Mammalwatching Jon Hall & Charles Foley

Charles and Jon talk to conservationist Bill Robichaud, best known for his work to protect what many would argue is the world's most enigmatic mammal: the Saola.Saolas - a beautifully marked 100kg bovid - are often referred to as the 'Asian Unicorn' because of their scimitar-like horns and rarity. The species, first discovered by scientists in 1992 in the mountains of Vietnam, is one of the most stunning zoological discoveries of the past 100 years. Bill has dedicated his career to trying to ...

Charles and Jon open Season 3 of the podcast from the jungles of the Ivory Coast, before talking to Peter Kaestner, the world's most accomplished birder. In February 2024 Peter became the first person ever to see 10,000 bird species, though, as we hear at the very end of the episode, the climax of his record came with more plot twists than a Hitchcock movie. Peter talks about his fiercely competitive family, and his older brother Hank's pivotal role in starting a lifelong love of birding. He ...

In the season finale to Season 2 of the podcast, Charles and Jon talk to the founder of Cat Expeditions - camera trap virtuoso and feline aficionado - Sebastian Kennerknecht from his home in California. Sebastian explains how his passions for wildlife and photography were formed and talks about the powerful role photography can play in conservation. He shares fascinating stories that demonstrate both his dedication to - and the skills behind - camera trapping. And we hear abou...

Charles and Jon meet conservation legend and primatologist Patricia Wright. Dr Wright is most famous for her work in Madagascar, including her discovery of the Golden Bamboo Lemur. She is Founder and Executive Director of Stony Brook University Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments, and Founder and Executive Director of the Centre ValBio, a research and training center in Ranomafana, Madagascar. Some of her many achievements during a very distinguished career include being t...

Charles and Jon talk to conservationist and tapir champion Dr Patricia Medici from her home in Brazil's Pantanal. Patricia is a founding member of the Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research), a Brazilian non-governmental organization which she helped set up in 1992. She also chairs the IUCN's Special Survival Commission Tapir Specialist Group, a network of over 130 tapir conservationists from 27 different countries.We talk with Patricia about her work and the thr...

Charles and Jon meet Connor Burgin a PhD student working on mammalian systematics at the University of New Mexico. As a young boy Connor was fascinated by Wikipedia's list of dinosaurs. His fascination shifted to lists of present day fauna and at the age of twelve he began to create and update his own list of the world's mammals which quickly became the state of art. His childhood project turned into the American Society of Mammalogists' Mammal Diversity Database, which is now widely regarded...