Talking Apes

Season 4 Premiere: World Gorilla Day Special Episode! 🦍 We’re thrilled to launch Season 4 of Talking Apes with a special release in celebration of World Gorilla Day ! This episode features an in-depth conversation with Kirsten Gilardi , Executive Director of Gorilla Doctors , the ground-breaking organization that’s saving gorillas through cutting-edge veterinary care. In this episode, Kirsten sha...

Amidst the harsh terrain and frequent fires of Senegal's savanna landscape lives a community of remarkable chimps. What makes them different from their forest-dwelling kin? And what can they reveal about human evolution?   Join us on World Chimpanzee Day for a journey into the heart of the savanna to explore the world of chimps with Dr Jill Pruetz . Following her pioneering research in Senega...

Learn about the secrets of ape society with Dr John Mitani Join us for the second time on Talking Apes with John Mitani , a renowned primatologist with over three decades of experience studying chimpanzees in the wild. Known for his ground-breaking research and role as the scientific consultant for Netflix's "Chimp Empire," John shares his wealth of knowledge and incredible experien...

Playful Teasing in Great Apes with Isabelle Laumer Did you know that great apes engage in playful teasing, much like human children? Join us for another episode of Talking Apes Podcast featuring Isabelle Laumer, a renowned researcher in animal behavior and cognition at Max Planck . Isabelle and her team have conducted groundbreaking research on playful teasing in great apes, revealing fascinating...

Join us for this episode of Talking Apes featuring Jeremy Hance, a distinguished environmental journalist renowned for his unwavering commitment to biodiversity. With a prolific career writing for outlets like Mongabay and the Guardian , Jeremy shares his insights on conservation and the emotional challenges of his work. Jeremy shares his lifelong love for wild things and his identity as a storyte...

Does connecting to a planet require seeing it? And at what cost to the environment,  the wildlife, and people? Join us for an Earth Day special on Talking Apes Podcast as we chat with Ben Bressler, founder of Natural Habitat Adventures, about the transformative power of purposeful travel. 'We're passionate about conservation, and we're passionate about travel, so we use travel to af...

Greetings, troop! Welcome back to Talking Apes Season 3. We're kicking off 2024 with a thought-provoking episode featuring Kathayoon Khalil , conservation psychologist and education professional with a rich background spanning zoos, aquariums, museums, and nature centers. This week, our chat explores: The Power of Empathy  – How it shapes our attitudes towards animals and influences our actio...

Evolution - Who are we, where did we begin? The evolution of us and apes like us - gorillas, chimps, bonobos, and orangutans - likely began long before any of us resembled the apes of today. For Dr. Sergio Almécija that journey begins in the Miocene some 5-23 million years ago. Dr. Sergio Almécija studies the evolution of humans alongside that of our living closest relatives, the apes. Modern apes...

Beyond Biology: Primate Pelage, Racism, and Academic Triumphs Colour and pattern of hair and skin play a powerful role in how primates interpret and interact with others and the world.  Primates are the most colourful and pelage-diverse of all mammals. In this episode, we dive into the vibrant world of non-human primate hair and skin colour with passionate Ph. D. student at the University of of Ma...

On this week's episode of Talking Apes Podcast , we're joined by two extraordinary scientists, Dr Cleve Hicks and Toni Romani , as they lead us into the enigmatic world of the Bili-Ape and beyond. Few people have ventured as far and deep into the Congo 's dark and secretive forests as Dr Cleve Hicks . Primatologist and associate professor at the University of Warsaw, Cleve takes us...

 Unraveling the Meaty Mysteries of Human Evolution with Dr. Briana Pobiner This week on Talking Apes we journey back in time to explore our ancestral roots with Dr. Briana Pobiner. As a distinguished paleoanthropologist, Dr. Pobiner delves deep into the evolution of the human diet and the pivotal role meat played in our development as a species. Briana, who leads the Smithsonian Human Origins educ...

A World Gorilla Day Special Exploring the Fate of the Colossal Grauer's Gorillas Situated on the eastern edge of the expansive Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo , GRACE   holds the unique distinction of being the world's sole sanctuary for Grauer's gorillas . The largest primates on our planet , yet the least known of the gorilla species, these giants are facing a dire...

Diana Kanweri closes not only our special Making of Chimp Empire series, but Season 2 of Talking Apes . The talented Ugandan chimpanzee field guide and camera operator was the first ever Ugandan woman to work on the Ngogo Chimp Project and made an invaluable contribution to the Netflix docuseries. Diana's expertise in navigating the Ugandan wilderness and her keen eye for capturing stunning s...

‘When I arrived at Ngogo, it didn’t take me long to figure out this place was unusual.’   For the second installment of our Making of Chimp Empire Series, we were privileged to have the esteemed Professor John Mitani as a guest on Talking Apes. John shared intimate stories about his extraordinary lifetime of work studying the Ngogo chimpanzees and his latest adventure serving as a scientific advis...

‘Chimpanzees are just incredibly special animals and I think what makes them so unique is their individuality. It’s such a privilege to be able to spend so much time with them.’ The third installation going behind-the-scenes of Chimp Empire in our four-part series celebrating World Chimp Day 2023 , featuring immensely talented Director of Photography, Benjamin Sadd . Ben played a crucial role in t...

‘We didn’t decide what we wanted the story to be. We wanted the chimps to tell their story, and document that with the highest level of authenticity.’  Director James Reed is a visionary filmmaker whose work has captivated audiences around the world. His 2023 Netflix docuseries, Chimp Empire , showcases his remarkable storytelling abilities and his dedication to shedding light on the lives of chim...

In recent years, podcasts have emerged as an innovative and accessible medium for science education. With their ability to engage, inform, and entertain listeners, podcasts have become an invaluable tool for disseminating knowledge about various scientific disciplines...including the best one of all, primatology   ;) It probably won't come as a surprise that  - apart from, of course, our own...

Held captive as pets, dressed in human clothes, forced to perform tricks, and in some cases, even brutally tortured and killed. These are just some of the despicable ways that primates and other wildlife are being exploited online for likes, shares, and cash.  The rise of social media has unfortunately made it easier for people to share photos and videos of animal cruelty. And according to researc...

Did tool-use lead to talking? Dr. Gilly Forrester’s groundbreaking research has contributed significantly to our understanding of the evolution of language in humans. Her work, focused on the cognitive abilities of great apes, has highlighted fascinating discoveries about their use of tools and problem solving abilities. "We share an incredible evolutionary history with other great apes.&quot...

Gadget Recycler-Ape Lover.   This is how Eric Ronay signs off on all his emails. From his warehouse in Louisville, Kentucky, Eric works diligently to not only save gorillas and their habitats, but also to save our precious environment while enacting lasting culture change. Eric, whose vision is clearly seen through the work that Eco-Cell does, wants to empower people, especially teenagers and youn...

Mountain gorilla tourism owes its legacy to one man - Praveen Moman.  A visionary conservationist and entrepreneur, Praveen is also called the father of great ape ecotourism in Rwanda's  Virunga Mountains and the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest of Uganda. Praveen grew up surrounded by Uganda's natural beauty so his passion for conservation was sparked at an early age. After graduating univers...

" Viruses are the dark angels of evolution, terrific and terrible, without which, the immense biological diversity gracing our planet would collapse." In 2013 veteran science writer David Quammen wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times titled, The Next Pandemic: Not if, but When?  Seven years later he found himself writing about the horrors of the very thing he had foretold, as the...

Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a vet, conservationist, and founder of Conservation through Public Health . Join  us this week on Talking Apes where she tells us about her new book Walking with Gorillas , which chronicles her journey towards becoming Uganda's first-ever wildlife veterinarian , and details her innovative approach to gorilla conservation.  Gladys's work has been revolutionary...

IN THE SPOTLIGHT is a quarterly feature where we revisit past Talking Apes episodes that focus on highly critical issues. For our March 2023 instalment we're featuring our Season 1 episode with disease detective Dr Tony Goldberg , accompanied by three brand new podcasts exploring disease ecology and the links between animal health, human health, and the environment.  Zoonotic diseases occur w...

"Twelve years ago I heard a phrase that changed my life. I was sitting at a campfire in central Africa and heard, ' thirteen dead gorillas '.  I didn't know it at the time, but that phrase was launching me on a long quest to understand the ecology and evolutionary biology of scary viruses." Join us this week on Talking Apes when we talk to science author David Quammen abou...