Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Creature Feature

Today we talk about animals who escape after being eaten! There's only a few exits to choose from, but these Houdinis make sure not to end up being dinner, even after all hope seems lost. But it's a race against the clock to not be burned alive in the most horrifying way possible. Also, we mention Moo Deng, everyone's favorite little pygmy hippo, yay! 

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Enjoy one of my favorite old episodes: animals who live the trash lifestyle, pretend to be trash, live inside trash, or are generally having a crappy day (and that's how they like it)! With guest, Pallavi Gunalan! Stay tuned for the results of last week's Mystery Animal Sound next week! 

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Today on the show, Weird little guys! Animals that are a wee bit freaky, and also, a bit wee. We're going to get progressively littler, and weirder as we go on. From a cryptid that is essentially a tiny sandworm from Dune, to an even smaller animal that likes to get ahead of home security, these animals have devised some odd evolutionary strategies. Featuring Molly Conger of the new podcast Weird Little Guys! 

Footnotes

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Crocodilians may have a somewhat intimidating appearance, but that doesn't mean they don't have feelings! We talk about why it's not cool to bop crocs on the nose with a shovel unless you're about to get eaten. 

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I answer your questions! Why are some cats born without tails? Can dogs play fetch in space? What's the deal with leafcutter ants, and what are cool insects wings not used for flight? 

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Today on the show we continue hot shark summer with shark biologist and author of the book, "Sharks Don't Sink," Jasmin Graham! 

Guest: Jasmin Graham 

Footnotes: Minorities in Shark Science website: https://www.misselasmo.org/

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Everything you could possibly ever want to know about camels! Plus: flesh balloons (romantic flesh balloons)! 

Guest: Bridgett Greenberg

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wzSqttUixtTsUlLPKKKmXWuHRQyUgko7TT9UUz6y33I/edit?usp=sharing

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Sharks on cocaine? Embryonic sharks with super powers? Stomach eversion!? We talk hot shark summer. Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question: how much musk can a musk duck chuck? 

Guest: Chris Crofton

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oIBqVnzRnWU0dk2eUqPueCsMxlJyxc7-jEMLgvh6l14/edit?usp=sharing

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The weirdest, wildest animals you can find in bodies of freshwater! From mysterious lumpy orbs, to the largest living pancake in the world, we're talking about all that's wet, fresh, and slimy. Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question: how many baby bjorns can you carry at once? 

Guest: Abe Epperson 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MMRHJvxBAZB6O-LaiV9X-0mBMNVeybNZ1yAFNfE5rUM/edit?usp=sharing

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I answer your questions! From debunking bigfeet to wascally wabbit phywogeny, and whether aliens could be revived after billions of years (and then kill us).

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Beat the summer heat with these worm facts! Some worms like it cold, some like it hot, but what they all have in common is living life as a basic tube. That's right we're talking about worms who live in the most extreme places on earth, able to endure temperatures and chemicals that would easily kill a human.

Guest: Soren Bowie 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_0sOAU6eIBMyVGfW6KFU2IDu3TMVBnJ5kQLI1pW3FEI/edit?usp=sharing

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Today on the show, earth! Is it a spaceship? Is it a blue marble? A giant egg? A hologram projected by aliens? Or is it a living, breathing organism? I'm joined by science writer Ferris Jabr to talk about his new book "Becoming Earth" and whether the planet is alive!

Guest: Ferris Jabr 

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Katie is hiding under her bed from the fireworks, so here's one of her favorite summer episodes: Top ways animals stay cool in the heat, your results may vary! From gular fluttering to a stinky cool down method, bee fans and mucus cocoons, there are all sorts of ways to stay chill in the summer heat! 

Guests: Ella Hubber, Tom Lum, and Caroline Roper

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/197ka55555R0ejpocBcPs4je_ZKXen1aDLbwqcwfw9rY/edit?usp=sharing

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 How do zebras get stripes? How does Mike Wazowski keep his eyeball moist? And how come a group of crows is called a "murder?" I answer your questions! 

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From clownfish to bonobos, biology and the animal world is far more complex than prudes like to think it is. Joining me today are Laine and Owen, hosts of the podcast A Field Guide to Gay Animals, a podcast exploring queerness in the natural world!

Guests: Owen Ever & Laine Kaplan-Levenson

Footnotes: Last week's mystery animal sound source

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These animals steal the food right out of your mouths! The most daring (and grossest) thieves in the world. Discover this and more as we answer the age old question, should there be spider butt dentists? 

Guest: Katherine Spiers 

Footnotes: This week's mystery animal sound source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPiFdOStVkM

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Today we're looking at the mutated creatures of the Fallout franchise and discussing whether they could actually exist in a nuclear wasteland! It's a real optimistic episode and we discuss BIG BUGS! How can we bring back big bugs?! 

Guest: Will Poole 

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These animals did NOT forget leg day! From leg battles, to deadly runway assassins, to miraculous thighs. 

Guest: Joey Clift 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uMXBcVWbP2SsR00Gh4NUuXFZbPKlRpSFo2GOtjznN7k/edit?usp=sharing

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These animals have figured out how to treat their own ailments with the medicine available to them in their habitats. Plus, what can we learn from animals about human medicine? Discover this and more as we answer the age old question, does swallowing a rough leaf a day keep Doctor Zaius away? 

Guest: Dr. Kaveh Hoda

Source for last week's mystery animal sound: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v_rSygXA1lw

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I answer your questions, like why do animals act weird during an eclipse? How do animals know what to eat? What's the deal with dino penises? 

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The Wise owl, the lazy sloth, and the courageous lion, how much do these animals live up to their names, or should we not judge a book by its cover or a sloth by its algae? Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question: is owls stupid?

Guest: Adam Todd Brown

Source of last week's mystery animal sound: 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TDMftMtr5to

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To celebrate cicadageddon 2024, here's one of my favorite past episodes, this one on cicadapocalypse 2021: BROOD X has been waiting 17 years to emerge from the ground. What is Brood X? Should we panic? Discover this and more as we answer the age old question: How is it fair that swarms of baby turtles are considered cute, but swarms of bugs are considered “horrifying?” 

Guest: Mara Wilson

Footnotes:

Cicada

https://live.staticflickr.com/3067/2607912292_150e08400e_z.jpg

Cicada tymbal 

https://www.cicadamania.com/images/tymbalanism.gif

Cicada sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJ6DL_1R9I

Holes left by mass cicada emergence (warning for trypophobia)

https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/A-e1373044330806.jpg

Lots of cicadas!

https://mk0charlottestopdskr.kinstacdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cicadas-swarm-north-carolina.jpg

Mass sea turtle hatching! 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/olive-ridley-sea-turtle-swarm-filmed-costa-rica

Giant river turtle!

https://zooinstitutes.com/img/animals/83/831567514683_33.jpg

Mass river turtle hatching!

https://www.treehugger.com/rare-turtles-hatch-beach-brazil-5092340

Soft coral

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/84bPOAlpoBNPmyhMTsbhJ-iF7UDOo1lCST_18GrEChIqlOg6CL-nO1yx_6AVw8g2FWgRFAndhaD3HAUw_zMrVDbbNGYQS2Uqob1196fcVrNv7bveRZTylg03CdBwB3BCnpQ

Stony coral

https://www.ecomagazine.com/images/Newsletter/0_2020/Week_1-6-20/underwater-photography-of-coral-reef-3100361.jpg

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You can be a citizen scientist in your own backyard! Broods! Birds! And mushroom butts! I'm joined by podcaster and voice actress Janet Varney.

Guest: Janet Varney 

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They're in the air! There's billions of them! And they're tiny! We're talking about aeroplankton, what they're doing up there, and what happens when they get in your nose. 

Guest: Soren Bowie

Last week's mystery animal sound source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Phip5U-Wo

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Today, we talk RATS! From plague to pets, rats have had a huge impact on humanity! What was the role of rats in the plague? What even is a rat?? Should you keep them as pets??? And are we so different after all? 

Guest: Jeff May

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/199aAaHgq-CmEoMcR4iRMnbePedjKrs0iafQalrKhp0I/edit?usp=sharing

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We talk about wild human inventions inspired by animal designs!

Guest: Ellen Weatherford

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZEGyyeNn8trH-FmcchVthmmppq8-XiQlKILt-9fIISk/edit?usp=sharing

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Today on the show, we're doing a re-broadcast of an Easter classic! We're firing the Easter Bunny and looking for a replacement! That's right E.B., you're getting benched and we're sending another animal out there to make merry with the eggs and the flowers!

Guest: Soren Bowie 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uBq4b0mnk0TsQJfe5CqOZSg3Yk8CqCZ5vG5I1CgsYM8/edit?usp=sharing

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I answer your questions, from the realism of Tarzan, to the details behind a frog Buffalo Bill, and how to best serve the birds of your community! 

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On today's show I subject my guest to a gauntlet of strange oddities, and he (and you) must guess whether these are animals, minerals, vegetables, or something else entirely...

Guest: DJ Danl

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rRUT2Ywx6B9XF-1SyNJ8lxVyLX94eY2n06FjiE4x-O8/edit?usp=sharing

Mystery animal sound credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMwAgft_kZ8

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Today: we're turning animals into robots! All the weirdest and wackiest ways that roboticists and researchers have played robo-god with animals. From robosaurus, to robot bees, and robo falcons, Adam and Katie discuss whether robots will inherit the earth. 

Guest: Adam Ganser

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7NmSAXc6vg0zMZkMHIZKlXSQI_ROlsAyglMHNQ53Ww/edit?usp=sharing

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Today we're talking about animals that look like they jumped off of a page from Lisa Frank's notebook! Pink dolphins, rainbow squirrels, surprisingly fabulous pigeons, and the most beautiful butts in the world. 

Guest: Joelle Monique 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12uHLiRYjc0_-rKv_fCFSpkTMN8f4ysX9do1j_uLC0r4/edit?usp=sharing

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I dragged my husband on the show to talk about animals who give romantic gifts, like dead voles and nutritional secretions! Hope he takes the hint! 

Guest: Brett McCully

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17Kn459lVK4NKOeLYcUM47R-EWo4RX6tgwp0cTvQBPFs/edit?usp=sharing

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Feed drop time! Check out this Let's Learn Everything episode I was a guest on! We talk about BIRDS. IN. SPAAAAAACE! Guests: Ella Huber, Tom Lum, Alex Schmidt, Caroline RoperFootnotes: Space quails video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7-hm3A7ayI

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It's a listener questions episode which means I answer your questions about animal baldness, skin, and poop! 

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I'm joined by naturalist, educator and author Heather Montgomery as we talk about her book "Sick" and the fascinating world of animal immune systems (and poop).

Guest: Heather Montgomery

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Summary: Happy holidays! I'll see you soon in the new year, until then, enjoy some of my favorite classic holiday episodes! This one's about weird ungulates.

Guest: Alex Schmidt

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ofN2BMRRxu3ITqZZZjcH7LSae9rq2umS0pJ39rHJlRU/edit?usp=sharing

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Happy holidays! I'll see you soon in the new year, but until then, enjoy a past episode... millions of years in the past. Who will pull Cave Santa's sleigh?

Guest: Alex Schmidt 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-moJs64fD53QyE_xt77iNcMexcY-sP4Pis2g7KK5qmo/edit?usp=sharing

Credit to Aaron Kenny for Creative Commons music 

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From hibernations to teeny naps, these wintery animals know how to catch a few z's! 

Guest: Jeff May 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dEiKigGPXidNf5Jaa_LQ8HvJkP0h-9Tz6KNzC-OkFds/edit?usp=sharing

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The weirdest, most expertly engineered eggs in the world! Not all eggs are, well, egg-shaped with Alex Schmidt! 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16kSwzHPVP2CaYDiXf0jYvP1pBw140Ep8rjv77hOjAno/edit?usp=sharing

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I answer your questions, like why are there so many parasites? Do frogs really not have teeth? And what's going on with these ants?!?

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Katie got the stomach flu, so here's one of her favorite old episodes! We promise the title is merely a coincidence. 

Guest: Will Poole 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uJ2hX52ElPgYMGS8nVpxjDX1ioBmv5lIc1V_zDG9QII/edit?usp=sharing

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A deep dive into the factual accuracies and inaccuracies of the Garfield Movie trailer! Beat by beat we will examine the trailer, and talk about whether there are real life examples in evolutionary biology that can lend credence to the new Garfield Movie trailer. Sadly, we are not being sponsored by The Garfield Movie.

Guest: Joey Clift

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KNPC0Xwqqh7W16Gy6mLciw1HSRy8YfddVuyYcq1N-cs/edit?usp=sharing

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Joined by pro-Javelina guest Kylie Brakeman, we discuss the righteous fight of the Javelina against the golf courses of Arizona! And other animals who are bravely waging war against golf! 

Guest: Kylie Brakeman 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uPIGPktJnmyjdY3xgSLjICSxXW-ZpnY7BP2QxPcGG6A/edit?usp=sharing

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I answer your questions, from how an elephant gets so big on grass alone, to animal schedules, witchy familars and suspiciously crab-like aliens! 

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From dog-fox hybrids, to radioactive doggies of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, we're talking about all the best boys and girls in the world! Also: dogs whose job is to save the turtles!

Guest: Andrew Ti

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Real Halloweeny tales of animal biology! Undead fish skin, vampire mice, and flying zombies!

Guests: Seanbaby & Robert Brockway

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1njNgJ35GLVLDYnPbfKM2hRFPOvxyj6K2wjOkEX17rus/edit?usp=sharing

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Eye of newt, tongue of toad, well, more like excretion of toad, we're talking about the poisonous witch's brews of the animal kingdom! From trippy toads, to petrifying platypuses.

Guest: Jason Pargin

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An interview with naturalist/adventurer Forrest Galante!

Guest: Forrest Galante

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From the stretchiest mouthed reptiles, to sea creatures that are mostly mouths, we're talking about the most ghoulish gluttons on the globe!

Guest: Katherine Spiers 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TolY6_BOV5SNiN08aMnXTjeUi2Vq5CBwYWpHWwK34iE/edit?usp=sharing

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These animals did NOT forget leg day! From leg battles, to deadly runway assassins, to miraculous thighs. 

Guest: Joey Clift 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uMXBcVWbP2SsR00Gh4NUuXFZbPKlRpSFo2GOtjznN7k/edit?usp=sharing

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