Strange Animals Podcast

A podcast about living, extinct, and imaginary animals!

Natural Sciences Science Life Sciences

Update frequency: every 6 days
Average duration: 12 minutes
Episodes: 313
Years Active: 2020 - 2025

Episode 174: MONSTER CEPHALOPODS!

It's a bonus monster month in June, because everything is awful and learning about monsters will take our minds off the awfulness. This week let's learn about some mysterious stories from around the …

00:14:40 | Mon 01 Jun 2020

Episode 173: The Mystery of the Forest Raven

We have a fun mystery bird this week, the forest raven! Was it a real bird??? (hint: yes, but not a raven)

The "forest raven" illustration from Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner's Historiae Animalium,…

00:11:03 | Mon 25 May 2020

Episode 172: Temnospondyls

This week let's go back back back in time to more than 300 million years ago, when amphibian-like animals lived in enormous swamps. Don't be fooled by the word amphibian: many Temnospondyls were real…

00:13:43 | Mon 18 May 2020

Episode 171: The Animals of St. Kilda

Thanks to Emma for the suggestion! Let's learn about some animals that live on the St. Kilda islands off the coast of Scotland!

St. Kilda:

Soay rams (kept on farms, not the feral sheep):

A sm…

00:10:37 | Mon 11 May 2020

Episode 170: Spinosaurus

This week let's find out what has paleontologists so excited about this dinosaur!

Further reading:

The Nature article that kicked this all off (you can only read the abstract for free but it's full…

00:10:02 | Mon 04 May 2020

Episode 169: The Tarantula!

This week let's learn about my nemesis (in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, at least), the tarantula!

Further reading:

Tarantulas inspire new structural color with the greatest viewing angle

My char…

00:14:58 | Mon 27 Apr 2020

Episode 168: The Longest Lived

This week let's take a look at some animals (and other living organisms) that live the longest!

This isn't Methuselah itself (scientists aren't saying which tree it is, to keep it safe), but it's a …

00:14:18 | Mon 20 Apr 2020

Episode 167: Animals That Just Look Wrong

Thanks to Sam for this week's topic suggestion and animal suggestions! This week we're looking at some animals that just look...weird? And wrong? And not what you expect?

Like the gerenuk:

And t…

00:13:07 | Mon 13 Apr 2020

Episode 166: The Domestic Cat

I just adopted two black cats, named Dracula and Poe, so let's learn about domestic cats! Thanks to RosyWindFox, Nicholas, Richard E., Kim, and an anonymous listener who all made suggestions and cont…

00:28:20 | Mon 06 Apr 2020

Episode 165: Furry Fish

I hope you're all well and not too bored if you're one of the millions who are having to stay inside right now! This week let's learn about a fishy mystery, fish with fur!

Further reading:

Mirapinn…

00:08:04 | Mon 30 Mar 2020

Episode 164: The Pronghorn

This week let's learn about the pronghorn!

Show transcript:

Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw.

This week let’s finally look at an animal I’ve wanted to cover for at le…

00:08:16 | Mon 23 Mar 2020

Episode 163: Three Weird Fish

Thanks to Nathan for his suggestions! This week we're going to learn about three strange and interesting fish!

A northern snakehead:

A giant snakehead:

A Greenland shark, fish of mystery:

T…

00:11:37 | Mon 16 Mar 2020

BONUS! Two more Mongolian animals!

It's a bonus episode because some people are too disturbed by the thought of diseases to listen to this week's regular episode. I'm really sorry about that! To make it up to you, here are two adorabl…

00:05:12 | Wed 11 Mar 2020

Episode 162: Some Seals and the END OF THE WORRRRLLLDDDD

Thanks to Kim and Pranav for their unsettling suggestions for this episode! I swear the reason I decided to do this episode this week was to celebrate getting over my cold, but then I realized I need…

00:20:12 | Mon 09 Mar 2020

Episode 161: Strange Bird Sounds 2

I still have a cold, so let's let some birds do part of the talking in this episode about more weird bird calls!

Further reading:

Listen to the Loudest Bird Ever Recorded

Further listening/watchin…

00:08:55 | Mon 02 Mar 2020

Episode 160: Two Rare Bees

I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, so here's a short episode that I can get finished before I start to croak like a bullfrog or a raven. It's time for some astonishing bees! Thanks to Richard J…

00:06:29 | Mon 24 Feb 2020

Episode 159: Sky Animals

To celebrate my new book, Skyway, this week let's learn about sky animals! They're fictitious, but could they really exist? And what animals are really found in the high atmosphere?

You can order a …

00:20:57 | Mon 17 Feb 2020

Episode 158: Legless Lizards and Other Not-Snakes

What's the difference between a snake and a legless lizard? Find out this week and learn about all kinds of interesting reptiles without legs that aren't actually snakes!

The slow-worm. Not a snake:
…

00:12:58 | Mon 10 Feb 2020

Episode 157: Rodents of Unusual Size

Uh, yeah, not the legless lizard episode. But just as interesting! This week let's learn about the largest rodents in the world! Hint: way bigger than a rat.

Further reading:

Rodents of Uncertain S…

00:11:16 | Mon 03 Feb 2020

Episode 156: Animals of Mongolia

In honor of my new favorite band, The Hu, let's learn about some animals from their country, Mongolia! (You can also watch the "Wolf Totem" video with English lyrics.)

The Hu. Oh my heart:

If you…

00:20:41 | Mon 27 Jan 2020

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