Welcome to "Weird Species," an original podcast by the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. Join Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart as she guides you through the fascinating world of the species on our planet. Whether you prefer them super cute or pretty icky, whether you can find them in your neighborhood or only on a remote island, we've got you covered. Each episode features conversations with scientists from various fields, where Julia quizzes them on their favorite species.
Imprint:
Copyright: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Concept: Adrian Giacomelli, Julia Sigwart, Sabine Wilke
Editor: Adrian Giacomelli
Ed. assistant: Benjamin Wimmer
Moderation: Julia Sigwart
Production: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Weird Species #10: Histriobdella homari – A.k.a. Charlie Chaplin
Host [Host Name] interviews Senckenberg's worm expert and science communicator Ekin Tilic about his fascination with deep-sea invertebrates, particularly the "Charlie Chaplin" worm.
11 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT
Weird Species #9: Apus apus – A swift, not a swallow!
Biologist Hanna Kokko discusses biodiversity rules and the evolution of the common swift, Apus apus, in this interview.
21 Jul 2025TRANSCRIPT
Weird Species #8: Heloderma suspectum – A pretty chill monster
Krister Smith, Head of Division Messel Research and Mammalogy, discusses the fascinating Gila monster and its unique biology in this interview.
13 Jun 2025
Weird Species #7: Sperm whales - Moby Dick's dark-skinned cousins
Marine biologist Enric Sala discusses his conservation work with National Geographic and shares insights about sperm whales, including their vital role in ocean ecosystems, in this interview.
24 Apr 2025
Weird Species #5: Dorado Octopus - Deep Sea Super Powers
In this episode of „Weird Species“, our guest is Dr. Janet Voight, renowned marine biologist and curator emerita of the Field Museum in Chicago. Earlier this year, she visited Frankfurt to assist with our new project „Secret Service“, which aims to highlight the often-forgotten contributions of women in science throughout Senckenberg’s history. But then of course we also talk species - in Janet’s case, the newly discovered so-called „dorado octopus“, a truly fascinating creature.
18 Dec 2024
Weird Species #5: Deep sea brains – Xenophyophores
Deep-sea biologist Dr. Lisa Levin, winner of the Senckenberg Prize for Nature Research, shares fascinating insights into the mysterious xenophyophores, revealing the hidden wonders of the ocean floor.
12 Sept 2024
Weird Species #4: Choloepus didactylus – Sloth Wisdom
For this episode of "Weird Species", we slow things down a bit: Dr. Irina Ruf, head of the mammalogy section at Senckenberg, talks about her favorite species, the two-toed sloth. A creature as laid-back as it is fascinating, it spends its days hanging from trees in the rainforests of South America and clambers down once per week to relieve itself. So what does researching an animal that barely does anything look like? And what can we perhaps learn from these very relaxed animals?
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1 Aug 2024
Weird Species #3: Populus tremula – Plants and their plans
Plants might not run around, bark at us or seem very active in general, but they are complex organisms with needs, goals, and ways to achieve them. In this episode of "Weird Species", Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart talks to Dr. Liam Langan about the fascinating strategies that plants use, especially his favorite species Populus tremula, or quaking aspen. How do plants develop over time to adapt to their environment? And what kinds of models do scientists like Liam use to better understand these changes in ecosystems?
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3 Jul 2024
Weird Species #2: Dorynota pugionata – The benefits of a telescopic anus
Almost 40 % of insects and about 25 % of all known animal species worldwide are beetles – the fact left british-indian biologist J.B.S. Haldane to remark that "God has an inordinate fondness for beetles." In this episode of "Weird Species", Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart talks to Dr. Marianna Simões about what makes these tiny creatures so special. Marianna also introduces us to her favorite species, Dorynota pugionata: a member of the subfamily Cassidinae, that over time, has come up with ingenious adaptations, the most spectacular among them a fecal shield built with their telescopic anus
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6 Jun 2024
Weird Species #1: Diacamma – the most vicious ant
In the first episode of the new Senckenberg podcast "Weird Species", our host Dr. Julia Sigwart talks to Dr. Brendon Boudinot, head of Entomology II at Senckenberg, about all things ants. Brendon shares insights from his research all over the globe and explains what makes our tiny friends such amazing creatures. The two scientists also tackle some other essential questions: Which 1998 animated kids movie is better: "A Bug's Life" or "Antz"? Can you make a delicious steak out of leafcutter ants? And how does an insect expert deal with an ant infestation in his house?
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5 Jun 2024
Weird Species: Trailer
Welcome to "Weird Species," an original podcast by the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. Join Prof. Dr. Julia Sigwart as she guides you through the fascinating world of the species on our planet. Whether you prefer them super cute or pretty icky, whether you can find them in your neighborhood or on a remote island, we've got you covered. Each episode features conversations with scientists from various fields, where Julia quizzes them on their favorite species.
Inside a recent episode
Weird Species #10: Histriobdella homari – A.k.a. Charlie Chaplin
Published 24 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] But what kind of worms do you have? What's your mental image of a worm? Yeah, so I think one needs to probably emphasize that a worm is not like a natural grouping. It's like the body shape that evolved many, many times in all sorts of lineages. There are worm-like mollusks. There are so many animal phyla that we call worms that are not necessarily forming a monophyletic, we would call. They don't come from a single evolutionary lineage. The worms that I like the most, I would say, are the segmented worms, polychaetes, the ones that have these bristles and crazy body shapes, right? I talked about the worms that look like flowers. […]
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