Alan Rabinowitz — We Are All Wildlife

On Being with Krista Tippett

On Being Studios

Sociology, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality, Krista Tippett, Arts, Culture, On Being, Society, Society & Culture, Science, Social Sciences

4.7 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2018

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How to get to the heart of the human experience without speaking? This question drove Alan Rabinowitz, after a childhood with a severe stutter, to become a wildlife biologist and explorer — “the Indiana Jones of wildlife conservation.” He died this month at age 64. He was known for his work with big cats, his discovery of new animal species, and for documenting human cultures believed to be lost. Alan Rabinowitz took our understanding of the animal-human bond to new places, while also being wise about the wilderness of the human experience. This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Alan Rabinowitz — We Are All Wildlife.” Find more at onbeing.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Being is brought to you by the John Templeton Foundation.
0:03.6	The Templeton Foundation supports academic research and civil dialogue on the deepest,
0:08.1	most perplexing questions facing humankind.
0:11.1	Who are we? Why are we here? And where are we going? To learn more, please visit Templeton.org.
0:17.8	The Templeton Foundation. Stay curious.
0:21.4	How to get to the heart of the human experience without speaking?
0:25.6	This question drove Alan Rabinoetz after a childhood with a severe stutter to become a wildlife
0:32.0	biologist and explorer, the Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation. He died this month at age 64.
0:40.0	He was known for his work with Big Cat, his discovery of new animal species, and for documenting
0:46.7	human cultures believed to be lost. His work took our understanding of the animal human bond
0:53.0	to new places. Just as intriguingly, Alan Rabinoetz made an intimacy with remote places in the
0:59.6	human spirit, part of his adventure and his wisdom. I have come face to face with wild tigers.
1:06.9	I've come face to face with jaguars, lions, all of them. Now fear was definitely a part of
1:13.7	the menagerie of feelings that ran through me, but I also felt flattered to be in the presence of
1:20.9	this unbelievable wildness that we don't feel during our everyday lives.
1:27.2	I'm Krista Tippett and this is on Being.
1:37.6	Alan Rabinoetz was the chief science officer at Pantera, the nonprofit he co-founded to protect
1:43.8	the world's 40 wild cat species. And he was a spokesman for the Stuttering Foundation.
1:50.0	We spoke in 2010. So I'd like to start in a place I always start, whoever I'm interviewing,
1:57.2	whether they're a quantum physicist or a wild life biologist. And I'd like to hear if there was
2:07.8	any kind of religious or spiritual background to your childhood.
2:11.9	I spent my early years going to Hebrew school and learning to be Bob Mitzvahd, but it never
	...

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