Mammalwatching

Charles and Jon talk to conservationists and primatologists Tom Butynski and Yvonne de Jong from their base in Kenya.
Tom and Yvonne run the East African Primate Diversity and Conservation Program and research primates and other mammals in East Africa.
After explaining how their rural childhoods fostered a love for nature, Tom and Yvonne outline very varied career paths that took them around the world and eventually to Kenya - and each other - 25 years ago.
They talk about the importance of citizen science and describe some of the work they are undertaking on a range of species, including the critically endangered Southern Patas Monkey. And they outline the process they have followed to describe the several new primate species and subspecies they have described.
Charles is delighted to hear that if people looking for a new purpose in life then "dik-diks are the way to go", while Jon is shocked when Yvonne claims that she and Tom are not yet "as cool as the birders"!
The episode begins with Charles and Jon taking about their March 2026 weekend in Florida featuring a Florida Mouse and a very lengthy wrong turn!
Notes: Tom and Yvonne's Wild Solutions website is a goldmine of mammalwatching information, including some excellent free pocket guides to African primates, and a sound library of vocal profiles of many galago species (the calls of which are often indispensable to species identification).
Jon and Charles's weekend in Florida report is here.
If you would like to submit you own notes from the field then please get in touch with Jon at [email protected]
You can support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee here https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching
Finally did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/
Cover art: Tom & Yvonne in the field by Rick Strooper.
Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to Joel Sartore, founder of NatGeo's Photo Ark project and one of the world's most preeminent wildlife photographers.
Joel describes his passion for conservation, a passion inspired by parents who cared and a childhood spent in nature. 
He outlines his career, which took him from a cub photographer with the Wichita Eagle, to National Geographic where he now runs the Photo Ark and has photographed more than 18,000 species in human care. 
Joel explains his photographic techniques and the influence of the artist John James Audubon. 
And he offers hope for the future, despite the extinction crisis we are facing, talking about how zoos and ecotourism are helping to save nature. Meanwhile Joel frightens Jon at the prospects of life "in the chocolate factory".
Notes:  You can follow Joel on Instagram, along with almost 2 million other people. There are many articles and videos about Joel online, including this PBS show Rare: Creatures of the Photo Ark about his work.
Here's the article about the Banteng recovery in Thailand which Charles discusses at the beginning of the episode. You can find many Thailand trip reports here.
If you would like to submit you own notes from the field then please get in touch with Jon at [email protected]
You can support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee here https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching
Finally did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/
Cover art: Portrait of Joel Sartore, 2021, by Ellen Sartore.
Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

Charles and Jon chat with Nick Mcphee, founder of Nick's Adventures Bolivia, from his home in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Nick explains how a childhood love of wildlife - inspired by growing up near Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo - led him to Bolivia after five years in the Australian army and another three working in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. 
He talks about the many - and exceptionally diverse - mammalwatching opportunities in Bolivia that range from what is arguably Latin America's best Jaguar watching through to mega-mammals like Chaco Peccaries, Giant Armadillos and Goeldi's Monkey. Plus Nick describes the many and diverse threats these animals are facing: threats that he is passionate about tackling through the ecotourism he is pioneering.
Nick has more than his fair share of funny stories from running tours. We hear about the time that someone mistook a cup of vinegar for water. And we learn what can happen when a married couple turn up on a jungle trip with wildly differing expectations!
The podcast opens with notes from the field from Jon's February trip to Guatemala and we chat about our 2023 visit to Klalik Village in West Papua that is now in the news.
For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast
Notes: There are dozens of trip reports from tours with Nick's Adventures on mammalwatching's Bolivia page. Here's a report of Charles's 2023 trip with Nick to Jaguarland and Kaa Iya and this is Jon's report to Beni and Pando from 2024.
You can follow Nick on Facebook and Instagram. This is his listing on mammalwatching.
Jon's trip report from Guatemala is here (a research tour led by former podcast guest José Gabriel Martinez-Fonseca).
Here's a fun Instagram reel about our visit to Klalik and the scientific and conservation impacts that one night in that forest created. If you haven't heard our podcast episode about that trip then it is one of our most popular.
If you would like to submit you own notes from the field then please get in touch with Jon at [email protected]
You can support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee here. https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching
Did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/
Cover art: Nick rescues a sloth
Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City.

Charles and Jon turn the podcast over to three of the youngest mammalwatchers we know: Ellen Linton (20), Bruno Kovacs Gomez (16) and Moses Swanson-Mwamasika (15).
In a lively chat the three share stories about their passion, why they love it and what their friends and family think. We hear stories about pizza with a Caracal in South Africa; close encounters with pouched rats in Zimbabwe; and a quest for a Golden Jackal in Hungary. The next generation also offer advice on how to encourage friends to join a trip. So press play if you want to learn how to sneakily turn a road trip with your bestie into a pocket gopher safari or are contemplating more extreme measures ... 
The podcast starts with 'notes from the field' from Jannico Kelk and Nicolas Rakotopare, recorded live in Darjeeling moments after a spectacular Red Panda encounter.
For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast
Notes: All three of our guests have submitted several reports to mammalwatching. See for instance Ellen's road trip through Oregon and Idaho; Moses's goodbye to Zimbabwe report; and Bruno's family trip through Corfu, Vienna and Hungary.
Download Scythebill to manage your mammal list here https://www.scythebill.comhttps://www.scythebill.com
You can find wildlife filmmaker Nicolas Rakotopare and wildlife photographer Jannico Kelk on Instagram. Their notes from the field was recorded on a scouting trip for their upcoming Red Panda photo safaris.
If you would like to submit you own notes from the field then please get in touch with Jon at [email protected]
You can support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee here https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching
Finally did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/
Cover art: The Next Generation
Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

Charles and Jon don't have a guest this month. Instead we talk to each about our recent trips to southern Tanzania (Charles) and Tierra del Fuego (Jon).
Charles's adventure coincided with the Tanzanian elections and an outbreak of protests. These may have shut down the country but did not deter its mammalwatchers! In between negotiating their way through road blocks and buying diesel from trucks stuck on the road, they managed to see a ridiculous number of mammal species (almost 80) including the Kipunji, a primate only discovered by scientists a few years ago.
Jon's trip through Patagonia went more smoothly. The highlight was a day looking for Leopard Seals in a remote area of Chilean Tierra del Fuego. He had crippling views of the seal amongst jaw dropping scenery. One of his best days ever.
For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast
Notes: Charles's report is here https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/rare-mammals-and-riots-in-southern-tanzania/ . He organized his tour through African Pangolin Safaris. The owner, guide, and all round troubleshooter, Mansoor Mohamed can be reached at [email protected]. Learn more about the discovery of the Kipunji in Season 1 Episode 4 of this podcast when we talk to Tim Davenport.
Jon's Patagonia report is at https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/patagonia-buenos-aires-province-december-2025/. He organized his trip with Marcelo Gavensky from Birds Argentina, also a former podcast guest.
If you interested in joining Jon's trips to Brazil or Antarctica the details are here
NE Brazil for primates and porcupines with Jon Hall & Regina Ribeiro, May 27 – June 8 2026
Antarctica with Jon Hall & Naturetrek, January 2027
And if you want to support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee please do! https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching
Finally did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/
Cover art: Leopard Seal, Jon Hall.
Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.