Ep: 114: Diane Boyd: Wildlife biologist and wolf conservationist

Diane Boyd has four decades of experience on behavior, conservation and management of wild wolf populations. In 1979 Diane moved to Montana to study wolf recovery in the Rocky Mountains, from the first natural colonizer to approximately 2000 wolves today in the western United States. Diane has worked for the University of Montana, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Montana. He new book is titled: A Woman Among Wolves: My Journey Through Forty Years of Wolf Recovery.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • Similar to humans, wolves live in family groups and protect their territory, often to the death.
  • You learn a lot by walking the wolf’s tracks in the snow – their habitat, how they respond to scent of other animals, where they sleep, how they kill animals. You can see the entire ecology of wolves written in their tracks.
  • A wolf is a cooperative obligatory hunter. It’s obliged to cooperate because it needs the power of many mouths to take down a prey animal.
  • The average lifespan of a wolf in the wild is just 4.3 years.
  • Close to 300 wolves are killed every year due to recreational sport. That’s about 1/3 of the overall population.
  • “Excellence is the highest standard of quality for whatever you’re measuring.”

 

Show Notes

Book: A Woman Among Wolves: My Journey Through Forty Years of Wolf Recovery

Personal Website: Diane Boyd

Ep: 110: Craig Foster: My Octopus Teacher Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker

Craig Foster is one of the world’s leading natural history filmmakers and cofounder of the Sea Change Project, a nonprofit to protect marine life and raise awareness of the importance of the kelp forest. He won an Academy Award for Best Documentary for My Octopus Teacher and has created more than one hundred films and documentaries.  His latest book is titled: Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • When he goes on cold water ocean dives, his entire brain chemistry shifts with elevated dopamine and adrenaline levels while remaining very calm.
  • Managing fear is about getting to know what it is that you’re fearful of.
  • His curiosity and fearlessness has often taken him into precarious situations coming face to face with dangerous predators like great white sharks and crocodiles.
  • There are expert native trackers who go beyond tracking visuals and sounds of animals to getting into their minds. They can actually feel the animal inside their own bodies and know intuitively what they’re doing and where they’re going.
  • Having a sense of purpose in life is key to accomplishing anything you want.
  • “Excellence is tapping into the wild part of us that’s inherent in all of us.”

 

Show Notes

Book: Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World

Documentary: My Octopus Teacher

Nonprofit: Sea Change Project

Ep: 96: Frans Lanting: Internationally Renowned Wildlife and Nature Photographer

Frans Lanting has been hailed as one of the great photographers of our time. For more than three decades he has documented wildlife from the Amazon to Antarctica to promote understanding about the Earth and its natural history through images that convey a passion for nature and a sense of wonder about our living planet.  He has received many honors including Wildlife Photographer of the Year, the Lennart Nilsson Award, The Netherlands’ highest conservation honor – the Royal Order of the Golden Ark, the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in nature photography. His latest book is titled: Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • Not knowing the rules will make you experiment with anything and everything. Be aware of the rules but then put them to the side and do things your own way.
  • His empathy toward animals allows him to capture their personalities which are as distinct as our own personalities.
  • Unlike the prevailing methods of photographing the animals from a distance, Frans likes to get up close and personal and take his pictures at eye level to create a more intimate interaction.
  • Too many people are overly fixated with technology but what’s most important is knowing what’s interesting to you and your connection with the subject in front of you.
  • Unlike painting where you start with a blank canvas, with photography you go in the opposite direction and have to delete as much as possible until there is clarity.
  • His photography evolved from capturing a single species to capturing the essence of nature as a network of relationships amongst many species.

 

Notes:

Books:

Bay of Life: From Wind to Whales

Into Africa

Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape

Other books by Frans

Exhibitions:

LIFE: A Journey Through Time

Bay of Life

Website:

Frans Lanting