Nature Disturbed

It's the series finale! To celebrate, I'm heading back to my home country, where these charismatic rodents have returned after an absence of over 400 years.

Trees in the temperate rainforests of British Columbia have been shown to contain marine derived nutrients (nutrients of marine origin). But... excuse me, please.... why do trees inland contain nutrients from the open ocean? Well, here's the simple answer: the trees are made of salmon. Each year, spawning salmon are pulled from rivers by grizzlies, black bears, coastal wolves, bald eagles, and (sorry, salmon) so many more other hungry carnivores. Hundreds of salmon carcasses line the banks, as scavengers battle one another for the rights to this glorious buffet. Many species take their prizes deep into the forest to eat in peace. This distribution of salmon through the forest leads to a mass influx of nutrients (Nitrogen, Carbon, Sulphur...), which are then absorbed by the vegetation.Also covered in this discussion: salmon hats worn by orcas; how zombie-like salmon blur the line between life and death; and using salmon carcasses and biodegradable paint to make beautiful artwork. In this episode, I'm joined by the brilliant Kristen Walters, Director of Salmon Habitat, Climate and Policy at Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

The Kraken of Scandinavia; the Lusca of the Caribbean; the Akkorokamui of Japan... what do these legendary sea monsters have in common?... They're all real! These creatures have surfaced from the deepest wells of mythology into modern science in the form of the giant squid. How big can these creatures get? How can we study them? Why are they so elusive? And of course ... Who would win in a fight between a giant squid and a colossal squid?In this episode I journey to meet Jon Ablett, Senior Curator of Molluscs at the Natural History Museum, London. We speak about the science and the legend surrounding the giant squid. We also speak about mollusc diversity, cephalopod intelligence and camouflage, and oh yes... snails!

This week, I journey to an unlikely destination in search of turtles: Canada!The snapping turtle's range stretches all the way from Florida to the frozen north of the continent. And yet, its remarkable ability to survive the cold is hardly its most defining feature. Perhaps that credit could go to its razor sharp bill; its long, bendy neck; the fake worm on its tongue which it uses to lure fish... or its use of cloacal respiration. Listen to find out more!I'm joined in this episode by Ellen Weatherford, of the Just the Zoo of Us podcast.

In 1981, infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar imported 4 hippos to his private zoo as a gift for his daughter. After his death, they escaped - and now there are hundreds of feral hippos living in Colombia.Today's guest is Vanessa the Pink Hippo, the mascot of Escobar's former estate Hacienda Nápoles. Vanessa is severely inbred, but that doesn't stop her from living her truth.

Enormous predatory amphibians lurking in mountain streams and rivers - a thing of the past? Well, yes - the planet was once dominated by these early arrivals onto land. But here, today, now, in the present moment, as we hold space for time and we hold time for space, we must acknowledge the truth: giant amphibians still exist. They're out there. They're skilled nocturnal predators. They're slimy and huge. And they're out there!!!In this episode I head to western Japan to meet Professor Mizuki Takahashi, to learn more about these amazing creatures. We discuss their reproductive biology; their conservation; and how they appear in Japanese culture.

Two South African orcas, named Port and Starboard, have become infamous shark-hunters. It has been widely reported that the pair are responsible for the declining great white populations in the world's cage-diving capital. But is it true? Should the blame be placed on the killer whales, or is there a bigger picture?In this episode, I travel to the coastal waters of South Africa to speak with Lacey Williams, Head Field Specialist of Oceans Research South Africa. Lacey performed a necropsy (animal autopsy) on one of the fallen great whites - and she tells us what might really be going on.

Rumour has it, there is a giant prehistoric reptile inhabiting Britain's largest lake/loch by volume. Well, I'm not one for rumours, fairytales, gossips and besmirchments - unless I've made them up myself about my enemies.In this episode, I head to Scotland to confirm what I already know - that the Loch Ness Monster does exist, but only in our minds. This conspiracy is a surprising jumping-off point for the discussion of science, from techniques like environmental DNA, to the application of statistics, to the biomechanics of ancient plesiosaurs.

Lake Victoria, East Africa, was dry 14,000 years ago - and yet, it is home to about 500 species of cichlid fish. It's believed that this incredible diversity of species arose from a single ancestor, which completely flips the script given we often imagine evolution taking place over millions of years.  In this episode, I head to the calm shores of Lake Malawi to confront my former practical project supervisor, Dr Martin Genner of Bristol University. After I interrogate him about his unwarranted docking of marks against me in an assignment I wrote ten years ago, we go on to talk about the adaptive radiation of cichlid fishes in the Great Lakes of East Africa, and how we can use cichlids to study evolution in action.

In this episode, I head to one of the most biodiverse places on the planet: the Great Barrier Reef. While this reef is almost completely unknown in comparison to  more famous reefs like the Houtman Abrolhos island reef and Capricorn and Bunker Group reefs - the Great Barrier Reef boasts a truly spectacular amount and variety of wildlife.At the GBR I meet Tanya Murphy, of the Australian Marine Conservation Society, 'Fight for Our Reef' advocate and host of the Word on the Reef podcast. We discuss some of the miraculous - and disturbing - characters found in this beautiful ecosystem.