When Eavesdropping Pays Off
25 June 2025

When Eavesdropping Pays Off

Short Wave

About
Why did the ornithologist strap a taxidermy badger to a remote controlled car and drive it around the prairie? To interrogate the secret world of animal eavesdropping in the grasslands, of course! Today on the show, we travel to the most imperiled ecosystem on the planet to unravel a prairie mystery and find out why prairie dogs are grassland engineers worth keeping tabs on.

Special thanks to Andrew Spencer and the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology for providing the Long-billed Curlew call recording, and to American Prairie for providing prairie soundscape recordings.

Got a question about other animal ecosystem engineers? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy