Join us this World Wildlife Day as we delve into the cutting-edge realm of digital innovation in wildlife conservation! In this special episode, we are thrilled to be joined by Lydia Katsis, Senior Technical Specialist at the Zoological Society of London’s Conservation Technology Programme. From advanced tracking technologies to innovative data analytics, we uncover the diverse digital solutions driving wildlife protection into the future. However, amidst the excitement of technological progress, a stark reality looms: an estimated 3.7 billion people, nearly half of the world’s population, lac ..read more

In this episode, we're celebrating Women and Girls in Science! Join us as we discuss how the exclusion of women from knowledge production hampers our ability to address global challenges like biodiversity loss effectively. We explore how one female mathematician exemplified the transformative insights women bring through her crochet-based solution to a problem that had stumped the world’s leading minds for years. We also delve into the importance of valuing both social and natural sciences equally, explore the gender bias in academic disciplines, and speak with Anna Klevtcova, recipient of the ..read more

In this episode, we will be discussing what historical records of Amur leopards in Seoul, Korea, at the end of the 19th century, can tell us about the future of large carnivores in major urban centers with a high human population density. We're joined by PhD Researcher Joshua Powell whose research investigates opportunities and challenges for the transboundary conservation of the Endangered Amur tiger, leopard, and other large carnivores in north-east Asia. Joshua is a visiting researcher with the Tiger and Leopard Conservation Fund in Korea (KTLCF) and has been a visiting research studen ..read more

The construction and expansion of roads and railways fragment wild spaces and have direct and indirect impacts on ecosystem integrity and the persistence of species, especially in areas of high biodiversity value. The length of legally sanctioned roads alone has increased by 12 million km worldwide since 2000, with a further 25 million km expected to be developed globally by 2050 — that’s enough to circle the planet more than 600 times. Roughly 90% of these new roads will be built in developing nations, frequently in tropical and subtropical regions with high biodiversity and environmental val ..read more

While we are all too familiar with the catastrophic footprint fossil fuels have left on the environment and our health less is known about some of the impacts of renewables on our wild spaces and biodiversity. In this episode, we will be hearing more about how a low-carbon, renewable solution to rising global energy demands fails to fully consider impacts on biodiversity, freshwater connectivity and local communities. We are joined by Dr Ana Filipa Palmeirim, an Ecologist and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Porto. Filipa recently published a paper on the impacts of hydropower on t ..read more

This month we’re bringing you a special episode of WildCats Pawcast in celebration of World Photography Day. If you’re an aspiring wildlife photographer or just want to learn more from behind the lens this episode has the perfect mix of inspiration, creativity, and technical advice. Photography not only makes the world feel closer, but it also inspires people to care, making it an incredible tool for conservation. Tigers, specifically the Bengal tiger in India, have been extensively documented by photographers who have showcased the magnificence of these animals to a global audience. But beyon ..read more

Welcome back to episode 5 of WildCats Pawcast brought to you by the WildCats Conservation Alliance and hosted by Amy van Gelder. To celebrate Global Tiger Day on the 29th of July, we recruited some inquisitive kids to help record our Pawcast. Amid the who, what, where, why and how, children are often asking the most important and challenging questions. So, in the latest episode of WildCats Pawcast, we have handed the metaphorical podcasting microphone over to some of the world’s most enquiring minds. But, can leading tiger experts withstand the interrogation? Join Dr. Dale Miquelle from the WC ..read more

Just like many other conservation issues, the illegal wildlife trade originates from the actions and choices of people, so, to help solve the problem, we need to mobilise changes in human behaviour. In this episode we talk to Dr Diogo Veríssimo, a Research Fellow at Oxford University for the Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade and Grace Ge Gabriel, IFAW’s Regional Director for Asia. Join us as we look into demand reduction activities that use behaviour change interventions as an approach to reducing the purchase and consumption of tiger products. Additional reading: Making m ..read more

In our third episode, we are exploring the criminal underworld of the illegal wildlife trade. Raking in up to an estimated $23 billion a year according to the UN, the international wildlife trade is one of the most lucrative transnational organised crimes.  Ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts are among the most popular large animal “commodities” that are trafficked by criminal networks involved in the illegal trade. Today, we are left with fewer than around 4000 tigers living in a meagre 4% of their historic range compared with the 100,000 wild tigers who roamed across Asia just over a cent ..read more

Welcome to episode two of WildCats Pawcast, the show which brings you closer to experts from around the world working to save wild tigers and their habitats. Today we’re going to be taken deep into the world of tigers as we explore the subject of population monitoring which is very topical during this Year of the Tiger. Confronted with the dire situation facing wild tiger survival back in 2010, world leaders and conservation practitioners met to discuss strategies for tiger recovery. This meeting was a first in human history where country leaders converged to discuss the conservation of a sing ..read more