The Think Wildlife Podcast

The Think Wildlife Podcast
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Every Monday, join our hosts, Anish Banerjee, as he speaks with renowned conservationists from around the world, dissecting some of the most pressing and intricate challenges threatening wildlife. anishbanerjee.substack.com

  1. 4D AGO

    S4|EP21 - Asian Elephant Conservation: DNA Census, Rescues & Human-Elephant Conflict | Nikki Sharp

    Asian elephants are among the most endangered large mammals on Earth, with only 35,000–40,000 individuals remaining across their entire range. In this episode of the Think Wildlife Podcast, we speak with Nikki Sharp, Executive Director of Wildlife SOS USA, about the urgent challenges facing Asian elephants across South and Southeast Asia and the conservation efforts working to secure their future. Wildlife SOS is one of the leading organizations working on elephant rescue and rehabilitation in India, having helped rescue more than 50 elephants from circuses, captivity, and conflict situations. In this conversation, Nikki shares powerful stories from these rescues, including the remarkable recovery of elephants like Suzy, a blind circus elephant who found a second life in sanctuary, and Bani, a young elephant injured by a train who regained mobility through intensive veterinary care and rehabilitation. The episode also explores the broader conservation status of Asian elephants, a species that has lost nearly 97% of its historical population and whose remaining numbers are heavily concentrated in India and Sri Lanka. Nikki explains why Asian elephants often receive less global attention than African elephants despite their precarious conservation status and discusses how conservation awareness and advocacy can help change this imbalance. A major focus of the discussion is the recent DNA-based elephant census conducted in India, one of the most ambitious wildlife population studies ever undertaken. Researchers walked hundreds of thousands of kilometers across elephant habitats and collected thousands of dung samples to extract DNA and identify individual elephants. This genetic method allows scientists to estimate population sizes more accurately than traditional head-count surveys and represents a major advancement in wildlife monitoring and conservation science. Beyond population monitoring, the conversation also examines the biggest threats facing Asian elephants today, including habitat loss, fragmentation of migration routes, and escalating human-elephant conflict. As landscapes change due to agriculture, mining, and infrastructure development, elephants are increasingly forced into contact with people, leading to crop loss, property damage, and sometimes tragic outcomes for both humans and elephants. Nikki highlights how community-based conservation initiatives are helping reduce these conflicts. Programs such as early warning systems, community engagement, and conflict mitigation teams are helping villages coexist with elephants while protecting both livelihoods and wildlife. These approaches demonstrate how conservation solutions must integrate ecological science, local knowledge, and community participation. This episode provides a deep dive into the science, policy, and human stories behind elephant conservation—from cutting-edge genetic census techniques to on-the-ground rescue work and community conservation strategies. Whether you are interested in wildlife conservation, Asian elephants, biodiversity policy, or human-wildlife conflict, this conversation offers valuable insights into one of the most important conservation challenges of our time. Subscribe to the Think Wildlife Podcast for more conversations with leading conservationists, scientists, and wildlife practitioners working to protect biodiversity around the world. #AsianElephants #ElephantConservation #WildlifeSOS #HumanElephantConflict #WildlifeRescue #ElephantCensus #DNAWildlifeResearch #BiodiversityConservation #WildlifePodcast #ThinkWildlife Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    30 min

  2. FEB 26

    S4|EP21 - Indian Wolves, Grassland Ecology and Restoration in India: Biodiversity Policy and Conservation with Dr. Abi T. Vanak

    India’s grasslands and savannas are among the most overlooked and misrepresented ecosystems in the country. Frequently labelled as “wastelands,” these open natural ecosystems have been systematically excluded from biodiversity policy, targeted for tree plantations, infrastructure, and renewable energy projects, and widely misunderstood in both public and scientific discourse. Yet grassland ecosystems support exceptional grassland biodiversity, sustain millions of pastoral livelihoods, and play a critical role in Indian biodiversity and long-term biodiversity conservation. In this episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, Anish Banerjee speaks with Dr. Abi T. Vanak, conservation scientist and Director of the Centre for Policy Design at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). Dr. Vanak’s work focuses on grassland ecology, grassland biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, and the science–policy interface shaping land-use decisions across India. The conversation examines what grasslands and other open natural ecosystems truly are, and how grassland ecology differs fundamentally from forest systems. Dr. Vanak explains how colonial-era land classifications and post-independence governance frameworks led to grasslands being misidentified as degraded forests or wastelands, a misconception that continues to influence grassland conservation, compensatory afforestation, and land-use planning today. We discuss how this misclassification has had severe consequences for grassland biodiversity, particularly for species such as the Indian wolf, blackbuck, Great Indian Bustard, and lesser florican. Despite receiving high levels of legal protection, these species continue to decline because their grassland habitats fall largely outside protected areas and mainstream biodiversity conservation frameworks. The episode also explores the ecological and economic importance of pastoralism, the contribution of extensive livestock systems to Indian biodiversity, and the deep connections between pastoral livelihoods, grassland biodiversity conservation, and resilient landscapes. Dr. Vanak shares insights from grassland restoration projects across India, demonstrating how science-based grassland restoration can improve soil carbon, water availability, and biodiversity outcomes, often more effectively than tree-based approaches. We also examine the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure, particularly solar and wind projects, and how poorly planned siting can fragment grassland ecosystems and undermine biodiversity conservation goals. The discussion extends to mesocarnivore ecology, the impacts of free-ranging dogs on wildlife, disease and hybridization risks for Indian wolves, and the broader challenge of conserving biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. Throughout the episode, Dr. Vanak argues for a shift away from forest-centric conservation towards landscape-level, community-led approaches that recognize grasslands as vital ecosystems. This conversation highlights why grassland conservation, grassland restoration, and evidence-based biodiversity policy are essential for safeguarding Indian biodiversity in the coming decades. #grassland #grasslandconservation #grasslandbiodiversity #grasslandbiodiversityconservation #grasslandrestoration #biodiversityconservation #biodiversity #biodiversitypolicy #grasslandecology #indianbiodiversity Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    49 min

  3. FEB 20

    S4]EP20 - Why Islands Are Biodiversity Hotspots with David Will from Island Conservation

    In this wide-ranging episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee is joined by David Will from Island Conservation to explore why islands sit at the heart of the global biodiversity crisis—and why they also represent one of conservation’s greatest sources of hope. Islands occupy a unique place in Earth’s ecological history. Despite covering a tiny fraction of the planet’s land area, they support a disproportionate share of global biodiversity, harbouring countless endemic species found nowhere else. David explains why island biodiversity hotspots are so extraordinary, but also why island wildlife is exceptionally vulnerable. Small land area, isolation, and simplified food webs mean that disturbances—especially invasive species and climate change—can trigger rapid ecological collapse. As a result, islands have experienced some of the highest extinction rates on Earth, making island biodiversity conservation one of the most urgent challenges in modern conservation. The conversation delves into the science and practice of island conservation, with a focus on restoring vulnerable ecosystems by removing invasive species such as rats, cats, and pigs. These introduced animals have driven widespread extinctions of seabirds, reptiles, and plants, fundamentally altering island ecology. David describes how removing invasive species can unlock extraordinary recovery, allowing native species to rebound within years and restoring ecological processes that had been suppressed for centuries. A central theme of the episode is the powerful connection between land and sea. David explains how island ecology cannot be understood in isolation from surrounding marine systems. Seabirds, once restored, transport nutrients from ocean to land, enriching forests and coastal soils, while also boosting coral reef health and fish biomass offshore. These cascading benefits highlight how island biodiversity conservation supports both terrestrial and marine ecosystems, strengthening climate resilience and food security for island communities. Climate change looms large throughout the discussion. Rising sea levels, marine heatwaves, stronger storms, and shifting temperature regimes disproportionately affect islands, making them frontline indicators of global environmental change. David reflects on why climate change amplifies existing threats, and how biodiversity management on islands must integrate adaptation, biosecurity, and long-term monitoring to remain effective in an uncertain future. The episode also explores innovation in conservation, from drones and environmental DNA to cutting-edge genetic tools aimed at controlling invasive species more humanely and safely. These technologies are expanding what is possible for island conservation at scale, offering new pathways to protect some of the world’s most fragile biodiversity hotspots. This conversation offers a compelling vision for the future of island conservation—one grounded in science, community leadership, and optimism. It is essential listening for anyone interested in island biodiversity, island wildlife, vulnerable ecosystems, climate change, and the role islands play in the global biodiversity conservation agenda. #Islandbiodiversity #islandconservation #islandbiodiversityconservation #islandwildlife #islandecology #biodiversity #biodiversityconservation #biodiversityhotspot #biodiversitymanagement #islandbiodiversityhotspot #vulnerableecosystems #climatechange Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min

  4. FEB 13

    S4|EP18 - Saving East Kolkata's Urban Wetlands and Avifaunal Diversity with Nibedita Chakraborty

    In this deeply informative episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nibedita Chakraborty, a wildlife and biodiversity researcher whose work focuses on wetlands, urbanization, and citizen science. The conversation centres on the East Kolkata Wetlands, one of India’s most important urban wetlands, and uses this globally significant landscape to explore broader questions of wetland conservation, urban biodiversity, and climate change. The East Kolkata Wetlands represent a rare example of an urban wetland system that continues to deliver critical ecological, social, and economic services despite intense development pressure. Spanning over 12,500 hectares, these wetlands function as a natural wastewater treatment system, support fisheries and agriculture, reduce flood risk, and sustain exceptional wetland biodiversity. Nibedita explains why this mosaic of sewage-fed fish ponds, croplands, and open water bodies is recognised as a Ramsar site of international importance, and why its survival is inseparable from the future of urban conservation in India. A major focus of the episode is avifaunal diversity and how bird communities respond to rapid urbanization. Drawing on extensive field surveys, Nibedita describes how different bird groups use core wetlands, transitional zones, and urban sprawls in distinct ways. As urban expansion accelerates, foraging grounds shrink, water quality declines due to wetland pollution, and migratory birds are increasingly absent from areas where they were once abundant. These changes offer powerful indicators of ecosystem stress and reveal how urban wetland biodiversity is being reshaped in real time. The discussion also highlights the role of climate change in amplifying existing threats to wetlands. Altered rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, and increased eutrophication interact with urban pressures to further destabilize wetland ecosystems. Nibedita explains how long-term monitoring of wetlands and birds is essential to understanding these combined impacts and designing effective urban wetland conservation strategies that can withstand future climatic uncertainty. Citizen science emerges as a central theme in the conversation. Platforms such as eBird and iNaturalist have become invaluable tools for tracking wetland biodiversity, supporting birding communities, and generating data at spatial and temporal scales that traditional research alone cannot achieve. By involving local communities, birders, and residents, citizen science strengthens urban wetland biodiversity conservation while fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility for these ecosystems. This episode offers a compelling case for why wetlands must be central to discussions on urban biodiversity, climate change, and sustainable city planning. It is essential listening for anyone interested in wetlands, wetland conservation, urban wetlands, avifaunal diversity, birding, and the future of urban conservation in a rapidly urbanizing world. #wetlands #wetlandconservation #wetlandbiodiversity #urbanbiodiversity #urbanconservation #urbanwetlands #urbanwetlandconservation #urbandwetlandbiodiversity #urbanwetlandbiodiversityconservation #climatechange #avifaunaldiversity #birding #wetlandpollution Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min

  5. FEB 6

    S4|EP17 - Conserving Nepal's Biodiversity Hotspots with the Nature Conservation and Study Centre

    In this episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nishan Limbu, Tujin Rai, and Nischal Kunwar from the Nature Conservation and Study Centre for a wide-ranging conversation on youth-led wildlife conservation and biodiversity research in Nepal’s Himalayan landscapes. Rather than focusing on a single species, this episode explores how grassroots conservation initiatives in Nepal are addressing the needs of multiple threatened taxa, including the Asiatic Black Bear, pangolins, small carnivores, pollinators, turtles, and forest-dependent mammals. Together, these species represent the ecological complexity of Nepal’s biodiversity hotspot, where conservation challenges are deeply intertwined with community livelihoods, land-use change, and human–wildlife interactions. A major part of the discussion centres on the Asiatic Black Bear, a wide-ranging species increasingly coming into conflict with people in Nepal’s mid-hills and forested regions. The guests describe how bear conservation efforts combine camera trapping, rapid biodiversity assessments, and community interviews to identify key habitats and conflict zones. These methods are part of a broader conservation research framework that prioritizes coexistence and evidence-based wildlife conservation rather than enforcement-only approaches. The conversation then expands to other species under threat. Pangolins emerge as one of the most elusive and heavily trafficked mammals in the region, requiring both biodiversity research and strong community engagement to improve detection and protection. Small carnivores and lesser-known mammals are discussed as overlooked components of biodiversity conservation, despite their critical ecological roles. The episode also highlights pollinator conservation through citizen-science initiatives, demonstrating how biodiversity research can be democratized and scaled through local participation. Across all these projects, the Nature Conservation and Study Centre’s approach emphasizes capacity building, youth leadership, and community ownership. By training community forest user groups to deploy camera traps, monitor wildlife, and interpret results, the organization is helping shift conservation from externally driven projects to locally sustained action. This model strengthens biodiversity conservation outcomes while fostering long-term stewardship in Nepal’s rural landscapes. The guests also reflect candidly on the challenges faced by early-career conservationists, including limited funding, lack of training opportunities, and resistance from communities affected by human–wildlife conflict. Yet the episode remains hopeful, showing how collaboration, persistence, and grounded conservation research can generate meaningful change. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in bear conservation, Asiatic Black Bears, pangolins, wildlife conservation, biodiversity research, and the future of youth-led conservation in Nepal and the Himalayas. It offers a holistic view of how protecting biodiversity requires working across species, ecosystems, and communities simultaneously. #bear #bearconservation #AsiaticBlackBear #conservation #wildlifeconservation #biodiversityhotspot #conservationresearch #biodiversityresearch #biodiversityconservation #biodiversity #communitybasedconservation #communityconservation Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    31 min

  6. JAN 29

    S4|EP14 - Balancing Development and Snow Leopard Conservation in Pakistan's Mountain Ecosystems with Hamza Butt

    In this in-depth episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee speaks with Hamza Butt, about one of the most urgent yet under-discussed challenges facing conservation today: how to reconcile development with the protection of fragile mountain ecosystems. Hamza’s work sits at the intersection of sustainable linear infrastructure, biodiversity conservation, and climate policy. Drawing on his experience in Pakistan and across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, he explains how roads, railways, pipelines, and other forms of linear infrastructure can fragment habitats, disrupt ecological connectivity, and intensify human-wildlife conflict. For wide-ranging species like the snow leopard, even a single road can sever movement routes across vast mountain landscapes, increasing mortality risks and altering behaviour in ways that cascade across entire ecosystems. The conversation delves deeply into snow leopard conservation and the realities facing mountain biodiversity in Pakistan. With fewer than 200 snow leopards estimated to remain in the country, pressures from climate change, infrastructure expansion, and habitat loss are converging at unprecedented speed. Hamza describes how shrinking prey bases and degraded habitats push snow leopards closer to human settlements, leading to retaliatory killings and escalating conflict. These dynamics make snow leopard conservation inseparable from broader questions of mountain ecology, livelihoods, and equitable development. A central theme of the episode is how sustainable linear infrastructure can be planned differently. Hamza outlines how evidence-based decision-making, robust environmental impact assessments, and the mitigation hierarchy can help avoid, reduce, and offset ecological damage. From wildlife crossings and noise reduction to strategic route planning, he explains how infrastructure can coexist with mountain biodiversity conservation when guided by data rather than box-ticking exercises. Listeners will also gain insight into global policy processes, including how international guidance on infrastructure and biodiversity is translated into national action. Hamza reflects on the challenges of working in data-poor regions, the risks of poorly designed EIAs, and the importance of aligning climate change responses with biodiversity conservation goals. Throughout the episode, mountain conservation emerges not as a niche concern, but as a frontline issue for sustainable development in a warming world. This episode is essential listening for anyone interested in snow leopard conservation, sustainable linear infrastructure, mountain biodiversity, human wildlife conflict, and the future of biodiversity conservation in high-altitude ecosystems under climate change pressure. #sustainablelinearinfrastructure #linearinfrastructure #snowleopard #snowleopardconservation #mountainbiodiversity #mountainconservation #mountainbiodiversityconservation #humanwildlifeconflict #climatechange #biodiversityconservation #mountainecology Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    26 min

  7. JAN 23

    S4|EP15 Restoring Elephant Corridors in West Bengal through Community-Based Conservation with Divya Banerjee

    In this episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee is joined by Divya Banerjee, founder of Uttarayan Wildlife, for a deeply grounded conversation on elephants, people, and landscapes in eastern India. Drawing on years of frontline conservation experience, Divya shares how elephant conservation in human-dominated regions is inseparable from social justice, livelihoods, and long-term ecosystem recovery. The episode focuses on Asiatic elephants and the rapidly disappearing elephant corridors of southern West Bengal. These corridors once enabled seasonal movement between forests across Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bengal, but today they are heavily fragmented by deforestation, monocropping, and infrastructure expansion. As these wildlife corridors collapse, conflict escalates, placing immense pressure on both elephants and marginal farming communities. Divya explains why elephant corridor conservation is not simply about protecting space, but about restoring ecological functionality across entire landscapes. A major theme of the conversation is ecosystem degradation and its cascading effects. Loss of forest cover, depletion of topsoil, water scarcity, and chemical-intensive agriculture have transformed once-diverse habitats into arid, unproductive land. Divya outlines how ecosystem restoration begins from the ground up, starting with soil regeneration, water retention, and the reintroduction of native plant species. These efforts are critical not only for Asiatic Elephant conservation but also for rebuilding biodiversity and ecological resilience. The episode offers a rare, practical look at community-based conservation in action. Divya describes how local farmers are central to every stage of the work, from nursery management and plantation maintenance to alternative livelihoods such as vermicomposting and beekeeping. These initiatives strengthen local economies while supporting biodiversity conservation and biodiversity management, demonstrating that wildlife conservation is most effective when communities are genuine partners rather than passive stakeholders. This conversation highlights the realities of conserving elephants outside protected areas, the challenges of restoring wildlife corridors in working landscapes, and the long-term commitment required to reverse ecosystem degradation. It is essential listening for anyone interested in elephant conservation, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem restoration, and people-centred approaches to conservation in India. #elephants #elephantcorridor #elephantcorridorconservation #elephantconservation #Asiaticelephants #asiaticelephantconservation #wildlifecorridor #wildlifeconservation #biodiversityconservation #biodiversitymanagement #biodiversity #ecosystemdegradation #ecosystemrestoration #communitybasedconservation Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    28 min

  8. JAN 16

    S4|EP14 - Conserving The Last Vulture with Nitish Agrawal

    In this thought-provoking episode of The Think Wildlife Podcast, host Anish Banerjee is joined by Nitish Agrawal, founder of The Last Vulture, to unpack one of the most urgent yet overlooked stories in Indian biodiversity: the vulture crisis and its far-reaching ecological and public health consequences. Vultures are keystone species and irreplaceable scavengers, playing a critical role in maintaining ecosystem balance by rapidly removing animal carcasses from the landscape. Nitish explains how the catastrophic collapse of vulture populations across India triggered an ecological crisis with cascading impacts on public health, feral dog populations, disease transmission, and rural livelihoods. Once abundant across biodiversity hotspots of the subcontinent, vultures have declined by over 95 percent in many regions, making the vulture crisis one of the fastest population crashes of any bird group in history. The conversation explores vulture conservation not only as a species-focused intervention, but as a lens to understand biodiversity management and systemic failure. Nitish highlights how pharmaceutical contamination, policy blind spots, and lack of public awareness accelerated this biodiversity crisis, while also reflecting on why vultures suffer from a severe cultural stigma despite their ecological importance. Through the idea of “vulture culture,” he argues that conservation success depends on reshaping how society perceives scavengers, death, and ecosystem services. A major focus of the episode is vulture rewilding and rethinking rewilding more broadly in human-dominated landscapes. Nitish discusses how and community-based conservation are essential for restoring vulture populations, particularly around carcass availability, safe food zones, and coexistence with pastoral communities. These efforts demonstrate how biodiversity conservation can succeed when local people are active partners rather than passive stakeholders. The episode also delves into innovative approaches linking conservation with livelihoods, including safaris, walking safaris, and low-impact conservation tourism. Nitish explains how sustainable tourism, biodiversity tourism, and ethical wildlife experiences can create economic incentives for protecting threatened species while deepening public engagement with Indian biodiversity. Rather than spectacle-driven wildlife tourism, these models emphasize learning, interpretation, and long-term stewardship. This conversation offers a powerful reminder that saving vultures is about far more than birds alone. It is about restoring ecological function, safeguarding public health, addressing the biodiversity crisis, and reimagining how conservation, culture, and communities intersect in modern India. Essential listening for anyone interested in vulture conservation, rewilding, biodiversity hotspots, and the future of conservation tourism in India. #vulture #vultureconservation #vultureculture #keystonespecies #scavenger #ecologicalcrisis #publichealth #vulturecrisis #vulturerewilding #rewilding #communityconservation #communitybasedconservation #biodiversitycrisis #biodiversity #biodiversityconservation #biodiversityhotspot #biodiversitymanagement #Indianbiodiversity #safaris #walkingsafaris #sustainabletourism #conservationtourism #biodiversitytourism Get full access to The Think Wildlife Podcast at anishbanerjee.substack.com/subscribe

    23 min
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About

Every Monday, join our hosts, Anish Banerjee, as he speaks with renowned conservationists from around the world, dissecting some of the most pressing and intricate challenges threatening wildlife. anishbanerjee.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Think Wildlife Podcast
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    161
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Anish Banerjee
  • Show Website
    The Think Wildlife Podcast