Strange by Nature Podcast

The Mystery of Mars

Victoria takes a page from Kirk and brings us to space with some weird facts about Mars and how it got where it is.

Kirk breaks our brains with a genealogy puzzle. When was the most recent common ancestor to all humans alive? The answer is bizarre.

Rachel doesn't want to break our brains so she brings us a beautiful rainbow sea jelly.

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When Flowers go Wrong

Rachel tells us this week about spiny rats. These strange little mammals can actually drop their tails when in danger.

Victoria brings us the fascinating topic of fasciation, when plant flowers go a bit wrong. These blooms get really weird.

Kirk rounds out the show by talking about how plants are master manipulators and this time we discover that they can mimic the smell of ants attacked by spiders in order to attract pollinating flies.

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Glowing Termite Mounds of Brazil

Rachel shocks no one when she goes back to the ocean this week and comes up with the rather strange looking Goosefish.

Not to be outdone, Victoria takes us to Brazil to see glowing termite mounds. It turns out, the glowing is actually click beetles.

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Birds with Ants in their Pants

This week Victoria tells us all about the bizarre process of Anting. What's that? That's when birds cover themselves with ants. Yeah, it's strange.

Rachel follows that up with a story about the Hero Shrew, this cunning little guy is incredible and tough.

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Guard Duty Turns Dad into Cannibal

This week, Victoria brought us the Sand Bubbler Crab. These guys are wild. Native to the Indo-pacific, they breathe though their legs and they hide out underground in a bubble of air during high tide. That's just one of the reasons this strange little animals is called the Sand Bubbler Crab.

Kirk brings us some research trying to solve the mystery of why Damselfish dads eat some of the eggs they are in charge of guarding. The answer isn't what you would expect...he's trying to help.

Rachel brings it all home with a strange story about trying to make the most purple petunia that could possibly purple and how utter failure lead to the discovery of RNAi.

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Mike the Headless Chicken

Once again we're back with weird tales from thsi amazing planet we live on. This week, Rachel tells us about Ichneumon wasps. They may look like they are out of a horror movie but these giant insects don't harm humans.

Victoria delves into the history books to tell us about a famous celebrity, Mike the Headless Chicken.

Spring is a time of migration so naturally Kirk is talking about birds and how research is showing that they use the magnetic field of the Earth to know when to eat extra food before crossing the Sahara.

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Toad Licking

Kirk is up first this week and he brings us the wild truth behind Toad Licking.

Rachel brings us a weird story of two unlikely buddies. Frogs and Tarantulas. Their relationship turns out to be beneficial to both.

Victoria rounds out the show with a story of caterpillars that mimic snakes! The illusion is pretty amazing and even fools Rachel.

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Exceptions to the Rules

Welcome to another week of strange nature!

Victoria goes first and brings us a story of an absolutely bizarre insect that seems to defy our rules of what an insect is. It has no common name so we give it one. We call this alien-like chest burster the Peek-a-boo Twisted-wing.

Kirk takes the middle spot this week and he tells us about the only nocturnal monkeys in the world. Night Monkeys are special exceptions to what we normally think of as monkeys. One interesting example, Dad is the primary caregiver for children.

Rachel rounds out the show by telling us a bizarre story about the critically endangered and fascinating Maleo bird. This relative of the Turkey incubates its eggs using geothermal heat by burying them in warm sand and then abandoning them.

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Happy Mother's Day. Let's Eat Mom!

Rachel starts us off this week with the totally awesome Honey Badger. They have abig reputation and they completely live up to it. From fighting lions to killing some of the most venomous snakes in the world, Honey Badgers are simply amazing.

Victoria wasn't thinking this episode would come out Mother's Day week. However, coincidentally, she brings us a story about baby spiders that liquify the insides of their mothers and then suck her dry so they can survive. It is a gross but moving story about moms giving the ultimate sacrifice to their children. Awww.

Kirk closes out the show this week with The Great Raft, a wild 1000-year-old log jam that once dominated the ecosystem of the American South but today has completely vanished.

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Lizards of the Arctic Circle

Kirk revisits the Loneliest Tree in the World to tell us all about the (former) Loneliest Tree in the World. This week he tells us about the Tree of Ténéré.

Rachel then brings us a completely nonsense endoparasitic crustacean that lives INSIDE of sea stars. Turns out Dendrogasters are truly bizarre.

Victoria wraps things up with weird lizards that live above the arctic circle and some of the adaptations that have allowed them to live in such cold climates. She brings us the viviparous lizard.

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