Podcast: Season1 Finale with Merlin Tuttle

The 27th episode of the podcast is now out and we interview the original Batman, Dr Merlin Tuttle, from his home in Austin, Texas.

Many of you will know his name and his work: Merlin has spent 60 years studying – and working to help – bats around the world and his photos and research have been featured in multiple National Geographic articles, the journal Science, and many other places. He founded and led Bat Conservation International for nearly 30 years, left BCI, then founded Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation in 2014 where he remains active. He is a true legend.

In a fascinating chat we hear about Merlin’s skill in training bats (and one bat’s particular skill in training Merlin), and how he believes the secret to conservation success is from trying to win friends not battles. He also remember that time he risked being eaten by a pride of lions so he could photograph a bat with a Mohican haircut.

Here is the YouTube trailer.

You can stream the podcast here and download it on most podcast platforms (search for “mammalwatching”)

This will be the last episode for a couple of months. We should be back in September, provided, of course, that Charles doesn’t get mauled by a Giant Pangolin in Gabon and I don’t get savaged by a Tufted Ground Squirrel in Borneo. There are worse ways to go.

Jon