Real animal science, told with zero decorum.
Faunacation mixes real natural-history detail with nonstop innuendo: doodlebugs dig bigger sand traps under a full moon, pandas with carnivore guts force down bamboo, and Pokémon turn out to show sexual dimorphism. Host Jack openly calls it a podcast about sex, and each cold open invents a new fake mission for the show.
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Faunacation is a science podcast with the filter removed. Host Jack picks a subject and walks through its biology with puns, swearing and far more sex jokes than any classroom would allow. The show calls itself a podcast about sex, and mating and anatomy come up whatever the subject. The titles show the range: 'Episode 39: Ruff Birds', 'Episode 40: Pokémon', 'Episode 41: Pandas', 'Episode 42: Dinosaurs', 'Episode 43: Vaginas' and 'Episode 44: Spooky Scary Species'. The ruff birds episode compares the males' neck feathers to aristocratic collars and sorts them into three types, one of which was only identified in 2006. In the Pokémon episode, Jack applies sexual dimorphism to Pokémon species, pointing to the plain female and flamboyant male Unfezant and to the lipstick on female Wobbuffet. The pandas episode is framed as a lesson in abstinence, then turns into an explanation of why a carnivore's gut gets so little from bamboo. That explanation comes as a long breakup metaphor about someone who keeps sending flowers to a partner who is allergic to them. The dinosaur episode spends time on color: a microraptor with an oily blue-black sheen, a ginger dinosaur with a ringed tail and a bandit mask, and what those colors suggest about behavior. The Halloween episode covers doodlebugs that dig bigger sand traps during a full moon, even in a dark lab, and explains how biofluorescence differs from bioluminescence. Some of it lands hard. The vaginas episode argues that medications tested only on men, and heart-attack research built around male symptoms, leave women misdiagnosed. It ends with a complaint about a London vagina museum losing its lease while a penis museum in Reykjavik keeps thriving. A running gag gives the cold opens a new fake mission each time, from 'spilling the T-Rex' to abstinence-only sex education. Jack is just as consistent about self-deprecation, apologizing for clumsy intros, groaning at the puns and waving off any claim to expertise. Charity comes up often at the end. Several episodes close by naming a cause, including elephants and a pledge match for the Trevor Project, and one compares how organizations spend donations before choosing. Most sign off warmly with some version of 'I love you guys'. The tone is irreverent and often crude, but the curiosity underneath is real, and Jack gets openly giddy about the weird details. A good first stop is 'Episode 41: Pandas', where the abstinence framing and the digestion breakup bit show the whole method in one place.
Made for: Suits a listener who enjoys odd animal biology and science trivia and is comfortable with heavy profanity and constant sexual humor along the way.
What sets it apart: Faunacation runs animal biology through mating, anatomy and innuendo. Each cold open gives the show a new fake mission, and several episodes end with a charity pick.
Welcome to Faunacation! The podcast dedicated to airing out Mother Nature’s dirty laundry!
A whale penis might explain a sea serpent; Jack makes sure you'll remember the possibility.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Halloween animal lore opens onto moonlit doodlebug traps, glowing scorpions, and laser-altered fruit flies.
Fonication treats Halloween animal lore as a side door into odd, sticky science, starting with black-cat superstition before slipping into doodlebug traps that get larger under a full moon even when moonlight is removed.
A profane, science-minded look at vaginas, spectacle, and a stubborn research gap.
Jack starts with the return of his planned Vagina Awards Show, then turns the joke toward a sharper question: why has it been so much harder to find nominees than it was for the penis-themed version?
Dinosaur color turns into a survival clue in a playful, roaming survey that ends on Jurassic Park and a Comet joke.
Dinosaurs get an unusually wide-angle, lively treatment here, with the host stepping away from the tighter usual format to look across non-avian dinosaurs as a whole clade.
Pokemon sexual dimorphism gets a funny, filthy biology tour, with elephant support waiting at the end.
Pokemon turns into a loose, surprisingly useful guide to sexual dimorphism, with Butterfree and Venomoth setting the table before the episode moves into Unfezant's plain females and showier males.
Three male forms turn this bird's mating system into a strange, vivid study of sexual variety.
Ruff Birds treats a bird mating system as a compact lesson in biological variety, following three male forms whose appearances and roles split in striking ways.
Fake bone lore, delivered with crisp confidence.
Fake facts, real pedantry, escalating nonsense.
One fast, dry voice turning gripes into rules.
Comic-book talk and political fury, same breath.
Faunacation Episode 44: Spooky Scary Species uses Halloween animals to trace why black cats, vampire bats, werewolves, Frankenstein-style hybrids, and headless insects became spooky symbols.
Faunacation episode 43, “Vaginas,” starts as a joking “Vagina Awards Show” and turns into a long argument that genital research has been biased toward males.
Jack spends most of Faunacation Episode 42: Dinosaurs on non-avian dinosaurs, then jumps from Jurassic Park jokes to actual paleontology about melanin, vocalizations, and cloacas.
Jack argues that Pokémon biology maps onto real animal biology, starting with Butterfree from "Bye Bye Butterfree" and the show's explicit "season of love" line.
Jack on Faunacation spends Episode 39, "Ruff Birds," on ruffs, a wader bird named for the Elizabethan-style "ruff" on some males' necks.
Faunacation Episode 38: Father's Day opens with Jack explaining that his own dad was a Marine, a video game nerd, and unusually supportive, which frames the episode’s interest in animal parenting.
Faunacation Episode 37: PRIDE frames Pride Month through animal behavior, with host Jack opening by saying the show is for “love, all kinds of love, as long as it’s legal and consensual.” He argues against the idea that sex must be reproductive, listing examples he says appear in animals such as oral sex, masturbation, orgies, anal sex, prostitution, and race fetishism.
Faunacation’s “Episode 36: Sea Monsters” moves from the Loch Ness Monster’s 1934 surgeon’s photograph to earlier reports in 1933 and an account from 565 AD in the river Ness.
This episode explores the origins, biology, and history of domestic cats, debunking myths and covering their evolution from ancient Egypt to modern times.
The host discusses shark biology, evolution, and diversity, starting with what defines a shark and listing species.
The host introduces a podcast about unusual animal sexual behaviors, starting with the spotted hyena's bizarre reproductive anatomy and social structure.