WTFauna

Thisbweek we discuss a group of fascinating wasps, using one species as a bit of a case study. Fair warning: nature may always be fascinating, but it isn't always pleasant.

This week, we discuss the 'mountain chicken'. Good luck guessing the type of animal if you don't already know!

This week we discuss the largest hamster species. There was a lot to cover, but their current conservation situation was particularly fascinating!

This week's topic is a unique bird of prey--sort of like an eagle on stilts. Perhaps best known for hunting snakes (it's literally their scientific name), there's a lot more to discuss about this iconic African species!

This week we chat about our first amphibian species for the pod! There's a lot to be said about this small Central American frog, and the research that's been done on this species allowed us to get into some fascinating topics around how scientists understand evolution.

This week we discuss an obscure Australian marsupial that swims through sand. Although there's a lot we don't yet know about these small mammals, what we do know is fascinating!

This week we discuss a small, parasitic shark known for biting circular plugs of flesh out of large fish, whales, and other animals. This one's a paradoxical species that we've known about for a while yet are still often left guessing about.

This week we discuss an emblem of northern forests: the moose. This charismatic species may be widely familiar, but the impressions we have of them may not always match the reality.

This week we talk about a genus of mosquitoes. Don't be daunted by their large size--these may be the ideal mosquitoes for humans! One small amendment from Jon: in the episode, I didn't know the lifespan of the adults. I looked it up afterwards; they live a bit longer than I expected, ~2-4 weeks (with quite a range, may vary according to species + environmental factors). Males seem to have much sh...

Recorded on location at the Oreilly's Rainforest Retreat, this episode focuses on the charasmatic lyrebirds of Australia. These birds are perhaps best known for their incredible mimicking abilities (the sounds at the beginning of the episode are of a male Albert's Lyrebird that we saw over the weekend), but there's a lot more to be discussed.

This week we discuss an animal from an ancient lineage. This submarine cephalopod has some fascinating traits and behviours that have allowed species in this group to persist for about 500 million years, although demand for their shells has made them vulnerable to harvesting in the present day.

This week we talk about a familar species in urban Australia: the white ibis. Often called a 'bin chicken' due to their tendency to eat human food scraps, these birds are actually a lot more interesting than mere pests.

This week we discuss a ground-licking, insect-eating hyena species (it's not actually a wolf, despite the name).

Today we discuss a species named after one of Jon's home states in the USA. These snakes are quite common yet may be unfamiliar even to their human neighbors!

In this episode, we chat about an endemic reptile from New Zealand that - despite appearances - is not a lizard but rather the last member of a distinct evolutionary order, the Rhynchocephalia.

Just a quick introduction to what this show is about and who the voices belong to