1 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 2 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 3 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 1: and today on the show, I'm answering your questions. That's right, 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: your questions about animal behavior, about biology, about sometimes pets. Uh. 5 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 1: You can send me your questions at Creature featurepot at 6 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: gmail dot com and I do my best to answer them. 7 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: Got some really good questions this time around, so let's 8 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:43,879 Speaker 1: get right into it. Here is the question. I've been 9 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: breathing here since shortly after I was born, so maybe 10 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 1: it's hard to think about having gills. We can't smell 11 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:53,880 Speaker 1: anything without drawing air through our nostrils. How to fish smell? 12 00:00:54,240 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: And how do shark smell blood in the water for 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: miles away? Do they smell with their gills or something? 14 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: This is from j T. And I do want to 15 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: point out the title of the email because it's very funny. 16 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: It is do fish smell fishy to fish? So very 17 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: good question, and yes, so fish do smell fishy to 18 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: fish in the sense that fish can smell other fish 19 00:01:27,200 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: and other things in the water, So this is a 20 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: great question. Smells work a little differently under water. So 21 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: up here in the air, molecules are carried by the air. 22 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 1: We inhale them and they go up in our nostrils 23 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: and they bind two olfactory receptors in our nasal cavity, 24 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: and so that is how we will smell something. The 25 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: molecule will lock on, that'll trigger a chain reaction of 26 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: neural cells to our brain, and then we identify something 27 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: as a smell. And obviously the strength at which we 28 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: can detect smells depends on our species. Humans are decent smellers, 29 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 1: We're not amazing. Something like a dog is really really good, 30 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: and you can see with a dog they have a 31 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: lot of techniques that involve the passage of air in 32 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: terms of smelling things. So you see a dog kind 33 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: of sniffing the ground and then exhale like snort out. 34 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean that the dog doesn't like the smell. 35 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: Means the dog is trying to get a better whiff 36 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 1: of it, with the air going both into the nostril 37 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: and then those molecules binding to receptors and then forcing 38 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: it back out of the nostrils once again, the air 39 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:59,800 Speaker 1: carrying the molecules passing over these sensitive receptors once again, 40 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: and then they have a second pass at picking up 41 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:05,959 Speaker 1: even more molecules, and they have really really sensitive sense 42 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: of smell. So all of that is enabled by the 43 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: air carrying these molecules. But underwater you can have a 44 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: very similar thing happening. So in the water, obviously you 45 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:22,679 Speaker 1: don't have molecules carried by the air. You have them 46 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: carried by the water. So fish receive chemical information through 47 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: the water. It's a very good hypothesis that there might 48 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:38,360 Speaker 1: be olfactory receptors in their gills, given that the waters 49 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: they have to have water pass over those anyway, so 50 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: it's a good spot to have some receptors there. In fact, 51 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: they do have receptors there. Technically they're not considered olfactory receptors. 52 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: They are taste receptors in their gills. In effect, it's 53 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: a very similar result where these receptors are picking up 54 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: on chemicals in the water, chemicals being any kind of 55 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: like compound, any molecule, and are sensing that. It's just 56 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: like they're the way that we've mapped sort of the 57 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: fish brain. Some we categorize as olfactory receptors and some 58 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: as taste receptors, just like in humans. But yeah, taste 59 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:35,680 Speaker 1: and smell are very very much connected, very similar in 60 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:40,320 Speaker 1: terms of how it works in terms of things binding 61 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: to receptors. So technically the receptors that they have in 62 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: their gills are taste receptors. But they do have noses. 63 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: I know it doesn't look like it, but if you 64 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: look at a fish or close up, they have nostrils 65 00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: and those open up to olfactory chambers. Their nostrils, unlike ours, 66 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: are only used for smells. They do not breathe through 67 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: these nostrils. Their gills they use for breathing, as in, 68 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: they take in water and the water flows over these 69 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: gill structures that collect oxygen molecules from the water that 70 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: the fish can use. The nostrils don't do that. The 71 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,040 Speaker 1: nostrils collect water solely for the purpose of smelling it 72 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: by the water flowing through, and again they pick up 73 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: these molecules, but instead of it being oxygen, they're picking 74 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: up any kind of like small molecule that combined to 75 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: these olfactory or scent receptors in this nasal cavity. And 76 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: then since what that is, so water containing molecules of 77 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: things like amino acids or other chemicals enter into this 78 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:03,920 Speaker 1: old factory chamber and bind to the receptors in there. 79 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,160 Speaker 1: This exact same thing goes for sharks. So sharks are 80 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 1: a type of fish. They have a similar situation with 81 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: their nostrils where the water goes in and carries these 82 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: molecules with it and then binds to the olfactory receptors. 83 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: So they may pick up on say, amino acid proteins 84 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: from blood which flow into their nostrils and bind to 85 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: their receptors, allowing them to follow its scent from up 86 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: to around a quarter of a mile away. They're very, 87 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: very sensitive to this. But it's not true that they 88 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: can smell a drop of blood a mile away. The 89 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: scent would be too diffuse before reaching them, because you 90 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: think about it, the physics of it, the molecules from 91 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 1: that blood droplet have to diffuse use far away enough 92 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: that the shark can get, you know, some amount of 93 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: the molecules, these little proteins from the blood up in 94 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:15,640 Speaker 1: its nostrils. So if it's too far away, just mechanically speaking, 95 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: it's not feasible. But the sensitivity of a nose can 96 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: be that it picks up on a very small number 97 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: of these molecules, where for maybe other fish or other animals, 98 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,080 Speaker 1: it would be way too low of a concentration for 99 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: them to pick up on it, but they can smell it. 100 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: So like the difference between say, humans and dogs, we 101 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: need a higher concentration of these molecules to actually like 102 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:44,720 Speaker 1: have it trigger a response in us, whereas with dogs 103 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: they have more receptors, they're able to pick up on 104 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:53,480 Speaker 1: lower concentrations of molecules in the air. So a similar 105 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: thing with sharks, who are very sensitive smellers, but not 106 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: maybe as much as the sort of internet or old 107 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,239 Speaker 1: wives myths have about them being able to like smell 108 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: a drop of blood from miles away. So there are 109 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: other animals in the ocean aside from bony fish, and 110 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: they have different methods of smelling, but it follows the 111 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: same principle of picking up molecules from the water that 112 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: then bind to receptors. So, for example, sea slugs have 113 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 1: a rhinophores, which are these horn like protrusions that pick 114 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: up on chemicals in the water and it binds to 115 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: them and it's you know, sort of a form of 116 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: taste or form of smell. Octopuses have dimples in their mantles, 117 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:47,079 Speaker 1: so the mantle is the main part of the octopus 118 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,000 Speaker 1: and they have these little these little indentations, very very 119 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: tiny pores where they can detect smells and you know, 120 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: so like the water will flow over their mantle and 121 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: it'll pick up on these molecules and they'll bind to 122 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:06,559 Speaker 1: these receptors. Their tentacles have taste receptors to further explore 123 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:11,359 Speaker 1: their environment, so like they have to for their tentacles 124 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: to pick up on tastes and stuff like, you know, 125 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 1: it's more of a tactile thing. They can like touch 126 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: things and that will help them to pick up on 127 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: the taste of an object or the chemicals that are 128 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,559 Speaker 1: coming off from it, and then other like all sorts 129 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:38,719 Speaker 1: of different animals have sort of different organs or places 130 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: upon which these receptors are, but the mechanics of it 131 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: are pretty similar, where it's like a molecule binding to 132 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: a receptor. So for example, starfish have olfactory receptors all 133 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 1: over their skin, but it's the same technique where the 134 00:09:55,240 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: water passes over it, molecule binds to a receptor and 135 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: then that they perceive that they have the feedback of 136 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: like oh, here's something, and they can move towards it 137 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: or away from it, depending on what it is so 138 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:18,480 Speaker 1: great question. Yes, fishes can smell, both smell as in 139 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: being smelly and smell as in detect odors. Onto the 140 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: next listener question. Hi Katie. Recently I've seen a post 141 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: circulating online claiming that hyenas can grow a winter coat 142 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: when exposed to colder climates. I cannot find proof one 143 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: way or another and was hoping you could help me 144 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,640 Speaker 1: find some evidence. Thank you for the help, longtime listener 145 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: and zookeeper. This is from k Ewart and there is 146 00:10:51,679 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: a Reddit post that they sent as well. And I'm 147 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: looking at a fluffy hyena who appears to be sort 148 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:03,280 Speaker 1: of buy some rocks and also buy some snow. So 149 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: this is a This is a great question. Always, if 150 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: you have there's like some kind of internet claim about 151 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: animals and you're sort of curious about it, please do 152 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: contact me because I love digging into these things, especially 153 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: when it's like something you just see all over and 154 00:11:21,160 --> 00:11:24,120 Speaker 1: there's no never like a link to a study or 155 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: an article or some experts say anything about it. So 156 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:35,240 Speaker 1: let's investigate this. Do hyenas grow winter coats? A social 157 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,319 Speaker 1: media post also makes a claim that that hyenas can 158 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: grow winter coats? Because they used to roam Europe. So 159 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,959 Speaker 1: first let's let's explore the second claim, because that's that 160 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: one's easier to address. We're hyenas ever in Europe. This 161 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,119 Speaker 1: part is true. So spotted hyenas, as well as extinct 162 00:11:55,160 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: relatives of hyenas, including the giant cave hyena, did live 163 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: in Europe for around a million years, but at about 164 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: twenty thousand years ago, their range was forced south. It's 165 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,839 Speaker 1: not exactly known why they had to abandon Europe. It 166 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,080 Speaker 1: may have been due to the colder climate or having 167 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: to compete with humans for resources. It could have been 168 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: a combination of these factors. Right, it got colder, harder 169 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: to get food, but then they also had to compete. 170 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: There's no definitive theory on this that has been sort 171 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: of I mean, it's really hard. It's really hard to 172 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: prove anything that happened in the past. But the understanding 173 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 1: of why hyenas had to leave Europe is not super 174 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: well understood. There's just some theories that lack a whole 175 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:59,079 Speaker 1: lot of evidence. So they did exist in Europe though, 176 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: for sure, and they did exist in cold climates before 177 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: they were forced to leave, And we don't know whether 178 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 1: they were forced to leave because say, their coats were 179 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 1: insufficient or something like that. So onto the winter coat claim. 180 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: So I looked and do this. I saw tons of 181 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 1: posts about this on various social media websites, and like you, 182 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 1: none of them I could find any reliable sources, Like 183 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: it would just be this claim like did you know 184 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: that hyenas grow winter coats because they used to live 185 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: in Europe? And variations of that all over. Very frustrating, right, like, 186 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 1: you know, how do you determine whether this is true? 187 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:51,600 Speaker 1: And I looked on Google scholar which is sort of 188 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 1: my go to resources in terms of really trying to 189 00:13:56,679 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: find some kind of evidence of something. I couldn't actually 190 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: find any really good sort of studies on this. The 191 00:14:09,640 --> 00:14:12,719 Speaker 1: closest things I found were like kind of vague claims 192 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: made by books written I don't know, like in the 193 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties or something, right, So not really I wouldn't 194 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: consider that a reliable source, so I'm not going to 195 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: use that as one. But I kind of dug into 196 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: the posts themselves, these social media posts, and interestingly, I 197 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: found that they depict different species of hyenas, So some 198 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: of these posts depict like a brown hyena, And if 199 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,120 Speaker 1: you a brown hyena is going to be different than 200 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: a spotted hyena. They actually have a longer, shaggier coat 201 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 1: than a spotted hyena. But they have this coat year 202 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: round and they're they're they're very they're very cute, they 203 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: look very nice. But it's like basically claiming that this 204 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: is a spotted hyena, right, because spotted hyenas are the 205 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: ones that used to be in Europe, and then showing 206 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: a brown hyena. So I think part of that is 207 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: that it's subverting the expectations of the person, right, like, 208 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: who may not know the brown hyena exists because they're 209 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,440 Speaker 1: only expecting the lion King's sort of hyenas with the 210 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: really short coats and not the brown hyena, which has 211 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: a longer coat. So yeah, brown hyenas are a different species. 212 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: They have thicker coat year round. They live in Africa. 213 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,120 Speaker 1: Their coat could be used for thermal regulation or protection, 214 00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: but it's not really meant for cold winter seasons. But 215 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: including the post that the listener sent me, there are 216 00:15:53,920 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: posts that genuinely depict spotted hyenas with shaggy coats and 217 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 1: the images of actual spotted hyenas In these posts, to me, 218 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: actually do show a normal variation in coat and main 219 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: and not necessarily one that is seasonal. So one source 220 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: of the confusion could be that spotted hyena fur length 221 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: changes as they age, So from seven to fifteen months 222 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: old they have longer fur, which then gets a bit 223 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: shorter as they're older, and then really old hyenas might 224 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: have some hair loss that gives them a much shorter coat. 225 00:16:38,880 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: Can also depend on the health of the hyena. If 226 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: the hyenas more malnourished, it's not going to be able 227 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,760 Speaker 1: to find off mites and parasites as well, so then 228 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: it might have more mange or more hair loss, more itchiness, 229 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: so then it'll have a thinner coat. And so there 230 00:16:55,760 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: are a lot of factors that can affect coat length 231 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: and hyenas. I really couldn't find any evidence any indication 232 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: of their coat length changing seasonally with colder weather or 233 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: being triggered somehow to grow out, say if they're at 234 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: a zoo where there's colder weather than they would encounter 235 00:17:21,720 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: in their natural habitat. Really couldn't find any evidence of that. 236 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean it couldn't be true, right, Like, there 237 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,359 Speaker 1: could certainly be some effect that temperature has on their shedding, right, 238 00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: I think it's completely plausible that if it's cold, somehow 239 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: the hyena's hair follical growth cycle could be affected by that, right, 240 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: very believable, But couldn't find any studies on it, couldn't 241 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 1: find any evidence. But I did find plenty of evidence 242 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: that there are lots of variations in hyena coat length 243 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,200 Speaker 1: as well as the patterns on it that does not 244 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: have to do with temperature, So that could be basically, 245 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: these these posts, like these images could just be say 246 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:20,200 Speaker 1: a younger hyena at a zoo where there's snow around 247 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: and someone took a picture, and that are making this 248 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:28,760 Speaker 1: claim that in general hyenas grow out these longer coats 249 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,399 Speaker 1: in the winter without any evidence of this being true. 250 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: So I'm not going to say it's not true, because 251 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: again I think there's a it's a plausible hypothesis that 252 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:46,240 Speaker 1: hyenas could grow out their coats in the winter, but 253 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: I couldn't find any evidence of it, And so when 254 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:53,400 Speaker 1: there's no evidence, I think it's not responsible to make 255 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: the claim that this is something that is happening, right, 256 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,679 Speaker 1: especially knowing that you can have a law kind of 257 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,920 Speaker 1: a long haired spotted hyaena uh in perfectly warm weather 258 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: like that. If you if you look at like go 259 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: online right like, if you're curious and look at images 260 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 1: of spotted hyaenas, you will see uh pictures of them 261 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: in Africa in what's probably perfectly warm weather, with a 262 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:27,880 Speaker 1: variety of coat lengths, short, longer. And I would suspect 263 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: that a lot of that has to do with age 264 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 1: and health things like that. Yeah, but no evidence. It's 265 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: it's temperature based. There could be some effect, but yeah, 266 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: we don't know. And this claim that they have this 267 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: sort of latent gene or capability to do it because 268 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: they used to be in Europe, yeah, I really could. 269 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: I couldn't find I could not find evidence of that, 270 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,960 Speaker 1: so you know, still could still could be true, but 271 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 1: you can't can't make a claim unless you actually have 272 00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: evidence of that. So it's you know, social media is 273 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:06,199 Speaker 1: frustrating in that way, really spreading like something that it 274 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 1: could be misinformation, and it's I think what's frustrating about 275 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:16,560 Speaker 1: it is there are plenty of really cool facts about 276 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,960 Speaker 1: hyenas and other animals that have plenty of evidence supporting it. 277 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: And if this is true, and somehow the first person 278 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: who posted it had some access to a study that 279 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,800 Speaker 1: was done on this, and then that got lost in 280 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: a mix. That's also really frustrating because I can't using 281 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:40,119 Speaker 1: my modest research skills, I'm unable to track it down. 282 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: The listener, who I'm sure also has research skills, couldn't 283 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,679 Speaker 1: track it down. So then you lose that like if 284 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 1: it ever existed. You lose that connection to actual research, 285 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 1: which is especially important with like social media posts, because 286 00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: there might be some real research and then you look 287 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 1: into it, maybe the details are a little different right 288 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: from what the social media claim is. And yeah, I 289 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 1: mean things are just gonna get worse and worse with AI. 290 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:13,880 Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of posts of animals that are 291 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: making some claim about an animal and it's not even 292 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:19,959 Speaker 1: a it's not even a real image of the animal, guys. 293 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: It's like it's AI and it's you know, my There's 294 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:29,119 Speaker 1: like this video of a koala quote unquote adopting kittens 295 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: and picking them up, and I was looking at it 296 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: and my immediate feeling was this is not real. Just 297 00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: there is something about it that felt a little uncandy, 298 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 1: even though it was very photorealistic and indeed it's a I. 299 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: And then when you really looked at it, you could 300 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,639 Speaker 1: see that the number of toes and the placement of 301 00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:53,719 Speaker 1: the toes on the koala is all wrong. So yeah, 302 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 1: there's gonna be a lot of these claims made online 303 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 1: about things, so please do, like, I really do like 304 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: to try to either debunk or bunk these things. I 305 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: don't know if bunk is the opposite of dbunk, but yeah, like, uh, 306 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: send me if you find something online on social media 307 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,680 Speaker 1: where it's like making some claim about animals or even 308 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: like an image of an animal that you're like, is 309 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 1: this real or not? Do feel free to send that 310 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: to me. You can write to me at Creature Future 311 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,159 Speaker 1: Pod at gmail dot com and I'll help you figure 312 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:31,959 Speaker 1: that out. Because I think it's increasingly difficult to parse 313 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: media landscape. It's important to be able to do that, 314 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,680 Speaker 1: and it's it's getting it's getting harder. It's getting a 315 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: lot tougher to uh identify misinformation. And so if it's 316 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:48,080 Speaker 1: something that's like outside of my area of expertise, I'm 317 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,879 Speaker 1: not very good at it because like the like AI 318 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:56,040 Speaker 1: and stuff is getting really good at faking faking you out. 319 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:01,400 Speaker 1: So yeah, thank you so much for that question. All right, 320 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:05,479 Speaker 1: on to another listener question. I watched a video recently 321 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,920 Speaker 1: about human persistence hunting and the video said the hunt 322 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: took eight hours. This make me think, first, are there 323 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: other persistent hunters in the wild? And then what is 324 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: the longest an animal will take to do a single task? 325 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: For clarification on what I mean, what is the longest 326 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: amount of time a spider will take to build a 327 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: web and doesn't take breaks while building its web? What 328 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,520 Speaker 1: about burrowing animals? How long will they take to build 329 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,400 Speaker 1: their home? What about mating displays? What is the longest 330 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: an animal continues its dance or display before it will stop? 331 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 1: Or are there animals that will dance to their deaths? Thank 332 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: you for the wonderful podcast and for helping me understand 333 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: evolution a little better, which is to say, now understand 334 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,360 Speaker 1: evolution less than I thought, but more than I did. 335 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: But that's science. And this is from Daniel Hi. Daniel, Yeah, 336 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: I mean, I think when you start learning stuff, you 337 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: realize how much you don't understand. So getting more confused 338 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: is actually sometimes assign your understanding things better. And I'm 339 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,399 Speaker 1: certainly confused a lot of the time. So you are 340 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: right in that humans are thought to have hunted not 341 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: by necessarily being the fastest or the strongest, but by 342 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:23,720 Speaker 1: being able to out endure or outsmart their prey, so 343 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 1: distance running, tiring out the prey, but also hunting together 344 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,879 Speaker 1: and using strategy. We have a pretty unique ability for 345 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: patients long term or medium term planning. That doesn't mean 346 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,760 Speaker 1: that we are the only ones, though, So let me 347 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: I would actually just like to eat with your examples. 348 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: Just answer all the questions in your examples. So the 349 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 1: spider web question of like how long you could a 350 00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: spider take to build a web, it's a really interesting one. 351 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: We can both look at individual spiders who build a 352 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: web on their own and social spiders who There are 353 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:11,760 Speaker 1: various species of social spiders who usually are these little 354 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: tidy spiders who live in these big communal webs. And 355 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: so first let's look at individual spiders. A spider who 356 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,600 Speaker 1: will build her web all on her own. Many species 357 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: of spiders can complete a web in around an hour. 358 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 1: Kind of depends on how big it is, how complex 359 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: it is, so anywhere from like twenty minutes to an hour. 360 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:43,400 Speaker 1: It certainly takes some patience, especially because there might be 361 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,679 Speaker 1: some interference and they have to start over again. But 362 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: for a real marathon weaver. We can take a look 363 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:58,840 Speaker 1: at the Darwin's bark spider. These are little spiders. They're 364 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:03,120 Speaker 1: less than an inch and diameter, cute little fluffy spiders 365 00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: if you are into that sort of thing. They're found 366 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:11,639 Speaker 1: in Madagascar and they make these giant webs all on 367 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: their own, so like where the basic the baseline structure 368 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:22,880 Speaker 1: of the web can be up to twenty five meters 369 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,159 Speaker 1: or eighty feet long and then two meters wide, so 370 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:32,920 Speaker 1: they have what's basically like a giant bridge made out 371 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: of web, and then kind of in the center of it, 372 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,400 Speaker 1: you have this large expanse where it is an actual 373 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:44,600 Speaker 1: like spider web with the spiral and the reticulated structure, 374 00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:47,479 Speaker 1: and that one is about two meters wide, which is 375 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:53,959 Speaker 1: still quite big. So the spider will sit on a 376 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,679 Speaker 1: tree branch and spray out a line of silk and 377 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: let the wind carry it off to another tree. They 378 00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: like to do this sort of at river banks where 379 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: there's like trees on one side and the other side 380 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: of the river and you have a lot of insect activity. 381 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:17,440 Speaker 1: So the silk is really strong for it's a diameter, 382 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:21,920 Speaker 1: but it's also really really light, so it might carry 383 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:26,720 Speaker 1: it across the river, and then the wind takes it, 384 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,439 Speaker 1: and then it settles on another tree and wants the 385 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: spider sense is that it basically has this long line, 386 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: like I said, up to like twenty five meters, and 387 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: now it can use that as a bridge for building 388 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 1: the central web. So it goes out. It reinforces first 389 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: this like sort of tether this line running between the trees, 390 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:58,119 Speaker 1: and then she starts to build the center of the web. 391 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: And yeah, it takes a really long time. I wasn't 392 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: able to find the exact amount of time that it takes, 393 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:14,320 Speaker 1: but many hours, many many hours to build this. And 394 00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: she is really really patient because often she has to 395 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:23,639 Speaker 1: restart if some bigger animal messes up the web, or 396 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: even if another another spider, either her own species a 397 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: Darwin spark spider or some other orb weaver spider finds 398 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,239 Speaker 1: the structure that she's building and tries to sort of 399 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: steal her foundation to build its own web, and so 400 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: she'll have to like fight off this other spider or 401 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,959 Speaker 1: cut off the webbing herself, and so she has to 402 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:57,360 Speaker 1: restart and tear it all down. She'll actually collect the 403 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: webbing the silk, bundle it up and then she'll eat 404 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 1: it because that's valuable for resources that she can't like 405 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: redeploy the webbing, but she can eat it get some 406 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: calories so that she can produce more of the silk 407 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: from her spinneret, which is an organ on her abdomen. 408 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: They create a huge amount of this silk. And it's 409 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: not one hundred percent understood exactly how these little spiders 410 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: are capable of producing just so much webbing to make 411 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: these big, big webs. But they must have a very 412 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: efficient metabolism, and as their behavior suggests in eating webbing 413 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:48,280 Speaker 1: that they have to recycle, they must be very very 414 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: good in terms of allocating their resources so they can 415 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 1: produce a good amount of silk. So, in terms of 416 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: social spiders, this is like a different species of spiders, 417 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:05,760 Speaker 1: the little ones that live in these big, big communal groups. 418 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,800 Speaker 1: There's many different species of these, and because they work 419 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: in large groups, these they're more human like in their 420 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: ability to create structures that take multiple generations to finish, 421 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: sort of like humans building a cathedral, right, So they 422 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: create these multi generational webs that take long beyond a 423 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: spider's single lifetime to build. And so recently there was 424 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,360 Speaker 1: actually a social spider web found that's over one hundred 425 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 1: square meters found in a cave between Albania and Greece, 426 00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: made by over one hundred thousand tiny spiders. And this 427 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:57,640 Speaker 1: has probably taken many, many, many, many many many generations 428 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 1: of these spiders years and years to build this up. 429 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 1: I don't think they know yet. This is a relatively 430 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: recent discovery. They don't know yet how old it is. 431 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,719 Speaker 1: I would not be surprised if it was, you know, 432 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 1: over one hundred years old. And when it comes to burrows, 433 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:20,800 Speaker 1: we can actually turn to another arthropod. So termites definitely 434 00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:24,959 Speaker 1: when the prize, when it comes to patients and building burrows. 435 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:31,440 Speaker 1: They build these giant tunnel systems that can sometimes be 436 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: built over thousands or tens of thousands of years. So 437 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: these are termites building tunnel systems and termite mounds, which 438 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 1: the mounds are basically like the dirt that they have 439 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 1: to extract from the ground in order to excavate these 440 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: massive tunnel systems. And so they may have built started 441 00:31:56,240 --> 00:32:00,280 Speaker 1: these structures tens of thousands of years ago and are 442 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:05,760 Speaker 1: still being inhabited by living termite colonies to this day. 443 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 1: In Brazil, there is a termite colony estimated to be 444 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 1: around four thousand years old. It is the size of 445 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:21,360 Speaker 1: Great Britain. So in it's this large area with two 446 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: hundred million termite mounds, which you know they're not always 447 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: like big mounds, but you know there is it is, 448 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 1: there is a mound there of some of this dirt 449 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: that has been excavated and put above ground. It is. 450 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: I didn't really when I saw these these numbers, I 451 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: was like, no, this is it has to be misinformation. 452 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,360 Speaker 1: I looked into it, and it seems to be genuine 453 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:53,479 Speaker 1: that it is just genuinely a termite country. That it 454 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 1: is that these termines have over thousands of years built 455 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:08,720 Speaker 1: up in this Brazilian Uh, these Brazilians plane planes area. 456 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: So the termites created what's essentially like an entire England 457 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: size termite civilization. Yeah, let's let's keep going on with 458 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 1: these really patient animals. The question asker really did identify 459 00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:28,840 Speaker 1: an area in which animals have to be typically quite patient, 460 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:33,160 Speaker 1: and that is courtship rituals. That's usually an exercise and 461 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,840 Speaker 1: endurance and patients which might help the female select a 462 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 1: male who has the fortitude UH to provide good genes. 463 00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: For example, for a lot of species that do co parenting, 464 00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: the assessment is often like, hey, can this other this 465 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: this mate like actually have the attention span, the devotion 466 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 1: and to be able to take care of our offspring together. 467 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:12,480 Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of the interesting mating rituals 468 00:34:12,680 --> 00:34:16,520 Speaker 1: that take a long time. So, the greater mouse eared bat, 469 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:19,799 Speaker 1: which is the largest native bat in Europe, compete for 470 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:24,760 Speaker 1: females in les so alek is a mating display arena. 471 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,680 Speaker 1: It's a word used for multiple in any kind of 472 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:32,920 Speaker 1: species that uses like this, like basically a big mating 473 00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:39,760 Speaker 1: area grounds and competes for female's attentions there. So these 474 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,960 Speaker 1: mouse eared bats will find a bit of roosting territory 475 00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:48,479 Speaker 1: and they will defend it from other males and let 476 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: out these trill vocalizations to attract the females. So all 477 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 1: of this is tiring enough, but once a female actually 478 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 1: comes and chooses him, mating can last over thirty hours. 479 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:08,240 Speaker 1: That's three zero thirty hours of mating. So this doesn't 480 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 1: mean they're kind of constantly having sex during this time. 481 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,000 Speaker 1: A lot of it is cuddling actually, so the male 482 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,640 Speaker 1: will wrap his wings around the female for hours after 483 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 1: copulation before going at it again. It's very, very time 484 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:26,920 Speaker 1: consuming to do this, very romantic, and it also helps 485 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:31,240 Speaker 1: him reaffirm the bond with the female, so the female 486 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:36,399 Speaker 1: is motivated to stay and also to keep fend away 487 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:41,280 Speaker 1: other males who may try to get in on this mating. 488 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:49,040 Speaker 1: So who knows, maybe human cuddling has you know, there 489 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,279 Speaker 1: may have been some point at which human cuddling had 490 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: a similar purpose. Right, So, in terms of your other question, 491 00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: are there any mating rituals where the animal just basely 492 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:05,759 Speaker 1: does courtship until they die. It's not exactly courtship, but 493 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,479 Speaker 1: there is an animal that mates to its death, so 494 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:15,320 Speaker 1: this is the antikiness. These are small mouse like marsupials 495 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: in Australia who go on frantic mating sprees until the 496 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: male dies of stress. So for two to three weeks 497 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:29,160 Speaker 1: they mate near constantly, sometimes a single copulation lasting over 498 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: ten hours, which is yeah, there's a lot. The huge 499 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: surges of cortisol and testosterone actually kills off their organs 500 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:46,879 Speaker 1: and they die and the females will mourn them by 501 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: eating their corpses, which is fuel for the offspring that 502 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: the males worked so hard to fertilize. So you know, 503 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:58,759 Speaker 1: your basic meat cute in nature. Well, guys, thank you 504 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,319 Speaker 1: so much for the question. If you've got some for 505 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 1: me that you want me to answer on the air 506 00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,839 Speaker 1: or in a response to your email, you can write 507 00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:13,040 Speaker 1: to me at Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. 508 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: That's Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. Thank you, 509 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,680 Speaker 1: guys so much for listening, and thanks to the space 510 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: Cosaics for their super duper awesome song XO Lumina. Creature 511 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 1: features a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like and 512 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 1: When You Just Heard, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts 513 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 1: or Hey, guess what for you listen to your favorite shows. 514 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 1: I don't judge you, I'm not your mother, but man, 515 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: you know make maybe take some breaks when you're doing 516 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:46,919 Speaker 1: a mating marathon. Maybe get a massage or do some 517 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: light meditation. Don't be like the anti Guayanas. All right, 518 00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:52,640 Speaker 1: see you next Wednesday.