When wild animals become family: Thumbelina the squirrel and Walnut the crane
Update: 2025-11-28
Description
Would you leave your family, friends, home, and job to move over a thousand miles away to take care of a pet squirrel? Meet two people who did just that for 8 year-old Thumbelina.
Then, meet a birdkeeper at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute who was chosen by an endangered crane to be her life partner for almost 20 years.
This episode originally aired on September 13, 2024.
Listen to an updated conversation with Chris Crowe, including his experience getting his first tattoo - a giant portrait of Walnut.
Suggested episodes:
- Wings, pouches, and snouts: The world of uncommon emotional support animals
- Birdwatching legend Peter Kaestner's journey to 10,000 birds
- Audacious kids: Stories of courage, conservation, and compassion
GUESTS:
- Christina and Michael Reyes: The human parents of Thumbelina, an eight-year-old squirrel who has more than two million followers on social media
- Chris Crowe: Birdkeeper at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s campus in Front Royal, Virginia, and caretaker of Walnut, an endangered white-naped crane from 2004 until her death in January 2024
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