PATRICK ARYEE | Wildlife Travel Adventures & Animal Encounters

How does the world’s largest land mammal survive in one of the driest places on Earth? 🐘💧 The answer lies in a secret sound… that we can’t even hear. At the Elephant Whisperers Sanctuary in South Africa, I discovered how African elephants use infrasound — low-frequency vibrations that travel for miles — to find water in the desert. Each crack of thunder sends deep sound waves rolling across the land. Too low for our ears to detect, but perfectly tuned to theirs. African elephants can feel these vibrations through special sensors in their feet and the tips of their trunks. It’s how entire herds navigate towards distant rain — following storms long before the first drop falls. To demonstrate it, we teamed up with inventor Bruce Thigpen and turned a camper van into a giant subwoofer. As soon as the thunder rumbled through the speaker, every elephant froze. Absolute silence. Dozens of eyes turned to the direction of the campervan — as if they could sense something we couldn’t. That moment changed how I think about communication. Because sometimes the most powerful signals aren’t the ones we shout… They’re the ones we feel. Did you know elephants could sense thunderstorms like this? ⚡👂🐘

This desert dwelling beetle captures freshwater, out of thin air 🌬️🏜️💧 I teamed up with specialist guide Sean Braine (@brainephotography ) of @thenaturalistcollection to find out how! 👀🍿 🔄 Tap the [repost] button to spread this content to more people just like you! 💙 👉 Follow for more @patrick_goeswild

You and dragonflies live in the same world. You just experience time in very different ways. To dragonflies, time “moves slower”. They can see at almost 200 frames per second. This means they process reality in astonishing detail. To us, though, that same world would feel like a complete blur.

👉 Imagine you’re a scientist. But you’re not in a lab. You’re not running experiments.
You’re not even looking for answers yet. You’re standing in a gift shop. And something doesn’t look quite right. A whale sculpture.
Beautifully made. But it’s the flippers that are catching your eye. They’re bumpy. Instinctively, you think it’s a mistake.
An artist getting the details wrong. Because wings are meant to be smooth, streamlined and efficient. Right? Except… what if that assumption is wrong? What if those bumps are exactly where they’re meant to be? This is exactly the situation Professor Frank Fish found himself in while shopping for a friend in a gift shop. That single moment of curiosity, sparked in the most unlikely place, led to a discovery that reshaped how we understand movement through water, and later, through air. It turns out those bumps increase lift, reduce stall, and allow tighter turns at slow speeds. He believes this insight could help create wind turbines that generate more electricity from the same amount of wind. A detail hidden in plain sight.
Missed for decades.
Until someone stopped and asked a better question. This is how some of the smartest ideas enter the world.
Not through intention, but through attention. 📘 This is one of many nature-inspired innovations you’ll find in the ebook ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’. A collection of stories that reveal the animal adaptations behind human inventions of the future. – – – In the book, you’ll discover: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations that bring animals to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat – – – This book is perfect for wildlife lovers, gadget geeks, families, and anyone curious about how nature shapes our future. 📲 Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now – currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

👉 Would you expect the next generation of ‘renewable energy tech’ to come from a whale? From bumps on a flipper?
 From a creature that evolved millions of years before wind turbines ever existed? Me neither. Yet this is exactly what’s happening. Scientists have been exploring how a simple change to the shape of humpback whale flippers allows them to move with greater control, efficiency, and less wasted energy. The bumps on their flippers aren’t decorative.
They’re functional. They delay stall.
They keep movement going when it would normally stop. And when you apply that same logic on land, something remarkable happens. Turbines can turn at lower wind speeds.
More energy is captured.
Less is lost. This is what nature does best. It doesn’t add complexity.
It refines what already works. Once you see it, you start asking a different question. If whales are helping us rethink renewable energy, what other solutions of the natural world are hiding in plain sight, waiting to be discovered? 📘 You’ll find the answer to this and much more in ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’. A book where wild adaptations reveal the hidden origins of human innovation. – – – In the book, you’ll discover: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations that bring animals to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat – – – This book is perfect for wildlife lovers, gadget geeks, families, and anyone curious about how nature shapes our future. 📲 Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now – currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

👉 Imagine you’re snorkelling next to a pod of humpback whales. You expect their agility to come from being sleek. Smooth edges. Streamlined shapes. Surely, over millions of years, anything that slowed them down was left behind. Then you notice something. Their flippers. They are massive. 
Almost a third of the whale’s body length. 
But instead of being smooth, they’re lined with bumps. At first, it feels wrong.
Almost like a design flaw. And then you see what happens next. Tighter turns.
Greater control.
Even at slow speeds. Those bumps don’t create drag.
They create lift when lift shouldn’t exist. And suddenly, you realise something important. Nature doesn’t design for looks.
It designs for performance. Which makes you wonder. If this is how whales solved agility underwater, what problems might they help us solve back on dry land? 📘 Find out the answer to this and much more in the ebook ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’. A collection of stories where wild adaptations reveal the hidden origins of human innovation. – – – In the book, you’ll discover: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations that bring animals to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat – – – This book is perfect for wildlife lovers, gadget geeks, families, and anyone curious about how nature shapes our future. 📲 Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now – currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

👉 Imagine you’re a giant of the ocean, moving effortlessly through the water. You’re hungry, and it’s time for dinner. Your prey are small, fast, and virtually impossible to catch. So you don’t chase. Instead, you design an ingenious trap. A net made up of bubbles.
A moving wall of confusion.
A shrinking circle with no escape. From the inside, it feels like an underwater force field. As the spiral tightens, the pressure builds.
The space disappears, and everything inside is guided upward. Then, in one perfectly timed moment, you surge upward and erupt at the surface. Hundreds of fish go down in one giant mouthful. This is exactly how humpback whales hunt for food. This isn’t brute force.
It’s precision, timing, and strategy. And once you see it, you realise something important. The smartest solutions always come from nature. The question is, how do animals this big make such tight turns underwater? And what can we learn from how they do it? 📘 Find out the answer to this and much more in ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’. A book where wild adaptations reveal the hidden origins of human innovation. – – – In the book, you’ll discover: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations that bring animals to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat – – – This book is perfect for wildlife lovers, gadget geeks, families, and anyone curious about how nature shapes our future. 📲 Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now – currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

👉 It’s easy to assume that agility underwater comes from keeping things smooth. Sleek lines. Perfect streamlining. And removing anything that looks like resistance. Then you notice the flippers. Huge. Heavy. Lined with knobbly bumps that seem like they shouldn’t be there at all. And that’s the moment your assumptions start to unravel. Because those knobbly edges don’t slow humpback whales down. They actually help them to turn in tighter circles while hunting for fish and move with surprising control. Nature didn’t optimise for elegance. It optimised for performance. And once you see that, you can’t unsee it. Because the same principle is now helping us rethink how we design wind turbines, and capture more energy, with less wind. It makes you wonder how many solutions we’ve overlooked simply because they didn’t look right at first glance. This is what biomimicry really teaches you. Not what to copy. But how to think differently. But what else might these animals be teaching us, beyond the wonder of the encounter? Find out now in ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’, the book where we explore the surprising ways animals are quietly shaping human innovation. If this moment moved you, there’s much more waiting for you inside ✨ – – – In the book, you’ll find: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations bringing each animal to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat This is a book for wildlife lovers, families, and curious minds of all ages. – – – Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now, currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter: Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

👉 Imagine getting into a wetsuit and slipping into the water of the deep blue 🌊 You’re about to come face-to-face with an ocean giant. Time warps, your breathing slows, and your senses come alive 😀 For a moment, the ocean doesn’t feel like a place you’re visiting. It feels like a place to which you’re returning. The three humpbacks you’re sharing the water with remain nearby. A quick pitstop in the middle of an ocean journey that spans hundreds of miles. No rush. No urgency. Just the sensation of being present. Chaos turns to calm, and adrenaline gives way to awe. Moments like these remind you that finding time to rest is part of life’s journey too. Even for giants! But it makes you wonder, what else might these animals be teaching us, beyond these breathtaking encounters? Find out now in ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’, the book where we explore the surprising ways animals are quietly shaping human innovation. – – – In the book, you’ll discover: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations bringing each animal to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat This is a book for wildlife lovers, families, and curious minds of all ages. – – – Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now, currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter: Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

Everything went quiet 🤫 No engines. No voices. Just the gentle movement of the sea 🌊 We all turned to look over one side of the boat and came eye-to-eye with our ocean guests 👀 Not one. Not two. But three humpback whales 🐋 They were just lying there silently on the surface. Our location at the time was Ningaloo Reef, just off the coast of Western Australia 🇦🇺 An ecosystem teeming with life and which takes its name from the Aboriginal meaning for deep water. I like to think of it as the Great Barrier Reef’s younger sibling 🪸 And when it comes to biodiversity, these waters are among the richest on the planet 🌍 This stretch of ocean also acts as a migration superhighway 🛣️ Humpbacks use it to travel from Antarctica to the warmer waters of Souteast Asia to give birth. And like trucks on a speeding motorway, they rarely stop for anything. So you can imagine my surprise, cleaning my diving gear at the back of the boat… 🤿 When suddenly, out of nowhere, the silence broke. A powerful rush of misty air. A blowhole exhaling just metres away. And that’s when we spotted the whales. Moments like these make you feels alive! They also remind you of how small we are, and how much there’s still to learn. But what else might these majestic animals be teaching us, beyond these wild encounter? Find out now in my book ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’, where we explore how encounters like this reveal the surprising ways animals are quietly shaping human innovation. If this moment moved you, there’s much more waiting for you inside ✨ – – – In the book, you’ll find: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations bringing each animal to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat This is a book for wildlife lovers, families, and curious minds of all ages. – – – Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now, currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter: Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

I’ll never forget the first time I saw a humpback whale 🐋 Western Australia, 2017 🇦🇺 Salt mist hanging in the air. Whale after whale surfacing beside our boat. And then the moment that took my breath away. That slow arch of the back. The hump rising. The tail flukes lifting, suspended for just a second, before slipping back into the blue. This is where the humpback gets its name. But it’s also where our story really begins. Because hidden in that movement is a design so elegant it’s now helping us rethink how we build wind turbines. And it’s all thanks to the bumpy leading edges of their fins. Nature rarely wastes a good idea. But what other ideas for a sustainable future are hiding in the natural world? Find out in my book ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter’, where we explore how encounters like this reveal the surprising ways animals are quietly shaping human innovation. If this moment moved you, there’s much more waiting for you inside ✨ – – – In the book, you’ll find: – 30+ remarkable stories of nature-inspired inventions – Hand-drawn illustrations bringing each animal to life – Wildlife encounters that put you in the hot seat This is a book for wildlife lovers, families, and curious minds of all ages. – – – Tap the on-screen link to access your digital edition now, currently discounted from £14 to £7. Or, tap 👉 @patrick_goeswild and follow the ‘link in bio’ to shop now 🛍️ – – – ‘30 Animals That Made Us Smarter: Stories of the Natural World That Inspired Human Ingenuity’ Written by Patrick Aryee – – –

Could exploding mushrooms really be the future of construction, or is this just hype? Read more find out 🍄💥🏗️ Gloria Kamau is a senior construction architect and founder of Kamau Architects. During a visit to one of their project sites in Namibia, I witnessed how her team used mushrooms to develop the raw ingredients for a new type of sustainable brick. Mushrooms that explode out of bags as they fruit. These ‘exploding’ mushroom bricks are thought to be a future product of what’s called ‘mycelium technology’. By tapping into the power of this mycelium-based technology, the hope is to create an eco-friendly alternative to traditional building materials. It’s thought that this alternative could one day be used to build affordable housing and large-scale constructions. Pretty cool! This is just one of the ways that fungi, plants and animals are helping to make us smarter 💪🧠