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PODCAST

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast

Robi Watkinson and Emma Hodson

Welcome to the Zoology Ramblings podcast! Join conservation biologists and wildlife filmmakers Robi Watkinson and Emma Hodson as they ramble away about zoology, the pressing conservation issues of our times, the global climate and biodiversity crises, wildlife taxonomy, and everything in between! Robi and Emma met during their undergraduate studies and the Zoology Ramblings podcast grew from their infectious love for the wild world! The podcast was one of the recipients of the “Spotify Next Wave

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All Episodes

00:58:50

Brown hyenas & crayfish, great white fear mongering,...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2024/08/14

Welcome to episode 26 of Zoology Ramblings!This week, we are back to our regular podcast structure and begin by sharing some quick nature news followed by our animals of the week. Robi talks about brown hyena phylogeny, and how new research may see it re-classified into an extinct genus. Taxonomy nerds, this one's for you! I talk about the invasive American signal crayfish and how it's come to spread an dominate across UK waterways. We then share our local news, which mean both of us

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01:12:10

Deep dive: European bison (plus weird tree shrimps...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2024/07/25

Welcome to episode 25 of Zoology Ramblings, where Robi and I do a deep dive into European bison. Before we do, we talk about very bizarre animals of the week, featuring the slimy, jawless hagfish and an expedition that led to the discovery of tree-dwelling shrimps the size of a grain of sand! For our deep dive, we delve into how bison were almost completely eradicated from Europe, and how restoration efforts and careful breeding have allowed bison numbers to recover across the continent. We

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01:21:46

Nature is queer, Iberian lynx, Whistling dogs, Big...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2024/07/15

Welcome to episode 24 of Zoology Ramblings! This week, Robi and I share exciting news of having met up recently in the UK, with Robi speaking at a Pride Community Campfire that I hosted with my colleagues. This leads onto a wonderful conservation about the innate queerness of nature featuring lesbian bonobos and elephant orgies. For our animals of the week, Robi talks about good news for the Iberian lynx and I talk about the unusual whistling dogs: Dholes. Robi then delves into the recent news

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01:24:08

Funerals & bat hawks, cow-stomached birds, sexy snake...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2024/05/14

Welcome to episode 23 of Zoology Ramblings! Sporadic and rambling as ever, Robi and I finally get round to recording another Zoology Ramblings episode. We fill you in on some life updates, including a very moving experience I had attending the Funeral for Nature in Bath. Robi shares some of his highlights from his recent trip to the Okavango Delta, including the legendary bat hawks!! We then delve into our species of the week, where I talk about the weird cow-stomached Hoatzin birds (thanks to

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00:48:12

Cape Town re-union, Penguins, New Species, More...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2024/01/06

Welcome to the 21st episode of the Zoology Ramblings Podcast, where Robi and I are actually together in the same place after over a year!We share some exciting updates about our recently released Rewilding A Nation documentary, Robi's leopard research for his masters thesis and what 2024 of the Wildlife Champions Programme has in store. We talk about some new species discovered in 2023, and I get very excited about seeing the wonderful Cape Pengiuns! As ever, I go on a tangent about some

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00:49:03

Wildlife Champions, Leopards are ninjas, Frogging,...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2023/11/13

Welcome back to another very belated episode of Zoology Ramblings! Thanks for putting up with our sporadic podcast recording. In this episode Robi and I give life updates, Robi of his masters project on monitoring leopard density in Namibia and me from Bristol of my job supporting local communities to take action for nature. We take a moment to reflect on key moments in nature and encourage you all to notice nature in your day to day lives. We then go on a big rant about the State of Nature report

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00:49:21

New Beginnings, Bridges for Howler Monkeys, Orchids...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2023/02/22

In episode 19 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I reconnect as he embarks on an exciting new journey in Cape Town and I get my first paid job in conservation! I talk about the awesome project that's helping howler monkeys in Costa Rica by putting up rope bridges and Robi enlightens us about the significance of a beetle ejaculating on a rare orchid. We then take a short break to go eat cheese and crackers and come back to talk about canine distemper virus affecting leopards in Nepal, which is escalating

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01:10:55

Truss going backwards, Cheetahs in India, Bottlenose...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2022/10/14

In episode 18, Robi and I record our latest episode from the middle of nowhere in New Quay, Wales. We talk about how the UK government is taking steps backwards when it comes to key environmental laws and tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. We chat about the reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in India, and why this has proved to be a controversial and divisive topic. For our animals of the week, I go down a marine tangent and talk about Bottlenose dolphins and touch on the

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00:47:03

Return of the Bison, EU nature laws, Springhare,...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2022/07/15

In Episode 17 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the very exciting imminent return of European bison to the UK, some uplifting new nature legislation in the EU, the weird and wonderful springhare whose fur is biofluorescent, the obscure and illusive African finfoot with bright orange feet, an exciting new project to map bee genomes and we break down the different types of Rewilding. We also share some exciting news about a new Rewilding documentary that we are working on at the moment. We

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00:44:31

Dissertations, South Africa Field Course and South...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2022/05/26

Apologies for the complete radio silence for the past 7 months... we have been caught up in our final year at university. We have now finished out last exam at the University of Leeds so we are officially done with our Zoology degrees! In episode 16, we explain where we've been for the past 7 months and talk you through our final year dissertation projects and tell you about our incredible field course in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. We then end this episode by touching briefly on wildlife

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00:46:41

COP26, A new shark species, Hog badgers, Potoos,...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/11/06

In episode 15 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I record our first episode from Leeds, where we are living together for our final year of university. For our news section we talk about COP26 and whether it is going far enough to tackle the climate crisis and Robi talks about a new species of shark. For our animals of the week, I talk about the bizarre and wonderful hog badger and Robi talks about the slightly terrifying Potoo bird. For our conservation section, I talk about the decision to withdraw one

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00:57:45

Legal protection for beavers, Hope for tunas, Nile...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/09/30

In episode 14 of Zoology Ramblings Robi and I record the first ever episode in person rather than over Zoom! We stick to the new format of: News, Animals of the week and end with current wider conservation stories. In this episode I talk about the recent decision by the British Government to possibly give beavers native species status and legal protection, Robi talks about some hope for tuna species despite dwindling populations of other marine species. For our animals of the week, I talk about nile

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01:11:50

Conservation News, Short-eared dog, Little Black...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/08/01

In Episode 13 of Zoology Ramblings, we introduce a new section called "conservation news" where Robi and I each talk about a recent positive conservation news story. We discuss our animals of the week: I decided to talk about the illusive, weird short-eared dog (thanks @wayne_wildlife for the suggestion) and Robi talks about the Little Black Tapir and whether this is in fact a new species or not. We then delve deeper into some wider conservation stories where I give a sad update about the status of

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00:44:28

Exciting news, All things beaver, White-Eyed River...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/05/25

In episode 12 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I reveal some very exciting news about our podcast and its selection as one of the 8 winners of the Spotify Next Wave Initiative! We are so thrilled to have been selected alongside 7 other amazing podcasts which cover some very important and pressing topics in our society today. We also talk about our recent beaver adventure down in Devon, where we had the amazing opportunity to film wild beavers in the UK! We were amazed how close we were able to see

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01:24:21

Tayra, Monito del Monte, Zoonotic diseases, African...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/04/18

In episode 11, Robi and I ramble about our animals of the week- I talk about the tayra and Robi talks about the tiny Monito del Monte. We each tackle large global conservation topics including zoonotic diseases and the lessons we can learn from the Covid 19 pandemic. Robi discusses why the taxonomic classification of African elephant species is important! For our UK conservation topics I talk about the very exciting reintroduction of beavers to Wales for the first time in 400 years. Robi talks about

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01:23:40

Sunda Island Tigers, Albatross, Eagle Owls in...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/03/17

This week in episode 10 of Zoology Ramblings we talk about an animal of the week each: Robi talks about the Sunda Island Tigers and throws in a bit of epic tiger taxonomy and palaeontology! I talk about the Laysan Albatross following an article about the world's oldest wild bird 'Wisdom' who has just had her 37th chick! For our UK conservation stories, Robi talks about the majestic Eagle Owl in Britain and how a mysterious group of them has 're-appeared' in the UK. I talk about the controversial

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00:26:58

Ebo Forest and Invasive American Mink

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/02/13

Welcome to episode 9, part 2 of Zoology Ramblings with Emma and Robi. This is a continuation from part 1 of episode 9. In this episode we talk about the Ebo Forest in Cameroon and the incredible biodiversity of animal life which is supported there. We also talk about threats to this forest and how public pressure can be important in lobbying governments to change. We also talk about the invasive American Mink which has exploded in numbers here in the UK and across Europe. This mink is threatening

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00:50:04

Hot pink slugs, Alien-like Hirola and The Elephant...

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2021/02/13

Welcome to episode 9, part 1 of Zoology Ramblings with Emma and Robi! Apologies we haven't released one of these in a while- we have been busy with our other podcast 'The Biome Podcast'. Please feel free to check that one out if you wanted more regular content. This week we talk about neon-pink slugs which live on one mountain-top in Australia and nowhere else in the world. They really are hot pink and awesome but are also threatened by climate change. Robi talks about the Hirola, which is an

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00:24:09

The plight of the pangolin

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2020/12/23

In episode 8 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the illegal pangolin trade and the threats which both the Asian and African pangolins are facing. We highlight some amazing people and organisations which are doing fantastic work to try and conserve these incredible animals. We also briefly touch on the links between the pangolin and the SARS-CoV-2 virus which is currently causing the covid 19 pandemic. We hope you enjoy our latest ramble and learn lots about the amazing pangolin!

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00:32:48

Orca in Scotland

The Zoology Ramblings Podcast ·

2020/12/16

In episode 7 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the remarkable creatures that are Orcas. We talk about their distribution around the world, their complex social structures, the global threats they are facing and we explore the dynamics and the plight of our Orca pod here in the UK. We hope you enjoy our latest ramble!

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