Life, Death, and Taxonomy

Romance is the air! Animals show affection in all kinds of ways. But affection doesn’t really come into play for the Nursery Web Spider. To pass along his genes without being eaten alive, a male needs to play a dangerous game of chance. So grab your nuptial gift, wrap it in silk, and remember that it’s mate or be eaten in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Deep beneath the waves of the Sea of Japan, an ancient child emperor and his retinue of samurai drowned themselves rather than be captured by the enemy. Tales tell of their souls binding to the carapaces of tiny crabs dwelling at the bottom of the ocean. With faces as fierce as the samurai they host, the Heikegani are some of the most peculiar-looking crabs in the sea. The question is, how much influence do we as humans have in Life, Death, and Taxonomy?

The Alaskan Winter is harsh. The days grow shorter until the sun doesn’t come out at all. The temperature drops to negative fifty and nothing grows for months. Most animals hibernate to limit the need for food when it is so scarce, except for one little mammal. To survive the desolate Alaskan winter one little botanist will turn to an unlikely tool to maintain the balance of life, death, and Taxonomy.

Music by Finley Burch

Sooie! I’ve been a simple farmer all my life, gettin’ up at the crack of dawn and plowin’ the fields ‘til sundown. But humans ain’t the only ones to grow a crop or two. The leaf cuttin’ ant is a prime example of what a hard-workin’ organism can do when they ain’t one of them lazy city-folk what with their fancy automobiles and flyin’ machines. So button your overalls, grab a hoe, and till the fields along some of nature’s first agriculturists in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Music by Kevin MacLeod

In the heart of Mexico, a rare creature once found its home in the depths Lake Chaco near present day Mexico City. Unfortunately, that lake no longer exists. With it’s home drained to make room for the expanding metropolis, this unique amphibian has been forced into canals and streams infested by invasive predators like the Asian carp and African tilapia. This salamander’s only hope of survival is to become remarkably resilient.

Music by Scott Lee Cupp

They say you should respect your elders. But what if your elder is a gigantic shark? The oldest living vertebrate might just cruising around the Arctic Sea. Find out how old a fish can get in this episode of Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Music by Music Head

There are lots of ways to deter a predator when you’re a toad. You could puff up to make yourself look bigger. You could do your best impression of a carcass and play dead. Or you could coat your whole body with a deadly poison. But one genus of toad likes to spike the sauce with a little something extra. But you just do what you gotta do to survive in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Music from APPUSERIES

Everyone likes to maintain their personal bubble, but what if that maintenance meant a little bit of free diving? Take a deep breath, strap some air to your thorax, and dive down to the depths of knowledge with us as we explore a certain spider’s underwater world where it’s eat or be eaten. We don’t mean to burst your bubble, but that’s just what you expect in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Music by Sirius Beat – The Cosmos

Have you ever walked into a movie theater and wondered what smelled like an arboreal dwelling fur-monster? You might, after learning about the strange scent this fuzzy forest creature makes as it travels from tree to tree on this episode of Life, Death and Taxonomy.