Wild Stories

We shot them into oblivion for stealing our pants. But thanks to this week's guest, the incredible Dr Mike Pienkowski, red kites have made themselves a comeback. This is the story of how it happened, and why it changed one nation's outlook on conservation forever.

It's Easter and because eating chocolate is irresponsible we're doing an episode about the closest thing: wombat poos. This isn't an animal celebrity individual like our normal specials. This is a whole species fallen from grace, robbed of the spotlight. But one man and his robots are clawing wombats back to fame with some of the strangest headlines in science. This is Dr Scott Carver. And he's saving my all time favourite animal. Happy Easter everybody!

Hedgehog numbers in the UK have fallen from 30 million to less than 1 million since mid-last century. Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen is fixing that. She followed them around for a year peering into people's gardens to see where they went. She dissected hundreds peeled off roads to learn how long they lived. Now she's learning to communicate with them and keep them safe using sounds no one can hear.

Thank you everyone for your messages during the break! I've moved halfway around the world, taken up a new job and created some amazing films but now I'm back at the desk with more than a dozen fresh episodes of Wild Stories already lined up to share with you all. These are some of my favourite ever interviews so I really hope you enjoy. Wild Stories 'season 2' lands next Wednesday March 18.

Ex-zookeeper and wildlife creator Jordan Veasley a.k.a. Jungle Jordan swings by to reveal the chillest animals, why so many people think giraffes lay eggs, what okapis smell like and of course the challenges of sexing porcupines!

Happy 2026! To kick off a year of incredible stories here's the tale of the baby giraffe that walked to Paris and changed history forever. My favourite, Zarafa. And joining us on this cross-continental romp, special guest Heather Sharkey. Thanks for listening everyone!

Tom Hird a.k.a Blowfish, presenter of Netflix's latest wildlife reality show smash hit All the Sharks and the world's ONLY heavy metal marine biologisy stops by to chat diving hydrothermal vents, the hazards of shark chumming and the most bastardly fish on the planet.

Australia hasn't yet described 1/4 of its native bees. So how do we find and conserve them? Dr Kit Prendergast joins the podcast to fill us in on this crazy unexplored world of science, of insects lost and rediscovered, and the favourite bees she's discovered.