The Think Wildlife Podcast

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we are joined by Heather Ripley, founder and CEO of Orange Orchard , as a part of Ripley PR , a mission-driven public relations agency dedicated to helping animal welfare and conservation organizations grow their impact through strategic storytelling. With a background in marketing and PR, Heather shares how she transitioned from running a traditional...

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we sit down with Devica Ranade, founder of Ecology Explained , to explore the critical role of science communication in bridging the gap between ecological research and public understanding. Trained as a behavioral ecologist with extensive field experience—from studying tadpole foraging behavior in India to giraffe social dynamics and meerkat systems...

The Western Ghats of India are one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, home to thousands of endemic species and remarkable ecological diversity. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Abinesh Anbazhagan , a PhD scholar at Pondicherry University whose research explores herpetology , biodiversity discovery, and the growing role of technology in wildlife conserv...

Conservation begins with awareness, and one of the most powerful ways to protect biodiversity is by inspiring the next generation to care about nature. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Soma Mandal , a conservation educator working on wildlife outreach programs focused on children and young students. The conversation explores how early exposure to wildlife and environmen...

Southeast Asia’s rainforests are among the most biologically rich ecosystems on Earth, yet they are disappearing at an alarming rate. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Leif Cocks, founder of The Orangutan Project , about the urgent challenge of protecting the last remaining rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia and the wildlife that depends on them. Orangutans are one of...

The Indian wolf is one of South Asia’s most misunderstood predators and one of the least studied carnivores in the region. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Omar Khayam, a conservation researcher working on wolf genetics and carnivore ecology in Pakistan. The conversation explores new research suggesting that Indian wolves may represent one of the most ancient lineages o...

Asian elephants are among the most endangered large mammals on Earth, with only 35,000–40,000 individuals remaining across their entire range. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Nikki Sharp, Executive Director of Wildlife SOS USA, about the urgent challenges facing Asian elephants across South and Southeast Asia and the conservation efforts working to secure their future....

India’s grasslands and savannas are among the most overlooked and misrepresented ecosystems in the country. Frequently labelled as “wastelands,” these open natural ecosystems have been systematically excluded from biodiversity policy, targeted for tree plantations, infrastructure, and renewable energy projects, and widely misunderstood in both public and scientific discourse. Yet grassland ecosyst...

In this wide-ranging episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee is joined by David Will from Island Conservation to explore why islands sit at the heart of the global biodiversity crisis—and why they also represent one of conservation’s greatest sources of hope. Islands occupy a unique place in Earth’s ecological history. Despite covering a tiny fraction of the planet’s land area,...

In this deeply informative episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nibedita Chakraborty, a wildlife and biodiversity researcher whose work focuses on wetlands, urbanization , and citizen science. The conversation centres on the East Kolkata Wetlands, one of India’s most important urban wetlands, and uses this globally significant landscape to explore broader questi...

In this episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nishan Limbu , Tujin Rai , and Nischal Kunwar from the Nature Conservation and Study Centre for a wide-ranging conversation on youth-led wildlife conservation and biodiversity research in Nepal’s Himalayan landscapes. Rather than focusing on a single species, this episode explores how grassroots conservation initiativ...

In this in-depth episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee speaks with Hamza Butt , about one of the most urgent yet under-discussed challenges facing conservation today: how to reconcile development with the protection of fragile mountain ecosystems. Hamza’s work sits at the intersection of sustainable linear infrastructure, biodiversity conservation, and climate policy. Drawing...

In this episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee is joined by Divya Banerjee, founder of Uttarayan Wildlife, for a deeply grounded conversation on elephants, people, and landscapes in eastern India. Drawing on years of frontline conservation experience, Divya shares how elephant conservation in human-dominated regions is inseparable from social justice, livelihoods , and long-te...

In this thought-provoking episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nitish Agrawal , founder of The Last Vulture , to unpack one of the most urgent yet overlooked stories in Indian biodiversity: the vulture crisis and its far-reaching ecological and public health consequences . Vultures are keystone species and irreplaceable scavengers, playing a critical role in mai...

In this compelling episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast , host Anish Banerjee speaks with Indrajit Ghorpade, founder of the Deccan Conservation Foundation , about wolf conservation in the Koppal District of Karnataka and the overlooked biodiversity of the Deccan Plateau. The conversation offers a rare, ground-level perspective on the Indian wolf and the urgent need to rethink how India approaches...

India’s coastal waters hold immense promise—and growing peril. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee speaks with Oishinee Chakraborty from the Kuddle Life Foundation, a young organization redefining marine conservation in Pondicherry through science, community collaboration, and artificial reefs. Oishinee introduces listeners to the Foundation’s origins—founded in 2020...

Nepal is home to some of the world’s most iconic wildlife — from tigers, rhinos, and elephants to lesser-known species like pangolins and medicinal orchids. Yet behind its breathtaking biodiversity lies a complex struggle against wildlife poaching, illegal wildlife trade, and habitat loss. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Kumar Paudel, founder and director of Greenhood...

As the global biodiversity crisis intensifies, the race is on to design financial systems that protect nature rather than destroy it. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, Dr. Samuel Sinclair, co-founder of Biodiversify, unpacks the evolution of biodiversity credits, the limitations of the current biodiversity credit market, and the urgent need for credible biodiversity conservation finan...

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we travel to the frozen frontiers of the Arctic to uncover one of conservation’s most inspiring success stories — the revival of the Arctic fox in Svalbard and Fennoscandia. Host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nina Elisabeth Eide from the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), who shares her remarkable two-decade journey studying and protecting...

The African savannas once echoed with herds of graceful antelopes—species perfectly adapted to life in some of the harshest landscapes on Earth. Among them, the Beisa oryx stands out as a symbol of resilience, yet today it faces growing threats from habitat loss, poaching, and human expansion. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we explore the inspiring story of oryx conservation and re...

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we explore one of India’s most unique and little-known primates — the slender loris, a small nocturnal primate that thrives in the tree canopies of southern India and Sri Lanka. Joining us is Professor Kaberi Kar Gupta , visiting scientist at the Indian Institute of Science and founder of the Urban Slender Loris Project , who shares her decades-long j...

High in the misty forests of North Bengal and Northeast India, a quiet conservation movement is unfolding around one of the world’s most charismatic yet misunderstood mammals — the red panda. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee speaks with young conservationist Aamir Khan Sohel, whose pioneering work bridges red panda conservation breeding, community-led conservation...

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Ishan Shanavas — a nature photographer, author, and founder of EcoInspire, an environmental education initiative that has already reached over 20,000 students across 70 schools in five Indian states. Through engaging storytelling, dynamic school sessions, and vivid wildlife photography, Ishan is helping shape how young people understand...

In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we are joined by Etelle Higonnet, founder of Coffee Watch, a nonprofit watchdog organization dedicated to the proposition that we should make the world a better place with each cup of coffee. We uncover the hidden environmental and social costs of the global coffee industry — from deforestation and ecosystem degradation to human rights violations in c...

Across Asia, nearly one in three elephants lives in captivity—used in temples, tourism, logging, and religious festivals. In this powerful episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, Canadian photographer and elephant conservation advocate Larry Laverty joins host Anish Banerjee to shed light on the suffering of captive elephants and the urgent need for elephant conservation across both Asia and Africa...