Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a vet, conservationist, and founder of Conservation through Public Health. Join  us this week on Talking Apes where she tells us about her new book Walking with Gorillas, which chronicles her journey towards becoming Uganda's first-ever wildlife veterinarian, and details her innovative approach to gorilla conservation.  Gladys's work has been revolutionary in the field of gorilla protection. She recognized early on that the health of the local human populations...

IN THE SPOTLIGHT is a quarterly feature where we revisit past Talking Apes episodes that focus on highly critical issues. For our March 2023 instalment we're featuring our Season 1 episode with disease detective Dr Tony Goldberg, accompanied by three brand new podcasts exploring disease ecology and the links between animal health, human health, and the environment.  Zoonotic diseases occur when viruses, bacteria, or parasites jump between humans and animals. Dr Goldberg explores how these...

"Twelve years ago I heard a phrase that changed my life. I was sitting at a campfire in central Africa and heard, 'thirteen dead gorillas'.  I didn't know it at the time, but that phrase was launching me on a long quest to understand the ecology and evolutionary biology of scary viruses." Join us this week on Talking Apes when we talk to science author David Quammen about his years long mission to understand zoonoses - diseases that pass between humans and animals. David's books, SPILLOVER...

This week we're going HOST TO HOST as Gerry is  joined by fellow wildlife podcaster Jack Baker. Jack is creator and host of Pangolin: The Conservation Podcast  which features over 100 episodes highlighting pioneering conservationists at the forefront of wildlife protection. Pangolins are Jack's starting point for celebrating under-appreciated species and conservation stories – no matter how small, strange, or unexpected!   Tune in to hear Jack tell us about his undying passion for the...

Carl Safina is an American ecologist and author. He writes about our relationship with the natural world and the other beings that share it. ‘In my writing I explore our relationship with the living world—and how it could be better. My more recent work also probes how free-living animals experience life. What drives my work is a devotion to free-living things and wild places. And what drives that devotion is my deep love and wonder for the living world. ’  (from Carlsafina.org). During our...

Jo-Anne McArthur is a multiple award winning photojournalist who has spent over two decades travelling the world to document and bring to light the disturbing truth about our relationship with the other sentient beings that share our planet. Her unflinching photography has been acknowledged with multiple awards including Wildlife Photographer of the Year and The Global Peace Award. She is the author of  three books: We Animals (2014), Captive (2017), and HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene...

Great apes — gorillas, chimps, orangutans and bonobos — have been Talking Apes host Gerry Ellis's life long passion. Discover where it started and how it's evolved as guest host Eric Cain explores the world of Talking Apes with photographer, film-maker and podcast host, Gerry Ellis. Long before creating the Talking Apes podcast, Gerry had built an award-winning career as an international wildlife film-maker, photographer, and writer spans three-decades and features work appearing in National...

At 22 years old, Rachel Hogan never dreamed that a three month volunteering trip to Africa would result in her becoming the director of one of the world's largest and most well known primate sanctuaries. Over two decades later, Rachel remains on the edge of Cameroon's rainforests overseeing fifty human residents and 300 non-human residents - a growing hoard of gorillas, chimps, and monkeys now living in Ape Action Africa's 17 ginormous forest enclosures. The sanctuary is a lifeline for...

Primate portraits from some of the most unlikely habitats — tiny, century-old, forgotten places. BEHIND GLASS by Anne Berry is an intimate very personal look at the lives of primates nearly forgotten. Visit our BLOG to see the photos from our conversation on Talking Apes. Visit anneberrystudio.com to learn more.  Support the showTalking Apes is a GLOBIO initiative. Learn more: Official website: talkingapes.org Instagram: @talkingapes_podcast Support our work by making a small donation...

Support the showTalking Apes is a GLOBIO initiative. Learn more: Official website: talkingapes.org Instagram: @talkingapes_podcast Support our work by making a small donation here.

On the western edge of the vast Congo basin lies one of the world's most remote rainforests - the Dja. It is one of the last strongholds of a rich biodiversity that includes gorillas, chimps, forest elephants, and a breath-taking range of flora and fauna.  Dr Nikki Tagg - conservation scientist and Head of Conservation for the Born Free Foundation is one of those rare researchers who has ventured into this spectacular rainforest in the hopes of understanding the causes of biodiversity loss...

We often hear about how we humans are 98% chimpanzee. In fact, biologically, humans are more closely related to chimpanzees than chimps are to gorillas!  But when we look past the biological similarities, do we still see ourselves in our closest living relatives, the chimps and bonobos?  Dr Catherine Hobaiter and her team have spent almost two decades deep in the rainforests of Africa, studying wild chimpanzees and attempting to read between the lines when it comes to their diverse...

Decades of losing. Losing forest habitat, losing primate populations, and losing in our efforts to educate politicians, the public, and policy-makers.  Most critically, we are losing great apes by the thousands each year. On Giving Day for Apes we talk with PASA's new director, Kelly O'Meara, about how PASA's 23 member primate sanctuaries across Africa are much more than caring arms for the victims of the illegal wildlife trade.  While the sanctuaries are faced with the responsibility of...

When an entire family of chimpanzees is slaughtered for bushmeat, the baby chimps are captured live and sold into the multi-billion dollar global wildlife trade. Often sold on as pets, they suffer in confinement and misery, deprived of companionship and a natural life in their wild rainforest homes.  Iris Ho is Head of Campaigns and Policy at PASA (Pan African Sanctuary Alliance) - Africa’s largest coalition of wildlife sanctuaries and one of the world’s leading organizations fighting to...

Mountain Gorillas and forest elephants highlight our launch of Talking Apes Season 2 with conservationist and naturalist Ian Redmond. Over his three-decades of life in the wilds, Ian has seen the most beautiful reflections of nature and the most horrific of impacts we humans have dish out. Through it all Ian has remained positive and confident in the resiliency of nature and the strength of our resolve to ensure survival of magnificent species like gorillas and elephants. Part 2 digs deeper...

Mountain Gorillas and forest elephants highlight our launch of Talking Apes Season 2 with conservationist and naturalist Ian Redmond. Over his three-decades of life in the wilds, Ian has seen the most beautiful reflections of nature and the most horrific of impacts we humans have dish out. Through it all Ian has remained positive and confident in the resiliency of nature and the strength of our resolve to ensure survival of magnificent species like gorillas and elephants. Support the...

The touching and beautiful photography of Suzi Eszterhas is a reminder that every photograph has the potential to say something powerful, poignant and meaningful. Much of her work used imagery of baby animals to spur big impact for conservation. On this episode of Talking Apes we’re going to be exploring the way we think, interpret and talk about conservation and wildlife through the camera lens.   We’ll also touch on the challenges of being an incredibly talented and dedicated female...

Join us for another live Talking Apes with Dr. Karina Flores to dive into her experience as a wildlife veterinarian. With wild patients as varied as African wild dogs, Fishers, Cheetahs, and now rescued chimpanzees here in Sierra Leone at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, Dr. Karina has no shortage of experience rolling with the punches and working through the unexpected! Today, she oversees care for the 106 rescued chimpanzees at Tacugama, where each day brings new triumphs and...

"I wasn't thinking about saving chimps, we were just trying to help this little guy" Over 100 rescued chimpanzees and 27 years later Bala Amarasekaran - the founder and director of Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary - is the driving force behind Sierra Leone's national animal movement and the effort to create a conservation movement unlike any in West Africa. For an extra special 20th episode, we join you live from Sierra Leone, as we enjoy a local beer and the magnificent "Salone" sunset while...

Drones have gained marked popularity in recent years as they become more accessible to the masses. But more than just toys, drones, a.k.a. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are also becoming increasingly used to show a new side of conservation - that from the skies! Researchers and conservationists alike are employing these new aerial technologies to gain new perspectives, gather different types of data, and often, leave less of a human footprint on the otherwise pristine natural landscapes in...

Can saving one species once on the brink of vanishing in the mist show us the way out of the extinction darkness? Joining us to celebrate World Gorilla Day is Dr. Tara Stoinski, President & CEO, and Chief Science Officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, and discover how saving one species can help tip the scale in favor of others too.  More about Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International: https://gorillafund.org/ Talking Apes is the podcast that gets to the very heart of what...

Every now and then, headlines pop up about a monkey on the loose, tiktok videos of pet monkeys go viral, occasionally even celebrities will get their faces in the paper for their pet monkeys (looking at you Beiber!) But these blips of fame and notoriety of pet primates barely scratches the surface of just how many monkeys, apes, and other primates are being kept in people's basements, backyards, and bedrooms throughout the USA. With ~15,000 pet primates around the country, we have to ask...

Life as a wildlife veterinarian is a tough and demanding job. For Wild Orangutan veterinarians, that task is often made trickier through the lack of basic tools, skills, and government support! On this episode of Talking Apes, we meet with Orangutan Veterinary Aid's (OVAID) founder, veterinarian Dr. Nigel Hicks to talk about the Art of Wild Orangutan Vet Care. Since its conception, OVAID has promoted compassionate conservation throughout Borneo by providing medical instruments and training...

We all know that chimps, gorillas, orangutans, and bonobos are our closest genetic cousins, but what does that mean from a physiological standpoint?  How can a chimp's heart unlock the mysteries of elite endurance athletes? Join us for this episode of Talking Apes as we explore the hearts of our chimp and gorilla cousins with Dr. Rob Shave, Cardiac Physiologist, Professor at the School of Health and Exercise Science at the University of British Columbia, and Director of the International...

Love, empathy, privilege — those aren’t words you generally hear floating up out of the trenches of conservation battles. Leif Cocks believes — we have to see beyond the mere mechanics of conservation. For over thirty years Leif has shared an intimate connection with what some primatologists call the “second most intelligent” animal on Earth — the orangutan. Leif Cocks is the founder and president of The Orangutan Project, an Australian-based NGO which seeks to protect all three critically...