Do octopuses play football or basketball? This and other essential questions will be raised in this week's episode as I chat with the fantabulous Dr Jennifer Mather about her 50 years of finding out incredible things about octopuses (and spin off on a tangent about octopus gambling). Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Eight Armed Underwater Sports Divas

Hyenas are smart. They put young women in charge. But they're also classist bastards. On this episode, the fantastic Dr Eli Strauss shares the secret that allows just a few enterprising low-born hyenas to beat the odds, rise up and take the crown in this game of clans. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

How Pleb Hyenas Become Queens

When sheep and rabbits made the British introduce stoats to New Zealand, millions of kiwi got munched. This is the story of the sneaky conservation heist - Operation Nest Egg - bringing them back from the brink recounted by the wonderful Lindsey Gray. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Stealing Kiwi Eggs to Save Them

This week on Wild Stories we're joined by the insect researcher who discovered how elephants talk - Caitlin O'Connell Rodwell. I learnt how Botswana doubled its elephants whilst populations across Africa were halved, the reason pregnant ellies are brutally booted out of herds and how a Hawaaian bug unlocked the secrets of elephant communication through the ground. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Eavesdropping on Elephants

When is half an acorn better than a whole one? The great Dr Karen Munroe joins the show to fill us in on one of the most chaotically fascinating squirrel-acorn-forest studies ever conducted, nut evolution and the scientific value of hoovers. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The Half Acorn Paradox

We shot them into oblivion for stealing our pants. But thanks to this week's guest, the incredible Dr Mike Pienkowski, red kites have made themselves a comeback. This is the story of how it happened, and why it changed one nation's outlook on conservation forever. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Saving the Underpants Bird

It's Easter and because eating chocolate is irresponsible we're doing an episode about the closest thing: wombat poos. This isn't an animal celebrity individual like our normal specials. This is a whole species fallen from grace, robbed of the spotlight. But one man and his robots are clawing wombats back to fame with some of the strangest headlines in science. This is Dr Scott Carver. And he's saving my all time favourite animal. Happy Easter everybody! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Easter Special - How Wombats Do Cube-Shaped Poos

Once upon a time in Belize people worshipped crocodiles, swam alongside them, treated them as family. Then within two generations the nation turned against them and almost wiped them out. This is the story of how a greedy empire with an eye for gossip obliterated an entire country's wildlife - and what happens now - with ethnozoologist and crocodile wrangler Dr Marisa Tellez. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

How The British Made Crocodiles Evil

Hedgehog numbers in the UK have fallen from 30 million to less than 1 million since mid-last century. Dr Sophie Lund Rasmussen is fixing that. She followed them around for a year peering into people's gardens to see where they went. She dissected hundreds peeled off roads to learn how long they lived. Now she's learning to communicate with them and keep them safe using sounds no one can hear. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The Secret Sound that Hedgehogs Hear

Thank you everyone for your messages during the break! I've moved halfway around the world, taken up a new job and created some amazing films but now I'm back at the desk with more than a dozen fresh episodes of Wild Stories already lined up to share with you all. These are some of my favourite ever interviews so I really hope you enjoy. Wild Stories 'season 2' lands next Wednesday March 18. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Series 2 Teaser Trailer

Ex-zookeeper and wildlife creator Jordan Veasley a.k.a. Jungle Jordan swings by to reveal the chillest animals, why so many people think giraffes lay eggs, what okapis smell like and of course the challenges of sexing porcupines! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Uncut - It's Hard to Sex a Porcupine

Happy 2026! To kick off a year of incredible stories here's the tale of the baby giraffe that walked to Paris and changed history forever. My favourite, Zarafa. And joining us on this cross-continental romp, special guest Heather Sharkey. Thanks for listening everyone! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

New Year Special - A Giraffe in Paris

Tom Hird a.k.a Blowfish, presenter of Netflix's latest wildlife reality show smash hit All the Sharks and the world's ONLY heavy metal marine biologisy stops by to chat diving hydrothermal vents, the hazards of shark chumming and the most bastardly fish on the planet. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Uncut - Good Fish, Beardy Fish, Bastard Fish

Australia hasn't yet described 1/4 of its native bees. So how do we find and conserve them? Dr Kit Prendergast joins the podcast to fill us in on this crazy unexplored world of science, of insects lost and rediscovered, and the favourite bees she's discovered. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Saving 500 Invisible Species

Ethical wildlife travel guru, monkey saviour and influencer Connie Needham swings by to chat African vs. Asian elephants, hedgehog adjectives and the evolutionary benefits of being a rascal. But how on Earth did I make her say 'Eupleridae'? Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Uncut - The Red Shanked Wrecking Ball Langur

What do headless ants do? It's the worst job in the colony, but saves millions of lives. And humans do it too. Professor Adam Hart joins as guest to tell the story of how he discovered mutant waste collector ants in Panama and to finally reveal the value of ant poo! Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The Value of Ant Poo

Zookeeper, podcaster and all-round animal nerd Rick Schwartz calls in to the show to discuss raising meerkats, the intelligence of fossa and what binturong pee smells like. But did I get him to say 'hectocotylus'? Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Uncut - Binturong Pee Smell

They're the last survivor of a genus 20 million years old and about to go extinct because of an argument. John Payne joins the podcast to tell the story of Sumatran rhinos from being skinned for Chinese armour to fire-breathing fables to the 40-year-old debate that screwed it all up. But is there still a chance of saving these hairy hornsters? Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

The Hairy Rhino Problem

The Mayan bat God Camazotz was a nasty piece of work. But there's a more terrifying myth (for bats at least): that bats can't see. In this episode, Swedish scientist Johan Eklöf tells the story of how he used moth lollipops to prove bats hunt with their eyes as well as their ears. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

What A Bat Sees

Top nature YouTuber and deep sea savant Leo Richard hops on to chat hagfish table manners, giant sharks and whether unlocking immortality would doom the planet. But did I get him to say 'octopodes'? Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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