For shuck's sake! Saving wild oysters

It’s time for me to face my fears! Oysters are iconic here in the Pacific Northwest. The glistening, oval shells and salty aroma are like having a tasty piece of the ocean on your plate. (Well…tasty for some). For a lot of people, including me, you try them once and hope you never have to again.  …

A mating dance party with robotic sage grouse

How do you save sage grouse inside Grand Teton National Park? With robot birds… of course.  A group of sage grouse have started using the runway at the Jackson Hole Airport for their mating dance. Not an ideal place for birds or humans.  On today’s episode, THE WILD producer Matt Martin sits down…

A 750-mile misadventure in the Grand Canyon

Almost everybody has seen the Grand Canyon, whether it’s on a road trip to northern Arizona or on a postcard. It’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  It’s one thing to see the canyon from a distance, even if that is standing on one of its storied rims. But it’s a whole other experienc…

There's a bear in my swimming pool!

Bears in swimming pools… in Los Angeles? Of course I had to find out more. I've been studying bears and working with them in the wild for over 30 years, and I thought I'd seen it all. Polar bears in Canada, grizzlies in Alaska, Andean bears in South America. But I never thought I’d be racing to se…

THE WILD is back!

Welcome back to THE WILD!   All around the world, humans are getting up close and personal with wildlife. In Los Angeles, black bears are playing with floaties in swanky backyard swimming pools. Mountain lions are dodging cars trying to get across 10-lane highways. In subarctic Norway, generations…

Remembering David Johnson and the burrowing owls he loved

We lost a good friend a few days ago. A friend of the owls, and a man who made a real difference for them. I was very lucky to spend time with David Johnson for an episode we did about his delightful burrowing owls a few years ago - an experience that’ll always stay with me. David was a kind and i…

Earth Day 2026 - You look beautiful

You look amazing, you look beautiful. Those are the words of Victor Glover, pilot of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission. He spoke those words less than a month ago on his trip to the moon. His way of describing our planet as he peered out the window of his space capsule and took in the view. I couldn't think…

Bird watching and listening with Libby Mills

When I was eight, growing up in England, I was already really into birds. I was in the Young Ornithologists Club for goodness sake! I didn't have one friend who was into birds. But these days, things are different. Here in the USA, almost 100 million people birdwatch. And that number's growing. T…

Grey seals of Scotland: my lost tapes from 1994

Today, a fun trip down memory lane!  Lots of things have shaped my life and work as an ecologist, and this experience when I was 25 was one of them. As I wrapped up my master's degree at the University of Durham in England, I was hired onto a grey seal project on some tiny, uninhabited islands off…

Rhino Man

Anton Mzimba was the head ranger at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. Anton and hundreds of wildlife rangers like him risk their lives every day to protect endangered species, mainly the rhino, from poachers and organized crime.  Anton is the focus of a documentary film called …