Science Cafe by ASATTCI: Wild Pride

🔬 Welcome to Elk Grove Science Café! Held around the world, Science Cafés are monthly conversations that make science accessible for all. While this is geared for adults, all ages are welcome!

☕ June’s topic is WILD PRIDE! Celebrating Gender Rebels and Queer Pairings in the Animal Kingdom. Join wildlife biologist and author Dr. Rebecca Calisi-Rodríguez for a lively, eye-opening journey into the queer side of the animal kingdom. Based on her book WILD PRIDE, this talk celebrates same-sex behavior in animals while challenging the myth that homosexuality is “unnatural.”

🎙 About our speaker: Dr. Rebecca Calisi-Rodríguez is a wildlife biologist who specializes in decoding the hidden rhythms of animal behavior, and in reminding us that science, like nature, is rarely neat, always surprising, and often delightfully queer. A proud Mexican-American scientist raised in the heart of Texas, she grew up surrounded by cousins, cattle, and the kind of curiosity that doesn't stop asking "why." She earned her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley, where her fascination with hormones, reproduction, and the brain's role in behavior took flight.

Now an Associate Professor at the University of California, Davis, Calisi-Rodríguez teaches one of the campus's most beloved courses: Animal Behavior, a subject she lives as much as she teaches. Her research spans reproductive neuroendocrinology, human-animal interactions, and the biology of stress, often unfolding not just in a lab but on a working ranch filled with rescue animals and students in muddy boots. An award-winning scientist and science communicator, Calisi-Rodríguez has authored over 70 publications and was named a National Geographic Explorer for her work translating complex biology into stories that stick. She hosted Nat Geo's digital series I Can Science, and her voice has reached audiences via The New York Times, LA Times, CBS, KQED, The Guardian, Nature, Science, and more.

When she's not decoding lizard mating rituals or wrangling inquisitive students, she can be found salsa dancing, listening to audiobooks while painting, and tending to her lively household of kids and creatures. Like her writing, her life is wild in the best possible way.

Curiosity sparks. Facts illuminate. Let’s explore science together!

To support our nonprofit's work, text "ASATTCI" to 44-321.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher A Seat at the Table Books