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This week Victoria starts us off with one of the weirdest looking birds in the world. She presents...the Potoo. This strange muppet-looking bird can see with closed eyes and looks like a tree stump. Kirk then brings us the Longest Animal in the World, siphonophores, specifically, the string jelly. This bizarre super-organism is even longer than a blue whale! Rachel wraps up the show with a discussion of two libraries in Portugal that have for centuries used colonies of bats to keep insects from eating the books. Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

Rachel starts us off with a surprising tubenose bat that hibernates where you'd least expect it...in the snow. Victoria tells us about the strange locomotion and other adaptations of the Sidewinder rattlesnake. Kirk takes us to Movile Cave, a world hidden from the rest of Earth for 5.5 million years and where life survives completely without the sun. Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

There is still a tiny bit of time to get your submission in to be a part of the 300th episode. Use your phone to create a short voice memo and email it to [email protected]. Include your name, where you listen from and a topic from the show that has been memorable for you. Kirk kicks things off this week with the strange story of scientists who had people bury 2000 pairs of mens cotton underwear in their gardens to watch how they decompose. It seems silly but it was a very serious way to brig attention to the quality of soil. Rachel is up second and she brings us wondrous star-shaped sand from Japan. Found only in a few places on earth, these beaches are made of the star-shaped skeletons of microscopic creatures. Victoria brings us the absolutely bizarre looking sea creature, Salps. They look out of this world and their life cycle (and everything else about them) is equally strange. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

What a fun episode this week. We didn't intend to but all of our topics nicely tie together. Victoria starts us off with a creature feature on Bee Eaters. These fascinating birds eat stinging insects as a regular part of their diet and are unharmed by the process.  You know who else loves bees? The Brown Animal. Kirk talks about how the name for the large wild animal that eats honey was once taboo and the name "Bear" doesn't really mean bear.  Rachel rounds out the show with another in her running series of bears so this week we're learning about the Sloth Bear and their fabulous hairdos.  Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

Rachel starts off with a nearly unbelievable story about frogs that raise their young inside their stomachs for six weeks. Victoria brings us...the Tuna! What's strange about tuna? You'll have to listen to find out. Kirk wraps things up by revisiting the topic of the oldest animals on Earth by looking this time at the oldest living things (other than animals) and the numbers get ridiculous. Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

Kirk kicks off the show talking about the Rock Hyrax. These little furry critters have a wide array of strange things about them including being closely related to two very surprising and different relatives. Rachel stays in Africa with a deep dive on the White Rhino and surprising research that won the ignobel prize by figuring out if it is better to carry a rhino right side up or upside down. Victoria blows our minds by bringing us a story about sea cucumber "feet" that seem to be able to be torn off and stay alive for years! Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

Victoria is back and she bring us the story of a new spider species with a bizarre web that flings ants into the air at incredible speed to trap them. It's a wild example of a novel solution to catching prey. Kirk then talks about how the Amazon Rainforest is made possible by dust blown from Africa. Strange but true, dust storms from a dried lake in Africa are a major supply of phosphorus for the rainforest and it all travels as dust on the tradewinds. Rachel talks about Caddisflies. These strange aquatic creatures make camouflage mobile homes from whatever they find in their habitat. Be sure to send us an audio clip with your name, where you listen and a favorite topic you remember and you have a chance to be included in our 300th episode! Send entries to [email protected] Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected]

Rachel starts us off this week with an absolutely wild story about a woman who heard voices in her head that somehow knew she had a brain tumor. Kirk then goes down a mind-bending rabbit hole exploring the question of just how long can an animal live? Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

This week on the show Rachel and Kirk had a great time sharing their topics. Kirk starts off the show with a bizarre listener submitted tale of the Coudersport Ice Mine. In this bizarre mine, ice grows thicker in the heat of the summer and them, equally strangely, it melts in the cold of winter. Kirk looks at the history and geology of what's really going on. Rachel looks into the close connection between Ravens and Wolves. It turns out it is more complex than we previously thought. The new research shows that ravens have incredible memories. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Victoria brings us the intriguing tale of Lusitanian flora. These are plants only found in Iberia AND southern Ireland. The reason they are in Ireland at all is a tale that goes back thousands of years and involves copper, trees, and booze. Kirk brings back a topic from last December because it turns out a dutch painter beat scientists to a discovery about bats by over 400 years. No one had looked closely enough at the painting to notice. Rachel rounds out the show with a fascinating profile on the plants we call Horsetails. They may not get very big these days, but they used to be over 100 feet tall and form whole forests. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

Rachel kicks things off this week with a fascinating look at the ancient relationship between moss and fungus. Victoria brings us a story about a bizarre form of locomotion. She brings us... Jumping snails (and slugs). Kirk's story this week is about the Japanese Tree Frog and how new research shows us that this small creature just might hold an amazing bacterial cure for cancers. Join us weekly for more strange nature. Our supporters on Patreon get every episode ad-free!  Support us: patreon.com/strangebynature Email us: [email protected] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.

We 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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: [email protected] Visit us at: strangebynaturepodcast.com  where you can sign up for our episode emails.