Aussie Wildlife Show

This is our first episode for 2020 and was recorded as fires ravished the country. Over 18 million acres have been burnt including thousands of homes and buildings and we saw the loss of over one billion animals. We talk about a range of subjects with Wayne ranging from climate science to wildlife conservation during this confronting and emotional time. 

Dianne Pearson is a zookeeper and animal rescuer specialising in native mammals. We caught up with Dianne after she returned from working with Tree Kangaroos at the Tree Roo Rescue and Conservation Centre in Far North Queensland. 

Dr Erinn Fagan-Jeffries is a researcher studying parasitoid wasps with a passion for communicating about biodiversity, insects and species discovery.

Rex Neindorf is the owner/director of the Alice Springs Reptile Centre  which he opened in 2000. Rex chats with us about some of the awesome reptiles he gets to work with as well as sharing much of what he has learnt in growing his facility to become the successful business it is today.  

Dr Tim Jessop is an ecologist with Deakin University and is a scientific adviser for the Komodo Survival Program. Click here to check out and to support the awesome work the Komodo Survival Program do :)

Scott Pullyblank is a knowledgeable and passionate science communicator, specialising in conservation and biology and is currently the Curator of Life Sciences at the Alice Springs Desert Park .  Thorny Devil, photo courtesy of  C.Margetts Photography

Richard Gibson is the Head of Life Sciences at Auckland Zoo  and has managed zoo reptile departments all over the world. We caught up with Richard at the Large Varanid Workshop (October 2019) in Alice Springs where he gave two presentations, one on Komodo Dragon husbandry and the other on parthenogenesis, which he co-discovered in Komodo Dragons. 

In this episode the always inspiring  Sophie Thomson  gives us advice about creating habitat friendly gardens for any situation. Sophie is a gardening consultant, writer as well as a presenter for ABC TV's Gardening Australia . Sophie lives at Sophie’s Patch , a three acre garden that produces organically grown food as well as locally indigenous plant species for wildlife habitat.   

Katie Irvine is a Science Communicator with the School of Biological Sciences of the  University of Adelaide . Katie has an interest in citizen science, community ecology, habitat fragmentation, revegetation, and conserving the natural environment for the benefit of people and wildlife. In this episode we chat about Katie's work in the rain forests of Far North Queensland, Tree Kangaroos and conse...

Zac Bower works with some of the most dangerous snakes on the planet with the venom extraction program at the  Australian Reptile Park.   The Australian Reptile Park is the sole-provider of terrestrial snake venoms to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories . Their work contributes to the production of life-saving medicines that are relied upon by hundreds of patients in Australia and New Guinea every...

Ben Britton is the Director of the  Wild Cat Conservation Centre  in Hawkesbury, one hour north west of Sydney, Australia. The Conservation Centre focuses on the preservation and conservation of wild cats of the world, including African Serval, Caracal   and the endangered Cheetah.  Ben has more than 20 years of professional experience in animal husbandry and wildlife conservation which has taken...

Trevor Evans has dedicated his life to protecting and saving endangered Australian species and their habitats. He is the founder of Secret Creek Sanctuary  which was set up to provide a feral-proof enclosure where endangered native species are protected from predation. The sanctuary aims to show visitors what Australia once looked like prior to European settlement and houses species such as Easter...

We recently had the opportunity to visit Chad Staples ( Zookeeper Chad ) at Featherdale Wildlife Park . Chad has worked at Featherdale for over 20 years and chats with us about why he loves his job and shares his passion for conservation and education. Located in the Greater Western Sydney Region, Featherdale Wildlife Park have a wonderfully diverse collection of Australian animals and are involve...

Tim Faulkner is the co-director at the Australian Reptile Park , a conservation-based zoo located in a natural bush setting on the Central Coast of NSW which specialises in education, conservation and lifesaving snake and spider venom collection work. Tim is also the president of  Aussie Ark , established in 2011 as ‘Devil Ark’, with a focus on saving the iconic Tasmanian devil from extinction. Si...

This week we had a visit from conservation biologist Dr David Peacock to talk about how his idea to return Western Quolls to the Flinders Ranges came into fruition. We also talk about his latest idea to return Tiger Quolls (pictured) onto Kangaroo Island.

This week we had a visit from Toby Esplin who owns and operates African-based wildlife tour company About Nature Tours . Toby and his team specialise in nature-based safaris around southern Africa and Madagascar. 

This week we caught up with David Evans from Clear Mountain Reptiles  who came down from Queensland to chat with us about some of the awesome reptiles he works with, including the stunning Emerald tree Monitor .  

We had a visit from Estuarine Ecologist 'Faith Coleman' to talk about the heath of the Murray River, carp herpes, restoring natural flows and bioluminescent dinoflagellates. Faith really only came over to cuddle Snuffles the wombat.   

This week's episode is a collection of short interviews we did at last year's  Riverland Field Days  where we were set up in the  Natural Resources SA Murray-Darling Basin  tent. We chat with some of the awesome people working to protect the fragile river ecosystems, the owner of wildlife demonstration business Black Snake Productions and the owner of Southern Emu Farm . 

This week we catch up with Daniel Saliba to learn about the secret lives of the threatened Murray-Darling Carpet Python . Daniel has spent many years out in the field researching, surveying and studying these cryptic snakes. Daniel's work aims to bring an awareness of these beautiful pythons, which are disappearing from the eastern Australian woodland ecosystems of the Murray-Darling Basin.

Thank you to all the listeners and to all the guests that support the Aussie Wildlife Show . In this episode we chat about why we do the show and why we love Australian wildlife and nature.  For those that may wish to donate to the show click here to access our Patreon account .

Sarah and Alex are an ecological power-couple who are passionate about protecting biodiversity and also, through their business  EnviroEdu , they raise awareness and educate future generations. We chat with them about some of the projects they've worked on in Australia and around the world including gorillas in Africa and also meeting Lonesome George in the Galápagos Islands.   

In this episode we chat with natural historian John Barrie about some of the prehistoric megafauna that once roamed Australia. In particular we discuss Wonambi , a giant Australian python-like snake.   John's hard work and contributions to the field of palaeontology have been acknowledged by having a species of Wonambi named after him, Wonambi barriei.  

Byron manning has dedicated his life to working within the zoo industry and is currently the Curator of Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills. He has an extensive private collection of reptiles, specialising in the keeping and breeding of many of the smaller Australian monitor species.    

This week we chat with Nick Petropoulos, owner-operator of Victorian wildlife education company, Wicked Wildlife . Nick also runs an awesome YouTube channel, Wicked Wildlife- YouTube , where he introduces a range of Australian fauna and discusses issues surrounding their conservation.