Strange Animals Podcast

This week we’ve got a heaping helping of animals with big pointy teeth! Whether you spell it saber or sabre, you don’t want teeth of that description biting you. Smilodon is the best saber-toothed cat: Thylacosmilus’s weird chin bone: Thylacosmilus might have looked something like this when alive: Kolponomos might have looked something like this ... [Read more...]

This week we’ll learn about some terrifying extinct fish, the armored dunkleosteus and the spiral-toothed helicoprion, plus a few friends of theirs who could TEAR YOU UP. Dunkleosteus did not even need teeth: Helicoprion had teeth like crazy in a buzzsaw-like tooth whorl: Helicoprion’s living relatives, chimaeras (or ghost sharks) are a lot less impressive ... [Read more...]

This week’s episode is about several New Zealand birds, from the still-living kiwi to the mmmmmaybe extinct moa! Note: I’m going to start putting a full transcript of each episode in the show notes for those who would like to know what words I’m mispronouncing and for those who may have hearing issues. Transcripts will ... [Read more...]

This week we’ll learn all about venomous mammals: what are they, will they kill you, and why aren’t humans venomous because that would be cool. While you’re pondering your lack of venom, hop on over and enter my Goodreads giveaway for my new book Skytown! (Canada and U.S. only, sorry.) The adorable and venomous water ... [Read more...]

In Episode 30, I admit a M I S T A K E, in that I did not realize Finland has a sizable moose population and so therefore assumed that although this thing looks like a moose, it must be a reindeer head. So because I made a M I S T A K E, ... [Read more...]

This week we investigate a couple of famous lake monsters, Nessie and Champ. Don’t worry, there are more lake monster and sea monster episodes coming in the future! Most lake monster pictures look like this. Compelling! This was taken in Loch Ness: The famous Mansi photograph taken in Lake Champlain: Beluga whales are really easy ... [Read more...]

Hello from Finland! While I’m far from home, I’m thinking of animals of my native land. So join me to learn about crawdads (aka crayfish aka crawfish aka freshwater lobsters aka everything) and cicadas! A lovely blue crayfish from Indonesia Fite me The giant Tasmanian crayfish A periodical cicada. A cicada killer about to do ... [Read more...]

This week is our six-month anniversary! To celebrate, we’ll learn about some of the creatures that live at the bottom of the Mariana Trench’s deepest section, Challenger Deep, as well as other animals who live in deep caves on land. We also learn what I will and will not do for a million dollars (hint: ... [Read more...]

Part two of our humans episode is about a couple of our more distant cousins, the Flores little people (Homo floresiensis) and Homo naledi, with side trips to think about Rumpelstiltskin, trolls, and the Ebu gogo. Homo floresiensis skull compared to a human skull. We are bigheaded monsters in comparison. Also, we got chins. Homo ... [Read more...]

This week is our first two-parter ever! I don’t intend to do that often but there was just too much to go over for one episode. This week we’ll talk about humans: where we come from, how we evolved, and who our closest cousins are–Neanderthals and Denisovans. Some young humans. Humans can do many surprising ... [Read more...]