Animals Train YOU! episode artwork

EPISODE · Oct 15, 2025 · 41 MIN

Animals Train YOU!

from What The If? · host Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

Honey guide birds in Africa respond to culturally distinct human calls and lead hunters to beehives, where humans crack them open and birds feast on the exposed beeswax. But what the if humans could whistle for any wild animal to help with tasks? Call a deer to haul your Costco groceries home (extra cabbage as payment), summon crows to find your lost earring for peanuts, or live in a Viking village where bears help with the salmon harvest then hibernate in someone's hut all winter. From turkey truffle-hunting to dolphins demanding space station aquariums, explore a world where wild animals and humans exist in bizarre symbiotic relationships that might have prevented industrialization altogether. Based on "Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made By Honey Hunters" by Walter Beckwith, published in AAAS Science on December 11, 2023. Read the full article at https://www.aaas.org/news/honeyguide-birds-learn-culturally-distinct-calls-made-honey-hunters --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Oct 15, 2025

Honey guide birds in Africa respond to culturally distinct human calls and lead hunters to beehives, where humans crack them open and birds feast on the exposed beeswax. But what the if humans could whistle for any wild animal to help with tasks? Call a deer to haul your Costco groceries home (extra cabbage as payment), summon crows to find your lost earring for peanuts, or live in a Viking village where bears help with the salmon harvest then hibernate in someone's hut all winter. From turkey truffle-hunting to dolphins demanding space station aquariums, explore a world where wild animals and humans exist in bizarre symbiotic relationships that might have prevented industrialization altogether. Based on "Honeyguide Birds Learn Culturally Distinct Calls Made By Honey Hunters" by Walter Beckwith, published in AAAS Science on December 11, 2023. Read the full article at https://www.aaas.org/news/honeyguide-birds-learn-culturally-distinct-calls-made-honey-hunters --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

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Animals Train YOU!

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Honey guide birds in Africa respond to culturally distinct human calls and lead hunters to beehives, where humans crack them open and birds feast on the exposed beeswax. But what the if humans could whistle for any wild animal to help with tasks?...

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