Funerals & bat hawks, cow-stomached birds, sexy snake and deer taxonomy, badgers in the firing line, AI footprints, night club crocodiles & Star Wars gibbons

Zoology Ramblings

Welcome to episode 23 of Zoology Ramblings! Sporadic and rambling as ever, Robi and I finally get round to recording another Zoology Ramblings episode.

We fill you in on some life updates, including a very moving experience I had attending the Funeral for Nature in Bath. Robi shares some of his highlights from his recent trip to the Okavango Delta, including the legendary bat hawks!!

We then delve into our species of the week, where I talk about the weird cow-stomached Hoatzin birds (thanks to Solomon for the suggestion) and Robi welcomes two newly described species (Pudu and an anaconda).

We then get a tad political as we share our frustrations about the latest bovine tuberculosis consultation, which ignores science, puts badgers in the firing line and fails to put farmers and cattle first. Robi lightens the mood with an exciting update of a recent WildTrack workshop he attended, looking at how AI and footprint tracking are being used in conservation.

To end this very long podcast, we bond over satellite tagging crocodiles (a niche moment that brought Robi and I together). Robi then gets to nerd out on Skywalker gibbons.

As ever, thanks to Allie for the lovely piano interlude and thanks to you lovely listeners for sticking with us on our long rambles.

We hope you enjoy our latest ramble,

Emma and Robi

To see what we're up to elsewhere check us out on:

@emma_hodson_wildlife

@robi_watkinson_wildlife