A love for wildlife led Dr. Rae to live a WILD LIFE!

Rae Wynn-Grant knew at a young age that she wanted to work with wild animals. She loved watching nature programs on TV so much that she’d tell people she would be a nature show host herself one day.

When Rae got to college, she discovered a whole field of science—wildlife ecology—behind all those programs. So, that’s what she chose to study. And now, Dr. Rae does it all! She’s a wildlife ecologist who studies bears and other large carnivores (meat-eaters). AND she co-hosts a nature TV program!

WHERE THE BEARS ARE

Dr. Rae began her career studying black bears. Part of her work was to put radio collars on captured adult bears. That helped her keep track of where each collared bear would be throughout the year.

During winters, Dr. Rae and her fellow researchers would visit each female’s den about six weeks after cubs were born. They’d sedate (suh-DAYT) the mother bear, which kept her fast asleep while they pulled out the cubs. They’d quickly count the cubs, check whether each was male or female, weigh them, attach ID ear tags then tuck them back in the den with their warm, sleepy mom.

Tiny cubs can’t keep warm on their own. But a research team member can tuck one inside a warm jacket to keep it toasty while waiting its turn for a checkup.

BEYOND BEARS

Dr. Rae has studied many animals besides black bears, including brown bears, lions, lemurs, and jaguars. She says that tracking, capturing, measuring, and releasing wild animals can be a bit nerve-wracking. But she’s never been scared while doing her work. She’s always careful to make sure that she and her team are never in any danger. What does scare her? Thunderstorms!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Dr. Rae was excited to be asked to co-host the TV program Wild Kingdom: Protecting the Wild. She could inspire a whole new audience, sharing the excitement and wonder she’d felt as a child watching nature shows. And it would let people see a young Black woman who leads wildlife ecology studies and hosts a wildlife TV program. Dr. Rae wants people to know that everyone—of any identity—naturally belongs in nature’s spaces!

Dr. Rae also likes all the learning she gets to do for Wild Kingdom. Each episode focuses on a different animal and some of the people working to protect it. Dr. Rae loves being able to interact with so many animal experts! She’s also had some amazing experiences while filming. For example, she once joined some shark experts for a swim in the ocean . . . with three different kinds of sharks. She says it was THRILLING!

Filming a TV program is hard work. The team decides what animals to feature. Then they figure out where to go. Once they get there, they do a lot of filming in a short amount of time. They may set up trail cameras like the one Dr. Rae is attaching to a tree trunk at left. (The camera will record any animal that moves past its lens.)

Each filming adventure almost always means starting work early in the morning and finishing late at night!

WHAT’S NEXT?

Dr. Rae plans to keep doing research and co-hosting Wild Kingdom. She doesn’t know exactly where this will take her. But she does know that it will be WILD!