Can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

As climate change brings rising temperatures and shifting patterns of rainfall, animals are adapting to keep pace. Bird’s bodies are growing smaller, their wingspan longer, lizards are growing larger thumb pads to help them grip more tightly in hurricane strength winds, beak size is changing.

We visit the Galapagos, where evolution was first discovered by Charles Darwin, to investigate the many ways the behaviour and physiology of animals are changing to survive the impact of climate change. But can they do it quickly enough?

First broadcast – 14 March 2022

Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by: Kiyoko Gotanda, Assistant Professor at Brock University Ramiro Tomala, Expedition leader, Metropolitan Touring in the Galapagos Thor Hanson, conservationist and author of Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid Anne Charmantier, Director of Research at Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Montpellier

With thanks to research carried out by Colin Donihue of Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Producer: Dearbhail Starr Reporter: Mark Stratton Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Nicola Addyman Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell