1 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: M Joining me today is filmmaker horror for Sionado and 2 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:48,839 Speaker 1: writer for the Something Scary podcast and show, Sabina Graves. Hey, everyone, 3 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: I'm so excited to be here. Welcome to our super 4 00:00:52,360 --> 00:01:00,959 Speaker 1: spooky Nocturnal Spectacular. It's actually a lot cuter than I 5 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: expected it would be as I was researching just it 6 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: turns out a lot of nocturnal animals are cute little babies. Sabina, 7 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: what draws you to the horror genre. Oh, it just 8 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,039 Speaker 1: grew up watching a lot of scary movies and being 9 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: very much into, like, you know, the comic book world 10 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,759 Speaker 1: of things. I actually have a really big affinity for bats, 11 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: which I know, like you know, the most known nocturnal animals. Yeah, 12 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: I love bats too. We actually had a whole episode 13 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:38,880 Speaker 1: on bats. I think it was called Batty for Bats, 14 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: and yeah, bats are fantastic. They're one of the most 15 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: diverse group of animals in the world. They're just there's 16 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: so many different species. They have this amazing divergent anatomy 17 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: that I absolutely love. Today, we're actually not talking about 18 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: bats as much, so you're gonna meet some new creatures 19 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: of the night. And first I kind of want to 20 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: talk about what being nocturnal means and why. There are 21 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,839 Speaker 1: different types of activity patterns. So there's actually more than 22 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: just being diurnal and nocturnal, So diurnal being kind of 23 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: what us humans do, so being active during the day 24 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: and inactive at night. Nocturnal being active at night and 25 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:30,760 Speaker 1: inactive during the day. There are other types of activity patterns. 26 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: So there's crepuscular, which is being most active at twilight. 27 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: Not talking about vampire sexy book, so from dusk to 28 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: sunset and from dawn to sunrise. So some examples are 29 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: actually some species of bats aren't really nocturnal, they're more 30 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: crepuscular because they come out during twilight. There's also rats 31 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: and hamsters and jaguars and deer and many other animals. 32 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:01,760 Speaker 1: So lots of animals love this kind of twilight uh 33 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: period of time because they get to capitalize on having 34 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: some light but maybe being awake at a time where 35 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: other animals aren't quite awake yet, maybe being able to 36 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: take advantage of the temperature being sort of more moderate, 37 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: like not too cold, not too hot. So yeah, it's 38 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,040 Speaker 1: it's an interesting period of time. I think that we 39 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,800 Speaker 1: don't think of that much in terms of you know, 40 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: we think oh, you're either nocturnal or you're awake during 41 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: the day. But there are actually little niches of times 42 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:35,640 Speaker 1: that animals sometimes capitalize on. There's also cathemeral, which is 43 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: it sounds like a really kind of mystical word, cathemeral. 44 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: It sounds a little bit like a ghostly catheter, but 45 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: it is actually defined as being sporadic activity throughout a 46 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:57,840 Speaker 1: twenty four hour period. So some primates are cathemeral. There's 47 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: some guesses about early he's being more cathemeral, like we 48 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: would wake up during the night more, we wouldn't just 49 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: sleep through the entire night. Here's a couple of examples 50 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: of animals that are definitely cathemeral. There's the common brown 51 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: lemur found in Madagascar, and the fossa, which is the 52 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: largest carnivore in Madagascar that looks like a cat. It's 53 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: actually more closely related to mongooses, isn't it. It's really 54 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:27,160 Speaker 1: interesting looking, isn't it. I love its arms and the 55 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: grip on this image and of the stick in this image. 56 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: It's protective and like brave. It looks like it's that 57 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: stick is its staff and it's mystical creature or like 58 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: from Redwall, remember the Red Wall books. I loved the Yes, yes, 59 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: it's more familiar. We need before turned into like a 60 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: wizard or something exactly. It's actually gripping onto the tree 61 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: branch because these are tree climbing animals. They're of small 62 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:04,960 Speaker 1: and sleek and really great at jumping from tree branch 63 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: to tree branch, which allows them to hunt lemurs. So 64 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: what's interesting is they're both cathemeral. It is interesting to 65 00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: see how predator prey relations can also affect the animals 66 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: activity schedule. Lions, bobcats, and coyotes could also be described 67 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: as cathemeral. So it's this sporadic activity. You're just you're 68 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: basically you are awake and then you take a nap, 69 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: and then you're awake, and then you take another nap, 70 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: and you're awake and then you take another nap. And 71 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: some humans I assume are like to uh, not me. 72 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: I need to sleep a lot, sleeping big chunks of time. 73 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: But so now let's go back to talking about nocturnal animals. 74 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: So why are some animals nocturnal? And there are a 75 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: few reasons. One of them is to avoid predators. Many 76 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: predators use their vision to hunt, so naturally, if you're 77 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: active at night you avoid these predators. Another reason is 78 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: avoiding the heat. So, especially in deserts and places where 79 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: there's extreme climate, being nocturnal is a great way to 80 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: avoid extreme heat conditions. And there's also sort of the 81 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,280 Speaker 1: counterintuitive thing of when you're a prey animal and you're 82 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: going around at night to avoid predators, Well, if you're 83 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: a predator, then you can capitalize on that, and then 84 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: you become nocturnal, evolve these traits that allow you to 85 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,800 Speaker 1: hunt better at night, and then you inhabit that evolutionary 86 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: niche where you are no longer competing with predators during 87 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: the day. You've developed these special night vision and night 88 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: senses that allow you to hunt at night. So you 89 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: can see there's this complex interaction of animals trying to 90 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: escape predation, but then predators trying to take advantage of 91 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: that niche of animals that are only active during the night, 92 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: and so like they basically just evolve them to kind 93 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,920 Speaker 1: of meet that need exactly exactly. It's kind of an 94 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: arms race where you know, you have you have predator 95 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: and prey sort of constantly trying to outsmart each other, 96 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,679 Speaker 1: and and predators to competing with each other and pray, 97 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: competing with each other for resources. So you see, animals 98 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: will basically go into these these niches where they can 99 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: compete be competitive. So in order to become a nighttime predator, 100 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,800 Speaker 1: or even just to be nocturnal, you need to develop 101 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: some pretty interesting adaptations. And I want to talk about 102 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:42,280 Speaker 1: one of the most famous and iconic nocturnal animals to 103 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: discuss these the owl. So owls are I think when 104 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: you think of nocturnal, I get a sound effect in 105 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,840 Speaker 1: my head that's like, you know, just like the owl. 106 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: And they are incredible animals that are so I find 107 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: them cute. They look like flying kiddies. But I think 108 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: I think if I was mouse size, these would be 109 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: the most horrific monsters you can imagine because they are 110 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:18,560 Speaker 1: perfectly designed to hunt you down at night. So owls 111 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 1: have amazing eyesight, and they have huge eyes for seeing 112 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: in the dark. In fact, their eyes are so big 113 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: and take up so much room they can't actually rotate 114 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: in their sockets. So you know how we can look 115 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: back and forth, we don't have to move our heads. 116 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: Owls can't do this. That's why their heads rotate many 117 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: degrees so that they can get that full visual scope, 118 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: so they can rotate their heads two seventy degrees around 119 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: and ninety degrees up and down so that they can 120 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: get that full visual space without having to move their 121 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,840 Speaker 1: eyes in their sockets because their eyes are actually kind 122 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: of tube shaped, so they could there's no they're like 123 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: held in place by bones. They can't actually move them. 124 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,439 Speaker 1: So yeah, I know if when an owl swivels its head, 125 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: that's the only way it can see around it. It's 126 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:10,600 Speaker 1: so interesting because I play Animal Crossing and I actually 127 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: tend to play it a lot at night, So my 128 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: favorite time to play is during the meteor showers. When 129 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: the owl comes on the island does exactly what you describe. 130 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't like move for eyes, it's like 131 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:29,839 Speaker 1: head moves and its swivels does a crazy like star 132 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: looking thing whenever polls do start, and she's so cool. 133 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: I love Animal Crossing and Celeste and Blathers that the 134 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: two owl characters identify very strongly with Blathers. But I 135 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: saw this meme recently that was like, oh, when you 136 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,680 Speaker 1: have your firstborn child, you must give it to Blathers. 137 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: He must have the first of everything you give. You 138 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: an Animal Crossing, you hunt for bugs and specimens and 139 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: fish and you give them to Blathers to donate to 140 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: the museum. So uh, and then he'll give you cool 141 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: animal facts. We actually had an episode about animal crossing 142 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: where I went through all the Blathers facts in fact 143 00:10:14,760 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: checked Blathers and it's actually surprisingly pretty good. There were 144 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,079 Speaker 1: some things that needed some elaboration, but yeah, it's I 145 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:24,000 Speaker 1: love all of the real life facts you can get 146 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: through animal crossing. So, like we're going to go from 147 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: talking about cute animal crossing to some horrifying facts about owls. So, 148 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: the eyes are so big, they're about three percent of 149 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,120 Speaker 1: the owl's body weight, which is kind of crazy. They 150 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: they just like their heads are basically just this holder 151 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: holding space for these massive eyeballs, and the eyes take 152 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:51,880 Speaker 1: up so much space that in some species of owls, 153 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: such as the northern saw itt owl, you can see 154 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 1: their eyes by looking through their ear holes, so they 155 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: do they don't have external ears like humans. They just 156 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: have a hole where sound gets funneled in by their 157 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: face shape and feathers. But like if you pull back 158 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: the feathers and you look into their ear whole, you 159 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: can see this oval shaped membrane at the back of 160 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,280 Speaker 1: their eye and you can actually see the back of 161 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: their eye, so yeah, it's you can get prep stuck 162 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: in their eye from their ear that well, yes, but 163 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:30,160 Speaker 1: they do have feathers covering it, so unlikely. But yes, 164 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: technically I don't like this demensation of like cutting something 165 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: in your eyes. Yeah, Joel, I know, I know. This 166 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: is uh. I'm trying to convince Joel not to hate birds, 167 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 1: but this is probably not helping, oh, birds the way 168 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: Blathers is about insects. Probably Joel has a problem with 169 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: birds and this is just making it worse, I imagine. 170 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: But yeah, I was. But yeah, Owls should not use 171 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:05,480 Speaker 1: Q tips. Actually people shouldn't. This is a thing. You 172 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: shouldn't put shove Q tips in your ears. You can 173 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: hurt your ear drums, but especially if you're an owl, 174 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: because then you can poke your eye. So their eyes 175 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: also have a really dense collection of photoreceptor rods, So 176 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: our eyeballs have rods and cones. Rods are especially good 177 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: at taking in information in low light conditions, so they 178 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: have a bunch of these. They also have a tepe 179 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: um lucidum, which is reflective tissue found in many animal 180 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,319 Speaker 1: eyes that they use to refract light so they can 181 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: see in the dark, so it's why cat's eyes glow 182 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: like a little demon at night. They have this reflective 183 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 1: eyeball tissue that helps them second light and use it 184 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,400 Speaker 1: for their vision. Owls also use their sense of touch 185 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: to navigate in the dark, so their eyes are specialized 186 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: for far sits, so seeing far in the distance. They're 187 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,720 Speaker 1: not as good at seeing up close, so they have 188 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: a bunch of bristles on their face just like cat 189 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: whiskers that help them sense things in their immediate surrounding. 190 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: Like something makes the bristles on their face vibrate, they 191 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:16,880 Speaker 1: since that they know something is close, so then they 192 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:20,720 Speaker 1: are using touch, which is another great adaptation to be 193 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 1: able to see in the dark. Sound they are highly 194 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: adapted to be very very good at hearing, highly sensitive 195 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: hearing like I was talking about. They have the just 196 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,680 Speaker 1: basically ear holes covered by feathers. Their heads are shaped 197 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: to divert sound into their ear holes, so it's kind 198 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: of this like disc shape that has this way of 199 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: like acoustically funneling in sound into their ears. They also 200 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: have a symmetry in their ears, so some species of 201 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: owl will have one ear hole higher than the other 202 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 1: so that they can gauge distance and location more precisely. 203 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: So an example is the barn owl's right earhole is 204 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: lower than the left, so it's closer to the ground. 205 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: And what happens if sound is louder in that earhole, 206 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: they know it's coming from the ground, and so they 207 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: use that to be able to precisely pinpoint like the 208 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:21,840 Speaker 1: little scuttling of a mouse. It's kind of fascinating and 209 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: scary how good they are at exactly pinpointing where something is. 210 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: They're like the most advanced. Yeah. I had a really weird, 211 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: probably terrible dog parent moment recently where um, my husband 212 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: and I went to go look at the meteor shower 213 00:14:38,480 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: at Malibu State Creek parking lot and stuff, and some 214 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: of the area was a little open, and we decided 215 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: to walk our dog right outside our car and literally 216 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: a barn owl flew right overhead us, like very closely, 217 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, I probably should not have 218 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: had my my very small dog out in the middle 219 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: of the where taken for a small animal. So what 220 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: kind of dog have a sheet? Yes, perfectly snack sized. Yes. 221 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,080 Speaker 1: So I was like, I am a terrible parent. Like 222 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: that was an awful call, but is majestic. I saw 223 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,560 Speaker 1: the majestic wings above me. I was like, whoa, it's 224 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:27,840 Speaker 1: the last and it's a meteor shower. But also I'm 225 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: going to put my dog, and it's here to eat 226 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: your little fun sized dog that's adorable and also scary, 227 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: but cute and scary. So a nocturnal el's brain can 228 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: create a complex map based on sound and use it 229 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: to exactly zero in on its prey. And it has 230 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: these really soft feathers that allows it to fly very quietly, 231 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,520 Speaker 1: almost silently. I don't know, did you hear that outcoming 232 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: from far away or exactly? I was just like, whoa, wings, 233 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: And then I was like, oh, all right, ol dog, 234 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 1: yeah anymore. Usually, the only time I know that an 235 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: owl is nearby is rustling of leaves in a tree, 236 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: like it's landed completely silently, but then the tree kind 237 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: of rustles and I look up and suddenly an owl 238 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: has appeared. So let's let's summarize the owl. It has 239 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: soft feathers so it can glide noiselessly through the air. 240 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,760 Speaker 1: It has incredible vision with giant I tubes that can 241 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: see really far in the dark. It's got hearing that 242 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: has been designed in order for it to exactly pinpoint 243 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,200 Speaker 1: where a sound is coming from. This all creates the 244 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: perfect nighttime killing machine, and they're adorable. How would you 245 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: turn this owl into a monster? Oh my god? Which 246 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: you need to know? I mean, like, I don't think 247 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,640 Speaker 1: I would need to. It's like it hunts your pets, 248 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: you know. I think that's very terrifying long line right there. 249 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: If it was like a horror villain called the Almand, 250 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,120 Speaker 1: the Almand Alman? Yeah, what what what would it be? 251 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:19,880 Speaker 1: What would be its m O? And what would be 252 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: sort of it's its whole killing pattern? Oh man? I 253 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,240 Speaker 1: mean like I I would like to do some body 254 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: horror with it as well, you know, because I would 255 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: just imagine someone developing like owl eyesight and abilities and 256 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,120 Speaker 1: like sprouting out feathers. So I definitely feel like Cronenberg 257 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: with it a little bit with the transformation, or to 258 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,560 Speaker 1: like the fly um and have them, you know, go 259 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: out and start like hunting for things to eat. Maybe 260 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: I love that like a cryptid similar to like Mothman. Yeah, 261 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: would it have the owl's freaky long ugly legs When 262 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,679 Speaker 1: you lift the owl's feathers up from its butt and 263 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: you lift it up. It actually has really long, strong 264 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: legs because it can take off from basically a sitting 265 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: position and then suddenly take off because it has these 266 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: very powerful legs. So yeah, it has a nice set 267 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: of gams under all those feathers. Yeah, I love that. 268 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,719 Speaker 1: I really like that idea of Sabina. I want to 269 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,000 Speaker 1: see that. I think that's perfect horror thing of Can 270 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: you imagine a human being who can't move their eyes, 271 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,840 Speaker 1: They can only move their head, so it's and then 272 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: they can turn their head two hundred and seventy degrees 273 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: around so their eyes don't move, but their heads twists 274 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 1: in your direction. Yeah, I did to make it happen, 275 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: and might I might actually I might actually make that 276 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: happen if you do, let me know. And I want 277 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: to want to listen to a radio drama out a 278 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: spooky owl Owl person owl trivia time. Did you know 279 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: that those ear tufts, the feathery bits that stick off 280 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: of an owl's head aren't ears at all, They're just feathers. 281 00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:18,840 Speaker 1: Their real ear holes are actually behind their eyes. The 282 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,920 Speaker 1: great horned owl has an impressive set of feathery tufts 283 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:26,119 Speaker 1: that certainly looked like cat ears. But they have nothing 284 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 1: to do with hearing. Why do they have them? Well, 285 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: the scientific jury is out, although there's some speculation that 286 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: these tufts, called pluma corns, are used in social communication 287 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: by lowering and raising them based on the owl's mood. 288 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:46,159 Speaker 1: Whatever their purpose, these plumic corns seem to help the 289 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: owls in some way, So I guess Owl's well that ends. Well, 290 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: when we return, we're going to discover some nocturnal animals 291 00:19:53,840 --> 00:20:00,160 Speaker 1: from your deepest dreams or darkest nightmares. You be the judge. 292 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: M Imagine you're taking a stroll during the cool, dark night. Well, 293 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,040 Speaker 1: I have some bad news for you. You're not alone. 294 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,400 Speaker 1: There are burrowing, bulging eyed sex craze critters who are 295 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 1: barking mad, and a furry, flying nighttime creature the size 296 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: of a koala, and a carnivore with long, bony fingers 297 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:46,879 Speaker 1: and giant, greedy eyes. Zabina. Now, I want to talk 298 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: about nocturnal animals that I will bet you've never heard of, 299 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,639 Speaker 1: and probably a lot of people have never heard of. 300 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,679 Speaker 1: And they seem like they come right out of a 301 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: fever dream. And I feel like you will appreciate this 302 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: is a creative person who likes to come up with 303 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,679 Speaker 1: horror elements. Unfortunately, I find them all really cute. I 304 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: couldn't help but these were all adorable. But still it's 305 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,360 Speaker 1: I think there's like some creepy cuteness that could be 306 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,600 Speaker 1: kind of mixed in, but it love. I'm very excited. Yes, 307 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: So first I want to talk about things that go 308 00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: bumping uglies in the night ding do dude do do? 309 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 1: So we talked about the owl and all of its 310 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,840 Speaker 1: fantastic adaptations, but one adaptation it doesn't really have is 311 00:21:40,840 --> 00:21:46,959 Speaker 1: a sense of smell and taste. But unlike them, reptiles 312 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:51,400 Speaker 1: like snakes and lizards use special receptors on their tongue 313 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,080 Speaker 1: to quote taste the air, so it's sort of like 314 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:57,919 Speaker 1: a sense of smell and taste that they use to 315 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 1: detect things nearby. And this is used by a little 316 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 1: sex crazed lizard called the barking geck, which uses it's 317 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,399 Speaker 1: tongue to smell and taste the air to help it 318 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: detect predators at night because it likes to use nighttime 319 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: from everything from hunting to a one night stand mostly 320 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: one night stand. It. Yeah, these are they are little castanova's. 321 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,200 Speaker 1: It looks so small about how big would you say 322 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: they are because I see it's head. Yeah, they're pretty small. 323 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: They're only about two inches or five centimeters long. They 324 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: have little stubby heads. They look a little bit like 325 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: a turtle head, and they have these fat little tails, 326 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: and those fat tails actually is a fat store that 327 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: allows them to store up nutrients for later. And they 328 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: are a tan rust color. Often they have little spots. 329 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:55,320 Speaker 1: They're very cute, and they have these big eyes with 330 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 1: pupils that can be little slits, and then they can 331 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,360 Speaker 1: dilate to almost encompass their whole eye. So they live 332 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,159 Speaker 1: in hot deserts in southern Africa. They're actually a whole 333 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: genus of small lizards called the barking geckos, and during 334 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: the day they like to stay in their den and 335 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: cover up the entrance to protect them from predators and 336 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: the heat, and they actually dig down quite a bit 337 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,760 Speaker 1: so that they can get down deep into the cool ground. 338 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:26,480 Speaker 1: And then at night, especially after rain, they'll come out 339 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 1: and hunt for insects. But being such an introvert is 340 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,359 Speaker 1: a bit of a problem when it comes to reproduction, 341 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: so males are actually too afraid to leave their dens 342 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: in order to search for females even at night, because again, 343 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: there are a lot of night time predators like owls 344 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: and other specially adapted predators that will come and get you, 345 00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: especially if you're a cute, tiny little lizard. So they 346 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: will first of all taste the air, check for predators nearby, 347 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: and then they, the males, will stick their little stubby 348 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: heads out of their den and bark, making these little 349 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: chirping noises to seduce females and convince them to come 350 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:16,160 Speaker 1: to them to mate and lay her egg. Oh my gosh, 351 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: is that the universal sound of calling a girl or 352 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: potentially you know, like like, I love it. I just 353 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: love the serious little faces popping out of the ground 354 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: going like hey, hey, hey, hey, are you hey? And 355 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 1: the female is very choosy and selects only the sexiest 356 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: of cat calls coming from these geckos because she has 357 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: to make this pretty perilous journey over to the din 358 00:24:55,400 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: scrub for the no no, no, no, no, no out no. 359 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:06,480 Speaker 1: This is not first night auditions on who America's Got? 360 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,160 Speaker 1: I forgot? What's it called? American? What the singing one? 361 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: God damn it? American Idol? American Idol. This is not 362 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: This is not the first night auditions of American Idol. 363 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: She needs a pro, she needs an Adam Lambert of Geckos. 364 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 1: So once she selects her romantic partner, she will rush 365 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:34,919 Speaker 1: over to his den. They'll do the business inside of 366 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,160 Speaker 1: his den, and then she kicks him out, like all right, 367 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: this is my din now. Now mind that she has 368 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:46,040 Speaker 1: done him the favor of coming over to make babies 369 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: with him. He didn't leave it all. He just like 370 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: stayed in his man cave and was like, hey, you 371 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: won't come over, and she's like, great, okay, now this 372 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,120 Speaker 1: is mine. You get out, and so he will oblige. 373 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: He'll leave and go dig himself a new in. And 374 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: so this is kind of it's actually a pretty equitable 375 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,879 Speaker 1: trade off because the female is taking this risk and 376 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,639 Speaker 1: going all the way over to his den. He doesn't 377 00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: have to take that risk. But then he does get 378 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,200 Speaker 1: to pass on his jeans by mating with her. And 379 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:19,840 Speaker 1: so once he's exited, sure like he has to go 380 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: out and expose himself and build a new din, but 381 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: he's already passed on his genes. So he's won. He's 382 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: won the game of evolution already. And then she also 383 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: kind of gets a little bit of a win there, 384 00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:33,879 Speaker 1: because then she gets this nice new din, she doesn't 385 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 1: have to exit and take an unnecessary risk. I love 386 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 1: that though, the rapidness of their relationship where it's like, okay, 387 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,480 Speaker 1: so let's move in together. Actually I'm moving in and 388 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:52,440 Speaker 1: you're moving out. So so now let's go from the 389 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 1: scaly nighttime cuties to one of the fluffiest animals I've 390 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: ever seen in my entire your life. It looks When 391 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: I saw this picture, and I've seen a lot of animals, 392 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,320 Speaker 1: I was like, no, this is a stuffed animal, like 393 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,919 Speaker 1: because like that that sometimes happens. There are these viral 394 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: images of an animal and it's like, wow, look at 395 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:15,960 Speaker 1: this animal. It turns out it's fake. It's like these 396 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: are fake looked into it, no real real animals. So 397 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 1: this is the Australian Greater Glider and it is looks 398 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: like a fluffy teddy bear plus a koala plus a 399 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: squirrel with a tail that looks like a giant feather 400 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: boa and it looks like a cuddly made up dream animal, 401 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,840 Speaker 1: like an imaginary friend you'd come up with as a kid, 402 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:42,360 Speaker 1: or like a stuffed animal for a kid. It does 403 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: not It looks unreal speakers are so chunky. Yes, yes, 404 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:53,560 Speaker 1: it has huge ears, just big teddy bear ears. I 405 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: guess it kind of looks like a furby. Yeah, total ears. 406 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: And they are actually a nocturnal marsupial found in Australia, 407 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: and they range from being an ashy brown to grayish 408 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: white with very soft, shaggy fur. I will obviously include 409 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:14,199 Speaker 1: a link in the show notes, but you have to 410 00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: see this. Their face kind of looks like a little 411 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:20,640 Speaker 1: combination of like a mouse and like a bat face, 412 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: so that kind of the v of like a bat. Yeah, 413 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: it's got a pointed snout, little whiskers. Yeah, it's it's adorable. 414 00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: And their tails are unbelievable because their tails they are 415 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: longer than their overall body length and they are extremely fluffy. 416 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: So its head and body grows up to be about 417 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: seventeen inches long, which is about forty three cimeters, but 418 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: its tail grows to be longer than the rest of 419 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,719 Speaker 1: it at about twenty inches which is about fifty centimeters. 420 00:28:54,480 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: And despite being relatively large animals, they are able to glide. 421 00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: They are a gliding marsupial, in the largest gliding marsupial 422 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:09,120 Speaker 1: in the world, so they use their super long tails 423 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: to help them balance and steer as they glide. And 424 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: they have membranes on the sides of their bodies that 425 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: act as like a built in wingsuit, and it stretches 426 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: from their ankles to their elbows that they can extend 427 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,800 Speaker 1: to glide from tree to tree. And they glide by 428 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,120 Speaker 1: tucking their paws under their chin and holding their elbows 429 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: out as they glide, so it's like the cutest thing 430 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,720 Speaker 1: you can imagine. They do a little chin shells, like 431 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: a cute little head shot where it's like, look at me, 432 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: I'm so cute, and I'm going to glide over to 433 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: this next tree. That's magical, yes, And so they are 434 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: not very scary night. They may kind of freak you 435 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: out if you're out at night and you don't know 436 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: what's happening, because suddenly this big thing just swoops through 437 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: the air and lands and all you can see is 438 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: its glowing eyes. But they're actually herbivores. They like to 439 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: eat eucalyptus leaves. They are totally harmless. I think if 440 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: I actually saw one, I would think I was high 441 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,520 Speaker 1: or having a dream, having a lucid dream of cuteness. 442 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: I mean honestly, like just their pose, Like I mean, 443 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: are there I need to see videos of this, and 444 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: also if they could be like Instagram influencers. But that's 445 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: the thing. Because they're nocturnal, it's actually really hard to 446 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: get good videos of them or get good images of them, 447 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 1: and so yeah, it's it's they are very shy, even 448 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:47,719 Speaker 1: though they are very grammable. Yeah, too bad. So the 449 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 1: next nighttime creature that absolutely looks completely made up, it 450 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: looks like it comes from a dream is the tar siar. So. 451 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: Tarsiars are deadly carnival ris predators with huge eyes and 452 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 1: long fingers that murder their prey at night by pouncing 453 00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: on them. And you're making faces because this is actually, 454 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:19,160 Speaker 1: despite my description, incredibly cute. Yes, so they are very small. 455 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: They're one of the smallest primates. They're extremely adorable unless 456 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:27,640 Speaker 1: you are an insect, a spider, a small bird, batter lizard. 457 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: Because they are one of the only completely carnivorous primates 458 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: in the world. They eat exclusively meat, whether it's an 459 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: invertebrate or a small vertebrate. Cute but deadly. They have 460 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: soft brown fur, long fingers and toes, very good at 461 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:51,560 Speaker 1: giving tickles. They have stubby, little mouse like ears and 462 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: enormous eyes. Their head and body grows to be about 463 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,720 Speaker 1: six inches long, so that's fifteen centimeters, and they have 464 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: this really long, long, thin rat like tail that grows 465 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: up to about ten inches or long, which is kind 466 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,160 Speaker 1: of disconcerting when you see it because the rest of 467 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,920 Speaker 1: its body looks adorable like a cute little little mouse 468 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,040 Speaker 1: monkey thing, but then it's got this long rat tail. 469 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: And they are voracious. They will eat up to ten 470 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: percent of their body weight every day, so their eyes 471 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 1: are much bigger than their stomach, and actually their eyes 472 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: are bigger than their brain, so their brain is literally 473 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 1: smaller than their eyeballs, and their eyes are huge, which 474 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 1: allows them to see in night at very low light conditions. 475 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: And much like the owl, they have trouble actually moving 476 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,960 Speaker 1: their eyes in their heads, and instead of that, they 477 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: just move their heads so they can move their heads 478 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty degrees around instead of moving their 479 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:03,520 Speaker 1: eyes in their sock it. And they also have an 480 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: extremely keen sense of hearing. Like as cute as they 481 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: are to us humans, if you're a little invertebrate, these 482 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: are little monkey rat demons that can swivel their heads, 483 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: like Linda Blair, can hear and see you in the dark, 484 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: and they can grab you and pounce, and they have 485 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: these really long fingers to get in little crevices so 486 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: they can just snatch you right up. So yeah, kind 487 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:30,040 Speaker 1: of horrifying, but to humans, very cute, very cute, but also, 488 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: like you know, I think it is prestworthy looking and 489 00:33:35,800 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: but I'm also not surprised that they can get very 490 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: hansy and dangerous. They're found in Southeast Asia, typically on islands, 491 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,720 Speaker 1: and they are arboreal, so they live in trees and 492 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:54,560 Speaker 1: they are small, so they are prey to many predators. 493 00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 1: But they don't. As cute as they look and innocent 494 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:01,200 Speaker 1: as they look, they do not make themselves easy prey, 495 00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:04,200 Speaker 1: so they typically live in groups with one male and 496 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: multiple females. But when it comes to fending off predators, 497 00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: they will join forces like the end of Avengers and 498 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:16,320 Speaker 1: Game and just gang up on this predator and shrink 499 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:20,919 Speaker 1: at it and attack it. So unrelated groups of Tarsiers 500 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 1: will come together and kick predator butt and scream at 501 00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:29,960 Speaker 1: it and attack it. And it's I love that they 502 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 1: just look so cute and unassuming, but they take no 503 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:42,240 Speaker 1: bullshit how would you incorporate the tarsier into a horror story? Okay, 504 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: so for the tarsier, you know, I just would like 505 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:49,560 Speaker 1: this idea of distilling the certain like abilities from these 506 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,840 Speaker 1: nonclernal animals for like a like a scary thing, you know. 507 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,600 Speaker 1: I think it's so freaky that it is so small 508 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: and so cute, but is like vicious and carnivorous. So 509 00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:06,239 Speaker 1: I mean also would be fun to like see what 510 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:11,240 Speaker 1: would happen if like this animal was you know, blown 511 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:15,680 Speaker 1: up to be bigger size version of it would eat human. 512 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:21,000 Speaker 1: I would, oh, absolutely it would. I love that idea 513 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: because that reminds me a lot of a lot of 514 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 1: these b horror movies, like The Killer Shrews I think 515 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,600 Speaker 1: was one of them, Just these movies where the premises 516 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,080 Speaker 1: you take an ordinary sized animal and make it big 517 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: and now it's killing everyone. But absolutely these would be 518 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 1: horrifying because they could find you in the dark. They 519 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:46,319 Speaker 1: have super hearing, super site and these very long fingers, 520 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: long skeletal looking fingers, yeah, they and then these really 521 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:56,759 Speaker 1: long rat like tails. I also imagine sort of a 522 00:35:57,360 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 1: like a human version of this with a giant eyes 523 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,759 Speaker 1: head that rotates a hundred eighty degrees and really long fingers. Again, 524 00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:07,080 Speaker 1: it's kind of like a crypted sort of thing, like 525 00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:12,920 Speaker 1: you know the tarsier Yeah, a group of people that 526 00:36:12,960 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: win a trip to this island. Yeah, and this island 527 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: is inhabited by all of these like humanoid uh, nocturnal 528 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:24,480 Speaker 1: and kind of a sci fi or fantasy book where 529 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: it's like humans being forced to readapt as being nocturnal. 530 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,319 Speaker 1: I feel like we would potentially have these adaptations like 531 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:37,399 Speaker 1: get huge eyes and long fingers and like maybe sort 532 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:41,040 Speaker 1: of weirdly placed body hair and whiskers to like be 533 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,080 Speaker 1: able to sense things in the night, and we would 534 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:49,280 Speaker 1: a lot of clicking sounds to mate midnight cat calls. 535 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: Tarsiers are a strange sort of primate, not only due 536 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 1: to their looks but their brains. Their brains are so 537 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:05,080 Speaker 1: structurally different from other primates, including lemurs, monkeys, and of 538 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,120 Speaker 1: course apes. Neuroscientists suggest that these little guys are a 539 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: blast from the past and independently evolved line of primates 540 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:18,239 Speaker 1: from one of the earliest primate ancestors. It's too bad 541 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: they're not more evolved, but because those long fingers could 542 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:24,640 Speaker 1: play the hell out of the piano when we return, 543 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,760 Speaker 1: we're going under the sea because the night's better downward, 544 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:41,320 Speaker 1: its wetter. In the night sea from Cathulu to the Kragan, 545 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: there are many terrifying beasts we imagine coming from the 546 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,680 Speaker 1: depths of the ocean. But what really happens in the 547 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,760 Speaker 1: ocean at night? Is it dark and full of terrors 548 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: or a glowing wonderland. I think one thing that is 549 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:02,880 Speaker 1: not exploited that much in both in terms of like 550 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:06,839 Speaker 1: horror movies and when we think about the night and 551 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:12,720 Speaker 1: nocturnal life is the ocean. We think about nocturnal animals 552 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:15,879 Speaker 1: as like some kind of cat lurking in the dark 553 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: with the shiny eyes, But thinking about what happens in 554 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: the ocean at night is it's just not as imagined 555 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: as much. And I think part of that is it's 556 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 1: so hard to study the ocean at night because it's 557 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,600 Speaker 1: so hard to get any light down there. It's very dark. 558 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,799 Speaker 1: I feel like there aren't that many horror movies that 559 00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:40,040 Speaker 1: actually deal with the ocean at night. I know that 560 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: there's Jaws, but they didn't really focus on the nighttime 561 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,440 Speaker 1: aspect of it. What else is there? There are a 562 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,440 Speaker 1: lot of shark movies, There are a lot of like 563 00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:51,759 Speaker 1: I think there are maybe a couple of films that 564 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:57,359 Speaker 1: do go into like you know, deep oceanic aquatic monster work. 565 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,360 Speaker 1: I mean there's always you know, like the really in 566 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 1: sort of thing, um any of like the giant shrimp, shrimps, 567 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,400 Speaker 1: Giant shrimps are sure I got giant trump from maybe 568 00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: I'm imagining what I like for dinner later, um, but 569 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,640 Speaker 1: giant Spid's um. One of the most recent films that 570 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: did kind of do a little bit of like a 571 00:39:17,719 --> 00:39:22,680 Speaker 1: deep sea creature he sort of monsters was Aquaman, which 572 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:26,040 Speaker 1: is which was really by James want More in like 573 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,359 Speaker 1: a comic book form. So I don't really think they 574 00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:32,080 Speaker 1: are too like true to the real like horrors of 575 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:35,920 Speaker 1: the deep, but it did give a really fantastical interpretation 576 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:39,680 Speaker 1: of the sort of creatures that are, you know, just 577 00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:46,799 Speaker 1: way down that terrifying and prehistoric even Yeah, there's even 578 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:50,840 Speaker 1: there's a specific scene in Aquaman where they're on a 579 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 1: boat and just a swarm of just like freaky looking 580 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 1: deep sea creatures are like all around this ship, and 581 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 1: I thought it was way more awesome gold Creek. Yeah, 582 00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,480 Speaker 1: I don't find sharks that scary. I love sharks. Maybe 583 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:10,280 Speaker 1: that's partially why I do love the movie Jaws. Sharks 584 00:40:10,320 --> 00:40:12,959 Speaker 1: don't fill me with fear. Obviously, if I was face 585 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,400 Speaker 1: to face with a shark, I would like poop my pants, 586 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:19,280 Speaker 1: But just conceptually, sharks don't scare me. But the idea 587 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,400 Speaker 1: of being in the ocean at night, not being able 588 00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,080 Speaker 1: to see even if you could breathe, like you're in 589 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 1: scuba gear or like say, or in a submarine. The 590 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:31,600 Speaker 1: idea of being surrounded by darkness and maybe sensing something 591 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,920 Speaker 1: like creep across your arm and you can't see anything, 592 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 1: and then just seeing like glowing spots of bioluminescence. I 593 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:44,200 Speaker 1: love that. And also like if you watch footage of 594 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,640 Speaker 1: deep sea submarines where they just have this one spotlight 595 00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 1: coming from the submarine and then a deep sea creature 596 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 1: just slowly creeping into the spotlight. It just like I 597 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,680 Speaker 1: get such chills. I love it. It's it's the kind 598 00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: of creepy that I love and I want more of 599 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:05,600 Speaker 1: where it's just like I get such chills thinking about 600 00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: that that's like just a beam of light and then 601 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,640 Speaker 1: this this creature no one has seen before just slowly 602 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:16,959 Speaker 1: floating into into the light. But stuff, I mean even 603 00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:20,360 Speaker 1: of like the scene in Finding Nemo where they're like 604 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:27,799 Speaker 1: light Finding Nemo had some wonderful moments of marine biology. Yeah, 605 00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,759 Speaker 1: the the deep sea anglerfish luring them in, it was 606 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:36,160 Speaker 1: a wonderful scene. I love that. So the ocean at 607 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:40,160 Speaker 1: night is a fascinating place. I think there's so many 608 00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:43,239 Speaker 1: fascinating things that happen in the ocean at night that 609 00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: it's surprising to me that it's not more entrenched in 610 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 1: popular culture. I watched this documentary series called Night on Earth. 611 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: I think it's by the same people who did Planet 612 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 1: Earth or Life on Earth, and it's on Netflix right now. 613 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 1: It's gorgeous. It's an absolute beautiful documentary. I highly recommend it. 614 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:07,240 Speaker 1: And I got some of my inspiration for this section 615 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,680 Speaker 1: and some of my information from one of the episodes 616 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,640 Speaker 1: where they go look at the ocean at night. It's 617 00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:15,839 Speaker 1: it's fascinating and it's beautiful. You really, you really have 618 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:19,799 Speaker 1: to look at it. It's gorgeous. But something happens at 619 00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:24,560 Speaker 1: night in the deep ocean that's absolutely fascinating and it's 620 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:30,720 Speaker 1: not well known, but it is the biggest mass migration 621 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:36,000 Speaker 1: in the world and it happens every night. So at night, 622 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:41,520 Speaker 1: Zooplankton these tiny little creatures rise from the bottom of 623 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:45,640 Speaker 1: the ocean to feed on algae, and they make this 624 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:50,320 Speaker 1: huge trip. Now, these are zooplankton, which are teeny teeny 625 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:53,919 Speaker 1: tiny animals. They are real animals, even though they look 626 00:42:54,080 --> 00:42:58,440 Speaker 1: like flex of nothingness. But they are either small animals 627 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 1: that will always stay that small, or they're actually larval 628 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,600 Speaker 1: forms of bigger animals that will grow to be big 629 00:43:04,640 --> 00:43:08,120 Speaker 1: and in some cases actually quite big. So all of 630 00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:12,360 Speaker 1: these little creatures rise from the deep sea up closer 631 00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,800 Speaker 1: to the surface to feed on algae. So the reason 632 00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:19,239 Speaker 1: all of these little zooplankton make this huge trip in 633 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,880 Speaker 1: such a massive numbers is they like to stay deep 634 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,640 Speaker 1: in the ocean, deep down in the depths during the 635 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:31,239 Speaker 1: day to avoid predation. They're so small, so delicious that 636 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 1: they go down where there's not as much population of predators. 637 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:39,400 Speaker 1: The deep sea does have predators who, again, like we 638 00:43:39,480 --> 00:43:42,960 Speaker 1: talked about on the surface, we have these niche predators 639 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:46,160 Speaker 1: that have these special evolutionary traits that allow them to 640 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:48,759 Speaker 1: hunt deep in the sea and deep in the dark, 641 00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,319 Speaker 1: like the angler fish that we were talking about from 642 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,759 Speaker 1: finding Nemo. But they stand a better chance down there 643 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:58,200 Speaker 1: because it's harder to evolve to that niche, and so 644 00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:01,759 Speaker 1: they still need nutrition, and the deep ocean is very 645 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,520 Speaker 1: sparse on nutritions, so they have to migrate up closer 646 00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 1: to the surface of the water where there's algae that 647 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,240 Speaker 1: does not exist deep in the ocean because that algae 648 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:13,279 Speaker 1: requires sunlight in order to photosynthesize. So they go up 649 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:15,520 Speaker 1: in order to feed on the algae. And so that 650 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:20,440 Speaker 1: makes the the open ocean at night during this mass migration, 651 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,960 Speaker 1: the largest nursery in the world for these larval forms 652 00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,160 Speaker 1: of fish. And they are I'll include a link to 653 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,640 Speaker 1: a photo gallery of some of these fish. But you 654 00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:31,719 Speaker 1: have to look at like you know, you see like 655 00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:37,600 Speaker 1: baby lion fish and baby cephalopods, octopuses and squids and 656 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 1: cuttlefish and baby jellyfish, and they're these translucent just like 657 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 1: they look like fit tiny fish ghosts but perfect. In California, 658 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: we recently had a lot of voluminescence on the coast um. 659 00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,080 Speaker 1: I even watch a vlogger on YouTube named the Tim Tracker, 660 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,719 Speaker 1: and in Florida he went over to the Indian River 661 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:06,080 Speaker 1: to do bioluminescent kayaking in clear kayaks. So that's wonderful. 662 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:08,320 Speaker 1: Do you know when it's the New Moons. It's the 663 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,640 Speaker 1: darkest town and you just see like them just like 664 00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:16,320 Speaker 1: pulse around the boat as you're going through. And it's yes, 665 00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 1: a ripple, yes, well, yeah, we did just have one 666 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:24,279 Speaker 1: in l A. It was in May, right, yeah, it 667 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 1: was early in the days. But yeah, it's beautiful. Like 668 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:36,040 Speaker 1: the waves literally glow with bioluminescence, and that type of bioluminescence. 669 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:39,160 Speaker 1: Now there's a whole bunch of bioluminescent animals in the ocean, 670 00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:42,239 Speaker 1: but that specifically when it makes the water glow, that's 671 00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:48,160 Speaker 1: caused by bioluminescent dinoflagelets, so tiny, tiny little creatures, and 672 00:45:48,680 --> 00:45:54,879 Speaker 1: they use this bioluminescence to ward off predators. And so 673 00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 1: that's why when you disturb the water, either with your 674 00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:01,319 Speaker 1: hand or a wave or a kayak, they flash at 675 00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:05,160 Speaker 1: you and it's an attempt to scare off or ward 676 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:09,640 Speaker 1: off predators. But for us humans it's beautiful. It doesn't. 677 00:46:09,680 --> 00:46:13,120 Speaker 1: It's just so you can literally walk through the water 678 00:46:13,320 --> 00:46:16,799 Speaker 1: and your your footsteps will glow, and you move your 679 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,000 Speaker 1: hand through the water. Every time you move it, they 680 00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:22,600 Speaker 1: will glow off because they're responding to being agitated and 681 00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:25,400 Speaker 1: they'll give off this. Basically they're piste off at you, 682 00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:28,960 Speaker 1: but it doesn't matter because they're they're beautiful. So, like 683 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:34,440 Speaker 1: I said, sometimes these zooplankton aren't just permanently tiny like 684 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,960 Speaker 1: dino flagelets are always going to be small, but sometimes 685 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,480 Speaker 1: they are these larval forms of these bigger animals, and 686 00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,399 Speaker 1: they can go from being teeny tiny to being one 687 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:47,160 Speaker 1: of the biggest fish in the world. So, ocean sunfish 688 00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:49,520 Speaker 1: have you ever seen, well, you've played animal crossing, so 689 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:53,839 Speaker 1: you've seen the ocean sunfish and animal crossing. Right. They 690 00:46:53,920 --> 00:46:58,120 Speaker 1: are one of the heaviest bony fishes, so bony fish 691 00:46:58,160 --> 00:47:01,240 Speaker 1: meaning they have, like you know, baically this bone rigid 692 00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:07,160 Speaker 1: bone skeletal structure, which excludes sharks um. However, actually sunfish 693 00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:10,439 Speaker 1: are interesting because even though they're technically a bony fish, 694 00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:15,040 Speaker 1: their skeletal structure is heavily supported by cartilage, which allows 695 00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:19,320 Speaker 1: it actually to grow so big, and they do grow enormous. 696 00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:24,320 Speaker 1: They weigh over two thousand pounds, which is a thousand kilograms, 697 00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:26,959 Speaker 1: and they can grow up to ten feet tall, which 698 00:47:27,040 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: is three meters. They are very strange looking. They're like 699 00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:33,840 Speaker 1: these big disks. It looks like you took a giant 700 00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:37,920 Speaker 1: fish and flattened it into a pancake. And despite growing 701 00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:41,520 Speaker 1: to be so large as adults, when their babies a 702 00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:46,360 Speaker 1: little freshly hatched, they are only point zero nine inches long, 703 00:47:46,719 --> 00:47:52,280 Speaker 1: which is two point five millimeters, absolutely tiny, tiny zoop 704 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:55,839 Speaker 1: LinkedIn And I think it's one of those things where 705 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:59,160 Speaker 1: it's like, obviously we all, all of us start out 706 00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:01,880 Speaker 1: really tiny when you think about it, you know, we're 707 00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,160 Speaker 1: just a sperm in an egg. But to see this 708 00:48:05,280 --> 00:48:09,200 Speaker 1: little gooby fish, this little tiny goober because they because 709 00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:13,560 Speaker 1: they hatch and they swim around at this size and 710 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:19,160 Speaker 1: they may somehow really by yeah, I mean their eyes 711 00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,520 Speaker 1: are big as adults, but just compared to its body. 712 00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:28,200 Speaker 1: But they just look like these little tiny beans with 713 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:32,520 Speaker 1: eyes and fins, and then they get to be gigantic. 714 00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:35,920 Speaker 1: It's I'm granted a lot of these guys are not 715 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,799 Speaker 1: going to survive. It's a law of large numbers for them, 716 00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:43,000 Speaker 1: but it is incredible. So it's like you see this zooplankton, 717 00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:45,320 Speaker 1: you're like, oh, it's just like these little small things, 718 00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,760 Speaker 1: you know, but some of them grow up to be giant, 719 00:48:47,840 --> 00:48:51,319 Speaker 1: which is incredible. But the ocean at night is not 720 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,680 Speaker 1: just filled with little cutie's. It is also filled with 721 00:48:54,800 --> 00:49:00,520 Speaker 1: tiny murders. So I want to talk about the spiny 722 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 1: tiger shrimp, which is one of the tiniest serial killers 723 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:11,120 Speaker 1: in the world. Uh. Spiny tiger shrimp are beautiful colorful 724 00:49:11,160 --> 00:49:14,840 Speaker 1: shrimp there orange and black. They only grow to be 725 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:19,719 Speaker 1: about point eight inches or two centimeters big, but two 726 00:49:19,760 --> 00:49:25,080 Speaker 1: small prey. They are frighteningly deadly predators at night. They 727 00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:30,560 Speaker 1: are a very rare species that live mainly in this 728 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:35,880 Speaker 1: very nutrient rich straight called the Limba Straight, which is 729 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:40,279 Speaker 1: off the coast of Limba Island in Indonesia. It's this 730 00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:43,880 Speaker 1: area that's just so flush with nutrients due to the 731 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,640 Speaker 1: way the tides kind of like churn up nutrients from 732 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,240 Speaker 1: the ocean into this area. It's got this huge amount 733 00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:53,960 Speaker 1: of biodiversity. These little tiny tiger shrimp are actually like 734 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:57,840 Speaker 1: little tigers, not just in how they look but their behavior. 735 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:03,680 Speaker 1: So at night they are incredibly good predators. First of all, 736 00:50:03,719 --> 00:50:08,040 Speaker 1: each of their eyes can move independently and detect distance, 737 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:13,840 Speaker 1: so they have an incredibly complex visual system in their brains. 738 00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:16,719 Speaker 1: So they can take two images from these eyes that 739 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:21,840 Speaker 1: can both separately assess distance and make pictures. And then 740 00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,279 Speaker 1: all This information goes into their little brains and they 741 00:50:25,320 --> 00:50:28,200 Speaker 1: create a full map around them, which is impressive for 742 00:50:28,280 --> 00:50:32,719 Speaker 1: such a tiny animal. It has scales on its body 743 00:50:32,760 --> 00:50:37,040 Speaker 1: that can detect pressure waves from fish, so if they're 744 00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:41,080 Speaker 1: incredible eyesight doesn't do it. If it's an especially dark 745 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:45,880 Speaker 1: ocean night, they can find fish and almost total darkness 746 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:50,880 Speaker 1: like a son So they have these like pressure plates 747 00:50:50,960 --> 00:50:54,560 Speaker 1: on their body, and then as something comes in like 748 00:50:55,280 --> 00:50:58,480 Speaker 1: basically a fish moves around, it changes the water pressure 749 00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:01,200 Speaker 1: and then it hits there's scales they know where that 750 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:06,959 Speaker 1: fish is and sonar. Meanwhile, you're actually sending out it's 751 00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:10,239 Speaker 1: it's what dolphins and bats use, where you're sending out 752 00:51:10,280 --> 00:51:12,640 Speaker 1: a pulse and it bounces off something and comes back 753 00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,279 Speaker 1: to you. This they don't even have to send anything out. 754 00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:19,080 Speaker 1: They just passively wait for vibrations in the water to 755 00:51:19,160 --> 00:51:24,080 Speaker 1: hit these these pressure scales on their body. So they 756 00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:29,239 Speaker 1: can also strike extremely quickly and act as ambush predators 757 00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:32,759 Speaker 1: where they sneak up on a fish and then just 758 00:51:32,840 --> 00:51:36,879 Speaker 1: grab them like their tiger namesake. So they are Yeah, 759 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,520 Speaker 1: they're teeny tiny, deadly tigers that can not only see 760 00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:42,880 Speaker 1: in the dark, but they can literally feel you in 761 00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:47,600 Speaker 1: the dark, and then one last nighttime ocean animal I 762 00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:51,400 Speaker 1: want to talk about is maybe the funniest to me. 763 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:56,080 Speaker 1: It's extremely funny because they look like angry demon fish. 764 00:51:56,719 --> 00:52:04,400 Speaker 1: And these are called flashlight fish. It is a nocturnal 765 00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:09,600 Speaker 1: family of fish, and they have a pouch of bioluminescent 766 00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:13,879 Speaker 1: bacteria under its eyes that glow, and it looks like, 767 00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:17,040 Speaker 1: you know, like how the Spider Man mask is where 768 00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:19,480 Speaker 1: it has like these glowing like he's got kind of 769 00:52:19,480 --> 00:52:23,000 Speaker 1: glowing angry eyes on his mask. It looks like that 770 00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:29,320 Speaker 1: Spider Man fish. You look like Spider Man. Yes, Spiderman 771 00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:32,399 Speaker 1: into the spider Bird. They look so angry because it's 772 00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:36,120 Speaker 1: basically like it's a half disk under their eyes. But 773 00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:39,040 Speaker 1: you look at it, it it looks like these mad little 774 00:52:39,200 --> 00:52:43,480 Speaker 1: demon glowing fish or even like venom. Yeah, yeah, it 775 00:52:43,560 --> 00:52:47,879 Speaker 1: does look like venom. Yeah. So these glowing spots are 776 00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:52,480 Speaker 1: likely used to either communicate, attract prey or award off 777 00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:55,480 Speaker 1: predators because these aren't huge fish. They're about they're a 778 00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:58,400 Speaker 1: little bit. They're they're like less than the length of 779 00:52:58,440 --> 00:53:04,600 Speaker 1: like a human hand. Um. They look incredibly menacing, and 780 00:53:04,840 --> 00:53:07,760 Speaker 1: you know, there's it's I don't know if it's entirely 781 00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:11,160 Speaker 1: known why they have these glowing spots other than sort 782 00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:14,120 Speaker 1: of the the guesses of it's probably to tract prices, 783 00:53:14,160 --> 00:53:17,400 Speaker 1: probably to communicate. It's probably to ward off predators. My 784 00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:20,520 Speaker 1: guests would be it also implies a much bigger animal 785 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:23,399 Speaker 1: because they look like huge eyes. You're like, oh man, 786 00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:25,400 Speaker 1: you you must be a big animal. So like in 787 00:53:25,440 --> 00:53:28,480 Speaker 1: the dark, you just see these pair of angry, huge 788 00:53:28,480 --> 00:53:31,920 Speaker 1: eyes coming at you. They tend to travel in groups 789 00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:35,279 Speaker 1: or like solitary lee you know. I don't know. I 790 00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:37,799 Speaker 1: think in this image we do see a few of them, 791 00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:39,840 Speaker 1: but that might just be because they're captive ones. I 792 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:42,520 Speaker 1: don't think they necessarily clustered together like that in the 793 00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:53,640 Speaker 1: wild because just just squad of demon fish. But when 794 00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:55,960 Speaker 1: they're not in the dark, like in there in the 795 00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:59,160 Speaker 1: full light, they actually look pretty doofies. So they are 796 00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:01,799 Speaker 1: no longer look like little demon fish. They just look 797 00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:04,840 Speaker 1: like a doofy little fish with a little bug eys, 798 00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:07,439 Speaker 1: and they look kind of like they've been found out, 799 00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:09,879 Speaker 1: like when you try to spook someone in the middle 800 00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:11,560 Speaker 1: of the night and then you turn on the light 801 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:14,320 Speaker 1: and it's just like someone with glow sticks going like whoo, 802 00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:20,040 Speaker 1: calding glow sticks under their eyes. So, now that we 803 00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:25,560 Speaker 1: have discovered all of these incredible nocturnal animals, what is 804 00:54:25,640 --> 00:54:30,400 Speaker 1: your idea for your next horror story? I actually really 805 00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:33,200 Speaker 1: do not want to create some sort of owl creature 806 00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:37,640 Speaker 1: that you know, can't like move their eyes, so it 807 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:41,000 Speaker 1: is just staring and like, you know, can move its 808 00:54:41,040 --> 00:54:46,280 Speaker 1: neck in the crazy amount. I love that spooky creepiness. 809 00:54:46,320 --> 00:54:48,799 Speaker 1: Actually think we are currently working on something that could 810 00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:52,959 Speaker 1: lend itself to that for our animations. So I might 811 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:55,279 Speaker 1: like circle back to my animator and be like, hey, 812 00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:58,120 Speaker 1: can we make this creature do this really owl thing? 813 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:02,000 Speaker 1: I love? I love that. I love to be the 814 00:55:02,080 --> 00:55:07,920 Speaker 1: inspiration for horror stories. Yes, so yeah, well, thank you 815 00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:12,760 Speaker 1: so much for joining me today. Speaking of your creations, 816 00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:16,759 Speaker 1: do you have anything to plug? Sure? So, I'm a 817 00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:20,280 Speaker 1: writer for the Something Scary podcasts and show on YouTube, 818 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:23,719 Speaker 1: which is hosted by Marquia McCarty based on the show 819 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:27,480 Speaker 1: created by Sapphire sandalo Uh. It is women lead and 820 00:55:27,600 --> 00:55:33,239 Speaker 1: written and it's spooky campfire stories where all we'll do 821 00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:37,320 Speaker 1: like videos and animations inspired by its things like cryptids 822 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,120 Speaker 1: or just strange things that are happening on the internet. 823 00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:44,120 Speaker 1: Of like scary news and stuff um. And we have 824 00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:46,960 Speaker 1: you know, the weekly video that drops every Tuesday as 825 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:50,200 Speaker 1: well as a podcast with which has additional stories that 826 00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:54,040 Speaker 1: are fans submitted, and we kind of just celebrate all 827 00:55:54,120 --> 00:55:56,399 Speaker 1: things scary. Um. And it's a it's a good time. 828 00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:02,640 Speaker 1: That's amazing. That is right down my alley. And there's 829 00:56:02,680 --> 00:56:05,640 Speaker 1: like for me in general, I love like all kinds 830 00:56:05,640 --> 00:56:09,319 Speaker 1: of spooky things and animals, and you know, like there's 831 00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:13,120 Speaker 1: always this misconception of like, oh, spooky animals there, you know, 832 00:56:13,760 --> 00:56:17,200 Speaker 1: like scary or bad or whatever or like related to 833 00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:19,200 Speaker 1: like the double but that's not always true, you know, 834 00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:23,400 Speaker 1: I really sometimes they are related to the devil fire bat, 835 00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:27,440 Speaker 1: you know how the other bats bad? No, fine Empire 836 00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:31,799 Speaker 1: bats are great. They don't kill nobody. They're just they're 837 00:56:31,840 --> 00:56:36,000 Speaker 1: just like a little blood. And there's only one species 838 00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:38,719 Speaker 1: of vampire bat that's ever been known to feast on 839 00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:41,959 Speaker 1: human blood, only one, and there's so many other ones. 840 00:56:42,239 --> 00:56:45,839 Speaker 1: I did have a question though, about the giant bat 841 00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:48,880 Speaker 1: that has shown up on viral like videos and pictures, 842 00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:52,239 Speaker 1: the the Indian flying fox. I think or like, I 843 00:56:52,280 --> 00:56:57,120 Speaker 1: don't know if it's in the Philippines or Indonesia where 844 00:56:57,160 --> 00:56:59,879 Speaker 1: there's like a bat that's like four ft tall. Yeah, 845 00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:03,680 Speaker 1: that's a flying fox. They are frugivores, so they will 846 00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:08,840 Speaker 1: eat fruit. Totally harmless. Bats are a vector of some diseases, 847 00:57:08,880 --> 00:57:11,640 Speaker 1: so you don't necessarily want to eat them, but they 848 00:57:11,719 --> 00:57:16,000 Speaker 1: are as big and foreboding as they look. They are 849 00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:22,040 Speaker 1: typically typically they will eat fruit, and that is a yeah, 850 00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:25,200 Speaker 1: but I find them extremely cute. You can look up 851 00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:29,880 Speaker 1: a fruit bats eating banana. It's a great video fruit 852 00:57:29,920 --> 00:57:35,640 Speaker 1: bats swaddled in blankets eating a banana. Yeah. For me, culturally, 853 00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,760 Speaker 1: my family's from Michiko, so you know, bats are so 854 00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:43,760 Speaker 1: important to to us as just like fertility, and you know, 855 00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:46,800 Speaker 1: like the Mayan's regarded them in such a way that 856 00:57:47,680 --> 00:57:49,840 Speaker 1: they are a part of life, you know, like because 857 00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:54,520 Speaker 1: of them. Uh, we have things like tortillas or the 858 00:57:54,600 --> 00:58:02,080 Speaker 1: amazing tequila because they Yes, they're huge pollinators in Mexico 859 00:58:02,280 --> 00:58:05,360 Speaker 1: and uh in South America, it's there are some bats 860 00:58:05,440 --> 00:58:09,120 Speaker 1: that are such good pollinators that they will actually become 861 00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:13,200 Speaker 1: completely covered in pollen, so they look like little yellow poofballs. 862 00:58:14,480 --> 00:58:17,439 Speaker 1: Where can people find you, Mayby, We can find me 863 00:58:17,760 --> 00:58:22,000 Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter talking about speaky things. And things 864 00:58:22,040 --> 00:58:26,320 Speaker 1: like bats and adventures I have with friends. My Twitter 865 00:58:26,640 --> 00:58:29,360 Speaker 1: is at Sabina has No R. You can find me 866 00:58:29,400 --> 00:58:32,840 Speaker 1: on Instagram at that Lady Greaves. And you can find 867 00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:36,640 Speaker 1: us on the internet at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram 868 00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:40,120 Speaker 1: at Creature feet Pod. On Twitter, that's f e A T, 869 00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:43,560 Speaker 1: not f e ET. That is something very different. You 870 00:58:43,600 --> 00:58:46,440 Speaker 1: can find me on Twitter at Katie Golden g O 871 00:58:46,600 --> 00:58:49,520 Speaker 1: l D I in just by Katie thoughts you know 872 00:58:49,960 --> 00:58:52,720 Speaker 1: about the general state of the world. So that's fun, 873 00:58:53,680 --> 00:58:56,840 Speaker 1: all right, you guys, Thank you so much for listening. 874 00:58:57,400 --> 00:58:59,919 Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the show and you want to leave 875 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:04,000 Speaker 1: a rating or review, I read all of them and 876 00:59:04,040 --> 00:59:07,640 Speaker 1: I really enjoy everything everyone says and all the feedback 877 00:59:07,680 --> 00:59:10,120 Speaker 1: you've given, And that also really helps us because it 878 00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:14,520 Speaker 1: teaches those algorithms that people are people are listening. Thank 879 00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,120 Speaker 1: you so much to the Space Classics for their super 880 00:59:17,160 --> 00:59:20,520 Speaker 1: awesome song Exo Alumina. Creature features a production of I 881 00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:23,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts like the one You Just Heard, 882 00:59:24,280 --> 00:59:27,120 Speaker 1: visit the I Heard Radio ap Apple Podcasts or guess well, 883 00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:29,560 Speaker 1: where have you listen to your favorite shows? See you 884 00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:40,560 Speaker 1: next Wednesday.