PODCAST

Strange Animals Podcast

Katherine Shaw

A podcast about living, extinct, and imaginary animals!

science natural sciences

All Episodes

9:53

Episode 144: Strange Bird Sounds

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/11/04

This week we're going to learn not about strange birds, but about strange sounds some birds make. Thanks to Sam for the suggestion, and thanks to Llewelly and Leo for suggesting two of the birds we feature today! Further watching: Greater prairie chicken courtship display A bittern, weird swamp bird: An American woodcock, adorable: Ocellated turkey, beautiful and goofy: Greater prairie chicken: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Halloween

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18:05

Episode 143: Rats, Giant Rats, and Rat Kings

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/10/28

It's almost Halloween!! We've got a great episode this week about rats--ordinary rats, giant rats, and the strange phenomenon called the rat king. Buy my book, Skytown! Buy me a coffee! Donate to our Patreon and get bonus episodes! Speaking of bonus episodes, I've unlocked a few for anyone to listen to. Just click through and listen in your browser, no login required: Spooky Animals Stories Irrawaddy dolphins and Dracula ants The Soay Island Sea Monster Further viewing: A squirrel king

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25:00

Episode 142: Gigantic and Otherwise Octopuses

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/10/21

Happy birthday to me! For my birthday, we're all going to learn about octopuses, including a mysterious gigantic octopus (maybe)! Thanks to Wyatt for his question about skeletons and movement that is a SURPRISE SPOOKY SKELETON SEGMENT of the episode, or maybe not that much of a surprise if you read this first. Further reading: How octopus arms make decisions Octopus shows unique hunting, social and sexual behavior Kraken Rises: New Fossil Evidence Revives Sea Monster Debate The larger Pacific

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15:56

Episode 141: Zombie Animals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/10/14

We're inching closer to Halloween and it's getting spookier out there! This week let's learn about some animals that get zombified for various reasons. This is an icky episode, so you might not want to snack while you're listening. Thanks to Sylvan for the suggestion about the loxo and mud crabs! Further reading: Zombie Crabs! Ladybird made into 'zombie' bodyguard by parasitic wasp A mud crab held by a dangerous wizard: A paralyzed ladybug sitting on a parasitic wasp cocoon: A cat and a

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21:25

Episode 140: Rains of Fish and Frogs (and other things)

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/10/07

We're starting off October (you know, MONSTER MONTH) with accounts of animals that fall from the sky like rain, mostly fish and frogs! Is this a real thing that actually happens, and if so, what causes it? Further reading: Raining Frogs Recent observations of “mystery star jelly” in Scotland appear to confirm one origin as spawn jelly from frogs or toads Not a real photo of an octopus falling in a storm: This photo is probably real, two shrimp/prawns on a windshield in the same storm as above

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14:17

Episode 139: Skunks and Other Stinkers

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/09/30

This week we're commemorating my HOUSE getting SKUNKED by a SKUNK and it was STINKY The skunk, stinky but adorkable, especially when it's eating yellow jackets: The stink badger looks like a shaved skunk with a bobbed tail: The zorilla wants to be your stinky friend: A woodhoopoe, most magnificent: A Eurasian hoopoe, looking snazzy: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to learn about some animals that are infamous for

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15:16

Episode 138: City Animals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/09/23

This week we're going to learn about some animals that have made their homes in cities alongside humans. Thanks to Corianne who suggested this amazing topic! Further reading: The BBC's Urban Fox FAQ Toronto vs. Raccoons The urban fox has a favorite coffee shop and knows where to find parking downtown: The urban raccoon's apartment is really small but it's in a great location: The urban (rock) pigeon can walk to work in good weather: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast

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12:58

Episode 137: The Orca, Jolly Terror of the Seas

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/09/16

Thanks to Pranav for this week's topic, the orca or killer whale! Further reading: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/07/killer-whales-orcas-eat-great-white-sharks/ Save Our Seas Magazine (I took the Jaws art below from here too) An orca: Orcas got teeth: Starboard and Port amiright: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week let’s return to the sea for a topic suggested by Pranav, the orca. That’s the same animal that’s

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18:52

Episode 136: Smallest of the Small

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/09/09

Last week we learned about the smallest species of animals not typically thought of as small, like snakes and cetaceans. This week let's look at some of the tiniest animals in the world, the smallest of the small! Further watching: A short video about jerboas. Really interesting and well-made! A button quail: Baby button quails are the size of BEES: Kinglets are teeny birds even when grown up. Left, the golden-crowned kinglet. Right, the goldcrest. These birds MAY BE RELATED, you think?

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15:12

Episode 135: Smallest of the Large

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/09/02

This week we're looking at some very small animals--but not animals that we think of as small. Join us for a horrendously cute episode! Further reading: The Echinoblog Further listening: Animals to the Max episode #75: The Sea Panda (vaquita) Varmints! episode #49: Hippos Further watching: An adorable baby pygmy hippo The Barbados threadsnake will protecc your fingertip: Parvulastra will decorate your thumbnail: Berthe's mouse lemur will defend this twig: The bumblebee bat will eat

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13:47

Episode 134: The Magpie

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/08/26

Thanks to Emma for this week's suggestion about the magpie! We'll learn all about the magpie and also about the mirror test for intelligence and self-awareness. The black-billed magpie of North America (left) is almost identical in appearance to the Eurasian magpie (right): Not all magpies are black and white. This green magpie is embarrassed by its goth cousins: The beautiful and altruistic azure-winged magpie: Chimps pass the mirror test. So do magpies: The Australian magpie, or as

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8:05

Episode 133: The mangrove killifish and the unicorn pig

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/08/19

This week's (short) episode is about two animals that should have been in the strangest small fish and weird pigs episodes, respectively. I left them out by accident but they're so interesting that they deserve an episode all to themselves anyway. Thanks to Adam for suggesting the mangrove killifish! Further reading: 25 Years in the Mud: How a Quirky Little Fish Changed My Life The mangrove killifish just looks normal: Not a unicorn pig (okay yes technically a unicorn pig): Unicorn pig

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21:36

Episode 132: Paleontological Frauds

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/08/12

Ever heard of the Piltdown Man? What about Missourium or Archaeoraptor? They're all frauds! Let's learn about them and more this week. Further reading: The Chimeric Missourium and Hydrarchos Investigation of a claim of a late-surviving pterosaur and exposure of a taxidermic hoax: the case of Cornelius Meyer's dragon Missourium was literally an extra mastodon: Hydrarchos (left) was a lot more, um, exciting than its fossil donors, six Basilosauruses (right): Piltdown man's suspicious

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17:41

Episode 131: Paleontological Mistakes

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/08/05

Part of the scientific method involves making mistakes and correcting them. Here are some interesting and sometimes goofy mistakes made by paleontologists through the years, and how the mistakes were corrected. Iguanodon did not actually look like this (left). It looked like this (right): Pterosaur did not actually look like this (left). It looked like this (right): Elasmosaurus did not actually look like this (left). It looked like this (right): Apatosaurus/brontosaurus did not

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16:54

Episode 130: Strangest Small Fish

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/07/29

This week we're going to revisit a suggestion from Damian and follow up on episode 96, our strangest big fish episode. This time let's find out about some weird small fish! The teeny, newly-discovered American pocket shark: The brownsnout spookfish wears its mirror sunglasses on the INSIDE: The goblinfish with a dangerous head and basically a dangerous everything else too: Two teeny pygmy seahorses. Can you spot them? Hint: they're the ones with eyes. The razorfish. Just another sea

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22:11

Episode 129: The blurry line between animals and plants

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/07/22

This week we're looking at some really strange animals...or are they plants? Or both? We'll start with the sea anemone, then learn about a sea slug that photosynthesizes like a plant (sort of), then learn a little about whether algae is a plant or an animal...and then we're off and running through the wild world of carnivorous plants--including some carnivorous plants of mystery! Thanks to Joshua Hobbs of A Degree in Nonsense for the suggestion, and to Simon for the article link I've already

en-US

13:31

Episode 128: Weird Pigs

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/07/15

If you think pigs are just cute little pink animals that go oink, you definitely need to listen to this week's episode! Further listening (two unlocked Patreon episodes): Weird teeth featuring the babirusa Peccaries Further reading: More about the swamp pig of Hungary An adorable pygmy hog: A Javan warty pig, looking magnificent: An actual warthog, not a cartoon warthog, just sayin: A giant forest hog, looking kind of similar to the warthog but bigger: A wild boar looking

en-US

18:43

Episode 127: New World Vultures

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/07/08

This week we'll learn about some vultures from North and South America--some living, some extinct, and one mystery! Thanks to Maureen and Grady for their suggestions! Thanks also to Kat White for the Turkey Vulture Song that opens the podcast! If you'd like to buy her album "In the Eye of the Owl," visit her website at katwhitemusic.com/ Further listening: CritterCast episode 35 Turkey Vultures How to tell a turkey vulture apart from a black vulture: The king vulture has a very bright

en-US

12:47

Episode 126: The Hedgehog and the Moonrat

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/07/01

This week thanks to Romy, who suggested the topic of hedgehogs! And researching hedgehogs led me to their only close relation, the moonrat. Hedgehogs are adorable: Pictures of listener QuillviaPlath's adorable friend Delilah, an African pygmy hedgehog. Delilah has crossed the Rainbow Bridge since these pictures were taken, but QuillviaPlath has a rescue hedgehog named Lily now and will soon be adopting another rescue named Toodles too! Moonrats are a little less adorable but still

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11:38

Episode 125: Triceratops and other ceratopsids

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2019/06/24

It’s time to learn about some more dinosaurs, ceratopsids, including the well-known Triceratops! Triceratops: An artist’s frankly awesome rendition of Sinoceratops. I love it: A Kosmoceratops skull: Pachyrhinosaurus had a massive snoot: Protoceratops: Fighting dinos! Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Back in episode 107, about ankylosaurus and stegosaurus, I mentioned that one day I’d do an episode all about triceratops and its

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