The PrimateCast
Andrew MacIntosh
The PrimateCast features conversations with renowned primatologists, wildlife scientists, conservationists and other professional animal enthusiasts about the processes and products of their work. The podcast is hosted and produced by Dr. Andrew MacIntosh, who's now the Senior Scientist, Wildlife Conservation at the Wilder Institute / Calgary Zoo. The show was incubated by Kyoto University's Center for International Collaboration and Advanced Studies in Primatology (CICASP), where Andrew worked from 2011-2024.
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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The PrimateCast episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The PrimateCast for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The PrimateCast episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Weaving between theory and practice in behavioral ecology and conservation with Dr. Karen Strier
The PrimateCast
08/20/22 • 76 min
This episode of The PrimateCast: Origins is taken from CICASP's International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field.
The IPLS is dedicated to providing origin stories told by experienced researchers in primatology and related fields. The lectures are conducted via Zoom within our CICASP Seminar in Science Communication for graduate students of our program, but we decided to release the audio right here on The PrimateCast.
For anyone interested in viewing the video versions of these lectures, head over to CICASP's YouTube channel, where you can also watch them live as we stream our Zoom feeds there.
For the 6th international primatology lecture we invited Dr. Karen Strier to share her story with us.
Many of our listeners should be really familiar with Dr. Strier, as she was until recently president of the International Primatological Society and is the author of 6 editions of the famous textbook Primate Behavioral Ecology - which I assume many of you, like me many years ago, were trained on!
I was lucky enough to interview her for the podcast back in 2016 (#53) at the 26th Congress of the International Primatological Society that was held in Chicago and hosted by Lincoln Park Zoo. She had just become president of the IPS, so now I guess we can bookend her tenure with a follow up episode of The PrimateCast - nailed it!
But I thought we had a really great conversation back then, so it was nice to see the bigger picture of Karen’s work in this IPLS event. And, if you stay to the end, you’ll notice that I left in my own question of Dr. Strier, just because I thought her answer to it really helped fill out the story of why their work on muriquis matters so much, and what we still need to look out for.
In her talk, Karen covers how she got into primatology and ended up studying muriquis, also known as woolly monkeys - those rare faces in the forest, which she writes about so elegantly in a book of that name. Northern muriquis, her main study species, are among the most endangered primates, and the work that Karen and her colleagues have been doing is really shedding light on their ups and downs, and the threats they continue to face.
Karen Strier is Vilas Research Professor and Irven Devore Professor of Anthropology at the University of Madison - Wisconsin. For anyone who wants to know more about Dr. Strier, check out her lab's homepage on the Univers
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
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Comparative Cognition and Managing a Chimpanzee Research Program with Dr. Ikuma Adachi
The PrimateCast
04/22/22 • 77 min
This is podcast #65 with Dr. Ikuma Adachi.
Before getting into the interview, I announce with great sadness the passing of Dr. Steve Ross, as announced by Lincoln Park Zoo. Steve was a formidable figure in chimpanzee conservation and animal welfare science in general, in addition to being an all around good person and key figure at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. He will be missed.
This is also the first podcast released since the restructuring of the Primate Research Institute, which had an exceptional 55 year run as a leading primatological institute. I make a note of that as well before getting into the interview.
Now, Dr. Ikuma Adachi is no stranger to these parts, and he's been on the podcast twice before, way back in our second episode in April 2012, and again in March 2016 on Episode #20. Feel free to check those out in addition to listening to the current episode.
Ikuma is associate professor of Cogntiive Neuroscience at Kyoto University's new Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior (EHUB). He's also the new head of CICASP, assuming the role this month after a 5 year hiatus from being part of the center. But he's always had a big inlfuence on how we operate, so it was great getting him back in the studio.
In the interview, we discuss a range of topics, from internationaliation at Kyoto University to running a chimpanzee lab and managing the expectations of incoming students. We talk about his own experiences with chimpanzees and research in comparative cognitive science, and end with some speculations about the metaverse and humans in space...
yeah, you read that correctly!
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
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03/05/22 • 35 min
In this installment of The PrimateCast we continue with our International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field.
"Dreams are not destinations, they're journeys. So, dare to dream"
Zimbo
In the third podcast in this lecture series, we hear from Dr. Ramesh Boonratana, Zimbo, talking about why he's not a primatologist and - according to him! - other incoherent ramblings.
Zimbo details his journey into and then out of primatology, with a couple of important messages for teh audience. It's clear from the lecture that Zimbo values education, doing things the right way, and offering a roadmap for young students wishing to get into the field. I think that's what makes him so popular in the world of Southeast Asian primatology, where he's actively involved in various educational and conservation-oriented activities.
Zimbo is an associate professor of conservation biology at Mahidol University in Thailand, and has many advisory roles for organizations as diverse as the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group, the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Foundation, and the Creation Justice Commission of Kota Kinabalu rchdiocese. He talks about some of these roles and how he's involved in bringing people together for conservation in this lecture.
You can find out more about the talk and about Zimbo on our dedicated page for this event, complete with a biosketch with his academic history.
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
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If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
The making of a field station with Dr. Vernon Reynolds
The PrimateCast
01/29/22 • 56 min
In this installment of The PrimateCast we continue with our International Primatology Lecture Series: Past, Present and Future Perspectives of the Field.
"Expect Problems; you won't be disappointed"
- Vernon Reynolds
In the second podcast in this lecture series we hear from Dr. Vernon Reynolds, in a talk entitled "Budongo: The Making of a Field Station". In the lecture, Vernon gives us the story behind many decades of chimpanzee research in Uganda, leading to the Budongo Forest Project and later the Budongo Conservation Field Station.
You can find out more about the talk and about Vernon on our dedicated page for this event, complete with a biosketch with his academic history. And make sure you check out his very own Wikipedia page!
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
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If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
01/07/22 • 40 min
Our guest in this installment of The PrimateCast is Dr. Julie Duboscq, researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research based at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, in the department of EcoAnthropology. I interviewed Julie just before she left Japan to join the CNRS after a five years of postdoctoral study here at the Primate Research Insitute.
Note to readers: this podcast interview was recorded in June 2018, but I'm only now getting to releasing it. For shame! It's not for lack of quality, but sometimes things get shuffled down the pack. This is also only the fifth podcast released since that time! Also for shame!
All Hail the Fieldwork Fail...
Julie’s been a fixture in research on the evolution of sociality and social behavior in the macaque genus. She's a long-term member of the Macaca nigra project, with those mischievous selfie-taking crested macaques on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. And studied the Japanese macaque, Macaca fuscata, over a five-year period with me here in Japan.
Julie’s spent a good deal of time thinking about and studying relationships between individuals within groups and all the costs and benefits those relationships entail. We speak about some of those costs in the interview, as they relate to transmission of infectious organisms like lice within macaque social networks. You can see some of that work featured here and here (Paywall).
We also talk about Julie's time on Koshima and the various fieldwork fails that plagued her work there. She showed the the reslience and ingenuity of a true fieldworker during her time there!
Although we don't get into it in the interview, Julie is also a founding member of the MacaqueNet, which is a group and database aiming to facilitate and encourage collaboration between macaque researchers. It's a wonderful initiative that I'm happy to be a part of, and I look forward to the various novel projects and results that arise from such a large-scale collaboration. Julie talks about oen science toward the end of the podcast, and MacqueNet is a perfect example of the kind of collaborative atmosphere she envisions for science and the scientists that populate it.
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
- Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram
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If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
Behind saving the golden lion tamarins with Dr. Valeria Romano and a host of experts protecting an endangered Brasilian primate
The PrimateCast
02/14/20 • 71 min
Our guest in this installment of The PrimateCast is Dr. Valeria Romano, who shares with us a series of interviews she conducted with conservation scientists during a meeting on the “Strategic Planning for the Conservation of Golden Lion Tamarins” run by the Save the Golden Lion Tamarin Association in 2018.
Have a beer on the golden lion tamarin
In the podcast, Dr. Romano introduces us to golden lion tamarins and why they are in special need of our attention as endangered species.
We weave between discussions in the studio and interviews done in Brazil with five conservation scientists, including Dr. Luis Paulo Ferraz, Dr. Carlos Ruiz-Miranda, Dr. Jenniffer Mickelberg, Dr. Marcos Freire, and Dr. James Dietz. Each brings a unique perspective and a unique contribution to the conservation of this endangered species.
You can also hear about various ways in which you can support their conservation (e.g. beers for conservation!).
We'd like to thank all of our guests, who generously shared their tme and expertise with us for this program.
Photo Credits: Valeria Romano / Save the Golden Lion Tamarins (www.savetheliontamarin.org)
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
- Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram
- Subscribe where you get your podcasts
- Email [email protected] with thoughts and comments
If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
Applied wildlife veterinary medicine and great ape conservation with Dr. Chris Whittier
The PrimateCast
09/19/17 • 18 min
The PrimateCast rolled out its mobile podcasting unit to cover the joint meetings of the International Primatological Society and American Society for Primatologists held between August 21-27, 2016.
Last year's congress was hosted by the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes of Lincoln Park Zoo, and the conference was held at Navy Pier in Chicago, USA.
The PrimateCast On Location at IPS 2016 with Dr. Chris Whittier
I was really excited to be able to chat with Dr. Chris Whittier at last year's IPS in Chicago. Chris and I met a few years earlier while bunking together at a symposium held by some colleagues in the Czech Republic, so it was good to sit down and catch up!
Chris is a wildlife veterinarian with a PhD in population medicine, and is currently working in the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, where he also directs a Master's program in conservation medicine.
Chris was at IPS presenting his work on applied wildlife veterinary medicine in a symposium titled "Advances in health research at the interface of humans and nonhuman primates", chaired by Dr. Dominic Travis.
In the interview, we discuss his experience working literally to save the lives of African great apes through Gorilla Doctors, previously the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project.
We get into the sticky issues of wildlife health interventions, sometimes lumped into the category of 'extreme conservation', and discuss the importance of health surveillance and, if necessary, intervention in wildlife conservation.
Visit his academic page here for more information on his expanding activities in wildlife health and conservation.
We'd like to sincerely thank Dr. Chris Whittier for joining us on this episode, as well as all of our guests on this series of podcasts from our coverage of the 26th Congress of the International Primatological Society and 39th Congress of the American Society of Primatologists. We look forward to Nairobi 2018.
Photo Credit: Chris Whittier / Gorilla Doctors
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
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If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
05/13/17 • 15 min
The PrimateCast has rolled out its mobile podcasting unit once again, this time to cover the joint meetings of the International Primatological Society and American Society for Primatologists held between August 21-27, 2016. This year's congress was hosted by the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes of Lincoln Park Zoo, and the conference was held at Navy Pier in Chicago, USA.
The PrimateCast On Location at IPS 2016 with Dr. Karen Strier
In this edition, we sat down with Dr. Karen Strier, Vilas Research Professor and Irven Devore Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During the conference, Dr. Strier took the reigns as incoming president of the International Primatological Society from outgoing president and Kyoto University distinguished professor Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa. We talked briefly about this, but spent the bulk of the interview discussing her long term research with muriquis in Brazil and how her work as well as the field of primatology, which she herself has helped mould through education and outreach, have developed over the last few decades.
As author of numerous primatological works, including the hugely influential series Primate Behavioral Ecology, now in its 5th print edition, Dr. strier has been a leader in the field and an inspiration to generations now of primatologists. Her energy and devotion to research, education and conservation are evident throughout the interview. Get ready to be inspired, as we look forward to good things to come during Dr. Strier's tenure as IPS president over the next 4 years.
We'd like to sincerely thank Dr. Karen Strier for joining us on this episode, as well as all of our guests on this series of podcasts from our coverage of the 26th Congress of the International Primatological Society and 39th Congress of the American Society of Primatologists. We look forward to Nairobi 2018. Be sure to check out our other podcasts featuring interviews with leading scientists in primatology and beyond.
Join us and all our friends at IPS/ASP on The PrimateCast, and visit our official webpage @ theprimatecast.com to find loads of content from primatologists and conservationists around the world. You can also visit (and Like/Follow) us on Facebook and Twitter and leave comments and feedback on this or any other podcast in the series. You can also follow our RSS feed, or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes to keep up with the latest content.
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
- Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram
- Subscribe where you get your podcasts
- Email [email protected] with thoughts and comments
If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
02/02/17 • 22 min
IUCN World Conservation Congress, Honolulu, Hawaii - September, 2016.
Conservation Voices correspondent Cecile Sarabian attended the screening of “Blood Lions”, a film portraying the lucrative and legal business of canned lion hunting in South Africa. The screening was followed by a discussion with Dr. Andrew Venter – Executive producer and CEO of Wildlands Conservation Trust.
Bloody business
“Every single day in South Africa, at least two to three captive-bred or tame lions are being killed in canned hunts. And hundreds more are slaughtered annually for the lion bone trade. The Blood Lions story is a compelling call to action to have these practices stopped.”
South Africa is one of the only places in the world that breeds lions commercially for hunting.
The legality of canned lion hunting
At the September 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, the world’s top scientists, government representatives, non-profit organizations, and experts including Andrew Venter adopted motion 009 on Terminating the hunting of captive-bred lions (Panthera leo) and other predators and captive breeding for commercial, non-conservation purposes.
A good start, which unfortunately was not followed up in Johannesburg at the CITES CoP17 meeting late September, as the 182 countries present did not reach consensus on banning all international trade in African lions, from trophy heads to bones.
Although the majority of participants agreed on banning the trade in bones, teeth and claws from wild lions, the Department of Environmental Affairs of South Africa recently decided to export 800 captive-bred lion skeletons annually to feed southeast Asian traditional medicine.
In this interview with Dr. Andrew Venter, we come back to the issues and challenges depicted in the film about canned hunting and wildlife conservation in South Africa.
Photo Credit: Reuters / Ali Jarekji
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
- Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram
- Subscribe where you get your podcasts
- Email [email protected] with thoughts and comments
If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
A conversation about what music means to us, and monkeys, with Dr. Charles (Chuck) Snowdon
The PrimateCast
10/18/22 • 33 min
This episode features distinguished primatologist Dr. Charles Snowdon, or Chuck Snowdon, as he’s maybe better known by.
Chuck is Hilldale Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and he’s widely known for his work on primate social development, communication and cognition. He ran the Snowdon Primate Center in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where so much was learned about the small Neotropical primates known as marmosets and tamarins.
In the interview, we deep dive one specific topic that Chuck has worked on over the past couple of decades: musicality in nonhumans!
Some of our topics of conversation include:
- the integration of art and science, STEAM, and collaborating with musicians
- how our appreciation of music evolves and affects our mood
- making music for monkeys... and why it matters
- and many more!
Here's a great quote from Chuck from a 2009 article published in the Guardian: “Why should a tamarin find our music comforting? I find the monkey music quite irritating.”
You can read the paper on which a lot of our conversation was based in an article published in the journal Biology Letters (Paywall). There's also more music for tamarins in the supplementary material of that article as well!
In the interview, Chuck also references Snowball, a cockatoo who became YouTube famous for its ability to dance to the beat of popular music. This bird was also the focal point of our conversation with Dr. John Iversen, another fascinating conversation I had when he visited Japan for the Japan Society for Animal Psychology conference back in 2014. He's the middle interview in The PrimateCast 22.
The PrimateCast is hosted and produced by Andrew MacIntosh. Artwork by Chris Martin. Music by Andre Goncalves.
Here's what you can do to get in touch!
- Connect with us on Facebook, X, or Instagram
- Subscribe where you get your podcasts
- Email [email protected] with thoughts and comments
If you value the show, leave ratings and reviews wherever it is that you listen, and consider donating by clicking the "Support the Show" link above.
Thanks for being part of The PrimateCast Community!
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FAQ
How many episodes does The PrimateCast have?
The PrimateCast currently has 96 episodes available.
What topics does The PrimateCast cover?
The podcast is about Conservation, Ecology, Natural Sciences, Nature, Wildlife, Podcasts and Science.
What is the most popular episode on The PrimateCast?
The episode title 'A half-century journey into primatology and wildlife biology with Professor Mewa Singh' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The PrimateCast?
The average episode length on The PrimateCast is 45 minutes.
How often are episodes of The PrimateCast released?
Episodes of The PrimateCast are typically released every 18 days, 9 hours.
When was the first episode of The PrimateCast?
The first episode of The PrimateCast was released on Apr 14, 2012.
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