Hyena Is A Swear Word... in Kenya

Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

WNET

Science, Pets & Animals, Nature, Kids & Family, Natural Sciences

4.9 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hyenas might be the most misunderstood animal – Are they dogs? Big cats? Evil, trouble-making sidekicks? (Thanks, Lion King!) Dr. Christine Wilkinson relates to this ambiguous perception as a bi-racial woman, especially one working in the fields of science and conservation. She couldn’t wait to go to Kenya to study hyenas, but once there, she was labeled a “Mzungu,” a term often used to describe white foreigners. Hear about how she fought to save hyenas from being misunderstood (and even started a conservation effort for the animals considered a nuisance), and in doing so, found a community where she was accepted. Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, you can follow “Going Wild” on your favorite podcast listening app. While you’re there, please leave us a review - it really helps. You can also get updates and bonus content by following me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, and PBS Nature on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. And you can catch new episodes of Nature Wednesdays at 8/7c on PBS, pbs.org/nature and the PBS Video app. Follow Dr. Christine Wilkinson, The Scrappy Naturalist, on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. This episode of “Going Wild” was hosted by me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Production by Caroline Hadilaksono, Danielle Broza, Nathan Tobey, and Great Feeling Studios. Editing by Rachel Aronoff and Jakob Lewis. Sound design by Cariad Harmon. Danielle Broza is the Digital Lead and Fred Kaufman is the Executive Producer for Nature. Art for this podcast was created by Arianna Bollers and Karen Brazell. Special thanks to Amanda Schmidt, Blanche Robertson, Jayne Lisi, Chelsey Saatkamp, and Karen Ho. NATURE is an award-winning series created by The WNET Group and made possible by all of you. Funding for this podcast was provided by grants from the Anderson Family Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I remember traveling to Kenya in 2014 to teach a wildlife ecology field course,
0:05.5	and I was super excited because I was finally in that expert role.
0:11.5	But there was this one particular moment that really bothered me.
0:19.1	On the first day that I was returning my students from being in the field and seeing wild animals to come back into our camp, we were stopped at the gate by one of the guards.
0:29.6	He looked at me kind of strangely and asked for my name and my identification and why I was driving this car full of white American students.
0:42.5	And I was able to explain that I was the professor and I was leading this field course and, you know, I was an American scientist.
0:49.8	And he actually like chuckled and started laughing as if I had just told the funniest joke he had ever heard.
0:56.6	But then realized that I wasn't laughing and maybe I was serious.
1:01.7	And when headquarters was able to confirm that I was who I said I was, I remember him saying, you know, okay, well, sorry, you can go through.
1:10.4	And then he paused for a second and he said,
1:12.6	hey, I've never seen a black scientist before.
1:20.3	I'm Dr. Ray Wyn Grant, and this is a different kind of nature show,
1:24.8	a podcast all about the human drama of saving animals.
1:29.4	This season, I want to share my story.
1:33.0	But I also want to introduce you to the other amazing wildlife scientists out there.
1:38.7	Some of my friends who study hyenas, work with lizards, and even track sharks.
1:44.9	The animals we study are great, but who we are as people and how that affects our work
1:50.6	is just as interesting.
1:53.2	And we're going to talk all about it.
1:56.2	This is Going Wild.
2:09.6	Thank you. is going wild. Kenya is a hot spot for conservation work,
2:12.2	but historically that work has been done by white scientists,
	...

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