Wild Connection

Muddy Waters: Humans and Elephants Part II

Welcome back everyone. This week is Part 2 of my interview with geographer Dr. Jacob Shell.  He specializes in human transportation networks that rely on animals. His book, Giants of the Monsoon forest: Living and Working with Elephants, is a thought provoking read. If you haven’t heard part one, please do listen as that’s where we talk about the history of humans using elephants, talk about why Asian elephants are still used while African elephants are not, and where he describes how new elephants are captured. We left off on the cusp of talking about how continued use of elephants helps with conservation. In this episode we shift toward exploring how the humans and elephants interact in modern Myanmar and what this means for the future of the Asian elephant.  

 

Dr. Jacob Shell is a professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University. He writes about transport animals, maps, and transient landscapes.

You can connect with him on Twitter @JacobAShell  and he has a marvelous visual website 

 https://jacobshell.carbonmade.com/

 

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

 

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Muddy Waters: Humans and Elephants

Hi everyone. This week is Part I of a 2 part interview I had with Dr. Jacob Shell is a geographer that specializes in transportation networks and the interface between humans and other animals when it comes to getting around. We talk about one of his books, Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants. His work and this book really examines so many aspects of how connected we all are that we just couldn’t cover it all in one podcast. When we consider how we use other species to meet our needs, one has to ask, are we and can we also meet the needs of those species that we depend on? How can we ensure their autonomy and independence in a rapidly a world we dominate?

Dr. Jacob Shell is a professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University. He writes about transport animals, maps, and transient landscapes.

You can connect with him on Twitter @JacobAShell  and he has a marvelous visual website 

 https://jacobshell.carbonmade.com/

You can also see more of his work here. His book, Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants is available on Amazon and other sellers. It is fascinating and I recommend it highly. 

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Persons of the Forest

It is Earth Day tomorrow April 22, so this episode is coming out a little late. As a celebration of Earth Day,  my guest Dr. Gary Shapiro and I talk about orangutans, the not for profit that he co-founded with his wife, and how becoming aware and researching the nuances of the difficult ecological problems we are facing is something we should all commit to this Earth Day 2021. 

 

To learn more about the organization, Orang Utan Republic visit their website at https://www.orangutanrepublik.org

You can also follow them on Twitter @OURF and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/OrangUtanRepublik

 

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

 

Love is a Battlefield

Today I am talking about insects, their weapons, how they are used in love and war, and how some scientists curious about why insects have elaborate weaponry use a bit of creativity to get some answers. One of those scientists, Dr. Zach Emberts is my guest today. He studies animal behavior and the evolution of anima weapons with a focus on insects. 

 

Dr. Emberts is a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. The research we are talking about today was done in collaboration with his postdoctoral advisor, Dr. John Weins. You can learn more about the Weins lab here and follow Zach Emberts on Twitter @ZachEmberts 

A highlight of the episode is where Zach talks about the creative problem solving needed to design the body armour used in the fighting experiments. 

And here is a video showing just how these critters fight and wrestle.

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

 

If the Bite Fits

In this episode I talk with  Dr. Adam- Hartstone-Rose whose bustling functional morphology and comparative anatomy lab at NCSU is not just giving us insights into the relationship between jaws and diet but is a place of mentoring for the next generation of scientists. 

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

To find out more about Dr. Adam Hartstone-Rose and his lab visit his website here: https://hartstoneroselab.wordpress.ncsu.edu and follow him on Twitter @GreaterSkulls

Here are some of the places and organizations we talked about in this episode:

American Museum of Natural History: https://www.amnh.org

 Carolina Tiger Rescue: https://carolinatigerrescue.org

Duke Lemur Center: https://lemur.duke.edu

 If you like the show theme music that's thanks to George Nardo of Luna Recording Studios in Tucson AZ. https://lunarecording.com

Ecological Grief- A Conversation with Nathaniel Popkin

This episode is about our relationship to nature, how no matter how passionately you care about the planet you are complicit in its destruction by merely existing, and what, in face of calamity can we actually do about it? 

Nathaniel Popkin,  novelist, essayist, editor, documentary writer, and critic has released a new book called To Reach the Spring: From Complicity to Consciousness in the Age of the Eco-Crisis brings to the forefront all of these aspects. 

In our conversation we talk about environmental advocacy, the inequality of influence, decolonization, and integration of the messiness of nature back into our lives. 

If you want to cnnect with Nathaniel check out his website, reach out on twitter @NathanielPopkin and get a copy of his new book, To Reach the Spring

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Thanks for supporting the show and keep an eye out for our Patreon link coming up soon!

If you like the show theme music that's thanks to George Nardo of Luna Recording Studios in Tucson AZ. https://lunarecording.com

Butterflies: The Pandas of the Sky

This episode is all about butterflies, or the pandas of the sky. Check out this cool art I had my friend and artist extraordinaire, Kry Hookuh create. You can check out her work at kryshookuhdoodles.com and follow her on Instagram @kryhookuh

With the release of two new papers looking at what is happening to butterflies as a consequence of climate change, Katy Prudic, Assistant Professor of Data and Citizen Science in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Arizona and colleagues are revealing that big changes are happening for butterflies. One study, published in Science, shows a decline in butterfly populations over the past 40 years. Given continuing warming, especially in Fall, this decline will likely continue. What does this mean for butterflies? For many it means they won’t be able to take the heat. For some, though, like the Giant swallowtail, they may be able to shift northward to escape the increasing temperatures. That comes from the second important paper Katy and her colleagues also just published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 

We talk about these studies and more. Like why do people love butterflies? And of course, because people do love butterflies, they are helping scientists get science done. Plus, you’ll learn some interesting little tidbits about butterflies you may not have known before. I know I did. You can follow Katy on Twitter @Envirokaty 

Lastly, I was lucky enough to be part of the monarch butterfly tagging effort. Check out the video of me tagging one on my YouTube Channel, Wildlife Connection TV, here.

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

Thanks for supporting the show and keep an eye out for our Patreon link coming up soon!

If you like the show theme music that's thanks to George Nardo of Luna Recording Studios in Tucson AZ. https://lunarecording.com

Look Who's Talking

This week's episode explores what we know about language, cognition and emotional intelligence in other animals. I talk with Con Slobodhcikoff,  CEO of Zoolingua and author of Chasing Dr. Doolittle: Learning the Language of Animals. You can find out more about Dr. Con at his website https://www.conslobodchikoff.com and you can order a copy of his thoughtful and provocative book here.

He is at the forefront of utilizing new technology like artificial intelligence to decode the language of other species. A lot of us already know that our companion animals communicate with us. Whether its dogs or cats they have been smart enough to develop unique vocalizations reserved just for talking to us. Cats for instance don’t meow at each other, that just for us. Its almost as if they realized us silly humans can’t speak their language so they worked out a way to talk to us. People like Con Slobodchikoff are working to develop tools that will help us better understand their language. Perhaps then we can stop trying to make other species speak human language as a criteria for having language. Science is finally catching up with better tools and creative minds to reveal just how connected we really are.

Speaking of creativity, Con is an artist as well. Check out his work at https://www.artabstractphotography.com and also his partner Judy, another scientist and artist creates spectacular paintings, https://www.judekaiart.com/index.php

You can connect with Con on Facebook at Twitter at 

https://www.facebook.com/con.slobodchikoff/

https://www.facebook.com/Doctor.Con

@DoctorCon

Don't forget to follow the show and connect with us on Twitter @wildconnectpod and with me, your host @realdrjen 

An Ape's Ethic- A Conversation With Gregory Tague

Welcome to the fourth episode of Wild Connection The Podcast. In this episode I share a little about how I came to even study animal behavior, some of my early experiences with great apes, and talk with literary scholar Gregory Tague about what he calls an ape ethic. 

I got my start as a volunteer for the Center for Great Apes (https://www.centerforgreatapes.org), a sanctuary dedicated to providing a safe haven of life long care for chimpanzees and orangutans in need of a home. They are always in need of donations, so please consider giving. You can also support them by buying some of the wonderful artwork created by the apes, some of whom love to paint for enrichment. I have shared a piece I own as the cover art for this episode

My guest for this episode is Gregory F. Tague, Ph.D. (1998), New York University, who is a Professor in the departments of Literature, Writing and Publishing / Interdisciplinary Studies and founder and senior developer of The Evolutionary Studies Collaborative at St. Francis College, N.Y. He is also the founder and organizer of a number of Darwin-inspired Moral Sense Colloquia and other multidisciplinary events. Recent, relevant books include An Ape Ethic and the Question of Personhood (Lexington Books, 2020), Art and Adaptability: Consciousness and Cognitive Culture (Brill, 2018), Evolution and Human Culture (Brill, 2016), and Making Mind: Moral Sense and Consciousness (Rodopi, 2014). Tague has written or edited a number of other academic books, such as Character and Consciousness (2005) and Origins of English Dramatic Modernism (2010). He is the founding editor of the peer-reviewed ASEBL Journal (ethics/arts/evolution) and general editor of the Bibliotekos literary website as well as Literary Veganism: An Online Journal. Tague has also edited five literary anthologies, notably, Being Human (2012) and Puzzles of Faith and Patterns of Doubt (2013). Tague is currently working on a book about veganism and evolution.

We first discuss his book An Ape Ethic and his perspective on why we can look to other species for developing a better ethical relationship with nature. We spend that last part of the interview talking about his latest work on the evolution of veganism. 

You can find out more about Gregory, his books, and other works at his website https://sites.google.com/site/gftague/an-ape-ethic

He also co-authors an online journal called Literary Veganism which you can check out here  www.litvegan.net  and another journal of ethics/art/evolution, ASEBL  www.asebl.net

If you are digging the show subscribe and share it so others can enjoy it too. You can follow the show on Itunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Also follow the show on Twitter: @WildConnectPod

You can also follow me on 

Twitter: @realdrjen

Instagram: @readrjen

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RealDrJen

There is also a YouTube Channel where you can find a range of videos, some of them tied to podcast episodes. More are on the way so subscribe to Wild Connection TV

 

The Animal Pocket Guide to Dating

Happy Valentine's Day! While other animals celebrate their unions more than once a year we humans have taken the single anniversary, single holiday, and otherwise infrequent approach. Our dating lives are filled with challenges and the same is true for other species.

Like so many other species, we have to figure out how to date and mate successfully. As hard as that is, talking about it seems even more challenging. This is where other species can help. You just might find that discussing dancing prairie chickens, picky lionesses, or cheating swans makes the perfect segue into talking about some very common human problems. At the end of the day, whether it's the blue-footed booby, the adzuki bean beetle, or a slew of other species, animals have a lot to teach us about love and relationships.

This short episode is based on content from my book, Wild Connection: What animal courtship and mating tell us about human relationships. The audio version is available on my website at https://www.jenniferverdolin.com/books

If you like the cover that's by Krys Hookah. You can check out more of her art here: Kryshookuhdoodles.com and you can follow her on Instagram @kryhookah

 

If you like the show theme music that's thanks to George Nardo of Luna Recording Studios in Tucson AZ. https://lunarecording.com