Can the Vaquita Be Saved?
With fewer than 10 vaquita porpoises remaining in the world, this episode takes an unflinching look at the race against time to save the most endangered marine mammal on Earth. We speak with Sea Shepherd's Campaign Director, a Mexican fisheries enforcement officer, and a population ecologist who has spent 15 years monitoring the Gulf of California. Together they paint a picture of a conservation battle that is equal parts tragedy, hope, and hard lessons about the limits of what's possible when illegal fishing profits outweigh the survival of a species.
All Episodes
About the Podcast
The Last Ones Podcast launches you into the lives of the scientists, rangers, policymakers, and indigenous communities working on the frontlines of species extinction. Each episode explores the biology, the politics, and the human drama behind our planet's most endangered wildlife. We don't dwell only in grief — we also celebrate the victories, however small, and examine what it truly takes to pull a species back from the edge.
Dr. Mira Rosenblum
Co-Host & Conservation Biologist
Mira spent 12 years as a field researcher with the Snow Leopard Trust across the Hindu Kush and Himalayas before transitioning to science communication. She holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from Cambridge and has published extensively on big cat population genetics. As a science journalist, her work has appeared in National Geographic, The Atlantic, and Conservation Biology. She believes the best conservation stories are the ones scientists don't have time to tell.
James Nakagawa
Co-Host & Environmental Journalist
James has spent two decades covering environmental conflict zones — from rhino poaching syndicates in South Africa to illegal logging in the Brazilian Amazon. A former Reuters correspondent, he has won three environmental journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist nomination for his series on wildlife trafficking routes across Southeast Asia. He brings a journalist's skepticism and a storyteller's instinct to every conversation on the show.