Monni and guests explore a new era of shark conservation, focusing on protecting the lesser-known ‘flat sharks’ and rays, such as sawfishes, angel sharks, wedgefishes stingrays and guitar sharks. Large coastal sharks have a greater exposure to habitat degradation and fishing compared to offshore and pelagic species, increasing their risk of extinction. Find out what mermaids’ purses tell us about the current distribution of these flat sharks, which include angel sharks living in the Canary...

By-catch is defined as the accidental entanglement of non-target species in fishing gear and is a principal cause of strandings for cetaceans.  Monni is joined by researchers from the Cetaceans Strandings Investigations Programme (CSIP) and its partners to discuss by-catch as both a welfare and a conservation issue.  With the scale of fishing in global oceans increasing, what solutions are available to reduce the impact of by-catch on cetacean populations around our shores?

In this special mini-episode join Monni at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition for a teaser of what our researchers will be talking on our ZSL stand ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. Learn about the camera traps, tags and trackers being deployed around the world to study and monitor wildlife in remote locations, and what we can learn from the data they capture. Find out why should come along to the exhibition and what you can see and do at our exhibit, from animal top trumps, a cuddly...

Monni is joined by co-presenter Rachel Jones to navigate the hot waters of threats to coral reefs. Speakers discuss their experiences and stories from over 30 years' of research into the beauty and importance of these bio-diverse ecosystems. Even away from direct threats such as pollution, the protected reefs of the Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory have recently been severely damaged by widespread bleaching events. Can the reefs bounce back? What research is being done...

We have probably all heard about threatened species that are close to extinction, but how do we measure this? Monni travels to the IUCN Red List Unit in Cambridge to find out about the ins and outs of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the extinction risk of species. How do we measure extinction risk? Who compiles the Red List and why? Which species have been assessed, what data do we need and where are the main data gaps? And what has Frank...

This episode is hosted by guest presenter Charlotte Coales, Public Engagement with Conservation Science Coordinator at ZSL. Charlotte and co-presenter Heidi Ma explore wildlife in China, a vast ‘megadiverse’ country that contains over 10% of global mammal species. From addressing pangolin trade for traditional Chinese medicine to protecting the beautiful and mysterious snow leopard, find out about the collaborative conservation projects stretching across China’s wide range of ecosystems.

Monni is joined by co-presenter Helen Gath to navigate the topic of reintroduction, an effective but complex conservation tool that can help save small populations of species. Speakers discuss how difficult reintroduction decisions are made in order to manage the risks and competing stakeholder interests involved, They discuss Helen's work on Mauritius, beavers in Scotland and Yellowstone’s 'nervous elk'!

Monni is joined by co-presenter Claudia Gray to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of ZSL's EDGE of Existence Programme. This unique conservation programme aims to save wildlife that’s Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered, including the Chinese giant salamander, clawed frog and long-beaked echidna. Guests delve into the Tree of Life to explore these weird and wonderful species, which currently represent some of life’s oldest and most threatened lineages. Learn about the work being...

The West African Savannah stretches 1,600,000 square kilometres across 12 countries, ranging from dense rain forest to arid grassland. It once hosted rhinos, giraffes, lions and other charismatic megafauna more familiar from East African safaris, but populations have declined over the last 40 years. Despite working in an area of economic pressure and political unrest, Monni’s guests celebrate conservation projects that work with governments and local communities across national boundaries to...

Since being declared ‘biologically dead’ in 1958, the River Thames is now considered a global conservation success story of a recovering urban estuary. Monni talks to guests working on a range of conservation projects by researchers and citizen scientists in the heart of London, including juvenile fish surveys, seal counts and ‘outflow safaris’. Find out more about the diverse range of species now living in the Thames’ muddy waters.

The mountain chicken frog became critically endangered after an outbreak of the amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which caused an 85% decline in population on its home island of Dominica, and near extinction on the neighbouring island of Montserrat. Monni is joined by a team from the Mountain Chicken Recovery Programme working in ZSL London Zoo and out in the field to understand the disease and its impacts. By monitoring the outbreak as it happened, what can be learned to inform...

To mark World Pangolin Day, Monni and guests discuss the plight of pangolins: the odd-looking scaly-anteater victims of an illegal wildlife trade that has brought them to the brink of extinction. Although they are severely threatened, a growing conservation movement is working to prevent poaching, limit trafficking and change consumer behaviour, with the aim of tipping the scales back in the pangolin's favour.

In our second episode, we discuss the northern ocean, which has only recently become accessible after the retreat of Arctic ice.  Fishing vessels, including destructive bottom trawlers, can now venture further north than ever before into previously un-fished waters.  Monni Böhm is joined by guests to explore the potential value of marine reserves, consumer pressure, certification schemes and scientific understanding as strategies for managing future marine exploitation.

In this first episode of the ZSL Wild Science podcast, we interview speakers taking part in a debate at the Zoological Society of London: ‘Global biodiversity decline is not impacted by my daily decisions’. Join presenter Monni Böhm, a research scientist in ZSL’s Institute of Zoology, to discuss whether the problem of declining biodiversity requires global-scale political, technological and economic solutions, or whether individuals can make a difference.