Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and today on the show Big Things
Speaker 1: that are usually small. You know that recurring dream you
Speaker 1: have when you're trying to sit on a normal sized toilet,
Speaker 1: but oh it's huge, Or you're looking at a beautiful
Speaker 1: butterfly and suddenly it's the size of a kite. No,
Speaker 1: that's just me. Anyways, We're going to check out some
Speaker 1: animals that you would typically think of as being small
Speaker 1: but sometimes gets super large and very hunky chunky. From
Speaker 1: moths to snails, to frogs and pollywogs. These animals will
Speaker 1: give you a huge surprise to discover this and more
Speaker 1: as we answer the angel question could you carry a
Speaker 1: sea slug around in a baby Bjorn joining me today
Speaker 1: to talk about giant animals is regular sized human comedian
Speaker 1: in Science with bulliv Ganalan. I just felt so good
Speaker 1: when you called me regular sized, like I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: be the way I am. You're just a human sized, correct,
Speaker 1: and I'm shaped the way I'm supposed to be, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, like there's a great diversity of human shapes
Speaker 1: and stuff, but like, hey, we won, We're in some
Speaker 1: of those shapes exactly. We're not like a a tiny rectangle.
Speaker 1: I wake up every day kind of happy that I
Speaker 1: didn't turn into a little rectangle. That's your coughka nightmare
Speaker 1: is becoming a shape. Becoming a shape. Yeah, Like you know,
Speaker 1: if you turn into a giant cockroach, I think it's workable.
Speaker 1: You still have limbs, you still have eyes and sensory organs.
Speaker 1: If I turn into like a wake up and find
Speaker 1: I just turned conceptually into a trapezoid, that would suck,
Speaker 1: And I feel like it would be kind of fun though.
Speaker 1: Imagine all the places you could fit, you know, like
Speaker 1: structurally a flat land or situation. Though, because if I'm
Speaker 1: two dimensional, everything is lines to me, which actually might
Speaker 1: make things simpler. Every time I see that in like
Speaker 1: animated shows where things go two D all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: just because they wanted to feature a new animator, it's
Speaker 1: kind of fun. It's definitely scary, and they usually portray
Speaker 1: someone on drugs or something, but it's kind of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess it would be fun, you know, like if
Speaker 1: I was given the chance to experience the two dimensional lifestyle,
Speaker 1: I think I probably take the wizard turning people into
Speaker 1: two dimensional things up on it. Yeah, just like a
Speaker 1: little vacaneto the two D world, you know, right right,
Speaker 1: But four D I don't know that way, that would
Speaker 1: get freaky. Yeah, I don't know. I'm down for anything. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'll do any dimension one TILIVI is open minded to
Speaker 1: four dimensional fun. Just a three dimensional girl looking for
Speaker 1: some four dimensional that sounds like a bad category on
Speaker 1: an Internet that missed connections, the four dimensional trapezoid concept.
Speaker 1: I'm going to name that for my memoir. Well, today
Speaker 1: we are talking about dimensions. We're talking about animals who
Speaker 1: we typically think of as being small or medium sized
Speaker 1: but actually grow to be ridiculously big. And like, I
Speaker 1: think it's there's something interesting because it's not like these
Speaker 1: are the biggest animals in the world. But when you
Speaker 1: think of a big animal, like a blue whale, it's like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, like it's a skyscraper sized whale. Like I
Speaker 1: get it though, it's a blue whale. But when it's
Speaker 1: an animal that's like usually little and then it's suddenly
Speaker 1: really big, there's something almost more intimidating about that. It's
Speaker 1: like they are punching way above their their belt like
Speaker 1: it's it's unsettling. It is very unsettling because we're used
Speaker 1: to seeing, especially with like creepy crawley things. At least
Speaker 1: the one thing about them is that they're small, so
Speaker 1: we can like feel like we have control over all
Speaker 1: of their little limbs and whatnot. But when they're big
Speaker 1: and and gross looking, that's some stuff out of like
Speaker 1: like a sci fi novel, you know, like it's it's
Speaker 1: it feels uncontrollable. Um, but it's cool. It's kind of
Speaker 1: cool because usually usually they're small and we just swatted
Speaker 1: them and then now they're like, nah, we're getting we're
Speaker 1: getting big. Yeah, exactly. Well. The first animal we're talking
Speaker 1: about is the Hercules mop which is very aptly named.
Speaker 1: It is the biggest moth in the world, so it
Speaker 1: is found in Australia of course, of course. Uh. And
Speaker 1: it's got a wing span of over ten or twenty
Speaker 1: seven cimeters, so almost a foot long wingspan, which you know,
Speaker 1: when I think of a moth, I kind of think
Speaker 1: of the guys that liked flock around the lights outside.
Speaker 1: Are the ones that get in my closet and I've
Speaker 1: got to chase away from my clothes. I don't think
Speaker 1: about something that could cover my entire face and then
Speaker 1: some oh wow, when you put it on your face
Speaker 1: like that, that's scary something. Now I'm imagining you're trying
Speaker 1: to breathe through them off. Um, I can see that
Speaker 1: in horror movie. I think you'd be very good at
Speaker 1: screaming with moth on your face in a horror movie.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Side note, don't buy moth balls. They are
Speaker 1: just poison and then you cannot find a way to
Speaker 1: get rid of them. I was recommended to buy moth
Speaker 1: balls one time in my master's program, and then I
Speaker 1: just had I just possessed poison, which is bad. But
Speaker 1: I do not know this. I did not know this.
Speaker 1: What you should do is actually cedar, because cedar is
Speaker 1: not not that toxic take people, but it is unpleasant
Speaker 1: for moths. So if you use like they have cedar
Speaker 1: strips or cedar blocks, but not the actual poison mothballs, like,
Speaker 1: that's a lot better. Then it smells nice. Why do
Speaker 1: they sell mothballs if they're seedar? Like, why is that
Speaker 1: a product that exist? They went on too hard with mothballs,
Speaker 1: and they were like, let's kill off some humans sized
Speaker 1: humans at the same time, and I didn't. I guess
Speaker 1: I wasn't thinking about the danger to humans with mothballs.
Speaker 1: But like, I have a dog, and I'm like, for
Speaker 1: sure she would eat a mothball immediately. That would be
Speaker 1: that would be her stomach, like hardly before I get
Speaker 1: it out of the package. Like she would immediately somehow
Speaker 1: get that in her and we'd have to go to
Speaker 1: the vet. Like she knows. She is so drawn to
Speaker 1: anything that can hurt her, and she puts it in
Speaker 1: her mouth immediately. Scissors drop on the floor for a second.
Speaker 1: I feel that way. I feel what you just said
Speaker 1: about your dog putting stuff in her mouth that can
Speaker 1: hurt her. I feel that way about men. You know
Speaker 1: that's the wait men. So I get it, little dog,
Speaker 1: the moth balls as men. Yeah, um okay, I want
Speaker 1: to say. And time I see a big moth though,
Speaker 1: that's I think the ultimate um revenge story. Because we're
Speaker 1: so racist against mobs. Is so nice to butterflies like
Speaker 1: we this is this is discrimination. It's rude, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad they're big and covering our faces. I mean they don't,
Speaker 1: but they should be because we're being We're just so
Speaker 1: mean to them. I always root for the underdog, Like
Speaker 1: my favorite bird is a pigeon. I don't like when
Speaker 1: people just randomly assign like a liking to certain certain insects.
Speaker 1: You know, moths are chill, like they're just hanging out.
Speaker 1: Why are we so mean to them? Yeah, it's a
Speaker 1: popularity contest when it comes to animals often, and so
Speaker 1: insects often get the short end of the stick, and
Speaker 1: it is unfair that like certain insects were like, oh,
Speaker 1: lady bugs and butterflies, well they're the good ones, even
Speaker 1: though like they're definitely butterflies that if you put in
Speaker 1: your mouth, will kill you. Will not kill you. Here
Speaker 1: that Katie's don't He's like, but yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 1: interesting because yeah, moths and butterflies are very very similar
Speaker 1: and they can actually honestly, there are moths to me
Speaker 1: that are some of the most beautiful examples of lepidoptery
Speaker 1: in the world. They're these vibrant colors and they're beautiful
Speaker 1: and they're like really fuzzy, fluffy, cute ones too. So
Speaker 1: I don't I don't get the moth hate, like sure,
Speaker 1: I mean, like pantry moths are annoying. I don't like
Speaker 1: those and clothing moths are annoying. But when it's just
Speaker 1: a general thing of like I don't like any moth
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm weird and and hate cool things
Speaker 1: like moths. I just invented a person to be angry at. Well,
Speaker 1: that person exists. Many people hate hate moths. Moths. Uh
Speaker 1: teach us a lot of lessons, like go into the light.
Speaker 1: That's one that I need to be ready to enact
Speaker 1: at any moment. Right the end of our lives. Always
Speaker 1: be expressing pharomounts like that's another one. That's another lesson.
Speaker 1: May be ep always be pheromones they teach you in
Speaker 1: business school, right exactly. But yeah, so so these moths
Speaker 1: are in addition to being huge there, I think quite
Speaker 1: pretty they as adults. They have this brown coloration with
Speaker 1: these interesting white markings kind of looks like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: an interesting piece of pottery or something. To me, it's
Speaker 1: it's really beautiful coloration. Yeah, yeah, like a like a
Speaker 1: terra cotta sort of design. H and males have these
Speaker 1: long tails at the bottom of each wing that I
Speaker 1: think are quite pretty. Um also making them look even larger,
Speaker 1: just ridiculously huge, Like you put this thing. I feel
Speaker 1: like I could wear this as a top, Like it
Speaker 1: would cover my entire top side, which is both kind
Speaker 1: of cool but also a little intimidating. Yeah it's uh,
Speaker 1: I feel yeah, I feel like there would be a
Speaker 1: pretty moths would be a pretty top. Um. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to kill, Like I wouldn't want to wear dead
Speaker 1: moths around or Ruella de Ville started, and I don't
Speaker 1: like it would because, like we just said, celebrate the moth,
Speaker 1: and now you're like, murder it clothes. Well, all right,
Speaker 1: let me explain some more about this moth and then
Speaker 1: we'll get to the where I could potentially wear this
Speaker 1: moth is clothing and not have it be evil. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, let's let's talk about their life cycles.
Speaker 1: So as caterpillars, they're really chunky as well. They grow
Speaker 1: up to be about five inches or twelve centimeters long,
Speaker 1: and they're this bright, beautiful blue with fleshy green spikes.
Speaker 1: Uh kind of looks to me like that leaked ghost
Speaker 1: prop for the new Ghostbusters movie, you know, the one
Speaker 1: I'm talking about, Like blue ghosts that's a bunch of
Speaker 1: like wrinkles and folds. Yeah, looks like that. It's like
Speaker 1: just this little it's like you know himlock from a
Speaker 1: bug's life except yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's very wrinkly. It's
Speaker 1: like a Michelin Man in bugs form. Yes, yes, oh
Speaker 1: I love that, love that sleep paralysis demon Michelin Man
Speaker 1: in bug for me with a bunch of legs and spikes.
Speaker 1: But yeah, they're quite pretty in my opinion. Um, they
Speaker 1: actually spend most of their life as a caterpillar or
Speaker 1: as a cocoon, and a rather brief existence as an adult.
Speaker 1: So this is their main form, Like, this is most
Speaker 1: of their life is as this little chunky blue Michelin
Speaker 1: spiky man. Yeah. So the caterpillar stage lasts for a
Speaker 1: couple of months and they spend that time bulking up
Speaker 1: immensely at an incredible rate. Uh. And then they wrapped
Speaker 1: themselves in a cocoon and this period of development can
Speaker 1: take from several months to over a year, just hanging
Speaker 1: out in the cocoon, developing into this giant behemoth of
Speaker 1: a moth. So finally, when they emerge as adults, they
Speaker 1: all have only about two weeks to mate and reproduce
Speaker 1: because they don't eat. They don't even have fully developed
Speaker 1: mouth parts, so they can't use their mouths. Then they
Speaker 1: use all of these stored energy from their caterpillar stage
Speaker 1: to go out find someone to hook up with, lay eggs,
Speaker 1: and then die and then that's it. Okay, that sounds
Speaker 1: like a weekend for me, Like spend most of it
Speaker 1: just like cocooned up and just preparing mentally to get
Speaker 1: out there and then try to go like, don't eat
Speaker 1: when I'm out there because I'm trying to save money
Speaker 1: or whatever. And then you know, try to hook up
Speaker 1: with somebody and then die at the end of the
Speaker 1: last part is still a risk. Yeah, Wow, what a life?
Speaker 1: What a life? Just trapped in a cocoon with your thoughts.
Speaker 1: I guess that's why they bulk up. That they're just
Speaker 1: eating a lot in there to distract themselves. They're actually
Speaker 1: a goo inside of the then, so like the first
Speaker 1: stage when they're they're a caterpillar, they're just constantly eating.
Speaker 1: That's their only job as the larva is to eat
Speaker 1: and eat neat and hopefully not get eaten themselves. A
Speaker 1: Bug's Life did a great job of portraying that now
Speaker 1: that I think very accurate. The part where like he
Speaker 1: just turns into a giant caterpillar with tiny wings doesn't
Speaker 1: generally happen. There are some funny evolutionary instances of like
Speaker 1: especially with fasmids, which are stick bugs. Sometimes they have
Speaker 1: these little tiny of astigial wings that through evolution they've
Speaker 1: lost the need to fly, but they still have these
Speaker 1: wings both for sexual selection and for defensive posturing. But
Speaker 1: it does look very much like him, like sort of
Speaker 1: like this giant stick bug, and then these tiny wing
Speaker 1: cell furiously flap at super cute. That's adorable, But as
Speaker 1: far as I know, there are no butterflies that have
Speaker 1: that tiny wing phenomenon. It's a really great life like eating, napping,
Speaker 1: and ten percent boning doesn't sound so bad, does it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's like the average cat right. Well,
Speaker 1: it depends depends on whether they're fixed or not, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean and in terms of like when they're in
Speaker 1: the cocoon um and during metamorphosis for butterflies and months
Speaker 1: like they literally sort of de materialize, they turn onto
Speaker 1: a sort of goo protein goo that reforms u into
Speaker 1: a butterfly. The cells like turn into the sort of
Speaker 1: these like stem cell type things that like will regenerate
Speaker 1: into a full on butterfly or or moth, and the
Speaker 1: brain seems to survive somewhat. So like there's like a
Speaker 1: cluster of cells that was their brain because they retain
Speaker 1: memory from Yeah, that's what I was wondering, Like they're whatever,
Speaker 1: not their consciousness, but whatever they're so um is like,
Speaker 1: so that's an afterlife for them basically, I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: because like they do dissolve and it's and there has
Speaker 1: been research showing that when you expose a caterpillar to
Speaker 1: a nasty a smell and then a nasty shock or something,
Speaker 1: they will retain the aversion to the smell as adults.
Speaker 1: So they clearly retain memories. Why do they always have
Speaker 1: to be bad memories that were those are the most effective.
Speaker 1: Here's ice cream that you might have liked before. It's
Speaker 1: the most effective kind of memory because we we remember
Speaker 1: bad things much better than we remember good things. So
Speaker 1: that's a that's a good tip. Person's like when you're
Speaker 1: thinking back on the day, trying to remember all the
Speaker 1: good things consciously, the afterlife, the afterlife is hell. It's like,
Speaker 1: what all the bad stuff that we remember? That's what
Speaker 1: I'm learning. They turn into a goo and then we
Speaker 1: transform into beauty our word creatures that only remembers our
Speaker 1: worst nightmares. Yeah, exactly if if we were a moth.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so that is the hercules moth lifestyle. So
Speaker 1: I feel like they basically have two weeks to mate
Speaker 1: and then they die. And then it's like, look, that's
Speaker 1: a pretty short life. I don't like, I wouldn't mind.
Speaker 1: Let's get shorter. No, I'm saying, once they die, I
Speaker 1: will wear them as a shirt. Like, it's not me
Speaker 1: murdering them, it's okay, waiting like stalking the wings for
Speaker 1: their wings, right, it's stalking, seeing when they mate, and
Speaker 1: then seeing when they keel over and die, and then
Speaker 1: wearing them as clothes. That, um, it sounds like a
Speaker 1: wonderful scene in Psycho. But that's like I mean when
Speaker 1: they when why am I? Why am I forgetting like
Speaker 1: bug scientists? What are they called? Lepidopterus? Lepidopterus like when
Speaker 1: they put specifically the study of butterflies and moths. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when they put the little pins in them and where
Speaker 1: like you could just put those pins right into clothes
Speaker 1: right like where they're exactly just so them right up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so what's interesting about these beautiful markings that I
Speaker 1: would love to wear is the Cruella Deville of moths
Speaker 1: is that they seemed to look a little bit like
Speaker 1: cryptic markings, but they're a little vague. Um. So to
Speaker 1: really see what these markings can accomplish, you have to
Speaker 1: take a look at another large moth in the same
Speaker 1: moth family, the Atlas moth, who has much more distinct
Speaker 1: markings that are similar to the Hercules mark moth, where
Speaker 1: you can really see like what these markings are supposed
Speaker 1: to be. So in the Hercules moth, it kind of
Speaker 1: looks like these sort of like white spots and then
Speaker 1: this vague interesting pattern on the tips of their wings,
Speaker 1: but the Atlas moth has a lot more detail. Generally
Speaker 1: it's a little smaller. It's the second biggest moth in
Speaker 1: terms of wing surface area though, so they're still big
Speaker 1: and fluttery. So they live in dry rainforests in Southeast Asia,
Speaker 1: South Asia, and East Asia. They are very similar looking
Speaker 1: in terms of their markings to the Hercules moth, but
Speaker 1: it's just much and much like higher definitions, so that
Speaker 1: allows us to kind of see what these markings are
Speaker 1: really meant to portray. It's wingspan is a little over
Speaker 1: nine inches or twenty four cimeters. Meanwhile, its body is
Speaker 1: comically tiny. It's like this little, tiny, fat body which
Speaker 1: is really really small compared to its huge wings. And
Speaker 1: I find it hilarious. It's kind of like a reverse
Speaker 1: Heimlich character from Bugs Life, where he's got the tiny
Speaker 1: wings in the big body. It's got the huge wings
Speaker 1: in a tiny body. The wings are really interesting because
Speaker 1: the tips of the wings look like snakes to me,
Speaker 1: snakes with eyes. That's exactly what they're supposed to look like.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly right the job little guy. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it's this is what I mean. Like with the Hercules moth,
Speaker 1: they actually have a somewhat similar pattern on their their
Speaker 1: the tips of their wings, but it's a little bit
Speaker 1: less clear. With the Atlas moth, it is stunningly clear
Speaker 1: that these are supposed to be snakes. Like the level
Speaker 1: of detail is you can see an eye, you can
Speaker 1: see a like a snout, and you can see a
Speaker 1: mouth of a snake, and they are shaped like a
Speaker 1: snake head. So the tips of their wings kind of
Speaker 1: jet out in this little oval area and it looks
Speaker 1: like a pair of snakeheads are growing out of the
Speaker 1: moth's wing tips. That's the level of detail and shape
Speaker 1: that you have to these snakeheads. And indeed these are
Speaker 1: used to ward off predators, mainly birds, because once they
Speaker 1: when they start to letter and shake their wings a
Speaker 1: little bit, it looks like these two snakeheads suddenly sprouted
Speaker 1: from this moth and are and are moving towards the bird,
Speaker 1: and the bird like panics and runs away. This is
Speaker 1: becoming more and more like a bug's life, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I know they did good. They did a good job.
Speaker 1: Good job of bugs life. This podcast episode brought to
Speaker 1: you but bugs check out Pixar's new movie, Luca. Uh.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what their new movie was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well I am paid by them. No, I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not in a bug's life. They make a fake bird
Speaker 1: to scare off the grasshoppers, and it's a fake snake
Speaker 1: to scare off birds. It's interesting. They're somewhat distant ish
Speaker 1: cousins to the Hercules moth. Their life cycle is somewhat similar.
Speaker 1: They're adult forms like the Hercules moth. Also don't really
Speaker 1: have mouth parts and they don't eat like the Hercules
Speaker 1: moth and live only a few days. Because they're smaller,
Speaker 1: they probably can't live as long because they don't store
Speaker 1: as much energy. So basically, the bigger you are, the
Speaker 1: slower your metabolism. The more stored energy you have, the
Speaker 1: less frequently you'll need to eat. Even though if you
Speaker 1: are um a big animal and you want to live
Speaker 1: past a couple of weeks, you will need to eat,
Speaker 1: and you'll need to eat great quantities, but your metabolism
Speaker 1: is shorter, So it's or your metabolism is slower than
Speaker 1: a tiny animal that needs to like eat constantly small
Speaker 1: amounts to maintain its energy levels. So with this moth,
Speaker 1: it makes sense that it would live a bit less
Speaker 1: longer than the Hercules moth because it just it doesn't
Speaker 1: eat and then it just dies. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: I did all my eating when I was just a
Speaker 1: chunky little caterpillar. This is like my mom's worst nightmare.
Speaker 1: It's just like you're not eating and then you die.
Speaker 1: This is what happens to you. This is what happens
Speaker 1: when you when you have sex and you don't eat. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: My mom's like, this is a this is a moth
Speaker 1: on drugs, but yeah, it is. It is so interesting
Speaker 1: because in addition to its wingtips looking exactly like snakes.
Speaker 1: They definitely put on a really good performance. So when
Speaker 1: they're threatened that they'll drop to the ground and start
Speaker 1: to flutter its wings, so it looks like the snakeheads
Speaker 1: are writhing around and it really puts on a Daniel
Speaker 1: day Lewis Oscar winning performance. Uh, really annoying on set, demanding,
Speaker 1: everyone calls it a snake and you know, like but
Speaker 1: worth it, final product, worth it. Um. That explains a
Speaker 1: lot because in so many like movies and things, you
Speaker 1: see not necessarily moths, but like butterflies or something landing
Speaker 1: and they flutter their wings a lot, and that makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense. No, yeah, yeah. Insects used to
Speaker 1: get even bigger back in prehistoric times. Dragonflies, known as
Speaker 1: griffin flies in the Late Permian period two hundred seventy
Speaker 1: five million years ago had a wingspan of over two
Speaker 1: point five ft seventy five cimeters and weighed over a
Speaker 1: pound or four hundred and fifty grams and or basically
Speaker 1: the size of crows. Why could insects get so huge
Speaker 1: back then? One theory is the higher oxygen content on
Speaker 1: Earth at the time allowed for greater invertebrate growth due
Speaker 1: to the way they breathe with numerous force respiratory openings
Speaker 1: over their body. A larger surface area would require a
Speaker 1: higher concentration of oxygen in order to effectively diffuse the
Speaker 1: oxygen throughout their large bodies. Another compatible theory is that
Speaker 1: as soon as birds evolved, they basically ruined large insects
Speaker 1: chance of survival. Even if there was enough oxygen to
Speaker 1: stain the insects bodies. Bigger insects would be less quick
Speaker 1: and nimbles than smaller insects, and would be easy prey
Speaker 1: for the dinosaurs that had just discovered the power of flights.
Speaker 1: When we return, things are about to get really slimy
Speaker 1: with some giant gastro pods. One of the largest animals
Speaker 1: in the world is actually a distant relative of the
Speaker 1: common garden snails. The colossal squid, which reaches a length
Speaker 1: of over thirty ft or ten meters and can weigh
Speaker 1: over one thousand pounds or five is a member of
Speaker 1: the mollusk phylum. Mollusks includes everything from clams to octopuses
Speaker 1: and squids to terrestrial snails and slugs. Cephalopods, the class
Speaker 1: that include squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, and Nautilus is maybe the
Speaker 1: most cognitively advanced of the mollusks, but when it comes
Speaker 1: to size, there are other molluscs who can get surprisingly large.
Speaker 1: So do you like snails? I empathize with snails a lot.
Speaker 1: Like I don't like when people squish them. I want
Speaker 1: to like protect them because they're so slow, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: I like when people leave them alone. I don't like
Speaker 1: when people move them, you know. Um. I do sometimes
Speaker 1: move them, like if they're in a walkway in the ring,
Speaker 1: to protect them, to protect But sometimes I when I
Speaker 1: was younger, I accidentally moved them and that wasn't good
Speaker 1: for them, Like they were like they were clearly distressed.
Speaker 1: But like like if they're if they're sometimes they adhere
Speaker 1: to a surface and like they're sort of stuck there
Speaker 1: and you try to unnglue them and it's just like
Speaker 1: bad for their little body. Yeah, that's how I think
Speaker 1: that's happened. I remember that in my memory. But I
Speaker 1: was trying to help little guy. I'm so sorry. But
Speaker 1: if they're like crawling along the ground, especially like in
Speaker 1: the rain, which is when they typically cross like paths
Speaker 1: and stuff, like, it's it's okay if you want to,
Speaker 1: like just pick it up real quick and put it
Speaker 1: into the ground, yeah, or the side, as long as
Speaker 1: it's a common garden snail. Don't do that with just
Speaker 1: any like snail like animal you find that is unidentified,
Speaker 1: because like some of them cannot be not be too friendly.
Speaker 1: Um Like, if you're on a beach and you see
Speaker 1: like something that looks like a big snail or a
Speaker 1: big like cone like shell, don't pick it up because
Speaker 1: they can actually have toxic barbs they can shoot at you.
Speaker 1: So so yeah, don't pick toxic sounds like someone who
Speaker 1: works at Michael's barb always making my mondays that much worse. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But in terms of terrestrial snails, there are some that
Speaker 1: can get alarmingly big. So the giant African land snail
Speaker 1: looks like basically a typical garden snail with maybe a
Speaker 1: point to your shell, but it's huge. So they are
Speaker 1: found around coastal West Africa, and they're shells grow to
Speaker 1: be over seven inches or eighteen centimeters long and three
Speaker 1: point five inches or nine centimeters in diameter. And so
Speaker 1: the meaty part of the snail is a lot more
Speaker 1: squitchy and stretchy, but basically it can cover your entire hand,
Speaker 1: Like if you hold one of these like it's it's
Speaker 1: the foot, which is like the flat part of the
Speaker 1: snail can stretch out and just drape over your whole hand,
Speaker 1: which I know. I'm looking at these pictures, I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is a cat. I don't know what you think
Speaker 1: this is, but it's a cat to me. It's so cute.
Speaker 1: It's just like perch there. I want to get it
Speaker 1: a little caller. That's probably bad, a bad instinct of mine.
Speaker 1: Why do we have to domesticate everything. Leave the snail alone, polaviy.
Speaker 1: But it's like so it with its little paw, it
Speaker 1: doesn't technically have feet, but I know it's it's so big.
Speaker 1: It has these folds and so in this picture, which
Speaker 1: i'll have in the show notes, it's just post it's
Speaker 1: so photogenic too, because it's got it's little a fold
Speaker 1: of its foot just draped over her hand, and it's
Speaker 1: like looking mugging for the camera. And it's got its
Speaker 1: little tentacles all pointed up. It looks like a it's
Speaker 1: like it's very rabbit. Like I was gonna say that,
Speaker 1: I was just gonna say that the mouth, the nose
Speaker 1: area looks like a rabbit because of how it's shaped
Speaker 1: that little, those little semicircles. It's a sweet baby that
Speaker 1: I want to hold. I mean I should like. Look,
Speaker 1: I when I discovered these things, I was like, I
Speaker 1: want one as a pet. Uh. It is a bad idea, obviously,
Speaker 1: Like anytime it's like, oh, there's this amazing animal that
Speaker 1: I'd love to hug and squeeze and leave it alone.
Speaker 1: Leave it alone, people, let it survive. Well, actually, in
Speaker 1: this case, it's not because the to preserve the giant
Speaker 1: African lance snail, but because they are so good at
Speaker 1: being alive and eating that they can easily become super
Speaker 1: invasive species and destroy vegetation, uh, in native plants in
Speaker 1: the area that they are introduced, so you don't actually
Speaker 1: have to worry too much about them. They are just
Speaker 1: so voracious. They will eat meat, eat, and um. So
Speaker 1: they have actually become a problem. Even that's cute, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, I know, munching and crunch
Speaker 1: and destroying entire crops and native species of plants, ruining
Speaker 1: the ecosystem. Yeah, this is why, that's why we think
Speaker 1: they're cute. They're just like us. They're just behavior people.
Speaker 1: It thinks it's people. It's people. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: that this makes them highly illicit in many countries, uh
Speaker 1: and like illegal to own as a pet um I
Speaker 1: mean in Florida. I think they're already becoming an invasive species.
Speaker 1: So I know, like again, like I can predict people's
Speaker 1: response to this, Like, I know my listeners, you look
Speaker 1: at this, You're like, I want it as a pet.
Speaker 1: I want it now, I want one to like I
Speaker 1: you know, I looked into this. It's like, wait, could
Speaker 1: I have this as a pet? No? The answer is no.
Speaker 1: But don't feel bad for want, Like, don't feel bad
Speaker 1: for wanting to hug an animal, Like I think it's
Speaker 1: like it's a natural response to something cool or cute.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you don't find snails cute, I don't
Speaker 1: know how to relate to you. But you know, like
Speaker 1: if you when you see something, you're like, that's cute.
Speaker 1: I want to hug it and keep it as a pet.
Speaker 1: Like I think that's a totally normal human response. It's
Speaker 1: just and I'm not like guilt tripping everyone for feeling man,
Speaker 1: it's just like, you know, it's it's good to make
Speaker 1: note of. It's like, yeah, it's just it's too bad.
Speaker 1: But we can't. We can't do that because you know
Speaker 1: they will eat all of our crops and leave us
Speaker 1: to starve. Man, this is like, um, when after Beverly
Speaker 1: Hills Chihuahua, everybody bought a Chihuahua. Yeah, don't do that
Speaker 1: with this episode. Beverly Hills. Giant snail, giant moths just
Speaker 1: everywhere somewhere some farmers like Katie Golden shaking his face
Speaker 1: and sky just just a huge army of snails with
Speaker 1: like cute little collars on them, escaped little bows on
Speaker 1: their tentacles. Um. Yeah, but they can also be carriers
Speaker 1: of rat lung worm, which is a parasitic nematode who
Speaker 1: uses the giant snails as a host. So you don't
Speaker 1: want to put one of these things in your mouth raw,
Speaker 1: because that can cause meningitis. I mean back to the
Speaker 1: men that I've dated, I feel like this is one
Speaker 1: of those like warning labels they put on knives or
Speaker 1: something where it's like don't put in your body, Like,
Speaker 1: don't don't put this snail in your mouth. Although there
Speaker 1: was a case I think this was not with a
Speaker 1: giant snail, but with a banana slug someone like on
Speaker 1: a dare like ate a banana slug and got rat
Speaker 1: lung worm and gitis. Yeah, so don't do that. Don't
Speaker 1: just do that. Don't put animals in your mouth, right,
Speaker 1: like especially raw animals that you just line that are alive.
Speaker 1: Don't put the especially giant ones. Like that's right. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's I feel like that's uh embarrassing, like
Speaker 1: like for the snail, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: that snail look dignified now you're just putting your mouth
Speaker 1: on it, right, like really, dude, like like millions of
Speaker 1: years of evolution to get to this size. So birds
Speaker 1: don't eat me and you're just like a bed. Come on, man,
Speaker 1: don't be like home or Simpson and a doughnut. With
Speaker 1: these snails, That's exactly what I was picturing. There have
Speaker 1: been specimens that have been found to are almost a
Speaker 1: foot long, so they can be just quite hefty, you
Speaker 1: feel it's like to be able to feel the heft
Speaker 1: of a giant snail is something to think about, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. You hold it in your arms,
Speaker 1: you feel the heft of the snail. It looks up
Speaker 1: at you longingly and then eats all your crops and
Speaker 1: we all die the dream, the dream. But this is
Speaker 1: not the only big chunky mollusk we're going to talk about. Uh.
Speaker 1: So to get to one of the biggest slugs in
Speaker 1: the world, we actually have to look at marine slugs
Speaker 1: or sea hairs. So sea hairs are found within the
Speaker 1: same clade as terrestrial snails and slugs Heterobranchia, and they
Speaker 1: bear a very close resemblance to their land slug counterparts.
Speaker 1: So sea slug is often used to refer to other
Speaker 1: types of sea animals informally, like c cucumbers, but ce
Speaker 1: cucumbers aren't actually gastropods or related to terrestrial slugs. So
Speaker 1: for clarity, I'm specifying sea hairs. But new to brinks
Speaker 1: and other groups of marine gastropods are also members of Heterobranchia.
Speaker 1: So the colorful little new to brinks that you see, um.
Speaker 1: There are other types of like sea slugs that really
Speaker 1: are truly sea slugs. Um. But some some things that
Speaker 1: we call sea slugs or something like a c cucumber,
Speaker 1: and it's just like it's sort of a misnomer. It's
Speaker 1: just like this is this a square's rectangle situation, where
Speaker 1: squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are square or
Speaker 1: not rectangles aren't squares. I mean, this is confusing to
Speaker 1: me because I just like woke up this morning and
Speaker 1: turned into a trapezoid, and so like I'm not, like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean right angles? I don't get it, Okay,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, like, um no, I think it's
Speaker 1: more just of a misnomer, like um, c cucumbers are
Speaker 1: not really slugs in any sense of the word. Like,
Speaker 1: they're not related to slugs, they're not in heterobranchia, they're
Speaker 1: not even um they're not even gastropods. So you're not
Speaker 1: even a gas Like you don't even go here. Um,
Speaker 1: you're not even a gastropods. So, like, don't even think
Speaker 1: about sitting here. This is like the table for gastropods.
Speaker 1: Remember that in high school when all the gastro pods
Speaker 1: are super clicky, yeahuber real toxic barb. So, sea hairs
Speaker 1: typically grow quite a bit larger than their terrestrial counterparts
Speaker 1: of land snails and slugs. So the giant sea hair
Speaker 1: is just incredibly mind bogglingly big. Uh. So, the black
Speaker 1: sea hair is the largest sea hair there is in
Speaker 1: the largest sort of slug type animal in the world.
Speaker 1: They are found in the Pacific Ocean in coastal California.
Speaker 1: They can grow to be almost forty inches long a
Speaker 1: hundred centimeters in way over thirty pounds but fourteen kims
Speaker 1: no way, yes, so big. This is over three times
Speaker 1: the size of my dog. Yes, it would like it
Speaker 1: could just eat your dog. It won't eat your dog,
Speaker 1: but it could. They get along. Yeah, probably. It looks
Speaker 1: so when you take it out of the water, it
Speaker 1: kind of like puddles down because you know, there's like
Speaker 1: the gravity of like like Alex mac right right throw reference,
Speaker 1: it's kind of spilling over, you know, right exactly, and
Speaker 1: it's this sort of like inky black um with like
Speaker 1: quote unquote bunny ears. So these are actually rhino four's,
Speaker 1: which are sea hair sensory organs um. And so I
Speaker 1: think they're cute, uh and probably very slimy. They only
Speaker 1: live about a year, which is incredible given their size,
Speaker 1: because that means they consume just ridiculous amounts of algae
Speaker 1: and grow ridiculously fast to reach that size, and because
Speaker 1: they grow to be so big, and because they actually
Speaker 1: produce a skin tox and as adults they really don't
Speaker 1: have that mini natural predators. So there are these adorable, toxic,
Speaker 1: slimy thirty pound balls of fun that I want to
Speaker 1: carry around, and a baby Bjorn and call a little
Speaker 1: little slimy. I want to be them, Like what you
Speaker 1: get to live fast, die young, eat whatever you want,
Speaker 1: not get touched by anybody. Give it to me. If
Speaker 1: I could redo life, it would be as a sea here,
Speaker 1: but not one that we're messing with. I want to
Speaker 1: just be left alone, to be my be, my slightly
Speaker 1: denser puddle in a large puddle of the ocean. I
Speaker 1: feel like these are some really inspirational animals this episode,
Speaker 1: like eat nap and I think you know, mate and
Speaker 1: then die or just eat constantly. I think this is
Speaker 1: saying a lot more about us in our depression in
Speaker 1: quarantine that anything else. Every animal we're like, yeah, just
Speaker 1: to not be sentient would be nice. Yeah, I'd like
Speaker 1: to be a black puddle and a bigger black depths
Speaker 1: of the ocean. We start out trying to be shaped,
Speaker 1: so where else could we go from there? Right? I
Speaker 1: mean I'm proud. Look, I think it's accomplishment right to
Speaker 1: be human shaped right now instead of just like congeal
Speaker 1: into like a puddle on the ground it. I guess.
Speaker 1: I don't listen. I'm just existing right now. But the
Speaker 1: sea hare stuff that sounds like it sounds like next level.
Speaker 1: It does look a little bit like a squished flubber
Speaker 1: I'm noticing. Oh yeah, I remember flubbers. Yeah yeah, like
Speaker 1: one of those. Like it definitely looks like a depressed flubber,
Speaker 1: like like goth flubber. That's what I think it is.
Speaker 1: Putting it back into wad. God, it sounds like like
Speaker 1: Niles Crane and we're just being tear I'm not good
Speaker 1: at social situations. Please, I like that. I like that
Speaker 1: one better look at my dad, but little mustache which
Speaker 1: is really just part of my folded foot out in front,
Speaker 1: and I look very fancy, and please put me back.
Speaker 1: I do not belong here, Yeah, I like. I like
Speaker 1: fancy fancy sea here. They do. If you look for
Speaker 1: a lot a lot of different like species of sea
Speaker 1: hairs there. They are quite fancy and a lot of
Speaker 1: frippery and stuff they have. They can be really colorful,
Speaker 1: have a lot of cool folds and stuff. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: like the idea of them being the fancy boys and
Speaker 1: gals of the ocean. Yeah, yeah, just we're just anthroom
Speaker 1: or monster vacation. What is it? I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know what it would be in this case. In
Speaker 1: the move from sea to land, snails had some extra
Speaker 1: slimy adaptations. Their bodies were originally meant for aquatic environments,
Speaker 1: so moisture loss was not a factor, and they would
Speaker 1: typically breathe using gills. Most land snails, however, have evolved
Speaker 1: along and can take in air through a respiratory poor
Speaker 1: called a numous stone. They need a thick layer of
Speaker 1: mucus to prevent moisture loss, critical for the help of
Speaker 1: its tissues and for gas exchange to occur in its lung.
Speaker 1: They also make good use of the operculum, a little
Speaker 1: trap door on their shells that their marine counterparts evolved
Speaker 1: for self defense, but terrestrial snails can also use to
Speaker 1: prevent moisture loss. Still, snails prefer moist damp environments so
Speaker 1: they don't end up as accidental scar goat. When we return,
Speaker 1: we're going to go from one slimy critter to another
Speaker 1: with some ridiculously of frogs. Frogs they're hippity and hoppity
Speaker 1: or crawley or swimming, and they come in green brown, blue, yellow,
Speaker 1: and size is big and small. The smallest frog in
Speaker 1: the world is an adorable micro highland species. Micro highland frogs,
Speaker 1: as you may remember from previous episodes, are teeny tiny frogs.
Speaker 1: Some species even developed symbiotic relationships with tarantulas. The tarantulas
Speaker 1: protect the frogs like little pets in exchange for the
Speaker 1: frogs protecting the tarantula eggs from ant invasions. The smallest
Speaker 1: known frog, Peto fryn amalancists from Papua New Guinea, can
Speaker 1: fit on the face of a quarter from snout to
Speaker 1: vent a k a nose to butt. It only grows
Speaker 1: to be about three tenths of an inch or seven
Speaker 1: point seven millimeters. Adorable. Now, let's talk about a frog
Speaker 1: who can grow to be about the size of a
Speaker 1: small chihuahua. So we've talked about small frogs, let's talk
Speaker 1: about big frogs. This. Uh, this concerns me now because
Speaker 1: because they're bit so the things we've talked about thus far.
Speaker 1: I guess the moths are a little bit scary, but
Speaker 1: they're flying, I can get away from them. I feel
Speaker 1: like they're slower, right, Uh, frogs jump like very fast. Right.
Speaker 1: The snails slugs, they weren't going anywhere the hairs right
Speaker 1: the this frog. I feel like the reason that frogs
Speaker 1: this could alarm me is because they're very slow and
Speaker 1: then very fast. I want to take a frog to
Speaker 1: the face, you know, like it could suddenly jump and
Speaker 1: just smack you right in the face. I think the
Speaker 1: other thing that's interesting is that, like, you know, how
Speaker 1: we have certain stereotypes for animals. I feel like with frogs,
Speaker 1: I feel like they're kind of like like mystic and intelligent,
Speaker 1: or we like assign that to them, or like frogs
Speaker 1: are toads. I guess like in general um cartoons and stuff.
Speaker 1: But I guess also like there's the Budweiser ones. But
Speaker 1: I feel like I feel like they might just have
Speaker 1: too much information to hold for me. It's overwhelming. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't think a slug is going to plan anything,
Speaker 1: but you're worried about a frog with a plan. No,
Speaker 1: it's more like, um, like I'm like, I'm afraid I'm
Speaker 1: going to talk to a frog that will see my future,
Speaker 1: you know, and like I figger the frog is the
Speaker 1: like the more intimidating it is to me, sort of
Speaker 1: a hypnotode situation. Where you look into its eyes and
Speaker 1: like you you see the fourth dimension, and then your
Speaker 1: brain melt and then I am the fourth dimension. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you can't even find in and out in the
Speaker 1: fourth dimension. That's only in California. So the goliath frog,
Speaker 1: which is very aptly named because it's a prey big frog.
Speaker 1: It's the largest living frog in the world. It is
Speaker 1: an endangered species with a relatively small range in Equatorial
Speaker 1: Guinea in Cameroon, so they live in sandy bottomed rivers
Speaker 1: and they grow up to be thirteen inches or thirty
Speaker 1: two centimeters long from nose to butt and weigh over
Speaker 1: seven pounds or over three kilograms. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: like I feel like, even though these are technically smaller
Speaker 1: than the black sea hair, it's still more intimidating because
Speaker 1: they had legs. Man, Yeah, they have legs. It's the legs.
Speaker 1: It's the big muscular media legs. They did not skip
Speaker 1: leg day or arm day, and they just like look swollen.
Speaker 1: It's the sea here's look like you know that image
Speaker 1: of like the animal creature forming legs and coming out
Speaker 1: of the primordial goop type things, right, that's like the
Speaker 1: first the sea hares like the first half frogs like
Speaker 1: the second half where it has legs. It's one of us.
Speaker 1: It's like a person, but it's a frog, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, I don't think evolution did that.
Speaker 1: Space did not hair to frog, and it did in
Speaker 1: the cartoon that everyone references that. So it looks like that.
Speaker 1: It's like, now it's not just this like um amorphous
Speaker 1: bushy thing. It's it's like it's got us qualities, you know,
Speaker 1: it's taking it's taking a definitive form. It's like Otto
Speaker 1: going from goo to Otto. And Star Trek, which one
Speaker 1: was that I did not watch any of that. Well,
Speaker 1: you're on your own, God damn it. You know Deep Space, No,
Speaker 1: not Deep Spit has Star Trek Battle, Star Star Trek,
Speaker 1: Star Trek one where we're not on we're on a
Speaker 1: like the base station Star Star Trek generation zoomer. What.
Speaker 1: So these frogs are brownish all of color, with a
Speaker 1: yellowish stomach. They can live up to about fifteen years
Speaker 1: old in the wild or over twenty years in captivity.
Speaker 1: So you can keep one of these, I mean don't
Speaker 1: but y'all like, don't do this, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: like they would be if if you are like a
Speaker 1: witch living in their natural habitat and you have like
Speaker 1: a little hut in the woods, and you're like, you
Speaker 1: have one of these is like a familiar. It's gonna
Speaker 1: have the same lifespan as like a cat or a dog. Wow,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at all these pictures of people holding them
Speaker 1: and they look so uncomfortable, like they're stretching them out.
Speaker 1: They're just like displaying them, and I'm like this this guy.
Speaker 1: First of all, it's freaky deeky because the legs are
Speaker 1: so long, like they're the jawline is like very like
Speaker 1: thick and broad, and then the body is there and
Speaker 1: then the like the back legs are like people legs.
Speaker 1: It's like they could like they feel like they could
Speaker 1: walk up right. When they're like split out like that,
Speaker 1: it's like creepy, and it does not feel like the
Speaker 1: way they're holding them. I'm like this, it can't be
Speaker 1: good for you. Like you're gonna get cursed. You're gonna
Speaker 1: get cursed little little kids. You're gonna yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 1: get hexed by or just punched. Like they don't even
Speaker 1: need to curse them. They could just like punch them
Speaker 1: with their big strong legs and fore legs. Uh, they
Speaker 1: kind of have Dave Batista vibe to me, like the
Speaker 1: general shape he was, like the he was in Guardians
Speaker 1: of the Galaxy. Wow, that's so funny. Okay, I can
Speaker 1: see it because he's got like long legs and like
Speaker 1: a thick torso right right, it's like a fit dude.
Speaker 1: Right yeah, yeah, exactly. Um no, no insult to Dave
Speaker 1: Bautista because episode brought to you by Dave Bautista. So
Speaker 1: they are predators, which is cool. Who coo cool? Uh?
Speaker 1: They as adults will prey upon a large variety of
Speaker 1: small critters, from insects to smaller frogs, crustaceans, baby turtles
Speaker 1: and snakes and rodents. And one instance, a bat was
Speaker 1: found in a goliath frog's stomach, which just must have
Speaker 1: been and like can you imagine that one, Like I
Speaker 1: guess until it got caught and like someone was poking
Speaker 1: around in its stomach. That was like a bragging rights
Speaker 1: day And no, no other frog probably believe it's like
Speaker 1: I caught a flying mouse and they're like okay, sure, sure, John,
Speaker 1: like whatever this is like, uh, this is like the
Speaker 1: Batman villain origin story. Like it's like I I thought
Speaker 1: the bat and I won. The joker is just a
Speaker 1: goliath frog. I mean it's got the same similar it's
Speaker 1: a it's interesting color palette. You know, we live in
Speaker 1: a we live in a society, says this frog. So
Speaker 1: why do they get so big. It's actually because they're
Speaker 1: great parents. Uh, they like to do home projects. So
Speaker 1: males construct nests for their offspring, and females guard the nests.
Speaker 1: So these nests are basically private ponds that they construct
Speaker 1: for their offspring, either by digging a ditch near a
Speaker 1: pool and then blocking it off from the rest of
Speaker 1: the pool with a large rocks, or by creating a
Speaker 1: damn in a larger pool with rocks, creating a private area.
Speaker 1: So it's you know, it's like a National Lampoon Christmas vacation,
Speaker 1: where like the whole plot is about he wants pool
Speaker 1: for his family, except in this scenario, he's super buff
Speaker 1: and the wife is also super buff, and the wife
Speaker 1: like hunts down the guy who's going to deny them
Speaker 1: their pool and punches them in the face. That's the
Speaker 1: version that I decided to see. It's a better version, right.
Speaker 1: I just think it's interesting that, like all they're trying
Speaker 1: to do is protect their family, and we're just like
Speaker 1: yanking them out and taking picture. I mean, that's basically
Speaker 1: the story for any picture of someone holding up an animal.
Speaker 1: I know, I don't know why I'm so affected by
Speaker 1: this one in particular. I'm like, I feel like it's
Speaker 1: just like them trying to, like with their little legs,
Speaker 1: like dangling and trying to like grasp at anything. Yeah. Bad,
Speaker 1: It's that they're not meant to be held up in
Speaker 1: this position. It's kind of like when you like hold
Speaker 1: a cat up by the scruff of it, but it's
Speaker 1: like an adult and you really need to support the
Speaker 1: rest of its body because it's like to like it's
Speaker 1: really only good for kittens, like to hold it by
Speaker 1: the scruff of its neck. But like when someone holds
Speaker 1: an adult by the scruff of its neck and they're
Speaker 1: not like supporting it's but it's like it just looks uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: like you're you're squishing it. No, it's too hefty, don't
Speaker 1: do that. But to be able to construct a pond
Speaker 1: by excavation and lifting rocks, they literally have to be
Speaker 1: buff They they need these big, froggy muscles. That's why
Speaker 1: it looks like Dave Batista, Like they have these strong
Speaker 1: arms and strong they're not really arms, but like strong
Speaker 1: fore limbs and strong hind limbs to be able to
Speaker 1: dig and lift rocks and make these constructions. And females
Speaker 1: also need to be pretty buff because they're the guards.
Speaker 1: They are going to aggressively defend this pool, this private
Speaker 1: pool for their offspring from any toxic barbs who come around.
Speaker 1: Wants to like, oh, can I just like pop over
Speaker 1: and use your pool for a minute. It's like, no,
Speaker 1: my kids are using this pool and then they fight,
Speaker 1: but they've been I'm looking forward to motherhood. Frankly, I
Speaker 1: would love a w w E style like Housewives of
Speaker 1: Orange County. It's just like they're all super buff and
Speaker 1: they solve all their problems with choreographed ww E style wrestling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that sounds super fun. Actually, I feel like that's what
Speaker 1: that's what they were trying to make glow. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: having it a little bit of a backstory, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that is essentially, but I mean in real life,
Speaker 1: like real like real ladies with real problems, but then
Speaker 1: they work it out in in the ring, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, Katie, do you do you think
Speaker 1: wrestling is real? What do you mean it's not really? No? No, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you're right. Let's move on. Look at the really doesn't
Speaker 1: care about his family. I'm sure he does. I'm sure
Speaker 1: he does. He really didn't need to get revenge on
Speaker 1: screwdriver man. I don't actually want. Um, guess how big
Speaker 1: the tadpoles are for these massive frogs. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that looks like. I don't like. Okay, don't don't
Speaker 1: look at don't look at the images. Just okay, wait,
Speaker 1: so you said, so, describe how big the frog is again.
Speaker 1: Um that by the way, just for your information, those
Speaker 1: images are misleading, so don't go by the ok the frog.
Speaker 1: The frog grows to be up to about thirteen inches
Speaker 1: or thirty two cimeters long, and they weigh over seven
Speaker 1: pounds or three kms. I don't know what ratio I'm
Speaker 1: coming up with, but I'll say, like, then, five or
Speaker 1: six inches is what I would expect a tadpole to be.
Speaker 1: Is that right? Drum roll? They're just regular tadpool size.
Speaker 1: They're like, well, yeah, they're they only grow to be
Speaker 1: about like, you know, an inch long. Maybe, Um, because
Speaker 1: I warned you, because after being a tadpole, they grow
Speaker 1: into a froglet, so a little tiny frog, and that
Speaker 1: froglet then just grows bigger and bigger and bigger and
Speaker 1: bigger until it becomes the biggest frog in the world.
Speaker 1: So tadpole size doesn't necessarily mean like it can indicate
Speaker 1: it's going to be a bigger, bigger frog, but it
Speaker 1: really just depends on what its development is like. So
Speaker 1: some frogs like developed much bigger tadpoles and invest a
Speaker 1: lot of their bulk developing during the tadpole stage. Some
Speaker 1: frogs go from being a tadpole to being a froglet
Speaker 1: relatively quickly, and most of the bulking up happens with
Speaker 1: the froglet. Some some of them literally shrink, so they
Speaker 1: go from being a larger tadpole to being a smaller
Speaker 1: adult frog because they're seems that seems bad, that seems
Speaker 1: not allowed. I feel like paradox I think it's called
Speaker 1: paradoxical frogs. That sounds like something from the Hitchhiker's Guide.
Speaker 1: I just don't believe it. Also, this is like, um,
Speaker 1: this is like the teacup pig problem where people were
Speaker 1: kept trying to buy tiny pigs and then they just
Speaker 1: turned into big, big pigs. Well it's because they were babies, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, but people thought they were like bread to
Speaker 1: be tiny little baby pigs forever. Yeah, the micro pigs
Speaker 1: can be. They're still small adults, but they don't remain
Speaker 1: cute little piglets forever. So you have to be prepared
Speaker 1: for like a big that hefty like adult. Uh. I
Speaker 1: think they're big. They're like a Yeah, I think they're
Speaker 1: like a pop belly pig that's been bred to be smaller.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like as adults they get big and hairy
Speaker 1: and round and and like I mean, I still and
Speaker 1: who doesn't who amongst us doesn't I feel like I've
Speaker 1: gotten bigger and harrier just within the past four hours,
Speaker 1: so like I'm seeing it before my eyes. People have
Speaker 1: to chill out about this is like I mean, with
Speaker 1: every animal, we're trying to just make it be like
Speaker 1: cute and small forever. And it's like, just let animals
Speaker 1: be animals, you know what I mean. Yeah, let's let
Speaker 1: this like giant muscular frog go around talking about protein shakes.
Speaker 1: It's all right, don't pick them up. I have gotten
Speaker 1: this is a side note, but I've gotten very against
Speaker 1: like breeding of almost any kind where like even now
Speaker 1: with like fish and like hamsters, I'm like, why why
Speaker 1: are we doing this thing with animals where we're like
Speaker 1: are you not? And today like don't we have enough
Speaker 1: books to read? Like why do we have to breed
Speaker 1: every animal? Like developed play the piano, like learn, learn something.
Speaker 1: Don't just get a pet, a bread pet. There's other
Speaker 1: animals that need to be saved. Get get a little
Speaker 1: weird mutt from the rescue. Don't bad things into existence
Speaker 1: that don't need to be a lot mom and dad. Okay,
Speaker 1: just for your own entertainment and comfort, all right, this
Speaker 1: is the new thing. Every I have friends with like hamsters,
Speaker 1: and I just smile and nod because I'm just like,
Speaker 1: I don't see why do you need why do you
Speaker 1: need that? You know what I mean, It's just weird.
Speaker 1: It started to become weird to me. It's just very
Speaker 1: weird to me. The whole thing is weird to me.
Speaker 1: Just like, say, then, animal, stop doing things for your
Speaker 1: entertainment and go like, don'tate to a local charity. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know what I'm saying, but I'm
Speaker 1: sick of this whole thing. I love this ramp. I
Speaker 1: I actually I really agree, especially I know this is
Speaker 1: a tangent, but really quickly, like with with breeding animals,
Speaker 1: it's like it really should be about the like especially
Speaker 1: with dogs, like it should be about the health and
Speaker 1: emotional health of the dogs, Like I don't need a
Speaker 1: dog that has an extra pair of eyes on it.
Speaker 1: But like you know, it's well not what you're saying
Speaker 1: it and I'm kidding, kidding, speaking of extra pair of
Speaker 1: eyes on its, but this frog, now I'm kidding. Um no,
Speaker 1: I definitely that way too. But somehow, back to tadpoles.
Speaker 1: I shared with you this picture of this absolutely massive
Speaker 1: tadpole and like probably you thought, like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: probably the tadpole for the glade frog, and that would
Speaker 1: be a reasonable assumption, but this is actually the tadpole
Speaker 1: for a bull frog, and bull frogs do actually get
Speaker 1: to be quite big, so it's like not like too
Speaker 1: unusual for there to be a larger tadpole, But this
Speaker 1: tadpole is unique. This is the unicorn of tadpoles. This
Speaker 1: is the biggest tadpole ever discovered. This is a tadpole
Speaker 1: named Dart, who is a unusually large bull frog tadpole
Speaker 1: unusually large tadpole in general just like should not be
Speaker 1: this big. It was discovered by research ecologists in Arizona.
Speaker 1: The tadpole was ten inches or over only five cimeters long.
Speaker 1: This is even larger than most adult bullfrogs. So this
Speaker 1: tadpole is an extreme outlier. Like other record breaking large tadpoles,
Speaker 1: it may actually never mature into adulthood, which signals that
Speaker 1: it has extremely atypical hormones. And this is called neatany
Speaker 1: in like where it's like you retain your juvenile characteristics
Speaker 1: throughout your whole life, and in some amphibious species, like
Speaker 1: in species of salamanders, uh, neatany is is common and
Speaker 1: it's like a normal part of the species life. So
Speaker 1: axlotls are actually juvenile salamander that just like maintain their
Speaker 1: juvenile characteristics their whole life, for through their whole life cycle.
Speaker 1: The men of if you will, don't cancel me, man,
Speaker 1: But so far this tadpole, it's really interesting because this
Speaker 1: is obviously an outlier, this is a mutation, but it
Speaker 1: kind of give you a little bit of a sense
Speaker 1: of like how these like this neatony can evolve in
Speaker 1: other species of amphibians where you just like this tadpole
Speaker 1: just like decided not to become an adult and just
Speaker 1: become a bigger and bigger tadpole. Don't worry about this
Speaker 1: this big chalky boy. Like he's being kept safe by
Speaker 1: ecologists who are curious to see how long he lives
Speaker 1: and how big he gets. So he is being probably
Speaker 1: one of the luckiest tadpoles, just like getting to live
Speaker 1: the cushy life, just being enormous and eating all the time.
Speaker 1: Got I mean, I am like genuinely jealous of of
Speaker 1: these animals in this episode, just get all all vibes,
Speaker 1: no thoughts, you know what I mean? I know, and
Speaker 1: it's like it just gets to be a big baby
Speaker 1: its whole life, and scientists are thrilled and they even
Speaker 1: lit it drink beer. Now I'm kidding, but there is
Speaker 1: a photo of it being held up next to a
Speaker 1: cores cam to show how massive it is. I don't
Speaker 1: like picture because it looks like they're squeezing it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like all of these pictures, I'm like,
Speaker 1: leave them alone. I don't know what I want to
Speaker 1: see the pictures. I like seeing the pictures, but I'm
Speaker 1: also like to put them down. Yeah, I don't unhand them.
Speaker 1: I don't actually think it's being squeezed. I think it's
Speaker 1: just so chunky that like they of it being gently held.
Speaker 1: It's just like spilling over the recently fingers. It's just
Speaker 1: all in my head, honestly, but but I I feel it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just like leave them alone, leave these tad giant tad
Speaker 1: poles alone. Yeah, but dart dart Is is probably living
Speaker 1: the high life being you know, got it's got its
Speaker 1: beer and it's a it's banana, it's banana. But that
Speaker 1: was also I guess for scale. I hope that they
Speaker 1: gave it the beer and banana afterwards, like you did
Speaker 1: a good job during the photo show. Yeah, now, doll
Speaker 1: feed beard of tad pulls. Guys, we have had too
Speaker 1: many disclaimers for this to be a responsible episode. Don't
Speaker 1: just overall disclaimer. Never listen to anything I say. There
Speaker 1: we go, So before we go, I want to end
Speaker 1: with a listener email. Actually in response to a recent
Speaker 1: episode where we talked about sawfish, which is a type
Speaker 1: of ray that actually looks like it's got a softhore
Speaker 1: nose and it's really cool and it's not a nose.
Speaker 1: It's actually rostrum so like that this like uh pointy
Speaker 1: bit that comes off of the front of a fish. Um.
Speaker 1: So this is the email. Hi, your discussion on today's
Speaker 1: episode about sawfish reminded me of a museum piece I
Speaker 1: saw when I visited Berlin in nine. It's a sword
Speaker 1: made from a sawfish rostrum. I forget what year it's from,
Speaker 1: but it was in the Medieval Renaissance section at the
Speaker 1: Deutsches History Eaches Museum in Berlin. I love the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Neil Miller. Thank you so much for your email. Neil,
Speaker 1: I had no idea that people made sawfish swords, but
Speaker 1: I guess it makes total sense, like that humans would
Speaker 1: do that. We see an animal that looks like it's
Speaker 1: gotta gott a chainsaw for a nose, and then we
Speaker 1: turned swords into it. We see a weapon, We make
Speaker 1: a weapon. That's us. That is us stand off. I
Speaker 1: doubt these were ever used as actual weapons. They don't
Speaker 1: look super practical. Oh good, so we just made it
Speaker 1: for no reason, but yeah, you know, just for fun
Speaker 1: to you was after maybe it was after one died.
Speaker 1: One would hope. I wouldn't guarantee it, but I don't know.
Speaker 1: It's probably made out of the cartilage skeleton left behind
Speaker 1: from a dead sawfish is rostrum. So uh, sharks and rays,
Speaker 1: like they actually don't have um bones like humans do.
Speaker 1: They have cartilage. And we actually do have cartilage like
Speaker 1: in our nose and in our ears, but in in
Speaker 1: sharks and rays, the cartilage is very hard and bone
Speaker 1: like us, so it can that's like when they leave
Speaker 1: behind these skeletons, it's actually a very very hard cartilage.
Speaker 1: And so that's what this is made out of, a
Speaker 1: hard cartilage left behind their rostrum, which is this like
Speaker 1: long protrusion that looks like a chainsaw with teeth on it.
Speaker 1: Those pointy bits are actually not teeth, their denticles. But
Speaker 1: we talked about that in last week's episode. The nose
Speaker 1: nose uh nose as in the face nose And yeah,
Speaker 1: I did some research on these swords. It looks like
Speaker 1: this particular sword that Neil sent in was made in
Speaker 1: the late sixteenth century and was never used as an
Speaker 1: actual weapon, but as like a rich person novelty um.
Speaker 1: But more recently, actually in West Australia, a guy was
Speaker 1: arrested after being seen brandishing a sword and apparently it
Speaker 1: was handmade out of a sawfish rostrum with a wooden
Speaker 1: and leather wrapped hilt, and allegedly he attacked a police
Speaker 1: officer with it. But I'm pretty sure Australian police probably
Speaker 1: just arrested Aquaman, who was trying to save the world
Speaker 1: from some evil octopus, and they're like, all right, all right,
Speaker 1: we're bringing you in. It's like, no, I'm but I
Speaker 1: am saving the world. Listen my Kingdom Undersea. I I
Speaker 1: have the evil doctor Octopus is trying to take over
Speaker 1: the land, and I have come and they just arrest him.
Speaker 1: And you know what, doctor Octopus and Aquaman villain. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a spider man full of I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know these things. Like I'm sure there's an
Speaker 1: evil I'm sure that that Aquaman who's face like at
Speaker 1: least sort of a rude octopus, right, Like, maybe not
Speaker 1: an evil octopus, but just like a squid that's ingdom.
Speaker 1: Ever once in a while passing just kind of a
Speaker 1: kind of a sniffett wid you got so tired, you
Speaker 1: were like, I'm gonna get hard emails about this. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Actually, when you look into the backstory of Aquaman,
Speaker 1: it makes no sense that he would fight octopuses because
Speaker 1: his dad wasn't half octopus. Oh man, you're you're bringing
Speaker 1: him in now. Opened the door that can't be closed.
Speaker 1: Next week on Fantastical Villains of the Octopus Kingdom. Next week,
Speaker 1: an apology episode all the Marvel fans. It's just gonna
Speaker 1: be a notes appology. Look for it on Twitter's Apaman Marvel. No,
Speaker 1: he's DC, right, YEAHC I'm sorry. Next next week, an
Speaker 1: apology episode Tall the DC fans. But I think I
Speaker 1: think we've done it. I think we've looked at animals
Speaker 1: should be small, but hey, they're big and muscular and
Speaker 1: they definitely work out at the gym and you should
Speaker 1: be intimidated by them. Thank you so much for joining me,
Speaker 1: pul Do you have anything to plug and where can
Speaker 1: people find you? Um? I'm at Puli Vigan alan p
Speaker 1: a l l a v I g u n A
Speaker 1: l a n everywhere, And I have um something that
Speaker 1: you might like. It's web comic and it's called Imposter
Speaker 1: Bear spelled with quos I M p O s t
Speaker 1: o R bear. And it's on Twitter, and it's on
Speaker 1: Instagram and Facebook, and it's a web comic featuring all
Speaker 1: sorts of bears, yeah, animal things, and it's sad and
Speaker 1: funny just like me, and I do it with my
Speaker 1: friend at Relatable Doodle. Uh Sehi and I work on
Speaker 1: that together, she does. They're drawing and then I say
Speaker 1: the sad words usually very cute, funny and sad. Yes,
Speaker 1: definitely check that out. I think you guys have like that. Um.
Speaker 1: And of course you can find the show on the
Speaker 1: internet at Creature feature Pod on Instagram, at Creature feet
Speaker 1: pot on Twitter. That's f E T e et that
Speaker 1: is something very different, uh, and you can find me.
Speaker 1: I'm Kate Golden kay A T I E G O
Speaker 1: L D I N not eat in. I spelled my
Speaker 1: name wrong. We got it wrong. And if you have
Speaker 1: a listener email that you want to send in with
Speaker 1: cool pictures of weird swords made out of dead animals
Speaker 1: that don't don't kill any animals that will make the weapons,
Speaker 1: you can send it to me at Creature feature pot
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. And thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you're drawing the show and you leave a rating
Speaker 1: or view, I read all of the reviews and they
Speaker 1: make me so happy, and I really appreciate that uh.
Speaker 1: Thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song XO. Lumina.
Speaker 1: Creature Feature is a production of I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts like the one Who Just Heard This? The
Speaker 1: me I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, wheor Hey guess what? Where?
Speaker 1: Have you listen to your favorite shows? See you next
Speaker 1: Wednesday m hm.