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PODCAST

Strange by Nature Podcast

Strange by Nature

Life is strange, naturally you want to hear about it. Strange by Nature is your guide to the strange, weird and unbelievable side of nature. Professional naturalists present weekly curated stories about just how strange nature can get.

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All Episodes

01:04:27

Weird Animal Defenses

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2025/01/22

On this week's show 2/3 of us talk about animal defenses.Kirk starts us off with the Giant Vinegaroon, an acid shooting whip scorpion. Rachel then also talks defenses with the Fulmar, a bird that covers enemies with stinking projectile vomit. Victoria takes us in an all new direction by talking about Left-handedness. Thanks for joining us this week! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us:

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34:31

Surprise! Defensive Genitalia

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2025/01/15

Victoria kicks things of this week with a fascinating new study on Potter wasps showing that the males actually can defensively "sting" even though they don't have a classic stinger. If you are a fan of defensive genitalia, this story's for you!Kirk keeps it with insects and defense this week and tells us a bit about the irritating hairs of caterpillars, how some of them have toxins and and how they can get into your eyes. No thanks. Rachel takes us to a small island off the coast of Yemen to

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39:51

The Immortal Jellyfish

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2025/01/08

Rachel takes us to the zoo to meet a Lyre Bird. Sure, they are found in the wild too but this one learned to reproduce the evacuation alarm for the entire zoo. Good times. Learn more about these amazing birds.Victoria this week brings us, The Immortal Jellyfish. This strange creature can reverse age and then start life all over again. There doesn't seem to be a limit so potentially it could live forever. Scientists are studying it to learn more about aging and how stem cells work. Kirk wraps up

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40:00

Bone Eating Worms

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2025/01/01

Hey Everyone, it is our first show of 2025!Kirk starts us off this week with a medical mystery from Australia. Can Victoria guess what it is? Spoiler, it is the Paralysis Tick! Rachel (no surprise here) takes us to the bottom of the ocean to lean about a strange bone eating worm that feasts on dead whales. Victoria also takes us underwater this week to Doggerland, a hidden submerged world at the bottom of the North Sea that used to be dry land and home to humans during the last ice age. Join us

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36:56

Mammals Can Breathe through their Butts?

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/12/26

Welcome to another exciting week of weird. Victoria starts off this week's show with the story of an Ignobel prize wining study showing that mammals can breathe through their butts. Kirk then takes us to the ocean to learn about animals that can drink saltwater without dying like us humans would. Rachel rounds out this week by returning again into the ocean to introduce us to the bizarre looking antarctic scale worm. It is beautiful and awful all at once. Perfect, just how we like it right? Join

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29:07

Can Plants Hear Water?

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/12/18

This week Rachel brings us the Bumblebee Bat which by some measures is the smallest mammal in the world. It weighs the same as two skittles candies.Kirk then describes some fascinating research that the authors claim shows plants can actually hear running water and send their roots toward it. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at:

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43:01

Shocking Facts about Electric Eels

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/12/11

Welcome to Episode 200. Thanks for being along on the ride.Victoria brings us the mysterious tale of Red Sprites. They sound like mythical creates but they are really a bizarre and beautiful atmospheric phenomenon related to powerful thunderstorms. Kirk is up next to tell us about the Mexican Mole Lizard. This strange creature scares locals so badly they have colorful tales about it attacking you while you go to the bathroom and devouring you from the inside. Rest assured, they are actually

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37:26

Solar Powered Hornets!

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/12/04

We're almost to 200 episodes! Hold your horses though, we have one more episode here in ONEderland.This week, Kirk brings us a completely bizarre story about a possible solar powered hornet. Is the Oriental Hornet really solar powered? Kirk dives into the details. Rachel then introduces us to the largest whale in the world, the Blue Whale. The animal is so hard to understand size-wise that she has to resort to some absolutely strange comparisons. Which body part weighs as much as a bumper car

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42:27

The Undertaker Bird

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/11/27

We've got a full episode this week to get some of you though family time on Thanksgiving. Put in the ear buds and enjoy some anti-social you time. Rachel kicks us off with the fascinating story of a long-long extinct plant brought back to live with an ancient seed found on an archeological dig. Only problem is, we aren't 100% sure what it is. Victoria then untangles the issue of intersex. Sure, there are people with XX or XY chromosomes, but what happens when you get different combinations than

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33:33

Introducing Killer Wasps to Save Birds

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/11/20

This week, Kirk takes us back to the end of the dinosaur age and how the asteroid impact may have set up just the right conditions to create the world's first farmers. Ants, it turns out, beat humans to the idea of agriculture by about 65 million years. Rachel then takes us to one of the most remote islands in the world, Nightingale Island, to hear about the amazing effort going to to save the endemic Wilkins's Bunting. It is a monumental task that included saving forests by raising and introducing

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36:51

Mysteries of the Ocean

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/11/13

Fresh off Halloween and still on a sugar high, Rachel and Kirk dive into the mysteries of the planet.Rachel heads back to the ocean to visit the Twilight Zone and talk about the bizarre Barrel-eyed fish. This fish has a see-through head and looks like something out of Avatar or some other sci-fi alien movie. Truly bizarre. Kirk also delves into the waters of the ocean to bring us some fresh research on comb sea jellies and their incredible regenerative properties. Scientists cut them in half and

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36:45

Put Some Placenta on That

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/11/06

Kirk kicks things off this week with a mysterious sound being heard in Tampa, Florida. What is it? Likely the sound of hundreds of mating black drum fish. Keep it weird Florida. Rachel then presents us with a pretty little Puss Caterpillar. It looks harmless enough but just touching it can make you feel like your bones are breaking. Do not touch. Victoria surprises us this week with a miracle healing substance we've know about for over a century but don't currently use very often. The Human

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41:31

Halloween 2024! Flying Leeches, Vampires, Death Water

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/10/30

It's finally here, the Halloween Episode for 2024.Victoria starts things of with, brace yourself, flying leeches. That's right, we finally have confirmation of a story that goes back almost 700 years. There really are flying leeches. Keeping with the unintentional blood-sucking flying creature theme, Kirk brings us the Vampire Finch, a bird that drinks blood to survive on dry desert islands. Rachel rounds out this week's show by making us afraid of ever going near water again. Sure, we need it to

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27:31

The Crypt-keeper Wasp

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/10/23

What an appropriate subject for the week before Halloween! Rachel brings us the very creepy Crypt-keeper Wasp. This parasitic wasp eats you alive inside your home and then forces you to dig a tunnel so it can escape by bursting through your forehead. All completely normal yes?Kirk takes a turn to the humorous side by putting biologist's sense of humor on display when it comes to silly scientific names for plants and animals. From a fungus named after Spongebob to a Trilobite named after Han Solo,

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36:00

The 656 Foot Tall Tsunami

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/10/14

This week, Kirk brings us a mystery. Last September, the Earth rang like a bell for nine days and a team of 56 scientists from around the world spent a year investigating why. The story the uncovered involves the collapse of a mountain and a mind-boggling large tsunami. Our world is bizarre.Rachel was up next with a story of giant 440 lb jellyfish that have been overwhelming fishermen when up to 1,500 of them at a time are showing up in fishing nets. Yes, they sting. They are absolutely astounding

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39:36

What's Living in Your Microwave?

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/10/09

Rachel kicks things off this week with the amazing Wombat butt. Sure, Kirk talked about the strange square shaped poo of the Wombat many episodes ago but he didn't talk about their armored butt and how they use it for defense. Thanks for the update Rachel! Victoria is next and she once again treads familiar ground on the show by talking about extremophiles. We've discussed them before but this time they aren't lurking in the depths of the ocean they are in your home microwave. New research shows

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43:25

Too Many Nipples

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/10/02

So much to unpack here this week. Kirk starts us off with a story about bears in Yellowstone eating 40,000 moths to get ready for winter.Rachel then takes us into Piranha infested waters to separate myth from science. Victoria rounds out the week with surprising new research on extra nipples and breasts. What can we say, it was a weird week. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us:

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42:18

The Antarctic River of Blood

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/09/25

Rachel starts us off with a mysterious river of blood in Antarctica. Okay, so not actually blood but what is causing this strange red river to flow out of a glacier on the bottom of the world? Kirk is up next and he talks us though the de-extinction of the Wooly Mammoth. What is the current state of research and what reasons are both to do it and to avoid it? De-extinction is a complicated and controversial topic. Kirk and Rachel debate the merits. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our

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31:19

Doritos Dye Makes Mice Transparent

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/09/17

You may have seen this one in the headlines. Kirk does a deep dive on the science behind this fascinating phenomenon. Scientists have turned the skin of mice completely transparent in a simple reversible technique using the same dye that makes Doritos orange. This strange result could have huge impacts on science and medicine.Rachel also talks about a creature this week but it isn't invisible, just very difficult to find. She tells us about the strange critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis

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34:14

Did Giant Crabs Eat Amelia Earhart?

Strange by Nature Podcast ·

2024/09/11

Victoria is with us this week and she brings us the tale of giant Coconut Crabs that just may have eaten Amelia Earhart.Not to be outdone, Kirk tells us about the mysterious disappearing Y chromosome. Will it eventually disappear all together? What does that have to do with the platypus? Rachel takes a look at the weird jobs ribs play in snakes from digestion to locomotion to defensive displays like the cobra hood. So strange. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get

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