Wild Science

Unexpected Encounters When Working in Nature

Edited by: Helen P. Waudby

Precarious, hilarious and thought-provoking stories from the front line of ecology fieldwork.

What’s it like to study polar bears in the wild? How do you raise children among large carnivores? And how do you find a frog that no-one has seen for 40 years? + Full description

From deserts to rainforests and even the polar Arctic, scientists venture into the field to collect, observe and study the world’s organisms and the environments they live in. But even with the best planning, unexpected weather, unpredictable animals and unforeseen encounters can occur.

Wild Science: Unexpected Encounters When Working in Nature explores the precarious, hilarious and thought-provoking stories ‘behind the science’. It shows the value of these experiences, even when things don’t go right, and the importance of fieldwork for understanding our own place in the world.

- Short description

Reviews

From the Foreword:
“Stories from the field that read like adventure movie scripts.”
Dr Ann Jones, Presenter, ABC Science

"Ecologists are pivotal in bringing nature to the attention of other people in their communities. Here they tell their stories with a combination of humour and awe, inspiring the reader to look more closely at the wonders that surround us."
Dr Steve Morton, author of Australian Deserts.

Details

Paperback | November 2024 | $ 36.99
ISBN: 9781486317639 | 216 pages | 234 x 153 mm
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing

Features

Over 20 fascinating and entertaining stories of success, challenges and unexpected events from fieldwork around the world.
Highlights what happens ‘behind the science’ and the lessons learned, even if unplanned.
Features encounters with polar bears, carnivorous plants, mountain gorillas and many other creatures great and small.

Foreword
Ann Jones
Preface
About the editor
Acknowledgements
List of contributors

1: Ngarridjarrkbolknahnan kunred: Looking after Country together in West Arnhem Land
Cara Penton, Terrah Guymala and Warddeken Rangers
2: Avoiding arrest while chasing hedgehogs
Christopher R. Dickman
3: The Big Roo Count: kangaroos, kids and calamity
Euan G. Ritchie
4: In search of a kingdom
Pam Catcheside
5: A leopard at the nursery door
Neil R. Jordan
6: If the gators don’t get you, the bugs will
Laura Kojima
7: Raising rays
Leonardo Guida
8: In pursuit of pollinators
Manu E. Saunders
9: Of absences and Amazonia
David M. Watson
10: Caving for spiders
Jessica Marsh
11: Some cockatoos I’ve met
Erika M. Roper
12: What a botanist can learn from a dog
Laura M. Skates
13: Bears, drugs and guns
Andrew E. Derocher
14: Clever Aotearoa New Zealand birds
Isabel Castro
15: Expect the unexpected when dealing with the devil
David G. Hamilton
16: Outfoxed by a jackal, and other tales from the Indian savanna
Abi T. Vanak
17: Finding frogs in the most unexpected of places
Jodi J. L. Rowley
18: Encounters with mountain gorillas
Wayne Boardman
19: Lazy lions and hungry hyaenas
Robert Heinsohn
20: Don’t be a lemming
Jo Isaac
21: Places where a kea’s beak shouldn’t be
Lydia McLean
22: Coral slime, feisty fish, shark encounters and the importance of looking up
Tracy Ainsworth
23: People are strange: studying nature in cities
Dieter F. Hochuli
24: A dingo gold mine
Bradley P. Smith
25: Bogged in the desert
Helen P. Waudby

Index to locations and species

Authors

Dr Helen P. Waudby is an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Gulbali Institute at Charles Sturt University, and a conservation biologist with the NSW Government. She has over 20 years' experience in wildlife research and conservation, and also co-edited the book Wildlife Research in Australia: Practical and Applied Methods.

With contributions from Cara Penton, Terrah Guymala and Warddeken rangers; Christopher R. Dickman; Euan G. Ritchie; Pam Catcheside; Neil R. Jordan, Laura Kojima; Leonardo Guida; Manu E. Saunders; David M. Watson; Jessica Marsh; Erika M. Roper; Laura M. Skates; Andrew E. Derocher; Isabel Castro; David G. Hamilton; Abi T. Vanak; Jodi J. L. Rowley; Wayne Boardman; Robert Heinsohn; Jo Isaac; Lydia McLean; Tracy Ainsworth; Dieter F. Hochuli; and Bradley P. Smith.