Episode 243 - Burrowers

Episode 243 - Burrowers

From The Common Descent Podcast by Common Descent

May 10, 2026 · 2h 23m · Episode 370

About this episode

This episode explores the life of burrowing species, their adaptations, and the fossil evidence of their existence.

A lot of life on Earth happens underground. This episode, we sample the species that have taken to a life of digging in the dirt – and elsewhere – why they do it and what physical adaptations help them along the way. Then, we’ll take a tour of burrows in the fossil record and explore what clues paleontologists can use to determine which ancient critter constructed a given burrow. In the news: malaria history, false octopus, pterosaur tracks, and giant octopus. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:05:55Main discussion, Part 1: 00:45:05Main discussion, Part 2: 01:17:55Patron question: 02:12:45 Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/ Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod…

People in this episode

Host: Common Descent

Topics covered

  • burrowing animals
  • fossil record
  • paleontology
  • adaptations
  • underground life

Keywords

  • burrowers
  • paleontology
  • adaptations
  • fossils
  • underground life

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Patreon

Books & works: On the Origin of Species

Places: Earth

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