Rae Wynn-Grant
An experience with a lemur helped Rae Wynn-Grant find her confidence and her voice. (Photo: Peter Houlihan)

A Scientist Finds Her Way in the Rainforest

Rae Wynn-Grant

Early in her career, wildlife ecologist Rae Wynn-Grant joined an expedition to Madagascar to track the elusive ring-tailed lemur. But the trip had an unexpected personal outcome: it convinced her that this was the work she was meant to do. That was a long time coming for Wynn-Grant, who’d grown up loving TV shows on nature but found herself initially hating her college ecology courses because she felt out of place as a Black woman who’d never been camping and surrounded by people with very different backgrounds. In this episode from the new podcast Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, she shares the story of how an experience with a lemur helped her find her confidence and her voice.


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Outside’s longstanding literary storytelling tradition comes to life in audio with features that will both entertain and inform listeners. We launched in March 2016 with our first series, Science of Survival, and have since expanded our show to offer a range of story formats, including reports from our correspondents in the field and interviews with the biggest figures in sports, adventure, and the outdoors.