The Wild Life

From their three hearts to their ability to transform and communicate, discover the extraordinary world of octopuses with host Devon Bowker and special guest Sy Montgomery, the "octopus whisperer" herself, and octopus expert Warren Carlyle, founder of OctoNation®. In a new adventure, Secrets of the Octopus, they dive deep into the secrets of the ocean's most enigmatic creatures, exploring the latest revelations in octopus research and conservation efforts. With captivating storytelling and stunning visuals, the pair uncover why these creatures are worthy of our admiration and protection.

Secrets of the Octopus | Book

TRAILER| Secrets of the Octopus on National Geographic and Disney+

OctoNation

Support the Show

Contact | hello@thewildlife.blog

Follow Devon on TikTok and Instagram

Follow Sy Montgomery

Follow Warren Carlyle

In this episode, Devon (@devonthenatureguy) sits down with Lauren Jackson (@lauren.queenofthewild on Instagram and HERp_trap_queen on TikTok) to chat about becoming a wildlife tech, woodpeckers, federal jobs, the friction of private land, scicomm and education, battles big and small, and above all else, love for the world around us.

Support the show at www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month

Today’s episode, social media SciComm, all things cephalopod, their super cool brains, their mind-blowing camouflage, RNA editing, peculiar romances, underappreciated "living fossils", and why octopuses are most definitely not aliens. All with special guest Meg Mindlin, Octopus Biologist

Meg's Website

Save the Ocean, Save the World Hoodie

Meg's Sticker Club

Support The Wild Life

In this episode, I sit down with Eric Eaton, author of Insectpedia: a Brief Compendium of Insect Lore, Wasps: The Astonishing Diversity of a Misunderstood Insect, and more!

Wasps are far more diverse than the familiar yellowjackets and hornets that harass picnickers and build nests under the eaves of our homes. These amazing, mostly solitary creatures thrive in nearly every habitat on Earth, and their influence on our lives is overwhelmingly beneficial. Wasps are agents of pest control in agriculture and gardens. They are subjects of study in medicine, engineering, and other important fields. Wasps pollinate flowers, engage in symbiotic relationships with other organisms, and create architectural masterpieces in the form of their nests. From minute fairyflies to gargantuan tarantula hawks, wasps exploit almost every niche on the planet. So successful are they at survival that other organisms emulate their appearance and behavior. The sting is the least reason to respect wasps and, as you will see, no reason to loathe them, either.  

Find Eric on Twitter/X

Check out Eric's Blog

Support the Show

Find me on Instagram and TikTok @devonthenatureguy

Contact: hello@thewildlife.blog

This episode, which originally aired on March 24 2018, takes us all the way from Copenhagen to the rainforest of South America, from the belly of the beast to its excrement, as we explore nature’s Vampires.

Our guest is Dr Marie Lisandra Zepeda Mendoza, who had recently finished her postdoc in Copenhagen, Denmark and whose recently published research on vampire bats and how they survive on such a peculiar diet is at the center of this story.

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Sharks are in the water. But is the ocean shark-infested, or shark-depleted? I sat down to talk with Dr Alexandra McInturf to find out.

Learn more about Alexandra and her work

Papers Referenced:

Half a Century of Global Decline in Sharks and Rays

Half a century of rising extinction risk of coral reef sharks and rays

Global catches, exploitation rates, and rebuilding options for sharks

Bycatch Solutions

NOAA Link

Another stroll down memory lane as I revisit the second-ever guest episode of The Wild Life, Myth-Understood: Busting Bat Myths and Mistruths with Liz Dengate from March 6th of 2018.

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

This week we focus on an animal that has been the victim of superstition and fear for thousands of years. Despite what many believe, these creatures are extremely important to our everyday lives.

This was the first ever episode of The Wild Life back in 2017, and it was never supposed to happen. That's right, The Wild Life, as a podcast, was an accident. The result of a series of unfortunate events. But that's life, isn't it? It happens in the most unexpected of ways. I never imagined that this is where I would be today, and I'm so incredibly grateful for the experience and all those who have been a part of it, as guests, as listeners, and as people who believed in the work I was doing and helped me to succeed.

The mystery of zebra stripes has long been a subject of debate, at least since the days of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace. Now, thanks to Dr. Tim Caro, a professor of wildlife biology at the University of California-Davis, we finally have our answer.

Next week, we're exploring Shark Conservation with Alexandra McInturf!

If you'd like to support the creation of this show, the blog, and my science communication efforts on social media, you can do so for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Peace out, rainbow trouts!

It's been awhile. I think it's time for some reintroductions.

I've spent a lot of time over the past year, 6 years really, reflecting on the journey so far, the ups and downs, the struggles, the wins, the change (oh, so much change), and I think I've finally landed comfortably with where I am and what I want this to be. I look forward to sharing my work and the perspectives of scientists from around the world with you every Wednesday as we explore the natural world, the dizzying amount of connections we share to it and each other, and find the courage to protect this planet we call home.

If you managed to get through all 25-ish minutes, thank you so much for your time.

The release schedule for the remainder of the year is as follows:

REVISITED: The Mystery of Zebra StripesShark Conservation with Alexandra McInturfREVISITED: Bat Myths and MistruthsWasps with Eric EatonREVISITED: Nature's VampiresCephalopodcast with Meg MindlinREVISITED: Canary in the Coal MineConversation with Lauren Queen of the WildREVISITED: The Air We BreatheCarnivores with Aiden BranneyREVISITED: Metamorphosis MetaphorConversation with Dr Carly Anne YorkREVISITED: Is Anybody Out There?Animal Ethics with Mad About Animals MagsREVISITED: Ant Farm

If you are able and would like to help sustain and support The Wild Life, you can do so at www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month

Follow me on social media @devonthenatureguy

Ticks, for as small as they are, strike a disproportionate amount of fear and disgust into our hearts and minds (no matter what good they might do!). Perhaps it’s their arachnid nature. Maybe it’s the fact that they burrow their creepy mouthparts into your body and feast off of your blood. Oh yeah, and there’s Lyme Disease and the ever-increasing red meat allergies. Whatever the reason, one thing’s for certain— nothing quite warps our conceptions of reality like fear.

For example, there’s a common misconception that ticks fall from trees and drop onto unsuspecting victims. Let’s explore the truth behind this myth and shed light on how ticks actually go about finding their hosts.

Have a question you want answered on the show? Send them over to hello@thewildlife.blog!

Have your voice featured on the show when you send a voice memo recorded directly on your phone!

Support the creation of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Transcript

While it's true you should keep your distance, is there any truth to the tale of a tenacious porcupine shooting their quills?

Have a question you want answered on the show? Send them over to hello@thewildlife.blog!

Have your voice featured on the show when you send a voice memo recorded directly on your phone!

Support the creation of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Transcript

Unfortunately, we can’t ask the worms directly, but it turns out that plenty of scientists have been asking this very question for, well, a very long time. Today, we explore the leading hypotheses for what drives worms to the surface for these rainy-day adventures.

Have a question you want answered on the show? Send them over to hello@thewildlife.blog!

Have your voice featured on the show when you send a voice memo recorded directly on your phone!

Support the creation of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Transcript

Star Wars is as much a product of human ingenuity as it is a space odyssey. Just look at how they solved the Puffin Problem.

Have a question you'd like answered on The Wild Life? Email me at hello@thewildlife.blog.

You can even have your voice featured by sending a voice memo recorded directly on your phone!

You can support the creation of The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/thewildlife AND get exclusive perks as a bonus :)

Transcript

Who doesn’t love goats? Especially baby ones. Their gait, their bleat, their tiny horns. But there comes a time in any goat interaction I’ve had where we lock eyes and I’m struck with a mixture of curiosity and unease. 

On today's episode, why goats have rectangular pupils, their auto-leveling eyes, and a surprising connection to cuttlefish!

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

Check out Avast! and Planthropology

Most would agree that Polar Bears are white, but there's more to the story than things may appear.

Transcript

Support The Wild Life at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month

and check out Avast!, a pirate pod from my friend Paul Csomo

According to a paper published on August 24th, 2022 in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the Dugong is now “functionally extinct” in China. These gentle marine mammals, sometimes referred to as sea cows, are one of four species of the order Sirenia. They are the cousins of the Amazonian manatee, West Indian manatee, West African manatee, and the now extinct Steller’s sea cow. These peaceful creatures invoked myths of mermaids and fantasy, existing in Chinese waters for thousands of years. Now, because of habitat loss, food loss, hunting, and collisions with watercraft, the Dugong is now one step closer to meeting the fate of their Steller cousin, and only other member of the Dugongidae family.

Transcript

Support

Ask yourself, when was the last time you saw a roseate rhinoceros, a bronzed bunting, or a peeling porcupine? Can other animals get sunburns?

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

Crocodiles are known to be notoriously cantankerous creatures, but what’s less known is this crazy fact about Crocodile teeth–they can go through up to 4,000 teeth in their lifetime!

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

Hedgehogs are easily one of the most unmistakable little critters out there, but how much do you know about them? Sonic is (somehow) a hedgehog, but they’re not really known for being quick on their feet. They’re irrefutably adorable, sometimes pets, and prickly little fellas that roll themselves up like a pill bug, but what else? Where are they native to? What do they eat? Why do hedgehogs have spikes?

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

Yes, you read that right. Move over marsupials, you’re not the only mammals with skin pockets.​

Transcript and memes

Support

The basic idea behind the theory of evolution behind natural selection is this: if you get eaten or otherwise die before you’ve had the chance to reproduce then your genes, or traits, don’t get passed on. It’s a dead end. But if you survive… some of your traits get passed down to a new generation. Maybe you were just a bit faster than the other wildebeest. Maybe your coloration gave you better camouflage than some of the rest. Who knows? It could be a ton of things. The point is, over time, these little changes in the proportion of traits will add up to big changes, maybe even entirely new species!

There’s a misconception out there though related to this idea called Survival of the Fittest. That evolution works through the survival of the strongest, fastest, toughest, meanest of the bunch and that things get stronger, faster, tougher, and meaner over time. Thing is, that’s just not true. Problematic associations aside, that idea doesn’t explain the persistence of seemingly useless traits, or the loss of seemingly useful traits, or traits that simply don’t change for millions of years at a time. Sometimes, things persist simply because there’s no pressure for them not to. Sometimes, things just work.

In the case of sponges, there’s the Demo Model

Support the Show at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

In October 2020, Ocean Exploration Trust’s E/V Nautilus crew discovered something extraordinary—vast clusters of glass sponges

Glass sponges in general are a rare sight, but what made this discovery even more surprising is where they were found.

Beginning just 25 miles off the coast of California, The Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary is a 1,470 square mile refuge for wildlife as well as a human heritage site. 

Regions where the ocean floor can be found just 1,000 feet or so below, like Footprint Ridge and the Piggy Bank, have been pretty thoroughly explored.

But between those two sites lies a valley, plunging another thousand feet below. This time, in late 2020, the scientific team famous for their live-streaming of footage captured by ROV’s, decided to give that valley a closer look.

That’s when the NOAA experts, on Nautilus Live, stumbled upon a vast underwater field of glass.

Finds like these are becoming increasingly important as potential habitats for diverse life and as indicators of ocean health in a changing world.

But, aside from the obviously fascinating fact that these creatures have skeletons made of glass, what exactly are these so-called glass sponges?

That’s what this episode of Class is all about, the art of glass.

Support the Show and this Series at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

This season on Class, a deep dive into the amazing life history of sponges. starting with getting to the bottom of what exactly a sponge is!

Transcript

Support

The first episode is coming this week!

This, like many things lately, is a different type of content from The Wild Life. Who knew you could learn so much about authentic expression and finding yourself from producing a podcast? In this episode, I go out for a birding excursion with a major time constraint and ponder on my relationship with time itself.

If you're listening or reading this, I would really appreciate some feedback or a simple "hello" so that I can get an idea of, well, if anyone is really out there, and if anyone has any thoughts on the show.

You can email me at hello@thewildlife.blog

You can support the show at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

So far in the How to Build an Animal series, we’ve been taking a look at the very things that make an animal, well, an animal. In Part One we explored types of symmetry and got oriented with the directions of cephalization. In Part Two we dove into the early development of animals, from fertilization to the gastrula. We also defined the early layers called the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm and hinted at their future by revealing what tissues they are responsible for developing into.

Each of these things has been a branching point on the tree of animal life. Now it’s time for another.

Transcript

Time marches on, change is never ceasing, and yet in spite of it all, there are lessons to be learned from even the smallest of creatures, like the caterpillar.

Transcript

The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, just transferred and transformed.

This means many things, not the least of which is that energy itself, across the entirety of the universe, is finite. There’s only so much that can exist. There’s only so much capacity.

Energy comes in many forms in this universe, just as it does in the universe of your mind and body. We live lives in denial of this inconvenient truth on virtually every scale of human existence. We burn through resources in all their iterations with little thought for what is lost.

But the truth is, it wasn’t lost at all.

It was given away.

Transcript

There really is no shortage of ways to build an animal, but there are rules to be followed. To truly understand, we have to go to the very beginning. Check out Part 3 of my pre-kick-off series to my new zoology series, Class, and get oriented with the development of animal life.

Link to the amazingly spectacular video I mentioned

Transcript

Support at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

There really is no shortage of ways to build an animal, but there are rules to be followed—rules with deep roots. Check out Part 2 of my pre-kick-off series to my new zoology series, Class, and get oriented with the basic body patterns of animal life.

Transcript

Support at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

From the biggest elephant to the littlest fly. From every fish in the sea, to all the birds in the sky. 

Animals are all around us.

Dolphins are animals. Just like owls, salamanders, and the anoles in the tree. 

A salamander may not look like an owl, and an owl definitely doesn’t look like an elephant. Yet, even still, you can tell they are animals just by looking at them.

But why? What could all of these things possibly have in common? What makes an animal an animal?

What is an animal?

Transcript

Support the Show

The Largemouth Bass is a freshwater fish of the Black Bass genus named for—you guessed it—its large mouth. The Largemouth Bass is different than the equally common Smallmouth Bass in that it does in fact have a larger mouth. Who knew? Depending on your location, this fish is known by a variety of other names such as green bass, black bass, bucketmouth bass, big mouth bass, largies, or Steven Tyler—the last of which I just made up.

Transcript

The Gulf Coast Pygmy Sunfish is found in the coastal river drainages of the Sunshine State, Florida, over to southern Georgia. They can be found in areas of dense vegetation in the drainage portions of rivers along the coasts of where they live off of a diet of small invertebrates such as worms, insects, and tiny crustaceans.

Transcript

Support the Show

How fast can fish really be? Faster than you’d probably expect.

Transcript

The Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish may not look like much, but their impact is inarguable. They feed heavily on corals essential for building reefs, the marine equivalent of a metropolis. When these starfish have a boom in their population, the result is a significant loss of live coral. The damage has a higher impact on the reef’s health and resilience than bleaching and disease combined. The incredible diversity of other species dependent on that coral face sharp declines in turn. And it’s not just wild lives that are affected. These reefs act as natural barriers or shields protecting coastal cities. Without those barriers, coastal plants and beaches are at risk. Plus, reef-dependent industries face significant losses. Now, scientists think they may have found a solution---a Trojan Horse.

Transcript

If you’ve ever been down to Cozumel, Mexico, you’ve been to one of two places (the other being Glover’s Reef in Belize) on earth where this species of fish can be found. I was there in 2011—on land, granted—but had I gone out snorkeling near any coral outcrops I may have had the opportunity to see the spectacular Splendid Toadfish.

Transcript

Support the Show

This episode was originally written in October 2015 as a reflection essay

I acknowledge there is nuance to these issues which are not fully expressed in this essay

In The New York Times article “Shooting a Lion”, University of Cambridge professor and acclaimed writer, Helen Macdonald, details her recent safari at Kruger National Park in South Africa. Her visit was just a few short months after the Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer, killed Cecil the lion just outside the very same park. Cecil’s killing was met with international uproar and “a white-hot debate over the morality of big game hunting”.

But there’s another kind of exploitative shooting of lions happening, only this kind isn’t with a gun, but a camera. 

Transcript

In 1917, the American poet Wallace Stevens published a poem called 13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. In truth, 13 is a major understatement, with just as much variation in “why” as their is in “how”. Whether you’re a life “lister”, a casual admirer, or anywhere in between, at some point each and every one of has had a moment where we saw a bird and thought to ourselves, “what is that?”

In the past, this has been the moment that separates the bird watchers from the bird seers. It takes a certain kind of intrigue and drive to tear into a field guide, piecing together evidence to find the right ID, the kind that the casual observer might have balked at. Now, with increasing developments in technology, answering that question has never been easier and more accessible. All you need is a smartphone!

Transcript

Support at Patreon.com/devonbowker

Who doesn’t love Giraffes? Yet, despite their international love and viral webcam footage with thousands tuning in to watch their birth, there is much about them that is unknown by the masses, which is a shame because they are truly fascinating animals with a multitude of fun facts about them. Here are 16 things you probably didn’t know about Giraffes.

Episode Transcript

Support

Jeff Corwin, American biologist and wildlife conservationist, joins Devon on The Wild Life today to talk about his new show on ABC, Wildlife Nation with Jeff Corwin, in partnership with Defenders of Wildlife, his career's core-wins, lessons learned, finding the right tone, focusing on what matters, finding hope, and confronting climate change.

Jeff is known for hosting Disney Channel's Going Wild with Jeff Corwin, The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet, ABC's Ocean Mysteries with Jeff Corwin/Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin and Wildlife Nation with Jeff Corwin.

Support The Wild Life at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

The Deep-Sea Dragonfish, a scaleless eel-like fish about 6 inches in length that lives (you guessed it) in the deep sea, specifically the bathyal zone of the Atlantic Ocean beyond where any light can reach.

Transcript

Support the Show

As one of America’s most influential environmentalists, Barry Commoner devoted his life and career to ecology, awareness, education, and enacting positive change. 

Support the Show

Transcript

Jumpin Boogie Woogie by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

The Muskellunge, or Muskie, is the largest member of the pike family, and just a large fish all around. Their common name comes from the Ojibwa word maashkinoozhe, which translates to “ugly pike”. But there's a lot more to the muskie.

Transcript

Support the Show

Butterflyfish are a group of around 120 species in the Family Chaetodontidae. They can be found in reefs around the world in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Butterflyfish are probably most recognizable for their disk-like body shape, pointed snout, and striking patterns and coloration seen across most species in stark contrast with the blue ocean background. 

Transcript

Support the Show

Your hikes that used to take an hour have just turned into three hours. At first, this is super stressful. Like, I just want to finish my hike. But, do you know what this allows you to do? It allows you yourself to be mindful and to stop and smell the roses. Hiking with a toddler is definitely a different experience, but it doesn't have to be stressful. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Originally written as a blog post by my wife

Transcript

Support the Show

Skinks are often overlooked, even unknown, (even as I write this, spell-check doesn’t even recognize “Skink” as a word) but there are over 1,500 species of them on the planet. That makes them the most diverse family of lizards.

Transcript

This is the answer to a question asked by a listener who submitted a photo saying “It landed on the road right in front of me and then was flying around and gliding in the wind. What is it? Is it like a vulture?”

Meet the Crested Caracara

See, horseshoe crabs are a  biological oddity, a valuable one at that, especially to drug companies who look to them to ensure medicines and vaccines are safe for all of us.

And the key is in their blood.

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

They look like some sort of illustration in a mid-90’s kids book about prehistoric animals, which, if you’re familiar, is a really specific aesthetic that deserves some sort of a revival.

Maybe you’re familiar with the Pokemon called Kabuto. I have to admit, my wife got me a classic Gameboy Color for Christmas, exactly like the one I had when I was a kid, and I’ve put close to 20 hours into Pokemon Gold over the past 4 weeks.

Anyway, the point is that they look like, like many things from the sea, otherworldly, ancient, relics of a bygone era, even straight made up for an animated children’s television and game series that somehow manages to rely on its characters training animals to fight each other as a universe building plot point which is, I mean, problematic, right? I don’t know.

They somehow manage to simultaneously embody the moniker of horseshoe while also looking nothing alike other than a U-ish similarity, just as much as their sight immediately calls to mind a crab while not being one in the slightest. I’m talking about, of course, the horseshoe crab. That’s today’s topic. Horseshoe crabs. Their history, their very nature, and their relationships…to each other, other species, us, and even our health.

Today’s special guest, Dr Daniel Sasson (@Daniel_A_Sasson)

He’s a behavioral ecologist primarily interested in studying the evolution of reproductive behaviors. He did his PhD at Florida working with Horseshoe crabs and now conducts research on them at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and as you’d expect, he’s pretty mch always loved science

Learn More about The Horseshoe Crab

Support The Wild Life

Yasuhiro Tsukamoto and his team of researchers at Kyoto Prefectural University in Japan have developed a mask that helps detect COVID-19 under blacklight using cells from the Ostrich.

Transcript

Support the Show

The species is perhaps most well known for their impossible appearance and a hilarious (though not entirely correct) viral internet rant about the uselessness of the species. I personally think they look sort of like the Face of Bo from Doctor Who.

But there's more to them than their shocking appearance.

Transcript

Support The Wild Life

Whale Sharks. Are they whale, or are they shark? What do they eat? Where do they live? Just how big are they. All of that and more in today’s short!

Transcript

They came in droves but no one knows where from. You find them in your homes and cars, scuttling across your windows. They line the sidewalks and entryways of every building.

They’re Asian Lady Beetles, and they’re back.

Read the transcript and check out helpful visuals

Support the Show at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

MOVE OVER ‘SPIDER PAWS’! THE GOOTY SAPPHIRE TARANTULA’S GALACTIC COLORS ARE STUNNING.

This unexpected beauty from Gooty, a town in Central Southern India, certainly doesn’t have a shortage of names. It’s most commonly referred to as the Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tree Spider.

Check out pictures and a transcript of the episode here

Support The Wild Life for as little as $1 per month

The Wild Life has a new series, and it's unlike anything you've heard from us before. 8D, immersive, soundscapes of nature and wildlife, coming to your ears DAILY. The best way is to listen with headphones, but as far as however else you listen...it's up to you! Meditation, relaxation, sleeping, studying, curing the winter-time blues, working out for some strange reason, whatever!

Check it out!

https://the-wild-life-8d-sound.captivate.fm/listen

Support the Show at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

A lot of people want to be an “inbox zero” kind of person, but what about “mailbox zero”? Ask yourself, how often do you check the mail and how much of it ends up in the bin? Ask my wife, I am obsessive about checking the mail because I never want to miss anything important, but the reality is that 9 times out of 10 the mailbox is packed to the gills with coupons, credit card offers, and a subscription to Seventeen magazine that I NEVER SIGNED UP FOR. Well, today is your lucky day because I’m here to tell you three ways that you can get to mailbox zero.

https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

https://www.dmachoice.org/

https://www.catalogchoice.org/

Episode Transcript

Support The Wild Life at www.patreon.com/devonbowker

Deer. They’re everywhere. And our relationship with them is, well, complicated.

Some of us love to look at them, take pictures of them, have them around.

Some people hunt them for sport or for food.

Some only see them as Bambi

Some hit them with their cars…accidentally of course.

Some want them as far away from their yards, crops, or gardens as possible.

Love them or hate them, they’re here to stay. But how much do we actually know about them?

That’s what today’s show is about. Deer. Everything from antler to tail. Starting with, what makes a deer a deer.

Today's guest is Rhiannon Kirton (@Rhiannon_Kirton). She’s a Master's student studying deer, soon to be done and undoubtedly moving on to bigger and better things, and she’s worked in the US, Canada, and Australia. She’s also the co-founder of Black Mammologists Week!

Support The Wild Life atwww.patreon.com/DevonBowker

Not every reindeer has a red nose. After all, that’s part of what makes Rudolph so special—and he’s not alone.

Episode Transcript

Support the Show

When you get hot, you sweat.

When Elephants get hot, well, they don’t sweat. So what’s a 13 foot tall and 13,000-pound animal to do? I mean, not only do they produce tons of body heat for their literal tons, but Elephants in general—African and Asian—tend to live in some pretty warm places.

That’s where their big ole ears come in.

Episode Transcript

Support the Show

What do Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Gilmore Girls, and Giraffes have in common? The women are the stars of the show. 

Despite being one of the most popular animals on Earth, giraffes are not studied as much as you might expect. You might think that is totally fine. After all, giraffes are not known for being super complicated creatures. Aside from being adorable, their unique geometric pattern, and having purple tongues, their biggest flex is that they stand as tall as 3 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson's and sometimes fight each other with their Kevin Hart-sized necks. But now, a pair of researchers at the University of Bristol in England, Zoe Muller and Stephen Harris, have discovered that longstanding beliefs about giraffe social lives just do not measure up, and their findings may have huge implications on saving these creatures.

Today on the show, Giraffe Social Circles and What They Mean for Conservation

Read the transcript and/or the original paper here

Support the show here

An effort to end protections for gray wolves that began with the Florida Man administration has come to fruition under the Biden administration. The species, native to much of the US and Canada, was only recently dropped from the endangered species list. In response, a team of scientists is calling on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to instead continue safeguarding the species. The primary signatory of this letter is John Vucetich.

For the past 25 years, John Vucetich has been the lead researcher of the Wolves & Moose of Isle Royale project. He is newly the author of Restoring the Balance: What Wolves Tell Us about Our Relationship with Nature, a book which meaningfully recounts all that John has learned from these incredible creatures. “A wolf,” John says, “is a living creature, with a perspective, memories of yesterday, an interest in how tomorrow turns out, joys and fears of its own, and a story to be told.”

Today on The Wild Life, why protections were ended, what’s happened since, why hunting wolves is viewed by many as unjustifiable, their social nature and disruptions, the why behind anti-wolf rhetoric, and how protections can be put in place once again.

Support the show at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife

Happy Halloween! In this super special, unexpected, and therefore super last minute holiday treat (and trick), Devon reads a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story, A Tell Tale Heart, that you undoubtedly were coerced into reading in high school. In our somewhat modernized version, we get a different, more wildlife oriented ending that turns out to be the most opposite from horror as you can get.

Become a patron (and our best friend), and get tons of cool perks at www.patreon.com/TheWildLife and help us to keep doing what we are doing and getting better!

In this episode, we sit down with the one and only Dr Kassandra Ford, aka @kassthefish, to dive into the shocking world of electric fishes. We cover the origins of electric fish, how a living creature generates electricity, the shocking (or not so shocking) truth about touching electric fish, the legendary electric eels, communication and interference, and stunning secrets!

Now DR Kassandra Ford, aka @kassthefish on social media, is front and center on this weeks Behind the SCiENcES! Kassandra did her undergraduate research focused on neurobiology and development in zebrafishes under Dr. Mary Halloran. She then worked for a year at TAMU-Corpus Christi under Dr. Frank Pezold. He showed her lab management skills, curatorial skills, and the nuts and bolts of taxonomy and systematics. 

Kassandra's path towards a doctorate in Biology, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology took her to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She completed her PhD work under Dr. James Albert, studying the evolution of electric fishes from South America and Africa, and successfully defended her dissertation in summer 2021: Mosaic evolution of craniofacial morphologies in apteronotid and mormyrid electric fishes.

Now Kassandra will be completing a short-term postdoctoral position with Dr. Ole Seehausen at the University of Bern from 2021-2022, prior to starting an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology at George Washington University with Dr. L. Patricia Hernandez!

Learn more about Kassandra at https://www.kassandraford.com/

Support our Show at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Memory, complex social lives, communication, expression, grief, and revenge.

In this episode, we pull from our interview with Lynn Von Hagen to explore the inner machinations of the elephant mind in all of its brilliance.

Support The Wild Life at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

In this episode, we talk about everything elephants with expert, Lynn Von Hagen! Intelligence, communication, trophy hunting, general biology, staggering stats, sonic superpowers, and so much more!

Lynn is a Conservation Biologist and Presidential Research Fellow at Auburn University conducting collaborative research in the Tsavo Ecosystem of Kenya. She studies African elephant behavior, movement, and the development of community-based coexistence strategies reducing elephant and human conflicts among MANY other varied research interests. 

Back when I spoke to her, she was stateside on account of COVID at her home in Nashville Tennesee where she lives with her husband and two cats but is now back in Kenya doing fieldwork. 

Lynn is a proud advocate for women and diversity in STEM and non-traditional students.

And is expecting to complete her dissertation in 2022!

Follow her on Twitter @lynnvonhagen1

And check out her website lynnvonhagen.com

Support our show at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Get to know Lynn before our full episode on elephants later this week

She is a Conservation Biologist and Presidential Research Fellow at Auburn University conducting collaborative research in the Tsavo Ecosystem of Kenya. She studies African elephant behavior, movement, and the development of community-based coexistence strategies reducing elephant and human conflicts among MANY other varied research interests. 

Back when I spoke to her, she was stateside on account of COVID at her home in Nashville Tennesee where she lives with her husband and two cats but is now back in Kenya doing fieldwork. 

Lynn is a proud advocate for women and diversity in STEM and non-traditional students.

And is expecting to complete her dissertation in 2022!

Follow her on Twitter @lynnvonhagen1

And check out her website lynnvonhagen.com

A year or so ago, we did an episode with Dr Diva Amon about the deep sea. One of the topics we covered were Whale Falls--what happens when a whale dies and the ecosystem that follows.

A recent listen back on this episode got us thinking. Whales are the largest animals in the ocean, does anything comparable happen when the largest animals on land die?

Today on The Wild Life, we ask the question, "what happens when an elephant dies?"

In this episode, we also reference a recent article by the Guardian which can be read here: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/14/guess-whos-coming-to-dinner-roadkill-placed-on-sky-tables-to-lure-rare-birds-of-prey

Support our show at patreon.com/thewildlife

In this episode, we sit down to talk with Dr Gilad Bino all about platypuses!

We talk about their name (and some alternates), conservation efforts, absurd adaptations, forgeries and fakeries, what it's like to be stung by one, and so much more.

Support our show at patreon.com/TheWildLife

Before you sit down with us to learn all about platypuses, join us for a glimpse Behind the SCiENcES with Dr Gilad Bino.

Dr Bino is passionate about conservation and science. He seeks to address the ongoing biodiversity crisis by understanding the underlying processes that shape biodiversity at multiple spatial and temporal scales to inform and prioritize conservation management.

Research Activities

Support as at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

This is one of my favorite shots I’ve ever managed to capture. I snapped this in 2015 at one of my all-time favorite parks, @brazosbendstatepark near Houston, TX. It sorta looks like she’s lunging forward, but in reality, she was sitting in a quickly flowing stream with her mouth open against the flow, presumably to catch fish or other critters that flowed by.

It’s estimated about 250 alligators over 6 feet long live within the over 1000 acres of water at Brazos Bend, and have been for the last 65 million years. They have practically continuously been there since the days of the dinosaurs. That’s pretty awesome if you ask me.

Want a bunch of random alligator factoids? Give this short a listen!

or read them here: https://thewildlife.blog/2021/08/07/dispatches-from-somewhere-5-american-alligator/

Support us at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Read the post and see the picture here: https://thewildlife.blog/2021/08/04/dispatches-from-somewhere-4-antheraea-polyphemus/

Support The Wild Life at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

In this episode, Devon and Richard sit down with Brogan Holcombe to talk all about bears!

Outline:

Brogan is a Master’s Student working in the Wildlife Habitat & Population Analysis Lab at Virginia Tech

She’s also the one behind #SundayScientistShoutout on Twitter which she does every week for scientists or STEM activists from underrepresented groups.

Follow Brogan @Brogan_Holcombe or look up her #bearseyeview for awesome bear videos!

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Become a Member-Supporter

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Follow us on all of our platforms

https://broganholcombe.wixsite.com/home

Brogan is a Master’s Student working in the Wildlife Habitat & Population Analysis Lab at Virginia Tech

She’s also the one behind #SundayScientistShoutout on Twitter which she does every week for scientists or STEM activists from underrepresented groups.

Follow Brogan @Brogan_Holcombe or look up her #bearseyeview for awesome bear videos!

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Become a Member-Supporter

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Follow us on all of our platforms

https://broganholcombe.wixsite.com/home

In this episode, Devon sits down with Carnivore Ecologist Dr Mariela Gantchoff to talk about

Meet this week’s guest before the episode airs!

She is an ecologist at the intersection of theoretical and applied ecology, currently working on landscape and quantitative ecology in relation to the conservation and management of terrestrial wildlife. A lot of her current research involves working to understand wildlife use of natural and developed landscapes, range expansion of recolonizing species, how sex-specific differences can influence conservation and management, and the interactions between humans and wildlife. Specifically, she often works on species distributions, landscape connectivity, population, and metapopulation dynamics,  carnivore ecology and behavior, applied conservation science, community ecology, and citizen/community science.

Dr Gantchoff is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Global Wildlife Conservation Center (formerly Camp Fire Program in Wildlife Conservation), at the State University of New York where she investigates aspects of population and the spatial ecology of  recolonizing black bears in human-modified landscapes, in collaboration with theMissouri Black Bear Project and Missouri Department of Conservation. In addition, she also researches cougar range expansion in the eastern USA, and supports researchers investigating wolf potential distribution and mortality sources in North America, among other topics. Dr Gantchoff is also a part ofthe Jaguar Network, an NGO focused on the conservation and restoration of the jaguar, as well as its habitats, in northern Argentina.

Her past research and projects involve a variety of topics such as land use impact on mammal communities, invasive herbivores' effect on native carnivores occurrence and activity, quantifying exotic species richness (plants, birds, and mammals) in protected areas,  small carnivore introductions around the world, and avian reproductive ecology and behavior. 

https://sites.google.com/site/mgantchoff/

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Become a Member-Supporter

Follow us on all of our platforms

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Become a Member-Supporter

Follow us on all of our platforms

If you've ever seen a documentary series narrated by David Attenborough, you've almost surely seen the Birds of Paradise. They are a favorite of his, and many others around the world for their otherworldly, almost ethereal appearance, sounds, and behaviors. In this episode, we explore their fascinating world and biology with Dr Bruce Beehler, ornithologist and research associate of the Bird Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and expert on the Birds of Paradise. Follow him on Twitter @BruceMBeehler

Episode Outline/Questions Answered:

Meet this week’s guest before the episode airs! Dr Bruce M. Beehler (born October 11, 1951 in Baltimore) is an ornithologist and research associate of the Bird Division of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. Prior to this appointment, Beehler worked for Conservation International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Counterpart International, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Bruce Beehler graduated from Williams College and received his Masters and PhD studying the behavioral ecology of the birds-of-paradise at Princeton University.[1]

He has been an authority on New Guinea birds for several decades, having authored or co-authored several major works on the biodiversity this, the largest tropical island, including The Birds of Paradise (1998), The Birds of New Guinea (1986, 2015) and the two-volume Ecology of Papua (2007).

To the general public, Beehler is best known for having co-led a widely published rapid assessment survey on biological diversity in 2005 to the Foja Mountains, Papua, where he, together with an international team of 11 scientists, the majority from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), made a number of scientific discoveries.

The findings on this survey expanded on previous research conducted in the region by Dr. Jared Diamond in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Beehler and colleagues, however, returned with the first ever photographs of two species of birds, the bronze parotia (Parotia berlepschi) and the golden-fronted bowerbird (Amblyornis flavifrons), that previously were known only from a few specimens. Additionally, a previously unknown species of honeyeater was discovered, it being scientifically described in 2007 as the wattled smoky honeyeater (Melipotes carolae). The specific epithet, carolae, commemorates Carol Beehler, the wife of Bruce Beehler. Together with a team from 60 Minutes, Beehler returned to the Foja Mountains in 2007, resulting in the first ever filming of several of the species discovered in 2005, as well as encounters with an undescribed giant rat (Mallomys sp.) and a tiny pygmy possum (Cercartetus sp.)

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/donate-widget/30694 (Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization)

https://blog.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=2305d8aac3a24b336b10d645eandid=6915ba78da (Sign up for our Newsletter!)

https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife (Become a Member-Supporter)

https://linktr.ee/TheWildLifePod (Follow us on all of our platforms)

Dragonflies and Damselflies have been on our planet for millions of years. They're embedded in our art, culture, stories, and even our skin as a popular tattoo subject.

They also live amazing lives.

Join us for a deep dive on dragonfly lives with Dr Jessica L Ware

Blog Post on Dragonhunters

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Become a Member-Supporter

Follow us on all of our platforms

Check out our Dragonfly themed t-shirt!

Dr Ware's Must-Read Book Picks:

Chasing Dragonflies

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East

Utterly Bugged

Meet this week's guest before the episode airs, Dr Jessica L Ware, assistant curator in invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Ware’s research focuses on the evolution of behavioral and physiological adaptations in insects, with an emphasis on how these occur in Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) and Dictyoptera (termites, cockroaches and mantises). Her research group focuses on phylogenetics/phylogenomics and uses these tools to inform their work on reproductive, social and flight behaviors in insects. Jessica holds a BSc from the University of British Columbia in Canada, and a PhD from Rutgers, New Brunswick. She was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the AMNH 2008-2010, before being hired at Rutgers Newark where she was an associate professor of evolutionary biology. She is the current president of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association, and serves as an elected board member on the executive committee of the Entomological Society of America Governing Board. She was recently awarded a PECASE medal from the US government for her work on insect evolution.

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Become a Member-Supporter

Follow us on all of our platforms

Dr Ware's Must-Read Book Picks:

Chasing Dragonflies

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East

Utterly Bugged

Before you read what this episode is about, we have an ask. Whoever you are, wherever you are, whichever platform you are using to listen, please consider leaving us a rating and review. Aside from the feedback being helpful to shape our work, it also increases our visibility and helps to grow our community and organization. Plus you'll forever be our favorite listener!

Professor Marcus Byrne teaches us about the fantastical and unexpected world of dung beetles, their ecological importance, their connections to human culture and history, and how this lowly creature finds its way home by looking to the stars.

Make a donation to our 501(c)3 organization

Sign up for our Newsletter!

Become a Member-Supporter

Follow us on all of our platforms

Marcus Byrne's Book Picks:

Dance of the Dung Beetle: Their Role in Our Changing World

Origins: How Earth's History Shaped Human History

Enlightenment Now

Get to know this week's guest before the episode drops!

Donate to the Binoculars for Young Birders Program here

Support The Wild Life at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Welcome to part two in an ongoing series examining our connections and impact on the environment, sustainability, and our changing climate.

Part 1 through roughly 9 will focus on laying the groundwork for understanding these complicated issues from a variety of perspectives, while parts 10 through 20 or so will place the first half into real-world context, examining issues and controversies surrounding Deforestation, Overfishing, Recycling, and E-Waste.

Today we ask, if economic systems are the primary producers of environmental problems, can they also be expected to solve those problems?

Read the episode transcript here: https://thewildlife.blog/2021/04/23/can-the-market-save-the-world/

Become a member supporter of The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife

Please consider leaving us a rating and review wherever you are listening!

In this episode, we finally learn the answer to why wombats have cubed poop, learn how all of us mammals are bonded by our bowels, find out about something called the Law of Urination, and learn that we are in deep doo-doo as we discover the Global Feces Problem.

Patricia Yang is a postdoc in Civil and Environmental Engineering, where she is studying the collective behavior of birds. Before coming to Stanford, she completed doctoral and postdoctoral studies in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology on the fluid mechanics of body fluids, in particular, blood, feces, and urine. She received bachelor’s degrees in Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering (ESOE) and Physics from National Taiwan University.

Yang was the recipient of the Sigma Xi Best Thesis award and the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. Her work has been featured on CNN, the BBC, National Public Radio, National Geographic, and The Times. In addition to conducting research, she teaches fluid mechanics at all levels, from elementary school to college.

https://www.patriciayang.net/

Donate to the Binoculars for Young Birders Program here

Support The Wild Life at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Patricia's book recommendation: How to Walk on Water and Climb up Walls

Stay tuned for her full episode, Poo Cubed, out this Friday!

Patricia Yang is a postdoc in Civil and Environmental Engineering, where she is studying the collective behavior of birds. Before coming to Stanford, she completed doctoral and postdoctoral studies in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology on the fluid mechanics of body fluids, in particular, blood, feces, and urine. She received bachelor’s degrees in Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering (ESOE) and Physics from National Taiwan University.

Yang was the recipient of the Sigma Xi Best Thesis award and the Ig Nobel Prize in Physics. Her work has been featured on CNN, the BBC, National Public Radio, National Geographic, and The Times. In addition to conducting research, she teaches fluid mechanics at all levels, from elementary school to college.

https://www.patriciayang.net/

Donate to the Binoculars for Young Birders Program here

Support The Wild Life at https://www.patreon.com/thewildlife

The truth is, the concept of a plant or animals purpose isn’t as cut and dry as many would like. This makes sense. People are always trying to determine their purpose, their deeper meaning, and trying to answer age old questions like “What’s the meaning of life?”. When we start looking outward, we start trying to apply that same thought logic, but that’s just not how life really works. This is a topic I will be sure to explore more in-depth in a future podcast episode devoted to this idea of purpose.

That being said, everything plays a role in its ecosystem. Yes, even ticks. So what are those roles? I’ll explain!

Read the transcript of the episode here

Welcome to part 1 of Us, an ongoing series examining our connections and impact on the environment, sustainability, and our changing climate.

Part 1 through roughly 9 will focus on laying the groundwork for understanding these complicated issues from a variety of perspectives, while parts 10 through 20 or so will place the first half into real-world context, examining issues and controversies surrounding Deforestation, Overfishing, Recycling, and E-Waste.

For a transcript of the episode, check out our poston thewildlife.blog

Support us at www.patreon.com/thewildlife

Have you ever seen an injured animal and wished you knew what to do or who to call? Have you ever seen an animal acting strangely but were unsure of whether or not that thing you saw was normal? Have you ever thought about getting into wildlife rehab? Then this is the episode for you.

We talk baby birds, fledglings, bats, baby deer, squirrels, and so much more.

Our guest is Tami Vogel, the Communications Director of WRCMN.

Check them out here!

Support us at www.patreon.com/thewildife

This episode has it all: Quokkas, trivia, selfies, Australia, the La Brea Tar Pits, Conservation Paleobiology, and somehow manages to tie it all together. Dr Larisa DeSantis, Conservation Paleobiologist and professor at Vanderbilt University, is our guest and she tells us how she is using relics of the past to inform the conservation of species now and into the future.

Check out our new children's e-book on Kindle, Quokka's Aren't Cute!

Also, be on the lookout for the upcoming quokka kids book from Dr DeSantis herself, Fox Food!

Support The Wild Life, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, at patreon.com/thewildlife or paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow these wonderful Podcasts too!

Planthropology

Twitter: @Planthropology_

Varmints

Twitter: @varmintspodcast

The Root of the Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RootofSciPod

Website/Podcast: https://rootofthesciencepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Earth Ideas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

Website/Podcast: https://lnk.bio/SnYr

Curiosity Cake

Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiosity_cake

Website/Podcast: https://curiositycake.co.uk/

Papa PhD

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PapaPhDPodcast

Website/Podcast: https://papaphd.com/

Mad Scientist

Twitter:https://twitter.com/MadScientistPod

Website/Podcast: https://www.themadscientistpodcast.com/

Breaking Math

Twitter: https://twitter.com/breakingmathpod

Website/Podcast: https://breakingmathpodcast.app/

The Nagging Naturalist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nag_naturalist

Website/Podcast: http://www.thenaggingnaturalist.com/

That's What I Call Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatsScienceTAS

Website/Podcast: https://thatsscience.org/

mAcademia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mAcademiaP

Website/Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mAcademia

What Are YOU Going to Do with THAT?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/What2doWithTHAT

Website/Podcast:https://linktr.ee/what2dowiththat

A fascinating journey that sounds the stuff of an animated movie or a children’s book is about to come to a rather different sort of end.

On December 26th, a man by the name of Kevin Celli-Bird discovered an understandably exhausted pigeon resting in the backyard of his home in Melbourne, Australia.

The bird was from America.

Read the Story Here

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildlife

Have you ever been outside during the spring and you see what looks like spit clinging to the sides of plant stems? Well, it's not spit, but it is a body fluid, and it hides a fascinating little creature that grows up to be something even more fantastical. Learn all about these snorkeling, high jumping, super-powered true-bugs with Dr Jason Cryan as your guide.

Watch a Froghopper's incredible jump in slow-motion!

Support The Wild Life, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, at patreon.com/thewildlife or paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow these wonderful Podcasts too!

Planthropology

Twitter: @Planthropology_

Varmints

Twitter: @varmintspodcast

The Root of the Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RootofSciPod

Website/Podcast: https://rootofthesciencepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Earth Ideas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

Website/Podcast: https://lnk.bio/SnYr

Curiosity Cake

Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiosity_cake

Website/Podcast: https://curiositycake.co.uk/

Papa PhD

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PapaPhDPodcast

Website/Podcast: https://papaphd.com/

Mad Scientist

Twitter:https://twitter.com/MadScientistPod

Website/Podcast: https://www.themadscientistpodcast.com/

Breaking Math

Twitter: https://twitter.com/breakingmathpod

Website/Podcast: https://breakingmathpodcast.app/

The Nagging Naturalist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nag_naturalist

Website/Podcast: http://www.thenaggingnaturalist.com/

That's What I Call Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatsScienceTAS

Website/Podcast: https://thatsscience.org/

mAcademia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mAcademiaP

Website/Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mAcademia

What Are YOU Going to Do with THAT?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/What2doWithTHAT

Website/Podcast:https://linktr.ee/what2dowiththat

It's kind of hard to believe at first glance, but yes, they're actually pigeons.

https://thewildlife.blog/2020/05/12/the-wild-life-of-the-nicobar-pigeon/

Shrew are many things. Sometimes venomous, sometimes able to walk on water, sometimes snake-killers, but always adoreable.

https://thewildlife.blog/2019/02/26/twl-hiking-clubthe-always-adorable-sometimes-vicious-shrew/

Hey Wildlings! First off, Happy New Year. This episode is about 15 minutes of something a little different from what we normally do + a revisit to an old classic, The Metamorphosis Metaphor.

We'd love to hear from you too. What do you want from us in the New Year? What would you like to hear, see, do? How do you want to interact with us?

Also, we'd love to start off the new year in the top charts. Leave us a quick rating and review! You have no idea how deeply we appreciate it.

Support The Wild Life at patreon.com/thewildife and paypal.me/thewildlife

Follow all of the podcasts featured in this episode!

The Root of the Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RootofSciPod

Website/Podcast: https://rootofthesciencepodcast.buzzsprout.com/

Earth Ideas

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ideas_earth

Website/Podcast: https://lnk.bio/SnYr

Curiosity Cake

Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiosity_cake

Website/Podcast: https://curiositycake.co.uk/

Papa PhD

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PapaPhDPodcast

Website/Podcast: https://papaphd.com/

Mad Scientist

Twitter:https://twitter.com/MadScientistPod

Website/Podcast: https://www.themadscientistpodcast.com/

Breaking Math

Twitter: https://twitter.com/breakingmathpod

Website/Podcast: https://breakingmathpodcast.app/

The Nagging Naturalist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nag_naturalist

Website/Podcast: http://www.thenaggingnaturalist.com/

That's What I Call Science

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThatsScienceTAS

Website/Podcast: https://thatsscience.org/

mAcademia

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mAcademiaP

Website/Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mAcademia

The Wild Life

Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheWildLifepod

Website/Podcast: https://thewildlife.blog/

What Are YOU Going to Do with THAT?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/What2doWithTHAT

Website/Podcast:https://linktr.ee/what2dowiththat

My 4 year old brought me my mic and asked if we could make a podcast episode. This is that episode!

Also know as the cigar shark for that one time a sailor mistook it for a cigar and only realized their mistake after trying to light it up—kidding of course— Isistius brasiliensis is shark of the family Dalatiidae. The genus name, Isistius, is based on Isis. No, not the terrorist group, but after Isis, the Egyptian goddess of light.

https://thewildlife.blog/2019/08/05/sunday-fish-sketch-the-cookiecutter-shark/

Support at patreon.com/thewildlife

NOT A LEMUR, NOR A CAT. THIS RACCOON-LIKE CRITTER IS A “CLEVER FOX”.

THIS TOXIC, NECTARLESS FLOWER IS SPREAD BY ANTS

Support our work at patreon.com/thewildlife