Episodes

Thanks to Alexandra, Jayson, and Eilee for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Scientists have discovered an ancient whale species. It may have looked like a mash-up of ‘a seal and a Pokémon’ The nomenclatural status of the Alula whale Field Guide of Whales and Dolphins [1971] The little Benguela dolphin [photo taken from this site]: The spinner dolphin almost looks like it has racing stripes [photo by Alexander Vasenin – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

Thanks to Viki, Erin, Weller, and Stella for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Tasmanian tiger pups found to be extraordinary similar to wolf pups The thylacine could open its jaws really wide: A sugar glider, gliding [photo from this page]: A happy quokka and a happy person: A swimming platypus: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about some marsupial mammals suggested by Erin, Weller, and Stella, and a ...

Thanks to Fleur, Yuzu, and Richard from NC for their suggestions this week! Further reading: World’s rarest parrot, extinct in wild, hatches at zoo Kakapo recovery This Parrot Stood 3 Feet Tall and Ruled the Roost in New Zealand Forests 19 Million Years Ago The magnificent palm cockatoo: The gigantic kakapo: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we have a bird episode, specifically some interesting parrots. Thanks to Fleur, Yuzu, and Richard...

Thanks to William who suggested we talk about the Loch Ness Monster for our big Halloween episode! Further reading: 1888 (ca.): Alexander Macdonald’s Sightings 1933, July 22: Mr. and Mrs. George Spicer’s Loch Ness Encounter The 1972 Loch Ness Monster Flipper Photos White Mice, Bumblebees, and Alien Worms? Unexpected Mini-Monsterlings in Loch Ness Further watching: 1933 King Kong clip: Brontosaurus attack! The following stills are from the above King Kong clip: The drawing by Rupert T. Gould fo...

Thanks to Richard of NC, Richard my brother, Siya, Ezra, and Owen and Aksel for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Creature Feature: Googly-Eyed Stubby Squid Nocturnal Spiders Use Trapped Fireflies as Glowing Bait to Attract Additional Prey A male vampire deer: The adorable googly eyed squid [still taken from video linked above]: The snowy owl [photo by Bill Bouton from San Luis Obispo, CA, USA – Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, male, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index....

This week we’re going to learn about a bunch of bats! Thanks to John, Murilo, and Alexandra for their suggestions! Further reading: Why Bats Can’t Walk: The Evolutionary Lock That Keeps Them Flying On a Wing and a Song—Bats Belt out High-Pitched Tunes to Woo Mates Why some bats hunt during the day Puzzling Proto-Bats A pekapeka just walking around catching bugs on the ground [photo by Rod Morris, from link above]: BLOOOOOOD! but a really cute smile too: The western red bat looks ready for Hal...

It’s October, AKA Monster Month! Let’s learn about some animals of the Skeleton Coast–which sounds spooky, but actually isn’t. Lots of brown fur seals [photo by Robur.q – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0]: The desert plated lizard [photo by redrovertracy, some rights reserved (CC BY) – https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/45483586, CC BY 4.0]: Rüppell’s korhaan [photo by By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0]: The pearl spotted owlet is cute rather ...

Thanks to Brody, Oz, and Sam for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Chasing gold Two spectacled hare-wallabies hanging out under a spinifex bush [picture from this site]: A regular swamp wallaby [photo by jjron – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4022233]: The glorious golden swamp wallaby [photo by Jack Evershed, taken from the first article linked above]: The takin can also be golden: The gaur is so incredibly big! It’s so big, honestly, it...

Thanks to Joelle, Jacob, and Anna for their suggestions this week! Further reading/watching: Gulper Eel Balloons Its Massive Jaws Watch rare footage of a shapeshifting eel with ‘remarkably full tummy’ swimming in the deep sea The beautiful stellar jay: The maybe not quite as beautiful but really awesome gulper eel (with its mouth full of water, image taken from first video linked above): The same eel as above but with its mouth open so you can see just how big it is! Show transcript: Welcome...

Thanks for Preston and Pranav for suggesting this week’s topics! Further reading: DNA has revealed the origin of this giant ‘mystery’ gecko Snow Leopards Dispersed Out of Tibetan Plateau Multiple Times, Researchers Say Conquest of Asia and Europe by snow leopards during the last Ice Ages uncovered The crested gecko AKA the eyelash gecko: The fluffy snow leopard: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we have a couple of suggestions from Prest...

This is a chapter of the Beyond Bigfoot and Nessie book, which you can buy or request at the library! Further reading: Debunking a Great New England Sea Serpent A narwhal. I use this picture all the time: The diseased black snake that was taken for a baby sea serpent: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to have a sea monster episode! This is actually a chapter of the book that I published a few years ago now, Beyond Bigfoot and...

While I’m at Dragon Con, here’s an old Patreon episode about Tennessee water mysteries, including some spooky sightings of what were probably bears, and some mystery fish! Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. As this episode goes live, I should be at Dragon Con, so I decided to go ahead and schedule an old Patreon episode to run instead of trying to get a new episode ready in time. It’s about some water mysteries in my home state of Tennessee, although...

Thanks to Mila for suggesting one of our topics today! Further reading: The mystery of the ‘missing’ giant millipede Never-before-seen head of prehistoric, car-size ‘millipede’ solves evolutionary mystery A centipede compared to a millipede: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Let’s finish invertebrate August this year with two arthropods. One is a suggestion from Mila and the other is a scientific mystery that was solved by a recent discovery, at le...

Thanks to Yonatan and Eilee for this week’s suggestion! Further reading: Replanted rainforests may benefit from termite transplants A vast 4,000-year-old spatial pattern of termite mounds A family of termites has been traversing the world’s oceans for millions of years Worker termites [photo from this site]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we have a topic I’ve been wanting to cover for a while, suggested by both Yonatan and Eilee. It’s ...

It’s a tiny mystery animal! Further reading: Salinella – what the crap was it? Some of Frenzel’s drawings of Salinella: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Johannes Frenzel was a German zoologist in the 19th century. He worked in Argentina for several years, studying microscopic and near-microscopic animals, and seemed to be a perfectly good scientist who did good work but didn’t make a real splash. But these days he’s remembered for a mystery animal...

It’s Invertebrate August! These creatures are the most invertebrate-y of all! Further reading: Dubious Diskagma Horodyskia is among the oldest multicellular macroorganisms, finds study A painting of diskagma, taken from the top link above: Little brown jug flowers (not related to diskagma in any way!): Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This episode started out as the March 2025 Patreon episode, but there was more I wanted to add to it that I didn’...

I just wanted everyone to know that a listener has claimed the books and magazines I offered for giveaway in episode 443. You can also learn about 60 seconds’ worth of information about the African pygmy mouse. The tiniest mouse [photo by Alouise Lynch – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59068329]:

Thanks to Jayson and warblrwatchr for suggesting this week’s invertebrates! Further reading: Parasite of the Day: Orthohalarachne attenuata Trap-jaw ants jump with their jaws to escape the antlion’s den Get out of my noooooose: An ant lion pit: An ant lion larva: A lovely adult antlion, Nannoleon, which lives in parts of Africa [photo by Alandmanson – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58068259]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m y...

Further reading: The Trees That Miss the Mammoths The disappearance of mastodons still threatens the native forests of South America Study reveals ancient link between mammoth dung and pumpkin pie A mammoth, probably about to eat something: The Osage orange fruit looks like a little green brain: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Way back at the end of 2017, I found an article called “The Trees That Miss the Mammoths,” and made a Patreon episode abo...

Thanks to Maryjane and Siya for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Look, don’t touch: birds with dart frog poison in their feathers found in New Guinea The hooded pitohui: The rufous-naped bellbird: The regent whistler: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about some birds that by human standards seem pretty mean, although of course the birds are just being birds. Thanks to Maryjane and Siya for their sugges...

Thanks to Micah for suggesting this week’s topic, the trilobite! Further reading: The Largest Trilobites Stunning 3D images show anatomy of 500 million-year-old Cambrian trilobites entombed in volcanic ash Strange Symmetries #06: Trilobite Tridents Trilobite Ventral Structures A typical trilobite: Isotelus rex, the largest trilobite ever found [photo from the first link above]: Walliserops showing off its trident [picture by TheFossilTrade – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.o...

Thanks to Cara for suggesting we talk about the long-beaked echidna this week! Further reading: Found at last: bizarre, egg-laying mammal finally rediscovered after 60 years A short-beaked echidna: The rediscovered Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about an animal suggested by Cara, the echidna, also called the spiny anteater. It’s a type of mammal, but it’s very different from alm...

This week we’re going to learn about a new finding about the skull referred to as the Dragon Man! Further reading: We’ve had a Denisovan skull since the 1930s—only nobody knew The proteome of the late Middle Pleistocene Harbin individual Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. It never fails that only a few days after our annual updates episode, a study is published that’s an important update to an older episode. This time it’s an update so important that...

Thanks to Nicholas, Måns, Warblrwatchr, Llewelly, and Emerson this week, in our yearly updates episode! Further reading: An Early Cretaceous Tribosphenic Mammal and Metatherian Evolution Guam’s invasive tree snakes loop themselves into lassos to reach their feathered prey Rhythmically trained sea lion returns for an encore — and performs as well as humans Scientists Solve Mystery of Brown Giant Pandas Elephant turns a hose into a sophisticated showering tool New name for one of the world’s rare...