Quirky Creepy and Freaky

Episode 53: Sea Anemones: A Hermit Crab’s Best Friend

This week, we have hermit crabs and the special relationship they have with sea anemones! Or, at least some sea anemone species. Tune in this week to learn about hermit crabs and the sea anemones that some of them like to carry on their shells, and why they carry around sea anemones in the first place! You'll also learn about sea anemones that can help the shell grow with the hermit crab. So many hermit crab and anemone fun facts! 

Episode 52: The Cookiecutter of the Sea

Welcome to shark month! This episode, we talk about the shark at the base of mysteries for centuries, the cookiecutter shark! We talk about how this shark is not only responsible for many bites on marine animals, but is also responsible for damaging nuclear submarines! 

Episode 51: Gender Swapping Fish

In a bit of a pride month themed episode, we're introducing you to some fish that can change between male and female! You may be aware of the ability of clownfish to change from male to female, but did you know other fish can do this as well? This week we talk about damselfish, their surprisingly complicated social lives, and how they benefit from the ability to swap gender. 


Sources: 
Male-to-female sex change in widowed males of the protogynous damselfish Dascyllus aruanus:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-015-0450-8

Sex change strategies and group structure of damselfishes: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327177449_Sex_change_strategies_and_group_structure_of_damselfishes

Behavior, socio-ecology and sexuality in damselfishes (Pomacentridae): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/11250009809386853

Protogyny in a tropical damselfish: females queue for future benefit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4933090/

 

 

Episode 50: Snake-Eating Spiders

It's good to be back getting into the swing of things again! We're coming back from our break with an episode diving into yet another thing that spiders eat: snakes. Tune in to learn a bit more about spiders, who is mostly responsible for eating snakes, and which snakes are getting eaten. The main spider culprits might not be who you think!

Episode 49: 19 Molas Jumping

This week we have the Mola mola, or Ocean Sunfish, one of the largest bony fishes! Tune in to learn about just how big these fish can be, how and maybe why they breach, and even how to tell an ocean sunfish fin apart from a basking shark fin at sea! 

Episode 48: History of Earth Day

Earth Day is just around the corner, so for this episode I decided to mix things up a little and talk about the history of Earth Day and how it came to be one of the most celebrated and observed secular holidays! We'll go into the environmental disasters as well as work by conservationists like Rachel Carson that brought environmental issues into the public eye that made the first Earth Day a huge success, and kickstarted a decade of conservation work. 



Sources: 
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/

https://www.earthday.org/history/

https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/earth-day

https://www.epa.gov/earthday

https://www.epa.gov/archive/epa/aboutepa/earth-day-70-what-it-meant.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring

https://michiganintheworld.history.lsa.umich.edu/environmentalism/exhibits/show/main_exhibit/origins/-environmental-crisis--in-the-

https://www.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pesticide-products/ddt-brief-history-and-status

https://www.nps.gov/places/000/bald-eagle.htm

 

 

Episode 47: Red Kites Back from the Brink

It's a little late but finally here! This week we have a conservation tale of recovery, bringing the UK and Irish populations of the red kite back from extinction after centuries of being targeted by humans. Join me as we hear about what happened to these birds and how we were able to bring them back through one of the longest running conservation projects in history!

Episode 46: The Bobbit Worm of Doom

This week we are back to the ocean, talking about a polychaete worm, the bobbit worm! Unlike other worms we've talked about, this one is not a parasite, but they are still quite the predator, giving us one more reason living on land is pretty cool: You don't have to worry that a worm is going to jump out and pull you underground. What a time! 

Episode 45: Stella the Adventuring Sea Eagle

The Steller's Sea Eagle has been seen in Maine again for the last month or so, so that's our topic for today! Hear about this bird's incredible journey, as it made it's way from Alaska, to Texas, then moved between Canada and New England, and we'll also talk about where the sea eagle is supposed to live, and all that good stuff! 

For more information on the eagle's tour through North America: 

2022: https://maineaudubon.org/news/rare-bird-alert-stellers-sea-eagle/

2023: https://maineaudubon.org/news/rba-stse-2023/

 

Episode 44: How birds survive the cold of winter

We've had some episodes about crazy long bird migrations, but what about the birds that don't migrate and stay behind for winter? This episode talks about some of the ways birds survive the cold days of winter, including hoarding food, snuggling on up, and shivering. Birds have quite a few adaptations to survive winter, so tune on in to hear how they survive the cold! 

Also corrections corner: blackpoll warblers fly over the Atlantic ocean, not the Arctic; see episode 40 for more info!