Amazing Wildlife: A San Diego Zoo Podcast iHeartPodcasts

Spring is fluttering by! It’s April, and that means Butterfly Jungle is currently open at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. In this episode, we are talking with the McKinney Family Curator of Invertebrates, Paige Howorth, about butterflies and butterfly conservation. We know so little about invertebrates in comparison to other wildlife, yet they are the backbone of our ecosystem.The butterfly population faces many challenges, and hosts Rick and Marco learn from Paige about how we can all help our fluttery friends survive and thrive.
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Who’s in charge here? In this episode we are talking all about the female's role in leading the group, troop, herd, or family with Kristi Burtis, vice president of wildlife care at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Rick, Marco, and Kristi discuss the role of the females in lions, gorillas, elephants, meerkats, lemurs, and even killer whales! We learn how some of these females lead as matriarch or as an influencer. The hosts and Kristi unpack how it’s the behaviors and actions of a single female and not brute strength that can lead an entire family of animals.
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Welcome to Season 3 of Amazing Wildlife! Hosts Rick and Marco are joined by a returning friend of the show, Kim Gray, the curator of herpetology and ichthyology (reptiles, amphibians, and fish) at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Oftentimes, people have some fears around snakes, but Kim shares the misconceptions about the king cobra, who is the top predator in their environment. So, if we can conserve their habitat, we can save a lot of species! Our hosts and Kim share a story with a positive ending about San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance saving king cobras from wildlife trafficking and explain why it's an important element for conservation.
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Amazing Wildlife is returning for season 3 starting Friday March 15! From the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, hosts Marco Wendt and Rick Schwartz will spotlight the heroes working worldwide to care for the species we know and love. 
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In the season finale, Rick and Marco take a trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park Biodiversity Reserve to speak with Charlie de la Rosa, Ph.D., natural lands manager for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. This 900-acre preserve in San Diego's North County supports large expanses of coastal sage scrub vegetation along two regionally important wildlife corridors. Here, in the most biodiverse county in the continental United States, we take a look at the importance of native plants including the prickly pear cactus, and Charlie gives us insight on technology used to study the movement of mountain lions and other wildlife. We also discuss how conservation is all about people, our connections to one another, and to the delicately balanced ecosystems that we all share.
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Amazing Wildlife spotlights the only native aquatic turtle species in California, the Pacific pond turtle. Rick and Marco are joined by Kim Gray, curator of herpetology and ichthyology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, to find out why protecting and conserving these turtles will help our ecosystems as well. You’ll hear why this species is also called the Western pond turtle, learn about the riparian zone of an ecosystem, and discover a special program that helps these camouflage experts grow, so they can avoid being preyed upon by invasive species.
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