Episode 42: Sponge of death, wild Moo Deng, fragile wolf genomes, David Attenborough turns 100, tamarin trafficking & rediscovered marsupials

Welcome to the forty-second episode of the Zoology Ramblings Podcast!

In this episode, Emma and Robi return with busy updates, including Robi's recent fieldwork adventures in Africa and Emma's bittersweet time at work wrapping up a year-long programme with the Wildlife Champions she supports. For their species of the week, Emma goes rogue and Robi goes cute. Emma talks about the death ball sponge and Robi talks about his adventures looking for pygmy hippos in West Africa. For their local conservation stories, Robi delves into the genomic fragility of Europe's Grey Wolves and Emma pays tribute to Sir David Attenborough, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday. To end, Emma talks about the rise in trafficking of the golden lion tamarin and Robi shares some exciting news about the discovery of two species of marsupial thought to only exist in the fossil record.

Robi Watkinson is a Conservation Biologist and wildlife filmmaker specialising in the spatial and movement ecology of large carnivores, camera trapping survey methods, rewilding, metapopulation dynamics and conservation planning. He has an MSc in Conservation Biology from the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, and the Institute of Communities and Wildlife in Africa, University of Cape Town. He is based between Cape Town and London, and has strong interests in equitable and inclusive conservation, palaeontology and wildlife taxonomy and evolution!

Emma Hodson is a Zoologist and wildlife content creator, currently working in the community and engagement team at Avon Wildlife Trust. Emma’s role as a Wildlife Champions Project Officer involves supporting and upskilling people to take action for nature in their local communities. Emma has experience in remote wildlife fieldwork, and has been part of Arctic fox, macaw and cetacean research teams in Iceland, Peru and Wales respectively. She has also been involved in animal care and rehabilitation work in Costa Rica and South Africa. Emma is particularly passionate about the interface between community engagement and wildlife monitoring, and enjoys running workshops and giving talks on topics including camera trapping, beaver ecology and rewilding. 

You can follow more of our weird and wonderful wildlife adventures on instagram: @zoologyramblingspodcast & @robi_watkinson_wildlife & @emma_hodson_wildlife