Encounters Podcast

Host Richard Nelson is hanging out with an animal that is as symbolic of the land down ‘unda as the kangaroo. Unbelievably cute, fuzzy, tassel-eared and so much more—the koala.

Join host Richard Nelson on the Arctic sea ice, where he's keeping company with an animal that is exquisitely adapted to life on and under the ice—a ringed seal. Learn about the fascinating lives of the ringed seal and other arctic seals.

On this very special Encounters episode, recorded on the sea ice off the Arctic coast of Alaska, you'll hear stories of Richard Nelson's experiences with Inupiaq Eskimo hunters and the complex and dangerous environment they've brilliantly mastered.

Join host Richard Nelson in one of the most extraordinary, most challenging, and most dangerous environments in the world…the sea ice. An ecological marvel, the sea ice is a world unto itself, and one that is undergoing profound and rapid changes.

Put on your rubber boots and join host Lisa Busch, as she explores a tide pool along a rocky beach in Sitka, Alaska. And while you’re there, learn about the lives of marine biologists Jack Calvin and Ed Ricketts and how their book Between Pacific Tides rocked the world of marine biology

One of the most popular of the Encounter’s Down Under Series shows finds host Richard Nelson keeping close company with the 4th most venomous snake in the world, an Australian Tiger snake, along a small pond in southeastern Australia.

Celebrate Alaska’s wild salmon with a rare Encounters program—host Richard Nelson indoors! “Salmon: The Miracle” is a live recording of Richard’s Sitka WhaleFest talk given to a standing-room-only crowd in November.

Keep company with Richard Nelson and a crowd of basking harbor seals on a tiny bedrock islet off the Alaska coast. These remarkable animals are like emissaries from the ocean world—graceful, alluring, and brilliantly adapted to life underwater. This program is funded by the North Pacific Research Board.

Who’s the cutest marine mammal? Hands down, it’s the sea otter! Join host Richard Nelson off the outer coast of Alaska as he drifts with a flotilla of sea otters. This program is funded by the North Pacific Research Board.

Spend some quality time with a staggering number of seabirds and one Richard Nelson on St. Lazaria Island, off the coast of Southeast Alaska. Part of the Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge, St. Lazaria Island is the nesting place for more than half a million seabirds! This program is funded by the North Pacific Research Board.

Land the big one—a bright red sockeye salmon—with host Richard Nelson as he practices subsistence fishing on a salmon stream in Southeast Alaska. The definitive example of a truly renewable resource, sockeye salmon spend part of their lives in freshwater lakes and part in the ocean. Learn about their miraculous life cycle, their importance for subsistence life ways in villages and towns all over Alaska, and how maintaining healthy salmon habitats across their range and the careful management of harvests will keep this vitally important resource available for future generations.This program is funded by the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund.

If you crave wildness on a massive scale, come for a journey along the Utukok River, in the far northwest corner of arctic Alaska. On a ridge overlooking the sprawls of green summer tundra, host Richard Nelson stumbles across a cache of stone artifacts, connecting this seemingly empty land with an ancient human story. This is not just a wild land; it is also a homeland for the Inupiaq people who still hunt, travel, and sustain their cultural lives here. These silent stone tools bring back Richard’s own memories of living in a nearby Inupiaq village and hearing stories that connect him to this place.

Crouch in a narrow ravine in Northwestern Alaska with host Richard Nelson, surrounded by a great rushing river of tens of thousands of caribou. Brilliantly designed for their northern world, caribou have dense warm fur, phenomenal endurance, a genius for navigation, ability to find food in a frugal environment, and a constant yearning for travel—sometimes in spectacular groups of 50,000 or more.

Come along with Richard Nelson for a dawn walk on an Australian ranch where both cattle and wildlife abound. We’ll spot a sugar glider returning from a night in the treetops, hear the sunrise chorus of kookaburras, magpies, butcherbirds, and spectacular parrots, feed the “chooks” (as chickens are known in Australia), and meet two beautiful Australian herding dogs. Along the way, we’ll learn about cattle and land Down Under.

Most of us rarely give a thought to these fascinating creatures, but from a practical standpoint they're the most important animals in our lives. Even if we swear off meat and dairy, products from cows are everywhere around us and they're a major factor in our personal ecology. Put on your boots and head for the pasture with host Richard Nelson for a "face-to-face" meeting with your "inner cow".