Radiolab | The Hybrid | Radiolab For Kids Presents: Terrestrials | Full Podcast Episode @Radiolabpod | Uploaded November 2022 | Updated October 2024, 14 hours ago.
From the Radiolab for Kids podcast: A fantastical mix of two beasts comes together, thrives, and does something scientists thought it could never do.
In the game of life, every species is like an action figure. You got your dogs and your dung beetles, your bald eagles and your blueberries. And for a long time scientists believed it was pretty much impossible for those action figures to mix and make a new kind of action figure that was able to have its own babies (dog beetles? Baldberries? Nah).
But, in this episode we tell the story of a four-legged beast in Kentucky whose existence is upending scientific beliefs. The creature in question is a mule!
After almost 20 years of living her life as a hybrid (a mix between a horse and a donkey), believed to be incapable of having babies, Peanut the mule shocked the world by doing the impossible — giving birth. Peanut’s owners, Teresa and Jerry Smothers, tell us the story of her life.
And Evolutionary biologist Dr. Molly Schumer explains how scientists’ understanding of hybrids has changed dramatically over the course of Peanut’s lifetime. And no mule episode would be complete without a cowboy-hatted mule packer leading us deep into the rocky trails of the American West on muleback to explain why mules are the best of both worlds of their parents.
Along with this episode, watch the animated video extra "Species Mash-Up" youtu.be/l_53wq7O7UY
Support for Terrestrials is provided by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
🎧 Subscribe to Radiolab For Kids Presents: Terrestrials wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3xhCghk
🔊 Or listen to the full episodes of Terrestrials on YouTube: bit.ly/3fvmtVY
🐴 Watch more video extras from each episode of Terrestrials: bit.ly/3rjbG44
🔎 Subscribe to Radiolab on YouTube: bit.ly/3I9KI53
🌱 Check out Radiolab's Starter Kit Playlist: bit.ly/3sX8f4P
👍 Like this video ✏️ and leave us a comment!
Follow Radiolab:
Instagram — instagram.com/radiolab
Twitter — twitter.com/Radiolab
Facebook — facebook.com/Radiolab
This episode includes Jerry and Teresa Smothers, Dr. Molly Schumer, and mulepacker James Reeves. Special thanks to the punks at the Music Resource Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Shovels: Dig Deeper
For each episode of Terrestrials, we provide a selection of activity sheets, drawing prompts, musical lessons and more. We call them “shovels” because we hope they will help you (and your friends, family, students, neighbors, etc) dig more deeply into the world! You can do them at home, in the classroom, outside, or in the privacy of your own mind. We hope you enjoy!
If you want to share what you’ve made, ask an adult share it on social media using #TerrestrialsPodcast and make sure to tag @Radiolab.
Draw:
Get creative with a special listen from our friends from DrawTogether: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/18-super-surreal-silly-monster/id1605016385?i=1000555246272
Do:
We've put a bunch of concrete — and even kinda fun — things we can all do to help protect the nonhuman life on this planet IN BINGO form: media.wnyc.org/media/resources/2022/Oct/27/The_Hybrid_Activity_Sheet.pdf
Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today: radiolab.org/the-lab
Illustration by Tara Anand [https://www.taraanandart.com]
Video by Michael Snyder and Kim Nowacki
From the Radiolab for Kids podcast: A fantastical mix of two beasts comes together, thrives, and does something scientists thought it could never do.
In the game of life, every species is like an action figure. You got your dogs and your dung beetles, your bald eagles and your blueberries. And for a long time scientists believed it was pretty much impossible for those action figures to mix and make a new kind of action figure that was able to have its own babies (dog beetles? Baldberries? Nah).
But, in this episode we tell the story of a four-legged beast in Kentucky whose existence is upending scientific beliefs. The creature in question is a mule!
After almost 20 years of living her life as a hybrid (a mix between a horse and a donkey), believed to be incapable of having babies, Peanut the mule shocked the world by doing the impossible — giving birth. Peanut’s owners, Teresa and Jerry Smothers, tell us the story of her life.
And Evolutionary biologist Dr. Molly Schumer explains how scientists’ understanding of hybrids has changed dramatically over the course of Peanut’s lifetime. And no mule episode would be complete without a cowboy-hatted mule packer leading us deep into the rocky trails of the American West on muleback to explain why mules are the best of both worlds of their parents.
Along with this episode, watch the animated video extra "Species Mash-Up" youtu.be/l_53wq7O7UY
Support for Terrestrials is provided by Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.
🎧 Subscribe to Radiolab For Kids Presents: Terrestrials wherever you listen to podcasts: bit.ly/3xhCghk
🔊 Or listen to the full episodes of Terrestrials on YouTube: bit.ly/3fvmtVY
🐴 Watch more video extras from each episode of Terrestrials: bit.ly/3rjbG44
🔎 Subscribe to Radiolab on YouTube: bit.ly/3I9KI53
🌱 Check out Radiolab's Starter Kit Playlist: bit.ly/3sX8f4P
👍 Like this video ✏️ and leave us a comment!
Follow Radiolab:
Instagram — instagram.com/radiolab
Twitter — twitter.com/Radiolab
Facebook — facebook.com/Radiolab
This episode includes Jerry and Teresa Smothers, Dr. Molly Schumer, and mulepacker James Reeves. Special thanks to the punks at the Music Resource Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Shovels: Dig Deeper
For each episode of Terrestrials, we provide a selection of activity sheets, drawing prompts, musical lessons and more. We call them “shovels” because we hope they will help you (and your friends, family, students, neighbors, etc) dig more deeply into the world! You can do them at home, in the classroom, outside, or in the privacy of your own mind. We hope you enjoy!
If you want to share what you’ve made, ask an adult share it on social media using #TerrestrialsPodcast and make sure to tag @Radiolab.
Draw:
Get creative with a special listen from our friends from DrawTogether: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/18-super-surreal-silly-monster/id1605016385?i=1000555246272
Do:
We've put a bunch of concrete — and even kinda fun — things we can all do to help protect the nonhuman life on this planet IN BINGO form: media.wnyc.org/media/resources/2022/Oct/27/The_Hybrid_Activity_Sheet.pdf
Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab today: radiolab.org/the-lab
Illustration by Tara Anand [https://www.taraanandart.com]
Video by Michael Snyder and Kim Nowacki
