Wild Connection

Episode Summary

Urban ecologist and National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Chris Schell joins Wild Connection to explore how coyotes, foxes, and raccoons adapt to city life and how the neighborhoods we build shape not just human lives, but the wild animals living alongside us.

Dr. Chris Schell studies urban wildlife behavior and physiology, focusing on coyotes, foxes, and raccoons in cities. His work bridges animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and the built environment, using tools like motion-activated cameras, GPS collars, hormone assays, and genomic methods.

To keep up with Chris and his lab you can check out his website

Episode Summary

Marine mammal cognition researcher Dr. Kevin Woo joins Wild Connection to talk about what’s actually going on inside the minds of seals and sea lions — how they perceive their world, make decisions, and adapt to one of the busiest, loudest urban waterways on the planet: New York Harbor.[Attachment]

About the Guest

Dr. Kevin Woo is co-director of the Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition (C-SPEC). His research spans sensory perception, cognition, and animal communication, with a focus on harbor seals and sea lions studied both in the field in New York Harbor and through cognitive testing at the Long Island Aquarium.

And listen to an earlier episode with Dr. Kristy Biolsi back in 2021 

We like to believe humans are special, separate, and sitting at the top of some invisible hierarchy of life. But what if that story is not only wrong, it’s actively harming our science, our relationships, and the way we move through the world?

In this episode of Wild Connection, I’m joined by primatologist and author Dr. Christine Webb to talk about her new book, An Arrogant Ape.  Christine grew up befriending the animals in her backyard, then found evolutionary biology and Darwin, which gave her a new perspective to that childhood sense of kinship with other animals. From there, she went on to study primates and teach a popular Harvard course also called “The Arrogant Ape,” focused on what truly makes us human and how we’ve built a culture around our supposed uniqueness.
Together, we talk about human exceptionalism: how the idea that humans are above and apart from “animals” is threaded through our language, our textbooks, our politics, our food systems, our religious stories, and even the way we design scientific studies.  We discuss why it became taboo in Western science to discuss animal emotions and minds, how behaviorism and the “black box” view of the mind sidelined rich subjective experiences, and why Darwin’s own belief in animal minds was gradually pushed out of mainstream discourse.

If you want to learn more about Christine and get a copy of her book you can visit her website: https://www.cewebb.com/

Show Notes Summary

In this episode, I sit down with evolutionary biologist Joan Strassmann to explore the social lives of birds and what they can teach us about behavior, self‑interest, and community across species. Building on the previous episode with primatologist Joan Silk, who showed how long‑term studies of baboons reveal the deep effects of early adversity and social bonds on lifespan and fitness, we shift from primate societies to avian societies and take our attention to their lives.

Joan Strassmann introduces flight as birds’ defining “superpower,” explaining how the demands of aerial life push many species to the energetic edge, where small birds can lose around ten percent of their body weight overnight (every night!) and must constantly refuel just to survive. We also talk about surprising cases of rapid evolution in response to human environments.

A big part of our conversation centers on social strategies like infidelity and extra‑pair copulations that overturned the image of birds as perfectly monogamous and the fluid dynamics of flocks and roosts, where each individual is primarily pursuing its own self‑interest within a loose social contract. We also discuss bird personalities, status hierarchies, and Joan’s “slow birding” philosophy, which encourages people to pick a single bird and watch it for five minutes to begin seeing its individual story rather than just ticking off species on a list.

Throughout, birds become a way of thinking about ourselves: their stress, their negotiation between self‑interest and group life, and their varied responses to human pressure are all part of a broader, comparative view of social behavior that connects baboons, birds, gorillas, and humans. 

Primatologist Joan Silk has spent decades following individual baboons from birth to death, documenting how friendships, conflicts, and early life experiences shape their lives. In this conversation, we explore how grooming, coalition support, and even simple grunts help baboons repair fights and maintain social bonds. We talk about why female baboons have intense relationships with their mothers but more contentious bonds with sisters, what happens hormonally when a close partner dies, and how early adversity can make it harder to form strong social ties later on.

We also draw parallels to human life: bullying and social exclusion, the energy cost of maintaining friendships, the vulnerability of pulling back during hard times, and the moment when a relationship moves beyond tit‑for‑tat reciprocity into something more stable. If you’re curious about the biology of friendship, the psychology of conflict repair, and why our social worlds matter for how long we live, this episode is for you.

Chapters:
00:00 – How Joan Silk fell in love with primate behavior
08:00 – Why long‑term field studies matter
16:00 – Defining ‘social bonds’ and friendship in baboons
22:00 – Grunts, reconciliation, and benign intent
34:00 – Early adversity and the ability to bond
41:00 – Temperament, isolation, and COVID parallels
50:00 – Social ties and lifespan

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but we’re relentlessly reminded that romantic love ought to be the most important relationship in our lives. But in this conversation, evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar, Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford, provides a more nuanced idea.

We explore where humans sit evolutionarily between monogamy and polygamy, why pair bonding may have evolved as a protective strategy in large social groups, and why romance includes friendship and requires continued investment to remain stable. If we treat romantic partners as permanently secure family members we risk neglecting the very behaviors that sustain long-term bonds.

If you want to explore more of Robin's work check out a few of these titles:

Explore Robin Dunbar’s Work

• Friends

• Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language

• How Many Friends Does One Person Need?

• The Social Brain

You can keep up with me on Instagram (@RealDrJen) and check out Wild Connection TV on YouTube where I bring science to life. And check out my Substack for more writings.

How do we live well in a world we cannot control?

In this episode of Wild Connection, I'm joined by Massimo Pigliucci, evolutionary biologist, philosopher, author, and one of today’s leading voices on modern Stoicism. We explore stoicism not as emotional detachment or passive acceptance, but as a practical philosophy designed to help people navigate uncertainty, loss, and moral complexity with clarity and intention.

Drawing on ancient Stoic thinkers and contemporary life, Massimo explains the four cardinal virtues as tools for everyday decision-making. 

Books by Massimo Pigliucci:

• How to Be a Stoic

• A Handbook for New Stoics (with Gregory Lopez)

• Think Like a Stoic

• Beyond Stoicism

• Nonsense on Stilts

Massimo’s Substack 

Next week, Wild Connection launches a special series on love and relationships, beginning with evolutionary anthropologist Robin Dunbar, whose work on friendship, bonding, and group size helps explain why connection is not optional, it’s biological.

You can keep up with me on Instagram (@RealDrJen) and check out Wild Connection TV on YouTube where I bring science to life. And check out my Substack for more writings.

 

What if the building blocks of life are not unique to Earth?
In this episode of Wild Connection, I am joined by Dr. Ersilia Vaudo, astrophysicist who serves as Special Advisor on Future Talents at the European Space Agency and author of The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions. Our conversation comes at a moment of renewed cosmic curiosity, following a recent discovery reported by CNN, Universe Today  and others on how scientists have identified a molecule critical to life drifting through interstellar space.

We explore the five major revolutions that transformed how we understand the universe from Newton’s gravity and Einstein’s spacetime to dark matter, dark energy. And there are still unanswered questions that shape modern astrophysics. Along the way, Ersilia reflects on why curiosity, humility, and wonder remain essential tools for science, and how shifting our perspective beyond an Earth-centered view can deepen our sense of belonging in a vast, evolving cosmos.

From the soil beneath our feet to the chemistry between the stars, this episode invites listeners to consider how deeply connected we are to the universe, not just as observers, but as participants made of the same ancient material.

You can order a copy of Dr. Vaudo's book (and you should) here and keep up with all things astrophysics here.

 

In this episode of Wild Connection, Dr. Jennifer Verdolin speaks with author and essayist Tamara Dean, whose book Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless explores what it means to live in relationship with a place. From the beauty and hardship of rural Wisconsin to the floods, fires, and tornadoes that test both landscape and spirit, Dean shares how community, storytelling, and attentive living can transform adversity into belonging. In this episode we reflect on the practice of slowing down, listening to the land, and learning from the species who share it with us.

Our conversation also reveals how small acts like writing a neighbor’s story after a flood or watching fireflies are opportunities for connection and renewal.

Keep up with Tamara Dean on Facebook 

If Tamara’s reflections inspire you to deepen your own sense of place, explore my Reconnect with Nature course on Audible and companion workbook Rooted in Nature, designed to help you rediscover your connection to the natural world. Next week, the journey continues with astrophysicist Ersilia Vaudo, taking us from the ground to the stars.

You can keep up with me on Instagram (@RealDrJen) and check out Wild Connection TV on YouTube where I bring science to life.

 

Conflict doesn’t stop at people. It also impacts forests, rivers, and species that share our world. In this conversation, Dr. Jen and Dr. András Hárs explore the UN’s complicated role in peacekeeping and environmental protection, weaving together personal stories, global politics, and the overlooked casualties of war: ecosystems and wildlife.

From the Central African Republic’s endangered gorillas to the sustainability dilemmas of COP climate conferences, we talk about the tough issues: Who holds peacekeepers accountable when misconduct occurs? Can international law evolve to treat the environment as a victim of war? And what lessons should we carry forward to ensure peace is sustainable for humans and nature alike?

Keep up with Dr. Hárs on LinkedIn

To learn more about the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), visit: https://sdgs.un.org

You can follow me, Dr. Jennifer Verdolin (Dr. Jen), for more conversations and behind-the-scenes content:

Instagram: @RealDrJen

YouTube: Wild Connection TV

Want to support the show and our work at Wild Connection? Visit www.wildconnection.org to learn more and get involved.