Strange Animals Podcast

Thanks to Nathan-Andrew for suggesting giant ichthyosaurs! Further reading: Paleontologists unearth what may be the largest known marine reptile Ruby and some other scientists with the ichthyotitan fossils [photos taken from this page]: How the pieces fit together: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going to

Thanks to Max for suggesting Titanoboa! Further reading: Largest known madtsoiid snake from warm Eocene period of India suggests intercontinental Gondwana dispersal This Nearly 50-Foot Snake Was One of the Largest to Slither on Earth Meet Vasuki indicus, the 'crocodile' that was a 50ft snake Titanoboa had really big bones compared to its modern relatives: Vasuki had big bon

Thanks to Khalil for suggesting the horny toad, also called the horned lizard or horned toad! Further reading: The Case of the Lost Lizard The Texas horned lizard: Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) The rock horned lizard [photo taken from article linked above]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I’m your host, Kate Shaw. This week we’re going

Thanks to Elijah and an anonymous listener for suggesting that we talk about some more species of praying mantis! Further reading: The luring mantid: Protrusible pheromone glands in Stenophylla lobivertex (Mantodea: Acanthopidae) Dragons and unicorns (mantises) spotted in Atlantic forest Citizen scientists help discover new mantis species The dragon mantis [photo from first arti

Thanks to River for suggesting this week's topic, the pufferfish! Further reading: Grass puffer fish communicate with each other using a non-toxic version of their deadly toxin Mystery pufferfish create elaborate circular nests at mesophotic depths in Australia Pufferfish, puffed: A starry puffer, un-puffed [picture by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.o

Thanks to Carson, Mia, Eli, and Pranav for their suggestions this week! Further reading: RNA for the first time recovered from an extinct species Study finds ongoing evolution in Tasmanian Devils' response to transmissible cancer Tasmanian devil research offers new insights for tackling cancer in humans The Tasmanian devil looks really cute but fights all the time [picture by

Thanks to Will and Måns for their suggestions this week! Let's learn about some mystery bovids, or cows and cow relations! Further reading: A Book of Creatures: Songòmby Kouprey: The Ultimate Mystery Mammal A musk ox (top) and a wild yak (bottom): A young kouprey bull from the 1930s: Sculpture of two grown kouprey bulls [photo by Christian Pirkl - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Thanks to Ari for suggesting this week's episode, about the peacock! Further reading: Peacock tail feathers shake at resonance and hold eye-spots still during courtship displays Indian peafowls' crests are tuned to frequencies also used in social displays An ocellated turkey (not a peacock but related): An Indian peacock male: An Indian peahen with chicks [photo from this

Let's look at some of the most interesting animals discovered last year! Further reading: Newly-discovered ‘margarita snails’ from the Florida Keys are bright lemon-yellow Tiny spirits roam the corals of Japan—two new pygmy squids discovered Strange New Species of Aquifer-Dwelling Catfish Discovered in India Bizarre New Species of Catfish Discovered in South America

Sorry to my Patreon subscribers, since this is mostly a rerun episode from April 2019. It's a fun one, though! The teensy pumpkin toadlet [photo by Diogo B. Provete - http://calphotos.berkeley.edu, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6271494]: The electromagnetic spectrum. Look how tiny the visible light spectrum is on this scale! [By NASA - https://sc