Look at Me

Apr 13 2022 14 ep. 27 mins 4.2k

Look at Me Podcast artwork

Weird and wonderful tales of Australian wildlife. Hosted by award winning science journalist Rae Johnston and ecologist Chris McCormack

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The underwater punk straight out of the realm of science fiction

Apr 13 2022 27 mins

In this final episode of Look at Me, we dive into the ocean’s to discover a creature that is perhaps the most bizarre animal Rae has ever seen. This dazzling group of sea slugs adapts to its dynamic environment using colourful headdresses, stinging cells and lungs that can exist outside the body. Little is still known about the nudibranch but we meet the researcher and the citize

The scientist who dedicated her life to the mysterious springtail – Look at Me podcast

Apr 06 2022 34 mins

In the 1950s Dr Penelope Greenslade became one of the few women to study at Cambridge University. She then travelled to Solomon Islands where her love affair with the springtail began, a tiny acrobatic animal that you’ll find almost everywhere in Australia but have probably never recognised Rain reveals the creatures that walk on water

The tenacious bird abandoning its young in a giant thermal mound

Mar 30 2022 33 mins

In some of the most harsh habitat in Australia, you’ll find what looks like giant piles of dirt. But dig deeper and you’ll find the eggs of the malleefowl, buried in leaf litter and sand at the exact depth needed to keep them warm until they hatch and are left to fend for themselves, newborn birds fighting to survive

The weird, wonderful and ultimately exhausting life of the antechinus

Mar 23 2022 34 mins

This marsupial mouse enters its first mating season with a thirty-fold increase in testosterone. It copulates at a frenetic rate, only to collapse afterwards, dying from its exertions. But now climate change is posing a much more serious threat to the species than sex

The gym junkie of the sky

Mar 16 2022 25 mins

Imagine flying thousands of kilometres to avoid getting cold. Meet the bird that starts its migration journey at a Siberian bush doof and ends up on the mudflats of eastern Australia. In this episode of Look at Me, we hitch a ride with the eastern curlew and meet the zoologist who learnt to fly a plane so she could track their flight path

The ants keeping an endangered butterfly alive

Mar 09 2022 34 mins

Imagine outsourcing childcare to a nest of ants? This may not be the best idea for humans but a certain insect is making it work. Now the Eltham copper butterfly’s amazing use of surrogate ant parents has attracted human fans who are using a song to try to save it from extinction

Introducing Look at Me season 2

Mar 03 2022 2 mins

When it comes to Australian native animals, everyone thinks about koalas and kangaroos and drop bears and wombats. But what about the creepy ones? What about the niche ones? The ones that don’t make it on to coins or Bluey? Join your hosts Rae Johnston and Chris McCormack to meet the incredible animals other people don’t talk about.

Our rare tiny marsupial, hanging on in the mountains – Look at me podcast

Apr 04 2019 37 mins

When we think of the effects of climate change it’s easy to focus on rising sea levels – but what about the changes happening much higher up? At Mount Hotham in Victoria a unique creature spends months under the snow: Australia’s only hibernating marsupial, the mountain pygmy possum. This tiny animal was once thought extinct. Now, zoos and ski-resorts are doing everything the

The 3-metre worm you will never have seen – Look at me podcast

Mar 27 2019 32 mins

Eastern Victoria is home to a strange creature that few have seen and even fewer have researched. You may be able to hear its gurgles under the ground but the 1.5- to 3-metre-long Giant Gippsland earthworm never comes to the surface in its natural life. In this episode of Look at me, Chris McCormack finds the only world expert on this creature and asks: why would you devote your li

Searching for Australia's most elusive marsupial – Look at me podcast

Mar 20 2019 37 mins

If you’ve ever travelled to an Australian desert, you may have been in the presence of one of Australia’s most elusive marsupials. The Anangu people call it the itjaritjari but it is more commonly known as the marsupial mole – even though it is not actually a mole. Living entirely underground, this eye-less creature with pincer-like limbs has mostly defied scientific study un