Survogel Asks the Biosphere

PIED: Ah, road trips. Are you a frequent road-tripper like me? If so, you'll recognise three quintessential elements of each road trip: a bag of snacks in the car boot, a playlist of road trip tunes, and grasslands.  *record scratch*  Wait: grasslands?  Yes, grasslands. Grasses cover the vast majority of India's interior, from Kutch to Kaziranga. And it's not just India: North America, Africa (mostly south of the Sahara), Australia, and southern South America also have vast grasslands.  Unfortunately, these grasslands are at risk. North Americans drive through what's left of the prairies. Here in India, new roads cut through the plains. This tragedy makes grasslands a quintessential element of a long road trip: go far enough inside a continent, and you'll be in a grassland or desert.  How did grasses get this successful? What's it like out on a grassland? And how are these liminal plains threatened by human activity? I'll attempt to answer these ...

Hello, readers! The grassland article's almost ready to be posted; I'm just giving it a few finishing touches.  While you wait, here's a watercolour portrait of most of the main cast, except Acantha:  CLOCKWISE FROM TOP RIGHT: Pied (Greater Pied Urvogel), Hibiscus (Purple Sunbird), Mr Bloomsip (Purple Sunbird), Dawn (Oriental Garden Lizard), and Newmoon (Large-billed Crow). Art by Pied Survogel (me), hand-painted.  Also, it's Velociraptor Awareness Day. Did you know there are nine known genera (ten if Deinonychus counts) of velociraptorine dinosaurs? And some of these genera have multiple species! Here's some palaeoart (by me) of the velociraptorine Tsaagan mangas to celebrate.  Don't forget to leave water for birds!  -Pied 

Sinosauropteryx  A dragonfly dead. Who to thank  For its demise by riverbank?  As orange as the setting sun,  And chasing insects, having fun.  The long striped tail tailing behind  Raised somewhat high, and to remind  The world of their ebullience  For periods and epochs hence.  (The genus  Sinosauropteryx was split in a paper published in February 2025. Now there are two genera: Sinosauropteryx and  Huadanosaurus. This poem still features the former, though.)  (On another note, the grassland article is still in the works; I'm a senior (12th) in high school, so time has been at a scarcity. In canon, it's the same; Pied not having the time to edit the podcast due to human obligations.) 

Hello, fellow eukaryotes! It's March 3, which means it's World Wildlife Day! It happens on the same date every year. I decided that I'd give you a little behind-the-scenes update and share a few facts about wildlife.  ⬆️The avian co-hosts and I had a chat today. Here's a picture of it.  So, the next episode is going to be biome-focused. Unfortunately, I deleted the draft for it, accidentally and irreversibly. Thankfully, the guest stars and I are willing to re-record/rewrite it. It's going to be more scientific than previous episodes.  Now, here are the facts.  "Wildlife" doesn't just mean "animals". Bacteria, archaea, fungi, plants, and other eukaryotes also count.  Most animals are arthropods! This is because insects are successful. And beetles alone comprise 40% of insects.  Speaking of insects, flycatchers aren't named that because they catch flies. It's because they fly to catch prey (flycatching).  And that's all...

PIED: This episode was brought to you by realising the date. I had a short chat with the sunbirds, and this is an excerpt from it.  P: Happy Makar Sankranti!  MR BLOOMSIP: 'Happy'? I was scared that a kite string would BISECT me all day!  P: Sorry. Also, did anyone get hurt today?  HIBISCUS: No. You warned us all last year, so we stuck to the trees today!  P: Didn't you get hungry?  B: Yes. And when Newmoon and Myra came back alive to tell us that the strings weren't a threat any longer, we flocked to the trees beyond!  H: I never thought nectar could be that tasty!  P: *chuckle* Anyways, did the tree grow back?  B: Yes, now that you've armed Newmoon. He got the house crows on board, who told the pigeons to help us, and now nobody can even get a ladder close to the tree!  P: *laughter*  H: A parakeet flew down here to join our club. We were all concerned. At least, the other keets were.  P: Their name?  H: Banyan. Also, sp...

P: This is Pied!  B: And this is Bloomsip!  H: And I'm Hibiscus!  N: Starring Corvid Chef Newmoon.  P: And today, we come to you with a new episode, and hopefully a new format, of Survogel Asks the Biosphere. Cue intro.  P: I'm Pied, a pied urvogel!  N: I'm Newmoon the large-billed crow!  B: I'm Mr Bloomsip!  H: And Hibiscus!  B&H: We're the sunbirds on the show!  P: I use my other name for the title here!  All: We're the hosts on this show:  Survogel Asks the Biosphere!  ----- PIED: Okay, so welcome back to our show! It's been a while, what with me moving to a less tree-filled place and Mr Bloomsip's Nintendo Switch was nearly reclaimed by the company when they discovered that neither he nor Hibiscus were human.  BLOOMSIP: I missed you! But I didn't miss your secret co-host.  HIBISCUS: We don't talk about him that way!  B: He nearly ate you!  H: Fair, but still.  P: So, shall we start? I'll sh...