Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host
Speaker 1: A Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology,
Speaker 1: and today on the show, we're talking about twists and turns,
Speaker 1: dizzy apes, purewetting spiders, and twisty birds. While these animals
Speaker 1: all have a different spin on spinning, they all share
Speaker 1: a love for the twirl. Discover this more as we
Speaker 1: answer the agel question, how do you get your lover
Speaker 1: back with the help of a bird? Joining me today
Speaker 1: is teacup Ride enthusiast, friend of the show, producer host
Speaker 1: of the podcast Rough Stuff and Shooting Threes, Bridget Greenberg. Welcome, Hi,
Speaker 1: thanks for having bird. Yeah, I did just say that
Speaker 1: you like the tea cup Ride, but I don't actually
Speaker 1: know that. How do you feel about spinning? I'm I
Speaker 1: got a solid stomach for ase. I like spinning. I'm
Speaker 1: not a rollercoaster persona but if but if we're going
Speaker 1: around in the circle real fast, I'm actually a big
Speaker 1: fan of that. Really, I think that's fun. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: shocked that I have the tolerance for that, but I do.
Speaker 1: That's great. I don't not a spinning person. No, I
Speaker 1: mean I like. So I'm very conflicted because I like
Speaker 1: the feeling of being dizzy, but I don't like the
Speaker 1: feeling of being nauseous, and usually those two charmed together.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I could just be dizzy but not nauseous,
Speaker 1: that would be great, But they come hand in hand
Speaker 1: for me typically. You know, I'm curious because I haven't, like,
Speaker 1: I haven't been to a Disney World or Universal in
Speaker 1: a while. So last time I was on the tea cups,
Speaker 1: I was I was probably in my early twenties, and
Speaker 1: now that I've crossed the threshold into my thirties, I
Speaker 1: don't I actually don't know right. Uh, you know a
Speaker 1: lot of things that I used to enjoy have turned on,
Speaker 1: and I can feel like that's one of them. I
Speaker 1: recently we tried to roll down a hill and that
Speaker 1: was like one of my favorites as a kid, was
Speaker 1: rolling down a hill, and it took me a good
Speaker 1: like fifteen minutes to recover, and like it wasn't I
Speaker 1: didn't just like bounce back up and go back to it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: on my knees for a while. Because when you're when
Speaker 1: before you turn thirty, exactly through your body is made
Speaker 1: out of rubber that he's like sort of self healing rubber.
Speaker 1: And then the minute you turn thirty, suddenly you kind
Speaker 1: of have the texture of like a plum or banana.
Speaker 1: Things don't really yeah yeah, yeah, just soft and squashy
Speaker 1: and bruised, like your shoulder just kind of slides off
Speaker 1: of your body. I don't really know what happened, but
Speaker 1: and it's not going back, no, no, and then it
Speaker 1: just gets worse and worse, which you know, Hey, it's life,
Speaker 1: isn't it nice. That's what's happened. That's that's what our
Speaker 1: bodies were signed to do. Yes, but we are talking
Speaker 1: about animals who like to spin around, and the first
Speaker 1: animal or animals that we are talking about are primates.
Speaker 1: There's research out of the University of Birmingham and the
Speaker 1: University of Warwick. They looked through many, many videos of
Speaker 1: primates spinning, including chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, and they found
Speaker 1: that first of all, they often use something like a
Speaker 1: vine or a rope to just really spin around as
Speaker 1: fast as possible, and they are capable of spinning at
Speaker 1: speed similar to human dancers or aerial silk artists. So
Speaker 1: just a beautiful orangutans spinning in the air like a
Speaker 1: sky dancer. Wow, this is this is that's adorable. Then
Speaker 1: they're just doing this for funzis as far as we know,
Speaker 1: that is the theory. That is the theory, because there's
Speaker 1: not really any utility that the researchers could find with this. Also,
Speaker 1: the spinning behavior made them dizzy and fall down off
Speaker 1: of the rope or vines and and just like be
Speaker 1: generally unstable, So it doesn't seem like there's any benefit
Speaker 1: to it other than it makes them real dizzy and
Speaker 1: they like that. I love thee of animals just having
Speaker 1: fun being weirdos, just because you know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: tough out there of course in the woods. You just
Speaker 1: think like everything they do is uh, you know, to survive,
Speaker 1: and it's really nice to see them just having a
Speaker 1: good time. I love those videos of like pandas just
Speaker 1: like splashing around in baths. Yeah, just for fun and
Speaker 1: being and being dumb idiots. Uh, speaking of turning, they
Speaker 1: love they just like they're so roly poly. They will
Speaker 1: fall out of a tree and then just start rolling down.
Speaker 1: They just summer solid. Yeah, yeah, just and seem to
Speaker 1: be having the time. Of their lives. And I like
Speaker 1: this little he puts his feet up. He really gives
Speaker 1: you a show. I love that we have these examples
Speaker 1: of animals just doing recreational stuff because I think it's
Speaker 1: really important in how we understand animals that they are
Speaker 1: not like not everything is just done for brute efficiency
Speaker 1: for you know, these evolutionary pressures or like. It doesn't
Speaker 1: it doesn't always have to have some like utility or
Speaker 1: purpose or like this will help you breed better or something.
Speaker 1: It can sometimes just be fun. And it's it's the
Speaker 1: same reason that humans like to have fun. Like we
Speaker 1: have brains, we have a conscious experience, and then a
Speaker 1: side effect of that is the desire to trigger the
Speaker 1: parts of the brain that gives us little like happy feelings. Ah,
Speaker 1: you know they deserve. They deserve to spit around as
Speaker 1: fast as they want. I really like the idea of
Speaker 1: them aerial silk dancers. Yes, that's very fun. Just a troop.
Speaker 1: Let's get some silks out in the forest, have them
Speaker 1: just make a routine cirk the slay, except that it's
Speaker 1: like all gorillas. I would watch that, but only if
Speaker 1: the gorillas started it and collectively own it. And there's
Speaker 1: no humans involved, Like if it's just their thing, it's
Speaker 1: just for them, it's it's there, it's their ballet, right exactly.
Speaker 1: So one of the leaders of the study, doctor Marcus Pearlman, said, quote,
Speaker 1: we experimented ourselves with spinning at these speeds, the speeds
Speaker 1: the primates were going, and found it difficult to sustain
Speaker 1: for as long as the great apes did in several cases.
Speaker 1: So these apes totally beats, totally beat these nerds at
Speaker 1: their ability to spin around. I would say if you
Speaker 1: if I was a betting woman and you asked me
Speaker 1: who could withstand more speed a group of scientists or apes,
Speaker 1: I would put my I would put my money on
Speaker 1: the apes. Yeah. I also I pretty much always put
Speaker 1: money on apes whenever it's like physical comes down to it, right,
Speaker 1: who could win an arm wrestling ape? Who could win
Speaker 1: at eat banana? Ape? When at eatanas? Crushing crushing skulls? Apes?
Speaker 1: Probably apes? Yeah? Apes? Every time? Uh yeah, no, they're
Speaker 1: they're good to put money on it. I see here
Speaker 1: they were doing it purposefully as if dancing and how beautiful. Yes. Yes,
Speaker 1: So it's interesting because this spinning practice in an apes.
Speaker 1: Of course, none of the currently living apes have we
Speaker 1: descended from? These are all like cousins, either close cousins
Speaker 1: or distant cousins, like chimpanzees were probably no closer cousins too,
Speaker 1: whereas gorillas and Orai tans were a little further away
Speaker 1: from But nevertheless, we are related to them, but we
Speaker 1: did not descend from them. However, because we see this
Speaker 1: behavior in present day apes, it's like the question is, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe this was something that human ancestors also did. And
Speaker 1: what's really interesting is that spinning is used in almost
Speaker 1: every culture's dance practices as well as in religious, spiritual,
Speaker 1: or meditative practices. Huh have you ever seen Sufi whirling
Speaker 1: or I think sometimes called whirling dervishes? Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So it is a form of meditation practiced by certain
Speaker 1: sects of Islam, such as the Sufi Dervishes and Mevlevi
Speaker 1: order in Turkey. It is a religious ritual and similar
Speaker 1: to other forms of meditation, it is meant to help
Speaker 1: detach oneself from one's own ego. There's also religious music
Speaker 1: that is meant to help the practitioners connect with God.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful right to watch they wear these long outfits
Speaker 1: and you know they're spinning around. It's but it's like
Speaker 1: it is meant to be a form of meditation for
Speaker 1: the practitioners. It's not just a performance for other people
Speaker 1: to watch. It's like you're spinning around so much that
Speaker 1: at a certain point you kind of start to feel
Speaker 1: like this separation from your body and your ego. And
Speaker 1: so it's so similar to so many forms of meditation
Speaker 1: that is trying to achieve that same thing, regardless of
Speaker 1: what religion it is. It's the same thing of like
Speaker 1: you are sort of taking yourself out of your mind
Speaker 1: and like having this detachment from your ego. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: makes total sense to me. I mean that feeling of
Speaker 1: being dizzy and then like throwing yourself on the floor
Speaker 1: afterwards and kind of having like the world spin around. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is very like uh, I mean you you literally
Speaker 1: feel a little out of your body. So it's it
Speaker 1: definitely takes you out, like it is a very visceral
Speaker 1: feel like it takes you out of like you're thinking
Speaker 1: head in your travel, like just get the world back. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting because I I was looking for other examples
Speaker 1: of people using spinning for meditation and I couldn't really
Speaker 1: find any. But what I did find is people who
Speaker 1: meditate and actually feel that out of body feeling report
Speaker 1: feeling dizzy, So like dizziness can be something that you
Speaker 1: can achieve through forms of meditation, or you can meditate
Speaker 1: by making yourself kind of dizzy. And I just find
Speaker 1: that really interesting that that kind of feeling of being
Speaker 1: dizzy or off balance can be not an unpleasant thing
Speaker 1: or even not like an exhilarating thing, but a form
Speaker 1: of meditation. Yeah, I mean it is truly like out
Speaker 1: of body. Yeah, I think of even like those float
Speaker 1: tanks where you're kind of ye to not feel your
Speaker 1: body and then coming to after that, it's like the
Speaker 1: amount of information you're then taking in, Yeah, the censories
Speaker 1: and like you feel and it's dark. I'm scared of
Speaker 1: doing that because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be
Speaker 1: visited by a demon, Like immediately, I'm gonna starting demons.
Speaker 1: I am so scared. My boyfriend's a huge fan of them.
Speaker 1: He's like a big meditator and a big fan and
Speaker 1: has been trying to get me to do that. But
Speaker 1: I can't even be in a steam room, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: if I can't see in front of me, like I
Speaker 1: need a hand on the door, like I need a
Speaker 1: known escape plan. Yeah, uh yeah, I feel like I'd
Speaker 1: just be like clutching the door the whole time. I also, like,
Speaker 1: I have a very vivid imagination, and I do occasionally
Speaker 1: get sleep paralysis, so it just seems like that is
Speaker 1: a recipe for me to get totally haunted a tube
Speaker 1: of nightmares. But yeah, I mean recreational spinning is found
Speaker 1: everywhere in human culture, from being more like significant in
Speaker 1: terms of like dancing or for religious ceremonies. Um, I
Speaker 1: mean there's the horror, which you know, like and then
Speaker 1: basically every culture. So the horror is like a Jewish
Speaker 1: dance where you all hold hands and you you all
Speaker 1: kind of like go around in a big circle. But
Speaker 1: like there's also some like chairlifting element to it as well.
Speaker 1: We don't know what that is, but it's fun. It's fun.
Speaker 1: It's fun. But like there's I feel like there's a
Speaker 1: version of that in almost every culture as well, like
Speaker 1: being in a big circle and then spinning around, you know.
Speaker 1: But also there's things like you mentioned playground spinners, like
Speaker 1: the little not not like a mirror go around with
Speaker 1: the horses, but the thing that you like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: that big disc. Yeah, the disc that spins around and
Speaker 1: then children fly off and crack their heads open. But
Speaker 1: it's really fun. It's very fun. That was my favorite. Uh,
Speaker 1: that was one of my favorites on the playground. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that one I was. It was fun to a point
Speaker 1: for me, and then I would start to get scared. Um.
Speaker 1: But but there are just so many amusement park rides
Speaker 1: for adults as well that will spin you around. Um, Like,
Speaker 1: there are now apparently roller coasters that also spin, so
Speaker 1: like you're in a car and the car is like
Speaker 1: spinning around as you're on the roller coaster, which seems
Speaker 1: like a lot. I feel like I would just be
Speaker 1: a barf sprinkler if I went on one of those.
Speaker 1: But apparently that's a lot, especially yeah, especially after a
Speaker 1: corn dog or two that. Yeah, it seems the churros
Speaker 1: what get me. The churros in the spinning. But spinning
Speaker 1: is fun, and I'm glad apes are enjoying it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because it's a very cute video. I am also glad
Speaker 1: that the apes are having a good time. Yeah. Uh,
Speaker 1: they deserve it if they fall hard out there in
Speaker 1: the jungle, and uh like watching them spin it did.
Speaker 1: I am concerned about that vine breaking. But I'm glad
Speaker 1: that one held up. Yeah, I'm sure it'll they're tough,
Speaker 1: They're they'll they'll bounce back, yeah they yeah. And if not,
Speaker 1: you know, what a way to go out? What a
Speaker 1: way to go out. I had a vine outside on
Speaker 1: a tree outside of the house I grew up on
Speaker 1: and I would swing off of it and it did
Speaker 1: snap one day, U and h and that's all I
Speaker 1: could think about. But then I saw him having a
Speaker 1: good time, and you know, keep spinning. Yeah, just keep spinning.
Speaker 1: That's It's such a good thing to live by. Unless
Speaker 1: you get motion sickness like I do. Yeah, then you know,
Speaker 1: spin a modest amount until you feel like yeah, and
Speaker 1: then sit down and then stop. Yeah doesn't that one
Speaker 1: doesn't fit on a T shirt as well though? Yeah? No, uh,
Speaker 1: but you know your own limits. Spind your limits. Mind
Speaker 1: you spin around, but mind your limits. There we go. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, so we're gonna take a quick break. But
Speaker 1: when we get back, we're going to talk about another
Speaker 1: spinner who spins for a very different reason. So bridget
Speaker 1: spinning isn't always fun in games. One of the fastest
Speaker 1: spinning animals is actually a spider. Now, this might be
Speaker 1: confusing because spiders also spin webs, but that's not what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. This is not about web spinning. This
Speaker 1: is about actually just spinning around. Okay, So this is
Speaker 1: called the flatty spider, which was also my nickname in
Speaker 1: high school, uh spider. Flatty spiders also known as wall
Speaker 1: crab spiders, which somehow that name's less endearing. I don't
Speaker 1: know wall crabs. Crabs, yeah, and I don't mind crabs.
Speaker 1: It's once you apply a modifier to the noun crab
Speaker 1: that it starts to worry me. Yeah, crab is one
Speaker 1: of those words you have to get in and get out.
Speaker 1: You cannot right, right, it can't be a build up,
Speaker 1: right And flatty flatty is such a cute name. Yeah, yeah, flatty.
Speaker 1: So yeah. It is a family of over two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty species of flat splayed out spider. They range
Speaker 1: in size from about five millimeters to twenty five millimeters
Speaker 1: or about point two to one inches, so not huge,
Speaker 1: but you know, if it was on your face you'd
Speaker 1: be sad. I think maybe, yeah, no, that's yeah, big enough.
Speaker 1: You notice them. Some of them I think are in
Speaker 1: the small enough range where I'm like, hey, you're just
Speaker 1: a little buddy, And then they get big enough where
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, you should be paying rent if
Speaker 1: you want to stay in my hartment. Yeah, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: big enough to cause me a harm. Yeah. I don't
Speaker 1: know that that's literally true, but maybe psychology, yes, it
Speaker 1: feels that way. So their legs are positioned all around
Speaker 1: in three hundred and sixty degrees, giving them tactical leg
Speaker 1: advantage and a sort of appearance that is a little
Speaker 1: bit uh, starfish like and also maybe slightly upsetting. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it's so when I look at
Speaker 1: them from an aerial view, I am not super psyched
Speaker 1: about the look. But then when I look at them
Speaker 1: front on, they are really cute to me, Like you
Speaker 1: just kind of look at their little face, like sure
Speaker 1: when you can see and yeah, when you can see
Speaker 1: the face, Um, I'm not bothered by it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I you know, I kind of realize it's uh,
Speaker 1: I guess personhood is not the right, but like I
Speaker 1: understand what spider hood I can see intit sol it
Speaker 1: a little bit and then uh yeah the top view
Speaker 1: and saying how long those legs aren't especially saying it move.
Speaker 1: Um not great, Yeah, it does get does does kind
Speaker 1: of give me the yick a little bit. That's that's
Speaker 1: a very athletic way to move. Yeah, and it's like
Speaker 1: a ballerina but with eight legs, with eight legs, very long, spindling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it becomes I'm not a person who like I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't not surprisingly not an arachnophobe, but like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember why people don't like spiders. Yeah, watching this
Speaker 1: guy move, although, I mean I'm thinking of a ballerina
Speaker 1: with eight legs and that is maybe a little scary,
Speaker 1: but also imagine the baller moves they could do. Oh yeah, beautiful.
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, this this is a very athletic spider. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it moves beautifully. That being said, do I need a
Speaker 1: spider to move beautifully? Yeah, it's confusing, it's sending mixed messages.
Speaker 1: So yeah, they spin extremely quickly in order to pure
Speaker 1: wet their way towards prey and kill them. They can
Speaker 1: actually strike their prey in an eighth of a second
Speaker 1: and spend three times, like three rotations within the blink
Speaker 1: of an eye, which makes them the fastest spinning terrestrial
Speaker 1: animal that is. Yeah, and it's like a pivot. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it moves so pivot. Yeah yeah, and like it's
Speaker 1: like a bay blade. Yeah, its whole body looks like
Speaker 1: a weapon. Yeah yeah, I can't stop watching it because
Speaker 1: it's like very admirative. Yeah yeah, um, but it's also terrifying. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, like, can you imagine just a bloodthirsty eight
Speaker 1: legged ballerina that is so swift, so graceful you really
Speaker 1: don't stand a chance and got like a two two
Speaker 1: but the two two its legs. It's yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: quite something. So like they will seem to be minding
Speaker 1: their own business with their backs turned towards their prey,
Speaker 1: and then in a blink of an eye, they just
Speaker 1: like spin around. You can barely see it, like when
Speaker 1: it's the speed is normal speed, it's just it kind
Speaker 1: of looks like they suddenly teleported to be like facing
Speaker 1: their prey. And they will use the one leg closest
Speaker 1: to the prey as an anchor point, which they pure
Speaker 1: wet on gracefully. And they actually use a technique that
Speaker 1: figure skaters and ballet dancers will use to spin faster
Speaker 1: by tucking their legs in. So yeah, yeah, if you've
Speaker 1: seen like a like a figure skater doing those mad
Speaker 1: sick spins, or like even a ballet dancer, like when
Speaker 1: they turn, they will like their leg might be out,
Speaker 1: but then they'll like tuck it in to do their turn,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they do the same thing. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: they're gaining speed, they're doing less quickly. It's a very like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's such a methodical movement. It doesn't seem like it
Speaker 1: should work so well to catch prey. It seems like
Speaker 1: it should slow them down. But they're very good at it.
Speaker 1: It's a it's an incredible feat. Yeah, the idea of
Speaker 1: a spider being so tactical does scare me. I think
Speaker 1: also just like the idea of it feels like the
Speaker 1: feels like it's safe right because it's back is turned
Speaker 1: to you, and it's like, while you have some time
Speaker 1: right to get away by the time it turns around
Speaker 1: and spots you, But no you don't, because it's suddenly,
Speaker 1: like suddenly, before you can even blank, it is facing you,
Speaker 1: which I find like if I was facing down some
Speaker 1: kind of human sized spider or predator and they go
Speaker 1: from facing away and I'm like, maybe I could speak
Speaker 1: sneak around this guy and then suddenly you blink and
Speaker 1: then they are staring at you and their mouth is open,
Speaker 1: and then that's good night for you. That's what it
Speaker 1: wants you to do. That's exactly what it wants you
Speaker 1: to think. Yeah, if I could move faster spinning, Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like that would just be like a cool
Speaker 1: way to move about the world, Like watch that would
Speaker 1: be That's like it could be kind of cool, but
Speaker 1: also kind of horrifying. Just seeing someone doing ballet spins
Speaker 1: over to get somewhere to hustle. I think I would
Speaker 1: be scared. And that's what it's all that. It's all
Speaker 1: about intimidation walking down the street. Ballet is really about intimidation.
Speaker 1: That's what I've always said. Yeah, they don't tell you that,
Speaker 1: but have you have you seen a ballerina's thigh muscles
Speaker 1: Like that could intimidating. Yeah, that as thick as like
Speaker 1: a trunk. Yeah, and uh yeah they are fat. God. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I keep watching this video over and over again. It's
Speaker 1: kind of it's it's hypnotized. Yeah, to pivot like that
Speaker 1: on eight legs is like it's a very impressive movement. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'll include a link to the video in the show notes.
Speaker 1: But I do warn you. It appears that Bridget has
Speaker 1: become completely mesmerized. So I think this might be some
Speaker 1: kind of form of spider hypnotism, because maybe, yeah, they
Speaker 1: they have me. They have spiders have me. I belong
Speaker 1: to this, Bridget belongs to the spiders. Now I'm one
Speaker 1: of the spiders. Now I'm gonna be working on this move.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know what I'm gonna use it
Speaker 1: for yet, but I'm gonna work on it. So we
Speaker 1: have talked about animals who spin for fun or maybe meditation.
Speaker 1: We don't really know what's going on in those apes minds,
Speaker 1: like maybe they're spinning to feel a sense of metacognition.
Speaker 1: We don't know, but they seem to have a blast.
Speaker 1: We've talked about spiders who spin around like a ballerina
Speaker 1: so they can devour unsuspecting prey. And now we are
Speaker 1: going to talk about twisting and turning as a form
Speaker 1: of defense. So the Eurasian ry neck, which is a
Speaker 1: great name, is not the fastest twister and the animal Kingdom,
Speaker 1: but it uses a methodical twisting and turning in one
Speaker 1: of the most ingenious ways I've ever seen. So, Bridget,
Speaker 1: are you checking out that video. It looks like I'm
Speaker 1: looking at I'm looking at this video. This is a
Speaker 1: funny little dude. Yeah, he's got a real bendy neck. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I can I can see how this works. It
Speaker 1: kind of like I'm thinking of if whenever you thumb
Speaker 1: wrestle someone and you kind of get stuff that kind
Speaker 1: of like that's exactly diving and dodging. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: a it's like a thumb trying to avoid another thumb.
Speaker 1: My secret to successful thumb wrestling lotion. Oh you got
Speaker 1: a grease up. I'm a slippery little devil. So this
Speaker 1: is a relatively normal looking bird. It's a small bird,
Speaker 1: about the size of like a medium sized hand. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's brown, white and black in striations that kind of
Speaker 1: helps it blend in with wood like bark. They are
Speaker 1: actually in the woodpecker family, and they feed on insects
Speaker 1: that live in rotting wood. And when they feel threatened,
Speaker 1: they will do this cool trick with their necks and
Speaker 1: their heads and they will like so they throw their
Speaker 1: head back and then they start twisting and turning their
Speaker 1: heads hissing, and it really it kind of looks like
Speaker 1: a snake. So they are trying to impersonate the movements
Speaker 1: and the sound of a snake. And yeah, that's not
Speaker 1: at all what I thought they were doing. What did
Speaker 1: you think they were doing? I thought they were just
Speaker 1: trying to much like a thumb and thumb wrestling, just
Speaker 1: avoid but also like you have wings, birds fly away. Yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah it is. I mean I feel like it's also
Speaker 1: super dramatic, like just it is. It kind of looks
Speaker 1: also like a teenager who really doesn't want to do
Speaker 1: something and is like not just rolling their eyes but
Speaker 1: their whole head and neck and everything, or a baby
Speaker 1: that like doesn't want whatever you're feeding is. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just like turning away. Yeah, it looks like an avoidance move.
Speaker 1: But what you said makes a lot more sense because
Speaker 1: it seems like wings would be the ultimate avoidance move,
Speaker 1: which this bird does have. Yes, but if they also learned,
Speaker 1: then what are they going to do? What are they
Speaker 1: gonna do? I also like that it's hair sticks up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's got a little poof on top of its head
Speaker 1: that you don't notice, and it seems to only come
Speaker 1: up when it's it's writhing around. Yeah, it is. It's
Speaker 1: a whole thing. It looks a little bit like a
Speaker 1: mad inventor. Uh. And it actually it is such a
Speaker 1: bizarre behavior. It's so interesting looking that humans have noticed
Speaker 1: this since ancient times. So they have been used in
Speaker 1: human cultures in hexes and witchcraft to cast spells on
Speaker 1: other people. In fact, it's genus name, Jinks, is from
Speaker 1: the Greek inks. I think I'm pronouncing that route rights,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it to you. You simply don't know better. Uh.
Speaker 1: The it is Inks was a mythical nymph who used
Speaker 1: in chantants to cause Zeus to fall in love with Io,
Speaker 1: who was immortal, and she was punished by Zeus's wife Harra,
Speaker 1: who turned Inks into a bird, the rhineck. So yeah,
Speaker 1: this bird is from ancient Greek mythology and based on
Speaker 1: this myth, or maybe preceding this myth, which the myth
Speaker 1: played into. The rhineck was used in ancient Greece as
Speaker 1: a love charm. People would attach it to a wheel
Speaker 1: and spin it around. Oh yeah, a little brutal, and
Speaker 1: it was meant to help you secure your lover. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think it probably worked. It probably just pissed
Speaker 1: off this little bird and made it dizzy, made its
Speaker 1: tall look even more scruffy and Bernie Sanders like, yeah,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, poor little bird, don't do that. It's already
Speaker 1: spinning enough. It's already twisting and binding enough. But I
Speaker 1: just like I can't conceive of it someone spinning a
Speaker 1: bird around and you're like, hey, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: It's like I want to make sure, you know, like
Speaker 1: my girlfriend comes back to me. Yeah, it doesn't. I
Speaker 1: get In ancient Greece times I had different rituals, but
Speaker 1: even that one feels like a stretch. Yeah, you got
Speaker 1: it in a lot of work. Are you gonna capture
Speaker 1: a bird? You gotta make it dance. You've got to
Speaker 1: remember that they were probably constantly high off of like
Speaker 1: volcanic fumes, is the idea, Yeah, this is a Yeah,
Speaker 1: the whole of the whole place was just a gas leak,
Speaker 1: which which makes that make more sense. Uh. It's also
Speaker 1: like there are so many other things that happen in
Speaker 1: day to day life that you can be that I
Speaker 1: that I would attach to romance more like oh, a
Speaker 1: butterfly lands on you, or yeah, something like that that
Speaker 1: seem simple are more romantic, like this bird does look
Speaker 1: like I mean a piece of bark and or scaly snake. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tie it to a string and like spin
Speaker 1: it around, like I'm gonna torture a bird. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've tortured this bird for you. Don't you love me? Yeah?
Speaker 1: It just it doesn't seem there are so many other
Speaker 1: interactions that I've had with animals that seem a lot
Speaker 1: more conducive to romance. And right, it's like cording a bird.
Speaker 1: It's like cording someone by kicking a squirrel. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't really want someone cording me. That's torturing
Speaker 1: an animal. Right in the meantime, that seems terrifying to
Speaker 1: be kind of honest. If someone came up, I mean,
Speaker 1: like spinning a bird, I that's like I feel scared. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's one of my that's one of my deal breakers.
Speaker 1: I think torture, Yeah yeah, board bird torture specifically, I'm
Speaker 1: sure is a point of contention for you, but I
Speaker 1: think in general, yeah, uh, capturing and spinning an animal,
Speaker 1: it's not yeah, fantic. Yeah. If I'm looking on your
Speaker 1: Tinder and like there's photos of you smiling, photos of
Speaker 1: you in front of a statue, and then a photo
Speaker 1: of you with like a bird twirling like that, you're
Speaker 1: twirling around. You've just grabbed a seagull and you're smashing
Speaker 1: it against a wall. I'm not interested. It's not sure,
Speaker 1: But I mean a lot of a lot of dudes
Speaker 1: do think that, like capturing, like a fishing like that's
Speaker 1: true with a with a bass open is cool and romantic.
Speaker 1: So who knows that's true? We do. We are We
Speaker 1: are like, hey, this fish is drowning in the air. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's not attractive. Does this not impress you? Is working?
Speaker 1: Yea work? You could be like this fish in my arms? Yeah. Yeah. Instead,
Speaker 1: here's a bird I'm spinning at you. Oh, poor Bertie,
Speaker 1: doesn't that is just trying to pretend to be a snake. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then like, I it's so sad when these great
Speaker 1: evolutionary strategies of these animals that they've put in perfecting
Speaker 1: for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years, and
Speaker 1: then like humans come around. I was like, Ah, a
Speaker 1: funny bird. Maybe if I spin it around, someone will
Speaker 1: have sex with me. Yeah, it is very funny that
Speaker 1: the idea of just throwing a bird at someone you're
Speaker 1: interested in. Yeah, yeah, it's evolution did not really take
Speaker 1: into account the dumb creativity of humans. No, no, there
Speaker 1: was no way to because who saw that coming? Who
Speaker 1: saw spinning a bird around on a straight you know
Speaker 1: who saw that coming? Apes? Apes, apes apes come h
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, they're like, yeah, this is great, this is fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you should do this. Do it to me? Yeah? Well yeah,
Speaker 1: Before we go, we've got to play a little game, Bridget.
Speaker 1: You know what game? Yeah, I do. I'm bad at
Speaker 1: this game. So that's what makes it fun. That's how
Speaker 1: I feel superior is to shame my guests. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: guess his squawk and the Mystery Animal sound game. Every
Speaker 1: week I play a mystery animal sound and you the listener,
Speaker 1: and you the gift, try to guess he's making that sound.
Speaker 1: It can be any animal in the world. Um, and
Speaker 1: so here we go. Last week, mistery animals sound hint
Speaker 1: was a tiny wolf or something else. So Bridget, can
Speaker 1: you guess who is making that sound? Um? Well, you
Speaker 1: did say something about a tiny wolf, and it makes
Speaker 1: me think it's not a tiny wolf, or it might
Speaker 1: be a tiny wolf, which is not helpful. There's some
Speaker 1: sort of fox. I'm gonna go that's a fox noise.
Speaker 1: Interesting gifts, it's incorrect. Congratulations instead not to Bridget but
Speaker 1: to raining champions Auntie B and Joey P. For gissing
Speaker 1: correctly the grasshopper mouse. And honorable mention to ray Gee
Speaker 1: who guessed werewolf mouse, which I think is probably a
Speaker 1: better name for it than grasshopper mouse. So the grasshopper
Speaker 1: mouse is found in North America, and despite its cute,
Speaker 1: little fluffy body, it is a ferocious predator like a
Speaker 1: miniature wolf. It will eat insects and even scorpions, snakes
Speaker 1: or other mice. It has no moral code other than
Speaker 1: feeling it's tiny, voracious belly. Uh well, you know it's
Speaker 1: a mammal. I'm gonna give myself points. You did guess mammal.
Speaker 1: And aren't we all related? All us camels? When you
Speaker 1: go back somewhere enough somewhere some little shrew thing. So
Speaker 1: how do these little mouse's mice mice is the word?
Speaker 1: How do they manage mice to kill scorpions and centipedes
Speaker 1: despite their toxins. So they are very fast and they
Speaker 1: can repeatedly out maneuver the arthropods and deliver a series
Speaker 1: of exoskeleton crushing bites. But additionally they have developed a
Speaker 1: pain tolerance to scorpion stings and are able to brush
Speaker 1: off a few pokes if it means they can feast
Speaker 1: upon a delicious scorpion dinner. So these are like super mice. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's cool. That's badass. Yea a scorpion now and it's
Speaker 1: pretty pressive. Yeah, yeah, and it's pretty cute. It's like
Speaker 1: not the not the killing part, but that are still
Speaker 1: pictures of the mouse. Well, and it's just a widow moodo.
Speaker 1: It's a little, tiny baby moodo. It's baby murders. They're
Speaker 1: tiny and honestly, I'm I'm rooting for the furry thing
Speaker 1: over the bug anyway. I feel like murderer is cute
Speaker 1: once it gets small enough at a certain scale. Yeah. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's just a little murder, a little it's murder. So um.
Speaker 1: These mice will also howl as a form of communication,
Speaker 1: although researchers aren't exactly sure what they're communicating. It could
Speaker 1: be to stake out their territory or ward off anyone
Speaker 1: who would dare challenge this tiny killer. Oh there's a
Speaker 1: picture of it howling in the moon and love wan
Speaker 1: I yeah, you if you tried to keep one of these,
Speaker 1: it would be like you'd wake up and it'd be came.
Speaker 1: It would just be screaming. Yeah, So onto this week's
Speaker 1: mystery animal sound the hint you wouldn't want this around
Speaker 1: your neck than so, Bridget guesses, Oh god, well, you're
Speaker 1: hint made me think sneak. But there's no way a
Speaker 1: snake is making those noises. Those are wild noises. I
Speaker 1: want to say it's some sort of goose, some sort
Speaker 1: of goose. Well, we'll find out next week on the
Speaker 1: next episode of Creature Feature if Bridget is right that
Speaker 1: this is some sort of goose sort of very specific. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: there's a species of goose called some sort of some
Speaker 1: sort of some sort of goose. Well, Bridget, hey, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on the show and go
Speaker 1: on on this wild twist and turning ride taking a
Speaker 1: podcast house and fun as always. Yeah, as always, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. You got anything to plug? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm working on some new stuff some with my podcast
Speaker 1: co host Sarah Griffith. We're working on a little sketch
Speaker 1: series that we're doing with friends, and working on some
Speaker 1: very exciting stuff with small Beans. We're making a movie
Speaker 1: over there, and if you follow the Small Beans Patreon,
Speaker 1: you can keep track of all that stuff. And if
Speaker 1: you follow me on Twitter at bridget Tweets, you can
Speaker 1: see all the fun video content we're writing and producing.
Speaker 1: That's so exciting. Small Beans is a great podcast network
Speaker 1: as well. And now you guys are doing video. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're we're trying to make a movie over there. And
Speaker 1: it's very exciting and like a small meal, a feast
Speaker 1: for the yea and for the eyes. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: super talented, super great folks. And uh yeah, we're gonna
Speaker 1: need help making a movie. So if you go to
Speaker 1: their Patreon, follow follow us there and see when we're
Speaker 1: up to. So a movie is kind of like a podcast,
Speaker 1: but that you can look at, you can look at
Speaker 1: and most podcasts are, you know, of equal length these
Speaker 1: days of movies. Uh, but yes, a visual podcast if
Speaker 1: you will. Wow, Okay, what a concept. Well that's great. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for listening. If you're enjoying
Speaker 1: the show and you want to write a rating or
Speaker 1: a review, I guess you don't write a rating. Equally,
Speaker 1: you have a rating and you write a review, right,
Speaker 1: you barf out a rating and you sit down and
Speaker 1: pin a review. Either one of those are great. It
Speaker 1: really helps out the podcast. I also read every single
Speaker 1: review and I take them seriously and when they're positive,
Speaker 1: they make my day. And if they have any kind
Speaker 1: of like constructive criticism, hey that's great too. If you're
Speaker 1: calling me a butthole, I still like it. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I like a tension of all sorts. And hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, thanks to the Space Classics for their super
Speaker 1: awesome song x Alumina. Wait a minute, I have to
Speaker 1: tell people to email before I get into that thinking
Speaker 1: of the song. People, you can email me at Creature
Speaker 1: feature pot at gmail dot com if you got questions
Speaker 1: or if you know the answer to this week's mister
Speaker 1: animal sounds. So hey, do that already? Thank the music guys,
Speaker 1: they don't need a second. Thank you, So now here
Speaker 1: it is the end of the podcast. It is a
Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the one you
Speaker 1: just heard, the iHeart Radio app Apple podcast, or hey
Speaker 1: guess what where have you listened to your favorite shows?
Speaker 1: I don't judge you. See you next Wednesday.