The Earth has ended before.

Five times in the last half-billion years, life on this planet has been nearly wiped clean—reset by asteroid impacts, volcanic winters, and cataclysms we can barely imagine. And now? We’re living through number six. The difference? This one’s caused by us.

But buried in those ancient endings are stories—lessons about resilience, adaptation, and the strange, beautiful creatures that made it through.

In this episode, I’m joined by JP, better known online as @paleoauthor, the mind behind the upcoming book Primordial: A Biology of Ancient Triumphs and Tragedies. Together, we explore:

• Previous mass extinction events and what they can teach us about the one we’re in now
• Why dinosaurs still capture our collective imagination
• The weirdest prehistoric animals you’ve never heard of
• The influence of media and film on our understanding of deep time
• How telling the stories of the past might help us change the future

It’s part science, part storytelling, and part love letter to life itself.

Links & Resources:

• Follow JP on Instagram: @paleoauthor
• Support The Wild Life on Patreon

Meet the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), a creature so strange that early scientists couldn’t even decide if it was a rodent, a squirrel, or… something entirely new. Native to Madagascar and the largest nocturnal primate in the world, the aye-aye sports perpetually growing teeth, a bat-like ear for echolocation, and a freakishly long, bony middle finger that can hook grubs from deep inside tree trunks—or, yes, pick its own nose.

In this episode, we dive into its percussive foraging superpower, its evolutionary mystery, and why it fills the same ecological niche as a woodpecker.

Field Guide of Wonder is a companion to my main show The Wild Life, giving you quick, vivid snapshots of the planet’s most remarkable creatures.

If you enjoy the show and want to help keep it going, consider supporting on Patreon

Stay weird :)

-Devon

Meet the world’s largest rodent—the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), a creature so wonderfully chill it makes a golden retriever look high-strung. In this episode, we dive beyond the memesto explore what makes capybaras such an evolutionary success story.

We’ll talk:

• Why “semi-aquatic social loaf of bread” might be the perfect lifestyle
• Their remarkable teeth, digestive superpowers… and yes, why they eat their own poop
• The wild variety of vocalizations they use to chat with each other
• How babysitting is a survival strategy
• The surprising ways their biology connects to the ecosystems they live in

From their South American wetlands to their unlikely friendships with everything from birds to caimans, capybaras prove that being laid-back is a legitimate survival tactic.

Listen, wonder, and maybe… book a ticket to the Pantanal.

Support The Wild Life's Field Guide of Wonder at www.patreon.com/thewildlife for as little as $1 per month