# Episode 246 - Gharials Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-246-gharials Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-246-gharials.md Podcast: [The Common Descent Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591) Published: 2026-06-21T00:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-246-gharials/ Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/b6e7984m9gngyu9g/Episode_246_Gharials.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episodes/episode-246-gharials Duration seconds: 8663 ## Resource Happy Croc Month! Most living crocodilian species look pretty similar overall – that’s why there are so many tips for telling alligators from crocodiles – but one group really stands out with their bulging eyes and remarkably slender snouts. This episode, we explore the various features and habits that make gharials unique among crocs, and which have caused no end of confusion for scientists trying to sort out their evolutionary history. And, of course, we’ll take a trip into the fossil record to visit some of the most extraordinary long-snouted crocs of the distant past. In the news: hagfish eyes, dinosaur arms, fungal spores, and fishing dinosaurs. Time markers:Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:06:45Main discussion, Part 1: 00:40:30Main discussion, Part 2: 01:09:35Patron question: 02:12:00 With the help of our Patrons, we’ll be donating this year to:The Crocodile Research Coalition https://crocodileresearchcoalition.org/ Save the Snakes https://savethesnakes.org/ The Natural Resources Defense Council https://www.nrdc.org/ Join us on Patreon to support the podcast and enjoy bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Check out our website for this episode’s blog post and more: http://commondescentpodcast.com/ 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 ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episodes/episode-246-gharials/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast-466591/episode-246-gharials.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.