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Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host

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Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology,

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Speaker 1: and today on the show, we're talking about the creatures

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Speaker 1: of Fallout, from the rad roaches to the like weird

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Speaker 1: naked mole rap mutants.

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Speaker 2: Is this accurate?

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Speaker 1: What this actually happened? What do we know about how

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Speaker 1: animals might survive nuclear radiation? Discover this so more as

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Speaker 1: we answer the age old question what kind of bogus.

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Speaker 3: Pr campaign our cockroach is running?

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Speaker 1: Joining me today is friend of the show, host of

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Speaker 1: George Center the podcast Will Pull, also.

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Speaker 3: Known as Christy Aamagucci Mane.

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Speaker 2: Welcome, Thank you, Katie. I appreciate you having me again.

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Speaker 2: Glad to be back and talking about this weird video

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Speaker 2: game that my kids are obsessed with. I'm thrilled to

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Speaker 2: discuss this. I've been I've been doing research, mainly through

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Speaker 2: my children by asking them questions about the Fallout series

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Speaker 2: in the world, and they are They've they've been like

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Speaker 2: kind of side eyeing me, like why am I asking

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Speaker 2: about all of this all of a sudden. So I'm

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Speaker 2: looking forward to being educated so I can go back

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Speaker 2: to them and sound like I know what the hell

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Speaker 2: I'm talking about.

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Speaker 1: Yes, so, I mean using your kids for experiments is

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Speaker 1: very foul out. But yeah, I've actually so, I've played

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Speaker 1: Fallout New Vegas. I have not played the other games,

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Speaker 1: and there's a lot of them I do want to play,

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Speaker 1: like the really the first ones, the super old one

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Speaker 1: with the like sprites and isometrics that looks that looks

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Speaker 1: like fun. And I have watched the show. I've got

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Speaker 1: like two episodes left. So I'm actually not going to

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Speaker 1: do any spoilers for either the show or the games.

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Speaker 1: So if you are currently watching the show where you

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Speaker 1: want to play the games, do not worry.

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Speaker 3: There's no spoilers.

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Speaker 1: Unless you would count like talking about the flora and

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Speaker 1: fauna of the universe as a spoiler. But personally, I

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Speaker 1: don't really consider it that we're just going to talk

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Speaker 1: about like these animals that we see in the show

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Speaker 1: and the games, and whether it actually makes sense for

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Speaker 1: them to be that way, and what would have to

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Speaker 1: happen for us to actually see these weird mutations in

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Speaker 1: these monstrosities the series.

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Speaker 2: I love Walton Goggins. He's probably my favorite creature from

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Speaker 2: the series, so far that I have seen, so I

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Speaker 2: don't know if he counts necessarily. I guess he's considered

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Speaker 2: a ghoul, yes, And I don't know what the rules

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Speaker 2: are in the universe of the video game that makes

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Speaker 2: him a ghoul exactly, or why he is, how he

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Speaker 2: kind of came to be the way he is. Yes,

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Speaker 2: so it does he count. Are we going to be

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Speaker 2: talking about gules in this series?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I wasn't gonna go too in depth about

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Speaker 1: it because that's sort of squarely in this science fiction

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Speaker 1: region where it's like, when humans are exposed to radiation,

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Speaker 1: really we just don't do very well. So the idea

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Speaker 1: that happen, Yeah, the idea that so the the Gules

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Speaker 1: are humans in the in the games and in the

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Speaker 1: show that are exposed to radiation and instead of dying horribly,

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Speaker 1: they kind of look like sort of like zombies, but

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Speaker 1: they're still cognizant and they can live a really long time.

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Speaker 1: They're essentially immortal, but then they can go kind of

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Speaker 1: it's like they can go feral. So if they don't

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Speaker 1: get enough of I don't know, it's unclear in the

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Speaker 1: games why this happens, but in this show, I think

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Speaker 1: it's like, if you don't get enough of a certain substance,

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Speaker 1: you can basically lose your mind and turn into a zombies.

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Speaker 2: So it's like the it's like the comic book fantasy

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Speaker 2: version of what we wish would happen if we were

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Speaker 2: exposed to nuclear Radiationally, yes, this is it's like Bruce Banner.

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Speaker 3: Right, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: In truth, there's not the levels of radiation one when

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Speaker 1: be exposed to in sort of a post nuclear apocalypse situation,

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Speaker 1: I don't think would improve your longevity. There's like some

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Speaker 1: research in that into whether really really low doses of

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Speaker 1: radiation can actually be good for you because it can

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Speaker 1: kind of encourage anti oxidants in your body, like the

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Speaker 1: production of these anti free radicals, and so in order

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Speaker 1: to actually kind of combat the radiation, your body may

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Speaker 1: also combat other disease and stuff. But it's it's the

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Speaker 1: research on it is not super clear, which is why

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Speaker 1: you should not like intentionally expose yourself to low levels

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Speaker 1: of radiation because it could also just give you cancer.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just a little too much of a good thing,

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Speaker 2: is is uh Yeah, Yeah, it turns on a dime

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Speaker 2: real quick.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's a it's not something to like it's

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Speaker 1: not something to experiment with like a keto diet or

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Speaker 1: you know, like I'm going to try cutting milk out

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Speaker 1: of my diet or whatever. It's like, I'm going to

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Speaker 1: try just a little bit of radiation to make see

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Speaker 1: if it makes me immortal. It's probably not gonna work out.

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Speaker 1: So that I.

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Speaker 2: Feel like that's why people that fly a lot are

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Speaker 2: probably doing with those body scanners.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, you get.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, there's just a little little dost morning dust

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Speaker 2: every every time you fly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So the first thing we're going to talk about is

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Speaker 1: the I guess I don't know, probably people would argue

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Speaker 1: this with me, but they seem like the most iconic

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Speaker 1: creature of the Fallout franchise, the red roaches, these giant

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Speaker 1: cockroaches that have been radiated, of course, falling neatly into

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Speaker 1: the stereotype of roaches being the one thing that could

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Speaker 1: survive a nuclear war. So I'm sure you've like heard that,

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Speaker 1: like roaches would survive anything, they'd survive a nuclear war.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have heard that. That was like always like

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Speaker 2: a cool factor, like alongside the fact that you could

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Speaker 2: cut a roach's head off and it would survive, for

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Speaker 2: like it would it would keep on living, it would

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Speaker 2: starve to death essentially like it, it would keep functioning,

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Speaker 2: but just wouldn't have the capacity to eat. So, yes,

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Speaker 2: that that was that was what like twinkies and roaches

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Speaker 2: were the only things that would like survive a nuclear

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Speaker 2: holocaust basically.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, which is not necessarily true. I mean that Actually

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Speaker 1: the head thing is more true.

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Speaker 3: In terms of, like it depends on how much of the.

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Speaker 1: Head you cut off, right, like if you cut off

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Speaker 1: so like there's parts of the head you can cut

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Speaker 1: off and the roach will still somewhat function until obviously

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Speaker 1: it can no longer survive. But the same is actually

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Speaker 1: somewhat true of chickens. If you accidentally missed their basically

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Speaker 1: the part of the the the brain stem, they can theoretically,

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Speaker 1: and in one instance in real life survive. There was

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Speaker 1: one chicken that got its head cut off and it

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Speaker 1: but the chopping missed a large section of its brain stem.

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Speaker 1: So it's still like chickened around just without off and

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Speaker 1: its owner tried to like feed it by using a

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Speaker 1: eye dropper to put food and water down its neck hole.

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Speaker 1: Yeah it's not great, but the point is so with roaches, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they can survive a lot. They're very hearty, right, But

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Speaker 1: in terms of radiation, while it's true that they can

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Speaker 1: survive more radiation than a human, they're a weird like

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Speaker 1: poster bug for surviving nuclear falloup because they are by

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Speaker 1: far not the most impressive bug. They're not actually that

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Speaker 1: great at surviving radiation. They are great at exploiting human resources.

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Speaker 1: They can even like karate chop parasitoid wasps that try

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Speaker 1: to attack them. So, I mean, I don't love roaches

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Speaker 1: because I don't want them in my house, but I

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Speaker 1: really admire I admire their spirit. But yeah, in terms

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Speaker 1: of radiation, they're not actually that amazing. So there's this

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Speaker 1: great article called cockroaches and Radiation by Australian science communicator

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Speaker 1: doctor Carl Kruzelnikki in ABC's Science that goes into how

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Speaker 1: various insects can survive radiation. If you're interested, i'll have

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Speaker 1: a link to it in the show notes. They are

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Speaker 1: heardier than humans when it comes to radiation. So humans

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Speaker 1: can survive about one hundred to two hundred rads. You

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Speaker 1: will probably get radiation sickness from that amount, but it's

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Speaker 1: not fatal. Radiation illness gets progressively worse and more fatal

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Speaker 1: as you go from two hundred to one thousand rads,

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Speaker 1: and at a thousand rads you're doomed pretty much to

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Speaker 1: die in a horrible way. And this is that too,

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Speaker 1: you're very likely to die. But it just gets progressively

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Speaker 1: more and more bad.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. The like I've never like calling them rads is like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: like it's it's the funnest sounding way to get poisoned

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Speaker 2: by something measuring something that's killing you. It's like, it's,

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Speaker 2: uh like, I want, like exactly, like want to increase

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Speaker 2: the amount of rads on being exposed to. No, the

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Speaker 2: heck you do not. Yeah, I just it's it's hard

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Speaker 2: to uh like, I've never heard that measurement before. So

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Speaker 2: that's the measurement of radiation, Yes, radiation, Okay, units of radiation.

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Speaker 2: I did not know that they were called rads. That's

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Speaker 2: the first time that I've I've been exposed, well, no

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Speaker 2: pun intended exposed to that unit of measurement.

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Speaker 3: They're not typically exposed to that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Yeah, so so roaches aren't the best

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Speaker 2: at this. Does does the paper talk about what insect

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Speaker 2: they have found to be the the most hearty? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: And it comes to being exposed to this stuff.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so just for a comparison humans, the humans survival

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Speaker 1: like up to around two hundred rads and we're basically

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Speaker 1: okay other than that, like we can't survive higher, but

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Speaker 1: it gets more less and survivable the higher it goes,

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Speaker 1: until like at a thousand, it's like you're definitely dead.

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Speaker 1: But even at four hundred you may very likely die

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Speaker 1: at the very least, it's not going to be good.

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Speaker 1: But cockroaches can survive up to six thousand rats, which is,

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Speaker 1: you know, like at least three times that of humans,

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Speaker 1: although after about a thousand they become infertile, so that's

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Speaker 1: not great for continuing your cockroach lineage. So yeah, better

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Speaker 1: than humans. But parasitoid wasps so we love to talk

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Speaker 1: about these. I mentioned them earlier as getting karate chopped

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Speaker 1: by cockroaches. So parasitoid wasps are wasps often quite small,

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Speaker 1: that will lay their eggs inside or on top of

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Speaker 1: their prey, their victims, and when the eggs hatch, the

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Speaker 1: larvae either eats the victim from the inside out or

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Speaker 1: it like sucks their juices from on.

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Speaker 3: Top of them.

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Speaker 1: They're called parasitoids because they're not only parasites, but they

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Speaker 1: actually end up killing their victims, so they suck them

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Speaker 1: completely dry.

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Speaker 2: And one of the first episodes I was on, we

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Speaker 2: talked about, uh, like the zombie snail. Yes, like like

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Speaker 2: that that was just like a normal parasite, right Like,

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Speaker 2: I feel like we've talked about like almost every episode

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Speaker 2: I've been on, there's been some version of a parasitoid wasp.

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Speaker 2: There's a lot of these these things, right, like, like

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Speaker 2: the wasp. I feel like the wasp is like the

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Speaker 2: the like land insect version of a crab, like everything

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Speaker 2: like it just like everything ends up being a wasp

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Speaker 2: at some point like that, I like, aren't ants basically

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Speaker 2: like wingless wasps?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know they're they're uh, they're related

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Speaker 1: to wasps distantly, but I wouldn't necessarily describe them as

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Speaker 1: wingless wasps.

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Speaker 2: No, Okay, Okay, I feel like I feel like there's

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Speaker 2: a lot more insects that I thought were completely separate

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Speaker 2: from wasps that it just turns out there another version.

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Speaker 1: I see, Yeah, there's a velvet ant is actually a

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Speaker 1: type of wasp.

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Speaker 2: Maybe that's okay, okay, maybe that's yeah, Maybe that's what

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Speaker 2: I'm thinking.

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Speaker 1: Of, But a velvet ant is actually not an ant

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Speaker 1: at all. It's it's just it is just straight up

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Speaker 1: a species.

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Speaker 2: Of wasp those misnomers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So the one you're talking about that we

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Speaker 1: talked when when I had you on the show earlier

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Speaker 1: is called leucochloridium. It's a parasitic flatworm that basically infects snails,

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Speaker 1: turns them into a you know, a yeah, raving brute sack.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, so for UH, in that case, I think

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Speaker 1: the uh snail will accidentally ingest the parasite. In the

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Speaker 1: case of these uh parasitoid wasps, the wasp will lay

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Speaker 1: the eggs in or on the animals. So these parasitoid wasps,

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Speaker 1: one of the examples being the haber break On parasitoid wasp,

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Speaker 1: which is a teeny tiny wasp actually, which can be

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Speaker 1: like the size of an ant, can survive nearly one

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Speaker 1: hundred and sixty thousand rads, who although they were sterilized

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Speaker 1: around four thousand rads, So one hundred and sixty thousand

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Speaker 1: that's like, you know, compared to humans, where by around

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Speaker 1: four hundred rads, things are looking pretty grim. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean obviously being sterilized is not great, but still

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Speaker 1: it's four thousand rads at which they are sterilized, so

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Speaker 1: that's still quite a big dose of radiation. In fact,

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Speaker 1: irradiated wasps often lived longer than non irradiated wasps, which

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Speaker 1: is the idea was that maybe the irradiation made them

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Speaker 1: a little more act, which may have made them live

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Speaker 1: a little longer through some kind of like acquired fitness

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Speaker 1: or increased activity like you'd given them. Essentially, wasp coffee,

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Speaker 1: which is radiation, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are fitter, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: if they're radiated and they live longer, but their reproductive

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Speaker 1: success is worse, that doesn't make it better for them.

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Speaker 1: But essentially radiations seem to be like parasitoid wasp coffee.

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Speaker 2: I can already envision an Instagram ad for like lightly

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Speaker 2: radiated coffee as like a new like grift, you know,

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Speaker 2: like like you know how you know how there's these

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Speaker 2: like trends in the health and wellness community or like

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Speaker 2: suddenly suddenly everybody needs to do Uh, I don't know,

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of one. Now, coffee aenemas or

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Speaker 2: activated charcoal or uh, you know whatever whatever like their current.

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Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. Uh, you know, uh get sun in between

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Speaker 2: your butt cheeks, you know, uh that that type of

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Speaker 2: thing I could I could imagine there being like a

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Speaker 2: like you were saying, like light doses of radiation have

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Speaker 2: been found to free up antioxidants. Will we radiate our

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Speaker 2: coffee slightly? Yeah, and give you a healthy dose each morning?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a reason that we do things like our cts,

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Speaker 1: randomized controlled trials and health and safety testing because you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Fallout series is a great, uh a

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Speaker 1: great way to look at what happens when we experiment

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Speaker 1: wildly with things without any concern for users aation, sure so,

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Speaker 1: uh but yeah, the the it is for these wa right, Like,

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Speaker 1: if you're a parasitoid wasps, parasitoid wasp, things are looking

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Speaker 1: pretty good for you in terms of nuclear fallout. So

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Speaker 1: you know, if I just find it strange that cockroaches

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Speaker 1: are the famous ones, like these are the ones that

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Speaker 1: would survive. Like, actually, parasitoid wasps are much more likely.

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Speaker 1: First of all, they're smaller, so they require less nutrition

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Speaker 1: than a cockroach. And fruitflies are also extremely can sustain

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Speaker 1: a good amount of radiation, so there would be conceivably

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Speaker 1: some other insects for the parasitoid wasp to feed on.

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Speaker 1: So as long as some vegetation survives, right, some sources

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Speaker 1: of food, for like a fruit fly, parasitoid wasps could

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Speaker 1: survive and prey on the fruit fly, right, So you

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Speaker 1: could have like a little some mini ecosystems of fruit

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Speaker 1: flies and other insects parasitoid wasps. So I feel like

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Speaker 1: if I was if I was a game developer or

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Speaker 1: writer for the show, you can hire me, by the way,

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Speaker 1: I'm I've got room in my skalededule to talk about

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Speaker 1: parasitoid wasps with you. I would have something like this

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Speaker 1: where it's like, sure, make it huge and menacing and

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Speaker 1: legs and humans. That would be really fun. It's not,

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Speaker 1: you know, I don't know that there would be evolutionary

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Speaker 1: pressure to make things big and this we'll actually talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit more about that.

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Speaker 2: That's actually one of the main questions I have is like,

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Speaker 2: is there any real basis for the inclination to make

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Speaker 2: these animals big. That's a great question from nuclear nuclear fallout,

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Speaker 2: So we would not have to get into it right now,

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Speaker 2: but well.

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Speaker 1: You know, we will very very shortly I just want

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Speaker 1: to say that I would, you know, if you wanted

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Speaker 1: to have a scene where a mutated parasitoid wasp lays

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Speaker 1: eggs in you and then you they burst out of

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Speaker 1: you like your pinata full of baby wasps.

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Speaker 2: I think that would both.

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Speaker 1: Be somewhat based in science but also have some of

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Speaker 1: the fun you know science fiction.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, body horror.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, exactly, just free ideas you know out there for

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Speaker 1: you for all the Hollywood execs listening to this show

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Speaker 1: about evolutionary biology. Yes, but we're gonna take a quick

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Speaker 1: break and when we get back, we are going to

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Speaker 1: answer that question of of whether it would really be

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Speaker 1: better for animals to get bigger after nuclear war? Right?

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Speaker 3: Is this something likely to happen?

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Speaker 1: Are we just going to get giant axe a Lotel's giant.

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Speaker 3: Weird bears and stuff? So we will be right back.

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Speaker 1: So the TV show, and I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: the games are set roughly two hundred years after the

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Speaker 1: bombs drop. So would this be enough time for these

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Speaker 1: huge evolutionary changes to take place? Would radiation speed up

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Speaker 1: evolution this much? Now I know that there's like in

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Speaker 1: Fallout lore, without getting into spoilers, there's stuff other than

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Speaker 1: radiation driving some of the mutations in people and animals.

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Speaker 1: So it's not all just like natural selection and radiation.

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Speaker 1: But let's talk about this idea because like, I don't

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Speaker 1: think this is too much of a spoiler, but in

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Speaker 1: the show, it's like, explain that these cockroaches, right, they

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Speaker 1: got really big to feed on, like bigger prey, and

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Speaker 1: so yeah, let's talk about whether this would happen or

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Speaker 1: whether things could evolve that quickly. I mean, the thing

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Speaker 1: that is quasi true is that radiation does increase the

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Speaker 1: rate of genetic mutations. Usually that's not a good thing, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: usually that's just cancer or an unviable pregnancy. I think

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Speaker 1: two hundred years is a little bit short of a

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Speaker 1: time span for things to change so dramatically. Sure, things

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Speaker 1: could get a little bigger or a little smaller in

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Speaker 1: that amount of time you could have. I mean there

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Speaker 1: are some like we can't observe some evolutionary changes within

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Speaker 1: our lifetimes, right, Like you know the famous example of

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Speaker 1: like beak shape in Darwin's finches, Right Like, they will

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Speaker 1: change over seasons in terms of which kinds of seeds

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Speaker 1: are more available, So you can sometimes get these observable

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Speaker 1: changes within shorter periods of time, within say two hundred years, Yes,

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Speaker 1: you could get observable evolutionary changes, but would you get

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Speaker 1: giant rad roaches like huge bugs?

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Speaker 3: Would this happen?

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Speaker 4: Right?

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Speaker 2: And it also it also kind of depends on how

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Speaker 2: short the generations are from animal to animal, right, Like

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Speaker 2: the gestation period for like large land mammals is a

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Speaker 2: lot longer than it is for fruitflies. Yes, so the

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Speaker 2: fruit fruitflies, you know, they have like a lifespan of

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Speaker 2: three days in some of them, some of the species,

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Speaker 2: I think, so like that you would in those two

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Speaker 2: hundred years, you would have thousands and thousands of generations

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Speaker 2: of fruitflies that could evolve, you know, cool lasers that

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Speaker 2: shoot out of their foreheads versus versus, like a giant

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Speaker 2: bear or a giant salamander.

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Speaker 3: No, that's exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Giant lasers are more likely to evolve out of insects

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Speaker 1: than like a there No, but that is correct. Like

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Speaker 1: the smaller and more prolific the well, I guess it

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to be small, but generally speaking, the more

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Speaker 1: prolific an animal is, the more fagundity, and the shorter

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Speaker 1: the lifespan, the quicker the evolution will be if such

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Speaker 1: if evolutionary pressures exist on it. So a great example

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Speaker 1: is like viruses in bacteria, they evolve very rapidly because

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Speaker 1: the pressure is there on them to evolve. They're in

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Speaker 1: a very fast paced arms race with our immune systems,

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Speaker 1: and they are they reproduce and replicate at incredible speeds,

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Speaker 1: an incredible rate. So we see evolution happen in viruses

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Speaker 1: and bacteria in real time, right like it happens within

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Speaker 1: a year. That's why we have like you know, yearly

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Speaker 1: flow mutants that give us different versions of the flu

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Speaker 1: covid mutates, you know, and so we have to like

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Speaker 1: have updates on vaccines. So you know, we do see

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Speaker 1: rapid evolution in in things like bacteria and viruses and

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Speaker 1: you know, and so like in insects, you you can

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Speaker 1: see perhaps more rapid evolution. I would say that in

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Speaker 1: order for us to get big bugs, we need to

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Speaker 1: consider a few things. So, like insects did used to

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Speaker 1: be really big, including not only insects, but also just

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Speaker 1: arthropods in general during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, with

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Speaker 1: the kind of famous examples of the giant dragonfly, like

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Speaker 1: insect that had an over two foot wing span, which

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Speaker 1: is around seventy serat that yeah.

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Speaker 2: That is I can't I can't picture something that big. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: in the insect form flying around my head.

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Speaker 3: Like I just eagle sized dragonfly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah that that is terrifying and fascinating at the same time.

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Speaker 2: Like yeah it uh oh man, the stuff of nightmares, nightmares.

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Speaker 2: I would love what Yeah, I would be. I would

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Speaker 2: be like I would be so morbidly curious. I would

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Speaker 2: get killed by one because I imagine they have like

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Speaker 2: giant pinchers, like their teeth or something.

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Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, they probably would go after larger prey.

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Speaker 1: I don't think human size though, I mean no.

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Speaker 2: No, no, probably, and I would just get Maybe I

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Speaker 2: would just lose a finger or something.

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Speaker 3: You know, potentially.

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Speaker 1: But okay, quick question, big bug, which one, if you

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Speaker 1: could choose, which one would you have as a pet?

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Speaker 2: Okay, uh, probably a roly poly c. It would be

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Speaker 2: like a giant insect armadillo, you know, and like all

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Speaker 2: those all this tiny little uh some people call him pill.

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Speaker 2: I guess I always knew him as roly Polis. Probably

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Speaker 2: roly Polis. Those are always my favorite bugs to play with,

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Speaker 2: like get in the yard.

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Speaker 1: You know what's fun about that is they are terrestrial

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Speaker 1: isopods and there are actually marine isopods which are very

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Speaker 1: closely related.

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Speaker 2: That do get right. Yeah, yeah, could.

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Speaker 1: Technically have a giant roly poly as a pet if

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Speaker 1: you're willing to kind of go deep diving in the ocean.

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Speaker 2: That is. That is very true. Uh, And they are

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Speaker 2: the giant isopods that I have seen are like they

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Speaker 2: don't look real. They don't look real like I've seen.

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Speaker 2: There is a restaurant in in I believe, uh Japan

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Speaker 2: that does isopod ramen uh and get giant isopod ramen

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Speaker 2: if you if you google this, like it's real.

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Speaker 3: It's real giant i pods that they use.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Oh man, it's like that.

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Speaker 1: It's like those scenes in Emperor's New Groove where they're

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Speaker 1: eating the giant isopods.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so I was I said Japan, But taype A

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Speaker 2: is the the place that they have it. Uh it

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Speaker 2: is uh absolutely Like yeah, it's like the size, it's

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Speaker 2: bigger than the bowl. Yeah, it's bigger than the bowl

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Speaker 2: that they serve it in. Well it's a sweet yeah,

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Speaker 2: sorry not to not to take it to like.

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Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not like a vegetarian, so I would

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Speaker 1: be a hypocrite if I were not to condone the eating.

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Speaker 2: I just don't think. I don't think I could eat

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Speaker 2: like I've never I've had like chocolate covered ants before,

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Speaker 2: and they just don't they just don't taste like anything.

433
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 2: Kind of yeah, exactly, But but I don't know that

434
00:26:58,320 --> 00:26:58,919
Speaker 2: I could do that.

435
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:02,280
Speaker 1: We're to socialized to not see insects as food. It's

436
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,160
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's I think it's a problem.

437
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:08,479
Speaker 1: I'm very pro bug eating. Anyways, the let's let's talk

438
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 1: about these giant bugs. How do they get so big?

439
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,359
Speaker 1: One of the reasons was the high oxygen levels that

440
00:27:14,440 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: allowed large insects to breed through spiracles, which are tiny

441
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: air channels distributed throughout their bodies that would help the

442
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,640
Speaker 1: dispersal of oxygen. And so you really want a very

443
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 1: high concentration of oxygen in order for that to sustain

444
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 1: a large insect body. But another thing is that birds.

445
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:39,000
Speaker 1: There weren't really birds dominating at this time, and so

446
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: as birds became more dominant, they became predators and competitors

447
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 1: with these insects, and they out competed them and so

448
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: insects got real small, which sounds counterintuitive, right, Like, well,

449
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 1: if you're if you're smaller, doesn't that make you more

450
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,920
Speaker 1: easily grabbed? Not necessarily, right, Like, the smaller you are,

451
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,880
Speaker 1: the faster, more nimble you are, the harder it is

452
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: to catch you, Like what would be easier to catch

453
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,320
Speaker 1: like a pigeon or a hummingbird. Like a pigeon, it's

454
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:08,359
Speaker 1: much easier to grab.

455
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 2: And all it ever matters is it's not about the

456
00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 2: size of the species. Is just passing the genetics. That's it.

457
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,119
Speaker 2: That's all that ever matters. So whatever whatever traits you

458
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,880
Speaker 2: can evolve to help you avoid predation is the thing

459
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 2: that is going to be propagated throughout the speci.

460
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: Like if you live one hundred years and you're built

461
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,520
Speaker 1: like a tank, but you have like one offspring in

462
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 1: your lifespan and you require a lot of food, you

463
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: may be less likely to survive than like a mayfly

464
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,480
Speaker 1: that lives a day and has one hundred.

465
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 2: Offspring yep, exactly right.

466
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: Basically, what you want for giant bugs is high oxygen

467
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: levels and no birds, which is like a nightmare for

468
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: me because I love birds and I hate oxygen. I'm

469
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: neutral about oxygen.

470
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 3: It's good. I like it.

471
00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: I like to breathe it. So what would happen after

472
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: a nuke or a bunch of nukes. I'm not like

473
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 1: a doomsday expert. One of the things I do know, though,

474
00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: is the nuclear winter is one of the most feared outcomes.

475
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 1: That is, when smoking debris from the bombs and resulting

476
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,280
Speaker 1: destruction of like a bunch of buildings in Earth and

477
00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:23,200
Speaker 1: everything would kind of form these huge clouds kind of

478
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,480
Speaker 1: like after a volcanic eruption, and would cover the Earth,

479
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,960
Speaker 1: blocking out sunlight and causing a huge drop in temperature,

480
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: and would last for like years. Like there's different app

481
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: Like I've seen estimations from like ten years to fifty years,

482
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: ten years, Like I don't know, let's just go with

483
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 1: ten years, right, to be as you know, optimistic as.

484
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 3: Possible, because I love altimism.

485
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 1: Sure, so right, it would this kind of like this

486
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: nuclear winter would potentially kill off a lot of vegetation

487
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: because plants need photosynthesis, and so if you're blocking out

488
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 1: the sun, you may kill off a large portion of plants.

489
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,760
Speaker 1: This would lower oxygen levels and decrease resources, and would

490
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: be likely to kill off larger animals so really it

491
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 1: would be the tiny insects or even microscopic animals like

492
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:19,760
Speaker 1: tartar grades or non animals like bacteria that would be

493
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: most likely to survive in this circumstance. And it seems

494
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: like evolutionary pressures would actually drive animals and organisms to

495
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 1: be more small and require less nutrition rather than being big.

496
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,720
Speaker 2: And this is how this is also the nuclear version.

497
00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 2: This is how you get Cormac McCarthy's the road, right, like.

498
00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 1: The eaten babies.

499
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, like this is how you get that that

500
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 2: result with a nuclear winter. And this is what this

501
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 2: is essentially what like did in most of the large dinosaurs, right.

502
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, yeah exactly, there was a there was a

503
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:03,800
Speaker 1: meteor strike and then all the debris and just a

504
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 1: huge dip in nutrition and rapid climate change that meant

505
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: that they could not get their nutritional needs met. However,

506
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:16,160
Speaker 1: uh you know, the sort of ancestors to mammals survived.

507
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:19,959
Speaker 1: So and also birds survived, and birds are dinosaurs. They

508
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,120
Speaker 1: are just the dinosaurs that are left and they're hilarious

509
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: and adorable. Uh so yeah, exactly, So a lot of

510
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: things did survive in that case. And so I do

511
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 1: think that following a nuclear winter, even though I cannot

512
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: stress enough.

513
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 3: That would be really bad.

514
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: Because like, the thing that I care about is I.

515
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 2: Don't want to trying to avoid that people.

516
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: I don't want millions of people, including myself, to suffer

517
00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:44,320
Speaker 1: and die.

518
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 3: That's not good.

519
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 2: How I don't want to eat babies. I don't eat Yeah, I.

520
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: Mean like jelly babies, you know, the like British.

521
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 2: I'd wait, wait, what we'll hold on. I do not

522
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 2: know what a jelly.

523
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:00,880
Speaker 1: It's like a sour pouch kid without the good flavor.

524
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's not candy in the shape of a baby.

525
00:32:04,680 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 1: It is candy in.

526
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:06,760
Speaker 3: The shape of a baby. A jelly.

527
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 2: Oh why would you make that as a candy? What

528
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 2: is that?

529
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're gonna take this candy and put

530
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,440
Speaker 1: look lo, it'll bye billy, a little bye billy.

531
00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 3: You can you eat that? Will?

532
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 2: All right? I don't want something inside of me. I

533
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 2: don't want to to awaken anything.

534
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: So, uh, you know, I do think that there would

535
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 1: be a good amount of things, maybe even including people,

536
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:40,680
Speaker 1: that could survive this. It would be awful, uh, no

537
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,960
Speaker 1: mistake about it. But so what would happen after nuclear

538
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,480
Speaker 1: winter dissipates? Right, because say it takes ten years, a

539
00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: lot of things die off, a lot of you know,

540
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 1: you'd probably awful. But after that ten years, what could

541
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:57,840
Speaker 1: happen would be with the sun and with a lot

542
00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 1: of megafauna maybe dying off, like being eaten or dying

543
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:06,600
Speaker 1: of starvation, you may actually have a period of time

544
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 1: where a lot of plant growth could bounce back. Right,

545
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,920
Speaker 1: I'm not no stradomis in terms of nuclear war, so

546
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 1: this might not happen, but like you could conceivably have

547
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 1: like it might take hundreds, if not thousands of years,

548
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: or if not hundreds of thousands of years, you may

549
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:30,320
Speaker 1: actually have a new carboniferous period where you have a

550
00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 1: bunch of plant life and not a lot of large

551
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: animals to be eating the plants, and maybe even not

552
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,680
Speaker 1: a lot of birds to be eating the insects. And

553
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 1: so I could imagine a situation in which you have

554
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 1: the planet does recover in a way. Maybe humans don't,

555
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 1: maybe large mammals don't. Maybe you have a huge die

556
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:53,520
Speaker 1: off of a bunch of species, But then I would

557
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 1: expect insects and plants to eventually make a comeback. And

558
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,719
Speaker 1: in that case, yeah, you could have giant bug I

559
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:02,840
Speaker 1: just don't know that we'd be around to see it.

560
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:10,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, it uh it based on what you said about

561
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,319
Speaker 2: the radiation levels and stuff. I don't I don't know

562
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 2: that we would we would we would be able to

563
00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,760
Speaker 2: hang with all the other the other creatures are around

564
00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 2: there and the the the oxygen levels that you're talking about. Yeah,

565
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:24,160
Speaker 2: I don't know.

566
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:27,160
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's possible, right, like I I it

567
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,799
Speaker 1: is strictly speaking possible that a small amount of humans

568
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 1: could survive, and especially if you're in a region that's

569
00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:37,880
Speaker 1: like not you know, completely irradiated, right, Like if we

570
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,359
Speaker 1: can dive around two hundred rads and there are if

571
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 1: there are areas where it like falls below that, right,

572
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 1: and I think it's possible for humanity to survive, Like,

573
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 1: would we survive thousands or hundreds of thousands of years

574
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: after that by the time that you have like maybe

575
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:57,520
Speaker 1: a new carboniferous period, I don't know. Maybe.

576
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 2: Well, I mean that's where the fallout shelters come in, right,

577
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,360
Speaker 2: right exactly, So that's if we can survive underground and

578
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:06,879
Speaker 2: these these uh these shelters, then then maybe we could stick.

579
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:14,799
Speaker 1: It's wonderful, not suspicious at all. Shelters where that ever happens. Uh.

580
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:16,760
Speaker 1: All right, So we are going to take a quick

581
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 1: break and then we're going to talk about a critter

582
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: from the show that I think is kind of the

583
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 1: most spectacular one, which is the Goldper, which is basically

584
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 1: a giant axe a lottle with a bunch of fingers

585
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: for teeth. And we will talk about it when we

586
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 1: get back from the break. So yeah, one of the

587
00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:42,200
Speaker 1: I guess the most fun monstrosities in the show is

588
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:46,680
Speaker 1: the called this golper. It's a giant axe a lottle

589
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,759
Speaker 1: and it's got like hundreds of fingers lining its mouth

590
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 1: and throat that it uses I guess kind of as

591
00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 1: as teeth.

592
00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:02,840
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Like they did a great job, fantastic yeah. Uh,

593
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 2: the like the when when when it opens its mouth

594
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 2: like like they did. They did a fantastic job depicting

595
00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:14,480
Speaker 2: that thing. Yes, it was horrifying looking. Uh. And I

596
00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,000
Speaker 2: love the axe a lottle like that that. It's one

597
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 2: of the cutest animals in existence and they did such

598
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:21,760
Speaker 2: a good job making it a nightmare.

599
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:22,239
Speaker 3: Yeah.

600
00:36:22,320 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 1: Now I love ACX lottels. They're adorable. They are really

601
00:36:26,160 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: interesting as well. And I uh, you know, when I'm

602
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,640
Speaker 1: talking about my skepticism about whether this is accurate. I

603
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:38,040
Speaker 1: want to emphasize I still really love the show. I

604
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 1: don't think this is a flaw of the show. I

605
00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,840
Speaker 1: think it's okay to get weird and creative with things.

606
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:48,800
Speaker 3: And have all out. Is not meant to be as scientific.

607
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:51,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, picture, it's not meant to be like this is

608
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:55,239
Speaker 1: exactly what would happen. It's meant to be fun, entertaining,

609
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 1: and you know, have some interesting philosophical ideas.

610
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:00,720
Speaker 3: I guess.

611
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,359
Speaker 1: So I am having fun and being entertained, So it's

612
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,839
Speaker 1: doing its job. But let's talk about this giant ax

613
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:10,440
Speaker 1: a Lottel so would like we've already talked about how

614
00:37:10,560 --> 00:37:15,800
Speaker 1: the evolutionary pressures following the immense destruction of a nuclear

615
00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:20,600
Speaker 1: apocalypse would probably not favor larger animals in the short run,

616
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: right like in the few hundred years following that, Like,

617
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:29,560
Speaker 1: being big means having higher nutritional demands, unless your metabolism

618
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 1: is really really slow, in which case you would not

619
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 1: be moving around as fast as this thing is depicted

620
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,400
Speaker 1: as moving in the show. So like, you could potentially

621
00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 1: be a large animal but have a really slow metabolism

622
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:47,320
Speaker 1: so you don't require a lot of food very quickly,

623
00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:51,400
Speaker 1: and that might be a good survival technique. Like the

624
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 1: Greenland shark is this huge shark, but it's so slow

625
00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:00,919
Speaker 1: and it has a really slow metabolism and it Yeah,

626
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 1: maybe it could survive, but the at this like very

627
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,960
Speaker 1: like vicious fast predator of the ax Lottle.

628
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:08,560
Speaker 3: I don't know.

629
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: I'm skeptical. The fingers in the mouth, let's talk about

630
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:16,840
Speaker 1: those human fingers in on the axe Lottle's mouth. Maybe

631
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 1: not exactly scientifically accurate, but I love this so much

632
00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:26,239
Speaker 1: because it actually reminds me of of penguin mouths. Have

633
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: you ever looked straight down the mouth of a penguin?

634
00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 2: Do they have like all the turned in like kind

635
00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,959
Speaker 2: of spikes, those spiky mouths. Yeah, I saw. I saw

636
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 2: the I saw an image of the inside of a

637
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,640
Speaker 2: leatherback turtles same thing, yes as well. Yeah, yeah, they

638
00:38:43,719 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 2: are absolute nightmares.

639
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 1: It's like these leatherback turtle you know, see turtles, leather

640
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 1: back turtles, penguins adorable, you know, you want to They're

641
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,279
Speaker 1: like the stars of a Pixar movie, and then you

642
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,480
Speaker 1: look in their mouths and you're looking into a circle

643
00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:01,799
Speaker 1: of hell. Yes, it's it's actually quite devious because these

644
00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:04,760
Speaker 1: mouths are designed to allow fish to enter in one way,

645
00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:07,600
Speaker 1: but like road spikes, not be able to get out

646
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 1: the other way. You know, like you go to a

647
00:39:09,160 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 1: parking lot and they have like the spikes that don't

648
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 1: allow you to back up.

649
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the it's the hotel California.

650
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly.

651
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 2: You can check in, but you can never leave exactly.

652
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:24,720
Speaker 1: And it smells like fish, yes, so yeah, no exactly.

653
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,399
Speaker 1: So I actually really appreciate because I feel like these fingers,

654
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: the way that the show portrayed them is that they're

655
00:39:32,400 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 1: like keeping stuff from coming back out, so it like

656
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:39,800
Speaker 1: takes a lot of force to actually pull anything back out. Also,

657
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:45,080
Speaker 1: using a an ax lottel as this like mutant is

658
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 1: I think a smart choice. Again, I'm not saying that

659
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 1: I think that evolution would favor really huge animals in

660
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: this period of time, But salamanders can get really big.

661
00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:03,759
Speaker 1: There is a species of salamanders, the South China giant salamander,

662
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:08,640
Speaker 1: who can grow to be nearly six feet long. It's like,

663
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,000
Speaker 1: when I learned about this, I thought it was fake.

664
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:13,920
Speaker 1: I was like, this is no, this is a photoshop,

665
00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,560
Speaker 1: This isn't real. If there was a giant salamander. I

666
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 1: would have already heard about this. This is like, yeah,

667
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:22,719
Speaker 1: I don't know, like when I was a teenager or

668
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,120
Speaker 1: in college or something, I was like young enough to

669
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 1: have never seen this, but also old enough to be like,

670
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 1: I would know about this if it existed, right, Like.

671
00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:33,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like fantastical creature.

672
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:35,799
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't anyone have told me? But yeah, it's this.

673
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 1: It's a huge salamander and they exist and they're amazing looking,

674
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,239
Speaker 1: and so yeah, it's like I think technically an axe

675
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,239
Speaker 1: lottel could get to be huge like this. And also

676
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:55,600
Speaker 1: axe lottls are an interesting pick for this for the

677
00:40:56,320 --> 00:41:01,640
Speaker 1: reason that they can regenerate their limbs, so they and

678
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:06,640
Speaker 1: axi lottels, by the way, are basically the same as salamanders,

679
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:11,440
Speaker 1: except that axi lottels are neotonous, meaning that they retain

680
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:16,440
Speaker 1: the juvenile traits of a salamander. A salamander goes through

681
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,759
Speaker 1: a metamorphosis and it has a juvenile form, and then

682
00:41:19,800 --> 00:41:23,480
Speaker 1: it metamorphosizes into an adult form, and that adult form

683
00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 1: can either be aquatic, semi aquatic, or semi terrestrial.

684
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:29,640
Speaker 3: The axi lottel is.

685
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: Permanently retaining those juvenile traits throughout its whole life. You

686
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:39,520
Speaker 1: can actually inject an axi lottle with iodide and it

687
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 1: will force it to transform into basically a salamander, but

688
00:41:46,120 --> 00:41:48,920
Speaker 1: naturally they do not change. And it's actually they're kind

689
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,800
Speaker 1: of like the dog, like a dog is to a wolf,

690
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:55,680
Speaker 1: as a axi lottl is to a salamander. Although axi

691
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:59,719
Speaker 1: lottels were not domesticated in the same way that dogs were,

692
00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: dog retain a lot of like puppy like traits that

693
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 1: wolves have, like the floppy ears, the friendliness, the playfulness,

694
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:10,040
Speaker 1: the barking. Those are all traits that wolf puppies have,

695
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 1: but wolf adults do not. So dogs are kind of

696
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,640
Speaker 1: like neotonous versions of wolves, uh, and they retain that

697
00:42:16,680 --> 00:42:20,120
Speaker 1: throughout their whole lives. And in the same way, axe

698
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:24,239
Speaker 1: lottels are the juvenile form of salamanders, but in that species,

699
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 1: in axe lottles, they retain that those characteristics.

700
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 2: I love salamanders absolutely, They're like they're like gummy lizards.

701
00:42:32,360 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 2: I love them, you know. It's they're they're like they

702
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:39,160
Speaker 2: look almost like translucent. Sometimes like they they look like

703
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,400
Speaker 2: like there should be instead of gummy worms and gummy bears,

704
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 2: there should be gummy salamanders, like as a candy.

705
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then I feel bad eating them.

706
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah, i'd feel worse about the salamanders than

707
00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 2: the jelly babies. Yeah, probably, but that I absolutely love

708
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,600
Speaker 2: love saladmanders. They come in all sorts of really rad

709
00:43:02,840 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 2: looking colors.

710
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:04,560
Speaker 1: Too, designs.

711
00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:06,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, really cool.

712
00:43:07,239 --> 00:43:10,600
Speaker 1: It is important some salamanders will have like a skin toxin,

713
00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 1: so don't cuddle random salamanders. They can also lick one, Yeah,

714
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 1: don't lick one. Don't cuddle them. Also, even if they

715
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 1: are harmless, sometimes like handling them can be harmful for them.

716
00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 2: But they absorb stuff through their skins a lot of

717
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,760
Speaker 2: their environments, so if you have like chemicals or stuff

718
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,160
Speaker 2: on your hand that you can.

719
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 1: You can exactly exactly. But I also love them. And

720
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:35,360
Speaker 1: if you like see one and you want to just

721
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:36,879
Speaker 1: like hang out with it and be like, hey, bud,

722
00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:40,200
Speaker 1: how's it going? Nothing wrong with that making friends with

723
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 1: the salamander. So yeah, I do really love I love

724
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 1: this creature. I don't think it would happen right, like

725
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:51,879
Speaker 1: I've said, with a lot of this stuff, but man,

726
00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:55,040
Speaker 1: i'd love the use of the ax lottel in this design,

727
00:43:55,200 --> 00:43:55,879
Speaker 1: and I do.

728
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 2: I agree.

729
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: I think it's like it's something that it's like, yeah,

730
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:04,480
Speaker 1: the human fingers, And I know I'm not gonna do spoilers,

731
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,560
Speaker 1: but I know there's like an explanation for it kind

732
00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,279
Speaker 1: of that's implied at some point in the show, but

733
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,600
Speaker 1: again not very likely, but still really cool. And I

734
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:14,920
Speaker 1: love that they kind of are like the design of

735
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:20,600
Speaker 1: the denticles that you see in penguins and sea turtles

736
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 1: and yeah turtles.

737
00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:26,040
Speaker 2: Yeah it uh Like at the I think you just

738
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,759
Speaker 2: nailed it. Like at the end of like any and

739
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:31,840
Speaker 2: all discussion you can have about like these animals or

740
00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:35,839
Speaker 2: any design from the show, is it cool? Yes, then

741
00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 2: then that's all that matters. Like that that, like I

742
00:44:38,160 --> 00:44:40,680
Speaker 2: get you want to find like follow some kind of logic,

743
00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 2: is like here's the here's the rules to the universe.

744
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 2: This is what's causing all of these cool designs. But

745
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,400
Speaker 2: at the end of it, like take a cool looking

746
00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:53,279
Speaker 2: animal like the axe lotel and then just make it

747
00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:57,400
Speaker 2: menacing and even cooler and add some Cronenberg style body

748
00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:01,759
Speaker 2: horror to it and and make it giant, and it's

749
00:45:01,760 --> 00:45:04,720
Speaker 2: like that is awesome. That is a really really rad animal.

750
00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:07,720
Speaker 1: And I like and I think like it's like because

751
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 1: they do combine some even if it's not scientifically feasible

752
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: or scientifically probable, I would say they do have like

753
00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 1: smart design choices for these things, right, like the giant

754
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,160
Speaker 1: the giant salamander design in terms of like, yeah, it

755
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:28,040
Speaker 1: would make sense that its mouth is like that so

756
00:45:28,080 --> 00:45:30,279
Speaker 1: it can trap prey. I love that. I love the

757
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:35,279
Speaker 1: creativity of that. Another thing I really love and appreciate

758
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,840
Speaker 1: about the Fallout series is the giant mole rats.

759
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:39,799
Speaker 3: So I love a naked mole rat.

760
00:45:40,040 --> 00:45:40,400
Speaker 2: I was.

761
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: I've been obsessed with them since the fifth grade, since

762
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 1: I got a book about them, and I'm just like,

763
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:46,520
Speaker 1: this is the best animal. It looks like a monster,

764
00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:48,839
Speaker 1: but they're amazing and they're actually kind of cute if

765
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,879
Speaker 1: you squint and change your mental perspective.

766
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,120
Speaker 2: Well, I'm looking okay, I'm looking up images of the

767
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 2: giant mora at from Fallout right now.

768
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:02,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not so cute and Fallout, but.

769
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,120
Speaker 2: In real life, somebody's on the back of one with

770
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,399
Speaker 2: like a gatling gun. That sounds bad.

771
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:08,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's awesome.

772
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:15,160
Speaker 1: Hell Sora, I don't think i've seen any yet in

773
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:17,560
Speaker 1: this series. I haven't finished yet though, So I don't know.

774
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,760
Speaker 1: But they are in the games, and they're these huge

775
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 1: mole rats, and I hate killing them in the games

776
00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,839
Speaker 1: because I just love them so much. But I do

777
00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:31,360
Speaker 1: actually think naked mole rats have a chance at surviving

778
00:46:31,480 --> 00:46:37,600
Speaker 1: a nuclear apocalypse as long as they get enough food, right,

779
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:40,880
Speaker 1: as long as they get enough tubers root vegetables for

780
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,440
Speaker 1: them to survive and feed on. Because naked morats are

781
00:46:44,440 --> 00:46:49,279
Speaker 1: actually incredibly resistant to cancer and to they seem to

782
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:53,960
Speaker 1: be somewhat more resistant to ionizing radiation when compared to

783
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:58,440
Speaker 1: mice and other rodents. They can live up to thirty years,

784
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:02,839
Speaker 1: and they live in tunnels, so I feel like it's

785
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:04,399
Speaker 1: got a lot going for them.

786
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:10,200
Speaker 2: Thirty years. Yeah, that it trips me out every time.

787
00:47:10,239 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 2: I don't know why, but every time I learn that

788
00:47:13,120 --> 00:47:18,040
Speaker 2: some creature like that, some animal has a much longer

789
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:22,759
Speaker 2: lifespan than I expected, it's it's always a trip trying

790
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:24,719
Speaker 2: to wrap my head around the fact that, like, I

791
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:27,320
Speaker 2: could see a mole rat and it could be legal

792
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:31,600
Speaker 2: drinking age and and and just I don't know, it

793
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,719
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like animals of that size should should live

794
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:36,320
Speaker 2: that long. But that's that's amazing.

795
00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 1: Well, there are some spiders that can actually live quite long,

796
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:43,920
Speaker 1: Like there's some I think there's like a tarantula that

797
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:48,640
Speaker 1: can live to be around thirty years. So yeah, it's crazy, right,

798
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:52,440
Speaker 1: Like you could have like you could have a tarantla

799
00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,280
Speaker 1: or a naked mole rat and they could be there

800
00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:58,799
Speaker 1: like in the uh in the Manger with Jesus and

801
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:01,960
Speaker 1: then also be there you know at the end of

802
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:02,680
Speaker 1: that story.

803
00:48:03,160 --> 00:48:08,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, they could have witnessed both the Yeah.

804
00:48:07,800 --> 00:48:11,120
Speaker 1: Why don't we have like any weird animals and mangers, right,

805
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:17,239
Speaker 1: like a tarantulin and naked mole rat bearing gifts, So

806
00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:20,680
Speaker 1: you know, I I I really like so naked mole

807
00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:25,440
Speaker 1: rats are very tough, They're very resistant. I mean, obviously

808
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,760
Speaker 1: they're not gonna survive in the heart of a nuclear blast.

809
00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 3: But if they get.

810
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:33,120
Speaker 1: Enough vegetation, which is a big if, right given a

811
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:37,239
Speaker 1: if there's a nuclear winter, but I do think they

812
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:41,080
Speaker 1: could be a survivor would they become huge and start

813
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:41,880
Speaker 1: eating people?

814
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:42,840
Speaker 2: I hope?

815
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:45,480
Speaker 1: So I think they should do that. I want these

816
00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:46,359
Speaker 1: guys to have a win.

817
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:51,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, like we've we're destroying their planet that they were

818
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:54,040
Speaker 2: just doing fine on. So we deserve it.

819
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:56,960
Speaker 1: I feel, well, you know, maybe not all of us,

820
00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: but like if they could just if they some how

821
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 1: learned who the oil executives are sure, you know, like

822
00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:07,040
Speaker 1: if we could just be like, hey, buddy, you know

823
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:09,480
Speaker 1: who tastes the best out of all of us, those

824
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:12,920
Speaker 1: really well fed oil execs.

825
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:16,080
Speaker 2: Or the vault tech exactly executives.

826
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:19,439
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I did.

827
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:22,840
Speaker 1: I really do appreciate a lot of the weird, uh,

828
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,719
Speaker 1: these weird creatures in the show and in the in

829
00:49:25,880 --> 00:49:29,880
Speaker 1: the series especially, So Yeah, my favorite is the the

830
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:32,840
Speaker 1: axe Lottel gulper and the giant naked Morat.

831
00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:37,919
Speaker 2: The naked morat has like a like it like it's

832
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 2: the size, it's like a large rhinoceros, it looks like

833
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:45,319
Speaker 2: in some of these images. So the the idea of

834
00:49:45,520 --> 00:49:50,960
Speaker 2: in their their front teeth look incredible, uh, scaled up

835
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:53,560
Speaker 2: to this size, I mean at the size they are now,

836
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:59,720
Speaker 2: they're a really fascinating creature. But uh, taking small animals,

837
00:49:59,800 --> 00:50:03,680
Speaker 2: it's it's like talking about that, uh the dragonfly earlier.

838
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:08,200
Speaker 2: Being able to see like all the tiny features blown

839
00:50:08,280 --> 00:50:10,520
Speaker 2: up to a specific there's like an extra level of

840
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:14,839
Speaker 2: horror to it. Uh, Like it's like the it's it's

841
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,680
Speaker 2: the fascination of like, honey, I shrunk the kids and

842
00:50:17,760 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 2: you see when you see those Yeah, when you see

843
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:25,799
Speaker 2: those things scaled up. Yeah, it's like it is it's you.

844
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:29,280
Speaker 2: It really puts into focus how much of the world

845
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 2: around you really is like alien. It's it's like you

846
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:38,399
Speaker 2: you imagine the most like far out there creature you can,

847
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:42,319
Speaker 2: like alien life form you could possibly imagine, and then

848
00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 2: more than likely there is some animal on Earth. It

849
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:47,839
Speaker 2: might be microscopic, it might be tiny, it might be

850
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,920
Speaker 2: you know, a couple inches long, but they it exists

851
00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:55,440
Speaker 2: somewhere within our our you know, uh.

852
00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:58,320
Speaker 1: Food chain, absolutely, And I mean, like I do think

853
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:03,040
Speaker 1: if there were the appropriate conditions and evolutionary pressures and

854
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 1: naked morat could become huge, just as some like you know,

855
00:51:07,760 --> 00:51:12,400
Speaker 1: there are like the biggest animals in the world, the

856
00:51:13,080 --> 00:51:16,200
Speaker 1: whales then specifically the blue whale did originate from a

857
00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:21,719
Speaker 1: small terrestrial like a tiny miniature deer like animal that

858
00:51:21,840 --> 00:51:25,400
Speaker 1: was terrestrial, and it eventually became you know this massive

859
00:51:26,239 --> 00:51:29,880
Speaker 1: through you know, hundreds and hundreds of hundreds of thousands,

860
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:37,040
Speaker 1: millions of years of evolution, uh, through millions of years

861
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:40,200
Speaker 1: of evolution, Yeah, became the blue whale. So yeah, I

862
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,719
Speaker 1: do think if you have the right conditions, we could

863
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:46,839
Speaker 1: get giant naked morats.

864
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,200
Speaker 2: And yeah, the whales got it right. They came out

865
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:55,560
Speaker 2: of the water and for like, screw this, we're going back.

866
00:51:56,760 --> 00:51:58,759
Speaker 3: Must are going to be dolphins and just.

867
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:03,719
Speaker 2: Exactly and now we have and now you and I

868
00:52:03,800 --> 00:52:07,799
Speaker 2: have like mortgages and have to pay taxes, and like

869
00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,399
Speaker 2: you know, uh we we they they got the better

870
00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:12,560
Speaker 2: end of that, dude, for sure.

871
00:52:13,239 --> 00:52:17,680
Speaker 1: Yeah maybe blue whales do have to pay taxes, but uh,

872
00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:20,960
Speaker 1: we just can't understand like when they're when they're doing they're.

873
00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:24,920
Speaker 2: Like who they're talking?

874
00:52:30,680 --> 00:52:33,320
Speaker 1: All right, So before we go, we gotta play a

875
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:36,280
Speaker 1: little game called gets Who's Squawk and the Mystery Animal

876
00:52:36,440 --> 00:52:39,080
Speaker 1: Sound Game. Every week I play Mystery Animal sound and.

877
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:42,080
Speaker 3: You the guest and you the listener, have to guess.

878
00:52:42,520 --> 00:52:43,480
Speaker 3: Let's make that sound?

879
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:46,640
Speaker 1: Can be any animal, any animal at all, all right,

880
00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:52,400
Speaker 1: So let me the hint is this. This animal makes

881
00:52:52,440 --> 00:52:54,320
Speaker 1: this sound with its body.

882
00:52:54,040 --> 00:53:07,640
Speaker 4: As it moves beneath your feet.

883
00:52:56,200 --> 00:53:10,760
Speaker 3: Ye hear that gurgling sound?

884
00:53:11,520 --> 00:53:17,520
Speaker 2: Yeah that's an animal. That's not okay, But like that

885
00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:20,360
Speaker 2: sounds more like plumbing than it does like an an

886
00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:24,360
Speaker 2: animal like an organic animal noise. So you said beneath

887
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:32,880
Speaker 2: my feet. I really I don't even I can't. I

888
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:37,279
Speaker 2: gotta guess something, but I can't even wrap my head

889
00:53:37,320 --> 00:53:43,160
Speaker 2: around what that what that would possibly be? Uh, I'm

890
00:53:43,239 --> 00:53:52,560
Speaker 2: going to guess under my feet? Can I have a hint, Katie?

891
00:53:52,640 --> 00:53:57,720
Speaker 2: It does not have a spine, does not have a spine,

892
00:53:57,960 --> 00:54:01,600
Speaker 2: does not have a spine. It's going to be something

893
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:05,640
Speaker 2: so obvious, and I'm I'm going to uh feel like

894
00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:06,160
Speaker 2: a fool.

895
00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:09,880
Speaker 1: It's not actually that obvious, so you don't worry about.

896
00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:15,839
Speaker 2: It, Okay, okay, beneath my feet doesn't I can't think

897
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:17,640
Speaker 2: of anything that doesn't have a spine. Is it an

898
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 2: insect of some sort?

899
00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:20,960
Speaker 1: In not an insect?

900
00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:23,080
Speaker 3: You're getting close?

901
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:24,759
Speaker 2: What am i?

902
00:54:25,680 --> 00:54:25,879
Speaker 4: Ah?

903
00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:34,359
Speaker 2: Uh? I literally can't think of an ant like an

904
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:42,719
Speaker 2: animal underground that doesn't have a spine. Like I'm just

905
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:46,759
Speaker 2: I keep going back to thinking about u like octopi

906
00:54:47,120 --> 00:54:50,040
Speaker 2: and or squid or something like that, and that's not

907
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 2: underneath my feet.

908
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 1: Kind of you're kind of getting sort of close. So

909
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,080
Speaker 1: I'll just tell you it is.

910
00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:59,279
Speaker 2: A snail or like a slug that.

911
00:54:59,360 --> 00:55:05,400
Speaker 1: You are so close. This is the giant Gippsland earthworm.

912
00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:11,880
Speaker 1: Congratulations to Marian D for guessing correctly it is what Yeah,

913
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:16,880
Speaker 1: it's a giant earthworm. So the video is courtesy of

914
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:18,920
Speaker 1: Giant earthworm dot org dot.

915
00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:22,759
Speaker 2: Au tay on the website.

916
00:55:22,960 --> 00:55:29,160
Speaker 1: Yes, taken by the Gippsland earthworm researcher, doctor Beverly van Prague,

917
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:31,760
Speaker 1: who has been studying these worms for over thirty years.

918
00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:38,200
Speaker 1: So these are huge earthworms found in Australia.

919
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:39,280
Speaker 2: They've seen before.

920
00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:42,520
Speaker 1: They grow over three feet long, so that's over a

921
00:55:42,600 --> 00:55:46,080
Speaker 1: meter and about an inch in diameter. But their size

922
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:48,839
Speaker 1: and width kind of change depending on like because they

923
00:55:48,880 --> 00:55:55,200
Speaker 1: can stretch and squash without coming to harm, so they

924
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:57,560
Speaker 1: like their size can kind of vary, so they can

925
00:55:57,640 --> 00:56:02,520
Speaker 1: like get to nearly like ten feet long or three meters,

926
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:04,759
Speaker 1: but like that's usually there.

927
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 2: They're also thinner.

928
00:56:05,719 --> 00:56:09,799
Speaker 1: Because they're like stretched out, sure, so they spin their

929
00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:13,440
Speaker 1: entire lives underground. They would only come to the surface

930
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:16,200
Speaker 1: if we dig them up or they get flushed out

931
00:56:16,239 --> 00:56:19,680
Speaker 1: and flooded out by rain. Right, But yeah, they they're

932
00:56:19,840 --> 00:56:23,840
Speaker 1: really really cool. Changes in their habitats due to farming

933
00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:27,080
Speaker 1: threatens their survival because they like really kind of loose,

934
00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:30,240
Speaker 1: loamy soil and then farming and sort of artificial stuff

935
00:56:30,239 --> 00:56:34,080
Speaker 1: like changes the texture of the soil. So you know,

936
00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:37,759
Speaker 1: we got we gotta we gotta really consider, uh what

937
00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:41,319
Speaker 1: we're doing because these are amazing and what what kind

938
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,440
Speaker 1: of world do we live in without giant earthworms that

939
00:56:44,520 --> 00:56:46,200
Speaker 1: you could technically but should not.

940
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:47,359
Speaker 3: Use as a jump rope?

941
00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:51,560
Speaker 2: Not not a world that I want to live in exactly.

942
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:54,440
Speaker 2: Can I keep one of these things as a pet?

943
00:56:54,719 --> 00:56:57,279
Speaker 1: I don't know that it would survive. They've I think

944
00:56:57,280 --> 00:57:02,279
Speaker 1: they've tried to have them in captivity without success, so

945
00:57:02,719 --> 00:57:04,960
Speaker 1: it would be really hard to keep alive. Can you

946
00:57:05,080 --> 00:57:09,560
Speaker 1: keep certain worms and insects as pets? Yes, there are

947
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:13,960
Speaker 1: some that are better candidates for pets. There's like a

948
00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:19,200
Speaker 1: you're mentioning, like an I wanting an isopod. There's apparently

949
00:57:19,280 --> 00:57:24,640
Speaker 1: these like domestic well, like these selectively bred isopods whose

950
00:57:24,920 --> 00:57:28,040
Speaker 1: faces are meant to look like little duck faces.

951
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:31,240
Speaker 3: It's very cute. What it's you know, it's super weird

952
00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:32,080
Speaker 3: and it's very cute.

953
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 2: So okay, so that sounds like a creature from Fallout?

954
00:57:35,160 --> 00:57:36,000
Speaker 2: What you just decide?

955
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: You know, right, it's it'll it makes sense if you

956
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:40,959
Speaker 1: look at images. I think they're just called like duck

957
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:46,480
Speaker 1: rollly poids. I'm not sure duck isopods. Yeah, they're like

958
00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:52,920
Speaker 1: they're sort of front segment is yellow, and I guess

959
00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:54,760
Speaker 1: is meant to look sort of like a little duck

960
00:57:54,800 --> 00:57:56,320
Speaker 1: bill or a little duck what.

961
00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:00,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cute, it does Yeah.

962
00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:01,400
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know.

963
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:04,600
Speaker 2: And these things are selling for one hundred and a

964
00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:10,080
Speaker 2: blonde rubber ducky designer isopod ultra rare. This sounds like

965
00:58:10,080 --> 00:58:13,560
Speaker 2: I'm describing a Pokemon is one hundred and forty nine dollars.

966
00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:16,520
Speaker 3: Well, if that's your hobby.

967
00:58:17,720 --> 00:58:23,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, holy cow, I did not realize that there. I

968
00:58:23,560 --> 00:58:25,640
Speaker 2: guess there's a there's a world, in a market and

969
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:27,600
Speaker 2: a niche for absolutely everything.

970
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:28,600
Speaker 3: There really is.

971
00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:31,800
Speaker 2: So okay, I'm going to go buy some isopods now.

972
00:58:31,960 --> 00:58:35,160
Speaker 1: I'm going to as long as they don't escape their

973
00:58:35,280 --> 00:58:38,600
Speaker 1: enclosure and then cause like some kind of ducky isopod

974
00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:40,360
Speaker 1: apocalypse as they take.

975
00:58:40,200 --> 00:58:41,440
Speaker 3: Over the world.

976
00:58:43,040 --> 00:58:47,080
Speaker 2: Wow, this is wild. There's all sorts of designer isopods

977
00:58:47,120 --> 00:58:49,880
Speaker 2: with all sorts of different colorings.

978
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:52,000
Speaker 1: And where's our where's our designer worms at?

979
00:58:52,200 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 3: That's what I want to know.

980
00:58:53,840 --> 00:58:55,920
Speaker 2: Good question, great question.

981
00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:59,560
Speaker 1: So onto this week's mystery animals sound. The hint is

982
00:58:59,640 --> 00:59:02,240
Speaker 1: this a picture is worth a thousand words, but this

983
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:15,560
Speaker 1: critter paints a clear picture with its call, all right,

984
00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:16,560
Speaker 1: you got any guesses?

985
00:59:18,480 --> 00:59:24,080
Speaker 2: I'm gonna guess it's some kind of sounds like a

986
00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:31,200
Speaker 2: lemur or something, or some kind of like small primates. Interesting,

987
00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:35,680
Speaker 2: probably so far off. I know, I am, I know,

988
00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:37,800
Speaker 2: I am. Well, I'm terrible at this game.

989
00:59:37,920 --> 00:59:40,720
Speaker 1: I am terrible. I am just lucky that I don't

990
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:42,360
Speaker 1: have to be the one playing the game, because I

991
00:59:42,400 --> 00:59:45,400
Speaker 1: do not think I would be very good either. But

992
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:48,640
Speaker 1: fortunately I don't have to play it because I'm.

993
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:49,400
Speaker 3: The one making it up.

994
00:59:50,080 --> 00:59:53,120
Speaker 1: Uh. Anyways, if you think you know who is making

995
00:59:53,120 --> 00:59:55,440
Speaker 1: that sound, you can write to me at Creature featurepot

996
00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:59,000
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com and I will reveal the results

997
00:59:59,120 --> 01:00:03,440
Speaker 1: next week. Well, thank you so much for joining me.

998
01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:06,760
Speaker 2: Where can the people find you my pleasure?

999
01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:08,800
Speaker 1: Not in a follout shelter?

1000
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:13,800
Speaker 2: Yes, I let's keep our fingers crossed. You can find

1001
01:00:13,800 --> 01:00:19,400
Speaker 2: me at the Wopple House on Twitter. You can find

1002
01:00:19,560 --> 01:00:25,439
Speaker 2: me hosting the George Center podcast each week. And yeah,

1003
01:00:25,440 --> 01:00:28,280
Speaker 2: that's pretty much it. Those are the only two places

1004
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:34,800
Speaker 2: other than that you can catch me at work just

1005
01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:39,320
Speaker 2: being a boring dude during the week buying. Don't do

1006
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:44,840
Speaker 2: that though, buying.

1007
01:00:42,520 --> 01:00:44,240
Speaker 3: Up rubber Ducky isopods at.

1008
01:00:44,160 --> 01:00:49,280
Speaker 1: Work exactly getting into bidding wars on rubber Ducky isopods.

1009
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:53,080
Speaker 2: I really am low key considering like building a terrarium.

1010
01:00:53,160 --> 01:00:58,600
Speaker 1: Now I have that thought frequently, like do I.

1011
01:00:58,640 --> 01:01:01,400
Speaker 3: Need a terrarium?

1012
01:01:01,440 --> 01:01:03,600
Speaker 1: Well, thank you guys so much for listening.

1013
01:01:03,640 --> 01:01:04,960
Speaker 3: If you're enjoying the show.

1014
01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:07,160
Speaker 1: And you leave a rating end review, I read.

1015
01:01:07,040 --> 01:01:10,080
Speaker 3: All of them, and all of them help me tangibly

1016
01:01:10,360 --> 01:01:11,800
Speaker 3: help the show.

1017
01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:15,600
Speaker 1: And thanks to the Space Classics for there's super awesome song.

1018
01:01:15,720 --> 01:01:16,560
Speaker 3: Ex Alumina.

1019
01:01:16,880 --> 01:01:20,680
Speaker 1: Preacher feature is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

1020
01:01:20,840 --> 01:01:23,120
Speaker 1: like the one you just heard, visit the iHeartRadio app

1021
01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:25,600
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or Hey Gus, what Marad you listen to

1022
01:01:25,680 --> 01:01:28,040
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. I'm not your move it and I

1023
01:01:28,040 --> 01:01:30,520
Speaker 1: can't tell you what you to do. Seay, I live

1024
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:36,880
Speaker 1: your on life. See you next Wednesday.