WEBVTT - The Monstrefact Omnibus: D&D Monsters

0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:06.359
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.600
<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The

0:00:11.720 --> 0:00:15.000
<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.840
<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters.

0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:28.080
<v Speaker 2>In time, we have a special omnibus episode of The

0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.240
<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact here for you this week, collecting four past

0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:37.080
<v Speaker 2>episodes about miscellaneous creatures from the Dungeons and Dragons universe

0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.599
<v Speaker 2>and the possible science behind them. This was actually a

0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:46.360
<v Speaker 2>listener submitted idea, so we hope you enjoy the experiment

0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:53.960
<v Speaker 2>up verst the Nosferatu. Countless variations of the vampire have

0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:58.000
<v Speaker 2>emerged from our popular culture, fed by the blood of

0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:02.640
<v Speaker 2>global myths, folk tales, and legends. Some are sparkly and sexy,

0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:08.440
<v Speaker 2>others sinister and dangerous, others altogether monstrous. The Nosfaratu vampire

0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:12.120
<v Speaker 2>has come into its own, a pale, emaciated body with

0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:16.840
<v Speaker 2>ghoulish features, bat like ears, and a pair of elongated

0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.680
<v Speaker 2>incisors for piercing the skin of their victims rather than

0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.560
<v Speaker 2>the elongated canine teeth found in so many other vampire depictions.

0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.600
<v Speaker 2>While not always completely devoid of humanity, they tend toward

0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.319
<v Speaker 2>the purely monstrous end of the vampiric spectrum. They have

0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:36.960
<v Speaker 2>been consumed by their unnatural thirst, and this may leave

0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.759
<v Speaker 2>them in a primal state, or one in which their

0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:44.600
<v Speaker 2>human memories have faded gossamer thin Naturally. This monster dates

0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:49.280
<v Speaker 2>back to the nineteen twenty two silent German expressionist film Nosferatu,

0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:53.440
<v Speaker 2>a symphony of harm, which in turn has been reimagined

0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:58.720
<v Speaker 2>many times, including in the Werner Herzog nineteen seventy nine

0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:04.000
<v Speaker 2>film Nosphora to the Vampire. I find the nosferatu particularly

0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:07.920
<v Speaker 2>engaging in light of what we know of obligate sanguevares

0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.480
<v Speaker 2>in the natural world, particularly vampire bats. It is a

0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:17.080
<v Speaker 2>highly specialized diet blood and not at all an easy

0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:22.200
<v Speaker 2>survival path. Unlike their insect and fruit eating relatives, vampire

0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.920
<v Speaker 2>bats cannot hibernate or migrate. They lack the fat store,

0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.120
<v Speaker 2>so instead they must feed every night, lapping up fifty

0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:34.160
<v Speaker 2>percent of their body weight in order to survive. So, too,

0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.840
<v Speaker 2>the Nosferatu seems shackled to its thirst. In the fifth

0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.680
<v Speaker 2>edition of Dungeons and Dragons, the Nosfatu merits its own

0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.160
<v Speaker 2>monster manual entry, separate from all the other blood drinkers

0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.680
<v Speaker 2>with a level eight challenge rating. It's no pushover, but

0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.960
<v Speaker 2>it's both powerful and in some ways fragile. Hyper sensitive

0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.079
<v Speaker 2>to sunlight. It has a few different attack actions at

0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:04.160
<v Speaker 2>its disposal, including blood disgorge, in which quote the nosferatu

0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.360
<v Speaker 2>vomits blood in a fifteen foot cone. In doing this,

0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:13.079
<v Speaker 2>it inflicts necrotic damage on any hapless hero in its way.

0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.120
<v Speaker 2>In the natural world, scavenging vultures are known to disgorge

0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:20.840
<v Speaker 2>their meals when threatened, perhaps to bribe the attacker or

0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.040
<v Speaker 2>to lighten their load for an escape flight. This would

0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.320
<v Speaker 2>be a fit in comparison for the Nosferatu, but the

0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.400
<v Speaker 2>Texas horned lizard boasts an impressive defense as well. While

0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.080
<v Speaker 2>its camouflage is generally quite effective, it can also shoot

0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:38.280
<v Speaker 2>a stream of blood out of its eyelids with a

0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:42.080
<v Speaker 2>range of up to five feet. According to the Oklahoma

0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.280
<v Speaker 2>Department of Wildlife Conservation. The blood also contains a bitter chemical,

0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.600
<v Speaker 2>possibly derived from ants and the lizard's diet, which predators

0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.640
<v Speaker 2>such as coyotes find particularly distasteful. The lizard can use

0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.160
<v Speaker 2>up to a third of its total blood supply in

0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:03.720
<v Speaker 2>this counter attack, but it gets the Messa across, and

0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:09.880
<v Speaker 2>now let's discuss the owl bear. The owl bear has

0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.080
<v Speaker 2>a long history in the world of Dungeons and Dragons,

0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:16.080
<v Speaker 2>dating all the way back to the gaming table of

0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:20.800
<v Speaker 2>dn D pioneer Gary Gygax, who was allegedly inspired by

0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.080
<v Speaker 2>the design of a Japanese Kaiju toy which he used

0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:26.800
<v Speaker 2>as a mini on his gaming table. You can look

0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.760
<v Speaker 2>up images of the toy, a slightly dirty beaked monster

0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:34.839
<v Speaker 2>in yellow plastic, standing in the traditional stance of an

0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:39.279
<v Speaker 2>old school t rex toy. Now you'll find various choices

0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:43.040
<v Speaker 2>of dedicated owl bear miniature today, as the creature has

0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:47.040
<v Speaker 2>become a standard of fantasy role playing adventures. A hulking,

0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.960
<v Speaker 2>flightless owl beast that stalks the forests, hunting anything that

0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.279
<v Speaker 2>moves and littering its layer with their bones. It is

0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:00.320
<v Speaker 2>not an evil monster, but rather a neutral denizen of

0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.840
<v Speaker 2>the fantastic forest. The fifth edition Monster Manual tells us

0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.960
<v Speaker 2>that while the exact origins of the owl bear are unknown,

0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.800
<v Speaker 2>there are two prevailing theories. Either a mad wizard spliced

0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:16.000
<v Speaker 2>an owl and a bear together into a single beast,

0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.800
<v Speaker 2>or it has simply always been a part of the

0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:23.160
<v Speaker 2>fay wild, which I guess is basically like saying it's

0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.280
<v Speaker 2>a naturally occurring organism. Fair enough, in the world of

0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:31.120
<v Speaker 2>dungeons and dragons, magic has an objective reality, as do

0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:34.279
<v Speaker 2>just about every god and devil you could possibly imagine.

0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.920
<v Speaker 2>But what fascinates me about the owl bear is that

0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.920
<v Speaker 2>none of that seems quite required. It feels highly probable.

0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.440
<v Speaker 2>It's a whole different kettle of fish compared to something

0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:49.080
<v Speaker 2>like a beholder or even a fire breathing dragon. It is,

0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.680
<v Speaker 2>in essence, a large, flightless owl that has come to

0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.960
<v Speaker 2>fill the ecological niche formally occupied by a bear. In

0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:02.400
<v Speaker 2>the natural world, most bear species are omnivores, with pandas

0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:07.200
<v Speaker 2>and polar bears representing the dietary extremes on either side

0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.720
<v Speaker 2>herbivore and carnivore, respectively. It's implied that owlbears are carnivores,

0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.039
<v Speaker 2>but I think we can easily imagine them obtaining nourishment. However,

0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:21.160
<v Speaker 2>they can from freshly mauled adventures and scavenged corpses to

0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.560
<v Speaker 2>elvin compost bins and maybe a few fresh berries. You

0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.240
<v Speaker 2>might counter that owls, on the other hand, are certainly carnivorous,

0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:33.080
<v Speaker 2>but the burrowing owl, which will chase its prey across

0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.400
<v Speaker 2>the ground, consumes fruit and seeds in addition to various

0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:41.920
<v Speaker 2>invertebrates and small vertebrates. The burrowing owl is still capable

0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.919
<v Speaker 2>of flight and will swoop down on its prey, but

0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.760
<v Speaker 2>its scampering tactics make it perhaps the closest thing to

0:06:48.839 --> 0:06:53.480
<v Speaker 2>an actual owl bear in our world, despite its small size.

0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.920
<v Speaker 2>A more fitting match from prehistoric times, however, it can

0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:02.360
<v Speaker 2>be found in the giant Cuban owl or ornie megalonics,

0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.400
<v Speaker 2>which thrived on the island of what is now Cuba

0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.960
<v Speaker 2>during the late Plusticcene period. These owls measured three feet

0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.200
<v Speaker 2>seven inches or one point one meters in height and

0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.160
<v Speaker 2>were either flightless or nearly flightless. They are the largest

0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.200
<v Speaker 2>owls known to have ever existed in the natural world.

0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:24.400
<v Speaker 2>The giant Cuban owl and other large prehistoric birds, including

0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.080
<v Speaker 2>the moa, thrived on islands and continents that land mammals

0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:31.440
<v Speaker 2>hadn't reached yet. In these places, they filled niches typically

0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.880
<v Speaker 2>filled by carnivorous mammals and megafauna. So, as far as

0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.000
<v Speaker 2>my thinking goes, we don't need mad wizards to arrive

0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.640
<v Speaker 2>at the owl bear. We just need an ecosystem isolated

0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:45.600
<v Speaker 2>from mammals, in which some manner of ground hunting owl

0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:50.880
<v Speaker 2>can steadily adapt toward filling the role traditionally occupied by bears.

0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.200
<v Speaker 2>This would also work if some previously dominant organism had

0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.120
<v Speaker 2>been wiped out and owls were able to move into

0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.280
<v Speaker 2>that vacant niche. But of course, in the world of

0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:06.080
<v Speaker 2>dungeons and dragons, dinosaurs and dragons coexists, so it's hard

0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:10.200
<v Speaker 2>to imagine there being too many opportunities for evolving organisms

0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:15.120
<v Speaker 2>like this, So maybe a mad wizard is required after all. Well,

0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:18.119
<v Speaker 2>my son Sebastian, who actually just gave me an owl

0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.160
<v Speaker 2>bear mini for Father's Day, suggests that it could have

0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.320
<v Speaker 2>been the work of druids seeking not to release a

0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:28.680
<v Speaker 2>ferocious monster on the world and challenge adventurers, but rather

0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:34.360
<v Speaker 2>to bolster a challenged environment where perhaps adventurers had wiped

0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.960
<v Speaker 2>out the bears and there was this lovely niche that

0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:41.960
<v Speaker 2>needed filling. Well, why not the owl? Why not the

0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.320
<v Speaker 2>owl bear? Thanks to my son Sebastian for chiming in

0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:53.079
<v Speaker 2>on this one. Our third selection is the salt dragon.

0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.679
<v Speaker 2>From green dragons to golden dragons, from solar dragons to

0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:04.840
<v Speaker 2>lou dragons, the world of dungeons and dragons, as well

0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.800
<v Speaker 2>a lot of dragons. One variety that hasn't officially seen

0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.240
<v Speaker 2>the light of days since second edition is the salt

0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:17.480
<v Speaker 2>dragon of the Forgotten Realms the setting. These pale, yellow

0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:22.000
<v Speaker 2>and white dragons were said to inhabit salt encrusted lands,

0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.240
<v Speaker 2>and their breath weapon was fittingly salt themed as well.

0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:31.000
<v Speaker 2>They expelled a cone of salt crystals that could blind

0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:36.000
<v Speaker 2>and wound enemies both above and beneath the water. While

0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.199
<v Speaker 2>there are no true salt dragons in the natural world,

0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.800
<v Speaker 2>we do have the Galapagos marine iguana, an endemic algae

0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.240
<v Speaker 2>eating iguana species that adapted to thrive on the isolated

0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:51.760
<v Speaker 2>islands of the Galactos. These are marvelous creatures to watch,

0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.920
<v Speaker 2>sometimes comical and amusing as they bass on shore side

0:09:56.040 --> 0:10:00.360
<v Speaker 2>rocks and landings, but utterly graceful in the water. Sure

0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:05.120
<v Speaker 2>they frequently appear to sneeze, this is actually a means

0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:09.199
<v Speaker 2>of clearing excess salt from their bodies via special glands

0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:13.480
<v Speaker 2>at the nostrils. The resulting salt crystals sometimes encrust the

0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.480
<v Speaker 2>thorny heads of the lounging creatures, giving them an even

0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:20.640
<v Speaker 2>saltier appearance. Those horny protrusions on the head, by the way,

0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:24.640
<v Speaker 2>help scrape algae away from the rocks during feeding. So

0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.600
<v Speaker 2>for the marine iguana, salt sneezes are a means of

0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.200
<v Speaker 2>removing excess levels of salt from the body, not a

0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:34.880
<v Speaker 2>means of defense. Though even Charles Darwin in his book

0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:38.720
<v Speaker 2>The Voyage of the Beagle described the act as follows quote.

0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.400
<v Speaker 2>They do not seem to have any notion of biting,

0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.720
<v Speaker 2>but when much frightened, they squirret a drop of fluid

0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:49.040
<v Speaker 2>from each nostrul. First impressions surely, as the basting iguanas

0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:53.920
<v Speaker 2>seem to regularly emit salt regardless of perceived fright Still,

0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:57.080
<v Speaker 2>this curious feature allows us an avenue by which to

0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:02.200
<v Speaker 2>imagine the physiology of a fantastic salt dragon. Instead of

0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.760
<v Speaker 2>expelling all of its excess salt, perhaps the giant fantastic

0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:11.400
<v Speaker 2>creature is able to safely store the crystals or concentrated

0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.880
<v Speaker 2>saline solution inside its body for later use as a

0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:22.640
<v Speaker 2>defensive or offensive breath weapon. And for a final selection,

0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:29.120
<v Speaker 2>let's head into the cave. Nothing beats a good Dungeons

0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:33.400
<v Speaker 2>and Dragons cave environment. Whether you're talking about an isolated

0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.720
<v Speaker 2>cavern layer for a surface rampaging monster, or the dark

0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:42.599
<v Speaker 2>subterranean kingdoms of the underdark. Either way, there's no shortage

0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.680
<v Speaker 2>of exotic monsters to populate these environments, and at least

0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.800
<v Speaker 2>two of them stand out for their mimicry of stalactites

0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:55.800
<v Speaker 2>and stalagmites. First, let's refresh on the nature of stalactites

0:11:55.800 --> 0:12:00.640
<v Speaker 2>and stalagmites. Stalactites derived from the Greek to drill is

0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:04.840
<v Speaker 2>a mineral formation caused by dripping that forms on the ceiling.

0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:08.760
<v Speaker 2>The corresponding formation on the floor of the cavern is

0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.160
<v Speaker 2>a stalagmite. Some folks might keep the straight in their

0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:17.079
<v Speaker 2>own heads by reminding themselves that stalactite has a C

0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.520
<v Speaker 2>in it for ceiling and stalagmite has a G in

0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.280
<v Speaker 2>it for ground. At any rate, let's start on the floor.

0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.080
<v Speaker 2>Amid the stalagmites of D and D you'll find the

0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:32.160
<v Speaker 2>occasional roper, a large, one eyed monster that mimics a

0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:36.400
<v Speaker 2>silent cone of stone until an adventurer strays too close.

0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:39.920
<v Speaker 2>Then its tentacles lash out and pull the victim in

0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:44.439
<v Speaker 2>towards its deadly maw. Amid the stalactites, you'll find an

0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:50.400
<v Speaker 2>even more fascinating creature, the piercer. This predatory mollusk has

0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:55.520
<v Speaker 2>a sharp stalactite shaped shell, enabling it to blend in

0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.760
<v Speaker 2>on a cavern ceiling until guess what, along comes another

0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.240
<v Speaker 2>hand apless adventure and the piercer drops like the sword

0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:07.000
<v Speaker 2>of Damocles and hopefully skewers the poor sap to the floor.

0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:11.000
<v Speaker 2>If this is a success, the piercer or piercers, because

0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:15.520
<v Speaker 2>sometimes they apparently live in groups, begin the feast. A fail, however,

0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.000
<v Speaker 2>means the creature has to slowly crawl back up the

0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.839
<v Speaker 2>wall to the ceiling in order to try its gravity

0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:28.199
<v Speaker 2>assisted attack once more. The piercer is a fantastic monster concept,

0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.839
<v Speaker 2>and both of these cave dwellers have been lashing out

0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:35.360
<v Speaker 2>against adventurers since the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons. However,

0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:38.200
<v Speaker 2>when we turn to the cave environments of the natural world,

0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.640
<v Speaker 2>we don't find creatures that employ such tactics. While there

0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.559
<v Speaker 2>are many amazing subterranean organisms with unique adaptations, you might

0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:51.080
<v Speaker 2>well ponder over the seeming absence of stalactite and stalagmite mimics,

0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.680
<v Speaker 2>as evolutionary developmental biologist William R. Jeffrey points out in

0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.760
<v Speaker 2>his two thousand and nine paper Regressive evolution in a

0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:04.360
<v Speaker 2>Dionacs cavefish quote. In surface dwelling animals, pigmentation is used

0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:09.280
<v Speaker 2>for protection from sunlight, camouflage, mimicry, and species and sex recognition,

0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.479
<v Speaker 2>all of which are irrevolent in the dark cave environment.

0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.760
<v Speaker 2>Jeffrey is dealing chiefly with cavefish here in this paper,

0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.880
<v Speaker 2>but I think we can safely apply this concept to

0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:24.480
<v Speaker 2>other cave dwellers as well. Again, we have to remember

0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.400
<v Speaker 2>that these are lightless worlds, where sight in the organs

0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:32.320
<v Speaker 2>of sight lose their importance. Other senses become the coin

0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.880
<v Speaker 2>of the realm in dungeons and dragons. However, we have

0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:39.680
<v Speaker 2>to remember that these wholly fictional cave environments revolve entirely

0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:44.120
<v Speaker 2>around the inevitable arrival of generally cited characters, and that

0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:48.400
<v Speaker 2>they're often aided by magical vision lamps and or a

0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:52.560
<v Speaker 2>plethora of bioluminescent fungi. And we have to remind ourselves

0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.760
<v Speaker 2>that mimicry in the real world doesn't have to be visual.

0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.800
<v Speaker 2>It can certainly be auditory. For instance, the greater mouse

0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.000
<v Speaker 2>bat has been observed to mimic the sounds of buzzing

0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:08.600
<v Speaker 2>hornets to scare away predatory owl species. Meanwhile, Chinese cicadas

0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:12.840
<v Speaker 2>are also known to use intraspecific sexual mimicry that means

0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:16.440
<v Speaker 2>males using female sounds in this case, which amounts to

0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.520
<v Speaker 2>a similar sort of auditory deception. And hey, D and

0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.720
<v Speaker 2>D has us covered there as well, with the Lucratum

0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.440
<v Speaker 2>monstrous be said to lure in their victims by mimicking

0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:31.440
<v Speaker 2>the voices of humans and other intelligent species, inspired by

0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:35.440
<v Speaker 2>the half hyena half lion creatures described by Plenty of

0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.600
<v Speaker 2>the Elder said to reside in Ethiopia, yet quote mimics

0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:44.760
<v Speaker 2>the voices of men and cattle. Tune in for additional

0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:48.000
<v Speaker 2>episodes of the Monster Fact each week. As always, you

0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.920
<v Speaker 2>can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your

0:15:50.960 --> 0:16:00.560
<v Speaker 2>Mind dot com.

0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:04.000
<v Speaker 1>Stuffed Blow your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more

0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.800
<v Speaker 1>podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:09.560
<v Speaker 1>wherever you listen to your favorite shows.