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PODCAST

Mammalwatching

Jon Hall & Charles Foley

Charles Foley and Jon Hall talk to mammalwatchers, biologists, conservationists and those with a passion for observing and protecting the world"s wild mammals. For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast.Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh,

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All Episodes

60:01

African mole-rats with Kyle Finn

Mammalwatching ·

2026/10/01

Charles and Jon get a glimpse into the fascinating world of African mole-rats with Kyle Finn, a Postdoctoral Fellow from Linnaeus University, Sweden and one of the world's foremost experts on this family of species. Kyle talks about his work studying Damaraland Mole-rats for his master's degree at the Kalahari Research Centre and then studying Natal Mole-rats in the Drakensberg for his PhD. He runs through many of the ways in which mole-rats are exceptional. They are exceptionally long-loved,...

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70:58

Stratton Hatfield & Koen Betjes

Mammalwatching ·

2026/09/01

Charles and Jon talk to Stratton Hatfield and Koen Betjes, two conservation researchers involved in a range of fascinating work in Africa. We cover a lot of ground from Giant Pangolin research in Kenya to the importance of taxonomy for conservation and mammal listing. The pair talk about how they have just - together with Charles - solved the mystery of a mysterious mongoose, a case worthy of Sherlock Holmes. And Stratton and Koen run through a set of mammal encounters guaranteed to send any ...

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62:43

Brett Hartl (Environmental Lawyer)

Mammalwatching ·

2026/08/01

Charles and Jon talk to mammalwatcher and environmental lawyer Brett Hartl from his home in Prescott, Arizona. After beginning his working life as a ranger in Montana's Glacier National Park, Brett went to law school and now coordinates the Center for Biological Diversity's work on federal legislative issues that affect endangered species and other environmental concerns. Brett explains how - and why - he made the transition from a field biologist to environmental lawyer. He explains the proc...

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52:58

Made in China

Mammalwatching ·

2026/07/01

Charles and Jon compare notes from their recent trips to China, and talk the joys of travel there, especially the country's superb mammalwatching opportunities. Charles and his family spent 10 days in China's Qinghai Province in May, while Jon was in China for a month from mid-April, including almost two weeks in Yunnan Province and a few days in Qinghai. We discuss the Gouli Valley, and the extraordinary carnivore watching there, due in large part to a guide with superhuman vision. Cha...

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59:11

Tom Butynski & Yvonne de Jong: Wild Solutions (Kenya)

Mammalwatching ·

2026/06/01

Charles and Jon talk to conservationists and primatologists Tom Butynski and Yvonne de Jong from their base in Kenya. Tom and Yvonne run the East African Primate Diversity and Conservation Program and research primates and other mammals in East Africa. After explaining how their rural childhoods fostered a love for nature, Tom and Yvonne outline very varied career paths that took them around the world and eventually to Kenya - and each other - 25 years ago. They talk about the importance of c...

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57:38

Joel Sartore: The Photo Ark

Mammalwatching ·

2026/05/01

Charles and Jon talk to Joel Sartore, founder of NatGeo's Photo Ark project and one of the world's most preeminent wildlife photographers. Joel describes his passion for conservation, a passion inspired by parents who cared and a childhood spent in nature. He outlines his career, which took him from a cub photographer with the Wichita Eagle, to National Geographic where he now runs the Photo Ark and has photographed more than 18,000 species in human care. Joel explains his photogr...

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62:09

Nick Mcphee - Nick's Adventures Bolivia

Mammalwatching ·

2026/04/01

Charles and Jon chat with Nick Mcphee, founder of Nick's Adventures Bolivia, from his home in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Nick explains how a childhood love of wildlife - inspired by growing up near Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo - led him to Bolivia after five years in the Australian army and another three working in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. He talks about the many - and exceptionally diverse - mammalwatching opportunities in Bolivia that range from what is arguably Latin Ame...

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66:46

Mammalwatching: The Next Generation

Mammalwatching ·

2026/03/01

Charles and Jon turn the podcast over to three of the youngest mammalwatchers we know: Ellen Linton (20), Bruno Kovacs Gomez (16) and Moses Swanson-Mwamasika (15). In a lively chat the three share stories about their passion, why they love it and what their friends and family think. We hear stories about pizza with a Caracal in South Africa; close encounters with pouched rats in Zimbabwe; and a quest for a Golden Jackal in Hungary. The next generation also offer advice on how to encourage fri...

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45:42

Adventures in Argentina & Tales from Tanzania

Mammalwatching ·

2026/02/01

Charles and Jon don't have a guest this month. Instead we talk to each about our recent trips to southern Tanzania (Charles) and Tierra del Fuego (Jon). Charles's adventure coincided with the Tanzanian elections and an outbreak of protests. These may have shut down the country but did not deter its mammalwatchers! In between negotiating their way through road blocks and buying diesel from trucks stuck on the road, they managed to see a ridiculous number of mammal species (almost 80) including...

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56:21

Episode 2: János Oláh

Mammalwatching ·

2026/01/01

In the first podcast of 2026 we talk with professional bird and mammal guide János Oláh from his home in Hungary. János set up Sakertours in 1994. Initially focussing on birding tours in Eastern Europe they expanded to run hide-based photography tours and now mammal tours. János explains how he was drawn to birding as a child, and the formative role an aversion to summer camp chores played in the process. He describes how and why he set up his Romania Mammal Tour, on which participants can ex...

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73:06

Episode 1: Expedition to Sulawesi

Mammalwatching ·

2025/12/01

The Season 4 opener to the mammalwatching podcast has Charles and Jon talking about their September 2025 expedition to Sulawesi. This is a blow by blow - and mammal by mammal - account of a remarkable two week trip that recorded over 80 mammal species. Our story is interspersed with interviews from the field with Carlos Bocos, the trip leader; bat guru Prof Juliana Senawi; and the other participants (Stuart Chapman, Nick Cox, János Oláh, Martin Royle and Ian Thompson). We also include ...

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70:50

Episode 18: Nachiket Kelkar & Kadambari Deshpande...

Mammalwatching ·

2025/09/02

Charles and Jon speak to conservation power couple Nachiket Kelkar and Kadambari Deshpande from their home in Bangalore. Kadambari and Nachiket both work to better understand how wildlife and people can co-exist in India, with Kadambari focussing on bats and Nachiket looking at riverine ecosystems and wildlife including the Ganges River Dolphin. In a fascinating interview they discuss some of the threats facing the species they are working to protect as well as some of the facets of Indian so...

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43:59

Episode 17: African Golden Cat researcher Laila...

Mammalwatching ·

2025/07/31

Charles and Jon talk with carnivore conservation expert Laila Bahaa-el-din. Laila studied the near mythical African Golden Cat for her PhD in Gabon from 2010 - 2015 and was the first to study the species for a PhD. She explains how her grandfather inspired her to follow a career in conservation and how a chance encounter with a mislabeled photo of an African Golden Cat saved her from studying raptors and took her to Gabon. Laila describes how she studied the cats using camera traps and how a ...

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60:42

Episode 16: Nigel Marven

Mammalwatching ·

2025/07/01

Charles and Jon talk with wildlife filmmaker and presenter Nigel Marven from his home in the UK. Nigel describes how a childhood fascination with wildlife led to his first job in TV, 'wrangling worms', and from there to working with Sir David Attenborough and ultimately presenting and making his own shows and films. He explains why his films have often put the spotlight onto smaller, less well-known but fascinating mammals including Russian Desmans, Chinese Mole-shrews and Star-nosed Moles.&n...

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62:00

Episode 15: Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, Nigeria

Mammalwatching ·

2025/06/01

Charles and Jon talk with Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder of the SW/Niger Delta Conservation Project. Rachel, a Nigerian conservationist and visionary, has built a team of almost 100 people working at the grassroots community level to save the wildlife of the Niger Delta. The delta, densely populated and home to oil and gas reserves, is one of the most degraded environments on the planet. It contains over half of the swamp forest in West and Central Africa and is the world's largest mangrove...

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52:24

Episode 14: Shavez Cheema, Borneo

Mammalwatching ·

2025/05/10

Charles and Jon talk to Shavez Cheema, founder of Borneo1Stop Wildlife, from his home in Sabah. Shavez talks about a childhood in Brunei surrounded by wildlife and how, at the age of nine, he was inspired to work in conservation after seeing a neighbour's senseless killing of a monitor lizard. We discuss the massive potential for growth in conservation tourism across Borneo, and both the benefits and problems it might create. And Shavez explains why Borneo1Stop Wildlife is committed to ...

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50:28

Episode 13: Venkat Sankar & Nicole Haseley's Big...

Mammalwatching ·

2025/04/07

Charles and Jon talk with mammalwatching power couple Venkat Sankar & Nicole Haseley from their base at Stanford University in California. Nicole and Venkat 'accidentally' turned 2024 into a Big California (Mammal) Year and ended up seeing a record breaking 150 species in the state by December 31. They talk about some of their big year's highs and lows as well as their favourite places in California to mammalwatch, and offer advice on how to identify small mammals in the field. ...

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58:14

Episode 12: Sid Francis, China

Mammalwatching ·

2025/03/09

Charles and Jon talk to legendary mammal guide Sid Francis from his home in Sichuan. Sid runs through a career as geographically diverse as it is professionally. After studying agriculture in the UK he worked as - among other things - a shepherd in the Falkland Islands shepherd and a school teacher in Denmark before moving to China and becoming a wildlife guide. We talk about how much China - and the public's interest in wildlife there - has changed over the past few years. Sid de...

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57:04

Episode 11: The Horn of Africa

Mammalwatching ·

2025/02/01

In the first episode of 2025 Charles and Jon talk about their December 2024 trip to Ethiopia's Somali Region and Djibouti. From Dik-diks to Dibatags we discuss some of the rare mammals we encountered along with spectacular species like the poison-covered Crested Rat. We describe the agony of arriving in a camp that looked like the set from a slasher movie, to the ecstasy of taking what appear to be the first ever photos there of a live Abyssinian Genet. And we reveal how we faced up to ...

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49:53

Episode 10: Marcelo Gavensky and Argentina

Mammalwatching ·

2024/12/26

In the last podcast episode of 2024, Charles and Jon talk to Marcelo Gavensky from his home in Buenos Aires. Marcelo is director of Birds Argentina, a tour company that recently expanded into running mammalwatching safaris.Marcelo talks about the varied career that led him to establish his tour company. He describes some of his favourite encounters and his work to find a reliable method to see the rare Franciscana or La Plata River Dolphin. We also discuss Argentina's massive mammalwatching p...

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