Q&A: Ancient Fish Eyes,  Chowing Chimps and the Deserts That Mimic Mars

Q&A: Ancient Fish Eyes, Chowing Chimps and the Deserts That Mimic Mars

From That's Just Wild by Fresh Air

May 7, 2026 · 25 min · Episode 96

About this episode

The hosts answer listener questions about marine vision, animal strength, and extreme environments as the series concludes.

This week on That’s Just Wild, Steve, Sarah and Lizzie tackle more of your wildest questions one last time, as the show wraps up — going out with a curious bang (and probably a few weird facts for good measure). 💥🐾✨ 🌊 Ever noticed how things seem to vanish into the distance underwater? We explore whether marine animals see the same murky limits we do — or if life beneath the surface has evolved to see further, clearer, and in ways we can barely imagine. 🐠👀 🐜 We always hear about the strongest creatures for their size… but what about the weakest? We take a closer look at sloths — famously slow, surprisingly weak, and spending most of their lives hanging from their toes. 🌿 🌳 🌵🦂🪲Are there places on Earth so extreme that life simply can’t survive? We head to scorching deserts in northern Chile and the Lut Desert — some of the closest environments to Mars — where, against all odds, microbes still find a way to thrive. 🔥🧬 A huge thanks to all our wonderful listeners — while we’re wrapping things up here, the series isn’t going anywhere, so you can dip back into all our favourite (and slightly wild) episodes anytime 🎧✨ Go to thatsjustwild.com to get ad-free listening…

People in this episode

Hosts: Steve, Sarah, Lizzie

Topics covered

  • marine vision
  • animal strength
  • extreme environments
  • deserts
  • microbial life
  • evolution

Keywords

  • ancient fish eyes
  • chimps
  • deserts
  • Mars
  • marine animals
  • sloths
  • microbes

Mentioned in this episode

Places: northern Chile, Lut Desert, Mars

More episodes of That's Just Wild

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the That's Just Wild podcast page.