Wild Connection

Often we forget that we human beings are animals. Wild Connection, is where Dr. Jennifer Verdolin investigates our similarities and differences with other animals, what we can learn, and how we can reconnect, not just with ourselves and each other, but with nature to improve our lives.

Wild Connection is a science podcast hosted by Hosted by Dr. Jennifer Verdolin, with 96 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Hosted by Dr. Jennifer Verdolin hosts Wild Connection, a science show with 96 episodes published.

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  Episode #9

  Urban Wildlife and the Cities We Build with Chris Schell

  Aug 23, 202637 minS6

  Episode Summary Urban ecologist and National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Chris Schell joins Wild Connection to explore how coyotes, foxes, and raccoons adapt to city life and how the neighborhoods we build shape not just human lives, but the wild animals living alongside us. Dr. Chris Schell studies urban wildlife behavior and physiology, focusing on coyotes, foxes, and raccoons in cities. His work bridges animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and the built environment, using tools like motion-activated cameras, GPS collars, hormone assays, and genomic methods. To keep up with Chris and his lab you can check out his website

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  Episode #9

  Can Seals Think? Marine Mammal Cognition with Dr. Kevin Woo

  Aug 10, 20261h 12mS6

  Episode Summary Marine mammal cognition researcher Dr. Kevin Woo joins Wild Connection to talk about what’s actually going on inside the minds of seals and sea lions — how they perceive their world, make decisions, and adapt to one of the busiest, loudest urban waterways on the planet: New York Harbor.[Attachment] About the Guest Dr. Kevin Woo is co-director of the Center for the Study of Pinniped Ecology and Cognition (C-SPEC) . His research spans sensory perception, cognition, and animal communication, with a focus on harbor seals and sea lions studied both in the field in New York Harbor and through cognitive testing at the Long Island Aquarium. And listen to an earlier episode with Dr. Kristy Biolsi back in 2021

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  Episode #8

  An Arrogant Ape: Human Exceptionalism, Animal Minds, and Rethinking Our Place in Nature with Dr. Christine Webb

  Jul 19, 202652 minS6

  We like to believe humans are special, separate, and sitting at the top of some invisible hierarchy of life. But what if that story is not only wrong, it’s actively harming our science, our relationships, and the way we move through the world? In this episode of Wild Connection, I’m joined by primatologist and author Dr. Christine Webb to talk about her new book, An Arrogant Ape. Christine grew up befriending the animals in her backyard, then found evolutionary biology and Darwin, which gave her a new perspective to that childhood sense of kinship with other animals. From there, she went on to study primates and teach a popular Harvard course also called “The Arrogant Ape,” focused on what truly makes us human and how we’ve built a culture around our supposed uniqueness. Together, we talk about human exceptionalism: how the idea that humans are above and apart from “animals” is threaded through our language, our textbooks, our politics, our food systems, our religious stories, and even the way we design scientific studies. We discuss why it became taboo in Western science to discuss animal emotions and minds, how behaviorism and the “black box” view of the mind sidelined rich subjective experiences, and why Darwin’s own belief in animal minds was gradually pushed out of mainstream discourse. If you want to learn more about Christine and get a copy of her book you can visit her website: https://www.cewebb.com/

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  Episode #7

  Birds on the Edge: Flight, Stress, and Social Life with Dr. Joan Strassman

  Jun 28, 202646 minS6

  Show Notes Summary In this episode, I sit down with evolutionary biologist Joan Strassmann to explore the social lives of birds and what they can teach us about behavior, self‑interest, and community across species. Building on the previous episode with primatologist Joan Silk, who showed how long‑term studies of baboons reveal the deep effects of early adversity and social bonds on lifespan and fitness, we shift from primate societies to avian societies and take our attention to their lives. Joan Strassmann introduces flight as birds’ defining “superpower,” explaining how the demands of aerial life push many species to the energetic edge, where small birds can lose around ten percent of their body weight overnight (every night!) and must constantly refuel just to survive. We also talk about surprising cases of rapid evolution in response to human environments. A big part of our conversation centers on social strategies like infidelity and extra‑pair copulations that overturned the image of birds as perfectly monogamous and the fluid dynamics of flocks and roosts, where each individual is primarily pursuing its own self‑interest within a loose social contract. We also discuss bird personalities, status hierarchies, and Joan’s “slow birding” philosophy, which encourages people to pick a single bird and watch it for five minutes to begin seeing its individual story rather than just ticking off species on a list. Throughout, birds become a way of thinking about ourselves: their stress, their negotiation between self‑interest and group life, and their varied responses to human pressure are all part of a broader, comparative view of social behavior that connects baboons, birds, gorillas, and humans.

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  Episode #7

  Grunts, Grooming, and Goodbye: Joan Silk on the Science of Friendship

  Jun 7, 202658 minS6

  Primatologist Joan Silk has spent decades following individual baboons from birth to death, documenting how friendships, conflicts, and early life experiences shape their lives. In this conversation, we explore how grooming, coalition support, and even simple grunts help baboons repair fights and maintain social bonds. We talk about why female baboons have intense relationships with their mothers but more contentious bonds with sisters, what happens hormonally when a close partner dies, and how early adversity can make it harder to form strong social ties later on. We also draw parallels to human life: bullying and social exclusion, the energy cost of maintaining friendships, the vulnerability of pulling back during hard times, and the moment when a relationship moves beyond tit‑for‑tat reciprocity into something more stable. If you’re curious about the biology of friendship, the psychology of conflict repair, and why our social worlds matter for how long we live, this episode is for you. Chapters: 00:00 – How Joan Silk fell in love with primate behavior 08:00 – Why long‑term field studies matter 16:00 – Defining ‘social bonds’ and friendship in baboons 22:00 – Grunts, reconciliation, and benign intent 34:00 – Early adversity and the ability to bond 41:00 – Temperament, isolation, and COVID parallels 50:00 – Social ties and lifespan

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