BiodiverCity

If you counted all the migratory monarch butterflies in California in 1992, you might total five million. But today, that number is less than 2,000. How did one of the most popular butterflies in the world begin to disappear? Xerces Society’s Senior Endangered Species Conservation Biologist Emma Pelton unravels the mystery of why the western monarch is vanishing, and she and horticulturist and native plant specialist Carol Bornstei...

It’s all about food as we get behind the scenes at the zoo and discuss one of L.A.’s most complicated diets with Zoo Nutritionist Emily Schwartz and Curator of Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish, Ian Recchio: the diet of the Butaan, one of the world’s largest lizards. After that, we talk about southern Californian indigenous food traditions and how to strike the balance between passing down traditions and depleting the land with Sherman...

Have you ever heard a bat? You probably haven’t. While bats are all around us, their presence goes practically undetected because of their nocturnal habits and silent (to us, at least) echolocation. We talk with Natural History Museum (NHM) Wildlife Biologist and Community Science Manager Miguel Ordeñana about how bats help start conversations about conservation in neighborhoods all across L.A., and the Gottlieb Native Garden’s nat...

This week, we speak with Brad Rumble, a Disney Conservation Hero Award winner for his work building a native plant habitat at Esperanza Elementary School in a concrete-laden part of L.A., about how transforming a school transforms a community. After that, we get a look into a summer program at the L.A. Zoo for the children of migratory workers, where they create imaginative projects centered on animal habitats. But teaching kids ab...

In this week’s bonus episode, Jake talks to Warren Dickson, a hip hop performer and entrepreneur from Watts who has collaborated with Save LA Cougars to help foster a love of nature in every neighborhood in L.A., particularly his own.

To listen to his track “If I Was Wild,” visit https://ifiwaswild.org/

For more information on 3rd Rock Hip Hop, visit http://www.3rdrockhiphop.com/ 

To learn more about the BiodiverCity podcast...

It’s only fitting that the world’s most famous mountain lion lives in the city of stars, but it hasn’t been an easy ride for P-22. The mountain lion has crossed multiple freeways and found himself stuck in the urban green space of Griffith Park…or has he? We talk with National Wildlife Federation California Director Beth Pratt about why the cougar’s home is his just as much as it is ours, the wildlife crossing that could save milli...

In the heart of Los Angeles, there is a garden filled with more hummingbirds than anywhere this side of the Mississippi. We talk with the garden’s naturalist, Scott Logan, and UC Davis hummingbird expert and veterinarian Lisa Tell to discover how and why one person’s backyard became a haven for thousands of hummingbirds. We’re also joined by Dr. Eric Strauss, Executive Director of the Loyola Marymount University Center for Urban Re...

Introducing BiodiverCity - a new podcast from the Gottlieb Native Garden and the Los Angeles Zoo, BiodiverCity explores urban ecology and conservation in L.A. From inside a one-acre native garden that is visited by over 1,500 different species of animals, to behind the scenes at our zoo, visited by more than 1.8 million people each year, we’re talking to both experts in their fields and everyday people to find out how Angelenos and...