Rae Wynn-Grant Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Rae Wynn-Grant is an accomplished published author and goes by Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. She is a storyteller, author, television host, conservation scientist, wildlife ecologist, equity and justice advocate, and more.

Born in 1985, she has conducted over twenty years of ecology research that has helped to take her all over the world. She is also an expert in finding out more about wild animals and coming up with the science that will save them all from extinction. She is also a co-host of the television show Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom: Protecting the Wild, which airs on NBC every Saturday.

She is an expert in finding out how human activity influences the behaviors of carnivores and ecology. Rae likes to focus on the ecological as well as social drivers of conflict between humans and carnivores.

Rae has a huge passion for science communication. She is the host and creator of the podcast Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant (an award-winning podcast that is produced by PBS Nature and was recognized by the Webby Awards for its achievement as a Best Limited Series). Her current field system covers the central coast of California, where she studies the ecology of carnivores in coastal zones and the role of protected areas in the connectivity of high quality habitat for large carnivores.

Previous research questions revolved around the ecological drivers of human-carnivore conflict with grizzly bears, black bears, African lions and grizzly bears in their various habitats (the Northern Great Plains, the Western Great Basin, Kenya and Tanzania, and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem).

Dr. Wynn-Grant is a native Californian and believes that her interest in wildlife and conservation came from the television shows that she watched when she was young, which included Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. She would be introduced to conservation biology as an undergraduate and has a passion for studying charismatic mega-fauna, something that she does not apologize for.

She is on the Board of Directors for NatureBridge, where she helps the organizations in their strategies for equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Wynn-Grant attended Emory University, where she received her B.S. in Environmental Studies. She would receive her M.S. in Environmental Studies from Yale University and get her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University. She would also complete a Conservation Science Research and Teaching Postdoctural fellowship with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History.

She is a Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, leading carnivore research being done at the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. She has a Research Fellow position with the National Geographic Society that focuses on carnivore conservation in partnership with the American Prairie Reserve. She also has a Visiting Scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History.

Rae Wynn-Grant also served as the host of Crash Course Zoology from April-July of 2021. It was a 14 episode series on YouTube that talked about different aspects of animal biology. Rae would serve as a collaborator in 2021 for the Reebok x National Geographic collection of family-friendly shoes, with photographer Matthieu Paley. Rae is also on the board of directors for The Explorer’s Club.

She is African-American and an advocate for women/people of color in the sciences. She was named one of 100 IF/THEN Ambassadors by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019. Rae is an Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Officer on the Board of Governors for the Society for Conservation Biology.

Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World is a 2024 book by Rae Wynn-Grant. If you love a good memoir and want to read more nonfiction or have an interest in the natural world just like Dr. Rae does, this is the book for you. O, The Oprah Magazine recommended the book to its readers, and said that it is as ‘sensitive and touching as it is urgent’ and called it a ‘poignant exploration of the natural world’.

Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant invites the reader into her world in this memoir that looks further into the continually shifting relationship that takes place between animals, humans, and the earth and chronicles her own experiences had along the way to her now successful and well established career working as a wildlife ecologist.

Dr. Rae is now a wildlife ecologist, but when she was younger she was just a kid with big hopes growing up in the California Bay Area. She always felt that she was a far way away from the white male adventurers that she saw on the television who were busy exploring the natural wilderness, and wondered if she could do what they did. She would dream of herself in the future spending nights in the jungle or looking up at the stars in the savanna. Then one day, it all came true.

As she got older and took off to take her own wild expeditions, she began to view nature in a different way, appreciating more the delicate balance that it maintains. In this memoir, Rae recalls some of her most interesting adventures and explorations as she goes to some of the more remote and unreachable places of the world.

This is the story about her career in the field where she not only was able to pursue her interest in nature but also make her own space as one of the few Black female scientists in the field. She had to overcome various challenges, leave expectations behind, and learn some valuable lessons along the way.

Wynn-Grant takes the reader along with her to these various locales, from the rain forests of Madagascar to the Great Plains of North America. This is a unique way for readers to feel like they are going all over the world as the author shares not only memories but her passion for nature and why she feels that we have such a responsibility to the natural world and the other forms of life that reside here. Check out Wild Life to follow along with every word in this fascinating memoir from Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant.