Terrestrials
Podcast

Terrestrials

WNYC

74 episodes

Welcome, nature lovers, to the home of the Terrestrials podcast and family-friendly Radiolab episodes about nature. Every other week, host Lulu Miller will take you on a nature walk to encounter a plant or animal behaving in ways that will surprise you. Squirrels that can regrow their brains, octopuses that can outsmart their human captors, honeybees that can predict the future. You don’t have to be a kid to listen, just someone who likes to see the world anew. You’ll hear a range of nature stories on this podcast. Sometimes these will be brand new Terrestrials episodes, full of original songs (by “The Songbud” Alan Goffinski) that tell a fantastical-sounding story about nature that is 100% true. Sometimes these will be our very best, shiniest, furriest, leafiest Radiolab episodes about animals or plants or nature. The stories that drop here will always be family-friendly and safe for kids. They will always be sound-rich and full of the vivid, gripping storytelling you’ve come to expect from Radiolab. They will always transport you to the beyond-human world: into the depths of the ocean, into jungles, prairies, forests, space, snow, wildflower fields and beyond. Sometimes we’ll encounter something so wild we just have to break out into song about it! Don’t worry, good voices not required. Join us on this adventure!

What this show covers

animal behaviorvenus flytrapbog ecologycarnivorous plantskids sciencespooky seasoncrowshuman-animal bondsanimal intelligenceornithologynaturalezaDía de Muertosmariposas monarcaMéxicomigración animal

What listeners will find here

A swampy tour of the weird, hungry world of carnivorous plants
Carnivorous plants take center stage as this episode explores why species like venus flytraps, pitcher plants, sundews, and bladderworts eat meat. With Dr. Sammy Ramsey as guide, it mixes eerie swamp imagery with surprising animal-plant relationships and a gentler truth about these so-called killers.
Can a human really become friends with a crow?
This episode follows Emma Terry’s years-long effort to win over the crows near her home and asks whether interspecies friendship is real. Along the way, it explores crow intelligence, their eerie reputation, and one small shiny surprise.
Un viaje a México para seguir el misterio de la mariposa monarca
Las mariposas monarca viajan miles de kilómetros hasta las montañas del centro de México, donde millones se reúnen cada año. Este episodio en español explora ese oasis estacional y el asombro que ha provocado durante siglos, justo a tiempo para el Día de Muertos.
Why spooky bats may be some of the forest’s best healers
Bats in Puerto Rico are the focus of this Halloween replay, following a search through tropical forest and museum corridors with Dr. Angelo Soto-Centeno. The episode connects their eerie image to a surprising role: helping ecosystems recover after devastating hurricanes.
Why birds keep outsmarting scarecrows—and the one thing that may truly scare them
This episode explores the long battle between humans and crop-raiding birds, with Mary Roach guiding a tour of failed scare tactics from scarecrows to robotic falcons. It turns into a bigger look at fear itself, sparked by a strange discovery involving vultures in Ohio.

Episodes

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