Miriam Horn - George Schaller and the Transformation of Wildlife Biology
Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson
Mountain & Prairie Media
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
Miriam Horn is an award-winning journalist and author whose work lives at the intersection of conservation, food production, and the people working—often quietly and pragmatically—to hold those worlds together. Many listeners will recognize her from her excellent book "Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman," a title that's come up repeatedly on this podcast for its nuanced look at how working lands and conservation can coexist. But her new book, "Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller," zooms out to tell the story of a man whose influence touches nearly every corner of modern wildlife biology.
If you're like I was before reading this book, you may not fully appreciate the importance of George Schaller and his work—but it's hard to overstate his impact. If you're working in wildlife science today—whether studying elk in Wyoming or snow leopards in Central Asia—you're building on a foundation he helped create. He helped shift wildlife biology away from specimen collection and distant population management toward long-term, immersive observation rooted in patience and deep respect for animals in their natural environments. And beyond his own research, his legacy lives on through the countless scientists he mentored around the world, many of whom went on to lead conservation efforts in their home countries.
In this conversation, Miriam and I explore Schaller's remarkable life and the long arc of his influence—from his early days in Alaska to his groundbreaking work with gorillas, big cats, and high-altitude species across the globe. We talk about the tension between conservation and human needs, the role of humility and local knowledge in effective wildlife protection, and what Miriam learned after nearly a decade spent researching and writing this biography. It's a wide-ranging conversation about one man's life, but also about the bigger question of how humans can live responsibly within the natural world.
"Homesick for a World Unknown" is available at your favorite bookseller now. I hope you enjoy this conversation and the book!
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- Miriam Horn
- Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller
- Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/miriam-horn
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:
Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 0:00 - Introducing Miriam Horn and highlighting the Well Done Foundation
- 6:17 - Feedback from George
- 10:00 - Beginning a decade of work
- 15:52 - Getting George to open up
- 19:52 - A bit of George's biography
- 24:39 - Becoming a charismatic megafauna
- 26:53 - Putting the gun down
- 31:03 - Humility and hard-headedness
- 33:29 - Seeking the full picture
- 36:57 - Husband and wife team
- 41:00 - Not protective parents
- 47:30 - George and Kay to the modern-day
- 52:39 - How George changed Miriam
- 59:11 - The writers Miriam admires
- 1:04:54 - Words of wisdom
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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | He knew that animals live or die at our mercy, basically, and that if you could not ensure that their neighbor, their human neighbors had their own economic security, that the animals were not going to survive, that you had to meet the human needs to, or ultimately the animals would pay the prize. |
| 0:29.6 | This is the Mountain and Prairie podcast. I'm Ed Robertson. My guest today is Miriam Horn. Miriam is an award-winning journalist and author whose work lives at the intersection of conservation, |
| 0:35.6 | food production, and the people working, often quietly |
| 0:39.1 | and pragmatically, to hold those worlds together. Many listeners will recognize her from her |
| 0:44.7 | excellent book, Rancher Farmer Fisherman, a title that's come up repeatedly on this podcast |
| 0:49.7 | for its nuanced look at how working lands and conservation can coexist. |
| 1:00.2 | But her new book, Homsick for a World Unknown, The Life of George B. Schaller, |
| 1:06.7 | zooms out to tell the story of a man whose influence touches nearly every corner of modern wildlife biology. |
| 1:15.4 | If you're like I was before reading this book, you may not fully appreciate the importance of George Schaller in his work, but it's hard to overstate his impact. |
| 1:24.2 | If you're working in wildlife science today, whether studying elk in Wyoming or snow leopards in Central Asia, you're building on the foundation he helped create. |
| 1:28.6 | He helped shift wildlife biology away from specimen collection and distant population management toward long-term immersive observation rooted in patients and a deep |
| 1:35.3 | respect for animals in their natural environments. And beyond his own research, his legacy lives |
| 1:41.2 | on through countless scientists he mentored around the world, many of whom went on to lead conservation efforts in their home countries. |
| 1:48.6 | In this conversation, Miriam and I explore Schaller's remarkable life and the long arc of his influence, |
| 1:54.7 | from his early days in Alaska to his groundbreaking work with gorillas, big cats, and high-altitude species across the globe. |
| 2:02.9 | We talk about the tension between conservation and human needs, the role of humility and |
| 2:07.8 | local knowledge and effective wildlife protection, and what Miriam learned after nearly a decade |
| 2:12.9 | spent researching and writing this biography. |
| 2:16.0 | It's a wide-ranging conversation about one man's life, |
| 2:19.1 | but also about the bigger question of how humans can live responsibly within the natural world. |
| 2:24.6 | But before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank the people and organizations |
| 2:28.2 | who make Mountain and Prairie possible. |
... |
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