Robin's Nest from American Humane - Saving Life in the Dark: Danté Fenolio on Conservation, Innovation, and Creepy Crawly Miracles

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

On this episode of Robin’s Nest, Robin sits down with Danté Fenolio, Ph.D., world-renowned conservationist and Vice President of the Center for Conservation & Research at San Antonio Zoo. With over 30 years protecting some of the planet’s rarest and “creepy crawly” species, Danté shares his journey from breeding amphibians as a child to pioneering first-ever captive breeding programs for species like the Crater Lake Newt and Dougherty Plain Cave Crayfish. He also discusses innovative conservation approaches, including portable shipping-container labs and community partnerships in the Peruvian Amazon through Project Selva. A finalist for the Wolfgang Kiessling International Prize, Danté reflects on the lessons learned from decades of fieldwork, photography and science-driven solutions for endangered species worldwide.From deep caves to rainforest canopies, this episode celebrates curiosity, ingenuity and the hope that even the smallest creatures can thrive again.

This is Robbins Nest, where meaningful conversations take flight. My guest today is Dr. Dante Finolio, a world-renowned conservationist who spent over 30 years saving some of the planet's most endangered and overlooked species. From the Amazon rainforest to deep-sea ecosystems, he's pioneered programs and built innovative partnerships that protect wildlife and habitats. Welcome to Robins Nest. Many of us feel a deep bond with animals. from the pets we cherish at home

to the endangered species in nature. Join us for lively informative conversations where together we will build a more humane world. I am so thrilled with this episode of Robin's Nest because we have one of my personal heroes on, Dante Finolio. Dr. Dante is one of the world's experts

and some precious creatures that we don't often get a chance to talk about. But this gentleman has led his whole life saving some animals that deserve a voice. Dante, you're one of my heroes because, again, these incredible creatures don't have many voices, and they're facing the threats of extinction at such rapid rates that we might even not understand their impact on Earth and biodiversity. So welcome to Robin's Nest. We've had you here before. We're so thrilled to have you back. So please share with our listeners a little bit more about your incredible background.

Okay, well, we have the great good fortune to work on the conservation of species that are maybe a little less charismatic. So when you think about the conservation of things like pandas and wolves and bald eagles, they're charismatic. And elephants? Elephants, right? Sure. Elephants and giraffes and all of those things really appeal to the general public. The problem with this is that the vast majority of species that need our help are not, they don't have that correct. appeal, right? They aren't things that are really charismatic. But numerically, they're in the majority.

And so less charismatic species that we work with include things like blind cave fish and blind cave crayfish. We work with temperate rainforest amphibians in Chile. We work with rainforest creatures of all stripe in the upper Amazon basin. On the Gulf of Mexico, we work with deep sea wildlife. A lot of those things, they're interesting, but they don't have that curb appeal or that that thing that would really help with conservation fundraising. So you said a lot. You talked about conservation fundraising, which is very important. But I want to back up for a minute and ask for you to describe a few more of those creatures that don't have a voice.

Because again, if you're the only voice, many people who listen and tune in to Robins Nest don't even know they exist. So what are some of your passion creatures in this space of what people would call creepy crawlies. Sure. So I think Blind Cave Crayfish would qualify as a creepy crawley. And you're talking fundamentally, I think most people know what a crayfish looks like, but you're talking about one now that is without pigment and without eyes. They spend their entire lives below ground in groundwater bodies, cave rivers, cave streams, aquifers. And a lot of people will say, you know, why should I care about a species that's living beneath my feet in groundwater? I'm never going to see them. What are they worth? Right? I mean, and I actually don't fault that line of thinking because, at least in the United States, we don't do a good job of teaching about biodiversity in grade school and high school. Right. And so we don't even mention it. Well, we don't even mention it. So I don't fault that that line of thinking, but what I'd like to do is remind those folks that biodiversity, it's where our medicines come from.

And in this case, if you think about things that live in the groundwater, if that population of cave crayfish is healthy, then your groundwater is healthy. And p.S, your groundwater is what you cook with and what you drink and what you bathe in. So to have a regular indicator of groundwater quality, I think, is really important.

And the fact that these things live in that water, yes. When you look at the agencies, responsible for making sure that your drinking water is good. They do these things called spot checks, right? So they'll take a sample, they'll take it to the lab,

they'll do their analysis, and they'll say it doesn't have this, it doesn't have that, you're okay. The problem with the spot check is that it only tells you about the water quality at that very point in time when it's taken. Yes. Well, Cave Crayfish live there 24-7 and there's nowhere else to go. Yes. So if something, a contaminant

comes and goes and the spot check misses it, the Cave Crayfish didn't. And so if you're keeping tabs on how they're doing, that tells you a lot more about the long-term quality of your groundwater than a spot check ever could. I'm not saying get rid of spot checks, but I'm saying both are really important. So this is a lot for people to understand, right, because they don't see them. And you're saying that they, and I love the fact that you start out by saying they're not charismatic. So there's not a coloring book that's going to feature this honor for kids to fall in love with. One of my favorite stories about inspiring the next generation of conservationists is how your dad inspired you to have a lifetime of work devoted to these species who don't have a voice at all.

Tell us about your dad because I think he's, what a special man. So I had an amazing childhood, right, and my father and my grandfather took me out hunting and fishing and camping regularly. What I got from that as a kid was the value of wildlife and wild places. And the message that I got, even from my grandfather, was there aren't enough people that appreciate this. And if you're not the person who's going to stand up and fight for it, you can't count on somebody else doing that. Yes. So we go out and we enjoy these things. If you value them, you need to fight for them.

Yes. So my dad owned a company where he imported aquarium fish from all around the globe. and he knew at a very young age from our time out in the woods that I loved amphibians, salamanders and noots and frogs and toads. You were one of those little boys in the creeks always catching these things.

They could not keep me out of the creeks. So he told all of his business associates around the world that he had a kid that loved frogs. And so when he would import these fish, little bags of gift frogs started showing up in the boxes with the fish. And I, from a very young age, had unbelievable amphibian species to work with intrariums in my bedroom.

And they included things like Darwin's frogs and poison frog species from Columbia and Ecuador and Peru. And your mother let you have poison frogs as I'm not sure as a mom I would do that. I think my mom just went along for the ride. She knew that I was really into it and that I had this love that I got from my dad and my grandfather. So I don't know that she loved the idea, but she certainly went along with it. And so, you know, I think the really the take-home message is this. As parents and as a parent now, it's so important to invest the time with your kids. Go visit a wild place.

Yes. A park, a national wildlife refuge, whatever it is, the local swamp, the local creek. Invest the time with your kids and go spend the time there and let them explore and let them discover and let them see these things. because at a very young age, that's where you develop that love of wildlife and wild places. And all these decades later, here I am fighting for these things that my grandfather and my father, who are now gone, loved very much too. And so, you know, I'm wanting to carry on their legacy of loving these things and protecting them for the rest of my career. That's a big shout out. First of all, to your mother and dad.

But to all the moms and dads out there, because it's so important to celebrate your children's interoperable. in the natural world. And certainly, your parents did a great job. I think the poisonous frogs might be a little much for me, but we have had our share of animals in my household. And certainly, I was raised so connected and had developed such an early interest due to my mother, in particular, for horses and cats and dogs. And of course, early on, zoos and aquariums, those were our wonderful places to visit. And that's how I fell in love with animals. I want to go into, for everyone in Robbins Nest, a brand new project that Dante is working on. And it's about noots. Yes. This is so exciting. Please share. Okay. So there is a lake in Oregon that is found inside of the caldera of a

volcano. Very cool. So this is Crater Lake National Park in Crater Lake itself. Okay. And the The volcano was called Mount Mazama. So the lake was formed by rain and snow melt. There are no creeks coming or going from the lake, so it's a completely isolated aquatic ecosystem. Oh, my. Now, sometime 5,000 years ago, there were some rough skin nukes, which is a species of nute along the Pacific Northwest. Some of them got over the lip of the caldera and down to the lake. It's pretty dry and erred up there now.

I'm really not sure how they did it, but they did it naturally. and they arrive to the lake, that isolated population, that now very isolated population of nukes, has genetically diverged from all the nudes in the landscape around them. And some of the genes that have the gene changes or mutations are interesting. Yes. Those nutes are some of the most toxic on the planet because they produce a toxin called tetrodotoxin.

It's a very effective deterrent for potential predators. Yes. For some reason, the population, of newts living in this lake, there were no predators, so a gene mutation shifted that off, and they don't make tetra-totoxin anymore. Here's the problem. Sometime back in the 40s or 50s, very well-meaning people put a trout in the lake that now there's a population and another salmotted fish and then crayfish. So three introduced species are now in this lake that really don't belong there. Back when this happened, because I want to make sure I'm clear, I don't

those folks we didn't know a lot about about species introductions. Absolutely. And it's not the species fault because humans put them there, right? They're just doing what they do. They're living. They're breeding. Exactly. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to do. Humans did this and I think it's a really important point to make.

But the problem is now they're eliminating the new and the newts are almost gone. So the National Park Service estimates that somewhere in the next 12 to 24 months, this newt will blink out that population that's been isolated for over 5,000 years and we're going to lose them. We're going to lose them. And this is the crater lake new. So fast forward to the last few years, National Park Service doesn't have the funds necessarily to do a huge conservation initiative on their own. U.S. fish and wildlife can't get involved because it's not a federally listed species yet.

Technically, the nude is recognized as a subspecies. So we're literally watching a species blink out or a subspecies blink out. And the only agency that was able to step up. up and enact a lab-based captive reproductive program is the Oregon Zoo. A Oregon Zoo. A American Humane Certified, by the way. It's so wonderful. I'm so proud of my conservation colleagues and the leadership at that zoo and the leadership that they've demonstrated and stepping in when no other agency could do this rather than just watch this thing happen. And I'm just helping as a consultant, right? We have in my lab a lot of

experienced breeding, newts and salamanders in the lab. I've done a lot of this work, so I just want to help them as much as I can. But their leadership is really leading the way so that we don't lose Crater Lake Nutes. And they're working on a big captive breeding program in their labs. And quite frankly, it's just so refreshing to see the next generation initiating and running these programs that are so critical to keeping these components of the environment with us. It's so important. So I'm so happy about this, and it's just so exciting to hear this. And congratulations to the leadership of Oregon Zoo for having the moral courage to fight for a species that isn't the charismatic species, but is so necessary because we don't want to see the extinction on our watch. Yes. And now I'm going to pivot because you are part of a very special group of people. You are a Kisling Prize finalist, the International Prize for Species. She's Conservation, named after our dear friend Wolfgang Kiesling.

You've been selected by the prize jury to be a finalist this year. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's an honor. And your contributions, what does it mean to you? This is your second year in a row out of all of the incredible worldwide submissions. Two years in a row now, you're a finalist.

Well, first off, it's an honor. And, you know, thank, I would like to thank the committee so much for including me in this group. of amazing people. Everybody in this group is just spectacular. And it's so nice to be around other like-minded conservation biologists. It means everything to have this kind of recognition because when you are in the day-in and day-out grind of conservation biology, there's so much bad news. Right. Every day you open the paper.

We've lost this tract of forest. There was a spill and this ecosystem is contaminated. This species has blinked out. something happened in the lab here and this isn't going to work out. You kind of have to pick and choose what you hold on to to keep going, right? Yes. And, you know, having this kind of recognition is really nice, right? And what I want to point out is that I may be the face of some of these conservation programs,

but I have an incredible team that works with me. It's a privilege that I have to work with these very, very dedicated people. and they're the ones that do the day in and day out grind of making sure that the animals in our labs are perfectly cared for, making sure that we anticipate any issues. These professionals that I have the privilege to work with are really one of the things that keep me going. So when this recognition comes along,

I want them to see that because in reality, they're the ones that we're honoring because they've worked so hard. So beautifully and so beautifully said, you know, as I think about the importance of your work, the voice for the voiceless, which is what American Humane Society and global humane society has really had. It's a 150 year of efforts built around that. You epitomize that because you truly are the voice for the true voiceless in a space. And you're rooted in conservation biology. There's many young folks listening to Robbins Nest, and I love.

the next generation of conservationists. You know, if they're looking for ways they can enter the space, tell me a little bit about conservation biology and how that could be important for these kiddos. So at a broad scale, at like the 35,000-foot view, conservation biology will impact all of their lives, right? And so the environment that they live in for the rest of their lives, and if they have kids or grandkids, that they will live in,

will be dramatically impacted by what we do now. Yes. So at a broad paintbrush stroke, that's what we're looking at. But if you come down a little bit closer and you talk about individuals getting involved in conservation biology, it's brought so much meaning to my life, right? And I can tell you that it's brought a lot to my kids' lives. Whenever I went out to do an endangered fish survey in a stream, I would bring them and we would all snorkel counting endangered fish or muscles or whatever it was. that I was doing. And I made sure to include them as they were growing up. And sure enough, my daughter wants to be an environmental lawyer now. Yes. Yes. So, you know, it's those kinds of influences at an early age, I cannot emphasize enough the importance.

But getting involved in conservation biology, there are a lot of opportunities for people. You don't need to have a degree, right? So the Nature Conservancy does things with volunteers. universities do things with volunteers. Zoos and aquariums do things with volunteers. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities. And even if you don't do that, if you're out enjoying a wild place,

bring a little garbage bag and pick up garbage as you go. Yes. There are a lot of opportunities where you can participate in local conservation efforts and it has just as much significance. It's a great way to end this episode of Robbins Mask. Remember that we are talking about being a voice for the voiceless, but it starts really in our own backyards. You know, it can start with

the garbage bag, picking up the trash when you go to your local park and visiting, and also educating the next generation and really taking advantage of the lessons learned in conservation biology. It's a great field to go into. If you want a career with purpose and meaning, highly recommend that. And Dante, you're one of my personal heroes. Thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for having me. And thank you. It's now going into three generations in your family working to save species. That's quite impressive. Thank you so very much. Thank you. Congratulations. I'm being a Keesling Prize finalist. Thank you so much. Thanks for being in Robbins Nest. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of Robbins Nest.

Please like, subscribe, and follow. And thanks for all you do to build a more humane world.