Rosie K. Moore is a scientist, author, and social-media personality who has built a career studying some of the world's most dangerous animals, including sharks, venomous snakes, invasive Burmese pythons, and American crocodiles. In this episode she joins me to talk about her fieldwork in the Florida Everglades, why she chose crocodilian research over the shark work she dreamed about as a kid, what she has learned tracking pythons with radio transmitters, and how she uses social media to change how people see predators.
Rosie K. Moore is a scientist, author, and social-media personality who specializes in wildlife research and conservation. With a background in marine biology, she has done fieldwork with sharks, crocodiles, venomous snakes, and invasive pythons in Florida, and she shares that work through educational content online.
Rosie studies invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades, looking at their diet, behavior, and impact on native wildlife. Her work involves capturing pythons, implanting radio transmitters, and tracking their movements, alongside research with American crocodiles and bull sharks across South Florida.
Rosie explains that even though she grew up dreaming of shark research, she chose crocodilian work in Florida because of the proximity it allowed. She describes how being able to work close to the animals mattered more to her than the species itself, and that decision redirected her whole career.
Rosie describes capturing pythons, surgically implanting radio transmitters, and releasing them so their movements can be followed over time. She explains how this helps scientists understand how the snakes navigate the Everglades and how they are affecting native species.
Rosie connects the python invasion to the exotic pet trade, where snakes that grew too large or hard to manage ended up released into the wild. She describes how that created an invasive population that has had a major impact on native Everglades wildlife.
Rosie says her goal is not to go viral but to change how people perceive animals that are usually feared or misunderstood. She describes balancing entertainment with education and using her platform to challenge the fears people carry about snakes, sharks, and crocodiles.
This is exactly the kind of episode I love doing. Rosie is out there doing the real work, the kind of fieldwork that does not come with a glamorous production crew, wrangling pythons, tracking bull sharks in murky water, and handling venomous snakes. I wanted to understand why someone chooses that life, and how she thinks about animals most people are simply afraid of.
Rosie grew up obsessed with Shark Week and wanting to be a shark researcher, and then she made a choice that surprised even her family. When she had to pick between shark work and crocodilian work, she chose the reptiles, and the reason had less to do with the animal and more to do with how close she could get. Hear her explain that career-defining decision in the episode.
The Burmese python situation in the Everglades is more complicated than the headlines. Rosie described capturing these snakes, implanting transmitters, and learning from what their diets reveal about the damage to native wildlife. She also traced how the pet trade put them there in the first place. Listen to her lay out the full scope.
Rosie is clear that she is not chasing viral fame. She is trying to change how people feel about animals they have been taught to fear. She walked me through how she decides what to film and how she balances entertainment with real education. Press play to hear her philosophy on conservation through a phone screen.
The day after we talked, what stuck with me was Rosie's honesty about the choices she made and why getting close to the animals mattered more than chasing the most popular species. That is the kind of authenticity that makes someone's work mean something.
If you care about conservation, invasive species, or just want to hear from someone doing legitimate field science, listen to the whole thing.
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Rosie K. Moore is a scientist, author, and social-media personality who specializes in wildlife research and conservation. With a background in marine biology, she has conducted extensive fieldwork on sharks, American crocodiles, venomous snakes, and invasive Burmese pythons across South Florida and the Everglades, from tracking bull sharks to studying python diet. She uses social media to share her work and to challenge the fears and misconceptions people carry about misunderstood predators.
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