June 18, 2026

Bonus: Wild Animal Dads from Terrestrials

35 minutes

In honor of Father's Day, here is a family friendly bonus episode from our kids' podcast Terrestrials.

What does it really mean to be a dad? In the animal world, fathers have long been painted as aggressive or absent. At best providers and protectors, but certainly not caregivers. And yet for every tale of a lion or chimp dad eating its own young (yikes!), there’s another creature who tells a sweeter story.

Two HUMAN dads bring us on this DADventure: Dr. Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, who has spent decades studying owl monkey dads in the forests of Argentina, and Michael Feigelson, who once worried he wasn't cut out for the softer side of parenting.

They introduce us to seahorse dads who get pregnant, poison dart frog dads who give piggyback rides to their tadpoles, Darwin frogs who swallow their eggs to keep them safe, burying beetles who build "corpse cribs," jacana birds who do all the egg-sitting, and stickleback fish who construct intricate underwater nests for their young. Along the way, we learn that nature doesn’t offer just one model of fatherhood. Alongside Mother Nature... there just might be a Father Nature, too.

Special thanks to the Van Leer Foundation for the support of this episode.

Resources on Animal fatherhood

Eduardo Duque's Owl Monkey Project: https://www.owlmonkeyproject.com/

An interview with Eduardo in Yale News

Lauren O’Connell lab – frog behaviour

Short explainer: frog parenting research

Stickleback fish parenting study (Alison Bell)

Alison Bell lab video

Human fatherhood

Fathertime by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy

ECM interview: evolution of “man the nurturer”

Lee Gettler – biology of fatherhood (video)

Lee Gettler article in Early Childhood Matters

Darby Saxbe book: Dad Brain

Darby Saxbe Article in Early Childhood Matters

Talks, films & convenings

Yale Conference on Fatherhood

Live Recording of Yale Conference:

Fathers and Fatherhood: From Molecules to Modern Families

Fathertime documentary

Campaigns & global perspectives

Equimundo's State of World's fathers report

Men Care Changemakers Journey

Parenting Out Loud (Elliot Rae)

Terrestrials was created by Lulu Miller with WNYC studios. This episode was produced by Tanya Chawla, with sound design by Mira Burt-Wintonick. Sarah Sandbach is our Executive Producer. Our team also includes Ana González, Alan Goffinski, Natalia Ramirez, and Joe Plourde. Fact checking by Angely Mercado.

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