The Climate Question

Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?


Listen Later

As climate change brings rising temperatures and shifting patterns of rainfall, animals are adapting to keep pace. Bird’s bodies are growing smaller, their wingspan longer, lizards are growing larger thumb pads to help them grip more tightly in hurricane strength winds, beak size is changing.

We visit the Galapagos, where evolution was first discovered by Charles Darwin, to investigate the many ways the behaviour and physiology of animals are changing to survive the impact of climate change. But can they do it quickly enough?

First broadcast – 14 March 2022

Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by:

Kiyoko Gotanda, Assistant Professor at Brock University
Ramiro Tomala, Expedition leader, Metropolitan Touring in the Galapagos
Thor Hanson, conservationist and author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid
Anne Charmantier, Director of Research at Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Montpellier

With thanks to research carried out by Colin Donihue of Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Producer: Dearbhail Starr

Reporter: Mark Stratton
Series Producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Nicola Addyman
Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed
Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Climate QuestionBy BBC World Service

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

158 ratings


More shows like The Climate Question

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,412 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,843 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,909 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

400 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,782 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,050 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

344 Listeners

Climate One by Climate One from The Commonwealth Club

Climate One

564 Listeners

Witness History by BBC World Service

Witness History

963 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,081 Listeners

BBC Inside Science by BBC Radio 4

BBC Inside Science

403 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

748 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

480 Listeners

People Fixing the World by BBC World Service

People Fixing the World

244 Listeners

Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast by Persephonica and Global Optimism

Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast

456 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

742 Listeners

All Things Sustainable by S&P Global

All Things Sustainable

59 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,985 Listeners

Climate Rising by Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative

Climate Rising

76 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

114 Listeners

Zero: The Climate Race by Bloomberg

Zero: The Climate Race

198 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

171 Listeners

Rare Earth by BBC Radio 4

Rare Earth

14 Listeners