All calls: Shrews, praying mantises, the power of Taylor Swift, and more

By Robyn Doyon-Aitken

Published September 16, 2024 at 1:00 PM EDT

A wild Common Shrew (Sorex araneus) hunting for food. The common shrew is a terrestrial species living almost anywhere and is most commonly found in hedgerows, scrubland, grassland and deciduous woodland. Since shrews must eat every 2-3 hours to survive they are often seen at the surface foraging for food, but live in burrows which may have been used previously by another animal. Shrews do not hibernate, but they do become less active in winter. Remarkably, their size shrinks in winter, so that they require less effort to move and so need less food, not only does the liver shrink but also the brain and the skull.

We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing — calls about grammar, gardening, long-distance dialing, autotune. Anything. Everything.

These shows are fun for us, and they seem to be fun for you, too. So we’ did another one.

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Colin McEnroe, Lily Tyson, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show.