Episodes

This week let’s learn about a couple of dangerous birds of New Guinea! They’re not what you might think. Join our mailing list! Further Reading/Watching: How Dangerous Are Cassowaries, Really? Inside the Cassowary’s Casque Breakfast Club Ep. 34: Jack Dumbacher on Poisonous Birds (a long video but a really great deep dive into the pitohui) The mighty cassowary with a mighty casque on its head, looking like a modern dinosaur, which it is: A cassowary and babies: A hooded pitohui, looking surp...

Thanks to Ella for this week’s suggestion. There may not technically be spiders in the Antarctic, but there are mites. A nunatak (note the size of the research vehicles at the bottom left): I don’t have any pictures of the Antarctic mites, so here are some red velvet mites, although they’re giants compared to their Antarctic cousins: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to have a short episode, because I get my second Covid-19 v...

This week let’s learn about a mystery panda and a few small panda mysteries! Join our mailing list! Further Reading: Mystery of the brown giant panda deepens The Qinling panda is not like other pandas: The giant panda is subtly different from the Qinling panda. Can you spot the difference? Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. I usually like to shake things up from week to week, but April has turned into mammal month. We’ve got another interesting mam...

Thanks to Phoebe for suggesting the tarsier, this week’s strange and interesting primate! Further Reading: Decoding of tarsier genome reveals ties to humans Long-lost ‘Furby-like’ Primate Discovered in Indonesia Tarsiers look like weird alien babies: A tarsier nomming on a lizard: A tarsier nomming on an insect: The pygmy tarsier and someone’s thumb: There’s probably not much going on in that little brain: Show Transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This...

So many interesting hoofed animals in this episode, so many awesome suggestions! Thanks to Page, Elaine, Pranav, Richard E., Richard from NC, and Llewelly! Further Reading: Meet the Takin: The Largest Mammal You’ve Never Heard Of New hope for the elusive okapi, the Congo’s mini giraffe The Resurrection of the Arabian Oryx Eucladoceros was not messing around with those antlers: Megaloceros and Thranduil’s elk in the Hobbit movies. COINCIDENCE? The stag-moose. What can I say? This thing is AWES...

This week we’re going to look at three small mystery animals! Well, the mysteries are small. The animals are not particularly small. Further Reading: Long-Extinct Gibbon Found Inside Tomb of Chinese Emperor’s Grandmother Ancient Egypt’s Mona Lisa? An elaborately drawn extinct goose, of course A case of mistaken identity for Australia’s extinct big bird Bones of a mystery gibbon found in a noblewoman’s tomb: Gibbons painted about a thousand years ago by artist Yi Yuanji: A couple of gibbons at...

Let’s learn about some of the biggest sharks in the sea–but not sharks that want to eat you! Further reading: ‘Winged’ eagle shark soared through oceans 93 million years ago Manta-like planktivorous sharks in Late Cretaceous oceans Before giant plankton-eating sharks, there were giant plankton-eating sharks An artist’s impression of the eagle shark (Aquilolamna milarcae): Manta rays: A manta ray with its mouth closed and cephalic fins rolled up: Pseudomegachasma’s tooth sitting on someone’s ...

Thanks to Lorenzo and Page for suggestions used in this week’s episode, and a belated thanks to Ethan for last week’s episode! Let’s learn about some of the cutest invertebrates out there! Further reading: Photosynthesis-like process found in insects Mystery of the Venezuelan Poodle Moth Further viewing: Dr. Arthur Anker’s photos from his Venezuela trip, including the poodle moth The pea aphid, red morph and regular green So many ladybugs: The sea bunny is a real animal, but it’s not a real b...

It’s the next in our short series of episodes about mass extinctions! Don’t worry, it won’t be boring, because we’re going to learn about a lot of weird ancient fish too. Further reading: Titanichthys: Devonian-Period Armored Fish was Suspension Feeder Behind the Scenes: How Fungi Make Nutrients Available to the World Dunkleosteus was a beeg feesh with sharp jaw plates that acted as teeth: Titanichthys was also a beeg feesh, but it wouldn’t have eaten you (picture from the Sci-News article lin...

Thanks to Nicholas for this week’s suggestion! Let’s learn about the Australian stingless bee and its relatives! Listen to BewilderBeasts if you want more fun, family-friendly animal facts! Further reading/watching: Australian Stingless Bees Women Work to Save Native Bees of Mexico (I really recommend the short video embedded on this page! It’s utterly charming!) House of the Royal Lady Bee: Maya revive native bees and ancient beekeeping A Maya beekeeper’s hut and some Central/South American ...

Thanks to Pranav for his suggestion! Let’s find out what the river of giants was and what lived there! Further reading: King of the River of Giants Spinosaurus was a swimming dinosaur and it swam in the River of Giants: A modern bichir, distant relation to the extinct giants that lived in the River of Giants: Not actually a pancake crocodile: A model of Aegisuchus and some modern humans: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. A while back, Pranav sug...

This week let’s venture into the ocean and learn about the fin whale! Further reading: The songs of fin whales offer new avenue for seismic studies of the oceanic crust Fin whales’ big gulp The fin whale can hold a whole lot of water in its mouth (illustration from the second article linked above): A fin whale underwater. Look at that massive tail. That’s pure muscle: A fin whale above water. It’s like a torpedo: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. ...