
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.
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Episodes
- 1
Bird watching and listening with Libby Mills
Hidden gemChris 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
Grey seals of Scotland: my lost tapes from 1994
Hidden gemChris 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
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
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
The Buffalo Boys of the Kalispel Tribe
Hidden gemThe 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
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
How the quest for the giant panda changed modern conservation
Jan 20, 2026·53m - 8
The Humpback comeback: Vancouver's whales come home
Jan 13, 2026·46m - 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
Japan's bear attacks: we unravel what's going on
Dec 16, 2025·35m - 11
50 years of Jaws: shark myths and misunderstandings
Dec 9, 2025·53m - 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
The story of Whatcom Creek: an explosion, a tragedy, and a rebirth
Nov 18, 2025·44m - 14
Sniffs, scratches, sights and sounds: Ed Yong on how animals sense the world
Nov 11, 2025·28m - 15
Tiny but tough: Hummingbirds of the Arizona desert
Nov 4, 2025·36m - 16
Brooke Williams encountered a dragonfly and became a dreamer
Oct 28, 2025·33m - 17
A Mexican jaguar walked into Arizona, then the US built a wall
Oct 21, 2025·42m - 18
Happy Earth Day 2025!
Apr 22, 2025·13m - 19
Tom Mangelsen: Grizzy 399 and confessions of a wildlife photographer
Feb 4, 2025·41m - 20
Yellowstone National Park: Celebrity bears, and a tale of two trout
Jan 28, 2025·45m - 21
A harsh life among ‘super over-caffeinated’ penguins (reprise)
Jan 21, 2025·30m - 22
Zoë Schlanger: Do plants think? Why eating a salad may never feel the same again
Jan 14, 2025·51m - 23
Glacier Bay National Park: Life after ice - the birth of a river
Jan 7, 2025·48m - 24
The Wild presents How Wild: Solitude
Dec 10, 2024·30m - 25
A river runs through it ... once again (reprise)
Nov 19, 2024·30m - 26
Leigh Ann Henion: Darkness, and the creatures of the night
Nov 12, 2024·29m - 27
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Fireflies in synchrony
Nov 5, 2024·47m - 28
Caroline Tracey: How this tiny bird could save salt lakes
Oct 29, 2024·47m - 29
Chris remembers Bear 399
Oct 23, 2024·3m - 30
Everglades National Park: Invasion of the Burmese pythons (reprise)
Oct 22, 2024·51m - 31
Cuyahoga Valley National Park: Toxic wasteland to ecological champion
Oct 15, 2024·36m - 32
The Wild presents The Wide Open: Balancing the needs of endangered species and humans
Oct 1, 2024·45m - 33
The Wild presents Outside/In: Not everyone is wild about wild horses
Sep 17, 2024·29m - 34
Goodbye chemical weapons, hello burrowing owls (reprise)
Aug 27, 2024·35m - 35
These Italian bears survived gladiators and Mussolini (reprise)
Aug 20, 2024·31m - 36
True grit: the wild wolverine (reprise)
Aug 13, 2024·34m - 37
Eily Andruszkiewicz Allan: The magic of eDNA
Aug 6, 2024·48m - 38
Death Valley National Park: Diving for fish in the hottest place on Earth
Jul 30, 2024·45m - 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
Dan Blumstein: Fear and listening to your inner marmot
Jul 16, 2024·46m - 41
North Cascades National Park: The wolf comes home
Jul 9, 2024·45m - 42
The wildlife super dog (reprise)
Jul 2, 2024·31m - 43
Stories from THE WILD
Jun 25, 2024·44m - 44
Biscayne National Park: Raising baby corals in America's barrier reef
Jun 18, 2024·39m - 45
There's a cougar in my backyard (reprise)
Jun 11, 2024·26m - 46
Ben Goldfarb: How America’s roads alter our ecology
Jun 4, 2024·42m - 47
Redwood National Park: Saving the tallest trees on Earth
May 28, 2024·38m - 48
Welcome back to THE WILD for Season 6
May 14, 2024·3m - 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