Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today on the show, we're talking
Speaker 1: about some of the best stories of one to start two.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about a real life Gregor Samsa and amazing
Speaker 1: animal friendships and the end of a rather controversial zoo
Speaker 1: that you probably all remember from the pandemic times. Remember
Speaker 1: that anyways. Joining me today is Brand of the podcast
Speaker 1: fan favorite, our producer and podcast extraordinary Joe Well Monique. Welcome,
Speaker 1: Hi Katie, thanks for having me back. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to hear what stories you have for me today. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought I would just, you know, start off two
Speaker 1: by doing some fun, fun news stories that are good
Speaker 1: and good news. And also I think makes me feel
Speaker 1: like two is a fresh start to hopefully maybe hoping.
Speaker 1: I feel like maybe I have reached the stage of
Speaker 1: pandemic where I'm just very contented to still be here,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, I think good news is perfect.
Speaker 1: Yeah I really need it. We really just need some
Speaker 1: positive news and we'll see what happens. I no longer
Speaker 1: can hold expectations. Three years in a row. I've been
Speaker 1: like it's almost over. Nope, right back into the pot
Speaker 1: I went. I make I make no, I make no
Speaker 1: guarantees that is going to be the year. But it's
Speaker 1: a year. So you know, well, I think the most
Speaker 1: of it. We've still gotta live. I feel it, that's right. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so I feel like the energy that I want
Speaker 1: to bring to is giant bugs. Um joel, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: an interesting good newsplace. Yeah. Well, giant extinct bugs, which maybe,
Speaker 1: okay leave to some people, may be disappointing to others.
Speaker 1: But the fossil of a giant millipede called Arthur Pleura
Speaker 1: was discovered and it was confirmed it was the largest
Speaker 1: terrestrial invertebrate known in history, so the biggest bug, the
Speaker 1: biggest bug. So they lived in both North America and
Speaker 1: Europe about three hundred million years ago. And the new
Speaker 1: fossil was found on a beach encased in sandstone in Northumberland, England. So, uh,
Speaker 1: the fossil, it's all was actually discovered back in ten
Speaker 1: but the results of the geological study was just recently published, which, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, because science actually takes a little bit of time,
Speaker 1: I guess, you know, you got to actually do the
Speaker 1: research and the work and find out that you can't
Speaker 1: just be saying stuff. Yeah. I mean, I just imagine
Speaker 1: someone with like a little dust dust pan going up
Speaker 1: to this fossil, dusting it off, getting out a little
Speaker 1: measuring tape, and then going m m m m. Yeah,
Speaker 1: checks out, big bug. It's a big bug. It's a
Speaker 1: big bug, and we're done. Science completed. It's probably a
Speaker 1: little more complicated than that, but so so let's talk
Speaker 1: about this big bug. You know what a millipede looks like, right, Joel.
Speaker 1: It's got a million lets not really, but yeah, kind of,
Speaker 1: but that's what the Latin I think, uh kind of
Speaker 1: thing is the millipede million feet kind of thing? But yeah,
Speaker 1: not or a thousand feet but it's not. It is
Speaker 1: not a thousand feet, um, but it is a lot
Speaker 1: and they're segmented and sort of they look like sort
Speaker 1: of the insect version of a train with a lot
Speaker 1: of little train cars, I guess is how I imagined
Speaker 1: I see it. So, yeah, a millipede like a centipede,
Speaker 1: but friendlier, I think. But imagine one of those millipedes
Speaker 1: but the size of a car. H no, thank you?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, no, no, just like you know, think about it.
Speaker 1: I think about you know, your car, But it's it's
Speaker 1: a big old bug with a bunch of a bunch
Speaker 1: of different little segments. Maybe each one of them horror
Speaker 1: movies are made. What if each one has a little
Speaker 1: saddle on it, right, and you and your entire crew
Speaker 1: can like get on this millipede. Um, I would make
Speaker 1: it like the busy world of Richard scary. So it's
Speaker 1: just an apple and then the millipede, I guess, and
Speaker 1: then it's just transportation. And okay, maybe what can I
Speaker 1: do to get you on one of these bad boys today?
Speaker 1: Throw in throwing a bunch of little little socks for it,
Speaker 1: a little little running shoes so it goes super fast.
Speaker 1: I want to say less feet, but then I feel
Speaker 1: like that would not um be good for it. I
Speaker 1: feel it would be upset that they didn't have as
Speaker 1: many feet. Yeah, I think it needs those feet, right,
Speaker 1: because it's got this kind of undulating motion where it's
Speaker 1: almost like it moves in kind of these waves of
Speaker 1: feet stomping. Oh so cruised, but you know, um so Uh.
Speaker 1: The fossil found was actually just a fragment of a
Speaker 1: larger creature but because they know how many segments that
Speaker 1: arthur Plura had, paleobiologists were able to put together an
Speaker 1: approximate total size of the specimen, which was eight point
Speaker 1: five ft or two point six meters long, about two
Speaker 1: ft or fifty five wide, and wade a hundred and
Speaker 1: ten pounds or fifty ms, so you know respectable, wow,
Speaker 1: hundreds or no fifty and a hundred and ten pounds okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: The hundred and ten pounds things means I could take
Speaker 1: it in a fight and that's a little more helpful,
Speaker 1: or pick it up. And if that's an option. At
Speaker 1: its size, it probably lacked predators, you know. I don't
Speaker 1: blame the predators for not wanting anything to do with
Speaker 1: that thing. Uh. Their diet is unknown, but based on
Speaker 1: its size, it was estimated it probably ate a variety
Speaker 1: of vegetation seeds and fruit to get enough nutritions. So
Speaker 1: probably I like that it wasn't hunting animals. You know,
Speaker 1: sometimes creatures when we go back into its prehistoric age
Speaker 1: and they're larger, you know, maybe they're more carnivorous. Uh,
Speaker 1: And I don't like that. I don't I don't need
Speaker 1: bugs to eat You don't need a giant the world's
Speaker 1: biggest bug to have the world's biggest appetite for human flesh. No. No,
Speaker 1: It's like when I found out about the largest bird
Speaker 1: that ever lived and how it could just scoop up
Speaker 1: a fully grown man and disappear into the night. Uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: Uncomfortable with those statistics. The terror bird or the terror
Speaker 1: bird was the terrestrial one, and then there was the
Speaker 1: argent Avis magnificence, which was the real big flying bird. Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're actually going to talk about birds in relation to
Speaker 1: this thing just a little bit in terms of like
Speaker 1: why it went extinct if it had no predators. It
Speaker 1: was this real big bug seemed like it had a
Speaker 1: good plan. And one reason is the change in oxygen
Speaker 1: levels uh in the Earth's history. So uh, during the
Speaker 1: Carboniferous period, which was about three million years ago, when
Speaker 1: these giant bugs roamed the Earth, the oxygen levels were
Speaker 1: way higher. There was a higher concentration of oxygen in
Speaker 1: the atmosphere. Uh. And the reason this was important for
Speaker 1: large bugs is based on how insects breathe, So humans
Speaker 1: and mammals and birds and reptiles breathe through like a
Speaker 1: single trachea, and we have lungs and we suck in
Speaker 1: oxygen that way. But adult terrestrial insects actually taken oxygen
Speaker 1: through many holes, which are called sphericles. So these are what, Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are small holes and tubes all over their bodies
Speaker 1: that distribute oxygen to their tissues. I had no clue. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're kind of kind of like Swiss cheese when you
Speaker 1: think about it, but little tiny, tiny holes. And the
Speaker 1: holes can't actually be too big because if they're too big,
Speaker 1: then you just got like a doughnut and not an insect,
Speaker 1: and that's not structurally stable, uh, which actually creates a
Speaker 1: problem the bigger the insect is because if you want
Speaker 1: to get oxygen to all the tissue in the big insect,
Speaker 1: you need a longer holes, uh and wider holes. So
Speaker 1: if they're too wide, then the insect is no longer
Speaker 1: structurally stable. Too many holes. So what you need is
Speaker 1: a higher concentration of oxygen so that the tubes and
Speaker 1: spiricles can remain narrow, taking in less air but still
Speaker 1: getting enough oxygen distributed to its tissues. So that is
Speaker 1: why there used to be giant dragonflies and giant millipedes
Speaker 1: and now no longer. But there's actually a couple other
Speaker 1: factors that make it a little bit of a more
Speaker 1: complete picture. In one is that it may have actually
Speaker 1: been necessary for the bugs to be this big because
Speaker 1: the oxygen was so high, including in the water that
Speaker 1: aquatic larva, like some insects like dragonflies, they actually start
Speaker 1: out in the water as these like aquatic uh little babies,
Speaker 1: and then they metamorphosized into adults that leave the water.
Speaker 1: And so adult insects can actually close their spiricles in
Speaker 1: order to regulate how much oxygen they're taking in, but
Speaker 1: the larva cannot, so they can actually get too much
Speaker 1: oxygen oxygen toxicity. There's too high of a concentration in
Speaker 1: the water and they're too small. So more oxygen in
Speaker 1: the water favored larger larva so they could survive live,
Speaker 1: and larger larva means larger adults. And then there you go,
Speaker 1: got big bugs. Wow. I didn't know, like I realized that,
Speaker 1: you know, the amount of oxygen in the air had
Speaker 1: like fluctuated over time, but it didn't click like how
Speaker 1: large the impact would have been on the features alive.
Speaker 1: Then that is fascinating. Are we essentially saying like they
Speaker 1: choked out, like when we were talking about, um, the
Speaker 1: fact that they have well, I mean, like listen, there
Speaker 1: was a lot. Now there's less. If there's less oxygen,
Speaker 1: for me, I'm essentially suffocating and dying. Is that what's
Speaker 1: happening to them? I mean very slowly, I think, and
Speaker 1: they're they're right right, not immediately, not immediately, So it
Speaker 1: would actually and so you'd see really more these selective
Speaker 1: pressures to get smaller. So instead of these big bugs
Speaker 1: suddenly collapsing, you know, they would the bigger ones would
Speaker 1: not fare as well as the slightly smaller ones, and
Speaker 1: so on and so forth. Um. Also birds, Uh you
Speaker 1: mentioned birds earlier. The presence of birds may have and
Speaker 1: other tetrapods are not other tetrapods, but tetrapods in general
Speaker 1: may have had a big impact on these big bugs
Speaker 1: because the birds, first of all, could potentially catch bugs
Speaker 1: that were like medium sized but not super maneuverable. And
Speaker 1: then for the larger ones, birds may have outcompeted the
Speaker 1: carnivorous bugs. And uh yeah, just generally birds were great
Speaker 1: and did a lot better than these big bugs, and
Speaker 1: the big the bugs had to kind of both with
Speaker 1: the combination of the presence of birds, tetrapods and the
Speaker 1: lower oxygen were just like, fine, we'll get tiny whatever. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to imagine an ultra universe where the birds
Speaker 1: didn't win and now we just have like giant cockroaches. Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you birds really appreciate you winning. You're much
Speaker 1: easier to look at, even though sometimes you still terrify me.
Speaker 1: This is definitely take bird supremacy. This is part of
Speaker 1: my long term plan of indoctrinating Joel to actually like
Speaker 1: birds because I don't. It's working for those of you
Speaker 1: who don't remember Joel doesn't like birds, which, uh, I cannot.
Speaker 1: I simply can't accept that. You know, I generally, I
Speaker 1: generally try to keep an open mind about people who
Speaker 1: don't love the animals that I love. You know. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you don't like naked mole routes. Yeah, they kind of
Speaker 1: look a little, you know, a little bit wrinkly and strange.
Speaker 1: But you know, birds, you gotta love them, and I
Speaker 1: won't accept that. I simply won't. I'm coming around, slowly
Speaker 1: but surely starting to see because listen, if they stopped
Speaker 1: giant bugs from existing, then really we could probably be
Speaker 1: friends now at least I have a mutual respect for them.
Speaker 1: I'm really happy to hear that, because I actually have
Speaker 1: sent um a bunch of a bunch of ostriches to
Speaker 1: your house for you to, you know, have fun with.
Speaker 1: Oh no, uh, you know what lions the dog she
Speaker 1: can play with the ostriches. Do you have a really
Speaker 1: good time? She likes chasing other animals. Um. But also
Speaker 1: she's a big soft pie. You know, she's uh pushing
Speaker 1: sixty pounds. I saw a ten pound dog knocker on
Speaker 1: her behind. Uh. It was ridiculous and hilarious. I will
Speaker 1: say inside, I don't need birds taller than me coming
Speaker 1: at That seems unplused. Fair enough. So we've talked about
Speaker 1: giant bugs that I personally want to befriend. Joel is
Speaker 1: maybe um more okay with just remaining distant acquaintances acquaintances
Speaker 1: with these giant bugs. But I have some news stories
Speaker 1: about animal friendships that I think you will love. And
Speaker 1: they are truly adorable and wonderful. And no, and this
Speaker 1: isn't a trick. It's not a trick. They are adorable
Speaker 1: and adorable by normal people standards, not by Katie standards. Uh.
Speaker 1: Because I'm like velvet worm. I love you, be my friend. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so I found these stories actually from the
Speaker 1: Smithsonian Channels Amazing Animal Friends show, which, uh it's it
Speaker 1: sounds it sounds like what it is, it's about friends.
Speaker 1: But the Twala Trust Animal Sanctuary in Zimbabwe hosts a
Speaker 1: number of animal rescues, including cats, dogs, owls, monkeys and more.
Speaker 1: Uh yes, every animal, especially these ones. And one such
Speaker 1: monkey is named Horace, and he is an orphaned vervet
Speaker 1: monkey with one arm and a determination to make friends. All. So,
Speaker 1: a little bit about vervet monkeys. These are adorable little
Speaker 1: dudes with short black fur on their faces, long fluffy, gray,
Speaker 1: white and tan fur on their bodies. Uh. They are
Speaker 1: highly social. They live in troops and often maintain long
Speaker 1: relationships with siblings, and they like to groom each other
Speaker 1: to establish social bonds, to establish like a friendship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so they're very social. And poor Horace found himself at
Speaker 1: this rescue without a troop of vervet monkeys. Um right,
Speaker 1: exactly so, even though these sanctuary did save him, he's
Speaker 1: all alone here, but that did not stop him from
Speaker 1: being determined to create new family. So uh, the dogs
Speaker 1: at the sanctuary are not your typical dogs because they
Speaker 1: were x there ex guard dogs, so they're not as
Speaker 1: well socialized with humans or other animals. Typically very aggressive,
Speaker 1: so when little Horace came up to their enclosure, they
Speaker 1: reacted with aggression, barking at him. Uh, you know, not
Speaker 1: not having any of it. But he was undeterred, and
Speaker 1: being very smart, he looked at the situation and started
Speaker 1: to strategize. He saw that there was this one old
Speaker 1: dog kind of lying by herself. She seemed calmer. Her
Speaker 1: name is Isabelle, and he went up to her and
Speaker 1: she let him start to touch her and to groom her.
Speaker 1: So he would pick off the fleas and ticks on
Speaker 1: her coat, and she actually found she quite enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: So ah, he started doing that. Isabelle let him do that.
Speaker 1: She was when you see the video of this, she's
Speaker 1: very pleased with the situation. And so these other dogs
Speaker 1: were watching and started to notice that, hey, that actually
Speaker 1: looks pretty good. So then this dogs getting spa treatments.
Speaker 1: I would like one, yeah, yeah, exactly. So Horace was
Speaker 1: then able to move on to other dogs. One of
Speaker 1: the dogs is just named Computer, which I do like.
Speaker 1: So Computer lit Horace groom him next and then uh
Speaker 1: that that sold the rest of the dogs on Horace,
Speaker 1: and they started to line up for Horace's magical gentle
Speaker 1: grooming fingers uh and uh, which Horace was just so
Speaker 1: pleased with because now he had his own little troop
Speaker 1: of dogs who would cuddle with him and play with him.
Speaker 1: And yeah, they've just completely accepted Horace as a member
Speaker 1: of their pack. And it's the most wonderful and most
Speaker 1: adorable thing I've ever seen in my entire life. I
Speaker 1: love that Horace, basically as Edward scissorhands uh came in,
Speaker 1: looked a little different than the dogs. They were unsure
Speaker 1: about this interesting creature. But then he's making them feel
Speaker 1: fabulous and loved and like valued, and they were like
Speaker 1: getting self love because they were feeling better. And now
Speaker 1: they're all besties. That's so sweet. It's truly amazing, And
Speaker 1: I think it's both a testament to the intelligence of
Speaker 1: this vervet monkey Horace, because he used his observational skills
Speaker 1: to sense like who who could I kind of make
Speaker 1: a good opening with, like who would be the most
Speaker 1: receptive And apparently, according to some of the caretakers at
Speaker 1: this sanctuary, he pays a lot of attention to the
Speaker 1: dog's body language and will be very gentle with some
Speaker 1: dogs that are more afraid of being touched. And I
Speaker 1: find that really interesting because obviously humans and dogs have
Speaker 1: this really long history and to see a vervet monkey
Speaker 1: whom we're not that closely related to, they're they're much
Speaker 1: further back on the evolutionary tree than humans. Be able
Speaker 1: to develop this strategy to basically get along with these
Speaker 1: dogs is really interesting to me. It's wild. Wild dogs
Speaker 1: can be friends with everybody. They're really that girl. Um,
Speaker 1: they're like here, tiger play with this dog and then
Speaker 1: they do and their buddy and you can also be
Speaker 1: friends with Like that is incredible, and it's so it's
Speaker 1: always interesting watching uh monkeys like work with tools and stuff.
Speaker 1: You're like, wow, I'm really seeing the thinking process. Like
Speaker 1: I don't know if you saw that video of the
Speaker 1: orangutan driving his golf cart around or her golf cart
Speaker 1: around the soop and she's like lane switching, yeah, with
Speaker 1: the casual arm tossed back behind the head. Yes, yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: it's like it really like not even humanizes, but really
Speaker 1: asked you to consider like the personalities of each individual
Speaker 1: animal and their style and how they learn and yeah,
Speaker 1: it's wild. Yeah. And there's also the orangutans who will
Speaker 1: steal soap and then scrub up, scrub up with the soap,
Speaker 1: rub it all over their arms, and then they lick
Speaker 1: it off, which I think they like the flavor of it.
Speaker 1: I'm not exactly sure what's going on. They probably like
Speaker 1: the sensation, the fun soapy sensation, and then they like
Speaker 1: the flavor of the soap. So real freaks, but very cool.
Speaker 1: Doesn't love cilantro and a clean body? Okay, I get it.
Speaker 1: Our a does soap tastes like cilantro to you? It does.
Speaker 1: I actually like the taste of cilantro. But I feel
Speaker 1: like if it's tasting like soap to so many people,
Speaker 1: perhaps that's what the orangutans are looking for. Yeah, you know, look,
Speaker 1: maybe just try next time shave a little bit soap
Speaker 1: on your pasta dish. Don't do that. It's not a
Speaker 1: recommendation for my heart. No, really speaking, don't do that.
Speaker 1: But if you have done that in the past, let
Speaker 1: me know what it was like. Probably bad, Probably tasted bad.
Speaker 1: Don't eat soap. It's not good for you unless you're
Speaker 1: an orangutan. And then I can't tell you what to do,
Speaker 1: and also you can't sue me, so you know, here
Speaker 1: we are oh so funny. So, speaking of dogs being
Speaker 1: friends with everyone, as you said, Joel, another Zimbabwe animal
Speaker 1: rehab center has a friendship between a couple of rescued
Speaker 1: puppy mill Dalmatians and an orphan zebra. Wait what Yeah,
Speaker 1: two Dalmatians and a baby zebra together, uh, in total
Speaker 1: total joy. It's one of those things that seems like
Speaker 1: not even a Disney movie, like a DreamWorks movie, not
Speaker 1: even a DreamWorks movie, like one of those movies that
Speaker 1: are designed to trick like old people into getting their
Speaker 1: grandchildren something that like is similar to a New Pixar movie.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, hey, dalmatians make a friend with a
Speaker 1: zebra because they're both black and white. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like, nobody tell Cruella she's gonna be like stripes
Speaker 1: and dots. Here we come. They come packaged together, wonderful,
Speaker 1: very very efficient. Yeah. Uh so at this rescue there
Speaker 1: are these two Dalmatians now adults, but they were rescued
Speaker 1: as puppies from a puppy mill, which is a real
Speaker 1: bad situation. Uh. Selective breeding of Dalmatians for that iconic
Speaker 1: spotted coat has resulted in a number of genetic conditions,
Speaker 1: such as hearing loss and also painful urinary stones. Yeah.
Speaker 1: This seems to happen pretty frequently with breeding, where you'll
Speaker 1: have a dog breed that is trendy or people are
Speaker 1: trying to select for certain traits based on aesthetics or
Speaker 1: something really superficial, and then you get these, you know,
Speaker 1: often painful or unhealthy characteristics that you know just like,
Speaker 1: what's what's the point, what's the purpose of doing that?
Speaker 1: They're they're sweet dogs, like yeah, like I my dog
Speaker 1: is um, she's a pit bully mix. Um. But like
Speaker 1: we've seen a lot because we're looking at adopting another
Speaker 1: one maybe and yeah, seeing what people have done to
Speaker 1: like the bulldogs with their their hip display asia and
Speaker 1: their snouts are so compressed and they can't breathe, and
Speaker 1: it's like this is not living, this is not pleasant.
Speaker 1: Their jaws and teeth are all askew. It's like, why
Speaker 1: we didn't need to do this. There's such a fun, lovable,
Speaker 1: they've always been adorable breed, Like yeah, it's really devastating. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like my feelings on dogs is like there
Speaker 1: They've been our best buds for like nearly a hundred
Speaker 1: thousand years. I don't understand why we need to make
Speaker 1: them look a certain way. I think dogs are just
Speaker 1: inherently cute. It's just like, yes, just just let them just,
Speaker 1: you know, let's not be so so weird and anal
Speaker 1: about having them look a certain way until like they
Speaker 1: sneeze in their eyeballs fall out like with uh, you know,
Speaker 1: let's style that in, you know, just the absolutely so uh.
Speaker 1: But you know something, you know, once these dogs are
Speaker 1: out there, you know someone's got to take care of him.
Speaker 1: And so Indigo and Bindy are two Dalmatian sisters. And meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Zebra named city Boy, which is I don't know the
Speaker 1: story behind that name, but I do like it. City
Speaker 1: Boy the zebra. Uh. He was found wandering without his mother,
Speaker 1: who had been eaten by lions, which, you know, sad,
Speaker 1: but at least I feel like in that situation, at
Speaker 1: least his mother was killed in sort of you know,
Speaker 1: the circle of life style situation rather than a Bamby
Speaker 1: sort of situation, whereas he him and human intervention. But
Speaker 1: he was rescued with the hopes of releasing him into
Speaker 1: a large Wild Reserve, but without other zebras at the rescue,
Speaker 1: it was hard to make sure that city Boy would
Speaker 1: be able to acclimate to the reserve if he grows
Speaker 1: too dependent on the presence of humans. And this is
Speaker 1: where Indigo and Bindie come in. They have befriended city
Speaker 1: Boy the zebra, and they accompany him on walks throughout
Speaker 1: the rehab center. Uh. And since there are no wild
Speaker 1: dogs in the wild reserve area that will be um
Speaker 1: city boys future home. It's actually okay that he's lost
Speaker 1: his natural fear of dogs. These Dalmatians will take him
Speaker 1: on these longer walks around the reserve and give him
Speaker 1: sort of a bit of independence where he uh, you
Speaker 1: know is is gets to kind of live a life.
Speaker 1: And I have no idea if there's any if this
Speaker 1: has anything to do with the fact they're both black
Speaker 1: and white. That seems unlikely to me. It seems kind
Speaker 1: of like a coincidence. But I do I do like
Speaker 1: the idea of like, hey, kid, I like your style.
Speaker 1: Let's hang out right, your stripes really hitting it off today,
Speaker 1: It's great. I just really like the fact that this
Speaker 1: zebra gets a second chance a little baby. Zebras are
Speaker 1: so cute and now the Little Doggy Friends. Um children's
Speaker 1: book authors, you can have this one for free. Uh.
Speaker 1: The story is just out there ready for you to explore, Like, hey,
Speaker 1: when tragedy strikes, get a dog is really an I
Speaker 1: will love you and guide you through your recovery. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's so cute. I love the fashion of it too,
Speaker 1: because people are like, don't mix prints. I think you
Speaker 1: should mix prints. I think it's great. It's Minnieling taught
Speaker 1: us how and we're not looking back. So more good
Speaker 1: news actually ties in a little bit with last subject,
Speaker 1: and it is that the former Tiger King zoo owners
Speaker 1: have been banned for life from exhibiting animals. Yeah so
Speaker 1: I remember Tiger King that Yeah, that whole thing that
Speaker 1: was at the beginning of the Panino right the beginning
Speaker 1: of the pandemic um. Yeah, where everyone was fascinated by
Speaker 1: this documentary because it was just real. It was just
Speaker 1: real trashy, yeah real. Uh yeah, it's it's awful. Not
Speaker 1: proper housing, like, not properly making sure they're interacting not
Speaker 1: with just other creatures of their species, but with humans.
Speaker 1: And then a whole bunch of reckless personal decisions surrounding
Speaker 1: all of that hot mess. Yeah, and for people who
Speaker 1: either haven't seen the show or need a refresher because
Speaker 1: it was like a billion years ago in pandemic time.
Speaker 1: Um this it was like basically, there's this guy, Joe Exotic,
Speaker 1: who ran the Greater Winnewood Exotic Animal Park, which like
Speaker 1: had a bunch of tigers who had been captively bred
Speaker 1: for the purpose of exhibition, but in the worst way possible,
Speaker 1: so little cubs would be put into petting zoos and
Speaker 1: just sort of bread solely for the purpose of these
Speaker 1: petting zoos, mistreated a lot of malnutrition. And uh, there
Speaker 1: was also like a murder mystery thrown into this series,
Speaker 1: because yeah, just to make it the full human experience. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because Joe Exotic was accused of plotting a murder against
Speaker 1: his rival, Carol Baskin, who owned a big cat rescue
Speaker 1: and was highly critical of his zoo, and he accused
Speaker 1: Carol Baskin of murdering her ex husband. And the documentary itself,
Speaker 1: I'm always skeptical of these kinds of documentaries because I
Speaker 1: think they want to sell you an intriguing story. So
Speaker 1: I don't really know. I'm not a detective you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not a tiger, nor am I a detective, and
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not a tiger detective, so I don't really
Speaker 1: have any Fortunately, I know I wish though, right, detective Tiger,
Speaker 1: that would be you know, it would be incredible. You
Speaker 1: have the most amazing hat. Yeah. Yeah, and be like
Speaker 1: his tagline, to be earning his stripes one murder at
Speaker 1: a time. Ah, we did it. That's perfect. They're dead, um,
Speaker 1: so so yeah. The But what I I think it's
Speaker 1: pretty clear from the documentary was that the Joe Exotic
Speaker 1: Zoo was terrible for tigers and other animals there. There
Speaker 1: was also that poor worker at the zoo who had
Speaker 1: her arm torn off and everyone acted like that was
Speaker 1: fine and normal. But you know, that's not good to
Speaker 1: have happened, I don't think. But yeah, she she had
Speaker 1: her arm torn off by a tiger, and which I
Speaker 1: think is just sort of a you know, a symptom
Speaker 1: of the larger issue of how this zoo was very,
Speaker 1: very irresponsibly run. Their enclosures were bad, like you were
Speaker 1: mentioning earlier. Their diet and nutrition was just like they
Speaker 1: bought like bargain meat from the grocery store, which is
Speaker 1: not you think what you do. I don't own tigers,
Speaker 1: but I feel like I know not to do that.
Speaker 1: It's probably good to like, actually, you know, get the
Speaker 1: food that can sustain them and not the same meat
Speaker 1: Taco Bell uses, uh problems. Yeah, I don't. I've never
Speaker 1: seen a tiger stroll up to Taco Bell in order
Speaker 1: like case Diilla Deluxe Supreme. Uh you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I don't think. I don't think that it would
Speaker 1: be pretty impressive if he didn't, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: just you know, it's probably if it did happen, it
Speaker 1: probably happened at like three am. Tiger would be just
Speaker 1: you know, real out of its tired. He went out
Speaker 1: to hunt, but he couldn't find anything good. He's like,
Speaker 1: you know what if it I'm just going to Taco Bell.
Speaker 1: I'm tired, and I deserve a boja blast. He does
Speaker 1: deserve a baja blast. You're right, totally. Yeah, So, you know,
Speaker 1: and like, honestly, zoos in general, I have mixed feelings
Speaker 1: about even when they're really really good zoos, right, because
Speaker 1: in good zoos, they do their best to really give
Speaker 1: the animals a good life. They give them really good
Speaker 1: nutrition and veterinary care and they raise money for conservation.
Speaker 1: But even then, uh, it's not ideal for the animals.
Speaker 1: And I don't even think the zoos themselves kid themselves
Speaker 1: in that respect, like m M. You know, for example,
Speaker 1: how would you ever have a zoo that's like a
Speaker 1: great ideal place for an elephant because they need so
Speaker 1: much space. It's just it's kind of in a way,
Speaker 1: I think impossible to have a zoo that's like ideal. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's not to say that I think all zoos are bad.
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of them do a lot
Speaker 1: in terms of both education and conservation that I think
Speaker 1: it is worth it. But it's still not an ideal situation.
Speaker 1: And so you have that whole moral quandary. And then
Speaker 1: on the other end of the spectrum you have this
Speaker 1: Joe Exotic zoo, which was just you know, an atrocity,
Speaker 1: like horrible. These lions would have twisted bones because they
Speaker 1: had calcium deficiency is just awful. So the fact that
Speaker 1: the previous so of course Joe Exotic is in jail,
Speaker 1: uh for apparently plotting to murder Carol Baskin. Again, I'm
Speaker 1: not a tiger attorney, so you know, I can't can't
Speaker 1: speak to uh any kind of legal, you know, discussion.
Speaker 1: But he certainly did not deserve to have a zoo
Speaker 1: because he was bad at that and abusive. Definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then like the people he left the zoo to
Speaker 1: take care of, like his former partner, they have also
Speaker 1: been banned for life from exhibiting animals. What a victory
Speaker 1: for tigers everywhere. Tiger Lawyer really showed up and did
Speaker 1: what they needed to do. They're lucky she was in
Speaker 1: our cornery, Tiger Lawyer attorney at law. Uh, is that anything?
Speaker 1: Is that anything? It maybe last? I don't know. Well,
Speaker 1: if you enjoyed it, it's worth it, definitely worth it.
Speaker 1: But I think, in a weird twist, the Exotic Animal
Speaker 1: Park is now in the position of none other than
Speaker 1: Carol Baskin. Who are you? Yeah? Uh? The saga continue,
Speaker 1: Taka continues, and she is the owner of I think
Speaker 1: Big Paw Rescue, And of course she has been accused
Speaker 1: of murdering her former husband and feeding him to her tigers.
Speaker 1: But I don't think there's any hard evidence of this
Speaker 1: being true. No, that's entirely hearsay at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And like I feel kind of I feel weird watching
Speaker 1: this documentary because it's like it's a compelling story. But
Speaker 1: given that there's that this is just complete wild speculation,
Speaker 1: there's an extremely good chance that Carol Basket is just
Speaker 1: a nice lady who likes to rescue tigers and then
Speaker 1: people are like called out an injustice. When she saw it,
Speaker 1: I was like, hey, this guy is not taking care
Speaker 1: of these potentially dangerous and like these wildlife animals who
Speaker 1: deserve proper care. Uh. And then he got salty about
Speaker 1: it and tried to run for mayor when he wasn't
Speaker 1: wasn't mayor governor something he was not equipped to do.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a hot mess. It really maybe should
Speaker 1: have been been more profile on Joe exclusively. UM. But
Speaker 1: either way, I'm exceedingly glad that these people can no
Speaker 1: longer be involved in taking care of tigers. Yeah. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: that's that's a big victory for tigers. And I'm sorry
Speaker 1: Carol Baskin. Her rescue is big cat rescue, not big
Speaker 1: paw rescue. That's there's probably a rescue called big paw Rescue. UM.
Speaker 1: Probably not associated with a murder mystery, although I don't know.
Speaker 1: It seems like any time you get into the sort
Speaker 1: of exotic animal trade. Uh, there's a lot of weird
Speaker 1: stuff because you know people who I mean not not
Speaker 1: in terms of the rescue organizations, they're they're trying to
Speaker 1: undo something bad that has happened. But yeah, just like
Speaker 1: these people that own tigers as like pets or entertainment, weird, weird,
Speaker 1: like almost cult like stuff going on. Yeah, we definitely
Speaker 1: should not be allowing that. I don't think. I really
Speaker 1: feel like wild animals really have to be regulated better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know there's a lot of illegal practices happening around it. Um,
Speaker 1: and I give the desire behind it, Like how cool
Speaker 1: in theory, again, not in actual practice, but in theory,
Speaker 1: it's way cool to own a tiger, Like, wow, what
Speaker 1: a status symbol. How did you do it? Is it
Speaker 1: really truly domesticated? But then when you think about the
Speaker 1: actual life of the animal and they're not meant to
Speaker 1: be in homes or collared really or any that like
Speaker 1: live and live better? Idea better idea tiger onesie for
Speaker 1: your dog? Perfect? Perfect, Now I need to do that
Speaker 1: for my dog. I just realized I said it out
Speaker 1: loud and the words made it necessary to have it
Speaker 1: become a fantastic get spayed, and so I want to
Speaker 1: buy her a um you know, like the cones dog
Speaker 1: wears after they have surgery. But there's one in the
Speaker 1: shape of a lion's mane. Do her, little lion, the
Speaker 1: things we do to our dogs. Loves the humiliation, they do.
Speaker 1: Love it. It's love it. They have no shame, right exactly.
Speaker 1: It's like putting a newborn in a pumpkin. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: just a stage of life. My first Halloween costume was
Speaker 1: a big pumpkin. Fine too, you know, oh you too,
Speaker 1: that's just yeah, that's a teddy bear. That's Those are
Speaker 1: the good standards for baby costumes. Just like make make
Speaker 1: them a pumpkin. Yeah. The Joe Exotics reign of terror
Speaker 1: I think is over maybe and then now hopefully Carol
Speaker 1: Baskin does a better job of, you know, rescuing these tigers.
Speaker 1: I hope, So, I hope we don't have to hear
Speaker 1: about any more tigers being mistreated or not being taken
Speaker 1: care of. She seems to really, really, really care. I mean,
Speaker 1: all of her outfits are like tiger and cheetah themed,
Speaker 1: which is which is fun? Uh? Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I dig in. As we say it at the top
Speaker 1: of the podcast, I am not in the highly optimistic
Speaker 1: headspace right now. We're just gonna have to see what happens,
Speaker 1: but I will hope for the best. You just got
Speaker 1: to hope that this will be the year that tigers
Speaker 1: maybe get a win truly, and they need it they do.
Speaker 1: So before we go onto are mry animal sound game,
Speaker 1: Guess Who's squawking? Every week I play a mystery animal
Speaker 1: sound and you guess who is a squawking? And so
Speaker 1: last week, actually probably the week before last week, because
Speaker 1: I think I took a little break and did an
Speaker 1: oldie but goodie episode. But before then I had left
Speaker 1: you guys with a mystery animal sound and the hint
Speaker 1: was a trio of big babies who really wish you
Speaker 1: understood their point. And here is the sound. Were you
Speaker 1: able to hear that? Yeah? That's wild. What do you
Speaker 1: think is making that sound? Joel? Okay, So when I
Speaker 1: close my eyes, I get two separate images. The first
Speaker 1: one is small and furry and it's and it's just
Speaker 1: like the other one is sort of like a bird
Speaker 1: is squawking. It's a little terrifying. I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: if there's an animal in between those two things, and
Speaker 1: what I'm coming up with is a baby platypus. Wow,
Speaker 1: I love that, guess, and I love the way that
Speaker 1: you arrived at it, and now that I'm trying to
Speaker 1: imagine a baby platypus making that sound, and I do
Speaker 1: love it. Um, you are you are wrong, but in
Speaker 1: a really fun way, so I feel like you still
Speaker 1: deserve points for that. But congratulations to the fastest guesser's
Speaker 1: Shana s dielle B and yet again Anti B, who
Speaker 1: uh Anti B is officially I think the fastest in
Speaker 1: most days accurate animal guesser. I think she might actually
Speaker 1: be a real life barn owl who can hear a
Speaker 1: field mouse miles away. Um, but congratulations, you guys. You
Speaker 1: all guessed baby rhinos, And yes, these are a baby rhino,
Speaker 1: a trio of baby rhinos, and they are squeaking and
Speaker 1: squawking because they're hungry and they want to be fed
Speaker 1: milk someone them, please, they're starling. Good But I love
Speaker 1: a little baby rhino. They have big old ears and
Speaker 1: the little blunt noses and they kind of, oh my god,
Speaker 1: so cute. Yeah, I did not know what noise they made,
Speaker 1: But I feel much better as a person, as a
Speaker 1: human being. You know what, It's restored some hope and
Speaker 1: faith in the world. T two won't be so bad.
Speaker 1: The the energy that we're gonna bring into is giant
Speaker 1: bugs in squeaking rhinos. I think you know, ah, bless us,
Speaker 1: but yeah, there there it's that. That squeak, squeak squawk
Speaker 1: sound they're making is similar to when your cat meals
Speaker 1: at you because she wants food. Uh, And that's exactly
Speaker 1: what they're doing to this caretaker. Is they are demanding
Speaker 1: that you feed them and letting her know that they
Speaker 1: are gonna die if she doesn't feed them in like
Speaker 1: two seconds. So that is uh, it's adorable, It's wonderful.
Speaker 1: And onto this week's mystery animal sound. Uh. Here is
Speaker 1: the hint. If you think this is a bird or
Speaker 1: a dog, you're barking up the wrong tree. In fact,
Speaker 1: you shouldn't be looking in trees at all, but in burrows.
Speaker 1: I'm going chipmunk because I'm pretty sure it brows. It
Speaker 1: sounds somewhat like the gnashing of teeth, but less scary.
Speaker 1: The little squeak at the end of it, squeaky, little
Speaker 1: squeaks from rhino squeaks to some mystery squeaks. That's a
Speaker 1: great guess, but I will reveal the answer next week, uh,
Speaker 1: in the next episode of Creature Feature. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for joining me today, Joel. It's so good to
Speaker 1: have you back. Where can the people find you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for having me. This was another
Speaker 1: great episode. I'm so glad I got to be here
Speaker 1: this morning. UM. You guys can find me all over
Speaker 1: the internet at Joel Monique. It's j O E L
Speaker 1: E E M O n I q u E and
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for listening. You can find
Speaker 1: the show on the internet at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram,
Speaker 1: at Creature feet Pod on Twitter. That's f E T
Speaker 1: that's something very different. Uh. And you can email me
Speaker 1: at Creature Feature Pod at gmail dot com. And if
Speaker 1: you think you know what this week's animal mystery sound is,
Speaker 1: please do email me. You can also tweet at me
Speaker 1: on Instagram, but the most certain way that I'm going
Speaker 1: to see what you write to me is through the emails,
Speaker 1: So Creature Feature Product gmail dot com. Uh, thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much for listening. And UH, if you are
Speaker 1: enjoying the show and you leave a rating or review,
Speaker 1: I will be eternally grateful. I will squeak like those
Speaker 1: baby baby rhinos, squeak just out of pure joy um
Speaker 1: And I read all the reviews and they really mean
Speaker 1: so much to me to see what you guys think
Speaker 1: of the show. And thank you so much to the
Speaker 1: Space Costs for their super awesome song Exo Lumina Creature
Speaker 1: features a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: like the one you just heard, visit the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app Apple podcast or review here your favorite shows
Speaker 1: and check out the podcast that Joel produces. They're amazing.
Speaker 1: See you next Wednesday.