Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 241 of Just the Zoo of Us. Please pardon, I have a little bit of a

cold right now, but I didn't when we recorded this episode, so I promise my voice sounds better.

In this week's episode, I got to talk with a wildlife biologist and author with an incredible

career on the front lines of conservation to review the skydiving champions

of the animal kingdom, Peregrine Falcons. We discussed the adaptations that let these incredible

birds tear through the sky at literally breakneck speeds, biomimicry in aircraft design

in sporting goods, the plague of pesticide,

and how we almost lost some of our most iconic birds, and the lessons that birds can teach us

about our own role in the environment. Just the Zoo of Us presents Peregrine Falcons with Sophie

Osborne.

Music with Sophie Osborne. I'm here with Just the Zoo of us, your favorite animal review podcast. And I am so excited this week to be talking about a fascinating animal with a

brand new friend. This is Sophie Osborne. Say hi, hi, Sophie. Hi. Nice to meet you all. Sophie,

what are your pronouns real quick? She and her. Thank you so much.

I am really excited to get into our cool animal for this week because I think it's often associated with like excitement, right?

And like it's a very sort of flashy, almost like the action hero of the bird world.

So before we get into our cool animal list this week, I would love to talk about

you a little bit. What got you into the work that you do writing about these really cool animals?

I got a much later start that most people do. I always loved animals. We grew up in a rural

area in the country. We had a ton of pets and farm animals, so I always loved animals, but I didn't know what I could do to work with them.

I thought the only thing that I could do to work with animals was to be a vet.

And I worked as a vet tech for a summer, and I loved it, but I didn't want to be in a vet office for my life.

And so I went to university in totally different things. I majored in international relations and French literature,

...