Published by Strange by Nature
Life is strange, naturally you want to hear about it. Strange by Nature is your guide to the strange, weird and unbelievable side of nature. Professional naturalists present weekly curated stories about just how strange nature can get.
Listen on Apple PodcastsWe had a ton of fun with this week's show. Kirk starts us off with a story about the bizarre evidence for Heat Bursts. This strange weather phenomenon can create oven-like blasts of air seemingly out of nowhere. Rachel comes back to the ocean and tells us about Basking Sharks just in time for Shark Week. Victoria takes us on a trip with new research on a psychoactive mushroom species that seems to always make people see little imaginary people. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
Victoria brings us into the strange medical world of autosomal dominant diseases. Kirk brings us the strange sad tale of nutmeg. Sometimes a great plant turns into a curse. Rachel tells us about strange Fish Eating Bats. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
This week, Rachel continues her series on bears, this time with the utterly strange Panda Bear. Victoria tells us about the mysterious and recently discovered whale graveyard that has been around for millions of years. Kirk tells us about the Coldest Trees in the World. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
Kirk starts us off with a strange nematode parasite that causes spiders to drown themselves. Rachel also takes us to the water but we don't want to get in. She tells us about Lake Natron, a lake that will calcify anything that dies it in it and turn you to stone. Victoria tells us about cordyceps fungus and how it zombifies the insects it infects and causes them to engage in strange behaviors. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
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. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
Victoria is up first this week and she talks about the incredibly loud Pistol Shrimp. These little creatures make a sound as loud as a jackhammer with their claw. She shares more incredible facts about these wild critters as well. We're all impressed. Kirk is up second and also heads to the ocean and brings us the Headless Chicken Monster. What an amazing name. This sea cucumber is a fascinating deep sea creature that glows in the dark and has a wild trick to avoid being eaten. Rachel also ends up in the ocean this week with Nitrogen Narcosis also known as the Martini effect. For some people, going more than 100 feet underwater makes them profoundly drunk. Thank you patrons for making this episode possible! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
Hello Everyone and a big THANK YOU to our patrons for making this episode possible. Rachel starts off the show this week with another installment on her series about bears. This week, the Sun Bear. They are cool and all but they have a secret that is...just...it's so much. Victoria gets us into a sticky situation with chameleons. We know birds build nests to keep their eggs from falling to the ground but what about chameleons? The have come up with a completely different solution to a common arboreal problem. Sure, Sun Bears and Chameleons live in trees but surely Kirk can't have brought a tree-related topic can he? He can! This week Kirk wraps up the show by telling us about the loneliest tree in the world. This Sitka Spruce lives over 200km from any other tree on Earth. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
This one is wild. Kirk brings us the disturbing tale of a woman in Greece who ended up with botfly maggots living up her nose. Rachel has a hard time making it though this story but we believe in you dear listeners. Rachel predictably goes back to the ocean and brings us a creature feature on the Blanket Octopus. These creatures have incredible differences in size between males and females. Victoria rounds out this week's show with incredible bird nests. She talks about weaver birds but also Tailor Birds that actually sew leaves together to shelter their nests. It is unbelievable and you need to subscribe to our free newsletter to see the photos! Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
This week Victoria takes us to the depths of the Mariana Trench. After taking us to the deepest cave in the world she felt it was only fair to visit the deepest spot on Earth! Kirk then brings us new research about how bumblebees survive having their homes flooded by spring snow melt. It turns out, they can survive for 8 days underwater! Rachel rounds out this week's show with the mystery of The Appendix. It totally isn't because she went to the doctor with abdominal pain this week. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
What a wild ride this week. We've all heard stories of someone needing their appendix removed but what if the only surgeon available is you? Rachel brings us a horrifying tale of a doctor in Antarctica who had to remove their own appendix. Victoria tells us the tale of African sleeping sickness. This nasty disease is spread by the tse-tse fly and humans are making strides in fighting both the disease and the flies. Finally, Kirk brings us a lighter story this week. Mysterious crop circles in Tasmania ended up being from Bennet's wallabies chowing down on opium poppies and jumping in drug-induced circles. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.
Kirk starts the show this week with an odd story about Perceptual Narrowing. The long and short of it is that babies are better at remembering monkeys than you are. Rachel takes the second slot this week and bring us a story of one of the cutest little bats in the world. These odd creatures are one of the only mammals to get colors from the plants they eat. Let us introduce you to the Honduran White Bat. Victoria gets deep at the end of the show by taking us to the bottom of the deepest cave in the world. Is it really the bottom though? It turns out the deepest depths of the world's deepest cave is yet to be fully explored. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free! Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: contact@strangebynaturepodcast.com Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com where you can sign up for our episode emails.