Chris Morgan

Bellingham

Ecologist, conservationist, author, filmmaker, TV host, adventure motorcyclist, bear and large carnivore nut. Podcast: 'THE WILD with Chris Morgan'! 🎧

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Articles

Tom Mangelsen: Grizzy 399 and confessions of a wildlife photographer

2 months ago | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Matthew Martin |Jim Gates

Tom Mangelsen is one of the most gifted and prolific wildlife photographers of our time. He may be best known for documenting the life of Grizzly Bear 399 in and around Teton National Park in Wyoming. I’ve spent thousands of hours alongside, and guiding some of the best wildlife photographers in the world, but I’ve never been lucky enough to spend time in the wild with Tom. And he has always seemed to possess a connection with animals that is rare.
Yellowstone National Park: Celebrity bears, and a tale of two trout

2 months ago | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Lucy Soucek |Jim Gates

You can’t come to Yellowstone without thinking about the grizzly bear. This thriving ancient ecosystem is like a sacred space for them. And a critical source for food which they are constantly in search of in order to get the needed calories that will sustain them through their long winter sleep. But what many grizzly bear lovers might not think about are the fish at the heart of the bear feeding frenzy.
A harsh life among ‘super over-caffeinated’ penguins (reprise)

Jan 21, 2025 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Jim Gates |Matthew Martin

Behind most wildlife documentaries is someone who has spent countless hours, often in challenging conditions, waiting for that perfect shot. Chris talks to filmmakers Jeff Wilson and Mark Smith about their experience filming Adelie penguins for four months in Antarctica. With wind gusts up to 150 miles per hour it is one of the coldest and harshest continents on earth. We’d love to hear what you think of THE WILD. Which shows did you like the best? What would you like to hear more of?
Zoë Schlanger: Do plants think? Why eating a salad may never feel the same again

Jan 14, 2025 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Lucy Soucek |Jim Gates

Maybe you’re eating an apple, or a piece of lettuce right now. Could be a broccoli stem or perhaps a lovely juicy tomato. If you are, are you wondering how intelligent that plant is? I’d guess not. But here’s a conversation that might make you think twice. Zoë Schlanger, a science writer for the Atlantic, has written an eye-opening book on the topic. It’s called The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth.
Glacier Bay National Park: Life after ice - the birth of a river

Jan 7, 2025 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Lucy Soucek |Jim Gates

Melting ice is usually bad news, but this place in Alaska has turned from frozen to flourishing in just 200 years. Nestled in southeast Alaska, the stunning and famous Glacier Bay National Park is often called a “living laboratory.” Scientists from all over the world come here to study ecological succession: the step-by-step return of plants, insects, forests and animals. It’s a unique place to do that because just a couple hundred years ago, this whole landscape was covered in ice.
The Wild presents How Wild: Solitude

Dec 10, 2024 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Jim Gates |Matthew Martin |Lucy Soucek

We are taking a break over the holidays in order to finish up our series about national parks. We’ll be back in your feed on January 7 with a visit to Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska. We’ll learn how the trickles of chilly glacial meltwater are creating a flourishing ecosystem. But in the meantime, I wanted to share an episode from a podcast I think you’ll really like called How Wild. It’s from our friends at KALW Public Media and the NPR Network.
A river runs through it ... once again (reprise)

Nov 18, 2024 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Matthew Martin

It started as a glacier. Then, about 13,000 years ago, it was a trickle, then a stream, and eventually a rushing river meandering through the Olympic Peninsula. For thousands of years, life thrived off the ecosystem served by the Elwha River that fed into to the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Then it stopped. A century ago, a dam was built to harness the power of the water and convert it into electricity. The salmon that the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe relied on were cut off from their spawning grounds.
Leigh Ann Henion: Darkness, and the creatures of the night

Nov 12, 2024 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Lucy Soucek |Jim Gates

Nature writer Leigh Ann Henion has spent countless hours uncovering mysteries of the darkness that unfold while we’re asleep. She’s explored bats, moths, glow worms, spotted salamanders, and she’s written a new book about it called Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark. Today, Chris talks with Leigh Ann Henion about what we can find in the darkness and how we can preserve it, even from our own back porch.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Fireflies in synchrony

Nov 5, 2024 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Matthew Martin |Jim Gates

Once a year they come out, by the thousands. Fireflies. But these aren’t just any fireflies. These are Photinus Carolinas, also known as synchronous fireflies They blink on and off together. It’s an amazing site. On this episode, I head to Great Smoky Mountains National Park to experience the synchronous fireflies and learn how light from human development is threatening the future of these delicate, glowing insects and what the park is doing to try to protect them.
Caroline Tracey: How this tiny bird could save salt lakes

Oct 29, 2024 | kuow.org | Chris Morgan |Matthew Martin |Jim Gates

Four times in the past decade Lake Abert has completely dried up, a barren lakebed encrusted with salt. Salt lakes are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Lack of water could lead to many of these lakes permanently drying up in the American West. But there is one tiny bird that could change all that. The Wilson’s Phalarope depends on salt lakes on their 6500-mile migration between North and South America.