# Episode 243 - Burrowers

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-243-burrowers
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-243-burrowers.md
Podcast: [The Common Descent Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591)
Published: 2026-05-10T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-243-burrowers/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/sy88ba4mj67epvh2/Episode_243_Burrowers.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episodes/episode-243-burrowers
Duration seconds: 8574

## Resource

A lot of life on Earth happens underground. This episode, we sample the species that have taken to a life of digging in the dirt – and elsewhere – why they do it and what physical adaptations help them along the way. Then, we’ll take a tour of burrows in the fossil record and explore what clues paleontologists can use to determine which ancient critter constructed a given burrow. In the news: malaria history, false octopus, pterosaur tracks, and giant octopus. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:05:55Main discussion, Part 1: 00:45:05Main discussion, Part 2: 01:17:55Patron question: 02:12:45 Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Got a topic you want to hear about? Submit your episode request here: https://commondescentpodcast.com/request-a-topic/ Lots more ways to connect with us: https://linktr.ee/common_descent The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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## Transcript

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