Note from Katie: As I question nature's wisdom with regards to the third trimester of pregnancy, I thought I'd offer you one of my favorite past episodes about how doofy and convoluted evolution can get. Today on the show: They're not dinosaurs, they're from BEFORE the dinosaurs, and they're very, very, very strange. Giant apex predator shrimp thingies, centipedes you could ride on, the tully monster, evolution's most amazing mistakes! I'm joined by paleontologist and science educator Dane Pavitt. Check him out at www.theaveragescientist.co.uk  and  www.youtube.com/danepavitt 

Footnotes:

Last week's mystery animal sound source

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Happy Creaturekringletimes everyone! Today on the show I'm joined by Just the Zoo of Us host Ellen Weatherford, and we talk about animals who manage to keep their babies cold despite freezing temperature! Bears, walruses, snowy owls, and penguins, all who make great sacrifices to ensure their babies survive cold weather and don't become pup-sicles. And a personal announcement from me! 

Festive intro/outro music by Aaron Kenny. 

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In this listener questions episode, I talk about how fish smell smells, whether hyenas grow winter coats, and animals who don't mind spending a lot of time to get the job done, even thousands of years. 

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This is a buggy listener questions episode as I answer your queries about insect vision, ants outsmarting our poisons, and the impacts of insect farming! 

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I'm having some minor medical shenanigans, I should return shortly! In the meantime, to stick with the theme of medicine, here's one of my favorite episodes on how animals deal with illness. I'm joined by naturalist, educator and author Heather Montgomery as we talk about her book "Sick" and the fascinating world of animal immune systems (and poop).

Guest: Heather Montgomery

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I'm getting excited for the new season of Fallout, so here's one of my favorite episodes where we look at the mutated creatures of the Fallout franchise and discussing whether they could actually exist in a nuclear wasteland! It's a real optimistic episode and we discuss BIG BUGS! How can we bring back big bugs?! 

Guest: Will Poole 

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Halloween early release special! Today on the show: KILLER BATS! Bats with very spooky dietary habits. From vicious carnivores that have a soft side, to the strangest sight you'll sea on the seashore. I'm joined by Kimia Behpoornia to discuss these adorable, murderous bats. 

Footnotes/images

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Today on the show, ALIENS! I'm joined by particle physicist Daniel Whiteson to discuss whether it would be possible to talk to aliens, the difficulties of alien communication, using real examples of animal communication and sensory differences right here on planet earth. Why do hermit crabs have a death cult? Do dogs think in smells? Are pigeons actually physics geniuses? All this and more as we use real earth biology to discuss how an alien encounter might go down. 

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On today's show I subject my guest to a gauntlet of strange oddities, and he (and you) must guess whether these are animals, minerals, vegetables, or something else entirely...

Guest: DJ Danl

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rRUT2Ywx6B9XF-1SyNJ8lxVyLX94eY2n06FjiE4x-O8/edit?usp=sharing

Mystery animal sound credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMwAgft_kZ8

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All the weirdest ways in which humans rescue animals! From throwing babies off cliffs, to saving hitchhikers, sometimes you gotta act a little freaky for the sake of the animals. Discover this and more as we answer the age old question: why is there a man in a dirty panda suit? I'm joined by Robert Brockway and Seanbaby of 1-900 Hotdog! 

Footnotes

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Today on the show, we talk about what a cool lady and incredible scientist Jane Goodall was. A innovative primatologist with a great sense of humor, who started out only with a fierce love for animals, and ended up shaping what we know about chimps! Also, chimps can be jerks! I'm joined by Chris Crofton to spread a little love about Jane. 

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