Ep. 254 : Eavesdropping on Animals with George Bumann

Aside of our human cultural space there is the broad other-than human animal place. A world we exist along with, and yet are still achingly removed from. This wilder edge is always calling out, audibly and silently, with gesture, scent, behaviour and sound. George Bumann has been practicing paying attention to this world in ways that I long to.

In his new book, Eavesdropping On Animals : What we can learn from wildlife conversations, George shares stories and studies which reveal and inspire would be listeners to hear what that imminently natural world is always already singing out. He looks at animal communication strategies and draws out lessons and tools which he shares in approachable and digestible ways.

In the interview we explored various communication strategies, from audible calls to subtle body language including unique alarm and welcome calls. We spoke about our presence in nature and discuss ways to minimize disturbance while recognizing our place in the ecosystem. George and I go deep into the diverse forms of communication throughout the other-than human language-scape. He also shared some insights into how engaging all our senses, especially sound, we can better attend to that wonder full zoolexicon at that wilder edge.

This is one of the good ones.

To learn more :
George Bumann’s website
Eavesdropping on Animals page
Eavesdropping on Animals Online Course with George