Episode 227 - Beaks

The faces of vertebrate animals are often soft and full of teeth, but there is a common alternative. Birds, turtles, and many more groups have developed toothless snouts covered in a tough sheath. This episode, we’ll explore the defining features of beaks and their various functions. And we’ll take a tour through animal life past and present to investigate the reasons behind the repeated evolution of beaks among dinosaurs and beyond.

In the news: Life on Mars, ancient sharks, mammoth microbes, and ant-eaters.

Time markers:

Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00

News: 00:07:00

Main discussion, Part 1: 00:42:40

Main discussion, Part 2: 01:38:25

Patron question: 02:21:50

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0