Speaker 1: Guess what will? What's that man? Go? Did you know
Speaker 1: that slots are really good swimmers? I actually didn't know that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen photos of them in water, and
Speaker 1: even though I've seen slots in person, we got the
Speaker 1: chance to go to Costa Rica, I never saw them
Speaker 1: doing their the little doggy paddle, and I saw them
Speaker 1: doing on the video. Yeah, I mean, they definitely look
Speaker 1: cute but not particularly graceful. But I was actually shocked
Speaker 1: to learn they're actually really strong swimmers. And apparently they
Speaker 1: moved three times as fast and water as they do
Speaker 1: on land, which I know isn't great, but it's an improvement. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess so. And also they can hold their breath
Speaker 1: underwater for forty minutes. No, that's impressive. Yeah. But my
Speaker 1: favorite thing I learned is that because they're so slow
Speaker 1: to move on land, sometimes slots will just dive bomb
Speaker 1: from a tree limb that's overhang over some water, just
Speaker 1: so that they can shorten their commute to the pool.
Speaker 1: Isn't that great? It's pretty impressive. And that's just one
Speaker 1: of nine facts we've got on today's show about slots.
Speaker 1: Let's dig in. Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson.
Speaker 1: As always, I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh
Speaker 1: Ticketer and sitting behind the soundproof glass thumbing through an
Speaker 1: old copy of Ranger Rick. That's our Brendon producer Tristan McNeil.
Speaker 1: Has been a while since I've seen a copy of up.
Speaker 1: And we were supposed to have Gabe on the line,
Speaker 1: as we often do for nine Things, but Gabe is
Speaker 1: home with a pretty nasty cold. That's the first time
Speaker 1: he's called in sick. Yeah, well, we wish him well,
Speaker 1: but actually he sent me his facts. He decided to
Speaker 1: go ahead and do the research, but he said he'd
Speaker 1: sound a little too stopped up if he were to
Speaker 1: join us. So I'm gonna play the role of Gabe today.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. So can I start us
Speaker 1: off as well? I'm gonna start us off as me good.
Speaker 1: All right, here we go. My first fact that I found. So,
Speaker 1: you know one thing, these mini Chewbaccas aren't slow at
Speaker 1: We've talked about how slow they are, but not at mating.
Speaker 1: And actually, according to Public Radio, the whole mating ritual
Speaker 1: is done in about five seconds, and that includes the
Speaker 1: four plays. So you're probably wondering, how does this work,
Speaker 1: you know, in case your parents didn't teach you about
Speaker 1: the birds and the sloths. The female sloth barks out
Speaker 1: of scream when she's in heat, and then the male
Speaker 1: slots come racing over to court her, or race as
Speaker 1: fast as they can't. There's they're slots. They're not swimming over.
Speaker 1: So but the slots are so good at sex, or
Speaker 1: or at least productive at it, that at the Slot
Speaker 1: Sanctuary in Costa Rica, Slot sex is the one thing
Speaker 1: that's actually forbidden. They're too good at it, and the
Speaker 1: sanctuary does not need any more babies. That's so ridiculous.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good, all right, Gay, What do you have next?
Speaker 1: Oh well, I'm Gabe and here's my next fact. So
Speaker 1: if you love avocados, you should thank a sloth. According
Speaker 1: to Smithsonian, giant ground sloughs used to roam the earth
Speaker 1: during the Cenozoic era, and the creatures were massive, about
Speaker 1: the size of ups trucks actually. But the creatures love
Speaker 1: the avocado, and along with a few other massive animals
Speaker 1: like mammoths, they would eat the fruit whole for a snack.
Speaker 1: Then they would deposit the seed miles away as they traveled,
Speaker 1: all of which helped to keep the avocado around. I'll
Speaker 1: remember to thank us lot the next time I see
Speaker 1: one pretty good fact from gay, don't you think? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Great reading? All right, Okay, so I've got another fact
Speaker 1: for you. So I'm sure you know this, but early
Speaker 1: descriptions of this slot weren't favorable at all, and according
Speaker 1: to Atlas Obscura, one of the early nineteenth century natural
Speaker 1: history books, described them as I've got the quote here,
Speaker 1: imperfect monsters of creation, equally remarkable in their disgusting appearance
Speaker 1: and helpless condition. Pretty rough. And while there's leny of
Speaker 1: debate over whether slots are cute or not, I mean
Speaker 1: you see all sorts of debate on the internet, one
Speaker 1: thing you can't dispute is how they smell, which is good, really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: because there's such slow moving creatures, they actually don't need
Speaker 1: sweat glands, and not stinking is actually useful to them
Speaker 1: because it keeps predators off their scent. Yeah. So, so
Speaker 1: you're probably wondering what do they actually smell like? And
Speaker 1: answer is trees. Mostly they just pick up the scent
Speaker 1: of wherever they're at, which means their fur gets coated
Speaker 1: in tree staff And basically they smell like air freshener. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good. But actually it leads into my next
Speaker 1: fact because while they might smell good, I do need
Speaker 1: to remind you they are covered in algae. Sometimes you'll
Speaker 1: see them turn the kind of this greenish tint, and
Speaker 1: especially during the rainy season, And it's because they're basically
Speaker 1: part of the trees. But the algae does have some
Speaker 1: benefits to the sloth. It it kind of helps them camouflage. Also,
Speaker 1: slows occasionally snack on the algae as a quick treat,
Speaker 1: and they might even absorb the nutrients from the algae
Speaker 1: into their skin. But that said, the algae isn't the
Speaker 1: only thing hanging out on the sloth, so moths sometimes
Speaker 1: live in there fur as well. That's pretty good. Alright, Gabe,
Speaker 1: your next fact? Okay, Well I'm Gabe, and my next
Speaker 1: fact goes like this. While they are definitely slow moving,
Speaker 1: wild slots aren't in the same category as koalas those
Speaker 1: lazy beast sleep eighteen hours a day. Also, I do
Speaker 1: just want to say, because slaws tend to be slow moving,
Speaker 1: when they move, it's it's pretty efficient. They're always calculating
Speaker 1: the fastest way to get somewhere so that they don't
Speaker 1: need to backtrack as they go, you know, maybe forty
Speaker 1: from one tree top to another. But back to the
Speaker 1: sleepy part about them, slaws only sleep about nine hours
Speaker 1: a day in the wild, which isn't that much more
Speaker 1: than most humans. And for the record, this is a
Speaker 1: fairly recent discovery, coming in the last decade or so,
Speaker 1: when some scientists put brain caps on them to monitor
Speaker 1: their brain waves. And that said, what once slaws are
Speaker 1: living the good life in captivity, they do tend to
Speaker 1: take advantage of the situation and taking a few more
Speaker 1: hours of rest. I like that fact. Game All right,
Speaker 1: thanks for what's your next one? So, uh, this is
Speaker 1: what I thought was pretty funny. Slots have all sorts
Speaker 1: of strange biological features, right, They have these conical teeth.
Speaker 1: They're related to armadillo and ant eaters, but according to
Speaker 1: bo Boing, their family tree diverge from those lines about
Speaker 1: seventy to eighty million years ago. But the weirdest thing
Speaker 1: to me about them is that they really don't get
Speaker 1: fat in a traditional way. So this is again from
Speaker 1: boo but most mammals have fat tucked around their bodies,
Speaker 1: but when a slot gets obese. They hold that extra
Speaker 1: weight and fat deposits in their feet. In their feet,
Speaker 1: you know that they got fat feet something kind of like.
Speaker 1: It's both cute and disgusting at the same time, and
Speaker 1: useless fat fat, it's fun to say. That's all right. Well,
Speaker 1: I know we've talked about this before, but no discussion
Speaker 1: of sloth biology is complete without a little discussion of
Speaker 1: their pooh dances, which I know we've both seen videos
Speaker 1: of before, and and slots, which which kind of live
Speaker 1: in this natural state of constipation. At least according to
Speaker 1: the Washington Post, they shimmy down their trees once a
Speaker 1: week to pooh, but the way they do it is
Speaker 1: pretty funny. So they sort of cling to the tree
Speaker 1: and shake their hips, slowly dancing it out of their
Speaker 1: system in one slow, long co of it. But the
Speaker 1: big question is why don't they just go from the trees,
Speaker 1: especially when leaving the tree is actually a dangerous activity
Speaker 1: for them. That's when the eagles plucked them off for
Speaker 1: other predators tend to notice them. But there are a
Speaker 1: few theories why so. Some people think it has to
Speaker 1: do with mating and attracting a mate to a particular tree.
Speaker 1: Some people think it has to do with the moths
Speaker 1: on their bodies, because the moths lay eggs in their feces.
Speaker 1: But personally, I think the sloth just enjoys a little
Speaker 1: dance party of lave. You know, I just need to dance.
Speaker 1: I don't know, pooh, I guess. So that's my last fact. Okay, Gay,
Speaker 1: time to close it for us. Here we go last one. Well,
Speaker 1: this is a little off topic, but I'm sure you
Speaker 1: remember the characters Sloth from the Goonies Las. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: if you're wondering what happened to him after the movie,
Speaker 1: which I know we all have wondered at some point,
Speaker 1: the IMDb has you covered. According to the novelization of
Speaker 1: the movie, Chunk's parents adopted Sloth and even through him
Speaker 1: a bar mets, so he's truly a man. Now that's
Speaker 1: not a great fact, mean, Gabe closing the show with
Speaker 1: a great fact about one of my favorite movies as
Speaker 1: a kid. So I feel like we need to give
Speaker 1: him the trophy. Yeah, so, Gabe, if you're listening, feel better.
Speaker 1: Thank you for the fact, and we'll be back tomorrow
Speaker 1: with another episode.