meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Species

Pebble Toad

Species

Macken Murphy

Nature, Social Sciences, Science

4.8606 Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2018

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This animal performs one of the most amazing displays of trickery in nature. Learn about a rock n' roll toad and get hit with an avalanche of bad comedy on this fun episode of Species.

Nominate Species in the "Education" category for a podcast award! Please! https://www.podcastawards.com/app/signup

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SOhhkc8Kp9zX7Bv7kmSE79Wq0PaKtzsXgZ9hkvx95Ig/edit?usp=sharing

 

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Shapeshifting has fascinated humans for millennia. It exists in the mythology of different cultures all over the world, and as a concept, it has held our collective gaze for a very long time indeed.

0:16.6

China, Japan, and Korea all have different variants of a fox-shaped shifter.

0:22.0

Somali mythology talks about a human who can turn into a hyena.

0:25.7

Argentina has people turning into pumas, and Western legend is replete with werewolves.

0:31.2

Graco-Roman myths have people turning into gold, stones turning into people,

0:36.1

and people turning into birds, just to name

0:38.3

a few examples. If you think we're over it, and humanity is too old for such silliness, read Kafka's

0:47.7

metamorphosis, or Stephen King's It, or the Twilight series, heck, watch the Transformers movies or X-Men, or listen to David

0:57.8

Ike talk for more than five minutes. Shapeshifting is so ubiquitous in human storytelling,

1:05.5

across time and across space, that you almost have to wonder if dreaming about it is part of the human condition.

1:14.3

Today you don't have to dream.

1:16.9

Today we are going to talk about an animal who performs a trick closer to shapeshifting than anything

1:23.5

else I've seen in the animal kingdom.

1:26.9

Today we are going to talk about the pebble toad.

1:30.7

Oreo frenella, Negro. I'm Mackin. This is species.

1:40.0

Welcome to the show. Today we're going to talk about rock and roll, magic, and a toad.

1:46.1

It's going to be awesome. Subscribe wherever you can. Send the show to someone who likes animals.

1:51.5

Find the show on Facebook and on Twitter, both at Species Podcast.

1:55.9

Find me personally on Twitter at Mac and Murphy. Send me a tweet seriously, and please click the link in the

2:02.4

show description to nominate this show for a podcast award. It's super important to me, and it would

2:08.4

mean a lot if you guys helped out. It takes like 20 seconds, but it makes my day. And if you want to

2:14.7

get read aloud on the show, leave a five-star review on iTunes or Facebook.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Macken Murphy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Macken Murphy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.