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Why do birds have the names they do?

In this episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss kicks off a new mini-series called “Bird Name Game”, exploring the fascinating origins behind bird names. Each episode looks at two birds, their natural history, and the surprising linguistic stories behind what we call them.

This episode dives into two iconic seabirds: the albatross and the gull.

The albatross, one of the largest flying birds on Earth, can glide across the ocean for thousands of miles with barely a wingbeat. But its name didn’t start in English. It traveled through Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin, changing spelling and even switching which bird it referred to before becoming the name we know today.

Gulls, on the other hand, have a much simpler origin. Their name likely comes from ancient Celtic and Norse roots that imitate the bird’s loud, wailing call—the same cry that echoes across beaches, harbors, and parking lots everywhere.

Along the way, we explore:

• How albatrosses travel thousands of miles using ocean winds
• Why many albatross species form lifelong partnerships
• The surprising linguistic journey from “alcatraz” to “albatross”
• Why gulls were named after the sound they make
• How bird names reflect human language, culture, and first impressions

If you love birding, natural history, ornithology, or wildlife science, this mini-series reveals how the names of birds tell stories about exploration, language, and the people who first encountered them.

Subscribe for more episodes of Wildly Curious, where science, nature, and curiosity collide.

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🎉 Support us on Patreon to keep the episodes coming! 🪼🦤🧠 For more laughs, catch us on YouTube!

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Subscribe and prepare to realize your cat has been training you this whole time.

In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the fascinating research of Dr. Susanne Schötz, a phonetics professor at Lund University—and the scientist behind some of the most groundbreaking work on cat–human communication.

Her research explores how cats use meows, purrs, trills, and intonation to communicate with humans, how those sounds change based on emotion and context, and why domestic cats are far more vocal than their wild or feral relatives.

🐾 Why cats use short, high-pitched meows when happy or requesting
😾 Why vet-meows sound long, low, and dramatic (as they should)
🎵 How cats adjust melody and pitch specifically for their humans
🧠 What “solicitation purring” is—and why it mimics a human baby’s cry
🗣️ Why every cat–human pair develops its own unique dialect

The big takeaway? Cats aren’t just making noise. They’re fine-tuning a language to get what they want—and humans are surprisingly good at understanding it, especially if they’ve lived with cats before.

🎧 This episode is part of our Niche Scientists minisode series—short, weird, and full of research that makes you a better, more informed pet parent.

Support the show

🎉 Support us on Patreon to keep the episodes coming! 🪼🦤🧠 For more laughs, catch us on YouTube!

Track a real wild animal. Support conservation. Feel slightly cooler than you did five seconds ago. Visit the Fahlo tracking bracelets website to get 20% off tracking bracelets with code WildlyKaty.

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Subscribe and unleash your inner science goblin. We see you. We respect it.

In this deep-dive episode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole crack open the bizarre, beautiful world of echinoderms—the “spiny-skinned” sea creatures that are hard on the outside, squishy on the inside, and powered by a literal hydraulic system.

We’re talking sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, brittle stars, feather stars, and sea cucumbers—a group that looks like it shouldn’t make sense… until you learn the rules.

🌊 The water vascular system and how tube feet work like living suction hydraulics
⭐ Why echinoderms don’t have a centralized brain (and why that doesn’t mean “no thoughts”)
🧬 The wild symmetry twist: larvae start bilateral, then reorganize into radial body plans
🥒 Sea cucumbers and their most unhinged defense move: evisceration (yes, it’s what it sounds like)
🌿 Species spotlight: the sunflower sea star—a major predator of sea urchins that helps keep kelp forests alive
⚠️ And the real-world crisis: sea star wasting syndrome, which caused catastrophic declines, including over 90% loss of sunflower sea stars in much of their range

If you’ve ever looked at a sea star and thought “that thing has no business being real,” this episode is your guide to why it does—and why losing them changes entire ecosystems.

Support the show

🎉 Support us on Patreon to keep the episodes coming! 🪼🦤🧠 For more laughs, catch us on YouTube!

Track a real wild animal. Support conservation. Feel slightly cooler than you did five seconds ago. Visit the Fahlo tracking bracelets website to get 20% off tracking bracelets with code WildlyKaty.