BBC Earth Podcast

For our final week of BBC Earth Podcast's first season, we're talking families, the bonds that bind us so tightly and the feuds that could tear us apart. Series producer Rupert Barrington takes us on a deep dive into Dynasties, exploring the ideas behind the series and how the stories were chosen (don't worry, no spoilers!). Meet the remarkable couple who dedicate their lives to nurturing a colony of orphaned chimps and wrap your head around the biology of bonding.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join us for a game of hide and seek. Imagine trying to track down an uncollared tiger in a vast, dense jungle in India… You’d need the help of experienced local trackers who have spent years perfecting the art of tracking animals through the language of surrounding species. To them, simply listening to the wall of sound around them paints the perfect audio map of what’s going on in the dense undergrowth. Speaking of maps, we hear the tale of a man who used satellite technology and imagery to discover an unmapped forest, uncovering a brand-new ecosystem. From forest to cities, expect unexpected stories, hidden truths and unwelcome surprises (like a python in your toilet…)  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Discover the rituals performed in the animal kingdom for love, life and death. Did you know painted wolves sing to vote for the next alpha couple? Neither did we. This behaviour was documented for the first time ever by the crew working on BBC Earth’s latest landmark. We explore the weird, and occasionally dark, acts that characterise crow funerals, how birds brandish themselves to potential mates and the awe-inspiring tale of witnessing a mass-baptism at the Blue Nile – a river steeped in myth and legend  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The transition between childhood and adulthood is no easy feat for humans and animals alike. These awkward years see creatures evolving physically and socially, clumsily learning to fend for themselves with all the pitfalls of being young, foolish and free. This week we hear from producer-director Simon Blakeney as he describes the dynamic teenage duo of Red and Tatu from Dynasties’ Lions episode.   Learning from others is part of getting older and, hopefully, wiser, but when there are no parental figures to help raise these teenage elephants they become unruly. Also featured is the tale of a jellyfish whose development stages occur in reverse and a Blue Planet II Assistant Producer on her life growing up quite literally on the ocean.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we’re taking you to the southernmost continent on the planet: Antarctica. This is where cameraman Lindsay McCrae and his team spent 10 months filming emperor penguins for Dynasties. As it was impossible for the crew to leave their location, it meant Lindsay experienced a key life event over 14,000 kilometres from home. In this episode, you’ll also walk among gorillas in the Impenetrable Forest, step into untouched caves and meet the man who finds companionship through whale song.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Beginnings. Join the crew from the BBC Studios series Dynasties on a journey to Senegal, home of Fongoli chimps. Each year, these chimps brave intense wildfires that ruin their homes. Destructive though they seem, these wildfires are actually part of the cycle of life. The stories in this episode embrace what it means to discover our roots, to begin again and the trials some animals must endure in their very first stages of life. Very few of us get up early enough to hear the birds sing in the dawn and even fewer of us decide to sing back. English-Finnish vocalist Hanna Tuulikki calls back to the birds. Eric Grandon, a military veteran, explains how caring for a colony of bees turned his life around after suffering his darkest days having returned home from war. Close your eyes and open your ears for the first episode of the BBC Earth Podcast.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Intimate stories and surprising truths about nature, science and the human experience in a podcast the size of the planet.   Each week the BBC Earth podcast brings you a collection of immersive stories about our world and the astonishing creatures, landscapes and elements in it. Close your eyes and open your ears as you travel from the impenetrable forests of Uganda to research bases in the Antarctic; the edges of the Thar Desert to the Shores of Lake Tahoe. You’ll get up close and personal with jewelled beetles in the Namib Desert and soar with eagles in Rajasthan as you experience tales of human emotion, of encounters with animals, of the strangest corners of the Earth and breath-taking marvels. All carefully gathered together and delivered into your ear by the good people at BBC Earth.     From the deepest caves in the world to the very edge of space the BBC Earth podcast transports you on an awe-inspiring journey in sound.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.