think very differently about how you look at, or maybe hear, nature and its creatures.
If you’d like to learn more about Diego’s work, I recommend you watch this lecture he gave as part of Yale University’s Franke Program for Science and Humanity.
Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by joining THE WILD Patreon community at www.patreon.com/chrismorganwildlife and you can donate to KUOW at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.
Follow us on Instagram @chrismorganwildlife and @thewildpod for more adventures and behind the scenes action!
THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisMorganWildlife
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There was a time when the existence of the giant panda was nothing more than legend. A fairytale to those in the western world. Whispers of a black and white beast echoed around the early 1900s.
In this episode, my conversation mixes three of my favorite things - bears, mystery, and adventure as I hear an incredible story that Dr Nathalia Holt tells in her book The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers’ Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda. But this story is about way more than just two brothers’ dangerous search for a mystery species in a strange part of the world. It’s also about the moment in history when humans began to understand their real impact on the natural world. A realization that led to the birth of the modern conservation movement. Oh, and there might be some Himalayan bandits and bone-chilling blizzards along the way!
Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this special immersive storytelling by joining THE WILD Patreon community at www.patreon.com/chrismorganwildlife and you can donate to KUOW at kuow.org/donate/thewild. Thank you.
THE WILD is a production of KUOW in Seattle in partnership with Chris Morgan Wildlife and Wildlife Media. It is produced by Matt Martin and Lucy Soucek, and edited by Jim Gates. It is hosted, produced and written by Chris Morgan. Fact checking by Apryle Craig. Our theme music is by Michael Parker.
Follow us on Instagram @chrismorganwildlife and @thewildpod for more adventures and behind the scenes action!
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisMorganWildlife
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.