Dr. Kathleen Dudzinski is the founder and driving force behind the Dolphin Communication Project. Its purpose is to engage students, collaborators, and members of the public in research, education, and conservation for the purpose of promoting the scientific study of dolphins and inspire their conservation. In her spare time, Kathleen also manages the peer-review journal, Aquatic Mammals. Recently, her decades of work was acknowledged through the Wolfgang Kiessling International Prize for Species Conservation.

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Over four decades ago, little did writer and artist Kevin Eastman or his co-creator Peter Laird think their stand alone, self-published comic about 4 mutant turtles well-trained in martial arts would become the global, multibillion dollar franchise it is today. Kevin describes his appreciation of meeting original and new generations of fans at various conventions around the world. Plus he shares insights for aspiring creators on what it takes to achieve artistic and publishing success. Most of all he answers the question where the inspiration of turtle superheroes came from based on his early childhood fascination with chelonians.

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Kyle Kittleson is a former marine mammal trainer and the author of Wear a Wetsuit at Work, a guide book to help aspiring trainers how to land their first job. These days, Kyle has left the zoological field in favor of serving as a mental health advocate. Diagnosed with depression since he was nine, Kyle now combines his past training and media work with his own mental health journey interviewing renown therapists and physicians for MedCircle.com, an online community of individuals and professionals to "learn, share and heal."

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Tom Otten and Glenn Young have been working in key leadership roles with marine mammals such as orcas and terrestrial animals like elephants for decades. They share their insights into where zoos and aquariums have been and where they might want to go while we still have time to preserve what's left of Nature.

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At nearly 150 years old, the American Humane Society is the world's oldest animal welfare organization. Its Associate Vice President of Conservation, Jill Nizan joins Zoo Logic to discuss its many programs designed to support improved welfare anywhere and everywhere through science-backed and evidence-based tools. Using independent experts across farm, zoological, entertainment, domestic, and working animal sectors, American Humane Society and its international brand, Global Humane Society, are improving the lives and helping to ensure the survival of millions of animals and those that care for them.

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After five years and nearly 300 weekly episodes on animals, training, human behavior and much more, Natural Encounters' TEC podcast is hitting the long pause. Show hosts Ari Bailey and Chris Jenkins have decided now may be the right time to sunset the long-running, keeper-trainer favorite, now that Chris has accepted an executive director role at another zoo. The hosts discuss their mutual long history at NEI training animals and people, as well as, their favorite episodes and guests, as well as, a few that didn't quite make it!

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Dr. Tony Monahan is an artist, writer and professional educator at City University of New York. His fascination with turtles from an artistic and conservation perspective led him on a nearly four-year journey to write: The Turtle Lovers' Guidebook. With more than 500 photographs, the book features 164 public facilities across the U.S. where one can see these amazing creatures. In addition to celebrating the zoos and aquariums that exhibit turtles and tortoises, Tony provides readers with resources to learn more, including ways to conserve and protect wild populations.

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Before even graduating high school, a young Randy Wells worked as an intern at Mote Marine Lab training dolphins as part of shark-dolphin interaction study. He would eventually become part of the world's longest running study of a population of wild dolphins known as the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP). For decades, Dr. Wells has led the collaborative effort of veterinarians, researchers, students and volunteers to monitor and assess the behavior, biology and ecology of generations of resident bottlenose dolphins along the west central Florida coast. To date he has trained about 100 graduate students, written several books and chapters, and published well over 300 peer-reviewed papers on dolphin social structure, auditory function, physiology, anthropogenic threats to these animals, and more. In addition to serving as the program's director, Dr. Wells is VP of marine mammal conservation at Brookfield Zoo Chicago which has overseen the program since the late 1980's.

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