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NG Weekend: Tarzan and Jane

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This week on National Geographic Weekend radio, host Boyd Matson speaks with guests about Congolese chimps, water awareness, living the green life, a 900-pound grizzly, frog romance, ecosystem restoration, great white sharks, the Jordan river, taking better snapshots, and climbing Kilimanjaro.

Hour 1

  • Boyd welcomes the real-life Tarzan and Jane to the studio. WCS Conservation Fellow Dave Morgan and his partner Crickette Sanz live with and study chimpanzees in the Congolese rainforest. Morgan and Sanz tell Boyd about their work and what they’ve learned living among the apes.

  • As part of the Expedition: Blue Planet field program, National Geographic Emerging Explorer Alexandra Cousteau is jumping into lakes, rivers and oceans across the globe. Cousteau tells Boyd about her work raising awareness of global water issues.

  • Naturalist Casey Anderson’s best friend happens to be a 900-pound grizzly bear named Brutus. Anderson and Brutus star in Expedition Wild, a new series on the Nat Geo Wild channel. Anderson tells Boyd how in the first episode he teaches Brutus the ways of his wild relatives.

  • How do you get frogs in the mood for romance? Put them in the fridge, according to David Braun, head of National Geographic News.

Hour 2

  • Boyd heads to the basement of National Geographic headquarters to find the CritterCam engineers tinkering away on their latest creations. Boyd talks with Eric Berkenpas, Mike Shepard, and Graham Wilhelm about their work, which includes coaxing great white sharks into wearing cameras.

  • Stuart Pimm, a National Geographic scientist and the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology and Environmental Sciences and Policy at Duke University, recently won the 2010 Tyler Environment Prize. Boyd talks to Pimm about the honor and his work in ecosystem restoration.

  • According to the bible, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River. But a dunking in the water today could land you in the hospital. In the April 2010 National Geographic magazine article “Parting the Waters,” Don Belt writes how the fight to save this polluted and overused river might forge a path toward peace in the Middle East.

  • Boyd recalls the challenges he faced, and the accomplishment he felt, getting his children to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with him.

Hear National Geographic Weekend on XM/Sirius satellite radio (XM channel 133 Sundays at noon), subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or get the show streamed to your iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, or Android OS phone with Stitcher Radio.

Photograph by Ian Nichols

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The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content. To learn more, visit www.nationalgeographic.org or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.