Wild World with Scott Solomon

Wild World S2E13 - Watching Whales in Southeast Alaska with Heidi PearsonAlaska is a place of superlatives. It’s by far the largest state in the US. It’s home to the highest mountain in North America, and more than 27,000 glaciers. In the winter, it gets dark and cold– the record low was -80 degrees Fahrenheit. But because Alaska is so big, there’s a big difference between regions. While the far North extends well into the Arctic Circle and is home to polar bears and caribou, and its southern end, Alaska has a much milder climate. Southeast Alaska, which extends along the Western edge of the Canadian province of British Columbia, has dramatic coastlines carved by glaciers where mountains covered in dense forest plunge down toward the sea. This is a land where brown bears hunt for salmon making their way upriver to spawn, as bald eagles soar overhead. There are also over a thousand islands, ranging in size from just a few rocks to as much as 90 miles long. The Pacific Ocean winds its way from north to south, forming a marine maze known as the Inside Passage.The waters off the coast of southeast Alaska are some of the best places in the world to see whales. Whale watching has become a big business, drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. But it’s also a pretty ideal place to be a biologist that studies whales.And that’s exactly what brought our guest here. Dr. Heidi Pearson is Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. She has a Bachelor's degree in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, and Biology, from Duke University and a PhD in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University.This episode of Wild World was produced by 3WireCreative with support from the Rice Alumni Traveling Owls and National Geographic-Lindblad ExpeditionsThe Rice Alumni Traveling Owls program offers exciting intellectual itineraries to destinations across the globe. Traveling Owls trips serve as a catalyst for lifelong learning and strengthen bonds between Rice University alumni and friends. But you don’t have to be a Rice alum to participate in Traveling Owls programs. I’ll be hosting a Traveling Owls trip to southeast Alaska in August 2026 on a tour organized by National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. We would love to have you join us! Visit alumni.rice.edu/travelingowls for all the details. You can also call (713)-34-TRIPS or email travelingowls@rice.edu to ask questions or sign up!Help support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio, the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Mentioned in this episode:Please check out our affiliate link for AUTIO!Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Professionally edited and narrated, the audio...

There are more than 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth. But rather than being spread evenly across the planet, they tend to be clustered in particular locations. A cluster of active volcanoes occurs in east Africa, in what’s known as the Great Rift Valley, which runs through the continent of Africa from Ethiopia in the north to Mozambique in the south.&nbsp;Like other places where volcanoes are clustered, such as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Great Rift Valley is a place where the boundaries between Earth’s tectonic plates meet. In some places, like the Andes of South America, the plates are moving toward one another, causing one plate to be forced below the other, which leads to the formation of tall mountains as the plates buckle and fold. But in East Africa, the plates are moving away from one another. In the gap between them, depressions are created that form large valleys, or lakes as water accumulates. But in a few spots, the separation of these massive plates creates an opening where magma from deeper in the Earth can make its way up to the surface. Where that happens, you get a volcano.Dr. Kayla Iacovino is a geoscientist who has studied volcanoes all over the world. She has a Bachelor’s degree in geology from Arizona State University and a Ph.D. from Cambridge and her current position is Senior Research Scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She has also done fieldwork in Antarctica, Costa Rica, Chile, Italy, North Korea, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her work has been featured on numerous documentaries, including a BBC documentary about her work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.&nbsp;The DR Congo, or DRC, is the second largest country in Africa and is located in the center of the continent. The Congo river flows through it, surrounded by the world’s second largest rainforest. The eastern edge of the country, near the border with Uganda and Rwanda, has rugged mountains. This is where the country’s two active volcanoes are located, Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira. In 2002, an eruption of Nyiragongo devastated the nearby city of Goma. Kayla Iocovino was part of the research team that visited these mountains along with the BBC film crew. I watched the documentary and my jaw was on the floor when I saw how Kayla and her team literally rappelled down into the crater of Nyiragongo, at the bottom of which was a massive lava lake– the largest in the world.&nbsp;To learn more about Kayla&nbsp;Iacovino’s research on volcanoes, visit her website: https://www.kaylaiacovino.com.&nbsp;Did you know Wild World has a merch shop? You can get a T-shirt, coffee mug, or hat to show your support of the podcast. You can find it here: https://www.wildworldshow.com/&nbsp;Wild World is produced by 3WireCreative.Help support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio, the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. <a...

Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. In fact, chimps are more closely related to you and I than they are to other apes, like gorillas. That means we can learn a lot about ourselves by studying chimpanzees. But to really learn the secrets of these amazing animals, you can’t just watch them in a zoo. You have to venture out to where they live.Jane Goodall’s work with wild chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s was groundbreaking in many ways. No one had ever gotten wild chimpanzees to trust them enough to allow close observation of what they do. And, although people had studied captive chimpanzees for decades, she saw chimps doing things that had never been seen before. Her work revealed that wild chimpanzees have much more complex and sophisticated behaviors than people previously thought. That was true of both their individual behaviors– like fishing for termites with a stick– but also their social interactions.But Jane Goodall’s work also proved that it was possible for wild chimpanzees to become habituated to the presence of humans. And that paved the way for other researchers to do the same...Researchers like Dr. Jill Pruetz, who has been studying wild chimpanzees in the West African nation of Senegal since 2001 when she began the processing of habituating chimpanzees at a savanna site called Fongoli. While several other groups of forest chimps had been habituated since Jane Goodall’s work in the 1960s, no one had successfully habituated savanna chimps. Until Jill Pruetz did-- and her work has revealed that savanna chimps are quite different from forest chimps.Jill Pruetz is Regents Professor of Anthropology at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. In addition to publishing dozens of research papers about chimps and other primates, she is also the author of several books, including her latest, Apes on the Edge: Chimpanzee Life on the West African Savanna published by The University of Chicago Press.&nbsp;Learn more about Jill Pruetz’s work with savanna chimpanzees and how you can help:Jill Pruetz's Faculty Profile at Texas State University: https://faculty.txst.edu/profile/2013121&nbsp;&nbsp;Jill Pruetz book, Apes on the Edge: Chimpanzee Life on the West African Savanna: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo238989411.html&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Neighbor Ape, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of chimpanzees in Senegal and to the well-being of humans that live alongside them: https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/10235/neighbor-ape/&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This podcast is produced by 3Wire Creative.Help support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it.Mentioned in this episode:AUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioPlease check out our affiliate link for AUTIO!Autio is a network...

The emergence of life on land was one of the most important moments in the grand saga of life’s evolutionary history. Many of the characteristics of our bodies– like our arms, legs, hips, hands, fingers, and necks– can be traced back to adaptations that occurred during the transition from fish to amphibians. But how do we know that? What evidence exists from this time that can help us piece together the sequence of events that led our ancestors out of the water and onto land?Neil Shubin is a paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and an award winning science communicator whose fieldwork in the Canadian Arctic is helping piece together some of the most important transitions in the history of life. He’s the Robert R Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago. He’s also the author of several books, including Your Inner Fish, The Universe Within, Some Assembly Required, and a new book entitled Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, The Cosmos, and Our Future. His team has discovered several important fossils that have helped biologists better understand how fish evolved into land animals.Neil Shubin’s Lab at the University of Chicago: https://shubinlab.uchicago.edu/Neil Shubin’s new book, Ends of the Earth:https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/692649/ends-of-the-earth-by-neil-shubin/Interactive 3D model of Tiktaalik fossil:https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/tiktaalik-fossil-bodyQikiqtania - fossil fish that returned from land to waterhttps://shubinlab.uchicago.edu/2022/07/20/meet-qikiqtania-a-fossil-fish-with-the-good-sense-to-stay-in-the-water-while-others-ventured-onto-land/This podcast is produced by 3Wire Creative.Help support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it.Mentioned in this episode:AUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioPlease check out our affiliate link for AUTIO!Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Professionally edited and narrated, the audio vignettes combine to paint a picture you’re unlikely to get from a history book or visitor’s guide.<a...

Madagascar is home to some incredible wildlife. Many of the animals in Madagascar occur nowhere else on Earth. Among them are lemurs– a group of primates that resemble monkeys but are in fact their own distinct group. But, unfortunately, these remarkable animals are facing enormous challenges.&nbsp; Dr. Jonah Ratsimbazafyis a primatologist who is from Madagascar and is considered one of the world’s experts on lemurs and is helping lead the fight to protect them. He is the President of the International Primatological Society and was a Co-founder and President of the Madagascar Primate Study and Research Group at the University of Antananarivo, or GERP. He is a member of the African Academy of Sciences and a National Geographic Explorer. He also works with the Houston Zoo as Director of their in-country Madagascar program.&nbsp;Madagascar Primate Study and Research Group: https://www.association-gerp.org/International Primatological Society: https://internationalprimatologicalsociety.org/&nbsp;Houston Zoo’s Madagascar program: https://www.houstonzoo.org/conservation/african-wildlife/#:~:text=The%20Zoo%20is%20committed%20to,primates%20de%20Madagascar%20(GERP).&nbsp;World Lemur Festival: https://www.lemurreserve.org/world-lemur-festival/ Thanks to Eric Wuesthoff and Amy Dunham for lemur audio and video.This podcast is produced by 3Wire CreativeHelp support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Mentioned in this episode:Please check out our affiliate link for AUTIO!Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Professionally edited and narrated, the audio vignettes combine to paint a picture you’re unlikely to get from a history book or visitor’s guide.AutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutio

Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo is a Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Rice. His research focus is paleoanthropology and the archaeology of human origins, with methodological expertise in zooarchaeology, vertebrate taphonomy, and the application of artificial intelligence tools to paleoanthropology. He co-directs the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA, Madrid, Spain) and is Professor of Prehistory at the University of Alcalá in Spain.Since the 1990s, he has co-directed multiple paleoanthropological and archaeological projects in Tanzania, including at Peninj (Lake Natron), Lake Eyasi, and, currently, Olduvai Gorge, where he co-directs TOPPP (The Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project). He has also conducted research at the paleoanthropological sites of Gona (Ethiopia). He has been a visiting scholar and visiting professor at Harvard University, Rutgers University, and University of Missouri at St. Louis.This podcast is produced by 3Wire CreativeHelp support this podcast and future episodes by checking out Autio the perfect travel companion app for more engaging road trips. Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Mentioned in this episode:AUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioPlease check out our affiliate link for AUTIO!Autio is a network of stories, told by master storytellers like Kevin Costner, Phil Jackson, and John Lithgow, with the power to bring the landscape, its people, and its history alive as you pass through it. Professionally edited and narrated, the audio vignettes combine to paint a picture you’re unlikely to get from a history book or visitor’s guide.AutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutioAUTIO SHOW NOTE LINKAutio

Wild World live broadcast from Antarctica!Saturday, December 14 at 1 pm ETScott will be traveling with the Rice University Traveling Owls aboard the National Geographic Explorer. They will be somewhere along the Danco Coast of the West Antarctic Peninsula.The broadcast will be live streamed from our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@wildworldpodcast).Link to live event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJnU3khcV8cSubscribe to @wildworldpodcast on YouTube @wildworldshow on X, Instagram, and Bluesky for updates and notifications!

We’re stepping away from our regular podcast this week to bring you an episode from our friends at WCS Wild Audio—a podcast of the Wildlife Conservation Society. WCS Wild Audio brings you the latest news and newsmakers from WCS’s global field sites and its five wildlife parks in New York City, including the Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium.In today’s episode, Wild Audio’s Hannah Kaplan talks to Inaoyom Imong, Director of Cross River Landscapes for the WCS Nigeria program. The Cross River gorilla is one of the most elusive and critically endangered subspecies of gorilla in the world. Found exclusively in the densely forested jungles between Nigeria and Cameroon, it is thought that there are as few as 300 animals left in the wild. But despite the persistent threats of habitat loss, gene fragmentation, and poaching, there is hope, says Imong.&nbsp;We hope you enjoy the episode. If you like what you hear, follow “WCS Wild Audio" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. And tell them we sent you!WCS Wild Audio: https://www.wcs.org/wcs-wild-audio

We can learn a lot by exploring the edges of the biosphere, where conditions can just barely support even the most hardy organisms. And by venturing beyond the biosphere– by leaving Earth and traveling into space– we can really test the limits of what our bodies are capable of.&nbsp;Scott Parazynski is a former NASA astronaut who has flown on five missions to space and completed seven spacewalks. He is also an emergency medical doctor who has climbed some of the highest mountains on Earth, including Everest, a scuba diver, pilot, rock climber, and luge athlete.&nbsp;Scott describes what it’s like to live and work in space, his journey toward becoming an astronaut, and what being in space and other extreme environments has taught him about Earth and about the limits of the human body.To learn more about Scott Parazynski, check out his book “The Sky Below” and his website:&nbsp; https://parazynski.com/You can learn more about space science and exploration at https://www.nasa.gov/Mentioned in this episode:Lindblad ExpeditionsThe Rice Alumni Traveling Owls program offers exciting intellectual itineraries to destinations across the globe. Traveling Owls trips serve as a catalyst for lifelong learning and strengthen bonds between Rice University alumni and friends. You don’t have to be a Rice alum to participate in Traveling Owls programs. Visit alumni.rice.edu/travelingowls to see a list of upcoming trips. Rice Traveling OwlsLindblad Expeditions

Brazil is one of the most biologically diverse nations on Earth. In the center of Brazil, between the Amazon Rainforest and the Atlantic Coast Rainforest is an ecosystem found nowhere else on Earth– a savanna known as the Cerrado. The Brazilian Cerrado is home to more than 11,000 species of plants, 800 species of birds, and 200 species of mammals, and an unknown number of insects. Yet, much of the biological diversity of the cerrado is hidden underground.In this episode, Scott speaks with his former research advisor Dr. Ted Schultz, Curator of Entomology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Dr. Schultz describes his lifelong fascination with ants, particularly a group of ants that live in the Cerrado and engage in a form of agriculture by cultivating fungi deep underground. To study these fascinating ants– which have been living as farmers for 66 million years– Scott and Ted share stories of their expeditions to the Brazilian Cerrado.&nbsp;But finding the ants is only half the battle. To learn about their underground farming practices, they have to dig deep pits while carefully tracing the ant’s narrow tunnels– all in the sweltering, tropical heat. But, with much of the Cerrado being lost to agriculture and urban development, it’s a race against time to learn about these species before they disappear.&nbsp;Smithsonian Ant Lab website: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/entomology/collections-overview/hymenoptera/antlab&nbsp;More about the Brazilian cerrado: www.worldwildlife.org/places/cerradoFollow Wild World on social media: @wildworldshow&nbsp;This episode of Wild World was produced by 3WireCreativeMentioned in this episode:Lindblad ExpeditionsThe Rice Alumni Traveling Owls program offers exciting intellectual itineraries to destinations across the globe. Traveling Owls trips serve as a catalyst for lifelong learning and strengthen bonds between Rice University alumni and friends. You don’t have to be a Rice alum to participate in Traveling Owls programs. Visit alumni.rice.edu/travelingowls to see a list of upcoming trips. Rice Traveling OwlsLindblad Expeditions

The Galapagos Islands are one of the few places where visitors can get a glimpse of what the world was like before humans existed. The unique wildlife, active volcanoes, and rich undersea world has made them a haven for ecotourism. In this episode, we get two very different perspectives on what it’s like to experience the Galapagos Islands.

Scott Solomon speaks with Dr. Boris Arevalo, a biologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, who is working to protect Belize's spectacular scarlet macaws by any means possible.