Latest / Back From the Brink, from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom / From Near Extinction to 5 Million: The American Alligator's Comeback with Coyote Peterson
Transcript
- Peter Gros: Deep in the swamps of the Southeastern United States, the water sits still and black, or it seems to. An ambush predator whose lineage runs deeper than the dinosaur. For most of the 20th century, this animal was disappearing, hunted for its hide, its meat, and its eggs, pushed out of the wetlands it had occupied for millions of years. By 1967, it was listed as endangered. Coyote Peterson: I mean, to be pushed to near extinction and then to have the numbers that we currently have today is really quite the testament to conservation and the preservation of a species like the American alligator. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Today, I'm talking with Coyote Peterson, wildlife educator, creator of Brave Wilderness, one of the most watched wildlife channels on YouTube, and one of the most influential voices working to change how people feel about animals they've been taught to fear. Over a career spanning decades, Coyote has produced, and get this, over 100 million views worth of alligator content alone, and has remained committed to highlighting the conservation of this incredible species throughout. Welcome to Back from the Brink from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I'm Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Peter Gros: Each episode, we're going deep on a single species, one that came to the very edge of disappearing and looking at the fight to bring it back. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Coyote Peterson, welcome to Back from the Brink Podcast. I've been a big fan of you and your work for so long. Also, I almost always wear a hat when I am on set filming Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild. And you actually started this trend, so I think I actually picked it up from you. I have to give you the credit that the hat, it's a good look. Coyote Peterson: Well, thank you, Dr. A. I appreciate it. And big fan of your work as well. I'm certainly excited for today's conversation. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: You've interacted with so many different species in the wilderness, under human care. I mean, you name it. And so to figure out what's a good animal to talk about with you was kind of tricky, but we landed on the American alligator. And I'm really glad that we did because this is a species that used to be quite rare and has gone through a bit of a transformation and hopefully has a very bright future. But I kind of want to know for you, out of all of these animals that you've interacted with, that you have expertise in, what is it about the American alligator that actually pulls you in and makes it feel very special for you? Coyote Peterson: I mean, ever since I was a little kid, the American alligator has been that icon. As a kid, you could go to the library and pick up a book and it was like this one giant prehistoric looking reptile that existed on the continent that you lived on. And I grew up in Ohio, so the closest thing to an icon of the reptile kingdom that I faced was the common snapping turtle and always dreamed of being able to see American alligators in the wild. And I specifically remember when they really were pushed to the brink or learning that, man, these things almost disappeared off the face of our planet. And you're talking about a reptile that's been around since before the time of the dinosaurs or at least its lineage. So for me, they've always just been an icon of not only the capabilities of the animal kingdom, but just something that's inspiring and has been sort of the backbone for making me want to get out there and adventure further into remote places. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: For those of us who are not constantly in the wildlife world, when we think about crocodilians, we think about them like in the Nile River, in the Amazon, these far away places from the continental United States. And yet we have American alligators. They are huge. They are, like you said, I mean, prehistoric looking. They've been around for a long time. They're long-lived species, and they're right here in this country in some of our most incredible looking habitats. So now I'm going to ask you, for those folks who are tuning in who have never seen an alligator in the wild, paint us a picture. What's a scenario where someone might come across one? What does it kind of look like and feel like and sound like? Coyote Peterson: I think it's important to note that as the most dominant reptilian predator that lives in the United States, they always have to be treated with incredible respect. And because of the teeth and the power and the visuals that an alligator gives off, the idea that this lurking beast beneath the surface of the water is slowly sneaking up on the shoreline and it's going to lunge out and grab something and pull it into the water and then that's just it, chaos into silence. You have to recognize that yes, that animal is capable of that, but they are honestly quite peaceful and elusive creatures at the end of the day. In almost all instances where I've interacted with alligators in the wild, the alligator's number one goal is usually, okay, I want to get out of here before this human that's coming towards me gets too close. But they're amazing to see in their natural environment. When you see an alligator for the first time, you're kind of like, wow, something that prehistoric looking exists on our planet. And for people that haven't visited the Southeastern United States and have been in alligator territory, to see one for the first time just reminds you how far nature has evolved since the time of the dinosaurs. Any instance where we are doing something with alligators for brave wilderness, we try to immerse ourselves as deep into the wild as possible. Taking something like an airboat out into the far back country of the Everglades or surrounding areas is usually where we would start. And then honestly, it's about getting into the shallower water where you can move on foot and try to find one of these animals that just hunkered down in a low space. And it's eerie, especially if you get into some of these swamps because the water can be dark, there can be stuff on the surface and you want to move really, really slowly. And believe it or not, a lot of times we do it at night because with flashlights, if you shine at the right angle, you can actually get a red reflection from the eyes of any crocodilian. So it really helps you to be able to spot the animal. And oftentimes they're considering themselves fully camouflaged. So you can actually sneak in very, very closely, whether this is a situation where I'm needing to catch an alligator to present it on camera or we're just trying to get close to get B-roll shots. It's nerve wracking to say the least, but we take a lot of care, a lot of precision, and they are so good at staying camouflaged and staying hidden. So unless you've got an alligator that's at the surface with just its eyes and its nose sticking above the surface, they're going to be completely invisible. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: So tell us which part of the country are they found? Coyote Peterson: So Southeastern United States, from the Carolinas sort of downward into Florida. And obviously we look at the American alligator as being the icon of the Florida Everglades specifically, but of course they span over into Louisiana and Georgia and any of those swampy southeastern states. If you've got a body of water, doesn't matter if it's a backwoods swamp or it is a retention pond next to some big facility or corporation. If there's water in the territory of an alligator, there is likely an alligator of some size, whether it's a tiny one or a 12-foot one, lurking in that body of water. And they're just there, whether you know it or not. And that's what they've done so good at over the course of their time on this planet is staying hidden. Unless you see them up on an embankment sunning to, as ectotherms, absorbing the power of the sun to heat up their internal batteries for the day, then for the most part, they're staying completely out of sight and that's how that animal functions. An ambush predator like the alligator is surviving and growing based off of not being seen by the other animals or unfortunately sometimes humans that are also in and around their environment. Peter Gros: For decades, everyone wanted alligator, alligator boots, alligator bags, and alligator belts. Hunters killed them by the hundreds of thousands with almost no legal limit. The swamps themselves were disappearing too, trained for farmlands and filled in by development. By the 1950s and 60s, the species that had outlived dinosaurs was now being pushed towards extinction. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Before humans were building roads and cities and transforming landscapes, alligators were living in abundance on this continent. They were doing just fine. But talk to me about the decline of alligator populations in North America. Coyote Peterson: With alligators though specifically, like a lot of species, there was certainly the over hunting for alligators being used as both meat, but also the leather industry. I mean, how many pairs of boots had been made over the decades from alligator skin? And now there are alligator farms where these animals are raised and harvested for, I guess, a certain percentage meat. I mean, me personally, I've tried alligator once and I was like, "I don't get it." You go to Florida and they're like, "We're serving alligator bites." It's like, "What you really chewy chicken is kind of what it is." So it's a combination of over harvesting the animal for the alligator skin industry. Certainly if you can remember back to the late '80s and early '90s, if you vacationed in Florida, every roadside stop had those little alligator heads that were covered in shellac with marbles for eyes. And how many alligators, especially younger ones, lost their lives simply due to the fact cool, an alligator head is a tourist gift that you could take home. And as a last pillar to that, so vilification, over hunting for food or skin purposes, but then habitat destruction. And you have to think about how much we as a human organism have expanded, especially in ranges where you have alligators. I mean, 50, 60 years ago is just when we started looking at like, oh yeah, I guess we can build things over the tops of swamps and bring in human habitation. So that sort of dispersal of the animals being pushed out from their natural habitats and then whatever habitat is being destroyed in the process of creating human civilization where these animals usually live, I think combined together, all those three pillars are really the things that drove the population as far of decline as it went. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: No, you're absolutely right. And you're touching on things that are specific to alligators and also, like you mentioned, to predators in general. As human culture has ebbed and flowed, attitudes towards predators has always been a little touch and go. For some reason, all of our fairy tales and bedtime stories, like the villain is the big bed wolf for a scary alligator with sharp teeth. And it really influences how people in power have made decisions about wild animals, which ones to protect and which ones not to. We lost a lot of alligators because there was also not very much monitoring. So very often with wildlife species that are important, we don't start counting them until they're almost gone. So back in the 50s and 60s, we as Americans didn't realize how many we were actually killing off in all of these different ways until there was this realization like, oh, wait a second, there aren't very many anymore. And some of it, like you touched on, direct hunting of them, habitat destruction, which largely impacts their breeding grounds, right? So luckily, scientists, conservationists, concerned folks from the public did come together. And in 1967, they listed American alligators on the endangered species list. I am a big, big fan of the Endangered Species Act. I think it's one of the best things that our country has ever done to really course correct some of the harm that was caused. So what can you say about what changed once the alligator became a federally protected species? Coyote Peterson: Like you said, we almost don't care about something until it gets to the point where we look and we're like, oh no, we've really pushed this way too far and now the species is disappearing off the planet. And course correction is important because if you look backwards in time before the Endangered Species Act, on a global scale, there are so many different species that are pushed to extinction by humans. In a lot of instances, whether it's habitat destruction or over hunting, it becomes too late and these populations can't rebound. The good thing about the American alligator that I'll say is if you look at its lineage dating back to beyond the time of the dinosaurs, this is something that's obviously been capable of surviving multiple mass extinctions on our planet and has found a way to thrive and push forward. It's a testament to the physicalities and the genetic structure of these animals. And not to just quote Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, but life does find a way and alligators were finding a way to survive, or all crocodilians, I should say, before humans came in and affected it. And when humans came in and put so much pressure on the populations, it's good that we had enough in the science and conservation community that we're able to recognize, okay, if we don't turn this around now, we're going to be talking about, hey, do you remember when the planet used to have American alligators? Peter Gros: Scientists call alligators ecosystems engineers. They shape the swamps they inhabit. Each year, the Southeast dries up, months without meaningful rain, water tables dropping, and marshes turning to cracked mud. Alligators dig what are called gator holes. These are hollows, deep enough to hold water when everything around them goes dry, and they are a critical lifeline for fish, turtles, and wading birds during the drought. And that's why the recovery of the American alligator was critical, not just for them, but for wetlands across the southeast. The alligator is one of the first animals to be protected by the Endangered Species Act, and only two decades later, the population had bounced back. Today, there are three to five million alligators across the Southeast. There are over a million in Florida and over two million in Louisiana, and nesting sites have made a strong comeback. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: The American alligator was put on the endangered species list, and in only 20 years, it was able to show this remarkable comeback, not fully restored, but 20 years is pretty quick because these are long-lived species, they have relatively low reproduction rates. We're not talking about bunny rabbits here. These animals are very different. And we saw this great positive response very quickly. And now today in 2026, we have a good amount of American alligators. How do you think the media has played a role in this for the better? Coyote Peterson: I was just curious as to the backlog of content that we have filmed surrounding the American alligator specifically. I've traveled all over the world and have been fortunate enough to get up close or hands-on with many different crocodilian species. But the American alligator specifically, we've produced over a hundred million views worth of alligator content. And where I'm going with that is that with our content specifically, we've always aimed to put alligators in the right spotlight. And yes, there are some pretty extreme things that people have seen me do on Brave Wilderness, intentionally getting bitten or stung by things. And I've been intentionally bitten by a four-foot alligator as an educational lesson to be like, "This is why you don't want a baby alligator as a pet, because within a couple of years, it's taken up your bathtub, and if you get your arm stuck in its mouth, it's going to be a really bad day for you." I mean, when I did this little human experiment, my arm was stuck in the mouth of the alligator for almost 15 minutes. Once they bite and lock on, they don't want to let go. So if you're an eight-year-old that thinks it would be cool to have an alligator that's this big, and then a couple years down the road it's four feet long and you lose your hand to it wasn't exactly the right pet. All that aside, what we've tried to do with Brave Wilderness is to really show the value that these animals have to the Florida Everglades and the Southeastern United States ecosystem. The balance that a mega predator like that has in the environment is so crucial to the health of the entire environment. And when it comes to a conservation perspective, we've worked with a number of different groups that are monitoring populations and making sure that those populations are balanced, and also working to figure out what other threats do alligators face that are completely outside of the alligator's control. The little sidebar though into that is the invasion of things like Burmese python that are taking down alligators left and right because it's an easy food source for a python, and it's not something that we normally think about as being a threat for something as dominant as an alligator. Alligators don't have it easy at the end of the day, humans out of the equation. Just to be a baby alligator and make it to adulthood is a tough feat. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: No, talk to me about Burmese pythons. I think that is perfect. It is extremely important and timely. And I actually have a bone to pick with some popular media, specifically digital media and social media, because Burmese pythons, they look so cool. I mean, they're cool animals. They are just inherently awesome. However, they have invaded, they have been released and have now invaded and taken over some very fragile ecosystems in the Southeastern US, particularly the Florida Everglades, and they're eating everything. Let me just note that when the American alligator was put on the endangered species list in the '60s, Burmese pythons were not part of the equation. We had a lot of issues for alligators, but it wasn't this invasive species that has very quickly taken over these ecosystems. And so tell me about Burmese pythons. Educate the public, please. Coyote Peterson: Burmese pythons, it's a complicated subject matter, especially when you're talking about the invasive nature of these snakes in Florida specifically, because it's the Florida Everglades where if you hop on the internet and you're like, tell me something about Burmese pythons, the first thing you're going to find is they're invading the Everglades and they're destroying the native populations of many animals. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Which is true. Coyote Peterson: There are so many invasive species in Florida as a whole, many different types of invasive species. It honestly is like the wild west when it comes to the invasive crisis that exists down there. But with the Burmese pythons specifically, you're talking about a snake that's capable of reproducing quickly, and if the nests aren't disturbed and those nests hatch, you're talking dozens of baby snakes that have the potential to grow into very large snakes that whether they're eating alligators and other species at a small size or a big size, they're having a huge impact. But getting the pythons out of the Florida Everglades as an invasive species at this point seems like it's not going to be possible to completely eradicate pythons in the Everglades or Florida as a whole. And I think they do probably affect alligators more than we are aware because baby alligators are perfect targets for pythons. Pythons are going to be eating baby alligators as easily as they can. Peter Gros: For Coyote Peterson, the real conservation work comes back to humans. Coexistence is a wildlife challenge and it's also an education challenge. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Since we're here to talk about the alligator, bring us into today in the positive. We really have to be very forward-thinking. So what does that recovery look like? When you and your team travel to the Southeastern US, how and where do you see alligators and how cool is it and what are you guys doing? Coyote Peterson: If you know where to go, you can see alligators quite easily. And if you're somebody that just wants to admire alligators from a safe distance, Everglades National Park is an awesome place to explore where you're almost guaranteed to see dozens of alligators on a daily basis as long as you're out there at the right time of day when they're out basking. And of course, if you're getting near a body of water, you have to be gator-wise and realize that, hey, there is a dominant predator in the environment. And if they see an opportunity, most of the time they're going to look at humans as something like, "Hey, you're kind of technically a little bit too big for me to eat," but smaller humans can make easier targets. Same things with people's pets. I mean, I can't tell you how many stories I see of people's dogs getting snatched off the side of a pond because somebody's walking too close to the water. And while that is tragic, it's not necessarily the alligator's fault, but with alligators specifically, and what we've done over the years and being able to see them and get up close with them, you've got to work in the right places. And we've always either worked with private organizations or on private property or with research groups to be able to get hands on with any of these animals because certainly do not want to go out into the wild and try to interact with one of these animals on your own. I mean, they may look lethargic and very slow moving, and I'm sure if you go on the internet, look at people that have had mishaps with alligators, you can see how quickly they're capable of spinning their body around and you get one of your appendages stuck in the mouth in an alligator and you're going to be in a lot of trouble. And whether that's the alligator pulling you into the water or that alligator being in shallow water or on land, good luck getting your hand back out of its mouth. You're in a medical emergency sort of situation very quickly. So having respect for those animals is important with Brave Wilderness. What we always try to do is show you why this is an animal that needs to be treated with the utmost amount of respect if you're out there adventuring around in the wilderness. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Okay. So now let's talk about coexistence. When you are in an alligator abundant environment, how do you operate? You gave us a little bit of a taste, but talk about coexistence in general, like the good, the bad, the complicated. Coyote Peterson: Coexistence with alligators is just a thing. If you want a cool bayou house or a house on the golf course in Florida and you've got a body of water, like I said earlier, the alligators are going to find the water. They don't care that you've come in and put your house on top of their house. They're going to be there. And living alongside alligators is always best if the humans don't interact with the alligators. If you are fishing or you've got a house that's right out the back of the water and there's alligators that hang out, you throw them table scraps or fish carcasses or whatever it is. These alligators are opportunistic and they're more intelligent than you would think. And they start putting together the pieces that, oh, this is an easy opportunity for me to get some food. Those alligators become the most dangerous alligators on the planet because they're habituated to human interaction and then they get bold. And when alligators get bold, they can get a little pushy. They get pushy and all of a sudden you can find yourself in a situation where you or your pet or whoever else could possibly find themselves in a human wildlife conflict. And that's where us living coexistence with alligators, there just needs to be better education for people that are going to be in places where alligators are naturally existing. I mean, you go out into the Florida Everglades and most of those alligators are pretty flighty. They're truly wild alligators. Alligators that live around golf courses or around housing developments, those are the alligators that are like, "Well, cool. Nobody's caught me and removed me. Nobody's killed me. And if anything, I'm probably getting some bonuses for being here." And that then turns into a potentially dangerous coexistence. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Like many predators, alligators, they can learn. They can learn, they can unlearn, but they can definitely understand the patterns of a place. They're not waking up every day with a new brain. So absolutely just the feeding of them, the habituating them to people can create danger because they are still wild animals at heart. And if they get frightened or if they feel threatened, they are going to charge or attack in order to try to protect themselves. My scholarly work is with black bears, so I'm a bear biologist at heart, and we always say a fed bear is a dead bear in a bad way, meaning if we habituate them, they will have to be removed in some way because they pose a threat. And we don't want that. We don't want that. It's actually in complete control of humans, how we interact with these wild animals in order to keep everybody safe. Coyote Peterson: You're absolutely right. And that ties back into these animals being able to escape their villainous reputation. It was maybe a week ago that I saw a clip that came across my feed on Instagram of a huge alligator on a golf course and some guy who hit his ball onto the green, walked up and was trying to pick up the alligator's tail. And the alligator's just laying there like, "Yo, my guy, I'm here sunning. It's morning. I'm trying to charge up." Now, that situation obviously just became a social media clip where it's like, "Oh my gosh, huge alligator. And this guy was crazy enough to go in and touch its tail." Fortunately, that alligator didn't swing around and get that guy's arm or his leg in his jaws. But if he had, the alligator would've been the bad guy, not the golfer who hit the golf ball and then went up and decided to interact with the alligator. And that's where you've got a lot of conflicting opinions of predators and whether or not they should be there or shouldn't be there. But when you really break it all down at the end of the day, it's like, well, you built a golf course and put in these lakes or ponds because they look good, but it's just inviting the alligators to be there, which is where the alligators would've existed naturally. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: One of the things you're known for, the positive impact you make on the world is in taking animals that people are afraid of and showing folks you don't need to fear this animal. Fear kind of perpetuates a negative view, which can cause environmental problems. So what would you tell someone who's been kind of socialized to believe alligators are super scary, like yucky, get them away from me? How would you try to incept their mind to get them to reconsider? Coyote Peterson: One of the things with Brave Wilderness that we always bring up in episodes or that I will use as a go-to suggestion for an audience if they're afraid of something, snakes, spiders, sharks, bears, wolves, scorpions, you name it in this instance, alligators. It's just a little bit of exposure therapy. And there are many places in Florida now that are facilities that encourage people to come see the alligators that they have there. You might call it an alligator farm, but it's not a farm in the sense where it's like, oh, we're harvesting alligators. They're there for conservation and they're there for education where you can actually go and maybe get hands-on during hatching season with a baby alligator and you can see how cute and adorable these things are. It gives you an appreciation for the life cycle of how difficult it is to go from egg to baby to juvenile to dominant adult. And once you understand the animal and the struggles that it goes through, I think we as humans tend to sympathize a bit more, but you have to be willing to put yourself in a situation the right way, the safe way to learn this animal's story before you just decide based off of your influence on media that something is dangerous or that something is bad, and that you've got to learn to love something if you want to ultimately protect it. So you just never know where that influence is going to come from, but I like to believe that as we're evolving as a species, as homo sapiens, that more and more people are being appreciative of animals, especially ones that are considered predators as compared to just vilifying them. And I think the spread of media, our access to information, and the ability to watch videos versus just haphazardly hearing about something on the front of a newspaper or being told something telephone style, down the ranks, down the ranks, down the ranks, takes away what you'd said earlier, Dr. Rae, about the big bad wolf of it all. And whether you're talking about specifically wolves or alligators in the sewers in New York City, like I learned about when I was five years old, which clearly is not a thing. So again, it's people absorbing information the right way and having the positive influence that these animals are important. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Okay, Coyote, this has been awesome. So final question for you. Is there an alligator moment besides that one that has stuck with you for life? Coyote Peterson: We actually did a phenomenal conservation project with the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia last year. I got to go out with a research team and I mean the Okefenokee Swamp, I'm sure as you know, but for anybody watching and listening, it's a massive space. And going into the creation of this episode, we got this really high-tech transmitter that got donated for the purposes of let's see if we can catch one of or even the legendary largest alligator that lived in the swamp. And you know as well as anybody, Dr. A, that animals don't have call sheets, so you can go into an environment with the best of intentions. There's no guarantee you're going to see one, let alone the exact one that you're looking for. And on our first night going into the swamp, we managed to find what they believe is the biggest alligator that lives in the Okefenokee. We successfully were able to capture it and put this transmitter on the alligator, which is going to allow them to follow this animal's movements for the next three years and will determine how it as a dominant male is affecting the movement of other alligators within the Okefenokee Swamp. Just like many large reptiles, if you've got an animal that's got a territory, it's going to push out any competitors. So is this alligator staying in one generalized territory? Is it moving from spot to spot to find its next perfect mate for breeding season? Or is it just pretty much staying put and being the king of the Okefenokee Swamp? So we love that episode because of the conservation message behind it, because of the right place, right time to get hands on with that alligator, and to just be a part of spreading a positive message of the work that's being done to ensure that alligators remain protected and researched in all wildlife areas across the Southeastern United States. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: Oh, I love that so much and it allows me to do two shameless plugs. So for anyone watching us or listening to us, you can watch episodes about American alligators in the Okefenokee Swamp on both Coyote Peterson's series and on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild. We're like one for one. We're doing the good work in the media with some awesome, awesome wildlife. So Coyote Peterson, a legend in this space who has stories at the wazoo, but has come to us today to talk about the recovery of the American alligator, an animal that is easy to love if you give it a chance. And we thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. Coyote Peterson: Well, thanks so much for having me. And I think next adventure we need to get you and I out in the field together to do something cool. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: I'm in. Let's do it. Let's make it happen. We're past time for that. Peter Gros: From near extinction to five million animals across the Southeastern United States, from a hide trade that nearly emptied the swamps to one of the Endangered Species Act's biggest wins. The American Alligators resurgence is proof that federal protection enforced honestly and consistently can reverse even the most severe decline. The work isn't over though. Burmese pythons, habitat pressure, and coexistence friction are real threats. But right now in every dark body of water from the Carolinas to Louisiana, an alligator is doing exactly what it's done for tens of millions of years. This is Back from the Brink from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Dr. Rae Wynn-Gr...: If this episode with Coyote Peterson made you want to pack up your car and hit the road for the Everglades like it did for me, then follow or subscribe, leave us a review, and send it to the friend that you want to put in the car with you. I'm Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant and I'll see you next time. Speaker 4: The Back from the Brink podcast is sponsored by Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, hosted by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, narrated by Peter Gros. Executive producers are Jen Wulf and Jenny Van Soelen. Podcast production by Lower Street Media.