Political Animals: Sex-Switching Fish and Non-Binary Brains - 3/3

Zoologist Lucy Cooke is on a mission: to break down the 'sexist stereotype' she believes has permeated our understanding of the natural world.

In Political Animals, she sets out to prove that females of the species can be just as fiesty, ardent, manipulative, aggressive, strategic, varied and political as males - questioning some of the theories laid out by the 'father of evolution', Charles Darwin, and hearing from pioneering scientists moving evolutionary biology beyond a male-centric narrative.

In the final episode of the series, Lucy considers the latest research into sex, sexuality and sexed behaviour in animals, and what that can tell us about purported differences between male and female brains.

On a twilight trip into the jungle, Brian Kubicki of the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center explains why some male frogs could arguably be nature's best dads; Lindsay Young from Pacific Rim Conservation shows Lucy round an albatross colony at Kaena Point in Hawaii, where she discovered a trend of female-female life-long partnerships; and Justin Rhodes from the University of Illinois takes us on a remote tour of his lab, where he studies the sex-changing anemone fish.

Lucy also speaks to scientists Lauren O’Connell, Malin Ah-King and Rebecca Kilner; and considers how everyone engaged in evolutionary biology, from researchers to educators, can help build a better understanding of female experiences - and indeed all experiences - in the natural world.

Featuring excerpts from ‘The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex’ by Charles Darwin, read by Derek Frood.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.

First broadcast on Friday 4 March 2022.