Filthy Animals

An ecology podcast for grown-ups.

Author: Grassland Groupies

Filthy Animals is a sex, drugs, and ecology podcast for grown-ups. Every month, science educators discuss the unusual adult activities of the natural world that your high school science teacher was too embarrassed to talk about. This podcast features hosts Rachel Roth, Nicole Brown, and Allan Saylor of Kansas-based nonprofit Grassland Groupies.
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Language: en-us

Genres: Life Sciences, Nature, Science

Contact email: Get it

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S2E4 - The Queerness of Fish
Episode 4
Thursday, 26 June, 2025

Content Warning: This is a pretty wholesome episode. No fear, dear listener! In honor of Pride Month, Rachel is taking us beneath the waves and beyond the binary into the fascinatingly queer world of fish! In this episode, she investigates stunningly fluid species that defy the concept of biological sex as an innate and immutable characteristic. SPOILER: Sex and gender in the animal kingdom is far from simple, guys. We should count ourselves lucky to live on such a beautifully un-boring planet. :) Rachel's Sources: Graves, J., & Todd, E. (2023, January 31). What we learn from fish that change sex. La Trobe University. https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2020/opinion/what-we-learn-from-fish-that-change-sex Actual research: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw7006 R. Vega‐Frutis, R. Macías‐Ordóñez, R. Guevara, L. Fromhage, Sex change in plants and animals: a unified perspective, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Volume 27, Issue 4, 1 April 2014, Pages 667–675, https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12333 Casas L, Saborido-Rey F. Environmental Cues and Mechanisms Underpinning Sex Change in Fish. Sex Dev. 2021;15(1-3):108-121. doi: 10.1159/000515274. Epub 2021 Jun 10. PMID: 34111868; PMCID: PMC8491468. Munday PL, Buston PM, Warner RR. Diversity and flexibility of sex-change strategies in animals. Trends Ecol Evol. 2006 Feb;21(2):89-95. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2005.10.020. Epub 2005 Nov 14. PMID: 16701480. +++ More of Our Work +++ Website Facebook TikTok Twitch Bluesky +++ Contact Us +++ Text/Call: (316)-512-8933 info@grasslandgroupies.org +++ Support Us +++ Bonfire Merch Store CashApp: $GrasslandGroupies Or... donate directly to our org.