PODCAST

Strange Animals Podcast

Katherine Shaw

A podcast about living, extinct, and imaginary animals!

science natural sciences

All Episodes

7:36

Episode 480: Old, Old Life

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/04/13

Let’s learn about some of the oldest life ever discovered!Further reading: Microbiologists Find Living Microbes in 2-Billion-Year-Old Rock Chart of life extended by nearly 1.5 billion years Show transcript: Back in episode 168 we talked about the longest-lived organisms known, and finished the episode by discussing endoliths. I’ll quote from that episode as a refresher. An endolith isn’t a particular animal or even a group of related animals. An endolith is an organism that lives inside a

en-US

7:50

Episode 479: Metal Animals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/04/06

Further reading:Beavers Have Metal Teeth Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Let’s find out about some animals that incorporate metal into their bodies in more than just trace amounts. We’ll start with the scaly-foot gastropod, a deep-sea snail. It lives around hydrothermal vents in the Indian Ocean, about 1 and ¾ miles below the surface, or about 2800 meters. The water around these vents, referred to as black smokers, can be more than 350 degrees

en-US

13:12

Episode 478: Life in Ice

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/03/30

Is there life on Europa? We take a look at Greenland and Antarctica to find out more about life on Jupiter’s icy moon. Further reading: Life on Venus claim faces strongest challenge yet Stanford researchers’ explanation for formation of abundant features on Europa bodes well for search for extraterrestrial life Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Today we’re going to learn about the potential of life on Europa, a moon of Jupiter! To do that

en-US

6:40

Episode 477 Albanerpetontidae

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/03/23

It’s Albert the Albanerpetontid!Further reading: Earliest example of a rapid-fire tongue found in ‘weird and wonderful’ extinct amphibians Amphibian skullllll: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Let’s learn about a long-extinct amphibian that looked a lot like a reptile. It’s a family of animals called Albanerpetontidae. That’s a mouthful, so instead of talking about Albanerpetontids, I’ll talk about all the various species as though

en-US

6:31

Episode 476 Hercynian Animals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/03/16

Further reading: Identifying the beasts in Caesar’s forest Reindeer: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. After the glaciers retreated from Europe at the end of the last ice age, around 11,000 years ago, forests grew wherever there was enough soil to support a tree. As these new forests spread, they joined forests that had survived the glaciations. By the time ancient Romans were writing about the things they encountered while exploring western Europe,

en-US

6:48

Episode 475 Superweb

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/03/09

This week let’s look at the work of a really astonishing number of spiders!Further reading: Megaweb! Some of the webs: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Baltimore, Maryland is a city in the northeastern United States, in North America, with a population of 2.8 million people. In 1993 a new wastewater treatment plant was built called the Back River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which filters water through big sand beds to trap any particles

en-US

9:43

Episode 474: The Button Quail Mystery

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/03/02

DRAMA! Bird drama! Here are some further-reading links if you want to verify that I’m not vilifying anyone:Buff-breasted Buttonquail: An image claimed to be of this species revealed Buff-breasted Buttonquail: Smoke & Mirrors A review of specimens of Buff-breasted Button-quail Turnix olivii suggests serious concern for its conservation outlook A painted button quail: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Back in episode 136 we talked about the

en-US

7:11

Episode 473: Blue Frogs

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/02/23

This week let’s learn about some blue frogs!Further reading: Scientists make chance discovery of rare blue skin mutation in Kimberley magnificent tree frog White’s True-Blue Green Tree Frog Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. When most of us draw a frog, we reach for the green markers, because most frogs are green. That’s true of the magnificent tree frog, also called the splendid tree frog, which is fairly common in the Kimberley region of western

en-US

7:51

Episode 472: The Hafgufa

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/02/16

Further reading:Parallels for cetacean trap feeding and tread-water feeding in the historical record across two millennia Haggling over the Hafgufa Many renditions of the hafgufa/aspidochelone: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Back in the olden days, as much as 1700 years ago and probably more, up through the 14th century or so, various manuscripts about the natural world talked about a sea monster most people today have never heard of. In ancient

en-US

Episode 471: Mystery Larvae

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/02/09

Further reading:I Can Has Mutant Larvae? 200-Year-Old ‘Monster Larva’ Mystery Solved ‘Snakeworm’ mystery yields species new to science Hearkening back to the hazelworm Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. A few weeks ago when I was researching big eels, I remembered the mystery eel larva we talked about back in episode 49, and that led me down a fun rabbit hole about other mystery larvae. Let’s start with that eel larva. Eel larvae can be extremely hard to

en-US

16:44

Episode 470: Animals Discovered in 2025

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/02/02

It’s the annual discoveries episode! Thanks to Stephen and Aryeh for their corrections and suggestions this week!Further reading: Salinella Salve: The Vanishing Creature That Defied Science for Over a Century Three new species of the genus Scutiger Baeticoniscus carmonaensis sp. nov. a new Isopod found in an underground aqueduct from the Roman period located in Southwest Spain (Crustacea, Isopoda, Trichoniscidae) A new species of supergiant Bathynomus Giant ‘Darth Vader’ sea bug discovered

en-US

12:12

Episode 469: Axolotl and Friends

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/01/26

Thanks to Aila, Stella, George, Richard from NC, Emilia, Emerson, and Audie for their suggestions this week!Further reading: Creature Feature: Snipe Eel How removing a dam could save North Carolina’s ‘lasagna lizard’ Why Has This North Carolina Town Embraced a Strange Salamander? Scentists search for DNA of an endangered salamander in Mexico City’s canals An X-ray of the slender snipe eel: The head and body of a slender snipe eel. The rest is tail [picture by opencage さん

en-US

12:11

Episode 468: Tamarins and Other Mammals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/01/19

Thanks to Conner, Tim, Stella, Cillian, Eilee, PJ, and Morris for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Extinct Hippo-Like Creature Discovered Hidden in Museum: ‘Sheer Chance’ The golden lion tamarin has very thin fingers and sometimes it’s rude: The golden lion tamarin also has a very long tail: The cotton-top tamarin [picture by Chensiyuan – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153317160]: The pangolin is scaly: The pangolin can also be

en-US

10:07

Episode 467: The Dragon Bird and Friends

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/01/12

Thanks to Audie, Katie, Eilee, Emily, Maryjane, and Dylan for their suggestions this week! Sorry this episode is late–the site was down. 🙁Further reading: Bobolinks A frill-neck lizard showing off: A bobolink: The great-eared nightjar [picture by Venkata Shreeram Mallimadugula, taken from this site]: Another great-eared nightjar [Picture by Nigel Voaden from UK – Great Eared-Nightjar, Tangkoko, Sulawesi, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39857392]: Show

en-US

20:41

Episode 466: Lots of Invertebrates!

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2026/01/05

Here’s the big invertebrate episode I’ve been promising people! Thanks to Sam, warbrlwatchr, Jayson, Richard from NC, Holly, Kabir, Stewie, Thaddeus, and Trech for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Does the Spiral Siphonophore Reign as the Longest Animal in the World? The common nawab butterfly: The common nawab caterpillar: A velvet worm: A giant siphonophore [photo by Catriona Munro, Stefan Siebert, Felipe Zapata, Mark Howison, Alejandro Damian-Serrano, Samuel H. Church,

en-US

9:35

Episode 465: The Mermaid

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2025/12/29

Thanks to Holly for suggesting this week’s topic!Further reading: Mermaids: Myth, Kith and Kin [this article is not for children] Feejee Mermaid A manatee: A female grey seal, looking winsome: A drawing of the “original” Fiji (or Feejee) mermaid: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. Let’s close out the year 2025 with a mystery episode! Holly suggested we talk about mermaids! Mermaids are creatures of folklore who are supposed to look

en-US

9:00

Episode 464: Farmyard Animals

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2025/12/22

Thanks to Emily, Jo, and Alexandra for their suggestions this week! Further reading: Highland Cattle Society Mongolian Sheep The Donkey Sanctuary The Highland cow is so cute (picture taken from the first site linked above): Some fat-tailed sheep (picture taken from the sheep article linked above): Donkeys: A happy donkey and a happy person (photo taken from the Donkey Sanctuary’s site, linked above): Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. After last

en-US

20:31

Episode 463: The Big Fish Episode

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2025/12/15

It's an episode just absolutely full of fish! Thanks to Arthur, Yuzu, Jayson, Kabir, Nora, Siya, Joel, Elizabeth, Mac, Ryder, Alyx, Dean, and Riley for their suggestions this week!Further reading: Study uncovers mechanics of machete-like 'tail-whipping' in thresher sharks Business end of a sawfish: Giant freshwater stingray! The frilled shark looks like an eel: The frilled shark's teeth: The thresher shark and its whip-like tail [photo by Thomas Alexander - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,

en-US

17:07

Episode 462: Cryptic Coloration

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2025/12/08

Thanks to Måns, Sam, Owen and Askel for this week's suggestions!Further reading: Shingleback Lizard What controls the colour of the common mānuka stick insect? The mossy leaf-tailed gecko has skin flaps that hide its shadow. There's a lizard in this photo, I swear! [photo by Charles J. Sharp - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92125100]: A shingleback lizard, pretending it has two heads: The beautiful wood nymph is a beautiful moth but also it looks

en-US

7:42

Episode 461: Therizinosaurus and Its CLAWS

Strange Animals Podcast ·

2025/12/01

Further reading: Study: Giant Therizinosaurs Used Their Meter-Long, Sickle-Like Claws for Display Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. I am delighted to report that Therizinosaurus lived in what is now Mongolia in Central Asia, in the Gobi Desert. 70 million years ago, the land wasn’t a desert at all but a forest with multiple rivers and streams flowing through it. Lots of other dinosaurs and birds lived in the area, including a tyrannosaurid called

en-US

412 results

Strange Animals Podcast

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter