The Wildlife Podcast Episode 5: Furry, fabulous and fascinating bats!

Did you know that bats may not only hold the key to a long life but also fruitful one? Or that they are one of the few mammals that can delay fertilization?

Discover more about these impressive creatures and join award-winning journalists Laurel Neme and Jeffrey Barbee as we dive deep into the dusky mysteries of these elusive wild animals with one of the world’s most legendary bat researchers, Dr. Paul Racey.

Paul Racey is the Regius Professor of Natural History emeritus at the University of Aberdeen and has dedicated his professional career to helping the world understand this incredible group of flying mammals. His more than six decades of groundbreaking research into bats have helped drive public policy and bat conservation efforts across the globe. And, as you will hear in this episode, from pest control to pollination - there is so much more to discover about bats!

Wherever you are, you can be a part of bat conservation today.

To start, check out the Bat Conservation Trust: https://www.bats.org.uk

How to support bats in other places too:

Bat Conservation International: https://www.batcon.org/

BatLife Europe: https://www.batlife-europe.info/

Bat Conservation Africa: https://www.batswithoutborders.org/

AfricanBats: https://www.africanbats.org/

AfriBats: https://www.afribats.org/

Learn more about bats:

IUCN SSC Bat Specialist Group: https://www.iucnbsg.org/

North American Bat Monitoring Program: https://www.nabatmonitoring.org/

Bats Without Borders: https://www.batswithoutborders.org/

The Wildlife Podcast Episode 4: Save the forest -save the raptors!

Discover how a groundbreaking new study on bird and forest ecology is delivering critical information about global forest health into the hands of policy-makers around the world.

In this episode, award-winning journalists Laurel Neme and Jeffrey Barbee help sort the forest from the feathers with scientists Dr. Christopher O'Bryan, a conservation biologist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and Dr. Ralph Buij from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Buij is also the Africa and Asia Conservation Director at The Peregrine Fund.

The new study analyzed 369 forest-dependent raptor species using high resolution satellite data from 2001 to 2023. It has revealed previously unknown threats to these birds, but also illuminated critical ways to help successfully conserve them in the future.

Check out the study: Rapid Global Deforestation Leaves Forest‐Dependent Raptors With Half of Their Suitable Habitat Remaining.

Learn more about how you can help make a real difference to some of the most iconic birds in the world, wherever you live.

You can support the Peregrine Fund:

https://peregrinefund.org/

Or volunteer at your local bird or wildlife sanctuary!

Other exciting and vital ways to help raptors:

https://parktrust.org/blog/how-you-can-help-save-birds-of-prey/

Learn more about raptors here:

https://peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species

And here!

https://raptor.umn.edu/about-raptors/learn-about-raptors

Our theme music was produced just for our show by the amazing Joey Morra, check him out on his website at:

www.joeymorra.com

The WildLife Podcast Episode 3: Saving the Black-Footed Ferret’s little home on the prairie

Delve deep into prairie secrets as we discover the startling connection between black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs and their importance for the preservation of the United State’s prairies.

Did you know that more than a hundred different species rely on the North American prairie dog, and that it isn’t even a dog at all? Black-footed ferrets are one of them and are also the rarest mammals in North America, with only 300 left in the wild. They face a range of threats from habitat loss to fatal diseases, but there is hope!

In this episode join Laurel Neme and Jeffrey Barbee as we work with this week’s conservation hero Chamois Andersen, Senior Representative for the Rockies and Plains Program for the non-profit Defenders of Wildlife.

Because the black-footed ferret's survival is intertwined with the health of their main prey—prairie dogs—helping these carnivorous predators of the prairie also means focusing on the sustainability of prairie dog colonies, too.

How can you help preserve prairie dogs and where you are?

Get the toolkit here and get to work, there are all sorts of resources for kids and adults to support prairie dogs today!

https://www.prairiedogcoalition.org/for-agencies-decision-makers

Support and Donate to Defenders of Wildlife:

https://defenders.org/

Support The Prairie Dog Coalition:

https://www.prairiedogcoalition.org/

Why restore the prairie dogs' habitat? Learn more here:

https://www.prairiedogcoalition.org/why-restore-prairie-dogs

Read all about black-footed ferrets:

https://defenders.org/wildlife/black-footed-ferret

https://www.fws.gov/species/black-footed-ferret-mustela-nigripes

https://www.blackfootedferret.org/

https://wafwa.org/initiative-programs/black-footed-ferret/

Even more information about our black-footed ferret friends in National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/black-footed-ferret?loggedin=true&rnd=1769540942828

Our theme music was produced just for our show by the amazing Joey Morra, check him out on his website at www.joeymorra.com