Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World

by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, 2024. Hardcover, 288 pages.

In this vulnerable and urgent memoir, UCSB and National Geographic researcher Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant explores the ever-shifting relationship between humans, animals, and the earth through her personal journey to becoming a wildlife ecologist.

Growing up in the diverse and bustling California Bay Area, renowned wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant always felt worlds away from the white male adventurers she watched explore the wilderness on TV. She dreamed of a future where she could spend sleepless nights under the crowded canopies of the Amazon and the starry skies of the savanna. But as Rae set off on her own expeditions in the wild, she saw nature's delicate balance in a new light.

Wild Life follows Rae on her adventures and explorations in some of the world's most remote locales. Hers is a story about a nearly twenty-year career in the wild--carving a niche as one of very few Black female scientists--and the challenges she had to overcome, expectations she had to leave behind, and the many lessons she learned along the way. An incredible journey spanning the Great Plains of North America to the rainforests of Madagascar, Wild Life sheds light on our pivotal relationship and responsibility to the natural world and the relatives--both human and otherwise--that we share it with.

About the Author

Rae Wynn-Grant is a wildlife ecologist with an expertise in uncovering how human activity influences carnivore behavior and ecology. She received her BS in environmental studies from Emory University, her MS in environmental studies from Yale University, and her PhD in ecology and evolution from Columbia University. She is a Research Fellow with the National Geographic Society, with whom she has appeared on a variety of televised nature programs and for whom she's currently on a 20-city speaking tour as part of Nat Geo Live. She serves on The North Face's Explore Fund Council, co-hosts Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild on NBC, hosts the podcast Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, produced by PBS, and has been featured in Vogue, Forbes, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, among many others. She lives in California, where she serves as a Research Affiliate at UCSB's Bren School of Environmental Science and Management.