Five months in Mongolia. Snow leopards. Sheep eyeballs. And one universal truth Catherine Grady has seen in every animal she’s ever studied.
Catherine Grady is a young American wildlife conservation biologist freshly arrived in Australia. She has researched wolves at Yellowstone, biodiversity in Belize, and most recently spent almost five months in Mongolia — including setting satellite-collar traps for one of the most elusive predators on Earth, the snow leopard.
In this episode of Animals and Us, host Natalie Stockdale and Catherine have a beautifully grounded conversation about the lives of carnivores, the limitations of how science is currently taught, the quiet act of reframing “habitat” as “home”, and why everything she’s studied — predator or prey — points back to the same truth: everything just wants to be loved.
IN THIS CONVERSATION
● The 180° pivot — from acting student to wildlife biologist
● Five months in Mongolia — Khustai grasslands, the Altai ice patches, and snowy western valleys
● The “ghost cat” — what camera traps revealed about snow leopard siblings playing and nuzzling
● Why fish get lonely (and have PTSD), and what that means for how we see other species
● The kind of advice on conservation careers Catherine wishes more young scientists heard
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:53 A Childhood Outside — Seattle and Salmon Recovery
04:07 Acting to Biology — A 180-Degree Pivot
09:42 Why Everything We Learn About Animals Should Be Questioned
17:48 Five Months in Mongolia
21:21 The Secret Lives of Snow Leopards
27:39 Universal Truths — From “Habitat” to “Home”
50:06 Advice for the Next Generation of Conservationists
Web — https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au
YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes
Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes
Thanks to Xavier Rudd for permission to use “Follow the Sun” as our Animals and Us theme music.
Welcome to another episode of Animals and Us! In this educational video, we sit down with wildlife researcher Catherine Grady to discuss her early career and significant contributions to wildlife biology. Join us as we explore the fascinating world of ecology and the critical work being done in the field. 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Ljf12pNJ27600dNAj3Cbg?si=2141b2c2ebc74dd3