Podcasts · Science

The Wild with Chris Morgan

KUOW News and Information

144 episodes

The Wild with Chris Morgan is a celebration of the natural world and the people devoted to wild places and incredible species. In each episode, host and ecologist Chris Morgan brings you face to face with some of the most extraordinary creatures and explores how they are finding unique and inspiring ways to adapt and thrive.

Episodes page 1 of 3

  1. For shuck's sake! Saving wild oysters

    · 35 min · S8 E4

    It’s time for me to face my fears! Oysters are iconic here in the Pacific Northwest. The glistening, oval shells and salty aroma are like having a tasty piece of the ocean on your plate. (Well…tasty for some). For a…

  2. A mating dance party with robotic sage grouse

    · 34 min · S8 E3

    How do you save sage grouse inside Grand Teton National Park? With robot birds… of course. A group of sage grouse have started using the runway at the Jackson Hole Airport for their mating dance. Not an ideal place…

  3. A 750-mile misadventure in the Grand Canyon

    · 1 h 01 min · S8 E2

    Almost everybody has seen the Grand Canyon, whether it’s on a road trip to northern Arizona or on a postcard. It’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It’s one thing to see the canyon from a distance, even…

  4. There's a bear in my swimming pool!

    · 49 min · S8 E1

    Bears in swimming pools… in Los Angeles? Of course I had to find out more. I've been studying bears and working with them in the wild for over 30 years, and I thought I'd seen it all. Polar bears in Canada, grizzlies…

  5. THE WILD is back!

    · 2:15

    Welcome back to THE WILD! All around the world, humans are getting up close and personal with wildlife. In Los Angeles, black bears are playing with floaties in swanky backyard swimming pools. Mountain lions are…

  6. Remembering David Johnson and the burrowing owls he loved

    · 36 min

    We lost a good friend a few days ago. A friend of the owls, and a man who made a real difference for them. I was very lucky to spend time with David Johnson for an episode we did about his delightful burrowing owls a…

  7. Earth Day 2026 - You look beautiful

    · 13 min

    You look amazing, you look beautiful. Those are the words of Victor Glover, pilot of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission. He spoke those words less than a month ago on his trip to the moon. His way of describing our planet as he…

  8. Bird watching and listening with Libby Mills

    · 33 min · S7 E16

    When I was eight, growing up in England, I was already really into birds. I was in the Young Ornithologists Club for goodness sake! I didn't have one friend who was into birds. But these days, things are different.…

  9. Grey seals of Scotland: my lost tapes from 1994

    · 47 min · S7 E15

    Today, a fun trip down memory lane! Lots of things have shaped my life and work as an ecologist, and this experience when I was 25 was one of them. As I wrapped up my master's degree at the University of Durham in…

  10. Rhino Man

    · 42 min · S7 E14

    Anton Mzimba was the head ranger at the Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. Anton and hundreds of wildlife rangers like him risk their lives every day to protect endangered species, mainly the rhino, from…

  11. Back to the future: Genetically modified wildlife

    · 55 min · S7 E13

    De-extinction! You probably saw the headlines - big, splashy statements about bringing the dire wolf - the ancient wolf species - back from the dead. But are they really back? Dr. Helen Pilcher says no. She’s an…

  12. The Buffalo Boys of the Kalispel Tribe

    · 45 min · S7 E12

    I drive across the mountains and forests to a small corner of Washington state, where there's a group of ranchers from the Kalispel Tribe of Indians. They’re known as ‘The Buffalo Boys.’ Generations ago, members of…

  13. Musical termites? What happens when you let nature sing

    · 46 min · S7 E11

    Animals and music? What a tantalizing mix! In a fascinating conversation with scientist and musician Dr. Diego Ellis Soto we learn about the way animals move - through music. When animals swarm, mill, or migrate,…

  14. How the quest for the giant panda changed modern conservation

    · 53 min · S7 E10

    There was a time when the existence of the giant panda was nothing more than legend. A fairytale to those in the western world. Whispers of a black and white beast echoed around the early 1900s. In this episode, my…

  15. The Humpback comeback: Vancouver's whales come home

    · 46 min · S7 E9

    Humpback whales in the Salish Sea have a complicated history. They were hunted to near extinction a century ago, with whalers turning some of the largest creatures on Earth into buckets of oil, slabs of meat, tubs of…

  16. How America’s roads alter our ecology, with Ben Goldfarb (reprise)

    · 43 min

    Happy holidays! Thanks for tuning into THE WILD. I’m so glad you’re here. THE WILD team is hard at work on some more brand-new episodes that will come out in the new year. But for now, I want to revisit a very popular…

  17. Japan's bear attacks: we unravel what's going on

    · 35 min · S7 E8 · Explicit

    Bear attacks in Japan have been in the news a lot recently. There have been over 220 attacks so far this year, and a record 13 people dead. Why is this happening? And what can be done about it? There’s a lot of…

  18. 50 years of Jaws: shark myths and misunderstandings

    · 53 min · S7 E7

    JAWS can only mean one thing! The movie that forever changed how we feel about sharks. It did me, that’s for sure. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the movie, we thought it might be time to help separate fact…

  19. How our planet came to life with Ferris Jabr

    · 49 min · S7 E6

    “Life is earth, animated.” When I heard this statement for the first time it made me think about my relationship to our planet differently. That all life on earth is part of a giant feedback loop, a process of…

  20. The story of Whatcom Creek: an explosion, a tragedy, and a rebirth

    · 44 min · S7 E5

    This is not an easy story to tell. In the town where I live, Bellingham, Washington, there’s a beautiful urban creek. It flows just four miles from a lake, through a city park, down through the town to the sea. But in…

  21. Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world

    · 28 min · S7 E4

    Have you ever wondered why your dog takes such a long time to sniff a patch of grass? Or why flies buzz around so sporadically? It’s because most of what a creature actually senses is invisible to us. They perceive…

  22. Tiny but tough: Hummingbirds of the Arizona desert

    · 36 min · S7 E3

    Blink and you’ll miss ‘em! In this episode we get to know hummingbirds eyeball-to-eyeball. The world of the hummingbird is changing fast in the deserts of Arizona. So much so that even an animal as quick as a…

  23. Brooke Williams encountered a dragonfly and became a dreamer

    · 33 min · S7 E2

    Environmental author Brooke Williams believes that dragonflies are messengers of wisdom and enlightenment. This idea got my head buzzing so I invited Williams to join me at a pond near my home to talk about it. He told…

  24. A Mexican jaguar walked into Arizona, then the US built a wall

    · 42 min · S7 E1

    Twenty-nine years ago cowboy Warner Glen took the first photograph of a jaguar that crossed from Mexico into Arizona. His surprising story opens our show. Today though, there is something very different happening on…

  25. New season trailer! Welcome back to THE WILD

    · 1:53

    Welcome back to a brand new season of THE WILD! Travel with Chris as he uncovers unexpected stories from nature. Like jaguars - America’s biggest cat - trying to navigate the giant steel wall on the Mexican border;…

  26. Happy Earth Day 2025!

    · 13 min

    Happy Earth Day! There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now when it comes to the environmental health of our planet. Political leaders seem unable or unwilling to take action on climate change. And we…

  27. Tom Mangelsen: Grizzy 399 and confessions of a wildlife photographer

    · 41 min · S6 E25

    Tom Mangelsen is one of the most gifted and prolific wildlife photographers of our time. He may be best known for documenting the life of Grizzly Bear 399 in and around Teton National Park in Wyoming. I’ve spent…

  28. Yellowstone National Park: Celebrity bears, and a tale of two trout

    · 45 min · S6 E24

    You can’t come to Yellowstone without thinking about the grizzly bear. This thriving ancient ecosystem is like a sacred space for them. And a critical source for food which they are constantly in search of in order to…

  29. A harsh life among ‘super over-caffeinated’ penguins (reprise)

    · 30 min · S6 E23

    Behind most wildlife documentaries is someone who has spent countless hours, often in challenging conditions, waiting for that perfect shot. Chris talks to filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith about their experience…

  30. Zoë Schlanger: Do plants think? Why eating a salad may never feel the same again

    · 51 min · S6 E22

    Maybe you’re eating an apple, or a piece of lettuce right now. Could be a broccoli stem or perhaps a lovely juicy tomato. If you are, are you wondering how intelligent that plant is? I’d guess not. But here’s a…

  31. Glacier Bay National Park: Life after ice - the birth of a river

    · 48 min · S6 E21

    Melting ice is usually bad news, but this place in Alaska has turned from frozen to flourishing in just 200 years. Nestled in southeast Alaska, the stunning and famous Glacier Bay National Park is often called a…

  32. The Wild presents How Wild: Solitude

    · 30 min

    We are taking a break over the holidays in order to finish up our series about national parks. We’ll be back in your feed on January 7 with a visit to Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska. We’ll learn how the…

  33. A river runs through it ... once again (reprise)

    · 30 min · S6 E20

    It started as a glacier. Then, about 13,000 years ago, it was a trickle, then a stream, and eventually a rushing river meandering through the Olympic Peninsula. For thousands of years, life thrived off the ecosystem…

  34. Leigh Ann Henion: Darkness, and the creatures of the night

    · 29 min · S6 E19

    Nature writer Leigh Ann Henion has spent countless hours uncovering mysteries of the darkness that unfold while we’re asleep. She’s explored bats, moths, glow worms, spotted salamanders, and she’s written a new book…

  35. Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Fireflies in synchrony

    · 47 min · S6 E18

    Once a year they come out, by the thousands. Fireflies. But these aren’t just any fireflies. These are Photinus Carolinas, also known as synchronous fireflies They blink on and off together. It’s an amazing site. On…

  36. Caroline Tracey: How this tiny bird could save salt lakes

    · 47 min · S6 E17

    Four times in the past decade Lake Abert has completely dried up, a barren lakebed encrusted with salt. Salt lakes are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Lack of water could lead to many of these lakes…

  37. Chris remembers Bear 399

    · 3:26

    Chris remembers Bear 399, "The Queen" of Grand Teton National Park that was struck and killed by a vehicle near Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Tuesday, October 22. You can see the trailer of the PBS Nature documentary on…

  38. Everglades National Park: Invasion of the Burmese pythons (reprise)

    · 51 min · S6 E16

    In the Florida Everglades, the Burmese python is an invasive species that's close to triggering an ecological collapse. We'll head out with python hunters who track down these massive snakes for a bounty. Then we wade…

  39. Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Toxic wasteland to ecological champion

    · 36 min · S6 E15

    Cuyahoga Valley National Park is nestled between Akron and Cleveland, Ohio. It once was an industrial wasteland, filled with debris from the nearby auto factories. The Cuyahoga river was so polluted that it literally…

  40. The Wild presents The Wide Open: Balancing the needs of endangered species and humans

    · 45 min

    We’re on a short break as we finish working on our stories for our series about America’s National Parks. I can’t wait to share with you what we’ve learned. Amazing stuff. We’ll be back with new episodes on October 15.…

  41. The Wild presents Outside/In: Not everyone is wild about wild horses

    · 29 min

    We’re taking a short break from releasing episodes so we can work on more new stories for our series on our National Parks. I hope you’re enjoying it! In the meantime, I wanted to share a special episode of a show I…

  42. Goodbye chemical weapons, hello burrowing owls (reprise)

    · 35 min · S6 E14

    A decommissioned military base in northeast Oregon provides sanctuary for a recovering burrowing owl population. David Johnson is founder of the Global Owl Project to protect endangered owl species all over the world.…

  43. These Italian bears survived gladiators and Mussolini (reprise)

    · 31 min · S6 E13

    Just two hours from Rome is one of the richest ecosystems in Europe, a little island of mountains that to this day is home to wolves, wild boar and bears. It's not just wild animals that call this place home: Farms…

  44. True grit: the wild wolverine (reprise)

    · 34 min · S6 E12

    For the first time in 100 years, wolverines are back in Mount Rainier National Park. How did they get there? In the summer of 2020, there was some big news for wildlife in the pacific northwest. In the wild spaces of…

  45. Eily Andruszkiewicz Allan: The magic of eDNA

    · 48 min · S6 E11

    Top secret military dolphins, exploding whales, and invasive green crabs. These are all things Dr. Eily Andruszkiewicz Allan is interested in learning more about. And she is doing it all with the help of a simple cup…

  46. Death Valley National Park: Diving for fish in the hottest place on Earth

    · 45 min · S6 E10

    Chris joins a team of scuba divers...in the desert! Death Valley National Park is the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America. The heat that builds beneath Death Valley’s cloudless skies radiates…

  47. Digital Dr. Dolittle: decoding animal conversations with artificial intelligence (reprise)

    · 50 min · S6 E9

    Artificial Intelligence is making the stuff of science fiction a science reality, changing how humans interact with the world. It could also change the way we interact with wildlife, giving us the ability to talk to…

  48. Dan Blumstein: Fear and listening to your inner marmot

    · 46 min · S6 E8

    Here’s an episode for movie buffs, music nuts, animal lovers, and anyone dealing with anxiety. Yes, that's quite the range in a 40-minute chat, but Dr Dan Blumstein delivers them all in a fascinating conversation with…

  49. North Cascades National Park: The wolf comes home

    · 45 min · S6 E7

    One day, Chris was on the search for a very rare animal: a single wolf that had made it to the western side of the North Cascade mountains. That day, to his amazement, he found a set of fresh tracks on a sandy…

  50. The wildlife super dog (reprise)

    · 31 min · S6 E6

    Karelian Bear Dogs were bred in Finland hundreds of years ago for hunting. From bears to moose, these fearless dogs were on the frontline. Now, ironically, they are being used to save bears and other species. In some…

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