Episode 243 - Burrowers

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: 00:00:00 News: 00:05:55 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:45:05 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:17:55 Patron question: 02:12:45 Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: Lots more ways to connect with us: The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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Episode 243 - Burrowers is an episode from The Common Descent Podcast by Common Descent.

This episode is 142:54 long.

This episode was published on May 10, 2026.

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