The Wild with Chris Morgan

Wildlife filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith spill on what life is like among the “super over-caffeinated” Adelie penguins.

Filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith spent four months in a tiny shack in the Antarctic documenting a colony of 500,000 Adelie penguins. They endured 130 mile hour winds, sub-zero temperatures and penguin poop…lots of penguin poop. This is an uncut version of Chris’ interview with Jeff and Mark as they share their experiences of documenting penguins for their two films for the BBC’s Frozen Planet and Disneynature’s Penguins.

Florence Williams' extensive research into the benefits of getting out in nature has lead to some surprising revelations.

You may remember Florence Williams from our episode on Forest Bathing. Florence is a journalist and author. She wrote an article in Outside Magazine about the benefits of time spent in nature. She has expanded that article into a book. The book is titled, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.

An extended interview with Ben Goldfarb about the beaver, an "unlikely hero."

What does the smell of motor oil, vanilla ice cream, and parachutes have in common? A little aquatic rodent known as the beaver. We are hard at work on season 2 of The Wild. But in the meantime, we thought we’d share an earlier interview that we did for our beaver episode. In that episode Chris spoke to Ben Goldfarb. Ben is a great journalist and he loves beavers. He wrote a book called Eager: The surprising, secret lives of beavers and why they matter. In that earlier episode we only used a small portion of what Ben told us about beavers. So we thought it would be fun to share the  full interview. If you still haven’t gotten enough of your beaver fix you might want to check out our Facebook live Wild Bookclub interview with Ben Goldfarb here.

It all started when Ian McAllister spent two days in a flimsy basket, suspended from a tree, to protest logging.

Did you know that there is a group of rare white bears that live in Canada? These bears are completely white. But these aren’t polar bears. And they aren’t albino. They are actually black bears with a genetic mutation that makes them white. They are known as Spirit Bears and only live in the coastal rainforest in British Columbia. Conservationist and filmmaker Ian McAllister has spent years documenting the Spirit Bears and is the director of the IMAX film The Great Bear Rainforest. He is also an awarding winning photographer, the author of six books, co-founder of Pacific Wild. Ian joined Chris Morgan on stage at The Mountineers in Seattle to talk about his film and his life in conservation.

I go deep into the Olympic National Forest to find the most elusive creature imaginable: silence.

If you are enjoying The Wild and want us to keep on making more episodes, we could really use your help. Please take a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. We’d love to get your thoughts. Thanks! A lot of time we go to nature to find silence, to find solace. But what is silence really? You might think you’re in a quiet place, but it is hard to find complete natural silence with no human noise pollution. In this episode, Chris hits the road with sound engineers Gordon Hempton and Matt Mikkelsen on a mission to find the quietest place on earth. You can learn more about Matt and Gordon’s work [here](http:// https://www.quietparks.org/partners.).

If you are enjoying The Wild and want us to keep on making more episodes, we could really use your help. Please take a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. We’d love to get your thoughts. Thanks! Filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith spent four months in a tiny shack in the Antarctic documenting a colony of 500,000 Adelie penguins. They endured 130 mile hour winds, sub-zero temperatures and penguin poop…lots of penguin poop. Jeff and Mark documented penguins in two films, one for the BBC’s Frozen Planet and the other in Disneynature’s Penguins.

I talk with two filmmakers who got up close and personal with Antarctic penguins.

I take a journey up the Columbia River, where people, sea lions, orcas and salmon have a complicated relationship.

Learn how you can support The Wild and can get early access to new episodes and bonus content by going to our donation page. In the 1800’s over 10 million salmon would return to the Columbia River that borders Washington and Oregon. Today that number is closer to two million. Many factors account for this change including lower water quality, a warmer climate and sea lions. Hundreds of sea lions gather at the base of the Bonneville Dam eating salmon that are trying to make their way up river to spawn. Humans are going to great lengths to scare off the sea lions in hopes of preserving the salmon run. Chris examines the tensions between man and animal, telling the story from the point of view of the sea lion.

I explore the ideas and controversies behind reintroducing grizzly bears to the North Cascades.