Creepy Creatures and Strange Soulmates: a Celebration of Nature's Weirdest

Creepy Creatures and Strange Soulmates: A Celebration of Nature's Weirdest with Sophie Pavelle and Jo WimpennyWhat makes something creepy? Why do certain creatures make our skin crawl, while others inspire awe? And what happens when we look beyond our instinctive reactions to discover the extraordinary lives hidden beneath the surface?Join authors Sophie Pavelle and Jo Wimpenny for a lively, fascinating conversation inspired by their books To Have or To Hold and Beauty of the Beasts, exploring some of nature's darkest, devilish and most vital species.From the creatures we recoil from to the ones we struggle to understand, Sophie and Jo delve into the biology behind our fears and fascinations - and the cultural ideas that teach us what is considered weird, grotesque or beautiful.

Together, they'll uncover the phenomenal adaptations, unexpected behaviours and essential ecological roles of the animals we so often overlook, misunderstand or simply find a little bit... creepy.This is a celebration of the strange and spectacular: an invitation to rethink our instincts, challenge our perceptions and see the natural world with fresh eyes.

Because sometimes, the creatures that unsettle us most have the most extraordinary stories to tell.Sophie Pavelle is a US-born and UK-based science communicator.

She worked for Beaver Trust and presented their award-winning documentary Beavers Without Borders.

She is an Ambassador for The Wildlife Trusts and sat on the RSPB England Advisory Committee.

Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller, New Scientist, The Independent and BBC magazines.

Her first book, Forget Me Not, was widely praised for encouraging action against climate change and biodiversity loss.Jo Wimpenny is a zoologist and writer with a research background in animal behaviour and the history of science.

She studied Zoology at the University of Bristol, and went on to research problem-solving in crows and tool use for her DPhil at Oxford University.

After postdoctoral research on the history of ornithology at Sheffield, she authored Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables and co-authored Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology Since Darwin, which won the 2015 PROSE award for History of Science, Medicine and Technology.

Jo writes for BBC Wildlife and has previously presented at the BA Festival of Science, Science Oxford, the Royal Society Summer Science Fair and Glasgow Science Fair.This event is brought to you by FOLDE Dorset in partnership with the Grosvenor Arms.If you dine at the Grosvenor on the day of this talk, you'll receive 10% off your food bill on presentation of your ticket.

We strongly recommend booking in advance.