What is Episode 114 all about?
Today’s episode officially marks the beginning of our very own Women in Conservation Science series! We’re celebrating all month long by sharing conversations with new women scientists never before on the show, sharing special clips from previous guests, and highlighting all of the women scientists that have been on the show across Rewildology’s social media accounts.
For the first conversation in our Women in Conservation Science series, we are sitting down with Hiral Naik, African Program Manager for Save the Snakes, and a PhD student at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Hiral has been a natural explorer all of her life and spent her childhood exploring her Zimambwean home the and country’s famous national parks. During her teen years, Hiral’s parents moved their family to India, and then later relocated to South Africa, where she eventually found her calling. Hiral knew she wanted to contribute to the conservation of wildlife and naturally gravitated towards snakes as her curiosity in phylogenetics grew. Through a series of life events, she began working for Save the Snakes to perform on-the-ground conservation work, while continuing on to her PhD studying the causes of snake bites and how to prevent them.
Hiral and I have a fantastic conversation discussing:
- What it was like for her to move countries multiple times in her formative years
- Why she decided to study ecology and genetics
- How she discovered her love of snakes
- The conservation status of snakes globally and in South Africa
- How anti-venom works
- Snake bites as a tropical disease
- And how we all can make the lives of snakes a little bit easier.
Alright, everyone. Please enjoy this conversation with Hiral.
Listen to this episode.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Hiral in the Field
Links & Resources
Hiral’s Websites
Save the Snakes
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