Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today is a listener Questions episode.
Speaker 1: I'm getting over an illness, so I thought i'd kick back,
Speaker 1: read some of your emails and answer your questions. And yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm feeling better now, So I am so happy to
Speaker 1: read your emails. And I did a little bit of
Speaker 1: fun research for this. Always love getting your questions because
Speaker 1: it often sends me down rabbit holes that I didn't
Speaker 1: even think to go down. Uh. And if you have questions,
Speaker 1: you can always email me at Creature Feature pot at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com and maybe I will answer your question
Speaker 1: on another one of these listener Questions episodes. So let's
Speaker 1: get right into it. Hi, my boyfriend and I heard
Speaker 1: an interesting scenario while watching YouTube. Quote a fully grown
Speaker 1: polar bear versus a fully grown great white in Analympic
Speaker 1: sized swimming pool that is seven ft deep and seventy
Speaker 1: five degrees fahrenheit. Who wins. We had a fun speculating,
Speaker 1: but wanted to get an expert opinion. Love the show
Speaker 1: Bird's Rights Emaretta Ce. So this is an interesting question.
Speaker 1: As you may already know, polar bears and great white
Speaker 1: sharks don't inhabit the same range, so we can only
Speaker 1: imagine the clashes between them. There are sharks that exist
Speaker 1: in the Arctic, including the greenland shark, who can live
Speaker 1: for hundreds of years and can grow up to twenty
Speaker 1: one ft long, which is about six point five meters.
Speaker 1: There was a case where a young polar bears jawbone
Speaker 1: was found in a greenland shark's stomach, but it's unknown
Speaker 1: of the shark actively preyed upon a swimming polar bear
Speaker 1: or merely eight a drowned carcass. But onto this fantasy
Speaker 1: fight between a great white shark and a polar bear. First,
Speaker 1: let's do the way in In one corner we have
Speaker 1: the polar bear. Let's go with the adult male polar bear,
Speaker 1: because they are the largest. They can weigh up to
Speaker 1: one thousand, five hundred pounds or seven hundred ms. They
Speaker 1: can be over nine ft long or three meters, and
Speaker 1: on its hind legs it can stand at eleven feet
Speaker 1: tall or three point four meters. At the shoulders they
Speaker 1: stand about three point five to five ft or one
Speaker 1: to one point five meters, so they would only be
Speaker 1: able to stand in your seven foot deep battle pool
Speaker 1: by standing on their hind legs. They are proficient swimmers
Speaker 1: and can swim for days at a time, the longest
Speaker 1: recorded time being nine days and four hundred miles or
Speaker 1: seven hundred kilometers. They can swim at six miles per
Speaker 1: hour ten kilometers an hour, and the temperature of the
Speaker 1: water they typically swim in is around thirty degrees fahrenheit
Speaker 1: or point seven degrees celsius, so they are used to
Speaker 1: it being a bit chillier than the battle pool that
Speaker 1: is at seventy five degrees fahrenheit. So in the other
Speaker 1: corner of our imaginary battle pool is the great white shark.
Speaker 1: So females are larger than the males, so let's have
Speaker 1: a female. She can weigh around two thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty pounds over one thousand one ks, and grow
Speaker 1: up to sixteen feet or five meters long. The largest
Speaker 1: great whites can grow over twenty feet in length and
Speaker 1: weigh over four thousand pounds. They can swim at thirty
Speaker 1: five miles per hour or fifty nine kilometers per hour,
Speaker 1: and they tend to live in water temperatures from fifty
Speaker 1: four to seventy five degrees fahrenheit or twelve to twenty
Speaker 1: four degrees celsius, so they'd be very comfortable in that
Speaker 1: seventy five degree fahrenheit battle pool you've created. So again,
Speaker 1: to compare, the large adult male polar bear is up
Speaker 1: to one thousand, five hundred pounds and nine feet long,
Speaker 1: whereas the largest Great whites can weigh over four thousand
Speaker 1: pounds and grow over twenty feet. So great whites are
Speaker 1: much larger than the polar bears, and they can also
Speaker 1: take down prey larger than themselves. So great whites can
Speaker 1: take down whale sharks, but they do prefer to take
Speaker 1: on prey that is smaller than themselves. They can easily
Speaker 1: take on sea lions or elephant seals. Meanwhile, polar bears
Speaker 1: tend to hunt smaller seals uh, and they can only
Speaker 1: take down larger prey like walruses by actually using tools.
Speaker 1: So polar bears have been known to toss chunks of
Speaker 1: ice or rocks at walruses. It sounds too incredible to
Speaker 1: be true, but this has been noted by Inuit observers
Speaker 1: for centuries, and also by contemporary researchers who have videotaped
Speaker 1: polar bears throwing ice at seals. So who would win
Speaker 1: between the great white shark and the polar bear? Purely
Speaker 1: based on their physical strength ability maneuverability under the water,
Speaker 1: I think that the large adult female great white shark
Speaker 1: would handily win against the largest adult male polar bear.
Speaker 1: But if you gave the polar bear the opportunity to
Speaker 1: get out of the pool and grab some boulders, maybe
Speaker 1: he'd have a fighting chance. Next listener email next listener email. Okay,
Speaker 1: hi kitty. The other day, I came home from work
Speaker 1: to find my cats and dogs at the sliding door,
Speaker 1: very interested in something. I walk over and find this
Speaker 1: aggressive turkey challenging them through the glass door. I thought
Speaker 1: this was very odd, as I have a fenced yard
Speaker 1: and wild turkeys don't normally come to my patio, and
Speaker 1: if they do, upon seeing the dog, they will back up. Well.
Speaker 1: Upon further investigation, I come to find it's a mama
Speaker 1: turkey and she's just protecting her little ones. I got
Speaker 1: the pets away from the door, and she calmed down
Speaker 1: and rested while the babies explored and eventually they wandered away. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I thought you'd like the picks from Katie. Thank you
Speaker 1: fellow Katie. Yes I did. I loved the pictures and
Speaker 1: I love this story. So turkeys are actually really good
Speaker 1: parents and they are highly protective of their babies. Mother
Speaker 1: turkeys will sometimes even feign injury like a broken wing,
Speaker 1: by holding their wing out to their side to lead
Speaker 1: a predator away from her young. Did you know that
Speaker 1: young turkeys are called poults, which I think is really cute.
Speaker 1: So unlike a lot of birds who lay their eggs
Speaker 1: in nests in a tree and must make frequent trips
Speaker 1: away from the nest to get food, turkeys are ground
Speaker 1: dwelling birds and they are constantly carry for their offspring.
Speaker 1: So turkey mothers will care for their pulse basically seven,
Speaker 1: and the little little pulse will take shelter under her wings.
Speaker 1: It's very cute, and they will call out to each other.
Speaker 1: It is adorable to see them out there pecking and
Speaker 1: foraging together as a little family. Onto another question, So,
Speaker 1: hey Katie, what about an episode about those dangerous hours
Speaker 1: animals have to get some shut I or do they
Speaker 1: all shut their eyes? I found it surprising just now
Speaker 1: that turtles sleep underwater, and wonder how long they could sustain.
Speaker 1: This seems like it would have to be more like
Speaker 1: a short cat nap. This is from p K, so yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe I will do an episode about sleep sometime in
Speaker 1: the future. But to answer your question about turtles, turtles
Speaker 1: must breathe oxygen like marine mammals. Of course, turtles are
Speaker 1: not mammals, but they still have lungs and they must
Speaker 1: breathe oxygen. To turtles can still survive underwater for long
Speaker 1: periods of time, even though they do have to surface
Speaker 1: to breathe, especially when they are at rest, they can
Speaker 1: actually go a long time without oxygen. When they sleep,
Speaker 1: their bodies consume less oxygen and they can stay underwater
Speaker 1: for longer. So, for example, sea turtles while swimming must
Speaker 1: surface to get oxygen about every few minutes, but when
Speaker 1: at rest they can actually last for a couple hours underwater,
Speaker 1: and older, older sea turtles are the best at this.
Speaker 1: So when they are mature, they can sleep deep in
Speaker 1: the water, and they seem to actually prefer to sleep
Speaker 1: deep down in the water, maybe under a reef um,
Speaker 1: whereas hatchlings like to sleep closer to the service, floating
Speaker 1: with their front flippers tucked over their backs, so how
Speaker 1: do sea turtles survive without oxygen for so long. Well,
Speaker 1: their heart rate and other metabolic processes slow way down
Speaker 1: during rest, So while floating but not asleep, their heart
Speaker 1: rate is around fourteen beats per minute, which is very
Speaker 1: low compared to a human's resting heart rate of sixty
Speaker 1: beats per minute. UH. The sea turtle's heart rate can
Speaker 1: increase to around forty to eighty beats per minute with
Speaker 1: increased activity, but while sleeping, sea turtle heart rates slow
Speaker 1: way way down to about six beats per minute. That's
Speaker 1: like one beat every ten seconds. For comparison, typical human
Speaker 1: heart rate while sleeping is about forty to fifty beats
Speaker 1: per minute. So in fact, human divers often train themselves
Speaker 1: to slow their heart rate down immensely. Their heart rates
Speaker 1: have been recorded to dip as low as eleven beats
Speaker 1: per minute. This is right on the edge of human capability,
Speaker 1: and free divers that push themselves to this human limit
Speaker 1: are often at risk of blacking out and drown things.
Speaker 1: So it's a very dangerous hobby and it's very important
Speaker 1: to have a spot ter. The most experienced free divers
Speaker 1: can last around four minutes underwater, and of course a reminder,
Speaker 1: never try this in a pool, I guess without professional guidance.
Speaker 1: I mean personally, I would not try it at all.
Speaker 1: But people have actually drowned trying to hold their breath
Speaker 1: for too long in a pool, especially when they do
Speaker 1: it alone, because you can hold your breath for a
Speaker 1: while and then kind of not realize that you are
Speaker 1: getting close to the blackout zone, and then before you
Speaker 1: know what, you've lost consciousness. And if you're alone, there's
Speaker 1: no one to pick you up out of the water.
Speaker 1: So do not do that. But still, with these experienced
Speaker 1: human free divers, they can last around four minutes, but
Speaker 1: that is a long way away from two hours that
Speaker 1: sea turtles can manage at rest. So sea turtles really
Speaker 1: have us beat when it comes to slowing down their
Speaker 1: metabolism to a all, yes, so the turtle really does
Speaker 1: a beat. Well, I guess it's tortoise, but we are
Speaker 1: talking about turtles. The turtle beats the hair when it
Speaker 1: comes to slowing down their metabolism so they can survive
Speaker 1: underwater for incredible amounts of time while sleeping. Next listener question.
Speaker 1: Here it goes Hi, Katie, I'm thinking about these baby
Speaker 1: formula shortages. If I remember correctly, one of the earliest
Speaker 1: domesticated animals was the goat, and their milk was one
Speaker 1: of the reasons that they were domesticated. I've heard that
Speaker 1: while seventy of the world is lactose intolerant to cow's milk,
Speaker 1: zero percent of people are lactose intolerant to goat milk.
Speaker 1: Is goat's milk a good enough substitute for human breast
Speaker 1: milk will h So first I will preface this with
Speaker 1: the extremely important note I am not a doctor. I
Speaker 1: am not a pediatrician, nor am I a goat. I
Speaker 1: cannot give you medical advice on how to feed your baby.
Speaker 1: Babies are extreme rereamely sensitive to changes in diet and nutrition,
Speaker 1: so you should always, always, always talk to your pediatrician.
Speaker 1: If you have questions about what you should or shouldn't
Speaker 1: feed your baby. It is extremely important do not take
Speaker 1: my advice, don't take random internet people's advice or random podcasters.
Speaker 1: Talk to your pediatricition. So that said, let me tackle
Speaker 1: this question from a non medical advised standpoint. So, goat's
Speaker 1: milk does contain lactose. Therefore, if you're lactose intolerant, you
Speaker 1: will also be intolerant to goat's milk. Now here's the caveat.
Speaker 1: Goat's milk does contain somewhat smaller amounts of lactose than
Speaker 1: cow's milk, so if you're only mildly lactose intolerant, it
Speaker 1: is possible that goat's milk would have less of an
Speaker 1: effect on you. Goat's milk is also more easily digested
Speaker 1: by humans than cow's milk due to smaller fat molecules
Speaker 1: that are easier for us to break down. So it's
Speaker 1: possible that if you have only a mild lactose intolerance,
Speaker 1: you might find goat's milk easier to drink than cow's milk.
Speaker 1: But it is not a guarantee because it contains lactose
Speaker 1: and your lactose intolerant. Technically, you would still probably have
Speaker 1: a reaction if you drink enough of it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like, I mean, I'm lactose intolerant, and
Speaker 1: some things I can tolerate better than others. Certain cheeses
Speaker 1: have less lactose in it than milk, and I can
Speaker 1: have cheese, But if I have anything milk based, I
Speaker 1: have to take a lactaid pill and it works really well, um,
Speaker 1: if you have a cow milk allergy, be really careful
Speaker 1: because it's very likely you are also allergic to goat's milk. Again,
Speaker 1: talk to your doctor about those kinds of things, because
Speaker 1: you know your body is important. So, unfortunately, there's no
Speaker 1: animals milk that is a suitable obstitute for human breast
Speaker 1: milk or formula. From what I can tell from the
Speaker 1: research that I did into this, the problem is that
Speaker 1: human breast milk is specifically tailored to human baby nutrition
Speaker 1: needs and digestion. So animal milk is designed for the
Speaker 1: baby animals that will drink it. So cow milk is
Speaker 1: designed for a baby cow's nutritional needs. Goat milk is
Speaker 1: designed for a baby goats nutritional needs, not for a
Speaker 1: baby humans. So the composition of these animals milk is
Speaker 1: going to be different than what is suitable for a
Speaker 1: baby human um. So, for example, animal milk may contain
Speaker 1: too much or too little of certain vitamins and nutrients
Speaker 1: or salts or proteins or fat, or the proteins maybe
Speaker 1: too complex for a human infant to digest. I looked
Speaker 1: up a study that showed serious medical issues when goats
Speaker 1: ink was used as a substitute for breast milk and infants,
Speaker 1: resulting in things like anemia, allergic reaction, electrolyte and balance,
Speaker 1: and metabolic acid doosis, which is an imbalance of the
Speaker 1: body's acid and base levels. Uh. So, you know, not
Speaker 1: something really to mess around with for an infant. Who
Speaker 1: are they are very They're very delicate. Their digestion is very,
Speaker 1: very delicate. And yeah, don't take my word for it.
Speaker 1: If you are wondering what to feed your baby, talk
Speaker 1: to your pediatrician. Um and uh, you know, good luck
Speaker 1: out there for everyone with babies. So uh, moving on
Speaker 1: to the next question, I think you forgot to answer
Speaker 1: another question about camels. There's an old saying about the
Speaker 1: straw that broke the camel's back. It would not literally
Speaker 1: break the camel's back, but our camels really that picky
Speaker 1: and sensitive about how much they will carry, thank you,
Speaker 1: Stephen m. So camels aren't so sensitive that they can
Speaker 1: distinguish a straw. When it comes to weight, they can
Speaker 1: actually carry quite a hefty weight as well, but if
Speaker 1: they are overburdened, they can suffer saddle sores, fatigue, or injury.
Speaker 1: So what's interesting is there's actually been research done on
Speaker 1: the maximum weight for horses to carry to avoid injury, uh,
Speaker 1: roughly twenty of their body weight. But I haven't been
Speaker 1: able to find any comparable research for camels. Seems like
Speaker 1: how much a camel can carry depends on a number
Speaker 1: of factors, like the camel species. So like as a reminder,
Speaker 1: there are three species of camel, the Dromedary, the Bactrian
Speaker 1: and then the wild Bactrian camel on the Dramedarian bactory
Speaker 1: in which are the two domesticated camels. Uh, they're carrying
Speaker 1: abilities are going to differ. It's gonna also differ based
Speaker 1: on the ammal's size, their age. Uh, It'll depend on
Speaker 1: the ambient temperature, uh, the amount of distance that the
Speaker 1: camel has to cover, and what the camel can forage
Speaker 1: in that distance. So UH, ethical camel owners should make
Speaker 1: sure that if they're ever using a camel to carry
Speaker 1: a load or to carry riders, the camel never shows
Speaker 1: any signs of the stress or fatigue. So a fatigued
Speaker 1: distressed camel will actually get sweat patches. UH, it will
Speaker 1: start to crouch whenever, like you come to a stop
Speaker 1: to try to get some rest. It can start to
Speaker 1: tear up and get a running nose. So you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of like a person, like if you are
Speaker 1: over exerting yourself, you you know, might get sweaty, you
Speaker 1: might want to like crouch down, get a ruddy nose,
Speaker 1: get ready eyes. So if a camel is doing those
Speaker 1: things as well, it is overworked, overburdened, and that's not good. Um.
Speaker 1: The range of weight that they can carry, uh is
Speaker 1: I mean it's around two hundred to six hundred pounds
Speaker 1: or maybe hundred seventy two seventy but you know, again
Speaker 1: it's like it there's it really depends on the context.
Speaker 1: And a good camel steward will make sure that the
Speaker 1: camel is not showing signs of distress, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and not overworking the camel. So instead of actually seeing
Speaker 1: how many straws that we can add to a camel
Speaker 1: until it breaks its back, what about whether the camel
Speaker 1: would like a straw and it's camel margarita. So what
Speaker 1: makes for a happy camel? I'm talking about domesticated camels
Speaker 1: of course, for the rare wild bactory and camels their
Speaker 1: happiest in their natural environment and left alone. But the
Speaker 1: two most populous species of camels are both domesticated. So
Speaker 1: how do you keep a domestic a camel happy? Well,
Speaker 1: even though there's not that much emphasis put on camel enrichment,
Speaker 1: they really do enjoy enrichment. Uh. They like scratching posts
Speaker 1: where they can rub their coats on. So camels actually
Speaker 1: grow these thick winter coats which shed like crazy in
Speaker 1: the summer because they have to endure these big, big
Speaker 1: shifts in temperature from winter to summer, and so having
Speaker 1: a scratching post to rub off that coat is really important.
Speaker 1: It'd be like if you had a scratchy wool sweater
Speaker 1: that you couldn't get off in summer, and so having
Speaker 1: something where they can rip off that winter coat will
Speaker 1: make them really happy. They also love sand, which is
Speaker 1: great because they have to spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: in it. But if they're in an enclosure with like
Speaker 1: hard ground surfaces, they're not going to be as happy
Speaker 1: as if they have the soft sand in it. So
Speaker 1: they like the softness of sand for sleeping and walking.
Speaker 1: They also like to roll around in sand, and camels
Speaker 1: enjoy toys. Uh. They will enjoy enrichment activities like playing
Speaker 1: soccer with giant balls. There's a really really cute YouTube video.
Speaker 1: I'll put in the show notes of a camel playing
Speaker 1: soccer with a giant bouncy ball, and it is so cute.
Speaker 1: And I think it's important to like these beasts of burden,
Speaker 1: these animals that sometimes are just like in the background,
Speaker 1: like camels and donkeys. You know, they they have personalities,
Speaker 1: they have feelings, and they can have fun and they
Speaker 1: can suffer. And I think if we have a choice,
Speaker 1: we should make sure that they have nice lives. Uh So,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't necessarily think it is always wrong
Speaker 1: to like ride a camel or use a camel as
Speaker 1: a beast of burden, but I think it is important
Speaker 1: to take care of them, be nice to them, and
Speaker 1: you know, just like, hey, they've given us so much,
Speaker 1: let's give back, even if that means giant soccer balls
Speaker 1: and scratch ease for their big old coats. So now
Speaker 1: onto the Mystery Animal Sound Game. Da da da da
Speaker 1: bo um. I think I have a song now for
Speaker 1: the Mystery Animal Game. Wait a minute, let me put
Speaker 1: it in right now. Yes, welcome to the Mystery Animal
Speaker 1: Sound Game. Every week I play a mystery animal sound
Speaker 1: and you, the listener, try to guess who is making
Speaker 1: that sound. Guess who is squawking? So last week's mry
Speaker 1: animal sound hint was this. This monster can devour entire hills,
Speaker 1: but it's still just a baby. Can you guess who
Speaker 1: is squawking? Well only Joey p rode in and got
Speaker 1: this one right. It is a baby giant ant eater,
Speaker 1: so babies will make these calls to its parents so
Speaker 1: it doesn't get lost. Adult ant eaters are a little
Speaker 1: less noisy. Um. So. The giant ant eaters live in
Speaker 1: Central and South America, and like their name implies, they
Speaker 1: get quite big and they also eat ants. I love
Speaker 1: it when an animal name just makes sense. They can
Speaker 1: grow over seven ft long or two hundred and seventeen
Speaker 1: centimeters and weigh over a hundred and ten pounds or
Speaker 1: fifty They do eat ants, but they'll also eat termites.
Speaker 1: Usually it's a seasonal thing, so when ants are in season, uh,
Speaker 1: they'll eat them, and when termites are more in season,
Speaker 1: they'll eat them. They use their formidable claws to gouge
Speaker 1: open ant hills or termite mounds, and a two foot
Speaker 1: long sticky tongue to slurp up the tasty treats. They'll
Speaker 1: also dig holes to uncover drinking water, which other animals
Speaker 1: will happily use as well. Now onto this week's mystery
Speaker 1: animal sound. You won't be surprised to learn this is
Speaker 1: called the Screaming Party. But who are the party goers?
Speaker 1: Another hint, I actually can hear these guys right outside
Speaker 1: my window. Well, if you think you know who's squawking,
Speaker 1: you can write to me at Creature feature Pod at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com. All also, take your questions. Maybe I
Speaker 1: will answer them next time I do one of these
Speaker 1: listener question episodes. And hey, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: I sure do appreciate it. And uh, if you are
Speaker 1: enjoying the show and you leave me a rating and
Speaker 1: a review, I really really really appreciate it. I appreciate
Speaker 1: it so much. Seriously, seriously, I really really do. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm at a level with you. I read all the reviews.
Speaker 1: They really mean a lot to me. I'm making a
Speaker 1: very very sincere expression right now. You can't see it,
Speaker 1: but I am. And I you know, like, when I
Speaker 1: read it a nice review, it makes me feel good.
Speaker 1: It makes me feel like, hey, I should keep doing
Speaker 1: what I'm doing, and it cheers me up, makes me happy,
Speaker 1: motivates me to make more episodes. So when you guys
Speaker 1: write that in, I really love it. And you know,
Speaker 1: if you write in like what kinds of aspects to
Speaker 1: the show you want to see more of or less of,
Speaker 1: that's also really helpful. So I really appreciate everyone who's
Speaker 1: given feedback. It means so much to me. It means
Speaker 1: a lot to me too, that you're just listening. It's
Speaker 1: so fun for me to do this and talk to
Speaker 1: you guys, and I enjoy our little chats. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: I do do the listener questions, it makes you feel
Speaker 1: more like I'm talking directly to you guys. So I
Speaker 1: hope you like it when I do these. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: not just for me to do a shorter episode, although
Speaker 1: it helps when I'm maybe need to recover a little
Speaker 1: bit from an illness. But regardless, I like answering your questions,
Speaker 1: so I hope I hope you like me answering them
Speaker 1: as well. Um and Hey thanks to the Space Costics
Speaker 1: for their super awesome song. Ex Alumina. Creature features a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more pot cats like
Speaker 1: the one you just heard, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast or Hey guess what wherever you visit your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. You want visit your favorite shows, I guess
Speaker 1: you listen to them. I don't know if you visit
Speaker 1: your favorite you know what I actually do like that,
Speaker 1: visit your favorite shows. Knock on your show's door. I
Speaker 1: guess maybe your ears the door in this situation, and
Speaker 1: I'm knocking on that door anyways. Whatever, I'm still a
Speaker 1: little delirious for being apparently all right. Keep it easy,
Speaker 1: take it easy. What the heck is wrong with me?
Speaker 1: Take it easy? Guys, See you next Wednesday.