Hi, it's your eccentric but quiet neighbor, Alli Ward.

Hey, how did you get here?

Why, why don't we have flippers?

Is the fly my cousin? What is life?

Welcome to evolutionary biology.

Now this is a special episode because frankly,

I thought it was lost to extinction.

I thought it was plum, deed.

I recorded it with an evolutionary biologist who works

at the same lab at Occidental College as our

ornithologist from a few episodes back.

So late last year, before I had better microphones or

necessarily a good interviewer them down,

I visited with this evolutionary biologist.

And before the tape rolled, we talked about birds

and our upcoming holiday plans.

And then we sat down to chat about natural selection.

And then I lost the file for like a lot of months.

And I found it on a drive recently and oh!

Oh, so exciting.

It was like encountering a dodo bird in a P.F.

Chang's parking lot.

...