The Wild with Chris Morgan

49 episodes listed below

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Close listening from the living world.

The gist

The Wild with Chris Morgan treats nature as something close enough to hear breathing, singing, feeding, and changing. Episodes move from backyard bird song to grey seals in Scotland, buffalo work with the Kalispel Tribe, wildlife cloning, roads, termites, and ranger training in South Africa.

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About The Wild with Chris Morgan

The Wild with Chris Morgan is an immersive nature series with a patient ear and a wide ecological range. It notices small things first. A flock of Canada geese passes over a deck in Bellingham. Robins begin singing before quarter to five, while other species wait for warmth and better light. That kind of close listening gives the show its shape: sound becomes evidence, mood, and invitation all at once. The series is not limited to gentle wonder, though it often has plenty of it. One episode returns to old cassette tapes from Scotland, where grey seals, wind, rain, driftwood fires, canned food, and a damaged schoolhouse create a rough fieldwork memory. Another follows the Kalispel Tribe's work with buffalo, including the feeding routines, family labor, and pride carried by the buffalo boys. Conservation is treated as lived work, not an abstraction. In the South Africa ranger story, the tone turns heavier, with selection exercises, fear, discipline, and the pressure of protecting wildlife in dangerous conditions. The show also likes big questions. It considers de-extinction headlines, cloning, CRISPR, and the uneasy possibility of altering wild animals to help them survive. It talks about roads not just as travel infrastructure, but as forces that change ecology. It can be playful, too. Termites become unexpected musicians, and bird song is described as timing, territory, response, and neighborhood drama. The pacing tends to move from sensory scene to explanation and back again. That rhythm gives complex subjects a human scale. The Wild with Chris Morgan suits listeners who want animal stories with texture: mud, radio static, hay dust, old tapes, scientific uncertainty, and moments of awe. Its best episodes make the natural world feel nearby without pretending it is simple.

Made for: For nature-curious listeners who like field recordings, animal behavior, conservation stories, and science explained through vivid scenes. It also suits people who want outdoor storytelling that can be gentle, challenging, and thoughtful in the same episode.

What sets it apart: The show stands out by building episodes from actual place-based sound and lived encounters rather than studio summary alone. Its range runs from backyard birds and termite music to buffalo stewardship, genetic technology, roads, seals, and ranger training.

In their own words

THE WILD with Chris Morgan brings stories from the natural world right to your ears in a beautifully immersive way. You’ll feel like you are right there with Chris in wild places all over the world, alongside wildlife ecologists, researchers and colorful characters on the front line.

bird song and listeningwildlife conservationfield recordingshuman relationships with animalsgenetic technology in wildliferoads and ecologybuffalo stewardshipanimal sounds and music

Talks about

Podcasts like The Wild with Chris Morgan

Episodes

  1. 1

    Bird watching and listening with Libby Mills

    Hidden gem

    Chris Morgan walks through Libby Mills’s Northern Washington property as Canada geese, purple finches, chestnut-backed chickadees, and a red-tailed hawk turn the dawn chorus into a live lesson in bird language.

    Mar 3, 2026·33m·2 clips
  2. 2

    Grey seals of Scotland: my lost tapes from 1994

    Hidden gem

    Chris Morgan opens The Wild with cassette tapes he found in his attic from October 1994 on the Monarch Islands in the Outer Hebrides, where he recorded grey seals from a tent with a small Sony Walkman recorder.

    Feb 24, 2026·47m·3 clips
  3. 3

    Rhino Man

    Hidden gem

    ["The Wild's Rhino Man episode tracks John Jerko II's documentary around Anton Mzimba, Ruben de Kock, and South African anti-poaching work in Greater Kruger National Park.", "The episode says there are only 27,000 rhinos left and at least one is killed every day, then follows the treatment of Hope at Saving the Survivors after poachers hacked off the top third of her face.", "Jerko sits inside a ranger selection at the Southern African Wildlife College, where 41 candidates face 10-kilometer marches, sandbags, water, and sleep deprivation before only 16 pass.", "The later arc turns to threats against Anton Mzimba, the attention his case drew from Prince William and The New York Times, and the Future Rangers fund built around his legacy."]

    Feb 17, 2026·42m·2 clips
  4. 4

    Back to the future: Genetically modified wildlife

    Hidden gem

    ["The Wild with Chris Morgan episode \"Back to the future: Genetically modified wildlife\" opens with the 13,000-year-old dire wolf claim and the pushback, \"They're not back.

    Feb 10, 2026·55m·3 clips
  5. 5

    The Buffalo Boys of the Kalispel Tribe

    Hidden gem

    The Wild with Chris Morgan follows the Kalispel Tribe's Buffalo Boys in Usk, Washington, where about 140 bison live on a ranch behind electric fences.

    Feb 3, 2026·45m·3 clips
  6. 6

    Musical termites? What happens when you let nature sing

    This episode explores how termites create music by interacting with instruments, blending nature and music.

    Jan 27, 2026·46m
  7. 7

    How the quest for the giant panda changed modern conservation

    Jan 20, 2026·53m
  8. 8

    The Humpback comeback: Vancouver's whales come home

    Jan 13, 2026·46m
  9. 9

    How America’s roads alter our ecology, with Ben Goldfarb (reprise)

    A reprise of an interview with author Ben Goldfarb about how roads affect ecology, perfect for holiday travel.

    Dec 23, 2025·43m
  10. 10

    Japan's bear attacks: we unravel what's going on

    Dec 16, 2025·35m
  11. 11

    50 years of Jaws: shark myths and misunderstandings

    Dec 9, 2025·53m
  12. 12

    How our planet came to life with Ferris Jabr

    Ferris Jabr discusses the concept of Earth as a living, breathing system and the origins of life on our planet.

    Dec 2, 2025·49m
  13. 13

    The story of Whatcom Creek: an explosion, a tragedy, and a rebirth

    Nov 18, 2025·44m
  14. 14

    Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world

    Nov 11, 2025·28m
  15. 15

    Tiny but tough: Hummingbirds of the Arizona desert

    Nov 4, 2025·36m
  16. 16

    Brooke Williams encountered a dragonfly and became a dreamer

    Oct 28, 2025·33m
  17. 17

    A Mexican jaguar walked into Arizona, then the US built a wall

    Oct 21, 2025·42m
  18. 18

    Happy Earth Day 2025!

    Apr 22, 2025·13m
  19. 19

    Tom Mangelsen: Grizzy 399 and confessions of a wildlife photographer

    Feb 4, 2025·41m
  20. 20

    Yellowstone National Park: Celebrity bears, and a tale of two trout

    Jan 28, 2025·45m
  21. 21

    A harsh life among ‘super over-caffeinated’ penguins (reprise)

    Jan 21, 2025·30m
  22. 22

    Zoë Schlanger: Do plants think? Why eating a salad may never feel the same again

    Jan 14, 2025·51m
  23. 23

    Glacier Bay National Park: Life after ice - the birth of a river

    Jan 7, 2025·48m
  24. 24

    The Wild presents How Wild: Solitude

    Dec 10, 2024·30m
  25. 25

    A river runs through it ... once again (reprise)

    Nov 19, 2024·30m
  26. 26

    Leigh Ann Henion: Darkness, and the creatures of the night

    Nov 12, 2024·29m
  27. 27

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Fireflies in synchrony

    Nov 5, 2024·47m
  28. 28

    Caroline Tracey: How this tiny bird could save salt lakes

    Oct 29, 2024·47m
  29. 29

    Chris remembers Bear 399

    Oct 23, 2024·3m
  30. 30

    Everglades National Park: Invasion of the Burmese pythons (reprise)

    Oct 22, 2024·51m
  31. 31

    Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Toxic wasteland to ecological champion

    Oct 15, 2024·36m
  32. 32

    The Wild presents The Wide Open: Balancing the needs of endangered species and humans

    Oct 1, 2024·45m
  33. 33

    The Wild presents Outside/In: Not everyone is wild about wild horses

    Sep 17, 2024·29m
  34. 34

    Goodbye chemical weapons, hello burrowing owls (reprise)

    Aug 27, 2024·35m
  35. 35

    These Italian bears survived gladiators and Mussolini (reprise)

    Aug 20, 2024·31m
  36. 36

    True grit: the wild wolverine (reprise)

    Aug 13, 2024·34m
  37. 37

    Eily Andruszkiewicz Allan: The magic of eDNA

    Aug 6, 2024·48m
  38. 38

    Death Valley National Park: Diving for fish in the hottest place on Earth

    Jul 30, 2024·45m
  39. 39

    Digital Dr. Dolittle: decoding animal conversations with artificial intelligence (reprise)

    This episode explores the use of artificial intelligence to decode animal communication, inspired by the concept of Dr.

    Jul 23, 2024·50m
  40. 40

    Dan Blumstein: Fear and listening to your inner marmot

    Jul 16, 2024·46m
  41. 41

    North Cascades National Park: The wolf comes home

    Jul 9, 2024·45m
  42. 42

    The wildlife super dog (reprise)

    Jul 2, 2024·31m
  43. 43

    Stories from THE WILD

    Jun 25, 2024·44m
  44. 44

    Biscayne National Park: Raising baby corals in America's barrier reef

    Jun 18, 2024·39m
  45. 45

    There's a cougar in my backyard (reprise)

    Jun 11, 2024·26m
  46. 46

    Ben Goldfarb: How America’s roads alter our ecology

    Jun 4, 2024·42m
  47. 47

    Redwood National Park: Saving the tallest trees on Earth

    May 28, 2024·38m
  48. 48

    Welcome back to THE WILD for Season 6

    May 14, 2024·3m
  49. 49

    Grizzlies coming back to the North Cascades

    The podcast host announces the decision to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades, a long-awaited conservation milestone.

    Apr 26, 2024·25m