Isolation Animals: The Bad

In the third and final part in our Isolation Animals series, we look into the negative effects of COVID-19 on animals. In keeping with this episode’s “bad news” theme, this episode was much harder to record and took much longer to get out than the others - one challenge being keeping up with news in rapidly changing situations.

Here, we discuss how COVID-19 is changing attitudes towards some animals, how changing human behaviour is affecting wildlife conservation, and how certain wildlife protections are being weakened.

Isolation Animals: The Good

Need some good news? In this episode, we discuss how lockdown is affecting wildlife - in good ways. From brighter bees to healthier hedgehogs, find out how animals might be making the most of this situation.

If all this episode feels one-sided, don’t worry…there’s more to come in our next episode.

This episode features audio from the Dawn Chorus project by BIOTOPIA and the Nantesbuch Foundation: https://dawn-chorus.org/. These audio recordings are from (links below):

• Grampians, Australia

• Bengaluru, India

• South Africa

• Dresden, Germany

• Umeå, Sweden

• Taiwan

• North Carolina, USA

• Saskatchewan, Canada

• Playa del Carmen, Mexico

• São Paulo, Brazil

Animal Highlights 2019

What were the greatest animal-related events of 2019? To bring in the new year, we chat with Tom Keaney about our personal favourites. From the discovery of an ancient amphibious whale, to a new record for world’s fastest ant, this episode brings together some of the weirdest and most interesting highlights of 2019.

Swedish Ducks and Arctic Sleep

Where have we been, and how have we been sleeping? In this short update, David reveals his first solo birding achievement (making Farley proud) and Annie describes the weird sleep patterns of arctic animals. We also provide some clues about our next major episode.

The Lost Duck

Animalia goes into the "wild" to search for the rarest bird in Australia: the Tufted Duck. Along the way we discuss birding culture, what a "twitcher" is, and spot many, many birds... but do we find the Tufted Duck?

Episode features news segments from The Project.

We now have a Patreon! If you'd like to help support us, please find us at https://www.patreon.com/animalia

Conservation Special: Road Salts - Interview

Every winter, in the United States alone, more than 15 million tons of salt are spread over roads to remove ice. So what are the effects of all this extra salt on wildlife? In this episode, Dr Gareth Hopkins describes how increased salinity affects freshwater newts, and debunks a common myth about ‘environmentally-friendly’ de-icers.

Read more about Gareth’s research here: https://garethrhopkins.com/

Seven Swans a-Swimming

Swans are icons of love and fidelity, but what are their relationships actually like? And does the Queen really own them all? In this short episode, Annie presents a swan-themed Q&A. (With a brief introduction of our recent travels across four continents)

Read more about Annie’s research here.

Do You See What I See? - Interview

What can a mantis shrimp see, and why does a chameleon need to change colour? In this episode, Dr Devi Stuart-Fox shares some surprising facts about animal vision - and about the tricks animals use to hide in plain sight.

Read more about Devi’s research here: https://devistuartfox.com/

The Great Debate

In this episode, Annie and Farley are joined by Izzy Taylor for a three-way debate on whose home country has the "best" animal. Australia versus America versus England, who will win?

To check out some of Izzy's work, see this amazing video she made about the humble bumblebee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYkxYQ1d0NE

Minibeasts Mating - Interview

Nature is beautiful. Learning about wildlife is wonderful. And learning how some animals reproduce is ... well. In this episode, we chat with Dr Therésa Jones about some of the weirdest mating strategies of insects and spiders.

Read more about Therésa's research here: https://urbanlightlab.com/research/

Doing 'It'

In this short episode, Farley and Annie chat about chilly echidnas, accents and penis fencing.

Sleep - Interview

From dolphins sleeping with half their brain, to birds sleeping while flying...not all animals sleep the way that we do. We chat with Dr John Lesku about the weird and impressive ways that animals sleep - and the big questions that are yet to be answered.

Read more about John's research here: https://leskulab.org/