My WILDEST Wildlife Biologist Moments

As a wildlife biologist, you have incredible moments with animals that are nearly impossible for other people to experience. But you also do some pretty crazy, strange, and downright WEIRD things...

Jul 23, 2026

Stephanie Manka (formerly Schuttler)

Wildlife Biologist and Science Communicator, Fancy Scientist LLC

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In my 17 years working in the field across four continents and for a variety of organizations, I’ve had experiences that range from terrifying to awe-inspiring to disgusting. So in this episode of the Fancy Scientist podcast, I’m sharing my top ten with you! Plus, you’ll get a couple of bonus memories.

Listen to My WILDEST Wildlife Biologist Moments:

https://stephanieschuttler.com/fancy-scientist-podcast-155-wildest-wildlife/

The show notes for this episode will be really short because I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ll take you on my adventures from Central Africa to Central Missouri, and from the suburbs to remote mountaintops. You’ll learn about the most dangerous things that I did, the (multiple) scary animal encounters that I had, and how I felt like I was living in an Indian Jones movie at times.

You’ll hear about encounters with lions and tigers and (no bears sorry), but other animals!

Specifically, I go over:

My top ten moments in my 17 years of working as a wildlife biologist including the most scary, awe-inspiring, rare, weirdest, and more
The unexpected things I never thought I would do as a wildlife biologist
Why wildlife biologists have to do some really weird things for research
How my perception of what was scary changed over time
Psychologically scary vs what’s really scary
The scariest moment of my entire life
And much, much more! I don’t want to give too much away

My WILDEST Wildlife Biologist Moments

Whether you want to work in wildlife professionally, you’re already in the field, or you simply love wild animals and wild places, you’ll walk away from this episode inspired to go explore the natural world, whether it’s traveling to a new country or taking a deep dive in the green spaces in your neighborhood. Nature is everywhere and ready for you to explore.

Listen to the whole episode here:

https://stephanieschuttler.com/fancy-scientist-podcast-155-wildest-wildlife/

Stephanie Manka (formerly Schuttler) (She/Her)

Wildlife Biologist and Science Communicator, Fancy Scientist LLC

Wildlife biologist 🐘 Mentor 👩‍🎓 Your Biggest Career Cheerleader 📣 Communicator 👥 | Showing animal lovers how to get their dream job✨ | Connecting people with nature for conservation 🌿 and community 🏙️