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Every episode
The Wild with Chris Morgan
30 episodes
Remembering David Johnson and the burrowing owls he loved
Jun 23, 2026 · 36 min
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 inspiring man. He looked like an owl - inquisitive, wide-eyed, and full of magic, and possibilities. David Johnson passed away on June 15th from cancer. So in his honor, we’d like to sha…
Earth Day 2026 - You look beautiful
Apr 22, 2026 · 13 min
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 of a better message than that as we reshare our special episode to celebrate our planet. So I hope you enjoy and happy Earth Day! Enjoy BONUS CONTENT and help us continue to create this sp…
Bird watching and listening with Libby Mills
Ep 16 · Mar 3, 2026 · 33 min
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. There's a lot going on between the birds, as they flit around chirping and singing To us, it might just sound like beautiful little tunes. But to birds, and even other species in the forest, there&r…
Grey seals of Scotland: my lost tapes from 1994
Ep 15 · Feb 24, 2026 · 47 min
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 the coast of Scotland. While I was there, I recorded the seals and the six weeks of fieldwork on my Walkman cassette recorder. I had no idea I’d be digging into those archives 32 years…
Rhino Man
Ep 14 · Feb 17, 2026 · 42 min
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 Rhino Man. It tells the extraordinary story of the rhinos, and the brave rangers that are out to protect them. In this episode, filmmaker John Jurko ll tells us about his relationship with Ant…
Back to the future: Genetically modified wildlife
Ep 13 · Feb 10, 2026 · 55 min
De-extinction! You probably saw the headlines - big, splashy statements about bringing the dire wolf - the ancient wolf species - back from the dead. But are they really back? Dr. Helen Pilcher says no. She’s an author, science communicator and an expert on genetically modified wildlife. And she joins me to make sense of this controversial idea of “editing” the genes of animals. It’s a heated conversation in the scientific community. Because it's not just about bringing b…
The Buffalo Boys of the Kalispel Tribe
Ep 12 · Feb 3, 2026 · 45 min
I drive across the mountains and forests to a small corner of Washington state, where there's a group of ranchers from the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. They’re known as ‘The Buffalo Boys.’ Generations ago, members of the tribe would migrate hundreds of miles to the great plains to hunt buffalo. There were millions of buffalo until white settlers hunted them to near extinction, and the Kalispel were pushed from their land. But now, they have a herd of their own. On today’s e…
Musical termites? What happens when you let nature sing
Ep 11 · Jan 27, 2026 · 46 min
Animals and music? What a tantalizing mix! In a fascinating conversation with scientist and musician Dr. Diego Ellis Soto we learn about the way animals move - through music. When animals swarm, mill, or migrate, patterns are revealed. Soto explains that animals all prefer to move together with proper space, time, and direction....just like harmony in music. Soto’s work combines his academic work and his passion for music to create a fresh look at how we should think about nature in motion…
How the quest for the giant panda changed modern conservation
Ep 10 · Jan 20, 2026 · 53 min
There was a time when the existence of the giant panda was nothing more than legend. A fairytale to those in the western world. Whispers of a black and white beast echoed around the early 1900s. In this episode, my conversation mixes three of my favorite things - bears, mystery, and adventure as I hear an incredible story that Dr Nathalia Holt tells in her book The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers’ Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda. But this story is about way m…
The Humpback comeback: Vancouver's whales come home
Ep 9 · Jan 13, 2026 · 46 min
Humpback whales in the Salish Sea have a complicated history. They were hunted to near extinction a century ago, with whalers turning some of the largest creatures on Earth into buckets of oil, slabs of meat, tubs of cheap margarine and fertilizer. These coastal waters were emptied of these magnificent creatures who once called them home. But now, in an amazing turn of events, Humpback whales have started to come back. And what they’ve found is a whole new world of dangers. On today&…
How America’s roads alter our ecology, with Ben Goldfarb (reprise)
Dec 23, 2025 · 43 min
Happy holidays! Thanks for tuning into THE WILD. I’m so glad you’re here. THE WILD team is hard at work on some more brand-new episodes that will come out in the new year. But for now, I want to revisit a very popular episode from last season that I think is perfect for this busy time of holiday travel. It’s a conversation I had with author Ben Goldfarb about roads and their impact on pretty much everything in the natural world. So, if you’re piling into…
Japan's bear attacks: we unravel what's going on
Ep 8 · Dec 16, 2025 · 35 min
Bear attacks in Japan have been in the news a lot recently. There have been over 220 attacks so far this year, and a record 13 people dead. Why is this happening? And what can be done about it? There’s a lot of information out there, and it’s hard to separate fact from fiction when it comes to conflicts with wildlife. So I made two quick phone calls: one to a reporter from The New York Times and another to a Japanese bear biologist to figure out what’s really going on. Gu…
50 years of Jaws: shark myths and misunderstandings
Ep 7 · Dec 9, 2025 · 53 min
JAWS can only mean one thing! The movie that forever changed how we feel about sharks. It did me, that’s for sure. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the movie, we thought it might be time to help separate fact from fiction in a fun way……by playing audio clips from the movie and having a real shark expert react to them and tell us the truth about how dangerous they are, how sharks really think, why there’s been a surge in sightings in recent years, and so much more.…
How our planet came to life with Ferris Jabr
Ep 6 · Dec 2, 2025 · 49 min
“Life is earth, animated.” When I heard this statement for the first time it made me think about my relationship to our planet differently. That all life on earth is part of a giant feedback loop, a process of self-creation that has been ongoing for billions of years. This is the idea that Ferris Jabr explores in his book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life. Jabr traveled the world to find examples of this creation: from climbing a colossal tower over the Amazon to tunneling…
The story of Whatcom Creek: an explosion, a tragedy, and a rebirth
Ep 5 · Nov 18, 2025 · 44 min
This is not an easy story to tell. In the town where I live, Bellingham, Washington, there’s a beautiful urban creek. It flows just four miles from a lake, through a city park, down through the town to the sea. But in the summer of 1999, disaster struck. A gasoline pipeline ruptured, causing an explosion. Young lives were lost, and the creek and the ecosystems around it were obliterated. But amid the destruction, amid all the loss, the creek found a way to find life again. And the pe…
Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world
Ep 4 · Nov 11, 2025 · 28 min
Have you ever wondered why your dog takes such a long time to sniff a patch of grass? Or why flies buzz around so sporadically? It’s because most of what a creature actually senses is invisible to us. They perceive their world as differently as we perceive our own. Pulitzer Prize winning science writer Ed Yong wrote a book about this called An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us. Join me for a fun conversation with Ed about the astonishing ways animals sense…
Tiny but tough: Hummingbirds of the Arizona desert
Ep 3 · Nov 4, 2025 · 36 min
Blink and you’ll miss ‘em! In this episode we get to know hummingbirds eyeball-to-eyeball. The world of the hummingbird is changing fast in the deserts of Arizona. So much so that even an animal as quick as a hummingbird is struggling to keep up. Native plant ecosystems that make up the nectar landscape that hummingbirds use to migrate are shrinking. Join me as I travel to the mountains and deserts of the American Southwest with two experts to experience how these tiny but toug…
Brooke Williams encountered a dragonfly and became a dreamer
Ep 2 · Oct 28, 2025 · 33 min
Environmental author Brooke Williams believes that dragonflies are messengers of wisdom and enlightenment. This idea got my head buzzing so I invited Williams to join me at a pond near my home to talk about it. He told me he has been on a 20-year journey to forge a new relationship with nature and that the dragonfly has been his guide to discover unseen forces in nature that are so captivating when we learn how to see them. In his book Encountering Dragonfly: Notes on the Practice of Re-enchantm…
A Mexican jaguar walked into Arizona, then the US built a wall
Ep 1 · Oct 21, 2025 · 42 min
Twenty-nine years ago cowboy Warner Glen took the first photograph of a jaguar that crossed from Mexico into Arizona. His surprising story opens our show. Today though, there is something very different happening on the border. Chris and his producer Matt Martin follow two biologists, one from Mexico and one from the USA, as they track the biggest cats in the Americas along the border. Jaguars are expanding their range from Mexico into the United States but now there is something that is ge…
New season trailer! Welcome back to THE WILD
Oct 7, 2025 · 2 min
Welcome back to a brand new season of THE WILD! Travel with Chris as he uncovers unexpected stories from nature. Like jaguars - America’s biggest cat - trying to navigate the giant steel wall on the Mexican border; tiny hummingbirds searching to find their next meal along a landscape of nectar; a magnificent humpback comeback right off the coast of Vancouver, and many more. There's so much inspiration among creatures that are facing a new world of threats and finding ways to adapt and thri…
Happy Earth Day 2025!
Apr 22, 2025 · 13 min
Happy Earth Day! There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now when it comes to the environmental health of our planet. Political leaders seem unable or unwilling to take action on climate change. And we continue our rapid loss of biodiversity. But I wanted to give you a little hope on this special day by sharing a little different perspective on this tiny blue marble we call home. If you enjoy this episode, please share it with others. After all, we're all in this together. And than…
Tom Mangelsen: Grizzy 399 and confessions of a wildlife photographer
Ep 25 · Feb 4, 2025 · 41 min
Tom Mangelsen is one of the most gifted and prolific wildlife photographers of our time. He may be best known for documenting the life of Grizzly Bear 399 in and around Teton National Park in Wyoming. I’ve spent thousands of hours alongside, and guiding some of the best wildlife photographers in the world, but I’ve never been lucky enough to spend time in the wild with Tom. And he has always seemed to possess a connection with animals that is rare. Whether it be gorillas, penguins, t…
Yellowstone National Park: Celebrity bears, and a tale of two trout
Ep 24 · Jan 28, 2025 · 45 min
You can’t come to Yellowstone without thinking about the grizzly bear. This thriving ancient ecosystem is like a sacred space for them. And a critical source for food which they are constantly in search of in order to get the needed calories that will sustain them through their long winter sleep. But what many grizzly bear lovers might not think about are the fish at the heart of the bear feeding frenzy. Yellowstone has the largest high elevation lake in North America, and under the surfac…
A harsh life among ‘super over-caffeinated’ penguins (reprise)
Ep 23 · Jan 21, 2025 · 30 min
Behind most wildlife documentaries is someone who has spent countless hours, often in challenging conditions, waiting for that perfect shot. Chris talks to filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith about their experience filming Adelie penguins for four months in Antarctica. With wind gusts up to 150 miles per hour it is one of the coldest and harshest continents on earth. We’d love to hear what you think of THE WILD. Which shows did you like the best? What would you like to hear mo…
Zoë Schlanger: Do plants think? Why eating a salad may never feel the same again
Ep 22 · Jan 14, 2025 · 51 min
Maybe you’re eating an apple, or a piece of lettuce right now. Could be a broccoli stem or perhaps a lovely juicy tomato. If you are, are you wondering how intelligent that plant is? I’d guess not. But here’s a conversation that might make you think twice. Zoë Schlanger, a science writer for the Atlantic, has written an eye-opening book on the topic. It’s called The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life…
Glacier Bay National Park: Life after ice - the birth of a river
Ep 21 · Jan 7, 2025 · 48 min
Melting ice is usually bad news, but this place in Alaska has turned from frozen to flourishing in just 200 years. Nestled in southeast Alaska, the stunning and famous Glacier Bay National Park is often called a “living laboratory.” Scientists from all over the world come here to study ecological succession: the step-by-step return of plants, insects, forests and animals. It’s a unique place to do that because just a couple hundred years ago, this whole landscape was cove…
The Wild presents How Wild: Solitude
Dec 10, 2024 · 30 min
We are taking a break over the holidays in order to finish up our series about national parks. We’ll be back in your feed on January 7 with a visit to Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska. We’ll learn how the trickles of chilly glacial meltwater are creating a flourishing ecosystem. But in the meantime, I wanted to share an episode from a podcast I think you’ll really like called How Wild. It’s from our friends at KALW Public Media and the NPR Network. The…
A river runs through it ... once again (reprise)
Ep 20 · Nov 19, 2024 · 30 min
It started as a glacier. Then, about 13,000 years ago, it was a trickle, then a stream, and eventually a rushing river meandering through the Olympic Peninsula. For thousands of years, life thrived off the ecosystem served by the Elwha River that fed into to the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Then it stopped. A century ago, a dam was built to harness the power of the water and convert it into electricity. The salmon that the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe relied on were cut off from their spawning grounds.…
Leigh Ann Henion: Darkness, and the creatures of the night
Ep 19 · Nov 12, 2024 · 29 min
Nature writer Leigh Ann Henion has spent countless hours uncovering mysteries of the darkness that unfold while we’re asleep. She’s explored bats, moths, glow worms, spotted salamanders, and she’s written a new book about it called Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark. Today, Chris talks with Leigh Ann Henion about what we can find in the darkness and how we can preserve it, even from our own back porch. You can help us cont…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Fireflies in synchrony
Ep 18 · Nov 5, 2024 · 47 min
Once a year they come out, by the thousands. Fireflies. But these aren’t just any fireflies. These are Photinus Carolinas, also known as synchronous fireflies They blink on and off together. It’s an amazing site. On this episode, I head to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to experience the synchronous fireflies and learn how light from human development is threatening the future of these delicate, glowing insects and what the park is doing to try to protect them. You can help us c…
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