The Think Wildlife Podcast

In Episode 7, join hosts Anish, as he speaks to Nikita Dhawan on her very ambitious Free Shankar Campaign. Shankar is India's only African Elephant, who is currently  in captivity at Delhi Zoo.  Like  3,000 other captive elephants  in India, Shankar suffers severly from isolation, poor living conditions and countless health issues. Nikita's ambitious project hopes to, first, release Shankr from De...

Our guest for Episode 6 of Think Wildlife Podcast is Adam Barlow, founder and Executive Director of WildTeam Conservation, one of the leading conservation educational platforms in the world.   Prior to WildTeams, Adam conducted extensive research on the tigers of Sunderbans, while also leading various conservation projects around South Asia. It was during this period, that he realized academics la...

There are between 3,000 and 4,000 elephants in captivity in India. Despite their cultural reverence as Lord Ganesha, these elephants are exploited to the core. From being stolen from their wild families as calves, to being beaten to submission and worked tirelessly: begging on streets, giving tourist rides or ‘working’ in temples. India’s captive elephants  do not live happy lives ,  mostly their...

In the late 20th Century,  India's vulture population collapsed . Over 90% of the vulture population across South Asia was decimated. This led to an ecological collapse and a public health disaster. The lack of such a power scavenger meant carcasses of livestock and wildlife were left untouched. Other than being a food source for feral dogs, these rotting carcases became the breeding ground of var...

In India, one of the most established and renowned voices in the field of conservation is none other than Bittu Saghal. Despite begining his career as an advertising professional, Bittu is better known for founding the well reputated conservation magazine, Sanctuary Asia,  in 1981.  Inspired by the great Fateh Singh Ratore, Sanctuary Asia has captured millions of people around India with its breat...

Mongabay is by far one of the most prominent and larger conservation news outlets in the world. Founded, in 1999 by Rhett Ayer Butler, the non profit now has over 800 correspondonts in 700 countries  and produces journalism in English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Indonesian and Portugeese. Recently, Mongabay crossed a billion lifetime views. This has contributed significantly to environmental awarness...

Welcome to The Think Wildlife Podcast. In our first episode, join our hosts, Anish Banerjee, as he speaks to Stuart Chapman about his passion for the world's wild cats,  the success of  TX2, the future of tiger conservation   and  threats faced by the smaller felines. Stuart Chapman is a renowned conservationist with over three decade of experience, leading many  prominent WWF projects  in the Ind...

Listed as “ Critically Endangered ” by the IUCN Red List, the Eastern Gorilla is under severe threat. Deforestation for both, agricultural and commercial purposes, has led to severe fragmentation of the habitat of the species. Additionally, poaching has also driven much of this decline. Fortunately, there is still hope. The population of the Mountain Gorilla, one of the two subspecies of the Easte...

The tropics of South East Asia are amongst the most biodiverse regions worldwide. The area also hosts a wide diversity of songbirds! Unfortunately, this taxon, like most in the region, is heavily threatened by habitat loss , particularly driven by the expansion of palm oil . Additionally, the taxa are facing the brunt of the illegal wildlife trade ! Songbirds are popular pets in the region. It is...

An estimated 100 million sharks are lost annually to human activities. Much of this catastrophic phenomenon is caused by the excessive demand for shark fin soup . This delicacy is popular in East Asia, particularly China, which has become an epicenter for the consumption of exotic wildlife. A large population of sharks is also lost as bycatch due to industrial fishing. This is obviously a massive...

Climate change and the loss and degradation of natural habitats are major drivers of species extinction globally. This is especially the case for species in tropical mountain ranges. These species are thermally sensitive and adapted to small environmental niches, hence making them susceptible to extinction . . On this episode, I interview Dr. Umesh Srinivasan from the Centre for Ecological Studies...

A prominent challenge faced not only by conservationists, but most scientists, is the communicating their research without much jargon. Fortunately, there are various conservationist groups making a conscious efforts to dissiminiate ecology for the layman. One such group is Current Conservation, launched by  2007 by Kartik Shanker, Meera Anna and Ankila Hiremath, with a small grant from the Duleep...

While India is well known for her tigers , elephants and rhinos, the country also boasts amongst the richest marine biodiversity. One of the most unique taxa found along India's coasts, are various species of marine turtles . However,  these species are heavily threatened by marine pollution , the illegal wildlife trade of their eggs, attacks by free ranging dogs and habitat loss . Additionally, l...

Launched in 1943 at the Natural History Museum in London, the Field Studies Council has expanded immensely, involving thousands of children in conservation. In this episode, I speak to Mark Castle, the CEO of FSC to talk about the rich history of the organization, the importance of environmental education and youth engagement for conservation and his long term vision for the organization. We also...

The Malaysian Sunbears are one of the rarest species in the world. Their range extends from north-east India across South East Asia. Unfortunately, the sunbear faces various antropogenic pressures , including habitat loss and fragmentation due to the expansion of palm oil and the illegal wildlife trade of bear bile .  The Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre was launched in Sabah in 2008 by Wong S...

Bumblebess are amongst the most important taxa for the global economy. Agricultural systems around the world rely immensely on bumblebess and other invetebrates for the large scale pollinator services provided by them. However, bumblebees are struggling. Like most insects, they are struggling to a whole pletorha of antropogenic stressors including climate change, pesticide usage,  habitat loss and...

With increasing understanding of the interlinkage of biodiversity and climate change, nature based solutions are increasingly being adopted to tackle the climate crisis and bolster economic growth. One particular nature based solution which is growing in prominence is seagrass restoration. Seagrasss meadows not only absorb immense ammounts of carbon, they also host large diversity of marine biodiv...

On this Episode, I interview Stephanie Wray on how United Kingdom's mammals are faring and her experiences as an ecological consultant. We talk about how the role of smaller mammals in the ecosystem, the role of citizen science in montioring the UK's mammals, conservation challenges and the impact of reintroducing beavers and bison in the UK. Furthermore, we talk about the possibility of reintrodu...

Towards the end of the 20th Century, vulture populations across South Asia plummeted , with few species loosing up to 99% of their population.  The loss of vulture populations across the subcontinent has led to an ecological collapse and a public health crisis.  As very powerful scavengers, vultures play a critical role in the consumption of carcasses of not only dead wildlife, but also of livesto...

With less than 500,000 individuals remaining in the wild, elephants are in trouble around the world. The illegal wildlife trade has decimated elephant populations across Africa as gentle giants are the primary target for poachers due to their ivory tusks. Meanwhile in Asia, elephants are facing severe habitat loss due to the expansion of agricultural land, climate change , development of linear in...

Across most regions of the world, habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade are leading causes of biodiversity loss . This is particularly the case with Africa, a continent whose rapdily growing population is battling to escape the cusps of poverty . The illegal wildlife trade is the fourth largest illict market in the world after weapons, drugs and human trafficking. Unfortunately, Africa's wil...

The Amazon Rainforest is one of the most crucial ecosystems in the world. Not only is it home to 10% of all the known species in the world, the rainforest produces around 20% of all oxygen produced on terrestrial ecosystems. With increasing awareness of the importance of biodiversity in tackling the climate crisis, it is therefore critical to conserve the Amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, the Amaz...

Between 2000 and 2020, over 1 million people lost their lives to snakebites in India. Snakebite is the most extensive neglected tropical disease and human wildlife conflict . While about a quarter of India's snakes are venomous, four prominent species are responsible for majority of snakebite in India - Russel's Viper, King Cobra,  Common Krait and Indian Saw-Scaled Viper. On Episode 11, I intervi...

Otters are small carnivorous mammals found predominantly in freshwater and coastal habitats. They are considered keystone species and play a crucial role, not only in regulating aquatic ecosystems and climate change . Unfortunately, they face a large variety of threats , ranging from conflict with humans , pollution, habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade .   3 out of the 13 otter species are...

Over 100 elephants and 350 people lose their lives to human elephant conflict in India. This is not surprising given that only 22% of elephant habitat in India is found within protected areas. The issue of HEC is compounded by increasing habitat fragmentation , due to urbanization, development of linear infrastructure and cropland expansion. On this episode, I interview Prachi Mehta who is the Exe...