A Podcast Turducken: With Wow in the World, Terrestrials and Circle Round

Nov 17, 2025

Guest

Sai Montgomery

Guest

Join Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas from Wow in the World, along with Circle Round's Rebecca Sheir and chicken expert Sai Montgomery, for a delightful holiday crossover. They explore Inga the chicken's incredible journey home using remarkable navigation skills. Discover the mystery of the ocean 'bio-duck' sounds and the fascinating Cherokee folktale about how the turkey got its distinctive gobble. The episode culminates in a lively singalong that ties together all the stories in this festive potluck of fun!

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Runaway Hen Returns Home

Inga, a hen sold toward a chicken roaster in Germany, escaped and traveled over three miles back home through forests and roads.
Farmer Geralt reunited with Inga after months and vowed never to sell her again.

INSIGHT

Chicken Navigation Is Highly Sophisticated

Sai Montgomery explains chickens use magnetite, polarized light, landmarks, and memory to navigate long distances.
Chickens also eavesdrop on other animals' alarm calls and use social cues to time safe movement.

ANECDOTE

Ocean 'Quack' Mystery Solved

Researchers recorded mysterious 'bio-duck' sounds in the Arctic since 1964 and later attached D-tags to Arctic minke whales.
The D-tag recordings matched the quack-like sounds, implicating minke whales as the source.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Lulu is hosting a holiday meal. She’s invited the characters from her extended kids podcast family - Wow in the World and Circle Round - for an epic kids podcast crossover special. It’s a potluck of stories and on the table is a turducken. Yes, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Each show brings a wild story about one of these creatures. We learn about a chicken’s unexpected journey back home, a duck mystery in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and an indigenous folktale about how the turkey got its gobble, culminating in a giant singalong.

Keep learning!

Check out Inge the chicken’s route back home.

Read about the mysterious ocean quack sound.

Learn about the turkey’s role in Cherokee culture.

This episode was a huge collaboration between our team and the teams at Tinkercast’s Wow in the World and WBUR’s Circle Round, including Mindy Thomas, Guy Raz, Rebecca Sheir, Eric Shimelonis, Tom van Kalken, Steph Sosa and Anna Zagorski.

Terrestrials was created by Lulu Miller with WNYC. This episode was reported and produced by Lulu Miller, Alan Goffinski, Ana González and Tanya Chawla. Beautiful sound design by Mira Burt-Wintonick and Joe Plourde. Engineering by Joe Plourde. Our Executive Producer is Sarah Sandbach. Factchecking by Anna Pujol-Mazzini.

Support for Terrestrials is provided by the Simons Foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the John Templeton Foundation.

A reminder that Terrestrials also makes original music! You can find the single from this episode Turducken Dreams and all of our other music here.

HEY GROWN-UPS!
Love the show? Leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and review on your podcast app—it helps curious listeners find us!

We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts about Terrestrials with us.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for bite-sized essays, activities, and ways to connect with the show.
Follow us on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for behind-the-scenes extras and more.
Listen to original music from Terrestrials on Spotify, Apple Music, or our music page.

Got a badgering question for the team? Email us at terrestrialspodcast@wnyc.org or submit a voice memo with your name, age, and your question using this form!

Terrestrials is made possible in part by listeners like you. Support the show by joining Radiolab’s membership program, The Lab—and we’ll send you a special thank-you gift from our team!