Episode 15 – Rufous Hummingbird: A Long Strange Trip on Little Wings
Imagine you were born a few weeks ago and one morning you wake up and your parents are gone. It’s getting colder and the days are getting shorter. Something inside you is spurring you on, out of your nest and into the darkness of night. One tiny bird embarks a journey that spans thousands of […]
Episode 14 – Samurai Crab: Ghost of the Sea of Japan
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, […]
Episode 13 – Collared Pika: Alaska’s Cutest Botanist
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 […]
Episode 12 – Leafcutter Ant: The Ant Farm Fungus Farmer
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 […]
Episode 11 – Axolotl: The Peter Pan Salamander
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 […]
Episode 10 – Greenland Shark: The Oldest Fish in the Brook
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
Episode 9 – Colorado River Toad: The Psychedelic Secreter
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 […]
Episode 8 – Diving Bell Spider: The Ultimate Bubble Butt
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 […]
Episode 7 – Binturongs: The Cat Who Smelled Like Popcorn and Wasn’t a Cat
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.
Episode 6 – The Thumb Splitting Mantis Shrimp
Welcome, ladies and gents, to the all-night spectacular fight between two of the world’s most formidable pugilists! In one corner, we have the undefeated Muhammad Ali. In the other… I don’t believe it! Ladies and gents, tonight our very own Ali will be putting up his dukes against… a shrimp? Looks like you can never […]
