The Nagging Naturalist

In this final episode for the Zambezian flooded grasslands, we take a look at Africa's largest otter species, the African clawless otter. I also go off on a tangent about conservation after some further reflection on Gabi and I's discussion. I'm going to be traveling for a week, so there will not be an episode next week.

Since it was too long for the serval episode, this is the rest of Gabi and I's conversation about conservation. It's a lot. While conservation as a concept is a good thing, there are wrong ways to do it that can result in harm. We need to shift our perceptions on conservation and its applications. You can follow Gabi on Twitter, @fleurygs and check out their website: fleurygs3.wixsite.com/gabifleury

In this week's episode, I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with conservation biologist Gabi Fleury. We discuss not just servals, but also African conservation in general and how our views of conservation are/need to evolve to better protect wildlife and people. You can follow Gabi on Twitter, @fleurygs and check out their website: fleurygs3.wixsite.com/gabifleury

This week's species from the Zambezian flooded grasslands, my partner Barry researched the Tsetse and taught me about this infamous fly from sub-Saharan Africa. Learn about the connection between these blood-sucking flies and the British mumiani (vampires) of colonial Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe) in the 1930's.

I’m back with a new ecoregion, the Zambezian flooded grasslands, and a new species! This week, I talk about the Saddle-billed stork, a large wading bird of Sub-Saharan Africa that is unfortunately very understudied, yet it has had a surprising impact on culture, in particular one very well known ancient culture. Join me for an educational tangent about this beautiful bird, African geography, and even Afro-Asiatic linguistics.