Sep 8, 2026 · 35 min · 14 segments
If you’ve ever watched the TV show *Survivor*, you know the rules: outwit, outplay, outlast. But in the animal kingdom, *Survivor* isn’t a game– in a very real way, it’s adapt, or… And as climate…
Kaylee ByersHostCara LoveGuest
Kendall CalhounGuest
Winners and losers when it comes to surviving the human-made challenges animals face.
Radiation has taken a toll on bees and other insects, birds have shown physical abnormalities and lower reproductive success, and some pine trees simply died.
So yeah, the wolves may have found a way to survive, but that doesn't mean radiation has been a win for the rest of the ecosystem.
He may have won by moving away from the fire, but if that move puts him somewhere with more roads, people, or other dangers, is that really a win? So maybe the question isn't just which animals are winning Survivor.
It's what can we do to give more animals a better shot at surviving the game itself?
I think the environment is changing so rapidly and to more and more extreme degrees.
And with every story of a Survivor winner or those that are able to survive those extreme fluctuations, there are individuals that aren't.
And what we're able to now start to ask is how much does that impact their ability to survive the next and then the next and then the next? And if we keep just berating them over and over and over, I don't know how many of them will be left at the end.
So I think it's really important to be able to help them in the ways that we can and also just give them a chance to be able to help themselves.
They can find some really amazing and wonderful and cool solutions to these problems, but We can't just keep berating them one after the next.
Love, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and chat with us today about wolves in Chernobyl and adaptation and survival.
Winners and losers when it comes to surviving the human-made challenges animals face.
Radiation has taken a toll on bees and other insects, birds have shown physical abnormalities and lower reproductive success, and some pine trees simply died.
So yeah, the wolves may have found a way to survive, but that doesn't mean radiation has been a win for the rest of the ecosystem.
He may have won by moving away from the fire, but if that move puts him somewhere with more roads, people, or other dangers, is that really a win? So maybe the question isn't just which animals are winning Survivor.
It's what can we do to give more animals a better shot at surviving the game itself?
I think the environment is changing so rapidly and to more and more extreme degrees.
And with every story of a Survivor winner or those that are able to survive those extreme fluctuations, there are individuals that aren't.
And what we're able to now start to ask is how much does that impact their ability to survive the next and then the next and then the next? And if we keep just berating them over and over and over, I don't know how many of them will be left at the end.
So I think it's really important to be able to help them in the ways that we can and also just give them a chance to be able to help themselves.
They can find some really amazing and wonderful and cool solutions to these problems, but We can't just keep berating them one after the next.
Love, thank you so much for taking the time to come on and chat with us today about wolves in Chernobyl and adaptation and survival.
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