The Weirdest Adoptions in the Animal Kingdom

The podcast discusses unusual adoption cases in the animal kingdom, starting with eagles that mistakenly raise other raptor chicks they intended to eat. It then covers Eastern screech owls that bring live blind snakes to their nests, benefiting both species, and a bottlenose dolphin that adopted a melon-headed whale calf. The podcast also explores a lioness in India that adopted a leopard cub, a group of capuchin monkeys abducting howler monkey babies, and the domestication of wolves by humans through adoption. Finally, it examines great spotted cuckoos that force magpies to raise their chicks by threatening their nests, highlighting the behavioral flexibility and surprising interactions found in the animal world. The podcast is supported by Planet Wild, a community-based nature protection organization.