BewilderBeasts!

First aired February 2023 Twitter bans an ornithological society for posting photos of "woodcocks" while Melissa gets banned for "Hairy Man"; The Media takes special care to protect the identity of one little jailbird with hilarious results; and, no post is complete without a little butt science. There is a photo that I can't stop laughing at in this episode - that photo i...

First aired October 2021 Fat Bear Tuesday is the culmination of a week-long bracket-style event inspired by mega-chonk bears and March Madness. What is it? Why is it? Who is going to win? Let's go! **** Resources: https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/fat-bear-week.htm https://www.npr.org/2021/09/30/1041674219/fat-bear-week-2021 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/get-to-known-the-bodacious-bu...

First Aired:  Feb 10, 2022 A series of the best and funniest animal escapes, all inspired by a police blotter where a camel chase was afoot on a Kansas golf course. Resources for today's episode: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2041628_2041646_2041645,00.html https://www.livescience.com/wildest-animal-escapes-2021 https://www.facebook.com/BonnerSpringsPD/posts/2...

First aired: August, 2022 The Belgian government once used cats to deliver the mail. It went about as well as you would think. Resources for today's exclusive episode: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/64025/time-cats-delivered-mail-belgium https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42098216 https://www.vernonmorningstar.com/news/morning-start-cats-once-delivered-mail-in-belgium/ https://www.crack...

First Aired: January 20, 2023 This month's bonus ep for you is all about the chickens who give back in rather surprising ways - from keeping 100 tons (?) of food out of our landfills to preventing Dengue Fever in Central Florida. BTW: Florida, you ok? So, get some chickens, put on a farming hat, and let's go learn about chickens who do more than just poop you breakfast. Let's GOOOOO...

First Aired: Nov 5, 2021 This month, New Zealand's Bird of the Year competition ruffled feathers, as per usual, when a bat took the gold. A look at the complex and controversial BotY awards and mean tweets at the non-tweety bats. I got today’s information from : https://www.npr.org/2020/11/14/934749679/for-the-birds-voter-fraud-ruffles-new-zealand-bird-of-the-year-competition https://www.scoo...

First aired April 19, 2022 Let's learn about the time an actual chimpanzee saved the Today Show, and changed morning news-ertainment forever.  Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Fred_Muggs h ttps://allthatsinteresting.com/j-fred-muggs https://www.ebay.com/itm/324954729281 https://www.grunge.com/598607/the-truth-about-celebrity-chimp-j-fred-muggs/ And an episode of Ridiculous Crime -...

First aired: Nov 26, 2023 One man dreams of being completely alone, but it turns out, companionship is human nature.  An unlikely meal ticket doesn't just save his life - but saves his humanity in 70 days of darkness, in Greenland's icy solar night.  Big thanks to The Outlook Podcast Archive from BBC World Service for a podcast called “The chicken who sailed the world” https://www.bbc.co...

First aired Nov. 2022 A man recently caught a goldfish the size of a 5th grader and Melissa is waiting for the goldfish food-delivery uprising. Resources: https://www.livescience.com/man-catches-enormous-goldfish-in-france https://largest.org/animals/goldfish/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2021/07/11/minnesota-goldfish-invasive/   https://www.khq.com/news/thousands-of-goldfish-found-in-we...

First Aired August, 2023: A series of scientific studies to understand the human mind, but using a slimy gastropod in our place. Because using meth on a human is illegal. I got today’s information from  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/snails-memory-molecules-spd https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3vww3/scientists-are-repeatedly-fucking-with-snails-memory https://www.livescience.co...

First aired: Sept 13, 2022 As promised - this week there was just TOO MUCH to put in a main feed episode. The Unkindness episode was really, really long. This 10-minute tangent was added after the Queen of England died last week and her son, Charles, ascended to the throne, assuming the name "King Charles III", but then promptly had to cut because of time. Also, it didn't fit as wel...

First aired July 28, 2022 A bunch of stitchin' women in a Washington Women's Correctional Facility who have put their knitting needles to good use - helping the chickens who helped them in jail, plus some other unusual animals who find themselves behind bars.  Support the show Intro/Outtro music: Tiptoe Out The Back - Dan Liebowicz Interstitial Music: MK2 Additional music: Freesound.com,...

First Aired on Dec 25, 2022 When a farmer in small-town St. Severe, Quebec, noticed 20 head of cattle broke through a fence during a thunderstorm, he thought, "Easy. I'll just get them back." Listener. He did not "just get them back." It's been 5 months and these uncatchable ungulates are now terrorizing the neighboring town of St. Barnabee. Resources for today's...

First Aired June 8, 2022 Rich Strike won the Kentucky Derby with 80-1 odds - meaning out of every 81 races, he's thought to win ONE. Well, he won the Kentucky Derby. If you're going to win a horse race, that's the one to win! Today, we dive deeper into Rich Strike's inspiring underdog win, and investigate a few other longshot winners in horse racing who made a few people some p...

First aired June 22, 2023:  Two sisters combined their love of historically accurate dioramas, the Civil War, and clay-making to pen an ode to the US in one of the most historically significant cities in the United States. They even purchased a building with deep roots in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg to bring the stories of the dead to life. But, the clay characters aren't human...

First aired July 2023:  In 1912 when the "adventurer" was a job description & also an alibi, two brothers took their dogs on a road trip - before roads existed. These brothers loved their dogs and hated shirts but that didn't stop them from circumnavigating Australia several times by bike and car - often digging their own roads IN THE OUTBACK! Resources (Hey, look, I remembered!...

This Patreon Exclusive episode (#2)  first aired on August 4, 2021.  This is a fun turn I never saw coming, that Pikachu is based on a squirrel and there are new species of real animals named after fictional Pokethings. My favorite? An animal called a Pika who survives on ...yak poop. Why didn't they show THAT in the kid's show?  Regular episodes will resume in September, but for now, en...

The very first Patreon Exclusive episode was ....super short. It first aired on July 22, 2021. I wasn't sure if it would play or work at all. But, this test led directly to another 28+ episodes, so thank you, evolution ;)  Here's a shortie for you to enjoy about a #1 moth who looks like #2.  Stay Curious -   Xx M3 Support the show Intro/Outtro music: Tiptoe Out The Back - Dan Liebowicz I...

Patreon exclusive #6: First aired Dec 7 2021 Geneticists made Daddy Shortlegs. (WHY GOD, WHY?)  We imagine the Jane Fonda workout with 50' human legs (WHY GOD, WHY?!?)  And we learn about some very sneaky males who look like females in a devious plot to slide into her DMs. Let's get right into it :)  Support the show Intro/Outtro music: Tiptoe Out The Back - Dan Liebowicz Interstitial Mu...

This Patreon Exclusive Episode first aired May 16, 2022 Patron started his life in entertainment by illustrating how dogs can be trained for search work. And now, he's employed by the government. He found over 200 bombs in the town of Chimigov since February. Let's meet Patron, the hero dog who has a similar entertainer-turned-hero storyline as Ukrainian President Zelensky himself.  (Tha...

Patreon exclusive number 9: Originally aired March 16, 2022 Let's learn about the only place in Ireland where citizens could get a pint on St. Patrick's Day ----the Royal National Dog Show! And, an Irishman steps up to help injured wildlife by converting his pub to Ireland's FIRST wildlife hospital during the 2020 pandemic. "There's no bad press except an Obituary" -...

We close out the series by discussing the humans who dedicate their lives as the bridge between wildlife and education, and a left-hand turn into the vultures who perform sky burials.  Thank you for everything. Peace out, yo. <3  -M3 I got today's information from:  https://www.thecenterforwildlife.org/ambassadors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_burial https://radiolab.org/podcast/corpse...

'We can never have luck without a cat on board' he said. If this were true, the crew would have been better off with a different cat. " The story, about what goes up, must eventually come down, perfectly weaves the tale of the rise and fall of nearly every subject in the story. I got today's information from: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/kiddo-the-cat.htm http...

Bees make one last appearance on the show, this time getting hammered on college campuses to help scientists understand the neural pathways of human addiction. Resources for today's episode: https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmjgxj/bees-australia-get-drunk-on-fermented-nectar-and-refused-re-entry-to-hive https://savannahbee.com/blogs/the-latest-buzz/yes-bees-can-get-drunk#:~:text=Bees%20act%20a...

Some dogs work to close decades-old cold cases. Others are tasked with finding long-lost burial grounds, shining a light on America's racist foundation while uncovering the truth that some today wish would stay buried. ********** Cat Warren author of " What the Dog Knows " (thank you!) Thanks to Kimberly Chen for sharing the public reports of what HRDs found at Shockoe African Buria...