While India has strong laws and policies governing forests and wildlife, their effectiveness depends on how well these laws are understood, enforced on the ground, and continuously adapted to address emerging challenges. WCS's Vidya Athreya joins The Green Mandate podcast to discuss how on-ground research and filmmaking play a crucial role in shaping public understanding and are extremely crucial in informing law-making and conservation policies.

As Earth Day turns 25 this year, it seemed like a good moment to reflect on WCS’s mission to protect wildlife and wild places. Why does the protection of biodiversity carry with it so many other benefits for people and the planet? What are the approaches that work and what are the challenges? And what can the average person do to make it a priority in their lives? WCS Wild Audio knew just the right person to ask.

"What we hope to achieve," writes WCS's John Calvelli in a new op-ed for the New York Daily News, "is a new way for conservation organizations like WCS to help educate the public and at the same time inspire them to become further engaged as changemakers through the curation of a carefully chosen set of outstanding films."

In February 1925, the Arcturus Oceanographic Expedition set sail from New York City. Led by the Department of Tropical Research (DTR) of the New York Zoological Society—now the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)—the six-month expedition sought to extend the DTR’s novel ecological approach beneath the ocean’s surface, through the Sargasso Sea and around the Galápagos Islands. As WCS's Madeleine Thompson and Alyssa Daughdrill document in a new essay at PBS Nature for Women's History Month, women were an integral part of the team. At a time when it was rare for women to work in the sciences—let alone spend six months exploring what Popular Science dramatically called “Neptune’s Graveyard”—the Arcturus Expedition included six women.

In Part 3 of our series featuring the inaugural REEL WILD New York Film Festival, which launches in New York City this week, WCS Wild Audio talks to the hosts of the popular television series Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom “Protecting the Wild.” They’ll be on hand for the screening of several of the show’s episodes in an exciting and inviting family-friendly program on Saturday, April 5.

Working with animals at the Wildlife Health Center is a constantly moving target, " says WCS's Lisa Eidlin in a new essay at PBS Nature for Women's History Month. "You see animals that are ill or otherwise compromised because they were part of an illegal confiscation. You see juvenile animals that have not been successfully raised by their parents and need daily assessment and reassessment to ensure they receive what they need to overcome those obstacles. More than 30 years into my zoological career, I still smile when I see an animal eating and I’m even more grateful that I can continue to enrich their lives every day."

In the second episode of our three-part series on WCS's REEL WILD New York Film Festival, WCS Wild Audio's Hannah Kaplan goes behind the scenes with WCS's John Calvelli and Natalie Cash to uncover the inspiration behind this inaugural event celebrating remarkable filmmakers and extraordinary wildlife stories from around the globe. From Namibia’s resilient desert lions to a massive annual walrus gathering in the Russian Arctic, this year’s lineup aims not only to captivate audiences but also to spark meaningful conservation action.

The proposed pandemic agreement being negotiated at the World Health Organization (WHO) represents a critical opportunity for the global community to prevent future pandemics – including through coordinated multi-sectoral surveillance across human, animal, and environmental health data. As WHO member states gather in closed meetings over the next few week, WCS's Sarah Olson, Michel Masozera, and Manoly Sisavanh present field-based evidence that such a surveillance approach is critical to prevent pandemics.

This spring, the inaugural WCS-curated REEL WILD New York Film Festival comes to Manhattan. Taking place April 4-5, this two-day event showcases award-winning natural history films and offers a unique chance to hear directly from the filmmakers and experts behind the stories. In the first of a 3-part series on the festival, the WCS Wild Audio podcast looks at one of those films, the 2022 Oscar-nominated documentary “Haulout,” which explores the impact of climate change on walrus habitat in the Arctic.

The Bronx Zoo’s Herpetology Team cares for a number of venomous snakes at the zoo’s World of Reptiles. As professionals, they know what they’re doing. Just in case, though, as WCS's Kevin Torregrosa tells WCS Wild Audio, the zoo team keeps antivenom on site and a thorough plan in place to address any potential emergencies. Fortunately, it hasn’t been needed any time in recent memory. Instead, that antivenom, and the team, are helping to save lives outside the zoo through an impactful partnership with nearby NYC Health and Hospitals–Jacobi.

Moveable beasts have been part of human history for a long time, as animals were purposefully transported to places where they never previously occurred. Those movements, says WCS's Joel Berger and his Colorado State University colleague Forest Hayes, were typically carried out to establish food security or provide trophies of “heroic” gamesmanship. In that context, species little known to anyone but big game hunters were brought to the most unlikely of remote places. Now, decades later, some of these forced emigrants to faraway lands of wind and tundra have been returned to their original ranges, where they augment the persistence of their native cold-adapted relatives.

"When I was younger," notes WCS's Cayla Turner in a new essay at PBS Nature for Black History Month, "I struggled to feel like I could be a changemaker, but now I have the power to be the role model I needed back then. Empowering youth advocates is achievable when we embrace a diverse set of voices and let them know that they belong in the conservation field. I am looking forward to watching this cycle continue as seeds are planted for the growth of a new generation of leaders."

Thomas Nicolon is a French National Geographic photographer and explorer documenting wildlife conservation worldwide. Recently he has worked with the WCS Congo program to document elusive species in Nouabale-Ndoki National Park using high resolution camera traps. He recently spoke with Richard Bernabe for the Beyond the Lens podcast.

In the face of head-spinning political times, says WCS Canada's Justina Ray, cutting ‘red tape’ and doubling down on resource extraction won’t help wildlife — or humans.

The khulan—a species of wild equid—is a true nomad, covering distances unmatched by any other land mammal. Yet, their survival in Mongolia’s harsh Gobi desert is a constant battle. Populations already strained by overhunting and harsh winters – exacerbated by climate change – are now facing a growing threat from rapid road and railway construction, which fragments the landscape and cuts them off from essential resources. This week, WCS Wild Audio explores innovative solutions WCS is exploring that benefit both this vital species and the local communities that share its habitat.

WCS Canada's Dr. Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne explains how Canada can expand protected areas to maximize biodiversity protection