The Wild Life

When we started The Wild Life, the original idea was to answer listener submitted questions and have every day people on the show to interview guests with us or talk about their interests and passion. Well, when you first start a podcast, you have no listeners, so we had to re-evaluate. In the last year, we've grown quite a bit and now have that listener base which enables us to do that which we o...

If you live in the north, you almost definitely know we have frogs, but how do they survive the winter? That's what we explore today as we revisit one of our SHORT series episodes from July 2019! Read the associated blog post and check out some pictures! Rate and review us wherever you listen, or on Podchaser Want to be on the show? You don't have to be an expert! Contact us, here! Follow us on In...

In this time of self-isolation and social-distancing, this time where we are inundated with numbers and figures every waking hour of the day, we wanted to take a break from our status-quo and do something a bit different. What we all need is a little connection, so this week we have a conversation. Just two people, me and the one and only Corina Newsome (aka the Hood Naturalist) chatting about con...

Hey! Devon, here. March, as you may know, is International Women’s Month, and in honor of that (and the most important women in our lives), my wife and our mother are taking over---and they insisted this episode be called "Hooters". Why? Well, you can ask them...but mainly because it's about owls! The two of them owl-bsolutely love them. So, they sat down to talk about owls, poke fun at Richard an...

Everyone loves penguins, but how much do we really know about them as living beings? This week, The Wild Life is taking a waddle on the wild side, and our guide on our clumsy, yet hopefully charming journey is the one, the only, the...penguin lady, Dyan deNapoli. Dyan deNapoli is a penguin expert, TED speaker, and author of the award-winning book, The Great Penguin Rescue, which chronicles her exp...

It's #CitizenScienceFriday! This week, we sit down to chat with Katie-Lyn Bunney, Education Coordinator at the Monarch Joint Venture, a partnership of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and academic programs that are working together to support and coordinate efforts to protect the  monarch  butterfly migration across the lower 48 United States. YOU can be involv...

Ahead of next weeks #CitizenScienceFriday where we talk to Katie-Lyn Bunney of the Monarch Joint Venture, we wanted to revisit an old favorite as a context filler for some of what you will hear...and because we love the topic! Starting at a young age, we are all introduced to this idea, an idea that we carry with us and adapt, and reapply as a metaphor for our own lives---this idea of becoming som...

In part 3, we talk to Dr Robert T Mason about the absolute chaos that is the sex life of a garter snake. We talk snake pits, mating balls, cloacal fluids, copulatory plugs, cryptic female choice, Snakes on a Plane, pheremones, and so much more! Special thanks to Dr Robert T Mason ( https://masonlab.science.oregonstate.edu/ ), Sebastian Echeverri (Twitter: @spiderdaynight, Instagram: @spiderdaynigh...

We're flipping the script this Valentine's Day with a three part series where we show some love to nature's unloved: spiders and snakes! In part 2, we talk to Shakira Quiñones about Nephilid Spiders (like North America's Golden Silk), weird spider sex, and have her and Sebastian Echeverri answer your listener submitted questions! We talk spider oral sex, copulatory plugs, Spider-Frog Buddy Comedie...

We're flipping the script this Valentine's Day with a three part series where we show some love to nature's unloved: spiders and snakes! In part 1, we talk to Sebastian Echeverri about everything from fear of spiders, spider VR, spider dancing, spider sex, tiny spiders on tiny treadmills, and everything in-between! Part 2 will air on February 18th! Special thanks to Sebastian Echeverri (Twitter: @...

In this episode, Devon and Richard talk snow, Frozen 2, whether or not water has memory (and if it's good or bad), the Big Bang, the formation of planets, the secret role of bacteria, why snowflakes are intricately symmetrical, and more! **Stay tuned for an updated episode description containing a link to 2 video demonstrations for our Try This at Home segments! Become a patron (and our best frien...

Discover why we are seeing less fireflies, the secrets behind their natural glow, how to find yourself a lady firefly, and so much more in this jam-packed episode. Our guest is Lynn Frierson Faust, the lightning bug lady of Knoxville, TN. She’s the author of Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs ,which details flash patterns of the 75+ species found in the eastern and central United States and...

It's summer and a storm has just passed through. You step outside and are instantly greeted with that good ole' familiar smell---the smell of rain. But what is that smell? After all, water itself isn't particularly smelly, right? In this episode, Richard's first solo mission, we explore the surprising secrets behind the smell of rain. It is also our first ever member drive. If you become a member...

Happy Halloween! In this super special, unexpected, and therefore super last minute holiday treat (and trick), Devon reads a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story, A Tell Tale Heart , that you undoubtedly were coerced into reading in high school. In our somewhat modernized version, we get a different, more wildlife oriented ending that turns out to be the most opposite from horror as y...

The Wild Life presents, Stardust---a show that explores all of the other science-y things that don’t quite fit under the umbrella of The Wild Life. Things like why is the ocean salty, where did all the of earths water come from, how is gold made, what happens when two black holes collide, time travel, lithium, and basically everything else. This is our test pilot, of sorts! In this episode, we exp...

In honor of Spooktober, we are doing the time warp to revisit two fan-favorites on one of nature's most needlessly feared and misunderstood critters: bats. Part 1 Belief…belief is an interesting thing. Some of our beliefs are very close to our hearts, untouchable, unchangeable. Some of our beliefs are more flexible, changing if you have some kind of evidence or experience that can convince you oth...

In this episode, we sit down with Stanford's Dr Kabir Peay, self described mykophile and fungi expert who recently helped to maap out the Wood Wide Web on a global scale. We talk Spongebob, Gringotts, Wall Street, and reveal the secrets of an underground ecosystem that will change the way you see the forest for forever! Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patre...

It's our very first #CitizenScienceFriday! We sit down to chat with Carrie Seltzer, Stakeholder Engagement Strategist at iNaturalist to discuss their amazing platform, how it works, the democratization of science, bird feathers, dragonfly wings, Russian nature geeks, and so much more! Now, you can join our new The Wild Life community on iNaturalist with a new joinable project! Connect with a commu...

In this episode, we sit down and chat with a really fun guy (get it? like fungi? aha..ha...), Dr Tom Volk of UW-Lacrosse, and holy cow, pun intended (you’ll see), we covered a lot of ground. Everything from how mushrooms are made, to the best mushrooms to forage, how fungi hunt, fungi in the brain, whether or not bakers yeast is the same organism associated with yeast infections, an underground Gr...

Interview with Dr. Tim Caro, professor of Wildife Biology at UC Davis, on his research which may have revealed the truth behind the mystery of zebra stripes.

An unexpected turn of events, a last-minute decision, and here we are! This week, we revisit an oldie but a goodie as we preview what is to come. Next week is The Fungus Among Us Part I, and the following week will be a double whammy: Part II and our first #CitizenScienceFriday! Thank you for being patient while we work to make sure you get the awesome episodes that you deserve! Read more and see...

This creature is one of the oldest living animals in existence, it shoots a death slime out of its face, and drinks it’s prey up like a smoothie. They're one of the coolest creatures on 20+ legs--- I’m talking about, of course, the Velvet Worm. Hold onto your butts, you’re about to get a whole face full of velvety worm. ***CORRECTION*** As it turns out, there are actually currently just about 200...

Nothing is ever as it seems. Get ready for a tangled web of semantics and systematics! To read the blog version and see the video mentioned, visit https://thewildlife.blog/2019/07/09/when-a-spider-isnt-a-spider/ If you are interested in learning more about our upcoming hikes, visit https://thewildlife.blog/hike/ Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patreon.com/T...

If you live in the north, you almost definitely know we have frogs, but how do they survive the winter? If you are interested in learning more about our upcoming hikes, visit https://thewildlife.blog/hike/ Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife and help us to keep doing what we are doing and getting better! Follow us on instagram at instagr...