Speaker 1: Guess what gave what's that mango? So I read this
Speaker 1: great story in Scientific American. It's called Saving California Condors
Speaker 1: with a chisel and hand puppets, So it has to
Speaker 1: be one of the greatest titles I've read in a while.
Speaker 1: But are you familiar with these birds?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know they're huge birds, and I think
Speaker 2: they're in danger too, aren't they.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, So they were close to extinction a
Speaker 1: few decades ago. I think their count was down to
Speaker 1: just over twenty birds in the early eighties, and that's
Speaker 1: actually when the Oregon Zoo stepped in. So one of
Speaker 1: the strange things about condor eggs is that sometimes the
Speaker 1: chicks aren't actually strong enough to break out of the shells.
Speaker 1: So the caretakers at the zoo like they stand by
Speaker 1: ready with a chisel to help them break out. And
Speaker 1: in fact, it worked so well that the zoo has
Speaker 1: now raised more than seventy condor chicks.
Speaker 3: That's awesome. But what do they do then? Do they
Speaker 3: release them into the while?
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if the chicks are raised in captivity without
Speaker 1: their parents, the minders have to be really careful about
Speaker 1: how they feed them, because you know, they don't want
Speaker 1: these birds to be too trusting of humans, so they
Speaker 1: have these hand puppets made to look like condors, and
Speaker 1: that's what they used to feed the little hatchlings. But
Speaker 1: reading that story made me think, you know, maybe it's
Speaker 1: time to do an episode on some of the world's
Speaker 1: largest birds and also all the secrets we definitely don't
Speaker 1: know about them, So let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners,
Speaker 1: welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Mongish articular, and my
Speaker 1: good pal Will Pearson's on vacation today. But I'm so
Speaker 1: thrilled because I get to hang out with the wonderful
Speaker 1: Gave Lucier, who's on the line with me. Hey, Gabe,
Speaker 1: how's it going.
Speaker 2: Hey, it's going well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: It's great to have you, Gabe. And on the other
Speaker 1: side of the soundproof glass car into the biggest, fattest
Speaker 1: turkey I've seen this side of Thanksgiving, that's our friend
Speaker 1: and producer Tristan McNeil. And I've got to say, while
Speaker 1: Tristan's on theme as usual, it does feel a little
Speaker 1: weird to watch him chow down on a bird while
Speaker 1: we're also talking about birds. Yeah, I mean, I.
Speaker 2: Was hoping we'd get to see Tristan in like a
Speaker 2: big bird costume today, or maybe find out that he's
Speaker 2: secretly been taking falconry classes or something.
Speaker 1: Well, we should put that in the suggestion box for
Speaker 1: next time, I think. But today's episode is all about
Speaker 1: the world's largest birds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2: We scoured the skies to find the most oversized birds
Speaker 2: out there, and now it's time to spill all their
Speaker 2: juicy secrets, like how have large birds adapted for survival
Speaker 2: and how they got so big in.
Speaker 3: The first place.
Speaker 2: But you know, a mango, I'm curious, where do you
Speaker 2: want to start with this one?
Speaker 1: So I thought I kicked things off with a nice,
Speaker 1: feel good story about one of the world's largest birds,
Speaker 1: which is the wandering albatross. And this species of albatross
Speaker 1: is big by just about any measure. Their bodies are
Speaker 1: about three and a half feet from bill to tail.
Speaker 1: They weigh twenty some pounds on average. But without a doubt,
Speaker 1: their biggest and most striking feature has to be their
Speaker 1: enormous wingspan. Because you know, I'm sure you probably know this.
Speaker 1: Wandering albatrosses have the largest wingspan of any living bird.
Speaker 1: It's between eleven and twelve feet from tip to tip,
Speaker 1: and with wings that big, you know, these birds are
Speaker 1: obviously built for flight. They've actually been known to circumnavigate
Speaker 1: the Southern Ocean up to three times in a single year,
Speaker 1: and one bird in particular is known to have traveled
Speaker 1: nearly four thousand miles in just twelve days.
Speaker 2: Which is so impressive of course, but like, what's their
Speaker 2: secret for covering that kind of distance? Because you have
Speaker 2: to think that flapping a pair of twelve foot wings
Speaker 2: must take an awful lot of energy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's really no way in albatross could do that
Speaker 1: by flapping like they'd be exhausted within an hour tops. Instead,
Speaker 1: albatross has actually used this method called dynamics soaring, and
Speaker 1: it allows them to glide across these incredible distances without
Speaker 1: needing to flap their wings. And this works because the
Speaker 1: birds have this special tendon in each of their shoulders
Speaker 1: that helps lock their wings into place. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a birdie cruise control, and once their wings are locked
Speaker 1: into position, albatross is simply glide along, swooping as needed
Speaker 1: to catch the wind and gradually rise back up.
Speaker 2: That's really cool, but I mean, they never have to
Speaker 2: stop and take a rest or anything.
Speaker 1: No, not really, I mean it's hard to walk on
Speaker 1: land with that twelve foot wingspan. So apart from mating season,
Speaker 1: wandering albatrosses tend to stick to the air as much
Speaker 1: as possible. And there is one exception though, if an
Speaker 1: albatross goes crazy and just eats way too many fish,
Speaker 1: they might need to take a break and float on
Speaker 1: top of the water for a while, you know, until
Speaker 1: they've digested.
Speaker 2: Well that's pretty cute, but I think you said you
Speaker 2: had a feel good story about albatrosses, Like, well, what
Speaker 2: exactly does that mean?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right, and it's actually about one albatross in particular.
Speaker 1: Name is Wisdom, and as of this year, she's going
Speaker 1: to be sixty seven years old, which makes her the
Speaker 1: world's oldest known wild bird. She was born sometime in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, but this biologist started tracking her in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, and since then, Wisdom has managed to
Speaker 1: rack up somewhere between two to three million miles in
Speaker 1: flying time, which is the equivalent of about four to
Speaker 1: six trips to the moon and back.
Speaker 2: Gosh, that's incredible, or at least I think it's incredible.
Speaker 2: I mean, I actually don't know how long albatross has
Speaker 2: typically lived, do you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it depends on the species, but they'll
Speaker 1: live I guess four to fifty years if they're lucky.
Speaker 1: Albatrosses are one of those rare species of birds and
Speaker 1: wild animals in general. I guess that sometimes live long
Speaker 1: enough to die of old age.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess that's, you know, one of the perks
Speaker 2: of that wandering lifestyle, right, because I mean, if you're
Speaker 2: constantly on the move, flying over an ocean, you pretty
Speaker 2: much have an unlimited food supply right there below you,
Speaker 2: and most predators wouldn't be able to keep up with
Speaker 2: you anyway.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's definitely true, and amazingly the biggest threats to
Speaker 1: albatross's are natural disasters and also I guess the consumption
Speaker 1: of plastic, both of which Wisdom has managed to avoid
Speaker 1: for almost seven decades now. But perhaps the most interesting
Speaker 1: thing to me was that she's birth and raised over
Speaker 1: forty chicks over her long lifetime, and that includes her
Speaker 1: most recent one, which was hatch just this spring.
Speaker 2: I've always thought albatrosses were really cool, you know, partially
Speaker 2: because of all the old sea myths around them, and
Speaker 2: also that epic Collridge poem. But you know, nowadays they
Speaker 2: mostly make the news, you know, and there's like YouTube
Speaker 2: videos and stuff that just kind of make fun of
Speaker 2: how silly they look when they're trying to walk on land,
Speaker 2: which kind of a bummer.
Speaker 1: I mean, even the name albatross, which is pretty awkward
Speaker 1: in its own right, Like it was apparently just taken
Speaker 1: from words used to describe other sea birds. So it
Speaker 1: comes from algatas, which was I guess, this Arabic word
Speaker 1: for a sea eagle, and then that was adapted into
Speaker 1: a Spanish word alcatraz, which was the word for a pelican,
Speaker 1: and then finally the word made into English I guess
Speaker 1: this was in the seventeenth century, and that's when we
Speaker 1: got the word albatross.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: As poorly conceived as that name is, I think penguins
Speaker 2: might have it even worse. And that's because way back
Speaker 2: when sailors actually used to call them ourse feet. That's ridiculous,
Speaker 2: I know, and I mean you can guess why it's ony, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's on account of their short legs and
Speaker 2: their feet being so close to their backsides. But you know,
Speaker 2: thankfully the Welsh did come up with their own name penguin,
Speaker 2: which literally translates as white head.
Speaker 1: So I like, how both these names that are on
Speaker 1: such random characteristics, Like, you know, if I was defining
Speaker 1: a penguin, the fact that it's bum touches his feet
Speaker 1: like that would be a defining characteristic, you know, or
Speaker 1: that they have white heads, like do penguins even have
Speaker 1: white heads? Well, I mean the white head name it
Speaker 1: was actually another case of mistaken bird identity, you know,
Speaker 1: just like with the albatross. The Welsh applied the name
Speaker 1: penguin to their local great Auk population, and you know,
Speaker 1: an awk being another kind of giant, black and white
Speaker 1: sea bird. Sure, so the thinking is that some sailors
Speaker 1: just mistook penguins for ox and the name just stuck.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think we've got to make emotion to
Speaker 1: stop letting sailors name things because they always get it wrong.
Speaker 2: But I'm with you, But also this is kind of random.
Speaker 2: But have you heard Benedict Cumberbatch try to say the
Speaker 2: word penguins, Like, for whatever reason, he always winds up
Speaker 2: calling them peng wings or penglings. It's just hilarious because
Speaker 2: he winds up doing all this like penguin content, Like
Speaker 2: he was in this cartoon penguin movie and he did
Speaker 2: the narration for a BBC documentary about penguins, and the
Speaker 2: whole time he's just butchering the name, Like I have
Speaker 2: no idea how he lands these gigs or why no
Speaker 2: one corrects it.
Speaker 1: That's pretty hilarious. I had no idea, but I'm going
Speaker 1: to YouTube it right after this episode.
Speaker 2: Should but you know, since we're on the subject of
Speaker 2: penguins or penguins if you prefer, we should really take
Speaker 2: a few minutes to talk about the largest of their kind,
Speaker 2: which of course are emperor penguins. And these big birds
Speaker 2: stand around four feet tall, which makes them the largest
Speaker 2: of the eighteen penguin species found on Earth. And you know,
Speaker 2: also a far cry from the smallest penguin species, and
Speaker 2: that's the little blue penguin, which is only about sixteen
Speaker 2: inches tall, and that's when it's fully grown.
Speaker 1: I love that blue penguins are so little, like like
Speaker 1: they're almost like a pocket penguin. I just want to
Speaker 1: pick one off, like stuff it into my pockets. But
Speaker 1: let's talk more about these emperors, Like is it just
Speaker 1: their size that sets the emperors apart, or are they
Speaker 1: different from other penguins in other ways as well?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, one difference is that emperor penguins don't do
Speaker 2: anything the easy way, like, for instance, other penguins in
Speaker 2: the southern hemisphere, they make the sensible decision to lay
Speaker 2: their eggs, you know, during the relatively warm summer months,
Speaker 2: and that's the same time when Antarctic cruises make their rounds.
Speaker 2: But emperor penguins they actually wait until winter arrives to
Speaker 2: do their mating. And even then, emperors don't head for
Speaker 2: the warmth of the coasts, you know, to lay their eggs. Instead,
Speaker 2: they do the opposite and head south into the harshest weather.
Speaker 1: That's not if I've learned anything from Marsha the penguins.
Speaker 1: It's that emperors don't make things any easier on themselves
Speaker 1: during their incubation periods. Like I know, most penguin species
Speaker 1: will build nests out of like loose feathers or tiny
Speaker 1: pebbles and keep their eggs there until they've hashed. But
Speaker 1: emperor penguins have a different system, right, Like, they incubate
Speaker 1: their one egg for the entire season, and they do
Speaker 1: it by standing still and I think balancing it on
Speaker 1: top of their feet.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, and this method, it really wouldn't work
Speaker 2: at all if it weren't for some pretty impressive teamwork
Speaker 2: on the part of their parents. Like because as soon
Speaker 2: as the mother penguin lays her egg, she high tails
Speaker 2: it towards the sea to feed and build up her
Speaker 2: fat reserves. So for the next eight or nine weeks
Speaker 2: after that, the task of incubation is left to the
Speaker 2: emperor dads, who are able to keep their egg warm
Speaker 2: thanks to this special loose fold of skin that contains
Speaker 2: a high concentration of blood vessels and this featherless patch
Speaker 2: of skin it kind of drapes over the egg at
Speaker 2: all times to keep it from freezing. And that's while
Speaker 2: the father stands still for months on end.
Speaker 1: I've actually read that male emperor penguins typically burn through
Speaker 1: nearly half their body weight while waiting for their mates
Speaker 1: to return. So this is actually one of those rare
Speaker 1: cases in the animal kingdom where the plumpest and pudgest
Speaker 1: males are also the most desirable. I mean, there are
Speaker 1: you know, easily the best equipped to survive those long
Speaker 1: ones without a meal. Yeah that's true, but you know,
Speaker 1: just so people know that we aren't body shaming penguins
Speaker 1: or anything. I want to mention that emperor penguins male
Speaker 1: and female, are actually quite athletic, or you know, at
Speaker 1: least they are in the water. In fact, well, most
Speaker 1: aquatic birds would be lucky to dive two hundred feet
Speaker 1: or so underwater. The emperor penguin is capable of diving
Speaker 1: a stunning fifteen hundred.
Speaker 3: Feet or more.
Speaker 2: And the amount of time they can stay under is
Speaker 2: just as impressive. Like I read, the longest dive on
Speaker 2: record for an emperor is just under twenty eight minutes,
Speaker 2: so that actually is.
Speaker 1: Stunying to me. Like the fact that they can go
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred feet under the water, that's incredible. But what
Speaker 1: is their secret?
Speaker 2: Well, it comes down to this amazing trick of physiology.
Speaker 2: So basically, they can metabolize oxygen at a slower rate
Speaker 2: during a dive than they would otherwise, like when resting.
Speaker 2: And this is how Live Science explains it. Quote, the
Speaker 2: penguins can switch between two modes of oxygen use, either
Speaker 2: starving their muscles or giving them an extra shot of
Speaker 2: oxygen to help keep them working. And so emperors they
Speaker 2: actually have one other trick up their sleeves as well,
Speaker 2: which is that their brainans have evolved to tolerate extremely
Speaker 2: low levels of oxygen without shutting down. So not only
Speaker 2: can these birds control their flow of oxygen, they can
Speaker 2: survive on a reduced flow for periods of time that
Speaker 2: would result in brain damage or even death and just
Speaker 2: about any other animal all.
Speaker 1: Right, So clearly they're the Olympic divers of the animal kingdom,
Speaker 1: even if their parenting habits are a little unusual. But
Speaker 1: now that we've covered everyone's favorite flightless waterbirds, what do
Speaker 1: you say we switch gears and talk about some of
Speaker 1: their land loving cousins.
Speaker 3: Plummed out for that.
Speaker 4: But first, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 1: You listen to part Time Genius and we're talking about
Speaker 1: the secrets of the world's largest birds. Okay, Gabe, So
Speaker 1: we've already covered the biggest fire a big swimmer, but
Speaker 1: inch for inch and pound, the planet's tallest and heaviest
Speaker 1: bird actually does neither of those things. And of course
Speaker 1: we're talking about the ostridge here. Now. However awkward they
Speaker 1: might look, ostriches are actually built for land speed. In fact,
Speaker 1: they're capable of sprinting up to forty three miles per
Speaker 1: hour in the short bursts, and that actually makes them
Speaker 1: the fastest bipedal runners on the planet. But it's not
Speaker 1: just their speed that's so impressive. Their endurance is absolutely
Speaker 1: staggering as well. Ostriches are able to maintain speeds of
Speaker 1: thirty one miles per hour for up to ten miles
Speaker 1: at a.
Speaker 2: Time, which is you know why you never want to
Speaker 2: challenge an ostrich to a foot race, right we all
Speaker 2: know that old saying. Yeah, but you know, I did
Speaker 2: some reading on what makes ostriches such great runners, and
Speaker 2: it turns out the key to their speed is actually
Speaker 2: their toes.
Speaker 1: Really, so why is that?
Speaker 2: Well, so most birds have three or four toes on
Speaker 2: each foot, but ostriches only have two. And while you
Speaker 2: might think this would hinder the bird's balance in some way,
Speaker 2: the reduced number of toes actually greatly improves the running form.
Speaker 2: And as it turns out, two toed feet result in
Speaker 2: less mass at the end of each leg, and that's
Speaker 2: why ostriches can cover up to sixteen feet in a
Speaker 2: single stride.
Speaker 1: Sixteen feet in a single stride. That's crazy, But you know,
Speaker 1: this whole two toe thing actually does make sense. I
Speaker 1: read somewhere that hoofed animals once had more toes than
Speaker 1: they do now, but gradually, over the course of millennia,
Speaker 1: their toes dwindled down to just two per foot, and they,
Speaker 1: I guess it, became some of the fastest runners in
Speaker 1: the world as a result of that. But that's really
Speaker 1: fascinating to me. Yeah, that is interesting.
Speaker 2: And you know, another thing I didn't realize is that
Speaker 2: people have been racing ostridges, you know, for sport, like
Speaker 2: the way we race horses. And this has been going
Speaker 2: on for over one hundred years at this point. And
Speaker 2: weirder still, the practice got its start in Florida, and
Speaker 2: that's where ostrich of course it did, right, of course,
Speaker 2: and that's where ostrich racetracks first started popping up. And
Speaker 2: this was in the late nineteenth century. Taurus would pay
Speaker 2: fifty cents to mount these giant birds and attempt to
Speaker 2: ride them. And you know, I say attempt because of course,
Speaker 2: riding an ostrich is easier said than done, right, Like,
Speaker 2: they don't take well to training, and it's next to
Speaker 2: impossible to make them run in a straight line. Not
Speaker 2: to mention how hard it is to hang on to
Speaker 2: the back of something that's moving at forty miles per hour.
Speaker 1: You know, there's actually a way around that problem now
Speaker 1: that there's this annual event at the Meadowlands called the
Speaker 1: Ostrich Derby, and I've never gone, but it just sounds
Speaker 1: so great to me. So instead of riding the bird's bareback,
Speaker 1: the jockeys are actually being pulled along in these brightly
Speaker 1: colored chariots and the whole thing is completely ridiculous, but
Speaker 1: it's got its own audience. Twenty eighteen was actually the
Speaker 1: seventh year of the races have been held, and you
Speaker 1: and I should really go to this.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we gotta get tickets next year.
Speaker 2: I do want to mention though, that if you ever
Speaker 2: come face to face with a wild ostridge, running away
Speaker 2: is not in your best interest.
Speaker 1: Why not?
Speaker 2: Well, I mean there's a good chance the ostrich will
Speaker 2: give chase. And remember these things can top out at
Speaker 2: like forty five miles per hour, so.
Speaker 1: They will catch you right. And male ostriches can grow
Speaker 1: to be I think nine feet tall and over three
Speaker 1: hundred pounds, so you definitely don't want to be on
Speaker 1: the receiving end of that. But ostriches are sometimes known
Speaker 1: to attack humans if they feel their territory is being threatened.
Speaker 1: But if running is out, like, what is your best
Speaker 1: bet for surviving an angry ostrich attack?
Speaker 2: Well, I looked into that because obviously ostrich attacks are
Speaker 2: such a common threat that it's really just irresponsible to
Speaker 2: not be prepared for one. And so this is the
Speaker 2: advice I found in Discovery News. Instead of running away
Speaker 2: in terror, they recommend quote hiding, playing dead until the
Speaker 2: bird becomes bored and leaves, or standing your ground and
Speaker 2: fighting the ostriche off with a long pole.
Speaker 1: I like this idea of like fighting an ostrich off
Speaker 1: in a long pull. It makes a lot of sense
Speaker 1: to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, right, never go anywhere without your ostrich pole and
Speaker 2: you'll be just fine.
Speaker 1: That's good advice. But you know, before we move on
Speaker 1: from ostriches, I do want to talk about a couple
Speaker 1: other ways that these massive birds tip the scales. So,
Speaker 1: for one thing, they have the largest eyes of any
Speaker 1: land mammal on Earth. Each eye is roughly two inches across,
Speaker 1: which means they're about as big as a billiard ball
Speaker 1: and even larger than the bird's own brains. Ostriches also
Speaker 1: have the largest eggs in the world, which I guess
Speaker 1: an average one comes in at about six inches in
Speaker 1: diameter and weighs more than three pounds, which is about
Speaker 1: as much as two dozen chicken eggs.
Speaker 2: Good lawyer, That is one big omelet. Also, though, like
Speaker 2: people do eat them right like current Ostrich eggs a
Speaker 2: delicacy in some.
Speaker 1: Places, definitely, and a single egg provides quite a meal.
Speaker 1: I think it's roughly two thousand calories, so basically a
Speaker 1: day's worth.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: Well, I know there's at least one more giant bird
Speaker 2: we wanted to cover today, But if you don't mind,
Speaker 2: there are a couple misconceptions about oscar that have always
Speaker 2: bugged me, So I'd like to take a couple of
Speaker 2: minutes to set the record straight on those. And actually
Speaker 2: I want to start with the idea that ostriches bury
Speaker 2: their heads in the sand.
Speaker 1: Sure, so I remember this from mental class, but I
Speaker 1: remember thinking it was just an illusion, right, Like, ostrich
Speaker 1: heads are pretty tiny compared to the rest of their bodies,
Speaker 1: so if you're looking at them at a distance and
Speaker 1: they're like nibbling at food, it just might look like
Speaker 1: they're heads stuck in the ground.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's definitely true. But you know, actually, some researchers
Speaker 2: think the real root of the myth has more to
Speaker 2: do with the nesting habits of ostriches. So the birds
Speaker 2: they have to dig some pretty big holes to stow
Speaker 2: those massive eggs you mentioned, and sometimes these holes are
Speaker 2: up to eight feet wide and two feet deep. And
Speaker 2: you know, it's during the egg incubation period where all
Speaker 2: the confusion comes in. Like ostrich parents take turns rotating
Speaker 2: their eggs with their beaks, which you know obviously requires
Speaker 2: them to stick their heads pretty far into the nest.
Speaker 2: So you know, to an observer, it might look like
Speaker 2: the ostriches bear its head in the sand, but that's
Speaker 2: actually not what's going on at all.
Speaker 1: That's really fascinating. I never heard that. But do you
Speaker 1: have like another ostrich myth you wanted to share? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this one it actually goes beyond just ostriches
Speaker 2: because it concerns the origin of an entire family of
Speaker 2: flightless birds known as ratites. So along with ostriches, the
Speaker 2: radites family also includes other big birds like EMUs and rheas,
Speaker 2: as well as tiny flightless birds like kiwis. And for
Speaker 2: the longest time, researchers have assumed that ratites never had
Speaker 2: the ability to fly at all. And that's because we
Speaker 2: know that the wings of these birds are still functional
Speaker 2: rather than ornamental. So an ostrich for example, uses its
Speaker 2: wings like a rudder. Not only are they good for
Speaker 2: maintaining balance, they also help the birds turn and break
Speaker 2: when running at high speeds. So the thinking has been that,
Speaker 2: you know, since their wings don't seem to be vestigial,
Speaker 2: ratites probably always lack the ability to fly, and instead
Speaker 2: they simply evolved from other ancient flightless birds.
Speaker 1: Which is really interesting. But I think we're saying is
Speaker 1: that theory is now being challenged. Is that right, right?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is right.
Speaker 2: More recent research suggests that the ancestors of Ratite spread
Speaker 2: to more isolated regions at a time when their wings
Speaker 2: were still used for flying, and you know, they likely
Speaker 2: did this as a way to avoid becoming the lunch
Speaker 2: of their larger dinosaur cousins. And you know, then as
Speaker 2: the dinosaurs died out and the continents began to separate,
Speaker 2: these now isolated birds found themselves at the top of
Speaker 2: the food chain and suddenly without the need to escape
Speaker 2: to higher ground anymore. So once the need for flight
Speaker 2: was removed, so too was the need to stay small.
Speaker 2: And you know, in order to be able to fly,
Speaker 2: and that enabled the birds to independently evolve and become
Speaker 2: larger as well as flightless.
Speaker 1: Which you know, makes a lot of sense, and it
Speaker 1: also explains why far flung islands are home to so
Speaker 1: many big flightless birds. Right Like New Zealand had this
Speaker 1: twelve but tall, five hundred pound moa bird, and that
Speaker 1: was until humans hunted it to extinction in the thirteenth century.
Speaker 1: And Madagascar was also home to this elephant bird. I'd
Speaker 1: never heard of this bird, but it's amazing. It was
Speaker 1: an astonishing ten feet tall and nine hundred pounds. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I mean jackbirds can thrive in these island settings,
Speaker 1: partially because there aren't any you know, predators for them
Speaker 1: to worry about, aside from humans.
Speaker 3: Right exactly.
Speaker 2: Well, with all that in mind, what do you say
Speaker 2: we talk a little about another member of the rat
Speaker 2: tite family, one of the world's biggest and most misunderstood birds,
Speaker 2: the island dwelling cassowary.
Speaker 1: Sure, so this is actually what I've been waiting to
Speaker 1: talk about. But before we do, let's take another quick.
Speaker 2: Break, all right, Mango, So you said you were excited
Speaker 2: to talk about cassawerries, just like I am, so would
Speaker 2: you mind giving us a quick rundown of their stats,
Speaker 2: because I somehow feel they're not as well known as
Speaker 2: ostriches and penguins and.
Speaker 3: All these other birds we've been talking about.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's definitely true. So cassowaries are large, flightless birds.
Speaker 1: They've got black and blue feathers and these big protective
Speaker 1: frills on the sides of their heads called casks. And
Speaker 1: there are only three species in the world at this point.
Speaker 1: Two live in the rainforest of New Guinea off the
Speaker 1: coast of Australia, and the third and largest one lives
Speaker 1: in the wet tropics. This is in the northern tip
Speaker 1: of Australia. You know. Birds of this third species are
Speaker 1: called southern cassowarys, and they typically weigh in around one
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty pounds. They stand about six feet tall,
Speaker 1: and they're also fiercely territorial. If you intrude on their habitats,
Speaker 1: they'll happily slice you up with their terrifying five inch
Speaker 1: long claws. Ough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, cassowaries are famous for that kind of deadliness, and
Speaker 2: with good reason, honestly, Like, I was reading this article
Speaker 2: on smithsonian dot Com and the author Jacob Brogan. He
Speaker 2: said that cassawaries resemble quote an ostriche as described by
Speaker 2: HP Lovecraft, or maybe a turkey fused with a veloci raptor.
Speaker 2: And I mean, if those descriptions don't sell you on
Speaker 2: how dangerous these birds are, consider that they're also sometimes
Speaker 2: nicknamed murder birds. What yeah, And I mean, not only
Speaker 2: do they have those razor sharp clause you mentioned, they
Speaker 2: also have one of the strongest kicks of any animal,
Speaker 2: and they also have a tendency to charge their victims
Speaker 2: at up to thirty miles per hour and then they
Speaker 2: pounce on them by leaping up to five feet in
Speaker 2: the air.
Speaker 1: Ah. That's terrifying. And it also makes me wonder, like
Speaker 1: what if they remade the movie Birds with murder birds
Speaker 1: like that would be so much scarier. But you know,
Speaker 1: you mentioned before the break that cassowaris are somewhat misunderstood,
Speaker 1: and I was hoping you clarify that a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it's just like with ostriches, you know, cassawaryes
Speaker 2: aren't some kind of malicious human hunters like we might
Speaker 2: think of them. They're actually shy, peaceful, and pretty harmless
Speaker 2: when left to themselves. And in fact, a cassowary hasn't
Speaker 2: killed a human since nineteen twenty six, and even then
Speaker 2: that was only in self defense. And you know, while
Speaker 2: over one hundred humans have been injured by cassawiris since then,
Speaker 2: we've actually done way more damage to them, like car
Speaker 2: accidents and habitat loss. Those kinds of things have decimated
Speaker 2: the southern cassawary population in Australia and in fact, they're
Speaker 2: now listed as endangered and only around fifteen hundred to
Speaker 2: two thousand are thought to be left in the wild
Speaker 2: at this point, and it really it could be even
Speaker 2: fewer than that for all we know.
Speaker 1: So one of the things I didn't get to that
Speaker 1: was curious about the castowarrias is how did the locals
Speaker 1: feel about them, Because on one hand, I think the
Speaker 1: birds would figure into like culture and folklore, and on
Speaker 1: the other hand, people probably don't want these giant dinosaur
Speaker 1: birds just slicing up their neighbors.
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, that's a good point, and you know, I'd
Speaker 2: say it's kind of a rocky relationship at the best.
Speaker 2: But the cassowaries definitely have their supporters, like in fact,
Speaker 2: you'll often see signs along the highways in Australia now
Speaker 2: that encourage motorists to be CASSOWERI fun, right, and you
Speaker 2: know that's just a you know, get people to keep
Speaker 2: an eye out for the birds while they're driving. And
Speaker 2: as for folklore, cassowaries have always been a big part
Speaker 2: of the mythologies of Australia's rainforest tribes. For example, some
Speaker 2: locals believe the cassawerys are cousins to human beings, while
Speaker 2: others say that they are human beings who have been
Speaker 2: reincarnated as birds. And actually, this last part there, it's
Speaker 2: actually even inspired a bit of envy in some of
Speaker 2: the female locals, Like they'll joke that they'd like to
Speaker 2: reincarnate as female cassowaries since it's the males of that
Speaker 2: species rather than the females who sit on all the
Speaker 2: eggs and then raise the chicks that hatch from them.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, even apart from the stress free reincarnation
Speaker 1: for females, Australians do have another reason to stand up
Speaker 1: for the cassawerret cousins.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, what's that.
Speaker 1: Well, apparently cassowarys are masters of seed dispersal, which means
Speaker 1: they're a big part of why Australia still has as
Speaker 1: much rainforest as it does. And this is something I
Speaker 1: learned from a NAT Geo article by Olivia Judson, so
Speaker 1: I just want to go ahead and read her explanation
Speaker 1: of this relationship quote as Australia's fruit eaters and chief
Speaker 1: cassawerres are also chief architects of the forest. In the
Speaker 1: course of a day, a single adult cassowery eats hundreds
Speaker 1: of fruits and berries. Cassowary digestion is gentle, though, and
Speaker 1: does not harm the seeds which emerge intact. And so
Speaker 1: as a cassawery wanders through its territory, eating, drinking, bathing,
Speaker 1: and defecating, it moves seeds from one part of the
Speaker 1: forest to another, sometimes over distances of half a mile
Speaker 1: or more. It also moves seeds uphills and across rivers.
Speaker 1: In short, it transports the seeds in ways that gravity
Speaker 1: alone cannot by means of their fruit scented droppings, then
Speaker 1: cassawerris are a powerful vehicle for spreading seeds around.
Speaker 2: That is pretty awesome, and you know now that you
Speaker 2: mention it. That's something I read about large birds in general,
Speaker 2: like how the growth or loss of rainforests is directly
Speaker 2: tied to their presence. I mean, the tallest, hardiest trees,
Speaker 2: those tend to come from bigger seeds, and without birds
Speaker 2: big enough to carry or swallow them, the odds of
Speaker 2: those seeds ever taking root is pretty slim. So in
Speaker 2: a very real way, the future of our rainforest depends
Speaker 2: on the existence of big, weirdo birds like the castlary.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: And you know, in fact, there was this one study
Speaker 2: done on a particular tree that only grows in a
Speaker 2: small region of Australia's coastal rainforests, and it went a
Speaker 2: long way towards showing just how crucial castaways are for
Speaker 2: the trees survival. And that's because, according to the report,
Speaker 2: without passing through one of these giant bds, only four
Speaker 2: percent of these tree seeds ever take root and grow.
Speaker 2: But after passing through a casawary a lopping ninety two
Speaker 2: percent were shown to grow into adult trees.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's remarkable, Like ninety two percent of the
Speaker 1: seeds that go through casseawarris end up growing into trees.
Speaker 1: But why is that exactly?
Speaker 3: That's the thing no one knows exactly.
Speaker 2: It's it's still one of the best kept bird secrets
Speaker 2: out there. And you know, because I like that idea
Speaker 2: of going out, you know, with an air of mystery.
Speaker 2: What do you say we just leave the discussion there
Speaker 2: and jump straight into.
Speaker 3: The fact off.
Speaker 1: I'm for it.
Speaker 2: Let's do it, Okay, So I'll go first, because I
Speaker 2: can't bear going through an episode like this without at
Speaker 2: least mentioning the fastest predator on the planet, the peregrine falcon,
Speaker 2: And they have two unbelievable abilities. The first is their eyesight,
Speaker 2: and I read somewhere that their vision it's about twelve
Speaker 2: times that of humans, and they can actually use it
Speaker 2: to spot a smaller bird from up to five miles away.
Speaker 2: And once this prey is spotted, I mean it might
Speaker 2: as well call it quits. Because peregrine falcons can fly
Speaker 2: over one hundred and eighty miles per hour when they
Speaker 2: hit peak speed.
Speaker 1: Yeh, that's terrifying.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: I was at the beach and walking with like a
Speaker 1: tray of food and fries on it for my kids,
Speaker 1: and this seagull just swooped down and picked up one
Speaker 1: fry off the plate, and I just remember being stunned
Speaker 1: at like how fast it was, and how accurate, and
Speaker 1: the fact that like a falcon can do that at
Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty miles per hour is so scary
Speaker 1: to me. But you know, we talked about penguins earlier,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to note that while we think of
Speaker 1: penguins mainly being at the South Pole, there are definitely
Speaker 1: a few other spots where you can find them. In fact,
Speaker 1: the majority of the world's eighteen penguin species also live
Speaker 1: around New Zealand. But the reason I bring this up
Speaker 1: is because a few years ago there was this fossil
Speaker 1: that was discovered on what might be the largest penguin
Speaker 1: species to ever live. It was probably over fifty million
Speaker 1: years ago, but the penguin was six feet tall and
Speaker 1: two hundred twenty pounds, So even the Emperor penguin, which
Speaker 1: is gigantic, would seem tiny next to this thing.
Speaker 3: That's scary to even think about.
Speaker 2: If if you search online for the bird hat craze
Speaker 2: of the late eighteen hundreds, or if you listen to
Speaker 2: the podcast Dressed, you will realize that this was a
Speaker 2: really serious fad.
Speaker 3: At some point these bird hats.
Speaker 2: Women all over the US and Europe were wearing these
Speaker 2: hats with feathers and even entire birds propped on top.
Speaker 2: Like I was reading an article from Popular Science that
Speaker 2: talked about how someone reported back after taking two strolls
Speaker 2: through Manhattan in eighteen eighty six, and on this stroll
Speaker 2: they counted seven hundred hats, and five hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: five of them were topped by feathers or just entire birds.
Speaker 2: So I mean the craze it actually got so big
Speaker 2: that several bird species became at risk of or even
Speaker 2: outright endangered, and a campaign to stop the practice launched,
Speaker 2: and much of this work led to the birth of
Speaker 2: the earliest autobonn societies, as well as the first federal
Speaker 2: conservation legislation, which was the Lacy Act of nineteen hundred.
Speaker 1: So do you know that one of the ways researchers
Speaker 1: can take a census of large birds on remote islands
Speaker 1: is from space, And this is how a researcher is
Speaker 1: studying albatross in New Zealand and on islands off the
Speaker 1: coast of Argentina actually keep a better count of the birds.
Speaker 1: So it's with a little help from cameras on satellites
Speaker 1: orbiting the Earth, researchers can actually look at images and
Speaker 1: count the pixelated white dots to see how many albatrosses
Speaker 1: are there, and ends up being way cheaper and much
Speaker 1: less labor intensive than having to travel and count them
Speaker 1: all in person.
Speaker 3: Oh I bet.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, they might be able to count birds
Speaker 2: from space, but one thing they won't be able to
Speaker 2: do is take birds into space.
Speaker 1: Why is that, Well, it's because.
Speaker 3: Birds need gravity to swallow.
Speaker 2: So unless we come up with another way to assist
Speaker 2: birds in swallowing, chances are you know, NASA's not going
Speaker 2: to be bringing any birds on future Shuttle launches, at
Speaker 2: least not anytime soon.
Speaker 1: Well, it just seemed wrong to me to do an
Speaker 1: episode on Big Birds and not at least mentioned Big
Speaker 1: Bird himself. So, you know, Carol Spinney, who is the
Speaker 1: voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. It turns
Speaker 1: out that if it wasn't for the encouragement of a mentor,
Speaker 1: he might not have made it past the first year
Speaker 1: of the show. When Spinney moved to New York City,
Speaker 1: he didn't have much money. New York City is obviously
Speaker 1: very expensive, and he didn't feel like he was fitting
Speaker 1: in with the rest of the cast. So just a
Speaker 1: few months into the gig. He mentioned this to Kermit Love,
Speaker 1: who's the man who built Big Bird, and you know,
Speaker 1: he said I might be quitting, and Kermit encouraged him
Speaker 1: to give it some time, and in fact, he told him,
Speaker 1: you'll never get an opportunity like this again. It'll get
Speaker 1: better given another momth and nearly five decades later, I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure he's glad he got that advice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so, and I mean, because there's
Speaker 2: just no way I could beat a Big Bird. Fact,
Speaker 2: I think you'll have to take the trophy for today.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll take that honor from you, Gabe. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much, and for all you out there. If
Speaker 1: we missed any Bird facts, be sure to email us
Speaker 1: at part Time Genius at HowStuffWorks dot com, where hit
Speaker 1: us up on Facebook or Twitter. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening.
Speaker 3: Thanks again for listening.
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Speaker 1: Do we forget Jason?
Speaker 3: Jason who