The Wild with Chris Morgan is a celebration of the natural world and the people devoted to wild places and incredible species. Each episode explores our world’s complex web of ecosystems, taking listeners on an immersive, sound-rich journey across the Pacific Northwest and around the world. In the episodes that I listened to, Chris Morgan explores a national park in Italy inhabited by brown bears and endangered burrowing owls at a former chemical weapons base in Oregon. This is a great outdoors podcast filled with fascinating stories.
In an episode titled These Italian Bears Survived Gladiators and Mussolini, Chris Morgan travels to the Italian national park Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park to encounter its wildlife. He talks about the animals that flourish there, such as brown bears, boars, and red deer. The brown bears found there are a rare subspecies that survived extinction by avoiding humans. Brown bears were aggressively hunted in Italy and slaughtered during games at the Coliseum. This subspecies of brown bear survived by being shy. Morgan recorded his podcast while he was in the park and you can listen to him as he tracks bears and other wildlife. This park sounds incredible and Morgans’ descriptions will make you want to travel to it.
In Goodbye Chemical Weapons, Hello Burrowing Owls, Morgan interviews David Johnson (Global Owl Project) about his mission to save burrowing owls at the Umatilla Army Depot, which up until 2011 housed chemical weapons. Johnson describes how burrowing owls once inhabited holes dug badgers to create their habitat but a dwindling badger population decreased the burrowing owl population. Johnson created artificial habitats in this area that allowed the burrowing owl population to rebound. Morgan recorded his missions with Johnson to track owls and assisted him with the work that he was doing. It is interesting to hear Morgan’s reactions to encountering burrowing owls and to listen to Johnson explain the interesting characteristics of them.
The Wild with Chris Morgan is filled with facts and stories about animals that you may not have heard of. The subspecies of brown bears of Abruzzo National Park and burrowing owls at the Umatilla Army Depot are two great examples of this. Listeners will enjoy Morgan’s enthusiasm as he encounters wildlife while observing them with conservationists. The Wild with Chris Morgan is an excellent podcast that those interested in nature and the outdoors will especially enjoy.
Michael Walsh is an Adult Services Librarian at the Will Library. He is currently reading Cherish The First 6 Weeks by Helen Moon.