Welcome to episode 27 of Zoology Ramblings! We start the episode by sharing some quick conservation good news, including incentivising environmentally friendly behaviours in Copenhagen and the discovery of the world's largest land mammal migration in South Sudan. We then both talk about Aotearoan species, including the weird and wonderful kakapo an…

Welcome to episode 26 of Zoology Ramblings! This week, we are back to our regular podcast structure and begin by sharing some quick nature news followed by our animals of the week. Robi talks about brown hyena phylogeny, and how new research may see it re-classified into an extinct genus. Taxonomy nerds, this one's for you! I talk about the invasiv…

In this long awaited episode, TetZooCon, and dogmen, dogmen, dogmen, and… badgerman.Door John Conway & Darren Naish

Welcome to episode 25 of Zoology Ramblings, where Robi and I do a deep dive into European bison. Before we do, we talk about very bizarre animals of the week, featuring the slimy, jawless hagfish and an expedition that led to the discovery of tree-dwelling shrimps the size of a grain of sand! For our deep dive, we delve into how bison were almost c…

Welcome to episode 24 of Zoology Ramblings! This week, Robi and I share exciting news of having met up recently in the UK, with Robi speaking at a Pride Community Campfire that I hosted with my colleagues. This leads onto a wonderful conservation about the innate queerness of nature featuring lesbian bonobos and elephant orgies. For our animals of …

Welcome to episode 23 of Zoology Ramblings! Sporadic and rambling as ever, Robi and I finally get round to recording another Zoology Ramblings episode. We fill you in on some life updates, including a very moving experience I had attending the Funeral for Nature in Bath. Robi shares some of his highlights from his recent trip to the Okavango Delta,…

Welcome to the 21st episode of the Zoology Ramblings Podcast, where Robi and I are actually together in the same place after over a year! We share some exciting updates about our recently released Rewilding A Nation documentary, Robi's leopard research for his masters thesis and what 2024 of the Wildlife Champions Programme has in store. We talk ab…

In this bumper episode, Darren has lots of news from the world of Darren (but sadly no fat-bottomed rodents), TetZooCon, and Mosasaurs!Door John Conway and Darren Naish

Welcome back to another very belated episode of Zoology Ramblings! Thanks for putting up with our sporadic podcast recording. In this episode Robi and I give life updates, Robi of his masters project on monitoring leopard density in Namibia and me from Bristol of my job supporting local communities to take action for nature. We take a moment to ref…

Our long-awaited second episode on Mesozoic marine reptiles — the saga continues with Triassic Weirdos, which is a term you shouldn’t use. Also with some ranting about certain birds are dinosaurs deniers (again).Door John Conway and Darren Naish

Listen for great secret surprise!Door John Conway and Darren Naish

Crocs, crocodiles, crocodyles, crocodylomorphs, crocodylomorphoformes,and non-crocodylilian crocodylomorphoformes!Door John Conway & Darren Naish

… of getting through all the Mesozoic marine reptiles in less than an hour. Tune in to the next episode for the thrilling conclusion… possibly.Door John Conway and Darren Naish

In this episode: frogs. And for those who don’t like frogs: frogs.Door John Conway and Darren Naish

In this episode, spinosaur brains, ankylosaur throats, and scythes or reapers or claws or something.Door John Conway and Darren Naish

In episode 19 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I reconnect as he embarks on an exciting new journey in Cape Town and I get my first paid job in conservation! I talk about the awesome project that's helping howler monkeys in Costa Rica by putting up rope bridges and Robi enlightens us about the significance of a beetle ejaculating on a rare orchid. We…

This week on the podcats, we talk about wild cats, specifically big cats and small big cats in urban and suburban areas.Door John Conway & Darren Naish

Darren and John return! … to discuss the books Mesozoic Art, A History of Painting (With Dinosaurs) and bringing back the Dodo.Door John Conway & Darren Naish

In episode 18, Robi and I record our latest episode from the middle of nowhere in New Quay, Wales. We talk about how the UK government is taking steps backwards when it comes to key environmental laws and tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. We chat about the reintroduction of cheetahs to Kuno National Park in India, and why this has prove…

Recent excavations in the vicinity of John’s hard disk have yielded a fossilised podcast from the Late 2021 period. Enjoy the retro stylings!Door John Conway & Darren Naish

In Episode 17 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the very exciting imminent return of European bison to the UK, some uplifting new nature legislation in the EU, the weird and wonderful springhare whose fur is biofluorescent, the obscure and illusive African finfoot with bright orange feet, an exciting new project to map bee genomes and we …

Apologies for the complete radio silence for the past 7 months... we have been caught up in our final year at university. We have now finished out last exam at the University of Leeds so we are officially done with our Zoology degrees! In episode 16, we explain where we've been for the past 7 months and talk you through our final year dissertation …

In episode 15 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I record our first episode from Leeds, where we are living together for our final year of university. For our news section we talk about COP26 and whether it is going far enough to tackle the climate crisis and Robi talks about a new species of shark. For our animals of the week, I talk about the bizarre…

In episode 14 of Zoology Ramblings Robi and I record the first ever episode in person rather than over Zoom! We stick to the new format of: News, Animals of the week and end with current wider conservation stories. In this episode I talk about the recent decision by the British Government to possibly give beavers native species status and legal pro…

In Episode 13 of Zoology Ramblings, we introduce a new section called "conservation news" where Robi and I each talk about a recent positive conservation news story. We discuss our animals of the week: I decided to talk about the illusive, weird short-eared dog (thanks @wayne_wildlife for the suggestion) and Robi talks about the Little Black Tapir …

In episode 12 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I reveal some very exciting news about our podcast and its selection as one of the 8 winners of the Spotify Next Wave Initiative! We are so thrilled to have been selected alongside 7 other amazing podcasts which cover some very important and pressing topics in our society today. We also talk about our re…

In episode 11, Robi and I ramble about our animals of the week- I talk about the tayra and Robi talks about the tiny Monito del Monte. We each tackle large global conservation topics including zoonotic diseases and the lessons we can learn from the Covid 19 pandemic. Robi discusses why the taxonomic classification of African elephant species is imp…

In this episode, fossils of the Kimmeridge clay, naughty fossils from Brazil, Ubirajara, Darren's new book, Dinopedia. Cladistics (sigh), domed-headed nose-pickers, and how they use them, a New Whale™, G̡͉̼̱̳͖͕̱̦͊r̼͕̺̃̾͑ͩ̕e̴̻͙͕͍̺͔͒n͙͍̭̘̲̭͔̆̍͑͢ͅd̛͕̪̠̞̩̰ͦͯe̘̣̖̮͒͢ͅl̴̫͖͉͎̃ͣ͊̐i̶͇͇͓̭̳͚̹͒͑̇u̧͍͉̺̠̅̎ş̖̞̬̦̻̺̼ͭ ̨̜̤̃͗̑̚ͅmͯ͏͎̪͍̙͇̮͖̤o̹͇͙̺ͧ̉̒̽͞r̡̬͍̺̹̰̘͙ͦd͈͖͕̦̦̓̓̕…

In this rapid-fire episode, TetZoom Con, Alien Worlds, John's 3Dish T. rex heads and the state of their lips, a discussion on eyes and taphonomy, science writing and stupid rules (never use black, kids!), Freddie the seal and free-running dogs. And finally a main event: Thylacine persistence.Door John Conway & Darren Naish

This week in episode 10 of Zoology Ramblings we talk about an animal of the week each: Robi talks about the Sunda Island Tigers and throws in a bit of epic tiger taxonomy and palaeontology! I talk about the Laysan Albatross following an article about the world's oldest wild bird 'Wisdom' who has just had her 37th chick! For our UK conservation stor…

Welcome to episode 9, part 2 of Zoology Ramblings with Emma and Robi. This is a continuation from part 1 of episode 9. In this episode we talk about the Ebo Forest in Cameroon and the incredible biodiversity of animal life which is supported there. We also talk about threats to this forest and how public pressure can be important in lobbying govern…

Welcome to episode 9, part 1 of Zoology Ramblings with Emma and Robi! Apologies we haven't released one of these in a while- we have been busy with our other podcast 'The Biome Podcast'. Please feel free to check that one out if you wanted more regular content. This week we talk about neon-pink slugs which live on one mountain-top in Australia and …

In episode 8 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the illegal pangolin trade and the threats which both the Asian and African pangolins are facing. We highlight some amazing people and organisations which are doing fantastic work to try and conserve these incredible animals. We also briefly touch on the links between the pangolin and the SAR…

In episode 7 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi and I talk about the remarkable creatures that are Orcas. We talk about their distribution around the world, their complex social structures, the global threats they are facing and we explore the dynamics and the plight of our Orca pod here in the UK. We hope you enjoy our latest ramble!…

In the eight-oh, FU on Romancing the Stone and Carnotaurus, John's art, Greg Paul again, and Alien Worlds. And for the main event: the Scansoriopterygidae - dead ends that sucked at the evolutionary goal of flying, or, you know, animals adapted to their environment? You decide! TetZoo(m)Con is at on the 12th of December, save the date.…

In episode 6 of Zoology Ramblings, Robi talks about the enormous cave bear which used to inhabit the UK, which weighed up to 1000kgs and was entirely vegetarian! I talk about the Gelada monkeys of the Ethiopian highlands and how they have been driven to the roof of the world by humans and aggressive ancestors of baboons. Sorry we haven't released a…