The Thing About Wildlife
Episodes
#63 The Thing About Rituals and Coexistence (English+Tamil)
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week I’m in conversation with the thoughtful and deeply grounded partnership of Devaki Nair and Manikandan R, part of the 2023 cohort of the Co...
#62 The Thing About Old Bonds and Elephants
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm in conversation with the deep, strong and heartwarming partnership of Amir Chhetri and Priyanka Das, both part of the 2022 cohort of...
#61 The Thing About Finding Common Ground
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm in conversation with the unlikely but effective partnership of Sunil Harsana and Nitesh Kaushik, both part of the 2022 cohort of the...
#60 The Thing About An Army of Kindness
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week I'm in conversation with the spirited Avantika Thapa. She was part of the first cohort of the Coexistence Fellowship, and went through t...
#59 The Thing About Indigenous Science
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dive into a thought-provoking conversation with one of the Coexistence Fellowship pairs - Mahesha & Vinay - in our very first episode of Season 6,...
#58 The Thing About Tree-walking Through Life
12 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today we bring you you an enthu-cutlet conversation with the excitable and passionate Sayee Girdhari. With important nudges from the universe towards ...
#57 The Thing About Learning with Children
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today I bring you you a warm and wholesome conversation with the incomparable Nitya Satheesh. She's had a fascinating journey within the wildlife spac...
#56 The Thing About Living with Leopards
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode features the wonderful Shweta Shivakumar with whom we continued on our Season 5 journey hitting upon our recurring themes of coexisten...
#55 The Thing About Speaking with Nature
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, I'm in conversation with India's foremost historian, Dr Ramachandra Guha: an environmentalist, prolific writer and public intellectual whose re...
#54 The Thing About Haath Mein Chidhiya (Hindi)
13 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of two episodes recorded in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh, with the fantastic field staff that works with Dr U...
#53 The Thing About Spiders and Spinning Stories
04 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is a very cool spider specialist and all-round natural history enthusiast with a penchant for storytelling, photography and zooming into...
#52 The Thing About Elasmobranchs and the Coast
14 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're in conversation with Alissa Barnes - a marine biologist who wears several hats - from illustrator and social scientist to diver and shark ...
#51 The Thing About Coexistence and Negotiation
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dhee is a researcher interested in the human dimensions of wildlife conservation, specifically the psychological and socio-cultural factors that shape...
#50 The Thing About Big Picture Conservation
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rushikesh Chavan tells us about how he's been diving deep into large-scale conservation issues ever since he got into this field a couple of decad...
#49 The Thing About Writing Storybooks
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, I'm in conversation with Priyadarshini Panchapakesan - a young English language school teacher who grew up inspired by the nature around he...
#48 The Thing About Birding for Science
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, I am joined by an old friend - Tarun Menon - birder supreme. Having completed his masters from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, he&...
#47 The Thing About Camouflaged Identities
30 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The spaces of wildlife and conservation are home to LOTS of queer-identifying individuals around the world, each one doing inspiring and important wor...
#46 The Thing About Risky Waters
16 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to our new series: The Thing About Pride. These are episodes showcasing the work and lived experiences of queer or LGBTQIA+ identifying ...
#45 The Thing About Underwater Exploration
02 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to our new series: The Thing About Pride!On our third episode, I bring to you a marine biologist and conservationist who truly wants to d...
#44 The Thing About Queer Wildlifers
25 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, I speak with 3 fabulous queer wildlifers - all of whom you've heard from before during our second season from early 2022! The fie...
#43 The Thing About Birds and Chai
18 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to a new series within this podcast: The Thing About Pride. These are episodes showcasing the work and lived experiences of queer or LGBTQIA+ ...
#42 The Thing About Regenerative Farming
04 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Malika Virdi is an urban citizen turned farmer who co-founded Maati Sanghthan, a women’s collective, in Sarmoli, Munsiyari. This collective actively...
#41 The Thing About Glacial Melts
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of two very special bonus episodes produced in collaboration with the Sydney Environmental Institute and the India and Bharat Togeth...
#40 The Thing About Fisheries and Gifting Chickens
01 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Sahir Advani is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Maine. While he works at a larger, global scale now, we dipped into his ex...
#39 The Thing About Galloping Dolphins
26 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is Mahi Mankeshwar - a cetacean biologist who has one of the most natural affinities to the marine space that I've ever encounte...
#38 The Thing About Mamuli Baatein (Hindi)
19 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I am joined by my guest co-host, Tanmay Wagh, who you all met last Season as part of episode 21: The Thing About Marine Adventures! Together, we speak...
#37 The Thing About Seagrasses and Dugongs
04 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Elrika D'Souza is the Programme Manager of Oceans and Coasts at the Nature Conservation Foundation. Her research interests lie in exploring plant-a...
#36 The Thing About Monkeys on the Beach
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today, I speak with the dedicated and observant, Dr Arijit Pal, a postdoctoral fellow at the national institute of advanced studies in bangalore. For ...
#35 The Thing About Ethnographies and Mayabandar
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Shiba Desor is a social scientist who worked with the Karen community in the middle Andamans to set up the Andaman Karen Crafts initiative, a co...
#34 The Thing About Great Nicobar In Peril
05 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We're back today with another in our Andaman and Nicobar series, with a conversation featuring Professor Pankaj Sekhsaria. His main areas of research ...
#33 The Thing About Culture and Nature
28 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Madhuri Ramesh is a faculty member at the School of Development at Azim Premji University. Madhuri has worked in deserts, rainforests, coasts and isla...
#32 The Thing About Restoration and Development
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Manish is a phenomenal storyteller, who uses his lived experiences to talk about the people and ecology of the islands with extreme clarity. Our recor...
#31 The Thing About Discovering the Islands
15 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of our Andaman and Nicobar series, storyteller-supreme, Manish Chandi speaks to Ishika and Akshay about his early years in the is...
#30 The Thing About The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
07 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Happy 2023, listeners! This year, The Thing About Wildlife is kick-starting with a 10-part series on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Stay tuned for m...
#29 The Thing About The Living Museum
16 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Order The Living Museum today! To know more about the book, head on over to our website. This production and distribution of this book was made possib...
#28 The Thing About Reflections #2
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After a little break, TTAW is back with The Thing About Reflections #2, where I'm joined by guest co-host Dr Krishna Anujan to look back upon Season 2...
#27 The Thing About Building Camera Traps
08 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tejaswini Nagesh is a product designer who works with the World Wide Fund for Nature - India in Tezpur. Her current work focuses on understanding the ...
#26 The Thing About Art for Conservation
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Labonie Roy is a multi-media illustrator and educational content designer with a passion for nature-based learning. She has worked alongside various e...
#25 The Thing About Himalayan Ungulates
23 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Munib Khanyari has just emerged from having completed his fascinating doctoral work in the Himalayas. He did his PhD from the University of Bristol/Un...
#24 The Thing About Tea and Elephants
17 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Parvathi K Prasad is a Research Affiliate at Conservation Initiatives and PhD student at Deakin University. She began her journey into this field thro...
#23 The Thing About Softshell Turtles
10 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ayushi Jain is a National Geographic Photo Ark EDGE Fellow focusing on the endangered Cantor’s giant softshell turtle, which is part of the work she...
#22 The Thing About Learning with Birds
03 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Misha Bansal works with the Nature Conservation Foundation. After doing a Bachelor’s in Biochemistry and a Master’s in Life Sciences, Misha fell i...
#21 The Thing About Marine Adventures
27 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tanmay Wagh is a marine ecologist with the Dakshin Foundation who has been working in the Andaman Islands since 2013. Ever since, he’s been a part o...
#20 The Thing About Urban Snakes
20 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chayant Gonsalves is a naturalist, birder, artist and all-round snake enthusiast. After completing his training in wildlife biology and conservation f...
#19 The Thing About Landscape Avifauna
12 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jobin Varughese is an ecologist with a masters in ecology from Pondicherry University. His initial training as an architect, and later as a landscape ...
#18 The Thing About Getting Started
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ishaan Patil is an early career scientist who is not sure what to call himself yet: anthropologist, environmental scientist or social scientist? He st...
#17 The Thing About People and Animals
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mrunal Ghosalkar, a National Geographic certified educator, began her conservation journey with the Nature Conservation Foundation by studying the occ...
The Thing About Upload Delays
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Next full episode will be out tomorrow!
#16 The Thing About Personalities
20 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Taniya Gill is a doctoral candidate from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Delhi. She began her journey into understanding animal pe...
#15 The Thing About Sleeping Lizards
13 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nitya Prakash Mohanty is a herpetologist who has spent the last decade studying frogs and lizards, asking interesting questions about their patterns o...
#14 The Thing About Pulpuli
06 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Titir Debnath has been engaging with wildlife in many ways since she was in school, and stayed firmly on course through the years that followed. Now, ...
#13 The Thing About Forest Fires
30 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Neeharika Gogoi is a PhD scholar with Dr. Narayan Sharma in the Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University.. Her wor...
#00 The Thing About Introductions: Season-2
22 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Season-2 and an all-new segment on the podcast: The Thing About Wildlife - In a Nutshell. Here, I talk to researchers, students, educators,...
#12 The Thing about Reflection [end of Season 01]
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dear listener, On this last episode of Season One, we revisit our motivation for starting The Thing About Wildlife and reflect on highlights from our ...
#11 The Thing about Turtles with Nupur Kale
04 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nupur Kale is a Project Associate with the Marine Program at the Wildlife Conservation Society - India. Her main research interests are sea turtle bio...
#10 The Thing about Plants with Krishna Anujan
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Krishna Anujan is a community ecologist and nature enthusiast, and she's is studying the effect of biodiversity on tropical forest functioning in the ...
#09 The Thing About Rivers with Tarun Nair
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tarun Nair is a herpetologist and conservationist associated with the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE), Bangalore (but vie...
#08 The Thing about Forests with Dr. Meghna Agarwala
14 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Meghna Agarwala is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. Her work focuses on the intersection of forest ecology, co...
#07 The Thing About Nature Education with Vena Kapoor
07 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back to the second of our two-part chat with Vena! Vena Kapoor works with the Education and Public Engagement Programme at Nature Conservation...
#06 The Thing about Spiders with Vena Kapoor
31 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vena Kapoor works with the Education and Public Engagement Programme at Nature Conservation Foundation in Bengaluru. She is interested in ecology, nat...
#05 The Thing About Monkeys with Dr. Narayan Sharma
24 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Narayan Sharma studies community and behavioural ecology, and the conservation biology of the primates in the fragmented landscape of the Upper Br...
#04 The Thing About Invasives with Dr. Nitya Prakash Mohanty
17 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nitya Prakash Mohanty is a herpetologist who has spent the last decade studying frogs and lizards, asking interesting questions about their patterns o...
#03 The Thing about Otters with Nisarg Prakash
10 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nisarg Prakash is an engineer turned wildlife biologist. His primary interest is to conserve otters and their habitats. His work spans studying otters...
#02 The Thing About Inclusive Ecology with Dr. Krishnapriya Tamma
03 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Priya is an ecologist, with an interest in tropical forest diversity, dynamics and biogeography. She did her PhD on the biogeography and macroecology ...
#01 The Thing about Elephants with Dr. Nishant Srinivasaiah
26 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nishant is a behavioural ecologist who studies Asian elephants in a human-dominated landscape. He has completed his doctoral work from the National In...
#00 The Thing About Wildlife - Introductions
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Thing About Wildlife - a podcast that digs deep into the personal lived experiences of people from the fields of wildlife biology and c...