Q&A: Ancient Fish Eyes, Chowing Chimps and the Deserts That Mimic Mars

Q&A: Ancient Fish Eyes, Chowing Chimps and the Deserts That Mimic Mars

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions one last time, as the show wraps up — going out with a curious bang (and probably a few weird facts for good measure). 💥🐾✨ 🌊 Ever noticed how things seem to vanish into the distance underwater? We explore whether marine animals see the same murky limits we do — or if life beneath the surface has evolved to see further, clearer, and in ways we can barely imagine. 🐠👀 🐜 We always hear about the strongest creatures for their size… but what about the weakest? We take a closer look at sloths — famously slow, surprisingly weak, and spending most of their lives hanging from their toes. 🌿 🌳 🌵🦂🪲Are there places on Earth so extreme that life simply can’t survive? We head to scorching deserts in northern Chile and the Lut Desert — some of the closest environments to Mars — where, against all odds, microbes still find a way to thrive. 🔥🧬 A huge thanks to all our wonderful listeners — while we’re wrapping things up here, the series isn’t going anywhere, so you can dip back into all our favourite (and slightly wild) episodes anytime 🎧✨ Go to thatsjustwild.com [thatsjustwild.com] to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Moist: Slime Highways, Snot Bubble Beds, and a Legendary Orca Sighting

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie dive headfirst into the wonderfully weird and surprisingly soggy side of the natural world 💧💧💧 🐜 Honey ants take food storage to another level — with a special cast that swells up with nectar until they’re completely immobile, hanging from the nest ceiling like living reservoirs, ready to feed the colony when times get tough. 🍯 🧪 Hagfish unleash one of the strangest defences in the animal kingdom — producing up to 20 litres of slime in seconds. This bizarre mucus expands in seawater, clogging the gills of predators and making a swift escape possible. Slippery doesn’t even cover it. 🐍💨 🐸 The ultimate survivalist? Meet the water-holding frog — capable of storing huge amounts of water in its body, going into a state of stasis, and surviving underground for up to five years without drinking in extreme drought conditions. 🌵💧 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com [thatsjustwild.com] to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Q&A: Vertical Sleepers, Sky Dances and the Infamous Worm Dance

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐦 Mesmerising murmurations & the “rule of 7”… how do starlings move as one without crashing mid-air? We unpack the simple behavioural rules behind those hypnotic sky dances — and why each bird only needs to track a handful of neighbours. 🌅✨ 🐛 Ever seen gulls doing a strange little “worm dance”? We get into the surprisingly clever ground-drumming behaviour that tricks worms into the surface — and why it works so well. 🌊👀 🌙 Do sperm whales really sleep vertically? We explore the bizarre world of “upright” sleepers in the animal kingdom — and what this unusual behaviour tells us about life beneath the surface. 🐋💤 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com [thatsjustwild.com] to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Sleepy: Mucus Cocoons, Sky Sleepers, and the World’s Best Micro-Nappers

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie, drift into the drowsiest corners of the natural world 🌙😴 🛌 Sleep is risky business, so animals have evolved some seriously creative solutions. From extreme sleepers to near-insomniacs, the animal kingdom does things wildly differently 🐾 Discover sloths dozing high in branches too flimsy for predators to reach 🦥🌿, African pixie frogs that can disappear into a mucus cocoon for up to seven years 🐸⏳, and parrotfish that wrap themselves in their own slimy sleeping bags 🐠 Plus, we explore the science of sleep deprivation—where staying awake for just 16 hours can impair you as much as alcohol 🧠⚠️🍷 And don’t miss the mysterious sleep abilities of creatures like the common swift, which can remain airborne for months at a time without properly landing 🕊️☁️ 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com [thatsjustwild.com] to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Q&A: Seriously Smart Chimps, Snake hoods and a Very Quiet Rainforest

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐒 Seriously smart chimps, artistic animals & nature’s creative side… from painting primates to musical whales and masterpiece-making bowerbird—but are they really making “art” like we do? 🎨🐋 🐦 Can different bird species “talk” to each other? We dive into the surprising world of shared alarm calls—how robins, sparrows and others team up to warn of danger, and why learning bird calls might change the way you experience nature. 🌿👂 🌙 Why do so many animals come alive at night? Nearly 70% of mammals are nocturnal—think stealthy panthers and city-dwelling rats adapting to a world after dark. 🌆🦝 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com [thatsjustwild.com] to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.