Strange Animals Podcast

Thanks to Alyx for this week’s suggestion, the cookie cutter shark! Further reading: If You Give a Shark a Cookie The business end of the cookie cutter shark: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about a little shark suggested by Alyx, but first let’s learn about something else that might be related to the shark. In the...

Thanks to Riley and Dean, Elizabeth, and Leo for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Groundbreaking study reveals extensive leatherback turtle activity along U.S. coastline A bearded dragon: The tiny bog turtle: The massive leatherback sea turtle: The beautiful hawksbill turtle [photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host,...

Thanks to Molly and Mila for suggesting the anteater and its relations this week! Further reading: How anteaters lost their teeth The giant anteater has a long tongue and a little mouth, and adorable babies: The giant anteater has a weird skull [photos by Museum of Veterinary Anatomy FMVZ USP CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72183871]: The tamandua is like a mini giant...

Thanks to Ezra and Leo for suggesting these two sea monsters this week! Happy Halloween! Further reading: Legend of Chessie alive, well in Maryland Here be sea monsters: We have met Chessie and…is it us? Not actually a kraken, probably: Not actually Chessie but an atmospheric photo of a toy brontosaurus: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Just a fe...

Thanks to Eesa for suggesting this week’s topic, the pliosaur Predator X! Further reading: Predator X / Pliosaurus funkei [you can find lots of interesting pictures here, some artwork and some skeletal diagrams] Kronosaurus had a big skull with big teeth: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. We’re one week closer to Halloween, and that means the mons...

Thanks to Nora and Richard from NC this week as we learn about some scary-sounding reptiles, including the hoop snake! Further reading: The Story of How the Giant “Terror Skink” Was Presumed Extinct, Then Rediscovered San Diego’s Rattlesnakes and What To Do When They’re on Your Property Snake that cartwheels away from predators described for the first time Giant new snake species identified in the...

Thanks to Murilo for suggesting El Gran Maja for our first monster month episode of 2024! Further reading: The Loch Ness Monster: If It’s Real, Could It Be an Eel? Further watching: Borisao Blois’s YouTube channel [I have not watched very many of his videos so can’t speak to how appropriate they all are for younger viewers] El Gran Maja, YouTube star: The European eel [photo by GerardM...

To donate to help victims of Hurricane Helena: Day One Relief – direct donation link World Central Kitchen – direct donation link It’s the big 400th episode! Let’s have a good old-fashioned mystery episode! Thanks to Richard from NC for suggesting two of our animal mysteries today. Further reading: A 150-Year-Old Weird Ancient Animal Mystery, Solved The Enigmatic Cinnamon B...

Thanks to Anbo, Murilo, Clay, and Ezra for their suggestions this week! Let’s learn about some bears! Further reading: Snack attack: Bears munch on ants and help plants grow Extinct vegetarian cave bear diet mystery unravelled Ancient brown bear genomes sheds light on Ice Age losses and survival The sloth bear has shaggy ears and floppy lips [photo from this site ]: An absolute unit of a Kod...

Thanks to Alexandra, Pranav, Eilee, Conner, and Joel for their suggestions this week! Velella velella , or by-the-wind-sailor [photo from this page ]: Porpita porpita , or the blue button [photo from this page ]: Cricetus cricetus , or the European hamster, next to a golden hamster: Nasua nasua , or the South American coati [photo from this page ]: Mola mola , or the ocean sunfish: Quelea quelea ,...

Thanks to Cosmo, William, and Silas for their fishy suggestions this week! You have until Sept. 13, 2024 to back the enamel pin Kickstarter ! Further reading: The Handfish Conservation Project Researchers Look in Tank and See Promising Cluster of Near-Extinct Babies The unique visual systems of deep sea fish A red handfish: Another red handfish. This one is named Hector: The black dragon fish: The...

Thanks to Joel and an anonymous listener for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Dieback and recovery in poplar and attack by hornet clearwing moth The enormous and beautiful Atlas moth: A male hairy tentacle moth without and with coremata extended [photos from this site ]: The hornet moth looks like a hornet but can’t sting: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m...

Thanks to Sy and Finn for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Creeping Crinoids! Sea Lilies Crawl to Escape Predators, New Video Shows New and Unusual Crinoid Discovered Sea otters maintain remnants of healthy kelp forest amid sea urchin barrens Sea urchins see with their feet A sea lily [photo from this page ]: A feather star [still from a video posted on this page ]: Purple urchins [ph...

Thanks to Anbo and Siya for suggesting the mantis shrimp this week! The Kickstarter for some animal-themed enamel pins is still going on! Further reading: Rolling with the punches: How mantis shrimp defend against high-speed strikes The magnificent peacock mantis shrimp [picture by Cédric Péneau, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117431670]: Show transcript: Welcome to...

Thanks to Siya, Zachary, Khalil, and Eilee for their suggestions this week! The enamel pin Kickstarter goes live on Wednesday, August 14, 2024!! Further reading: How spiders breathe under water: Spider’s diving bell performs like gill extracting oxygen from water Aggressive spiders are quick at making accurate decisions, better at hunting unpredictable preys Into the Spider-Verse: A young biologis...

Thanks to Kari and Joel for their suggestions this week! You can find Kari Lavelle’s excellent book Butt or Face? Volume 2: Revenge of the Butts at any bookstore. Our Kickstarter for some enamel pins goes live in just over a week if you’re interested! Further reading: Jellyfish size might influence their nutritional value History of Taiji Mantis Glowing octocorals have been around for...

Follow the enamel pin Kickstarter here ! Let’s learn about some snakes this week! Thanks to Eilee, BlueTheChickenWing, and Richard from NC for their suggestions. Further Reading: Snake Island’s Venomous Vipers Find a New Home in Sao Paulo ‘Rarest Snake’ in the U.S. Hatches at Tennessee Zoo The golden lancehead [picture from first article linked above]: The Martinique lanceh...

Thanks to Jaxon and Lorenzo for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Rock-wallaby bite size ‘packs a punch’ Tiny Australian wallaby the last living link to extinct giant kangaroos Extraordinary Fossil of Giant Short-Faced Kangaroo Found in Australia Wiwaxia corrugata – The Burgess Shale The nabarlek: The banded hare-wallaby: Wiwaxia was a little less cute than wallabies...

It’s our annual updates episode! Thanks to Kelsey and Torin for the extra information about ultraviolet light, and thanks to Caleb for suggesting we learn more about the dingo! Further reading: At Least 125 Species of Mammals Glow under Ultraviolet Light, New Study Reveals DNA has revealed the origin of this giant ‘mystery’ gecko Bootlace Worm: Earth’s Longest Animal Produces Powerful Toxin...

Further reading: Audubon’s Bird of Washington: Unraveling the fraud that launched The Birds of America The Mystery of the Missing John James Audubon Self-Portrait Washington’s eagle, as painted by Audubon: The tiny detail in Audubon’s golden eagle painting that is supposed to be a self-portrait: The golden eagle painting as it was published. Note that there’s no tiny figure...

Thanks to Richard from NC for inspiring this episode! Further reading: Paleontologists Debunk Popular Claim that Protoceratops Fossils Inspired Legend of Griffin The Fossil Dragons of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland The Lindworm statue: A woolly rhinoceros skull: A golden collar dated to the 4th century BCE, made by Greek artisans for the Scythians, discovered in Ukraine. The bottom row of figures shows...

Thanks to Kai and Emily for their suggestions this week! The greater siren [photo by Kevin Stohlgren, taken from this site ]: The anhinga [photo by Tim from Ithaca – Anhinga, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15526948]: An anhinga swimming [photo by Wknight94, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons]: Show transcri...

Thanks to Cosmo and Zachary for suggesting this week’s monitor lizards! Further reading: No One Imagined Giant Lizard Nests Would Be This Weird The Mighty Modifications of the Yellow-Spotted Goanna The Asian water monitor: A yellow-spotted goanna standing up [picture by Geowombats – https://www.flickr.com/photos/geowombats/136601260/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.ph...

This week we need to thanks a bunch of listeners for their suggestions: Bowie, Eilee, Pranav, and Yuzu! Further reading: Elaborate Komodo dragon armor defends against other dragons Giant killer lizard fossil shines new light on early Australians A New Origin for Dragon Folklore? The Wyvern of Wonderland The Komodo dragon: The beautiful tree goanna: The perentie: Fossilized scale tree bark looks li...

Thanks to Catherine and arilloyd for suggesting the marsupial mole! Further reading: Northern marsupial mole: Rare blind creature photographed in Australian outback The marsupial mole, adorable little not-mole from Australia [photo from article above]: Grant’s golden mole, adorable little not-mole from Africa: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Thi...