To The Best of Our Knowledge from Wisconsin Public Radio

You think Greta Garbo was good at ducking the paparazzi? She could have learned a thing or two from the giant squid. No one has ever seen one alive. Zoologist Clyde Roper should know, he's spent most of his life in pursuit of this low profile ocean monster. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a dive into the deep. Also, a funky fossil from ancient oceans, and the silent, secret death of the world's coral reefs.

We've known since Aristotle's time that they exist, but to this day no-one's ever seen a living giant squid. Clyde Roper, a zoologist at the Smithsonian, tells Jim Fleming what giant squid look like and what else biologists are learning about the deep ocean while the hunt for giant squid goes on. Also, biologist Phil Dustan tells Steve Paulson what coral reefs really are, how they grow, why they're all dying, and what we might do to save them.

Richard Fortey is a senior paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum. He tells Anne Strainchamps why he's been a life-long fan of trilobites, ancient water creatures who swarmed the Earth millions of years before dinosaurs. His book is "Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution." Also, Richard Ranft is the wildlife curator at the British Library National Sound Archive. He says the oceans are teeming with noises and plays Jim Fleming a few examples from snapping shrimp to amorous haddock and walruses. Listeners can hear more at www.bl.uk/collections.

Environmental writer Sy Montgomery tells Steve Paulson about swimming with the pink dolphins of the Amazon. She says they inspire lots of folklore, and are really a species of toothed whale. Montgomery's book about them is "Journey of the Pink Dolphins."

Distribution dates:

• week of 11/25/2001 - hour 2
• week of 10/22/2000 - hour 2