Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

As climate change brings rising temperatures and shifting
patterns of rainfall, animals are adapting to keep pace. Bird’s
bodies are growing smaller, their wingspan longer, lizards are
growing larger thumb pads to help them grip more tightly in
hurricane strength winds, beak size is changing.


We visit the Galapagos, where evolution was first discovered by
Charles Darwin, to investigate the many ways the behaviour and
physiology of animals are changing to survive the impact of
climate change. But can they do it quickly enough?


First broadcast – 14 March 2022


Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by: Kiyoko
Gotanda, Assistant Professor at Brock University Ramiro Tomala,
Expedition leader, Metropolitan Touring in the Galapagos Thor
Hanson, conservationist and author of Hurricane Lizards and
Plastic Squid Anne Charmantier, Director of Research at Centre
d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Montpellier


With thanks to research carried out by Colin Donihue of Institute
at Brown for Environment and Society.


Producer: Dearbhail Starr Reporter: Mark Stratton Series
Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Production
Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed Sound Engineer: Tom
Brignell