Political Animals: Sex-Switching Fish and Non-Binary Brains - 3/3

Zoologist Lucy Cooke is on a mission: to break down the 'sexist
stereotype' she believes has permeated our understanding of the
natural world.


In Political Animals, she sets out to prove that females of the
species can be just as fiesty, ardent, manipulative, aggressive,
strategic, varied and political as males - questioning some of
the theories laid out by the 'father of evolution', Charles
Darwin, and hearing from pioneering scientists moving
evolutionary biology beyond a male-centric narrative.


In the final episode of the series, Lucy considers the latest
research into sex, sexuality and sexed behaviour in animals, and
what that can tell us about purported differences between male
and female brains.


On a twilight trip into the jungle, Brian Kubicki of the Costa
Rican Amphibian Research Center explains why some male frogs
could arguably be nature's best dads; Lindsay Young from Pacific
Rim Conservation shows Lucy round an albatross colony at Kaena
Point in Hawaii, where she discovered a trend of female-female
life-long partnerships; and Justin Rhodes from the University of
Illinois takes us on a remote tour of his lab, where he studies
the sex-changing anemone fish.


Lucy also speaks to scientists Lauren O’Connell, Malin Ah-King
and Rebecca Kilner; and considers how everyone engaged in
evolutionary biology, from researchers to educators, can help
build a better understanding of female experiences - and indeed
all experiences - in the natural world.


Featuring excerpts from ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in
Relation to Sex’ by Charles Darwin, read by Derek Frood.


Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.


First broadcast on Friday 4 March 2022.