Hans Sues is a fossil guy at the Smithsonian. Born in Germany, he has been all over the world finding and interpreting fossils for more than 40 years. His focus is on vertebrates – both in his professional work and his personal attachment to cats. We talked with Hans about why the Triassic era had so many strange animals, what happened in the extinctions at each end, and why he worries about getting arrested while doing field work.

This episode was produced by Devin Reese and mixed by Collin Warren. Editing and production assistance by Jace Steiner.