Strange Animals Podcast

Thanks to the Tracing Owls podcast for this week’s suggestion. I’m a guest on that podcast so make sure to check it out (but while my episode is appropriate for younger listeners, most episodes are not, so be warned). Further reading: Huge Hippos Roamed Britain One Million Years Ago Kenyan fossils show evolution of hippos The Kilopilopitsofy, Kidoky, and Bokyboky : Accounts of Strange...

Thanks to Leo for suggesting this week’s topic, the ponies of Assateague Island! Further reading: Assateague Wild Ponies Some ponies running free on Assateague Island [photo taken from the site linked above]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about the feral hors es of Assateague! Thanks to Leo for the suggestion! Th...

This week we learn more about the blobfish thanks to Matilde’s suggestion, and we’ll also learn about a primitive rabbit. Further reading: In Defense of the Blobfish: Why the ‘World’s Ugliest Animal’ Isn’t as Ugly as You Think It Is A rare rabbit plays an important ecological role by spreading seeds The Amami Rabbit: A Living Fossil in the Wilds of Amami Ō shima...

Thanks to Fabiana and Hazel for their suggestions this week, where we learn more about dogs and cats! Further reading: Gene mutation that makes dogs small existed in ancient wolves Feline genetics help pinpoint first-ever domestication of cats Cats Learn Names of Their Feline Friends A cat (Dracula, specifically, with Dracula the toy): A dog, in case you’ve never seen a dog before: Show tran...

Let’s learn about some of the animals discovered in 2022! There are lots, so let’s go! Further Reading: In Japanese waters, a newly described anemone lives on the back of a hermit crab Rare ‘fossil’ clam discovered alive Marine Biologists Discover New Giant Isopod Mysterious ‘blue goo’ at the bottom of the sea stumps scientists New Species of Mossy Frog Discovered in Vietnam A Wildlife...

This week we learn about two interesting animals from opposite parts of the world! Thanks to Felix and Jaxon for suggesting the wolverine and the kakapo. Further reading: Study: Wolverines need refrigerators Kakapo Comeback [this article has some fantastic pictures!] The wolverine likes cold weather: So many young kakapos! The kakapo is a really big bird: (Photo by Matu Booth) Show transcript: Wel...

Thanks to Zachary and Oran for this week’s topic, some little animals that bounce around like tiny kangaroos! Further reading: Evolution of Kangaroo-Like Jerboas Sheds Light on Limb Development Supposedly extinct kangaroo rat resurfaces after 30 years High-Speed Videos Show Kangaroo Rats Using Ninja-Style Kicks to Escape Snakes Williams’s jerboa [picture by Mohammad Amin Ghaffari &#821...

Thanks to Llewelly for this suggestion, and thanks to Dr. Thomas A. Hegna for providing me with the two papers I reference in this episode! Images are taken from the papers. The mystery “spider”: Long-legged isopods: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. My carefully planned out episode schedule has already gotten messed up, but I got excited ab...

Thanks to Dean for this week’s suggestion, the crab-eating fox! Further reading: Jaguars could prevent a not-so-great American biotic exchange The crab-eating fox is not actually a fox: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. I’m happy to report that I’m feeling healthy and testing negative for covid now. Even my lingering cough has pretty much cleared...

Thanks to Zola for suggesting this week’s topic, the red panda! Further reading: Study Reveals Key Differences in Skulls of Red and Giant Panda A red panda: A red panda asleep in a tree [photo by By Aconcagua – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2169002]: Not exactly a real red panda but pretty darn cute (from the Disney/Pixar movie Turning Red): Sh...

Yay, we’re at the end of the year and looking forward to 2023! Boo, I caught covid and I’m still recovering, so here’s a repurposed Patreon episode about whale strandings and how people help the whales! A minke whale calf being transferred via rescue pontoon to a boat to tow her farther out to sea than the pontoon could manage for such a big whale (photo from this article , which...

Thanks to Miranda and Henry for this week’s frog suggestions! Further reading: Shattering the Glass Frog Ceiling The Puerto Rican wetland frog, AKA coquí llanero: The golden coquí in happier times: Glass frog from above and below: A female granulosa glass frog named Millie (in one of the few successful breeding programs of these frogs), looking demure: Laura’s glass frog, rediscovered...

This week we’re going to learn about a brand new study in  Nature about animals and plants that lived in Greenland about two million years ago. Happy birthday to Dillon ! Further reading: A 2-million-year-old ecosystem in Greenland uncovered by environmental DNA Scientists Reconstruct 2-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem from Environmental DNA No bones? No problem: DNA left in cave soils can reveal...

Thanks to Isaac for suggesting the chamois, our main topic this week! Further reading: The chamois in New Zealand Extinct goat was cold-blooded Myotragus balearicus : Extinction of mouse-goats A chamois in its summer coat: A chamois in its winter coat: Myotragus, the “cave goat,” may have looked something like this museum restoration: Nuralagus’s femur (left) compared to a regula...

Thanks to Pranav for suggesting this week’s topic, animals of the Paleogene, the period after the Cretaceous! Thanks also to Llewelly for suggesting the horned screamer, now one of my favorite birds. Further watching: Southern Screamers making noise Horned Screamers making noise Further reading: The Brontotheres Presbyornis looked a lot like a long-legged goose [art by Smokeybjb – CC B...

Thanks to Emory for suggesting this week’s topic, mysterious animal sounds! Further reading/watching: The Story of Elk in the Great Smoky Mountains Terrifying Sounds in the Forests of the Great Smoky Mountains Evidence found of stingrays making noise This New AI Can Detect the Calls of Animals Swimming in an Ocean of Noise The wapiti [pic from article linked above]: The stingray filmed makin...

Thanks to Oceana, Leo, and Alexandra for suggesting the coatimundi this week! Further reading: Caught red handed: The mystery of an unusual Panamanian plant’s dispersal The coatimundi has a long tail and a long nose: The olingo sitting on a cloud cycad seed pod. Mystery solved! The olingo in daylight: My new podcasting studio! Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kat...

Thanks to Liesbet for this week’s suggestion, about two mammals that have evolved to be hairless! Happy birthday this week to Declan and Shannon ! The hairless bat has a doglike face and a doglike tail but (and this is important) it is not a dog [photos from this site ]: The naked mole-rat’s mouth is behind its teeth instead of the usual “my teeth are in my mouth” kind of t...

Here it is, our 300th episode! Which just happens to fall on Halloween! We have a spooooooky episode for sure this time, a full five out of five ghosts on our spookiness scale. Beware!! Don’t forget to order your copy of  Beyond Bigfoot & Nessie , available wherever you buy books! Check out the great podcast Bring Birds Back . They were kind enough to run a promo for us in the middle of...

This week’s episode rates one out of five ghosts on the spookiness scale. It’s not too spooky unless the thought of being ENTOMBED IN STONE creeps you out! Which it might, if you are a frog. Further reading: A Tenacious Pterodactyl Further watching: “One Froggy Evening” A frog supposedly found mummified in a stone: The Texas horned lizard kind of looks like a pointy toad wi...

This week we’re examining the Tantanoola Tiger, a mystery animal that probably wasn’t a tiger…but what was it? This episode is rated two ghosts out of five for monster month spookiness! Thanks to Kristie for sharing her photos of the Tantanoola tiger! Happy birthday to ME this week! I’ve decided to turn 25 again. That was a good year. Further reading: The Tasmanian tiger wa...

This week we have a two-ghost rating for our episode about dinosaur mummies! It’s a little spooky because we talk about mummies, but it’s mostly an episode about dinosaurs, which are not spooky. Further reading: The lost Tarbosaurus mummy Dinosaur Mummy Found with Fossilized Skin and Soft Tissues Dakota the Dinomummy: Millenniums in the Making Spectacularly Detailed Armored Dinosaur &#...

Monster month is upon us, October, where all our episodes are about spooky things! This episode is only a little bit spooky, though. I give it one ghost out of a possible five ghosts on the spooky scale. Happy birthday to Casey R .! Further reading: All you ever wanted to know about the “Cuero” Mystery Creatures of China by David C. Xu Freshwater stingrays chew their food just like a g...

Thanks to Nikita for this week’s suggestion that we learn all about the peregrine falcon! I’ll be at the Next Chapter Book Fair in Dalton , Georgia on October 1, 2022! Come say hi! Further listening: Crossover episode with Arcane Carolinas from ConCarolinas 2022! Further reading: Falcons see prey at speed of Formula 1 car A peregrine falcon in flight: Baby peregrine falcons. Look at th...

It’s our fifth updates and corrections episode, with some fun information about a New Zealand parrot, suggested by Pranav! Thanks also to Llewelly, Zachary, Nicholas, and Simon who sent in corrections. Further reading: Vitiligo Tyrannosaurus remains hint at three possible distinct species Study refutes claim that T. rex was three separate species The reign of the dinosaurs ended in spring Im...