We're back! With an episode about the pink river dolphin/aka Amazon River Dolphin/ aka Boto. In this episode we learn about why they might be their unusual color, how they look different from marine dolphins, interesting myths surrounding them, and lots more. 

If you think you know the answer to our creature quiz or our riddle, or if you took part in our Kid Power challenge, send us an email at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod and we will send you a bookmark!

If you're interested in being a Patreon sponsor, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals 

And don't forget to visit www.amazoninnhubandgrub.com for all your Amazon eating needs. 

And be sure to check out the Curious Kid podcast! We think you'll really like it. 

On this second part to our spider monkey episodes, we have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Michelle Rodrigues, who has Jaguar's dream job - getting up close and personal with spider monkeys. (Although her motivations differ from Jaguar's.)

Dr. Rodrigues talks to us about spider monkey sociality, the effect of climate change on spider monkeys, whether they laugh, and - of course - answer Jaguar's question about why they are so delicious. 

We always love to hear from you! You can email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod.  

Thanks to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme song! 

It's Corduroy turn to share his origin story! Learn about how he found his corduroys and how he got his name. It involves a very famous person - maybe you can figure out who! 

You also hear more about the Amazon Inn Hub & Grub. Be sure to head to www.amazoninnhubandgrub.com to get your gift certificates!

Did you ever wonder how Jaguar became Jaguar? In this bonus episode, Jaguar explains how he became the cat he is today. 

Don't forget to check out his enterprise, Amazon Inn Hub & Grub at www.amazoninnhubandgrub.com 

The day has finally come, listeners. Jaguar learns all about spider monkeys. Now, the question is - will he learn to love them so much that he won't eat them again? Listen to find out, as well as finding out about their amazing tails, their calls, and some pretty gross ways they have of deterring intruders.  

Thank you to Emily, our latest Patreon sponsor. If you would like to be a Patreon sponsor, head to our Patreon page here. https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals We have a bunch of outtakes up there as well. 

If you know the answer to the creature quiz or riddle, or just want to say hi, send us an email at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod. Thanks for listening!

What animal is so big it takes to podcast episodes to cover it? The elephant! In this follow-up to our first elephant podcast, we interview Dr. Josh Plotnik, an elephant expert who studies sociality and empathy. We talk about the smartest thing Dr. Plotnik has ever seen an elephant do, whether elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror, how they show empathy, and more. 

Thank you to our Patreon sponsor Georgia! If you'd like to be a Patreon sponsor, head to our website here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

We always love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod. 

Thanks to Andrew Barkan of Ear Snacks for the theme music!

We have been wanting to do elephants for SO long. Just recently, we got a slide show presentation from listener Emily that really inspired us to get moving on it!

In this episode, we chat about elephants with Grady's friend Finn. We talk about how smart they are, the ways they communicate, how they show empathy, how big they are, how much they poop, and lots more. 

Later this week, we will be speaking with Dr. Josh Plotnik, who studies elephants and how they socialize. Stay tuned! 

Do you want to get in touch with us? Send us an email at [email protected] or tweet us @coolanimalspod.

Thanks to Andrew Barkan of Ear Snacks for the music! 

Back at what seems like the dawn of time (i.e., two months ago when the kids were still at school),  Clara was working on a pollinator project for her second grade class.  Clara chose the blue-tailed day gecko. But when she started researching it, she found that there was almost no information out there about them!

Luckily, we discovered the Skype a Scientist program, where we were connected to Travis Hagey. Dr. Hagey is an expert on day geckos (though he has not yet studied the blue tailed day gecko) and he taught us a lot about these amazing animals ? like that they can drop and regrow their tails, that they probable traveled on the side of ... something (a log?) to get to the island they live on now, and why that commercial Gecko isn?t really super accurate.

We learned a lot from Dr. Hagey, and had a super good time too.  We hope you will as well!

As always, we love to hear from you! Email as [email protected] or tweet us @coolanimalspod.

Thanks to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme music! 

This one is just for fun, definitely no learning here. Join in Jaguar's adventures as he travels from Transylvania to Washington to the moon to try to track down that rascally Corduroy. 

In this special Earth Day episode, the CFAA gangs bring you lots of cool facts about a whole bunch of different animals, including the brown pelican, purple loosestrife beetle, honey badger, dung beetle, sand cat, a headless frog, and more!

Do you want to make a difference this Earth Day? Learn about a new animal and tell someone about it! Including us! Send us an email with an audio recording or a paragraph about your animal to [email protected] 

Thanks for listening, and happy Earth Day! 

Hey Listeners! Happy Earth Day Week! We are hoping to get out an Earth Episode this week, but in the meantime, we wanted to direct you to the Kids Listen Activity Podcast, where we are rebroadcasting our episode on extinct animals. You can find the Kids Listen Activity Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kids-listen-activity-podcast/id1502915722

After the episode, head to kidslisten.org/activity-podcast to find a whole bunch of activities we put together associated with this podcast episode (and over 20 others). We have ideas like building a maze out of straws, painting rocks, measuring your yawn gape and more. 

Enjoy!

On this episode, we learn about a truly resilient animal, the tardigrade (aka the cutely-named moss piglet or water bear). 

This animal can survive anywhere from the moon to a volcano to your own backyard. In its tun state, it can lie dormant for decades in a sort of zombie state. Very cool. 

Thank you to Abby for supporting us on Patreon! If you would like to financially support us, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

Find Skype a Scientist Live here: https://www.skypeascientist.com/skype-a-scientist-live.html

If you know the answer to the creature quiz or take part in the kid challenge, let us know and we will send you a bookmark! Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod. 

In honor of one of our favorite holidays, we are rebroadcasting our April Fools Day episode from last year, starring Mr. Eric of What if World. It's our most popular episode of all time and we hope you enjoy it! 

On this episode, we take advantage of the amazing Skype a Scientist program and speak with Dr. Dan Killam, an expert on giant clams. 

We learned so much about giant clams - including how their eyes work (and that they even had eyes), how big they can get, how they are similar to trees, and lots more. 

We had more than we could fit in this episode. If you want to hear more about giant clams and other odds and ends (like what Dr. Killam named his Venus fly trap) head over to our Patreon page. You do not need to financially support us to hear these bonus materials. https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

We always love to hear from you! Send us an email at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod 

Learn more about the Skype a Scientist program here: https://www.skypeascientist.com

Starting this week, Kids Listen member podcasts ? like What If World, The Past and the Curious, The Good Words Podcast, Book Club for Kids, Little Bedtime Stories, Tumble Podcast, Timestorm, Be Calm on Ahway Island, Aaron?s World, Best Day Yet, The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian, Story Spectacular, Unspookable, Curious Kid Podcast and Buttons & Figs ? and of course Cool Facts About Animals ? will bring you a podcast and an activity based on the episode.

Cool Facts About Animals? episode is up today! For our episode, we chose our second most popular episode of all time ? tarantula hawk wasps. This episode features an interview with Dr. Justin Schmidt, who invented the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.  Do you kow how he invented that index? He got stung. A lot. And then told people about how much each one hurt on a scale from 1 to 4. It?s a really fun episode, filled with lots of animal facts from a super cool scientist.

After you listen, you can find a number of activities relating to the episode, including inventing your own index, drawing your defensive superpowers, doing in-depth bug observation, and lots more. 

Here are all the links you need:

Kids Listen Activity Podcast on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kids-listen-activity-podcast/id1502915722

Raw feed if you?re not an iTunes person: https://kidslistenactivitypodcast.libsyn.com/rss

Kids Listen Activity website: https://www.kidslisten.org/activity-podcast

Link to our most popular episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unicorns/id1334467437?i=1000433820094

Here?s another resource of podcasts to listen to and other resources: https://medium.com/kidslisten/schools-out-kids-podcasts-are-in-82634e23d4c4

And our contact info ? we?d love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] or tweet @coolanimalspod.

If you?re into hashtags, use the tag #kidslistenactivitypod

Stay well, listeners. 

On this bonus episode of CFAA, we speak with Allyson Shaw, an editor and writer at National Geographic Kids.  In this interview we learn about ?comeback critters,? animals that were struggling but are now doing a lot better because of human intervention, as well as animals that still really need our help.  We also talk about the dangers and benefits of plastic, and practical tips to reduce plastic consumption.

This episode is FULL of tips on how kids can help protect animals.  We?d love to hear some of the tips you found most inspiring, and which going to try to do yourselves!  You can tweet us at @coolanimalspod or email us at [email protected], and we will send you a bookmark!

Thanks as always for listening, and we will back soon with our regular format.

Hello listeners! On this episode we are learning all about Koalas (not bears).  We learn a number of really gross things that these animals do, despite being so cute, and some other cool facts - like how small the babies are, what their name means and all sorts of interesting things about their hands and feet. We also talk about how you can help koalas suffering from the effects of the bush fires, including by "adopting" a koala through the Australia Koala Foundation: https://www.savethekoala.com 

Thanks to Sam the Bug Hunter for being our Patreon sponsor! If you'd like to help support our podcast, please head over to our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

If you know the answer to the riddle, creature or quiz, or you do the Kid Challenge, let us know! Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod 

Thanks as always to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme music! 

We have another bonus episode in store for you today! We speak with Dr. Jim Sanderson, a conservationist and Program Manager of Wild Cat Conservation at the Global Wildlife Conservation. We wanted to speak with him about the Andean Cat, because he is one of the very few people to ever see one in nature. While we did learn some cool things about the cat, we also learned a lot about a new field - conservationism.  

It was such an honor to get the chance to speak with Dr. Sanderson. This episode is a bit longer than usual, but we thought the whole interview was so interesting, we didn't know what to cut. 

We hope you enjoy it, and are as inspired by Dr. Sanderson's work as we are!  

We should be back to our normal format after this. We look forward to thanking our newest Patreon sponsor on that episode. 

We were excited to receive a copy of ?A Book of Rather Strange Animals? by Caleb Compton. Just like it sounds, the book is a collection of unusual, weird, wacky, and just plain cool animals.  In this episode we talk about a few of the animals in the book: the purple frog; sea bunny; hammerhead worm; and vampire squid.

Want to answer the creature quiz, riddle, or tell us about how you did on the kid challenge? You can reach us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod.

And if you?d like to financially support us, you can do so at https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

On this episode, we learn all about the colossal squid ? an animal that no one has actually seen move around in the ocean.   In this episode you?ll learn about their predators, how they attack prey, how colossal they really are, and the surprising amount they need to eat to stay alive. 

Thanks to Fox and Frye for the suggestion!

If you know the answer to the creature quiz, or did the kid challenge, let us know! You can reach us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod

If you?d like to support us financially, please visit our Patreon page! https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

Finally, here?s a link to the video of the colossal squid autopsy: https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-09-17/rare-colossal-squid-was-dissected-new-zealand-and-you-can-watch-it-youtube

Learn more about Spider Monkey Burrito Creator Day and Green Overall Day(s) with Jaguar and Corduroy. Things get a little heated, but it ends up with everyone coming together with some holiday songs. (No animal facts in this one, it's just for fun.) 

On this episode, we go way back in time to learn about the velociraptor! If your knowledge about the velociraptor comes from the movie Jurassic Park (like Jaguar) then you?ll be surprised to know that most of what you think is true is false! The velociraptor was only about the size of the turkey, and its hunting game was way different than portrayed.  In this episode, you?ll learn more about its dangerous claws, a prehistoric battle, and lots more. 

We mentioned two videos in the episode. They are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0qs5oclDkI  - Interesting information about what the velociraptor might have sounded like

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2erfy1 - BBC documentary in which they do experiments to discover more about how the velociraptor?s claws were used

If you want to answer our creature quiz, riddle, do the kid challenge, or just want to say hi, you can reach us on Twitter at @coolanimalspod or email us at [email protected]

If you?d like to support us financially, and help fund our trip to the Red Woods to study a new habitat, you can support us on our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

Thanks for listening!

You can?t get much spookier than this spider, the largest of all spiders.  It?s legs alone get be up to a foot long, and it?s so hairy and creepy and?. I need to stop. 

On this episode, you?ll learn about this tarantula?s defense mechanisms?including its ability to spew barbed hairs at its enemies, the creepy thing female spiders do to their would-be mates, and lots more. 

We always love to hear from you! You can reach us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod.

If you?re interested in being one of our Patreon sponsors, follow the link here:https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals 

Thanks as always to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme song! 

In this episode, we talk about new discoveries about orcas (aka killer whales), learn more about how smart they are (learning words!), and Jaguar gets a little jealous.

We?ve got lots of links in this one:

Here?s the link to Orca v. Great White Shark: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/orca-versus-great-white-shark/id1334467437?i=1000423748015

Here?s the link to the salmon episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/salmon/id1334467437?i=1000417338721

Here?s a link to the granola bar recipe I?ve been using (I love Smitten Kitchen): https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/thick-chewy-granola-bars/

And here?s a yogurt making primer: https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-to-make-homemade-yogurt-step-by-step-article

And thanks again to Maggie for being our Patreon sponsor! If you?re interested in supporting our podcast financially, you can do so here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

If you want to answer the creature quiz, riddle, or tell us how you?re doing on this month?s kid challenge, send us a note at [email protected] or on Twitter at @coolanimalspod. 

Thanks as always to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our awesome theme song!

The Cool Facts About Animals crew got the opportunity to head to Oregon?s science museum (OMSI) to check out the new exhibit, Exquisite Creatures, and interview the artist behind the exhibit, Christopher Marley. 

Marley is an Oregon artist who uses animals and insects to create amazing pieces of art.  In this episode you?ll learn why it?s so important to go out and see nature in real life, what kinds of looks you get when you take your pet monitor lizard for a walk, and how you can help to protect animals.

Thanks as always for listening, and we will be back soon with our regularly-scheduled episode!

Many thanks against to Christopher Marley for speaking with us, and for OMSI for giving us this opportunity.  

And thank you to Andrew Barkan of Ear Snacks for our theme music! 

It's a whale! It's a shark! It's not a whale at all, it's the biggest fish in the sea! It's a whale shark! 

On this episode we get way too silly talking about filter feeding, the differences between whales and sharks, and just how big these sharks are. (Hint: super big.)

Thanks to Miles for the suggestion, along with previous suggesters Theo and Nadia. 

And many thanks to Lilli and Hazel, two of our newest Patreon sponsors! If you would like to help support us take a road trip to visit in person with a scientist, you can head over to https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals and make a donation.  We are narrowing in on a location, and hope to head there this fall! 

If you think you know the answer to our creature quiz or riddle, or if you completed our kid challenge, send us an email at [email protected], or tweet us at @coolanimalspod.

Thanks for listening! 

Just for fun this long weekend, we're doing filling in the blank word games with Jaguar and Corduroy! We'll be back with more cool animal facts in a week or so - stay tuned!

Thanks so much to Miles and Toby, our Patreon supporters! If you're interested in supporting us financially, you can check out our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

Another special summer episode, this time featuring Tristan and Quinn.  Besides being Sea Pig experts, they are also cousins to Grady, Clara, and Teddy. 

We learn lots of cool facts about this very strange looking sea creature. If you want to guess what they might look like (no peeking!) send us a picture at [email protected], or tweet us at coolanimalspod.  If you already know what they look like, send us another picture instead.  We will send you a bookmark! 

We will be getting back to school and our normal schedules soon. Thanks in advance to our three new Patreon sponsors! We will be doing official thank yous in our next three regular episodes.  

If you would like to financially support our podcast, click here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals 

A long, long time ago we got a request from James?who was 5 at the time?to do an episode about tarantula hawk wasps. When we started researching the insect, we kept coming across the name Dr. Justin Schmidt. Grady had already heard of him?you may have too. He invented what?s called the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The index measures just what it sounds like it would?how painful different insects? stings are to humans. Dr. Schmidt is also the author of a book called The Sting of the Wild, which we recommend you all read.

We had the great pleasure of having a Skype conversation from Dr. Schmidt from his office in Tucson, Arizona. We talked about not just the tarantula hawk wasp, but also about other stinging insects, why some insects die after they sting you, how much it hurts to get stung by a bullet ant, and lots more. Check it out.

We will be back with our regular format soon! And once again, we know we have a growing list of folks who we owe bookmarks and replies too. You are on our radar, but summer fun is getting in the way. We will be back on track soon!

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon, we are celebrating a moon-themed animal--the Luna Moth! Learn about its fierce defense tactics as a caterpillar, the one important thing its missing as an adult, and a lot of corny moth jokes.

Want to support Jaguar's mantis shrimp habit? Er, rather, our trip to Eastern Oregon to learn about some other cool animals from the experts? You can support us on our Patreon page!https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

To answer our Creature Quiz, send us an email at [email protected] or Tweet us at @coolanimalspod.

We are behind on sending out our bookmarks, but we are aware! We promise to send soon.

On this episode, we travel all the way to? Grady?s elementary school to do a ?versus? episode. This past school year, Grady?s third-grade class did a unit on Oregon bird, where each kid in the class chose a different Oregon bird to study. We spoke to nine of these kids to bring you this versus episode! Which type of bird would win in a fashion contest? Which type of bird would win a hotdog eating contest? And which bird reigns superior! Listen to the episode to find out.

Many thanks to the kids who contributed to this episode, and to Mrs. Gassner for making this episode possible!

This episode was originally part of the Kids Listen sampler, which you can also find on our feed. But to celebrate the 4th, we are bringing you 5 minutes packed with facts about the United States' national bird. Enjoy! 

Happy Summer! On this episode, we are talking about a sunny-colored frog, which happens to be one of the most toxic animals in the world ? the golden poison dart frog.  We discuss the difference between venomous and toxic, how many humans one of these tiny frogs can kill with one touch, and their surprisingly social nature.  Plus: can you guess which sound comes from a poison dart frog? (Jaguar does a pretty good imitation!)

If you?re interested in getting a pound of trash out of the ocean, and getting your own recycled bracelet, here?s the link to 4ocean: http://4ocean.com

Also please consider supporting us on our Patreon page! Any money received will go toward funding a trip to Eastern or Southern Oregon to meet in person with a scientist and learn more about a different animal habitat. https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

If you think you know the answer to our creature quiz or riddle, or want to tell us about your Kid Power success, send us an email at [email protected], or tweet us at @coolanimalspod 

We are on summer vacation, and so likely won?t be publishing on our usual schedule.  But we will be back soon with our next episode!

Thanks as always to Andrew of the awesome podcast Ear Snacks for our theme music! 

It?s our first ever listener episode! We learn from you listeners lots of cool facts about animals, including king cobras, goats, sand cats, and more?plus answer some questions about frogs and how we decide which animal we choose to talk about. Thanks to our listeners who submitted their audio clips: Nadia, Demaris, Quinn, Grace, Lexi, Ginny, Oliver, Cece, Trace, Aryn, Lilli and Xia. We loved getting to hear and share your voices!

We hope we didn?t miss anyone who submitted their fact/question. Please let us know if we did at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod and we'll get your clip on our next episode. 

To find the full episode-length fact-filled audio about guinea pigs from Lexi, check out our website: https://coolfactsaboutanimalspodcast.wordpress.com

We?ll be back soon with a new animal!

Thanks as always to Andrew from Ear Snacks for our theme music.

Cool Facts About Animals has teamed up with a bunch of other kids? podcasts to bring you an hour of high-quality kids audio programming ? just in time for the long weekend, or to listen to throughout the summer.

All of the shows involved are part of the grassroots kids? audio advocacy group Kids Listen, and all the shows are available on the Kids Listen App.  You?ll hear 5 minutes from 10 different podcasts, including ours, but also some of our personal other go-to listens like Circle Round, Noodle Loaf, Story Spectacular, What if World, and others all listed below.

We hope you enjoy discovering a new podcast, or hearing something new from an old favorite. 

We are discussing the bald eagle in our segment. Many thanks to AJ and to Quinn, who both suggested that we do a podcast on the eagle.

What If World: http://www.whatifworldpodcast.com/

Story Spectacular: http://storyspectacular.com/

Noodle Loaf: http://www.noodleloafshow.com/

Book Power for Kids: http://bookpowerforkids.com/

Little Stories for Tiny People: http://www.littlestoriestinypeople.com/

Be Calm on Ahway Island: https://www.ahwayisland.com/

Cool Facts About Animals: http://coolfactsaboutanimalspodcast.wordpress.com/

Circle Round: http://www.wbur.org/circleround

The Good Words Podcast: http://goodwordspodcast.com/

Girl Tales: https://girltalespodcast.com/

The bomber worm was only discovered about 10 years ago, but it?s not rare. This deep, deep underwater creature has one of the coolest defense mechanisms we've seen yet: releasing bioluminescent bombs to deter predators. We also talk about two other newly-discovered underwater creature: the ruby sea dragon and hoodwinker sunfish.

If you?re interested in becoming a Patreon sponsor, and help to fund us to meet with scientists in person to bring you even more cool facts, head on over to our Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

And here?s a link to the video of the green bomber worm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4nLstCR0AI

We love to hear from you! If you want to be included in our next episode, send us an audio clip of your favorite animal fact, or ask us a question, at [email protected]

You can also tweet us at @coolanimalspod

Thanks for listening!

Happy Earth Day, listeners! On this special episode we talk about four cool animals that have been impacted by humans and climate change: the dodo bird, Tasmanian tiger, white lemuroid possum, and Fernandina giant tortoise.  Through hunting, climate change, introduction of non-native species, and more, these animals have been brought to the brink of extinction, and sometimes even have gone extinct.

We end this episode with practical ways that you can make a difference for animals and for our environment.

By the way, the 200 million number on straws is probably very low--but we can't find an accurate number for how many straws are used every year. 

What are your ideas for what you can do to protect the environment?  Let us know at [email protected]

We also want to hear your audio clips of animal facts or questions. Send them to us at [email protected]. If we get enough, we will make your clips into an episode! 

Thanks as always to Ear Snacks for our theme music. And thanks to all of you for listening, rating and helping to protect our environment!

It?s Teddy?s favorite animal, the Thorny Devil! Join us as we learn all about this six-inch mountain dragon. It?s got more defense mechanisms than any other animal we?ve studied (including a fake head ? cool!) and has a very interesting way of drinking (foot water anyone?).

You can also check out our first ever Cool Facts About Animals video, explaining how capillary action works.  And yes it has to do with Thorny Devils. It's on our newly-minted YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/VcmaiQt6zC4 

Thanks so much to our Patreon sponsor Cormac for being our Patreon sponsor! You can join Cormac and our other Patreon sponsors, and get a shout out on our show, by visiting: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

We have two kid power challenges this week ? and great job to Nadia and Reagan for participating in our last challenge! You can pick up a bag of trash, or take steps to reduce your water consumption. Did you do the challenge? Or the creature quiz? Let us know at [email protected] or on Twitter at @coolanimalspod

And send us your questions or cool facts! We want to put together an episode inspired by you. 

We looked high and low for the information we needed to research our episode on unicorns. But try as we might, we could not find even basic facts like what unicorns eat, what the horn is for, and what their favorite jokes are.  Luckily, Professor Abacus P. Grumbler, resident What If World unicorn expert, was able to answer all our questions. 

Special thanks to Prof. Abacus and Mr. Eric for this episode! And special thanks to Xia for the request. And of course, as always, thanks to Andrew of Ear Snacks for the theme music. 

We love to hear from you! Contact us at [email protected] or tweets us at @coolanimalspod.

Clara?s class has spoken! This week?s episode is all about the Little Blue Penguin (aka Fairy Penguin). This adorable little dude weighs in at just about two pounds, and stands only about a foot, but it packs a lot of cool stuff into that small size. In this episode, we talk about molting, fledging, diving, vocalization, and lots more.

To hear the backstory on how we chose this episode, check out the prior episode: ?And the Winner Is,? available here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/and-the-winner-is/id1334467437?i=1000431839783&mt=2 

Here?s a link to the video we mentioned in the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQMOTDZ9jqY

Special thanks to our Patreon sponsors Finn and Osa! If you?d like to financially support us and get a shout-out on our show, check out our Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

And as always, many thanks to Andrew of Ear Snacks for the theme music!

Have the answer to the riddle or creature quiz? Want to try out the kid power challenge? Send us a note at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod

Last week, CFAA went on the road to Clara's 1st grade classroom. Her class has been studying penguins for the past month -- and wow, did they know a lot about them! We asked the students to break into groups for each of the five penguins they studied: rockhopper, little blue, king, chinstrap, and gentoo, and tell us the coolest things about each kind of penguin they could find. Then we all voted on the penguin they most wanted to learn about. Here are the results, which will be featured as our next animal on CFAA.

Thanks to Clara's class for working so hard on this, and teaching us all such cool facts about penguins! 

Ever wonder what makes Jaguar... well Jaguar? We dive deep into the mind behind the feline in this interview. We cover favorite foods, vacation spots, Thanksgiving carols (what?) and more in this bonus episode. 

This is a bonus episode put out for our Patreon subscribers. We are sharing it on our regular feed with all our listeners so you can get a taste of some of the bonus footage you can get at the $5 level of support.

Thanks to our existing Patreon supporters, and thanks to those considering financially supporting us! Your contributions will help us get out in the field to interview animal experts and see animals in person.

You can find out more about how to financially support us, and the cool extras you can get here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals 

Not everyone is able to financially support us, and that's okay! We thank all of our listeners for tuning in, writing reviews, drawing us pictures, writing in with suggestions, riddle and creature quiz answers, and more. You guys are all awesome! 

Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow meow (Now back to the bonus episode)

In this episode, we speak to squirrel expert Amanda Robin, a PhD student at UCLA. She taught us about the fascinating world of squirrels, including how they decide to store or eat their nuts, what chunking is, and other cool facts about squirrels. THEN we have a "who would win" battle: squirrel v. rattlesnake. Think it's hands-down rattlesnake? Think again.  

Thanks as always to Ear Snacks for our theme music. 

Send your creature quiz answers to us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod.

Also we have a Patreon page. If you would like to financially support our podcast, please do so here: https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals 

It's our most requested episode ever AND our most-answered riddle ever!  You guessed it - it's the platypus. 

This is one seriously cool animals you guys. I mean, how many venomous, egg-laying mammals do you know? Not many, right? 

We dive into what makes platypuses so usual, discuss their super strange chromosomes, and talk about a recent discovery of a stegosaurs-platypus. Yup, no typos.

Special thanks to Samson and Dorothy, long-time listeners with an impressive amount of platypus knowledge!

Also special thanks to E.J. and all the other listeners who requested this episode, and who answered the riddle. 

If you're interested in the sex chromosomes of platypuses (and let's be honest, who isn't), check out this video. The visuals are really helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nyAl7TipkI

Thanks as always to Andrew of the awesome podcast Ear Snacks for the theme music. 

And please keep in touch - [email protected] or Tweet us at @coolanimalspod

And support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

On this episode we are exploring the deadly but adorable blue-ringed octopus. This little guy is only the size of a golf ball, but has enough venom to kill 26 grown men in its saliva. We talk about symbiotic relationships, what its venom does, and, oh, zombie powder. 

So many thanks to David, our newest Patreon sponsor! He?s using his own pocket money to help support our show. You can support our show too! For more details, visit https://www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals

We love to hear from you ? send us your creature quiz or riddle answer, or just send us a note. You can reach us at [email protected] or on twitter at @coolanimalspod.

Thanks as always to Andrew of the awesome podcast Ear Snacks for our theme music!

It's our one-year anniversary! We are celebrating with an episode about... porcupines! Okay, it has nothing to do with our anniversary, but still... porcupines! 

For this episode, we had a chance to go to the Oregon Zoo and meet with Bree Winchell, program animal staff and overall porcupine expert.  Check out our pics of the animal encounter on our Twitter page (www.twitter.com/coolanimalspod)

If you'd like to hear more interviews with experts, please consider supporting us on our Patreon page (www.patreon.com/coolfactsaboutanimals). We will use funds from the page to help us travel to meet with other animal experts so that we can bring you more cool facts.  We have lots of cool perks for your financial support, including magnets, notes, and shout-outs from your favorite CFAA host (human or otherwise). 

We are also still doing our Kid Challenge. Send a picture of your kids with a bag of trash that he or she picked up from outside, and we will send a magnet and do a shout-out on the air for their help cleaning up the environment.  

Thanks as always to Andrew of the podcast Earsnacks for our theme music! 

Ahoy, CFA listeners! We took a road trip to the Oregon Coast to meet with Luke Parsons, an interpretive ranger with Oregon State Parks and see the great gray whale migration.  Over 20,000 of these school-bus sized whales pass by the Oregon coast around this time of year. We even got to see one! And we learned lots of cool stuff about them.

Want to hear more cool interviews? Support us on Patreon! We have lots of cool perks for supporting us, including shout-outs, outtakes access, and more. 

Not able to financially support us? Take part in our Kid Challenge and pick up a bag of trash from the environment around you.  Let us know, and we'll thank you on air. Email us at [email protected] or tweet us at @coolanimalspod

Happy New Year! 

How cool would it be to get a chance to bring a species back from the brink of extinction? Travis Koons of the Oregon Zoo tells us all about it in this bonus interview episode. 

We were honored to have been asked to join the crew of the upcoming Oregon Wild podcast for this episode. We will let you know when their first episode launches. We cannot wait. 

Thanks again to Oregon Wild, the Oregon Zoo, and Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme music! 

This bird isn't cool just because its wingspan rivals the length of a grizzly bar on its hind paws. Nope, this bird battled its way back from the brink of extinction - just 22 in the wild to now close to 500 in the wild and in captivity. We talk about what makes this bird so awesome, and the rescue efforts behind it, in this episode. Be sure to also check out our episode right next to this in your feed where we interview Travis Koons of the Oregon Zoo. 
THANK YOU to Oregon Wild for bringing us along to the  zoo with them.

And thank you as always to Andrew of Ear Snacks for our theme music!

Also guys - be sure to check out the podcast Species if you have serious animal lovers. The show is super awesome. 

Want to answer our creature quiz! Awesome! Send us your answers at [email protected] or on twitter at @coolanimalspod 

We were so honored to get a chance to Skype with Dr. Bruce Mate of Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute. He is the expert on marine mammals, including blue whales. We learned so much from him, and had such a good time talking about all things whales - from his ground-breaking research to touching whale poop. (Yes, we go there.)

Be sure to listen to this episode along with our stand-alone episode on blue whales. 

Thanks to Andrew or Ear Snacks for our theme music!