Mongabay Newscast

Hellbenders are North America’s largest salamanders, living in rivers and growing to an incredible length of over two feet. Eastern newts are tiny and terrestrial, but both are susceptible to a fungal pathogen called Bsal. While Bsal has yet to make an appearance in the global hotspot of salamander diversity that is North America, it has wreaked havoc on populations in Europe, so biologists worry its impact could be even worse if it does. Eastern newts' susceptibility to Bsal coupled with their notable mobility mean they could act as “super-spreaders” of Bsal if the fungus ever gets to North America. For hellbenders, which are already listed as endangered and suffer from habitat degradation, a new pathogen is hardly good news.  On this episode we speak with Dr. Becky Hardman from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and Dr. Anna Longo of the University of Florida about these fascinating and unique species, and discuss what is being done to prepare for a Bsal invasion that experts say is inevitable. More on

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. And thanks to the COVID pandemic, many of us who are city-dwellers have spent at least part of the past several months on lockdown in our homes. But living in a city doesn’t mean that you can’t get out and enjoy some nature. On this episode we explore cities with author Kelly Brenner and urban forester & educator Georgia Silvera Seamans. Kelly Brenner is a naturalist and writer whose most recent book is called Nature Obscura: A City’s Hidden Natural World. Brenner, who lives in Seattle, Washington, joins us to discuss some of the wildlife encounters she writes about in the book and to provide some tips on how anyone can go about exploring nature in their city. We also welcome to the program Georgia Silvera Seamans, an urban forester who has spearheaded a number of “hyper local urban ecology” projects in New York City. Silvera Seamans tells us about the Washington Square Park Eco Projects, which include monitoring, education, and advocacy e

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed a trade ban on 201 salamander species in 2016 in order to prevent the import of the the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ('Bsal') which could be a major threat to the world's salamander hotspot of North America (and the U.S. in particular). However, the recent discovery that frogs can also carry Bsal has led scientists to urge the American government to ban the import of all salamander and frog species to the country. But what other policies or regulations could be enacted to prevent Bsal from wiping out this rich amphibian heritage? In this 5th "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo speaks with Priya Nanjappa, former Program Manager for the Association of Fish and Wildlife agencies, and Tiffany Yap, a Staff Scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, about animal trade policy, differences in the way the United States conducts this policy from other nations, and what the U.S. might do to more effectively combat the threat. More

On this episode we take a look at the ongoing debate over trophy hunting 5 years after the killing of Cecil the Lion sparked global outrage: he was a famous attraction for tourists and photographers visiting Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, but in July 2015, an American dentist and recreational hunter killed Cecil just outside the park. To what degree does trophy hunting support conservation and local communities where iconic wildlife live? What happens to animal populations who've lost members to hunters? Does trophy hunting support or harm scientific inquiry or conservation goals?  To discuss questions like this and what's changed (or not) in the debate since 2015, we hear from four experts who share a diversity of information and opinions that may change the way you think about this important issue: Iris Ho of Humane Society International conservation icon Jane Goodall Amy Dickman, founder of the Ruaha Carnivore Project Maxi Pia Louis, director of NACSO, a Namibian organization that works with local comm

North America (and the US in particular) is the world’s hotspot of salamander diversity, hosting about 1/3 of all species. Researchers think that about half of these may be susceptible to a deadly fungus called Bsal, and believe it's a matter of time before it gets to North America. If and when it does, it could mean devastation and maybe extinction for a massive amount of amphibians. To head off the threat, scientists created the Bsal Task Force in 2015 and in this fourth "Mongabay Explores" bonus episode, host Mike DiGirolamo interviews the group's Dr. Jake Kerby who is also the associate chair of biology at the University of South Dakota.   Dr. Kerby details the working relationships their 'Bsal battalion' has with federal entities in Canada, the US, and Mexico and how they are working together to manage and mitigate the damage of this potential pandemic.  He also discusses what citizens can do to help protect North America's amazingly diverse salamander species. More resources on this topic: On the hunt

Animal societies have culture, too, as science keeps showing us ever since Dr. Jane Goodall first pointed it out, and on this episode we explore the culture and social learning of sperm whales, scarlet macaws, and chimpanzees with author Carl Safina and whale culture researcher Hal Whitehead. Safina examines how these species are equipped to live in their worlds by learning from other individuals in their social groups — which he argues is just as important as their genetic inheritance — in his new book, Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. In the book, he calls Hal Whitehead “the pioneering sperm whale researcher” who has studied social learning in whales and dolphins for decades. A professor at Canada’s Dalhousie University, he was one of the first scientists to examine the complex social lives of sperm whales and their distinctive calls known as codas, and appears on the podcast today to play some recordings of them and tell us about sperm whale culture and s

Reporter Benji Jones and wildlife disease ecologist with U.S. Geological Survey, Daniel Grear, join this special edition of Mongabay's podcast to discuss the hunt for Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) in North America, which Benji has described as “searching for a needle in a haystack except the needle is invisible and the hay stretches for thousands of miles.” Host Mike DiGirolamo talks with Jones and Grear about the search, the difficulty in finding it, and what we can expect if the disease ever makes its way to U.S. shores. This third bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year.  For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.  More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer Scientists are racing

On this episode we look at how current environmental crises intersect with two others: the pandemic and the systemic racism and police brutality that have sparked protests around the U.S. and world in recent weeks, with guests Leela Hazzah, founder and executive director of Lion Guardians, and Earyn McGee, a herpetologist and science communicator who just helped organize the first-ever Black Birders Week, a celebration of black birders and nature lovers. McGee tells host Mike G. how Black Birders Week came together so quickly and why it's necessary to celebrate black nature lovers, and Egyptian conservationist Hazzah discusses what she sees as opportunities for transformative change in conservation due to the pandemic, like for instance that conservation has been named an "essential service" during the health crisis by the Kenyan government, plus the fact that more female and African representatives have been present at important conservation meetings lately, now that they're all virtual. "I hope that we cont

Why are salamanders so incredibly diverse in the United States? Among other things, a fluke of geography contributed to making it the global hotspot of salamander diversity. But now, another pandemic is on the march toward the U.S., and this time it's got salamanders in its sights. In this second special episode about salamanders, we'll give you the full context. How big a role do these ubiquitous animals play in the environment, and what would it mean to forest biodiversity, climate change, and forest food chains to lose whole populations of salamanders? This second bonus episode of the podcast tackles these important questions with Senior Editor Morgan Erickson-Davis, who produced Mongabay's series on this topic for the website last year.  For the next several episodes, this special podcast series (made possible by our Patreon supporters) called Mongabay Explores will dive into this topic to learn what's known about this issue, now.  More resources on this topic: On the hunt for a silent salamander-killer

The Elephant Listening Project is a bioacoustics research effort that aims to preserve rainforests of Central Africa--and the biodiversity found in those forests--by listening to forest elephants, and on this episode we hear those animals' calls, rumbles, and trumpets with ELP researcher Ana Verahrami. Verahrami has spent two field seasons in the Central African Republic collecting behavioral and acoustic data vital to the project & joins us to explain why forest elephants’ role as keystone species makes their survival crucial to the wellbeing of tropical forests and its other inhabitants, and to play some of the fascinating recordings that inform the project’s work. Helping frame the discussion is Terna Gyuse, Mongabay's Cape Town-based Africa Editor. ELP is part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, whose bioacoustics research team we’ve featured several times in the past, listen to these episodes for more fascinating bioacoustics studies that feature the calls, songs, and sounds of diverse animals what th

Another pandemic is currently on the march, and it's got salamanders in its sights. You may not have heard about 'Bsal' before, but it nearly wiped out a population of salamanders in Europe, and scientists worry it could invade the United States--the home of the world's greatest diversity of salamanders--next. Is the U.S. ready for Bsal, and can a pandemic in this global salamander hotspot be prevented, unlike the one that's currently crippling human societies globally? What's being done, and what would it mean to lose salamanders on a landscape-wide level in North America? This first bonus episode of the Mongabay Newscast tackles these important questions, just as spring and salamanders emerge in the North.  For the next couple months, this special series made possible by our Patreon supporters called Mongabay Explores will dive into a recent project our writers and editors produced on the topic, to learn what's known about this issue now.  More reading from Mongabay on this topic: On the hunt for a silent

Australia’s fire season may have just ended, but most of the world’s tropical forest regions will soon enter their own. We look at what’s driving the intense fires in the Amazon, Indonesia, and elsewhere in recent years with three guests, who discuss what we can expect from the 2020 tropical fire season while sharing some solutions to this problem, which has huge effects on biodiversity, indigenous peoples, forests, and climate change. Joining us are Rhett Butler, Mongabay’s founder and CEO, who provides a global perspective; scientist Dan Nepstad, who worked in the Brazilian Amazon for more than three decades; plus Aida Greenbury, an Indonesian sustainability consultant for projects like the High Carbon Stock Approach to forest protection. If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. More reading from this episode: Rhett Butler for Mongabay: "Rainforests in 2020: Ten things

At a time when so many people are trying to make photographs of wildlife -- to break the pandemic lockdown blues, or to share on social media -- we speak with two guests about how to do this without harassing, exploiting, or harming them. Internationally renowned wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas shares her experiences and advice, saying that the most important practices are both better for wildlife and capture the most compelling images. This is “kind of a win-win,” Eszterhas says, because "we’re treating the animals with kindness and respect and we’re not affecting their lives in a very negative way" while delivering superior photos. Also joining the discussion is environmental journalist Annie Roth, who recently wrote an in-depth article for Hakai Magazine exploring how wildlife pay the price when humans get too close in order to snap a few pics that they hope will score them likes on social media.  If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to listen and subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts,

What does it mean to celebrate the 50th Earth Day amidst a pandemic? Our guests for this episode provide options and inspiration to mark this important anniversary in the face of a global virus outbreak, which ironically has roots in the destruction of nature. We speak with Trammell Crow, the founder of the largest Earth Day event in the world, EarthX, which has big plans with National Geographic for a virtual celebration, and Ginger Cassady, the executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental advocacy group that works to end deforestation and respond to the climate crisis. They share stories of inspiration, challenge, and triumph as we mark 50 years of Earth Day with an eye on what comes next.  If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft medi

Acclaimed environmental journalist John Vidal joins the show to discuss the current pandemic's links to the wildlife trade and the destruction of nature.  We speak about his recent Guardian/Ensia feature on what we know about the origins of the outbreak, what he’s learned while reporting from similar outbreak epicenters in the past, how the destruction of nature creates the perfect conditions for diseases to emerge, and what we can do to prevent future outbreaks. See related Mongabay podcast episode: How studying an African bat might help us prevent future Ebola outbreaks Here’s this episode’s top news: National parks in Africa shutter over COVID-19 threat to great apes Shell of bioluminescent shrimp not only glows but detects light Seychelles extends protection to marine area twice the size of Great Britain If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via Android, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever they get podcasts. Please visit www.pa

The songs, calls, clicks, and bumps of beluga whales, bearded seals, bowhead whales, ribbon seals, and walrus are the stars of this episode, which also features the co-author of a recent study that used bioacoustics to assess how variation in sea surface temperature and sea ice extent affects these animals' populations in the northern Bering Sea. Dr. Howard Rosenbaum is the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Ocean Giants Program, and his team is creating an acoustic baseline for how marine noise pollution and climate change are affecting large mammals in this area of the Arctic. Learn more about Dr. Rosenbaum's team's study here and press play to hear the fascinating sounds they captured. Here's this episode's top news: Conservationists set the record straight on COVID-19’s wildlife links Record-high global tree cover loss driven by agriculture In Afghanistan, a new national park carries hopes for conservation and peace If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe via And

Shah Selbe is a rocket scientist who put his engineering skills into building a lab that uses open-source technologies to empower local communities to solve conservation challenges. His team has been deploying technologies like drones, sensor networks, smartphone apps, and acoustic buoys to monitor protected areas, wildlife, and biodiversity. But their big news is the launch of the open-source hardware and online platform FieldKit that anyone can use to deploy a local sensing network and mesh that with remote sensing data for real-time ecosystem monitoring: he joins us to discuss its potential plus the conservation tech he’s currently most excited about. Here’s this episode’s top news: China beefs up wildlife trade ban as COVID-19 outbreak intensifies ‘Out of control’: Unprecedented fires ravage Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands Camera traps confirm presence of lowland gorillas in central mainland Equatorial Guinea for first time in over a decade If you enjoy this show, please invite your friends to subscribe v

Fred Swaniker is the founder of the African Leadership University, which recently launched a School of Wildlife Conservation to help young Africans develop the skills and knowledge necessary to “own and drive” the conservation agenda on the African continent. Swaniker sees Africa's natural heritage as a strategic advantage for the continent, and argues on this episode that the immense young workforce can be engaged in its conservation in many ways, from management to filmmaking, science communications and technology. He also shares highlights from ALU’s recent "Business of Conservation Conference" in Kigali, Rwanda. Here’s this episode’s top news: Jeff Bezos establishes $10 billion ‘Earth Fund’ to combat climate change Deforestation in Brazil continues torrid pace into 2020 Rhino poaching in South Africa declines for fifth straight year Learn more about African Leadership University's School of Wildlife Conservation at its website, www.sowc.alueducation.com. If you enjoy this show, please invite your fri

Top scientists, authors, and activists appear on the Mongabay Newscast to discuss their latest research, describe new solutions for tough challenges, or to share their views on conservation and the environment: subscribe to this free show via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get your podcasts.   Mongabay.com is a 25 year-old award-winning nonprofit news service with 5 million monthly readers who consume our daily reporting in 6 languages via 5 international bureaus.   So to stay on top of key trends, new science and fresh thinking on the global environment, find, subscribe and follow the Mongabay Newscast for news and inspiration from nature's frontline.

‘Without the land, indigenous people cannot exist’ the new leader of Cultural Survival, Galina Angarova, tells host Mike G. in this new episode. Raised in a Buryat community in Siberia, she's had a number of top roles through the years, but her recent appointment to this key indigenous rights organization is perhaps the most important one yet.  She grew up eating wild berries, mushrooms, nuts, wild garlic, deer, and more on the shores of Lake Baikal, and therefore has a strong sense of relationship to the land and how important it is that indigenous peoples like her community are allowed to keep stewarding these places: it's been proven that indigenous communities are the best stewards of land, waters, forests, and animals. Angarova joins the show to discuss this plus the power of indigenous radio programs, and her idea of the sacred feminine. Here’s this episode’s top news: Catastrophic Amazon tipping point less than 30 years away: study Dam that threatens orangutan habitat is ‘wholly unnecessary’: Repor