Wild Stories

Easter Special - How Wombats Do Cube-Shaped Poos

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:31:00 GMT

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!

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How The British Made Crocodiles Evil

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:41:22 GMT

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.

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The Secret Sound that Hedgehogs Hear

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:40:11 GMT

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.

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Series 2 Teaser Trailer

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 18:35:08 GMT

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.

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Uncut - It's Hard to Sex a Porcupine

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:01:00 GMT

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!

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New Year Special - A Giraffe in Paris

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 06:22:45 GMT

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!

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Uncut - Good Fish, Beardy Fish, Bastard Fish

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 03:03:21 GMT

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.

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Saving 500 Invisible Species

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 01:33:55 GMT

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.

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Uncut - The Red Shanked Wrecking Ball Langur

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 12:01:00 GMT

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'?

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The Value of Ant Poo

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 02:22:28 GMT

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!

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Uncut - Binturong Pee Smell

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 12:01:00 GMT

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'?

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The Hairy Rhino Problem

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 12:01:00 GMT

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?

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What A Bat Sees

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 12:31:00 GMT

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.

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Uncut - Hagfish at a Dinner Party

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 10:01:57 GMT

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'?

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The President That Saved The Bison

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 03:56:32 GMT

It's the most shocking animal genocide in history and start of the a worldwide conservation movement that saved countless species. This week, American conservation icon Keith Aune joins to regale us with the story of how the West's iconic bison herds escaped extinction by a hair.

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Uncut - A Platypus Bacon and Egg Sandwich

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 13:15:22 GMT

Kicking off our new raw uncut conversation show, aye-ayeologist Adam Hartstone-Rose returns to discuss how you make a platypus bacon and egg sandwich, extinct animals we can't believe we missed out on, and the island he'd hide on if he was on the run.

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Why Hot Bees Get Fed Honey

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 07:01:00 GMT

You'd think we'd already figured out everything about bees. But Jürgen's discovered two new bee professions: heater and gas station bees. He's also figured out what a bee sees (or doesn't see!) when it flies at speed. Here's the story...

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What We Learn From Whale Snot

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 11:44:17 GMT

A whale's nose is not where you think. And Dr Vanessa Pirotta should know. She came up with a special drone to steal their snot. If that's snot a story worth listening to, whale, you're wrong.

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An Army of Tadpoles That Can't Grow Old

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 11:30:47 GMT

There's a plague of toads sweeping Australia. They outnumber people ten to one. But Dr Rick Shine has a solution straight out of Jurassic Park to stop them in their tracks. He's rewriting their DNA.

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The Spiders That Like Sock Smell

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT

New Zealand's Dr Fiona Cross tells a tale of two spiders: one that outsmarted its researchers and another that's mysteriously drawn to our smelly socks.

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A Lemur's Secret Murder Finger

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT

Apparently if an aye aye points at you, you're going to die. So lemur researcher Dr Adam Hartstone-Rose is probably doomed. But he did discover a new finger on the world's second weirdest primate.

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Launch Special - The Baby Rhino That Sailed Around Africa

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 06:00:00 GMT

In this special bonus episode, author-historian Jillian Forsberg joins to regale us with the story of the very first animal celebrity, who sailed around the Cape to meet kings and emperors, then vanished after death.

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Teaser Trailer

Sat, 04 Oct 2025 21:21:12 GMT

Wild Stories is coming soon, with new episodes every Wednesday. Make sure to follow and turn on automatic downloads so you don't miss an episode!

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