In the season finale of The Nature Of, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale joins Willow for a powerful and emotional conversation about witnessing extinction and choosing hope, drawing on her extensive career photographing the most critical conservation stories of our time. Ami takes Willow through her decades-long journey from documenting human conflict to the lives of endangered species—including the final days of Sudan, the last male Northern white rhino—and the people working to protect them. Together, they reflect on what it means to tell stories with reverence, how we find our humanity through connection with the more-than-human world, and why love—not loss—is at the heart of conservation.

Podcast production by Magnificent Noise

Series photography by Camila Falquez

Episode photography by Ami Vitale

Executive Producers: Willow Defebaugh, Theresa Perez, Jake Sargent

Special thanks to Karen Gray, Jasmine Hardy, Tessa Forrest, Ásta Þrastardóttir, Jonas Woost, Kattie Laur