Episode 229 - Myrmecophagy (Ant-Eating)

Generally speaking, it’s not a good idea to mess with ants. But several lineages of animals have evolved to be ant-eating specialists. This episode, we discuss anteaters, the suite of adaptations that allow them to focus on ant-eating, and the variety of other species that have evolved similar adaptations for the same purpose. We explore the evolutionary history of ant-eating mammals and even dinosaurs through the fossil record and genetic evidence.

In the news: butt-drags, ancient leeches, Neanderthal tracks, and spider genomes.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:06:00 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:40:10 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:40:15 Patron question: 02:08:30

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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 (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0