That's Just Wild

Fresh Air

Steve Backshall, Lizzie Daly and Sarah Roberts bring you a wildly entertaining nature show filled with adventure, behind-the-scenes stories, and fascinating facts. Think: unexpected encounters, jaw-dropping science, and nature like you’ve never heard it before.

Every Tuesday join adventurer, explorer and broadcaster Steve Backshall, wildlife biologist Lizzie Daly, and journalist Sarah Roberts as they dive deep into the wonders of the natural world. From braving Arctic extremes to swimming with sharks, each episode begins with a bold superlative—Flamboyant, Freezing, Venomous—and unfolds into their remarkable tales of the wild.

Then, every Friday, it’s your turn. Our Q&A episodes tackle your most need-to-know nature questions—from how not to become bear food to how long is an elephant’s trunk?

Because the world is wild, its wonders are endless—and we’re here to tell the stories that prove it.

For ad-free listening and special episodes, support the podcast at thatsjustwild.com.

Produced in the wild by Fresh Air.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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20 episodes
Updated May 7

Episodes20

Newest first

May 7 · 24 min
Q&A: Ancient Fish Eyes, Chowing Chimps and the Deserts That Mimic Mars
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions one last time, as the show wraps up — going out with a curious bang (and probably a few weird facts for good measure). 💥🐾✨ 🌊 Ever noticed how things seem to vanish into the distance underwater? We explore whether marine animals see the same murky limits we do — or if life beneath the surface has evolved to see further, clearer, and in ways we can barely imagine. 🐠👀 🐜 We always hear about the strongest creatures for their size… but what about the weakest? We take a closer look at sloths — famously slow, surprisingly weak, and spending most of their lives hanging from their toes. 🌿 🌳 🌵🦂🪲Are there places on Earth so extreme that life simply can’t survive? We head to scorching deserts in northern Chile and the Lut Desert — some of the closest environments to Mars — where, against all odds, microbes still find a way to thrive. 🔥🧬 A huge thanks to all our wonderful listeners — while we’re wrapping things up here, the series isn’t going anywhere, so you can dip back into all our favourite (and slightly wild) episodes anytime 🎧✨ Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 5 · 36 min
Moist: Slime Highways, Snot Bubble Beds, and a Legendary Orca Sighting
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie dive headfirst into the wonderfully weird and surprisingly soggy side of the natural world 💧💧💧 🐜 Honey ants take food storage to another level — with a special cast that swells up with nectar until they’re completely immobile, hanging from the nest ceiling like living reservoirs, ready to feed the colony when times get tough. 🍯 🧪 Hagfish unleash one of the strangest defences in the animal kingdom — producing up to 20 litres of slime in seconds. This bizarre mucus expands in seawater, clogging the gills of predators and making a swift escape possible. Slippery doesn’t even cover it. 🐍💨 🐸 The ultimate survivalist? Meet the water-holding frog — capable of storing huge amounts of water in its body, going into a state of stasis, and surviving underground for up to five years without drinking in extreme drought conditions. 🌵💧 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 1 · 22 min
Q&A: Vertical Sleepers, Sky Dances and the Infamous Worm Dance
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐦 Mesmerising murmurations & the “rule of 7”… how do starlings move as one without crashing mid-air? We unpack the simple behavioural rules behind those hypnotic sky dances — and why each bird only needs to track a handful of neighbours. 🌅✨ 🐛 Ever seen gulls doing a strange little “worm dance”? We get into the surprisingly clever ground-drumming behaviour that tricks worms into the surface — and why it works so well. 🌊👀 🌙 Do sperm whales really sleep vertically? We explore the bizarre world of “upright” sleepers in the animal kingdom — and what this unusual behaviour tells us about life beneath the surface. 🐋💤 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 28 · 36 min
Sleepy: Mucus Cocoons, Sky Sleepers, and the World’s Best Micro-Nappers
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie, drift into the drowsiest corners of the natural world 🌙😴 🛌 Sleep is risky business, so animals have evolved some seriously creative solutions. From extreme sleepers to near-insomniacs, the animal kingdom does things wildly differently 🐾 Discover sloths dozing high in branches too flimsy for predators to reach 🦥🌿, African pixie frogs that can disappear into a mucus cocoon for up to seven years 🐸⏳, and parrotfish that wrap themselves in their own slimy sleeping bags 🐠 Plus, we explore the science of sleep deprivation—where staying awake for just 16 hours can impair you as much as alcohol 🧠⚠️🍷 And don’t miss the mysterious sleep abilities of creatures like the common swift, which can remain airborne for months at a time without properly landing 🕊️☁️ 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 24 · 23 min
Q&A: Seriously Smart Chimps, Snake hoods and a Very Quiet Rainforest
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐒 Seriously smart chimps, artistic animals & nature’s creative side… from painting primates to musical whales and masterpiece-making bowerbird—but are they really making “art” like we do? 🎨🐋 🐦 Can different bird species “talk” to each other? We dive into the surprising world of shared alarm calls—how robins, sparrows and others team up to warn of danger, and why learning bird calls might change the way you experience nature. 🌿👂 🌙 Why do so many animals come alive at night? Nearly 70% of mammals are nocturnal—think stealthy panthers and city-dwelling rats adapting to a world after dark. 🌆🦝 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 21 · 32 min
Systems: Dust Crossing Oceans, Shrinking Iguanas and a Tiny Earth Experiment
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie dive into the natural systems that keep our planet running — the hidden forces connecting oceans, weather, and life itself 🌍✨ 🌊 The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt keeps our planet in motion — a vast, globe-spanning current system circulating water, heat, and nutrients across the seas… quietly shaping climates and life on Earth. 🌦️ From swirling weather systems to extreme survival hacks, marine iguanas can actually shrink their bodies during tough times — tightening their energy use when food runs scarce. Adapt or shrink trying. 🛰️ And from space, a surprising link: NASA satellites reveal Saharan dust crossing the Atlantic to fertilise the Amazon rainforest — while experiments like Biosphere 2 attempt to recreate Earth itself under glass. 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 17 · 22 min
Q&A: Goats on Wheels, Luscious Long Necks and Poo Is Power
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🦣 Do animals support their young with disabilities? From African wild dogs to elephants and chimpanzees, we explore the surprisingly compassionate side of the animal kingdom. ❤️🌍 🦒 Ever wondered why giraffes have such ridiculously long necks—and who else is in the long-neck club? From swans and ostriches to alpacas and even bizarre insects (yes, really), plus prehistoric creatures that make giraffes look short… this one stretches way back in time. 🦢✨ 💩 Can animal poo actually be useful? From fuel to survival hacks, we uncover the true value of poo—including why baby koalas have to eat their mum’s to grow up healthy. Nature gets weird. Fast. 🤯🌱 🔍 And finally—Steve’s favourite animal tracking facts from Africa. Because sometimes, the distance between droppings (and how far they fell…) tells you everything you need to know. 🐾 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 14 · 37 min
Invincible: Mesmeric Meerkats, Mongoose vs. Cobra Showdowns, and Regenerating Worms
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie dare to explore natural world’s toughest survivors — the creatures that refuse to die, defy the odds, and redefine what it means to be truly invincible 💪 🦎 Olms lurk in dark cave systems with the incredible ability to regenerate lost limbs and even organs — and can live for over a century… while planarian worms take things even further, rebuilding entire heads, brains, and tails from tiny fragments. 🦂 Mesmerising meerkats go head-to-head with some of the world’s most venomous scorpions, while the famously fearless honey badger squares up to just about anything — from snakes to lions, hyenas… even crocodiles. 🧬 And the tardigrades — microscopic, oddly adorable “water bears” that can survive being frozen, boiled, and even blasted into space. Cute… but nearly indestructible. 🚀✨ 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 10 · 28 min
Q&A: Evolution Oddities, Pet Reptiles and Saving Rainforests
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐍 Ever thought about owning a corn snake… and then realised how big the commitment actually is? We get into exotic pets and what it really means to care for them. 🤔 🦘 What’s the point of marsupials — and is there such a thing as a “useless” animal? From pouches to egg-layers, we explore the strange paths of evolution. 🌍✨ 💰 Pangolin scales, rhino horn, and even fish bladders worth more than gold… why are these wildlife products so valuable, and what’s the real cost behind them? 🐅 🌴 And finally — can one person actually make a difference in saving a rainforest? From palm oil to conservation in Borneo, we explore what protecting land really looks like 🌱 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
April 7 · 49 min
Builders: Beaver Cities, Swiftlet Phlegm Hammocks, and Antlion Larvae Death Traps
With Steve Backshall, Lizzie Daly and Sarah Roberts
April 3 · 22 min
Q&A: Flaunting Peacocks, Sweet Rhino Farts, and Dolphins’ Dark Side
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Sarah tackle more of your wildest questions! 🦚 What is the real purpose of sexual dimorphism? From strutting, show-off peacocks to enormous male seals and tiny females, plus the bizarre love life of the anglerfish. 🤯🌊 🐬 Dolphins aren’t always the friendly faces we think they are… what really goes on during mating season, and just how dark can their behaviour get? 🐾 And is there actually an evolutionary advantage to being cute — or are humans just projecting our own ideas onto the animal kingdom? ✨ 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 31 · 34 min
Chatty: Tamarin’s Scent Secrets, Curious Whales and Nature’s Loudest Love Song
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Sarah are seriously chatty as they discuss some of nature’s most outrageous communicators📞📢🔊… 🦜 From the red-eyed vireo, the tiny “preacher bird” that somehow belts out a staggering 22,197 songs in just 10 hours (yes, really!), to the white bellbird, whose call is so loud it’s basically like standing next to the speakers at a rock concert… except it’s screaming directly into a female’s face. 🔊🎚️🤘 🐋 Humpback whales might be trying to chat with us — not out of fear, but pure curiosity — by blowing perfect bubble rings underwater. 💬 🐒👃🏽 Meet the Brazilian bare-faced tamarin, which communicates through scent marking… and Steve’s face-off with a satin bowerbird. 💙 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 27 · 27 min
Q&A: Snow Leopard Close Calls, Desert Masters and Spiders Cleaning Up
On this week’s That’s Just Wild Q+A, Steve and Sarah tackle more of your wildest questions! 🐆 How close should you really get to a snow leopard? Steve shares a heart-stopping near miss with one of the most elusive predators on Earth. 😳🏔️ 🌵 How do animals survive in the harshest places on the planet — and what happens when apex predators like dingoes and Tasmanian devils are brought back to restore balance? 🕷️ And do spiders actually eat their own webs? Plus, a simple challenge: what might you discover if you wake up early enough to watch one being built… 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 24 · 36 min
Memory: Squirrels’ Mind Palace, Snail Memory Transplants and the Grandmother Effect
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Sarah are exploring into the surprising world of animal memory. 🧠 🐿️ 🌰From squirrels with a near-perfect mental map of their buried snacks to goldfish that can remember far more than you’d think… 🧠🐠 🐘 Meet the matriarchs of the animal kingdom — elephants whose incredible memories may hold the secret to longer lives, thanks to the rare and remarkable “grandmother effect.” 👵🌍 🪶 And it’s not just remembering — some of the smartest birds on Earth, like crows, can make tools, solve problems, and even pass knowledge on… proving memory in the wild is anything but simple. 🐦‍⬛⚒️ 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 20 · 20 min
Q&A Shark Special: The Shark Matriarch, Overexcited Sharks and Baby Sharks Fending for Themselves
On this week’s That’s Just Wild Q+A, Sarah is joined by special guest Shark Man Dan for a Shark Q+A special🦈💙🌊 🦈 Ever wondered if sharks are good mums? Turns out life as a baby shark is brutal. The moment they’re born, they’re on their own — just survival in the big blue. 😬🌊 👀 Do sharks ever hunt together? We dive into the surprising social side of these ocean predators… like how many sharks show respect to the biggest females. 👑 🏝️ And if you actually want to see sharks in the wild, where should you go? Plus the incredible sharks that can swim from the ocean hundreds of kilometres up rivers. 🚤🦈 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 17 · 48 min
Shark Man Dan: Walking Sharks, Strange Species and Wild Ocean Stories
This week on That’s Just Wild, Sarah is joined by special guest Shark Man Dan for a deep dive into the world of sharks… and the wild path that led Dan to dedicate his career to them. 🦈🌊🎥 🦈💙 Dan shares how he turned his love for sharks into a career — taking a very unconventional route to become one of the ocean’s biggest shark champions. 🏆 Meet Dan’s favourite shark, the epaulette shark — famous for its incredible ability to “walk” across reefs and out of rock pools to escape predators. 🪨🐚 🌊 Things get seriously intense as Dan and Sarah share one of their closest calls — caught in a powerful vortex current and later stranded out at sea in Japan without a boat. 🇯🇵🗾 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 13 · 32 min
Q&A: Cheeky Octopuses, Chompy Geese and Spiders with Pet Frogs
On this week’s That’s Just Wild Q+A, Steve and Sarah tackle more of your wildest questions! 💪🏽 Ever wondered what the bite force of a goose is? Steve reckons he might’ve bite-tested more animals than anyone else on Earth… and honestly, we believe him. 🌏😅 🕷️🕸️ Do wild animals ever keep other animals as pets? Meet the spiders that open their homes to frogs. 🐸🏠 🐜🐄 And we ask the big questions… what’s the most successful species in Earth’s history — and can animals actually hold a grudge? 😤 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 10 · 35 min
Motherhood: Crab Spider Sacrifice, Panda Sibling Rivalry and the Frog That Turns Her Stomach into a Nursery
This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve and Sarah are exploring motherhood in the animal kingdom… from the sweetest care to the most jaw-dropping survival strategies. 💛🐣 🐻‍❄️🐊 From polar bears to crocodilians carrying their babies gently in their mouths… to reptiles like leopard iguanas leaving their hatchlings in a protective pile of poo — motherhood in nature comes in many wild forms. 🥚💩 🕷️ Meet the ultimate self-sacrificing mum — the crab spider mother who lets her babies drink nutrients from her legs… before they eat the rest of her. 🕷️🦀 🐼 Not all mums can raise twins — giant panda mothers often choose one cub to care for, leaving the other behind in a tough twist of sibling rivalry. 🐸 Some mums go to incredible lengths — like the gastric-brooding frog that swallows her eggs, switches off her stomach, and protects them inside her body. 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧🌍 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 6 · 25 min
Q&A: Dung Beetle Deadlifts, Orca Dialects and the Fight for Territory
On this week’s That’s Just Wild Q+A, Lizzie Daly and Sarah Roberts tackle more of your wildest questions! Ever wondered if animals have accents? Sarah and Lizzie discuss if orcas really pass down their own unique calls and communication styles through generations. 🐋🎙️ From gorillas to leafcutter ants to dung beetles… who’s the true strength champion for their size in the animal kingdom? 💪🐜 And do all animals defend a territory— and what happens when that animal packs up and migrates? 🗺️🦅 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
March 3 · 43 min
Speedy: Flattie spider spinners, Mummified cheetahs and the fastest animal on earth
This week on That’s Just Wild Lizzie and Sarah are racing into all things speedy... blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speedy. And Sarah's got a new book! https://linktr.ee/Wild_Apprentice ⚡👀 🕷️ Meet the flattie spider — whipping around its prey in a spin so fast it holds the title for the quickest terrestrial twirl on Earth. 😵‍💫🕸️ 🦅 🦅 We spotlight the peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on Earth, zooming through the sky in an incredible super-speed dive. 🚄 🇯🇵And nature inspiring transport engineering — Japan’s bullet train modeled on the kingfisher’s beak to slice through air in near silence. 👑🎣 📝 Leave us a review to let us know what you think — every comment means a lot to the whole team 💚 🔔 Make sure you follow That’s Just Wild wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode 🎧🌍 Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening, special deep-dive episodes and exclusive That's Just Wild goodies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.