Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature future 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, the mystery
Speaker 1: of bat Boy. Is the half bat half human really real? Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. We're not talking about bat Boy, but
Speaker 1: we are talking about animals who are so utterly unbelievable.
Speaker 1: They seem like hoaxes, living tampons that walk the earth,
Speaker 1: purple blobs who walk under the earth, a new animal superhero,
Speaker 1: and the weird sexcapades of corny bees. Discover this and
Speaker 1: more as we answer the angel question, is that a
Speaker 1: snorke will coming out of your butter? You just happy
Speaker 1: to see me. Joining me today is shark lover and
Speaker 1: host of Kicking and Screaming podcast, Vanessa Guerrero. Am I
Speaker 1: love sharks. You're just telling me about how you have
Speaker 1: an upcoming cinema feature of sharks that you made when
Speaker 1: you were twelve years old. I think it was twelve,
Speaker 1: but it might have been a little bit younger now
Speaker 1: that I think about it, I might have been liked
Speaker 1: ten um. When I was a child, I didn't like
Speaker 1: writing assigned essays at all, But I did have a
Speaker 1: video camera and I turned in an essay which was
Speaker 1: basically just my mom filming me at an aquarium, uh,
Speaker 1: but also me filming a documentary called air Jaws with
Speaker 1: my own camera and geting at my classmates about how
Speaker 1: they don't get sharks like I do, which I mean
Speaker 1: makes I think of Werner Herzog started out about ten
Speaker 1: years old too, So yeah, so me her Zog both
Speaker 1: deeply alienating to our peers at ten uh with our
Speaker 1: intensity and uh, I'm trying to find a way to
Speaker 1: digitize it and put it out some there. Because watching
Speaker 1: it at the age that I am now, immediately I
Speaker 1: was like, all right, I immediately get why. Maybe I
Speaker 1: was like a little bit hard to understand at the time,
Speaker 1: but also like, I'm glad that I've held that same
Speaker 1: affection for sharks. I don't know, I think you were
Speaker 1: ahead of your time in in the sort of pro
Speaker 1: shark movement, the shark acceptance movement. Shark Week came that.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're about the same age, and I don't
Speaker 1: remember Shark Week coming until like I was a little older.
Speaker 1: So I feel like the the rebranding of Sharks giving
Speaker 1: Sharks a better image had to come because people were
Speaker 1: scared of sharks because of jaws. So yeah, I think
Speaker 1: you were a true uh shark visionary, thank you. My
Speaker 1: mother didn't think so. When I found a I can't
Speaker 1: remember it was a lipstick or perfume, but it had
Speaker 1: like an an ingredient that I read somewhere that was
Speaker 1: originally derived from sharks. It hadn't been anymore, but I
Speaker 1: just like, I have to flush it. Uh. She wasn't
Speaker 1: a real real shark activist, like this has the blood
Speaker 1: of sharks on it. Oh dare you? Mom? This this
Speaker 1: shark crime. You go go to the grocery store, all
Speaker 1: those little shark remember those shark gummies? The gummies like
Speaker 1: shape like sharks, and you're just throwing them on the
Speaker 1: ground like this is this advocates violence against sharks. It
Speaker 1: means we eat them now. I actually saw a friend
Speaker 1: make a cocktail using the shark gummies in it. Now,
Speaker 1: and I've never felt like a glass of something was
Speaker 1: more for me. It was just it was a shark
Speaker 1: based cocktail. Gummy shark mm hmm. I what what was
Speaker 1: the what did what bass was it with it? I
Speaker 1: think the Lucarus house so it was like an ocean.
Speaker 1: Oh that's nice. That's nice. Yeah. I think it was
Speaker 1: like she called it drink bluesy. Okay, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 1: I like that. That's a good one. So today we
Speaker 1: are actually talking about some animal stories that sounds like
Speaker 1: they are hoaxes, but they are not. It is a
Speaker 1: the truth, but it is. It's stuff that when I
Speaker 1: first thought, I was like, no, no, no, no, this
Speaker 1: is this is a hoax, this is fake news. It's
Speaker 1: been some kind of doctored video. But now no, it's
Speaker 1: absolutely true, and so I'm very excited. There is a
Speaker 1: viral video on Twitter that shows what looks like tampons
Speaker 1: coming alive and crawling around in a public restroom. And
Speaker 1: it's like, is it a parasite imitating a tampon and
Speaker 1: looking for a human host. It's some kind of cross
Speaker 1: breed between a mouse and a worm. Uh this? So
Speaker 1: I sent you the link to the video. I'll have
Speaker 1: it in the show notes. I guess a little bit
Speaker 1: of a warning. It's it's a little gross to look at,
Speaker 1: but it When I saw this, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is like a deep fake. It's a some kind
Speaker 1: of weird edit. But no, no, it's absolutely not. I
Speaker 1: clicked it. I clicked it, And they're so bad. Like
Speaker 1: in general, anything that has like that kind of crawl
Speaker 1: motion where it's like that like pumpy long crawl thing, yeah,
Speaker 1: always tends to like bog me out a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. The undulating never never my favorite motion in
Speaker 1: an insect. And uh, this is so much worse because
Speaker 1: they are really tamponnie in a way that makes me
Speaker 1: so happy I switched to the cup because these look
Speaker 1: like weird candy uo for people that men straight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they look like an alien parasite that is mimicking the
Speaker 1: look of a tampon to find a human host, like
Speaker 1: from some kind of horror movie. But yeah, the the
Speaker 1: undulating movement is also disconcerting. They actually have little legs
Speaker 1: like a caterpillar, and they moved by sort of contracting
Speaker 1: their legs in a wave motion, so that's how they
Speaker 1: move around, and it's uh, you know, not not necessarily
Speaker 1: great to look at. I would say the legs actually
Speaker 1: add some comfort to me that they're not just like
Speaker 1: inching around like the crutation slither right, Oh yeah, oh
Speaker 1: god slither that movie. This actually reminds me of a
Speaker 1: worm or caterpillar that I've spent my entire life trying
Speaker 1: to figure out what it was. I described it to
Speaker 1: people and nobody can like tell me what I was
Speaker 1: looking at. But when I was a kid, I saw
Speaker 1: like this just like green. It just looks like a
Speaker 1: green caterpillar. And my little brother did the young boy thing,
Speaker 1: which is okay, with a sticky and he poked it
Speaker 1: and this red and I remembered how a white stripe
Speaker 1: on it, This like red horn with like a white
Speaker 1: stripe on the other end just started poking out slowly
Speaker 1: out of the back of this green caterpillar until the
Speaker 1: horn was about as long, if not a little bit
Speaker 1: longer than the caterpillar. And it was one of the
Speaker 1: most upsetting things I've ever seen in my whole life. Um,
Speaker 1: I like, my parents weren't home, and I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm going to die here, even though it was just
Speaker 1: a small worm. And to this day, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: what was that caterpillar? What is a creature that like
Speaker 1: excretes a red horn? That's interesting. I don't know off
Speaker 1: the top of my head. I know that there are uh,
Speaker 1: swallow tail caterpillars that have red horn protrusions. I don't
Speaker 1: know of them like necessarily being telescoping. There's also a
Speaker 1: moth that has these weird horns. Stood I'm going to
Speaker 1: do a little bit of Google searching and then I'll
Speaker 1: see if I can get that for you. I think.
Speaker 1: I also I watched a lot of shows that were
Speaker 1: about like parasites and worms and bought flies and things
Speaker 1: like that when I was a kid, So the automatic
Speaker 1: default for me and bugs were like, it's going to
Speaker 1: crawl into my skin, even if it's not something that
Speaker 1: does that. I think also like spending a lot of
Speaker 1: my youth in Central America around bugs that are terrifying, Uh,
Speaker 1: just gave me this like alarmist viewpoint of literally any
Speaker 1: creepy crawley gritter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I've come
Speaker 1: to peace with a lot of worms and parasites and
Speaker 1: stuff just from like I guess, uh, taking classes on
Speaker 1: it where I you know, you you have to sort
Speaker 1: of like, oh, man, appreciate the evolutionary cleverness of them.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think, um, there is something like this
Speaker 1: for me, like the smaller the parasite, the littler, and
Speaker 1: like swigglier the worst because it's just like they can
Speaker 1: get right in there. Yeah, like under a fingernail or something. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So that's how my doom brain works. Where where where
Speaker 1: were you? Like, where are you were you living when
Speaker 1: this green caterpillar came into your life? I could say definitely.
Speaker 1: I was in southern California at the time. Okay, it
Speaker 1: wasn't like in Central America, where like I'd see something horrific,
Speaker 1: but then my grandmar would be like, oh, I know
Speaker 1: what that is, because that would happen a lot too.
Speaker 1: Like I'd be like, because our baths weren't indoor, they
Speaker 1: were like outdoor bathhouses that like everyone in the house
Speaker 1: kind of shared for both laundry, bathing, and using the restroom.
Speaker 1: Uh So I'd be like taking a bath and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: a scorpion, that's probably the one that's okay, and my
Speaker 1: mom would be like yeah, then my grandmother would be like,
Speaker 1: why are you bathing with the poisonous scorpion? So, like
Speaker 1: most of the ones that identified this was here in
Speaker 1: southern California, so I had no clue. Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of weird caterpillar behaviors. I think
Speaker 1: it could have been I mean, it could have been
Speaker 1: a swallow tail caterpillar. They definitely have sort of like
Speaker 1: weird horns on them. There is so there's something called
Speaker 1: an osmatarian which is a defensive organ that can actually
Speaker 1: be averted from the caterpillar when it feels threatened. So
Speaker 1: it kind of looks like these red horns. Let me
Speaker 1: show you a picture. Let me see if this is
Speaker 1: what you saw. I was going to drop this in
Speaker 1: the document freak out if I finally get like, I
Speaker 1: want to solve this mystery for you, I mean kind
Speaker 1: of like that but red, and it was very long.
Speaker 1: I mean it could be the same. This could be
Speaker 1: just a different species of caterpillar doing the same thing.
Speaker 1: So it's like inside the body. But then if you
Speaker 1: like assault the caterpillar like your brother did, then it
Speaker 1: will be averted, meaning like pushed out. And um, it's
Speaker 1: meant to like smell kind of bad and like startle
Speaker 1: predators smelled really bad. Really it was stinking. You solved it,
Speaker 1: because that was the other part that like sent me
Speaker 1: into panic, where like he was like, you, it stinks
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, and I was like, what does
Speaker 1: it smell? Is it poison or is it like fumes?
Speaker 1: That's going to take over our bodies. Uh yeah, holy
Speaker 1: sh it, you did it. Yeah, it's uh it is
Speaker 1: found in swallow tail butterfly larva. We got it, We
Speaker 1: did it, We got it. Salved. Your lifelong mystery, Salved,
Speaker 1: did I like help you move past like your childhood
Speaker 1: issues of like man, this like this caterpillar. It was
Speaker 1: always a mystery and and grow as a person. Didn't
Speaker 1: do it? We didn't. I think it is Also when
Speaker 1: I was older and I learned about like Cordy Steps,
Speaker 1: I was just like, was there a very specific like
Speaker 1: fungus that took over that caterpillary? Don't about well? I
Speaker 1: was thinking. I was thinking of like a horsehair worm
Speaker 1: or or a nema toad, which can these parasites that
Speaker 1: will take over crickets and spiders and stuff. I didn't
Speaker 1: know of them taking over caterpillars necessarily, but the fact
Speaker 1: that it's red like these these parasitic memontos are usually
Speaker 1: like white colored. So um no, yeah, it's the osmetrium,
Speaker 1: the defensive organ of the swallowtail caterpillars. So yes, we
Speaker 1: did it, We solved it, gave it away. Unfortunately, we
Speaker 1: have to move on back to these living tampons, so
Speaker 1: that mystery, Wow, it gets even grosser. So these are
Speaker 1: real animals, these things that look like crawling, wiggling tampons
Speaker 1: with little feet, and they are called rat tailed maggots,
Speaker 1: which is a beautiful name for a gorgeous, gorgeous animal.
Speaker 1: I mean they gross me out less than a regular maggot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think because they're so weird and different,
Speaker 1: they don't trigger the gross out response in me as
Speaker 1: much as the like, oh my god, am I looking
Speaker 1: at an alien response? Like it's more of like a
Speaker 1: quite There are elements of it that I definitely don't like.
Speaker 1: But like, I think since my my primal brain so
Speaker 1: deeply associates maggot with like this is bad for me
Speaker 1: that because it looks more like alien than maggot, I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: you're gross, but you're not going to make me gag, right, right,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's like, okay, no, I didn't like leave
Speaker 1: the trash out too long. It's an alien invasion, that's yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm not like disgusted. I'm just like, huh, okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to get invaded by aliens, all right, I
Speaker 1: accept that. I mean, the news has been weirder. To
Speaker 1: be honest, despite their appearances, they're not necessarily parasites and
Speaker 1: they are typically harmless. But we're actually gonna get to
Speaker 1: some special cases in which they are not so harmless,
Speaker 1: which is done undone um. So rat tailed maggots are
Speaker 1: it's not just one species, there's a whole bunch of species,
Speaker 1: but they are the larva of several hoverfly species. So
Speaker 1: the rat tailed maggots are notable due to the long
Speaker 1: rat tail that trails behind them, making them look like
Speaker 1: the cross between a mouse, a worm, and a tampon. Uh.
Speaker 1: The tail is actually a respiratory siphon that allows them
Speaker 1: to breathe while submerged underwater. So as I was reaching
Speaker 1: researching these things, I was like, they've got to have
Speaker 1: some redeeming qualities that make them less gross or something.
Speaker 1: But it turns out they like to live in stinky,
Speaker 1: stagnant water. So like they spend the larval part of
Speaker 1: their life cycle in oxygen low stagnant water, which is
Speaker 1: often rich in organic material for them to feed on.
Speaker 1: But because there's not that much oxygen in stagnant water,
Speaker 1: they need that that respiratory siphon, that tail, that pokes
Speaker 1: out of the water and allow as them to breathe.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's probably why they were found in that bathroom.
Speaker 1: They were probably living in some sewage water, which is lovely,
Speaker 1: and they are highly resistant to pollution, which allows them
Speaker 1: to live in suspics and sewage. So you know, I
Speaker 1: like them for that. Look, you know, they make it work,
Speaker 1: and I have to respect it. You know. I feel
Speaker 1: so much more tenderness for bugs now that try their damnedest.
Speaker 1: I know, right, I'm like I had clothes mountain kind
Speaker 1: of piling up where I wasn't folding my clothes, I
Speaker 1: wasn't putting them in the laundry. I was just creating
Speaker 1: sort of a clothes mountain. And I think of all
Speaker 1: these insects that sort of cocoon themselves in like twigs
Speaker 1: and mud and poop and stuff, and I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: are we so different? I've created a closed mountain. Like
Speaker 1: I'll even like get you know, like pile clothes up
Speaker 1: on my bed and then it's like, hey, it's more blanket,
Speaker 1: right because it's clothes. And like I throw cat hair
Speaker 1: in the mix, which is really not that she's not
Speaker 1: as clean as i'd like to think she is, so
Speaker 1: I'm rolling around in it too. You kind of have
Speaker 1: to have plausible deniability with a cat or a dog
Speaker 1: where you try not to think about how there's a
Speaker 1: lot of butthole stuff going on where like it's poopy stuff,
Speaker 1: like they've been licking their butt hole and then they
Speaker 1: look there fur and then they rub all over you
Speaker 1: and you you just have to have a little bit
Speaker 1: of willful ignorance about, you know, the butt hoole factor.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, no, we're all we're living in garbage times.
Speaker 1: So I feel like we should respect the garbage worm
Speaker 1: um for really adapting to the garbage life, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's it embraces it in a way that many
Speaker 1: us are still pretending is not the case, even though
Speaker 1: who among us doesn't have a bag of chips from
Speaker 1: the beginning of quarantine, like still rolling out in our homes, right,
Speaker 1: and like you find a chip like on the couch,
Speaker 1: and you're like, wait a minute, this isn't the same
Speaker 1: chip type that I'm eating. It looks like a different chip,
Speaker 1: But then you eat it anyways, like plausible deniability. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm eating derritos now, Yes, this is a pretzel and
Speaker 1: it's it's hard as a rock, but I'm I'm still
Speaker 1: gonna eat it. You know, I'm trapped in my little
Speaker 1: I'm trapped in my little stagnant water hovel, right exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean we respected the teenage mutant ninja turtles and
Speaker 1: they lived in sewage in eight pizza. Why not respect
Speaker 1: rat tailed maggots, you know, living their life with their
Speaker 1: with their with their sewage snorkels. So even better that snorkel,
Speaker 1: that tail really is a tail. It comes out of
Speaker 1: their posterior end, meaning the butt end. So they breathe
Speaker 1: through a snorkel out of their butt while they live
Speaker 1: in sewage. So you know, I again respect, I respect
Speaker 1: the commitment. They're not the only thing to breathe other
Speaker 1: but two aren't they? I feel like there are more
Speaker 1: things that breathe out of there. But yeah, actually, turtles
Speaker 1: can do gas exchange out of their butts, so like
Speaker 1: when it gets cold, they can do gas exchange out
Speaker 1: of their butt while underwater. Good for them, Good for them?
Speaker 1: How he is coming back to teenage mutant ninja turtles
Speaker 1: because there's so many things, so many things. What can't
Speaker 1: they do? They've got a techie, they've got Actually, all
Speaker 1: I know is that they've got a techie. I forgot
Speaker 1: what the personality types of the other ones are, but
Speaker 1: they got a techy, a party, angry and blanket, a
Speaker 1: grumpy and a sneezy and a sleepy. They're basically like
Speaker 1: the horoscopes right right as thinking the snow white thing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there we go. So rat tailed maggots actually
Speaker 1: are the larval form of the hover fly, as I've
Speaker 1: mentioned before, and the adult form of these weirdos are
Speaker 1: actually pretty innocuous looking. Hover flies look like bees, they
Speaker 1: are not bees. They're actually being mimics, and they use
Speaker 1: the uh black and white stripes of the bees to
Speaker 1: trick other animals into thinking that they've got a stinger
Speaker 1: and that they shouldn't be messed with. But they are
Speaker 1: actually harmless and cute, little fuzzy, just like be pretenders,
Speaker 1: little bee wanna bees, so it is these wanna bees.
Speaker 1: So yeah, they actually their adult forms are actually quite
Speaker 1: nice looking, quite lovely, um, which it's pretty funny that
Speaker 1: they come from, you know, such sort of horrific alien beginnings,
Speaker 1: and then it's like and yeah, I'm a widow bee.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's kind of inspiring. Where it's just like, you know,
Speaker 1: you could be anything, even a b Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: start life as a weird alien, uh living tampon who
Speaker 1: likes to live in filth and breathes out of a
Speaker 1: tube that comes out of your butt and grow into
Speaker 1: a bee. I wanna be with no stinger, a liar
Speaker 1: align be. Yeah, I love that for them. M hm,
Speaker 1: I do too good for them. Um. So, like I
Speaker 1: was saying earlier, they are mostly harmless, but there have
Speaker 1: been a few documented cases of illness and humans related
Speaker 1: to them. So I think this section gets gross enough
Speaker 1: to have like a content warning, like it's gonna get
Speaker 1: a little gross, a little little like you know, parent
Speaker 1: parasite grossness. So if you don't want to hear that,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have Future Katie put in the time stamp
Speaker 1: of where you can jump ahead to skip all that,
Speaker 1: like if you're eating lunch or you're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I just don't want to know what these these little
Speaker 1: tamp on things get up to inside of human body,
Speaker 1: So I understand that. So yeah, jump ahead to what
Speaker 1: future Katie is saying. Now. All right, so Vanessa, I'm
Speaker 1: sorry you have to stay around for this day and
Speaker 1: everyone else who has chosen to listen um. So typically speaking,
Speaker 1: rat tailed maggots are not parasites. However, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that sometimes they can't adapt and just live the parasite
Speaker 1: life like an improv you know, like you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta roll with punches, gotta you gotta improv, improv everywhere,
Speaker 1: and sometimes that means being a parasite. So there have
Speaker 1: been a handful of documented cases of myiasis, which means
Speaker 1: the infection of skin and tissue by fly larva. So
Speaker 1: an example of myiasis would be a maggot like living
Speaker 1: in a flesh wound or something. So when certain species
Speaker 1: of at tailed maggot somehow ends up inside a humans
Speaker 1: digestive system, they seem to be able to feed off
Speaker 1: of the intestinal lining and survive. So yep, it's pretty gross.
Speaker 1: This type of parasitism is called facultative because it's not necessary.
Speaker 1: So there's obligate parasites like a tape worm that needs
Speaker 1: to be a parasite in order to complete its life
Speaker 1: life cycle. But there's also facultative parasites who it's basically
Speaker 1: you know, they're seeing which way the winds bull and
Speaker 1: like you know, today they'll be a parasite tomorrow. They
Speaker 1: don't necessarily need to be a parasite. Uh. They respond
Speaker 1: to changes in their environment. So if you ingest one
Speaker 1: of these guys and they're like, hi, I'm like inside
Speaker 1: a human Oh well, I guess I'll be a parasite then.
Speaker 1: So that's what these rat tailed maggots do. They wind
Speaker 1: up in a human body, usually when a person unwittingly
Speaker 1: drinks or eat something that has been contaminated, and then
Speaker 1: they just like you know, will go through their larval
Speaker 1: stages inside of the intestinal system and then you will
Speaker 1: eventually poop them out. Uh. So you cannot imagine that
Speaker 1: hanging out in a bowl. No, I can't. I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: So to get really gross, Like I was reading a
Speaker 1: case study of this woman and she had been having
Speaker 1: digestive problems like diarrhea, cramping, intestinal distress, all these things
Speaker 1: that seemed to be indicative of like um, some kind
Speaker 1: of inflammatory bowel disease. But like she like pooped out
Speaker 1: this thing and she's like, huh, that seems medically significant.
Speaker 1: So she brought it into the doctor and they put
Speaker 1: it under an electron microscope to see like they like
Speaker 1: looked studied it like looked at its mouth parts and stuff,
Speaker 1: and like we're able to pinpoint the specific species of
Speaker 1: rat tailed maggot that it was, which is Aristolis tin x,
Speaker 1: which sounds a lot fancier and cooler than rat tailed maggot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's just like I can't imagine though. I
Speaker 1: like if I if I pooped out a living tamp on,
Speaker 1: I would just be like, Okay, no, no, I'm just
Speaker 1: that's it. That's it. I'm shutting down. I'm shutting it
Speaker 1: all down. Going back to bed today, that's when I
Speaker 1: just lay down and I don't I don't stand up again,
Speaker 1: and then everybody asks what are you're doing? And I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna lay here for the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna take a take a lie down on
Speaker 1: the ground for you know, a while, you know, just
Speaker 1: like it's gonna take a lie down, think about things,
Speaker 1: think about the universe. It's got a lot, it's I
Speaker 1: feel like it's a life changing experience. Back from that
Speaker 1: the same. I don't think you do. I don't think
Speaker 1: you necessarily come back from that worse, But you don't
Speaker 1: come back from it the same. Yeah, you're changed forever.
Speaker 1: You're changed person. Um so, yeah, so basically that's how
Speaker 1: you find out, like if a rat tailed maggot is
Speaker 1: using you as like an intestinal airbnb is if you
Speaker 1: poop it out, otherwise you will be having inflammatory bowels symptoms.
Speaker 1: But really, guys, don't worry about this happening to you.
Speaker 1: There's literally just like handfuls of case studies of this,
Speaker 1: so it is extremely unlikely it's going to happen to you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean, if you drink poopy water and
Speaker 1: then you know, start feeling bad, it's a possibility you
Speaker 1: got the rat tails, a case of the old the
Speaker 1: old jumping tampons as they like to call it. Nobody
Speaker 1: calls it that. Um yeah. So, like these cases of
Speaker 1: accidental parasitism aren't typically life threatening, but you know, it's
Speaker 1: distressing and gross, uh and unfortunate. Um so yeah, that's
Speaker 1: I think that's it for the gross talk. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna welcome everyone back to to the podcast. Everyone who
Speaker 1: decided to take a quick vacation from grossness. I don't
Speaker 1: blame you. Yeah, yeah, you know, we'll talk about talk
Speaker 1: about nicer things like, uh, well, okay, I guess the
Speaker 1: next thing we're going to talk about when we get
Speaker 1: back from the break, isn't like cute, like poppy cute.
Speaker 1: But if you squint and think about it really hard,
Speaker 1: maybe it's cute. Maybe I don't know. Anyways, we're going
Speaker 1: to take a quick break and we will be right
Speaker 1: back with our next animal. That looks like a hoax.
Speaker 1: But guess what it's not. It's real. I know what
Speaker 1: you're thinking, Katie. Is there another nightmarish larvae I should
Speaker 1: know about? Glad Yes, Hercules beat A larvae are some
Speaker 1: of the biggest grubs you'll find on the planet. They
Speaker 1: can grow to be up to five inches or eleven
Speaker 1: centimeters and are as thick as a sausage. These grubs
Speaker 1: have a lot to live up to because their adult form,
Speaker 1: the hercules be Dle of Central American rainforests, is the
Speaker 1: largest flying insect in the world and sports an intimidating
Speaker 1: battle horn. When we return, we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: a purple blob that has a lovely personality. While not
Speaker 1: a hoax. The blobfish that lumpy pink fish with a
Speaker 1: big ziggil nose and perpetual frown, gets an unfair wrap.
Speaker 1: It's particularly lumpy appearance is due to it being transported
Speaker 1: from the high pressure depths of the sea to the surface,
Speaker 1: where the difference in pressure causes it to kind of explode.
Speaker 1: Just goes to show you you can't believe everything you
Speaker 1: see on fish Degram. But there is a terrestrial blob
Speaker 1: creature who really is as lumpy and blobbly as it
Speaker 1: appears in photos. Vanessa, if I told you there is
Speaker 1: a species of big purple blobs who live underground, who
Speaker 1: have pig noses, tiny little weener heads, and create many
Speaker 1: earthquakes in order to mate, what would you say to that,
Speaker 1: I'd say, sign me up. I love it. I love
Speaker 1: that response. I love a rumbling animal. Consider yourself subscribed.
Speaker 1: Because these guys exist, and they are called purple frogs. Now,
Speaker 1: I want you to take whatever image you have of
Speaker 1: a purple frog and delete it, because I guarantee you
Speaker 1: if you've never seen an actual purple frog, and you
Speaker 1: have some image of like a little like kermit frog
Speaker 1: who just happens to be purple like in your head,
Speaker 1: it's wrong. Delete that image and let me build it
Speaker 1: anew for you by painting a mental picture for you.
Speaker 1: So imagine like a human liver that's like kind of chunky,
Speaker 1: and then now give it stubby little legs, a tiny
Speaker 1: winky head with like a little fleshy beak that ends
Speaker 1: in sort of a pig nosed type thing, and then
Speaker 1: its shoulders are so like big and floppy. It kind
Speaker 1: of looks like it's got butt cheeks on its back,
Speaker 1: and it's a slightly kind of purple ish move color,
Speaker 1: and it's pretty slimy. See. Initially, when I used to
Speaker 1: purple frog, I was thinking like poison dart frog, because like,
Speaker 1: those guys are so vivid that it's very easy to
Speaker 1: imagine that being literally any color. But I like, whatever
Speaker 1: this little dude is. I think I've liked every frog
Speaker 1: or toad I've ever seen, minus the one that's made
Speaker 1: of nightmares. Um, I have triple phobia, So whatever the one,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that one, the one that gives birth out
Speaker 1: of its back. I'm trying to remember they were called,
Speaker 1: but I saw them on a nature show in it
Speaker 1: with my dad and I was a kid, and that's
Speaker 1: how I learned a triple phobia, because I watched them
Speaker 1: hatch and then I just barfed on my dad's lap,
Speaker 1: which is about the same response that I have to
Speaker 1: like lotus pods or just anything that looks similarly but
Speaker 1: like other than those guys. I like literally every uh
Speaker 1: when I was a kid, I saw a cookie frog,
Speaker 1: which is the frog of Puerto Rico because they make
Speaker 1: the little cookie sounds. They're very loud, and they're very cute.
Speaker 1: And my god, do Puerto Rican people love those guys
Speaker 1: like a widowing cute. They're so tiny and their call
Speaker 1: is beyond cute because it literally sounds like they're saying
Speaker 1: the word cookie um, and they're adorable. Like you'll you'll
Speaker 1: hear like lyrics from different Puerto Rican artists being like
Speaker 1: all right, but give it up for the cookies though,
Speaker 1: and like what frog is shouted out in a bunch
Speaker 1: of songs. They're so cute too, with their sound pouch
Speaker 1: like inflated, like this little tiny frogs like I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you a sound that's gonna blow your mind. They're
Speaker 1: gonna blow your mind. And like I saw this little
Speaker 1: purple frog, and I'm like, that's a charming frog. That's
Speaker 1: a charming frog that has taken on all of the
Speaker 1: characteristics of a mole along with all of the characteristics
Speaker 1: of a frog to become a cute little wad of
Speaker 1: a creature. I I like his stubby little nose. He's uh,
Speaker 1: he's character. I'm glad you see this frog is cute.
Speaker 1: I see them as cute too. I think some people
Speaker 1: might not see them as cute. Um, but they're wrong,
Speaker 1: and we're objectively right. Oh. I do just want to
Speaker 1: say that what we were talking about with the frog
Speaker 1: that gives birth out of its back, it's called the
Speaker 1: surinam toad. And tripophobia means when you have a sort
Speaker 1: of visceral, unpleasant reaction to seeing a bunch of holes
Speaker 1: or like a bunch of circles. It can even be
Speaker 1: like if you see like soap bubbles. That can sometimes
Speaker 1: triger it for people. Um, but I think, yeah, we
Speaker 1: did talk about the surname toad on one episode, and
Speaker 1: I had a warning for people who have typophobia because
Speaker 1: it is one of the worst examples of that. I think, Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, no, fortunately, yes, fortunately, the purple frog does
Speaker 1: not trigger triple phobia. It's just a weird purple thing.
Speaker 1: Like it's bad. It's so interestingly shaped because it's back
Speaker 1: is like it's so like kind of flabby, and it
Speaker 1: looks like it's got a backwards But to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that pink little nose, and and it's its head
Speaker 1: is so tiny compared to the rest of its body. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I find it. I find it weirdly cute as well.
Speaker 1: They are really interesting too in terms of their behavior.
Speaker 1: So these guys live in the Western Ghats, which is
Speaker 1: a mountain range in India where it spends most of
Speaker 1: its time underground until the monsoon season, when they emerge
Speaker 1: as rainwater streams form. Uh. So they live most of
Speaker 1: their life underground, and they can be totally autonomous under
Speaker 1: there because they feed on termites underground, they don't really
Speaker 1: need to surface for anything until it's mating season. So
Speaker 1: once it gets raining outside, they will come up to
Speaker 1: have a big old purple frog or g which is
Speaker 1: just incredible. So the males will actually stay slightly under
Speaker 1: the surface of the soil and will call to females
Speaker 1: by filling their vocal sacks with air and vibrating the earth,
Speaker 1: creating a miniature love earthquake that females will come to.
Speaker 1: And the male is like about half the size of
Speaker 1: a female, so they're little guys, and so they'll crawl
Speaker 1: up over this like enormous female. I'm looking at this
Speaker 1: image of the male on the female and the way,
Speaker 1: like the way her skin dimples under the weight of
Speaker 1: him is exactly how I imagine like the flesh specifically
Speaker 1: of like Java the hut to be. Yeah. Uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like it's like kind of rubbery in a weird way.
Speaker 1: It's rubbery, but it looks lady. Yeah, yeah, it looks
Speaker 1: kind of fun, you know, like a bouncy castle. Like
Speaker 1: if like you're a male and you're mating with a
Speaker 1: female and you start bouncing and she's like, hey, come on,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm your lover,
Speaker 1: not a bouncy castle. Settle down. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: these frogs aren't overall, they're not like that big. They're
Speaker 1: only like a couple inches big more or less. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like it is to see the difference in size, like
Speaker 1: just this little tiny male like trying to get up
Speaker 1: over this big blob of a female. It's it's very
Speaker 1: cute in my opinion. Um, And so whence they mate,
Speaker 1: the female can produce around three thousand eggs, which is
Speaker 1: pretty good, pretty good, pretty good a rate of egg return.
Speaker 1: And the tadpoles are just as weird looking as the
Speaker 1: adults in my opinion. They have these big f at
Speaker 1: heads and they have section cups on their underbellies which
Speaker 1: they used to cling to slimy algae covered rocks. Uh.
Speaker 1: And they're not purple. The tadpoles are sort of like
Speaker 1: yellow and brownish kind of coloration to match the color
Speaker 1: of the algae as a form of camouflage. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they just uh kind of like sucker onto that. And
Speaker 1: they also have kind of a funny face. They've got
Speaker 1: these eyeballs on the top of their heads and then
Speaker 1: they just kind of have like a pancake face and
Speaker 1: then little tails. It's really funny. They look like my
Speaker 1: favorite little guys. They look like man raise. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: do a little bit. I'm trying to remember the one
Speaker 1: that's in a guitar shape and if it's called guitar fish,
Speaker 1: and would be mad at myself. Uh, but it's specifically
Speaker 1: I remember because at the Long Beach Aquarium they have
Speaker 1: a tank it's full of like a bunch of little
Speaker 1: banner raise. But there's just one that's in that guitar shape.
Speaker 1: I mean, there is a fish called the guitar fish.
Speaker 1: That's that might be what you're thinking of you're thinking of,
Speaker 1: I think you're spot on. I got very familiar with
Speaker 1: everything at the touch Tanks, so the Long Beach Aquarium
Speaker 1: to where like I knew exactly every single tank and
Speaker 1: why it had been moved. Uh, the nurse shark had
Speaker 1: been in. I love that. I love that you're a
Speaker 1: touch tank groupie. I was as well for the Birch
Speaker 1: Aquarium in Lajoya. I there they have this like outdoor
Speaker 1: tide pool area where you can like put your hands
Speaker 1: in and it's mostly for kids, but like even as
Speaker 1: an adult, I'm like, I must gently touch you see
Speaker 1: urchin even now, like I take my niece and I
Speaker 1: spend more time and like when that was a thing,
Speaker 1: I like spend more time in it than she was,
Speaker 1: and I like asked too many questions about every specific
Speaker 1: one and very dumb. But the nurse shark at the
Speaker 1: Long Beach Aquarium had to be moved not because of
Speaker 1: a child, but because of an adult. Because most children
Speaker 1: understand that you can like pretty easily, like in a
Speaker 1: smaller tank, just like touch the top of a nurse
Speaker 1: shark without having doing anything, because they're like pretty docile
Speaker 1: um and they're like but just don't read your hands
Speaker 1: under because of the way they feed. They like sex
Speaker 1: stuff up um. And an adult man stuck his hands
Speaker 1: underneath the north shark and with his fingers tried to
Speaker 1: look for its mouth because he wanted to see if
Speaker 1: that was correct. And your shark does and it like
Speaker 1: it didn't. He didn't lose any fingers. It just like
Speaker 1: skinned his knuckles because it's like running your fingers across gravel.
Speaker 1: But he ruined it for all the children, for everyone, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see where its mouth is and put my
Speaker 1: fingers in its mouth Like okay, buddy, Like that is
Speaker 1: completely on you, you know what I mean. Now she's
Speaker 1: not the touch tank anymore. She's with the other sharks.
Speaker 1: Not her fault. He did nothing wrong. She thought you
Speaker 1: were shrimps. Sir, sir, you're literally saying your finger food
Speaker 1: and he took you up on it. Did nothing wrong. Ah,
Speaker 1: that's that's annoying. But yeah, that is uh, that is
Speaker 1: the tail of the purple frog. I think they're just
Speaker 1: they're one of these animals. I like that you mentioned
Speaker 1: job of the hut because they do look like sort
Speaker 1: of a Jim Hinson creation to me, just like some
Speaker 1: kind of like little inflatable thing made out of rubber
Speaker 1: that shouldn't be real. I also love their bodies are
Speaker 1: designed for burrowing, not for moving along the ground, so
Speaker 1: they really don't look like they should be able to
Speaker 1: walk very well. And indeed they don't really walk very
Speaker 1: well because they are like their body is kind of
Speaker 1: like shovel shaped to be able to burrow and dig underground,
Speaker 1: and so like above ground, they just look like a
Speaker 1: weird little balloon with little nubby legs, just kind of
Speaker 1: like dangling off that funny. I love it. While there's
Speaker 1: only room in my heart enough for one purple frog
Speaker 1: the cute blobs we've just discussed, there are a number
Speaker 1: of frogs and toads who are perill in spectacular looking.
Speaker 1: The papers stubb foot toad looks like a psychedelic Lisa
Speaker 1: Frank poster with bright purple and black coloration, and the
Speaker 1: South American polka dot tree frog, normally a chipper yellow color,
Speaker 1: blows blue and purple under UV light. Man, I need
Speaker 1: frogs like to rave. When we return, We're going to
Speaker 1: give the X Men a much needed rebranding with some
Speaker 1: real science. Humans may not be able to regrow whole limbs,
Speaker 1: but a fingertip or toe tip can regrow if you
Speaker 1: have enough of the nail bed left behind. In humans
Speaker 1: and other mammals, if you have enough of the tissue
Speaker 1: of the nail bed, the nail epithelium, you actually can
Speaker 1: grow back part of the finger or toe. This part
Speaker 1: of the digit is important because it contains stem cells
Speaker 1: that allows for the regrowth of tissue. Meanwhile, in animals
Speaker 1: that can fully grow back limbs, like salamanders, a chemical
Speaker 1: signal at the wound site causes all the tissue in
Speaker 1: the area to revert back to a group of immature
Speaker 1: cells called the blasted emma, that can then differentiate and
Speaker 1: grow into the missing parts of the limb. There's a
Speaker 1: recent discovery, however, that may lead to more questions about
Speaker 1: the evolution of limb regeneration. Uh so, Vanessa, do you like,
Speaker 1: you know, X Men, Superheroes, so on and so forth?
Speaker 1: Big fan? That's good? Yeah, I you know, I feel like, um,
Speaker 1: Wolverine is cool, but I feel like he could use
Speaker 1: like a makeover, you know what I mean, Because like
Speaker 1: when you think about Wolverine, like the actual little animals,
Speaker 1: like he doesn't you know, It's like just he doesn't
Speaker 1: even really capitalize on what wolverines look like. And they
Speaker 1: can't eat, like, wolverines can't even regenerate, so it's not accurate.
Speaker 1: Like what what's the deal? Like? Why you know? It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm Wolverine. Why because you have because five burns? Because
Speaker 1: you're you're from down under? Oh it's but he's not.
Speaker 1: He's it's just the actor, right, who's just what's his name,
Speaker 1: Hugh Jackman, who's from Australia. I forget because a lot
Speaker 1: about Wolverine has changed because of Hugh Jackman's portrayal, because
Speaker 1: he's now tall and he used to be a shorty
Speaker 1: m hmm. Wolverine was five three until Hugh Jackman started
Speaker 1: playing him. Wait is Hugh Jackman tall? I didn't get
Speaker 1: that impression. I feel like he's definitely taller than five
Speaker 1: three because I'm five three, uh, and anything standing near
Speaker 1: me looks very tall and like he seems to be
Speaker 1: in the movies about as tall as Scott Summers, right,
Speaker 1: And Wolverine has always been a little guy. Well that's more.
Speaker 1: That's more like it, right, because like Wolverines they're um,
Speaker 1: you know, not they're not tiny, but they're little compact. Uh.
Speaker 1: Characters are actually not from Australia that I think you're
Speaker 1: thinking of the Tasmanian devil um, but the wolverine is
Speaker 1: um found sort of in the northern hemisphere. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're there. I don't know. I would say they're about
Speaker 1: like Bobcat sized and they're quite fierce, but they can't regenerate.
Speaker 1: So I feel like we should go with an animal
Speaker 1: can regenerate, And there is some recent news about a
Speaker 1: new contender for animals who can regenerate, which is quite surprising,
Speaker 1: And it turns out that alligators can regenerate, which is
Speaker 1: incredible news. So we know that lizards can regenerate. We
Speaker 1: know that amphibians that I mean all animals to a
Speaker 1: certain extent canra generate, like even humans, like we can
Speaker 1: grow back skin to a certain extent. But it's all
Speaker 1: on sort of a spectrum of like you have like
Speaker 1: salamanders that can like regrow whole body parts, and then
Speaker 1: you have like lizards that can regrow their tails. And
Speaker 1: it turns out that alligators can partially regrow their tails,
Speaker 1: which is would make them the biggest animal that can
Speaker 1: regrow a significant amount of their body that has been lost. Oh,
Speaker 1: up to nine inches. I'm so happy for them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, it's just like nine inches nice. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: that is the amount of tail that a young alligator
Speaker 1: can grow back, which is incredible. It's a good amount.
Speaker 1: And like, do we know how much of tail they regrow,
Speaker 1: like how much a skin versus like usable tail. That's
Speaker 1: a really good question. So it is. It doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to be skin and muscle. I'm not as certain about
Speaker 1: how much of the bone grows back because that's actually
Speaker 1: a tricky thing like they are. In fact, in some
Speaker 1: reptiles and amphibians. Instead of bone, it's like cartilage because
Speaker 1: that's easier to grow. I think for the alligators it's
Speaker 1: mostly skin and muscle tissue. They can grow back some cartilage,
Speaker 1: but it's unknown whether they can. It doesn't look like
Speaker 1: they can grow backbone, but they may be able to
Speaker 1: grow back some of their spinal cord. It's not clear, okay,
Speaker 1: which is really quite impressive. And as a reminder, alligators
Speaker 1: and crocodiles are not reptiles. They are crocodilians, which is
Speaker 1: a different order of animals from reptiles, although they do
Speaker 1: share common ancestor with reptiles. So the reason it's so
Speaker 1: important for young alligators to be able to regrow their
Speaker 1: tails is to allow them to remain mobile. So while
Speaker 1: you wouldn't think of alligators as having to worry about predators,
Speaker 1: young alligators are cute little snacks, like have you ever
Speaker 1: seen them? Adorable, tasty, small, so they can actually be
Speaker 1: eaten up by like a addict birds of prey. There
Speaker 1: are all sorts of animals that would consider them a
Speaker 1: good snack, So being able to quickly swim away from
Speaker 1: a predator is really important. So there would be pressure
Speaker 1: on them to be able to even if they lose
Speaker 1: their tail, be able to regrow it so that they
Speaker 1: can still use that to swim and escape predation. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I didn't consider that to be like
Speaker 1: such an important part of a alligator or crocodile. For
Speaker 1: some reason, it was just like animal plus extra. In
Speaker 1: my head is insane because I know, like, tails are
Speaker 1: so important to so many other creatures, um and other
Speaker 1: than like you know, maybe like using it when they
Speaker 1: spin out to like rip off a piece. I was
Speaker 1: just like, well, I feel like a stumpy alligator could
Speaker 1: do pretty well, But that wasn't something considered. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean it's yeah, it is. It tails do feel I
Speaker 1: think because we don't have tails, who are like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's just a little extra. It's like the animal and
Speaker 1: then like animal plus extra. But yeah, it is. It
Speaker 1: is very important for them to have for swimming. And again,
Speaker 1: like we think of like when we see alligators, they're
Speaker 1: kind of not necessarily quick and agile. They're sort of
Speaker 1: like maybe lumbering or basking, but like little alligators have
Speaker 1: to be very quick in order to survive and and
Speaker 1: swim quite swiftly. This is a really recent discovery, so
Speaker 1: it's not yet known whether adults regrow their tails or
Speaker 1: can regenerate. My guests would be because there's less evolutionary
Speaker 1: pressure on them to regenerate, maybe less likely that they would.
Speaker 1: Uh maybe they can't. They probably can to a certain extent,
Speaker 1: but I would guess that like with young alligators, especially
Speaker 1: because they're still developing, it's probably much more likely that
Speaker 1: the young ones um are able to regenerate more than
Speaker 1: than older alligators. But we'll see, we don't know yet.
Speaker 1: And it's also so their ability to regenerate is not
Speaker 1: as advanced as lizards and amphibians, so they can't regrow
Speaker 1: as much back as those other types of animals can.
Speaker 1: And there's also no evidence that like, you know, like
Speaker 1: with reptiles, they can detach their tail and then it
Speaker 1: like wiggles around, which is called an autonomous tail or
Speaker 1: self amputation. I don't I don't think there's any evidence
Speaker 1: that like the tail like pops off and like wiggles
Speaker 1: around on its own, right exactly. Geckos do that as well.
Speaker 1: It's probably the case that like it's just like if
Speaker 1: their tail gets damaged or eaten, like then they can
Speaker 1: partially regrow it. But it is It's really interesting because again,
Speaker 1: like they aren't reptiles, but they share a common ancestor
Speaker 1: with reptiles. They actually share a common ancestor with reptiles
Speaker 1: and dinosaurs. Um. Yeah, and the living dinosaurs of today
Speaker 1: are birds. So birds are the only living example of
Speaker 1: dinosaurs that we have. Uh. And birds don't regrow their tails,
Speaker 1: Like if they're uh, you know, parts of their to
Speaker 1: you are chopped off, they don't regrow them. So there's
Speaker 1: a really interesting question to be explored where so lizards
Speaker 1: can regrow their tails, um, and alligators uh who are
Speaker 1: crocodilians can regrow their tails. So did dinosaurs at some
Speaker 1: point have this ability, did they never have it um
Speaker 1: or did they lose it like before we got to birds.
Speaker 1: So it's a really interesting question and I will be
Speaker 1: keeping an eye out for more news about that um.
Speaker 1: But it's just so interesting to me how we can
Speaker 1: learn something about an alligator of today, and then it
Speaker 1: opens up all these questions about like dinosaurs, and we
Speaker 1: have we still have birds around living examples of dinosaurs,
Speaker 1: and so we can be like, hey, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: you guys, you guys can't do this, so what the
Speaker 1: heck what's going on? And then now we have all
Speaker 1: of these open questions about dinosaurs to find out. I
Speaker 1: love it. I love anything that just opens up a
Speaker 1: opens up more questions and be reaffirmed that I don't
Speaker 1: know anything and I never will know whatever will Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: every time I do research for this podcast, I'm like, huh,
Speaker 1: I don't know anything, which is exciting. Yeah, I can't.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine every hitting a cap and being like, oh,
Speaker 1: I've figured it out. That has to be so boring, right,
Speaker 1: Like I know enough now I'm just gonna lie down
Speaker 1: on the floor. That would only happen if I like
Speaker 1: pooped out, I'm not kind of I'm not gonna do
Speaker 1: a call back because it's in the If you guys
Speaker 1: skip the growth section, it's call back to the growth section.
Speaker 1: But that would make us stop wanting to learn. But
Speaker 1: this makes me want to keep going right exactly exactly,
Speaker 1: So before we finish up, I want to read a
Speaker 1: listener email. I kind of want to do this more often.
Speaker 1: You guys are sending in some really excellent emails, and
Speaker 1: I feel like it's selfish of me to keep them
Speaker 1: all to myself because they have some really interesting things.
Speaker 1: You guys also show being cute pet pictures, which I love.
Speaker 1: I'm keeping those all to myself. I'm not sharing those.
Speaker 1: Those are amazing. Um so, you know, suck at everyone else,
Speaker 1: but I will share. Uh this email that I got
Speaker 1: um from a park ranger and I was like super
Speaker 1: fan girling, amazed that a park ranger is listening to
Speaker 1: the podcast, so so cool. Um. So yeah, this is
Speaker 1: her email and it is a fascinating story of some
Speaker 1: horny bees. So Barbara Mitchell, park ranger of the Mohave
Speaker 1: National Preserve Rights. Hi, Katie, I'm a huge fan of
Speaker 1: the podcast. Thank you, for saying nice things about me.
Speaker 1: She says that, Um, anyway, on the latest episode, uh,
Speaker 1: the one about b movie, you mentioned that idiot horn
Speaker 1: dog mail bees sometimes try to mate with orchids. At
Speaker 1: my current park, the Mohave National Preserve, we also have
Speaker 1: idiot horn dog male bees that try to mate with
Speaker 1: inappropriate objects. Since you strike me as a lady who
Speaker 1: likes knowing things, I thought i'd pass along the knowledge.
Speaker 1: That was a good guess I am. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: a lady who likes no stuff. When blister beetles of
Speaker 1: the species Mellot franciscanis francis cannis is probably right hatch
Speaker 1: the larva arrange into a tight ball on top of
Speaker 1: a grass stock and attract passing male bees using pheromones.
Speaker 1: When a bee arrives and tries to mate with the
Speaker 1: bundle of larva, sigh, the blister beetles hold tight onto
Speaker 1: his fuzzy little body. Apparently, if a writhing ball of
Speaker 1: larva smell like a lady bee, that's enough to convince
Speaker 1: the male that it is a lady be. The male bee,
Speaker 1: now covered with larva, continues looking for a female bee
Speaker 1: because his wiener hasn't exploded. Yet, if he finds one
Speaker 1: and mates with her, the low Francis Canis larva transferred
Speaker 1: to the lady be Then when she flies back to
Speaker 1: her nest, the blister beetle larva steals the bees pollen
Speaker 1: and provisions also fun. When the male bee is covered
Speaker 1: in malow frances Canis larva, he has to avoid other
Speaker 1: male bees trying to mate with him because he smells
Speaker 1: like a female due to the larva. That would also
Speaker 1: make a much better movie than the B movies Courtroom Drama.
Speaker 1: I agree with that deeply, so thank you so much, Barbara.
Speaker 1: That is an incredible story. All include some images in
Speaker 1: the show notes because it's so funny. But yeah, so
Speaker 1: the this larva is they're they're like little tiny they
Speaker 1: actually kind of look like ants. They aren't ants, uh,
Speaker 1: and they are you know, basic larva shape, but they're
Speaker 1: they're little tiny, kind of like grain of rice sized,
Speaker 1: um reddish brown, and they form just like this cluster
Speaker 1: that's just a blob. And the bee sees this and
Speaker 1: it's like it smells like a lady and it's vaguely
Speaker 1: blob shaped. So hey, I'm going in. It's like the
Speaker 1: ultimate bee beer goggles. It's incredible and like, I can't
Speaker 1: think of anything more reaffirming that in all nature, don't
Speaker 1: don't let it, don't let any man let it be
Speaker 1: be your human make you feel inferior because they're down
Speaker 1: for a pile of larva, right right, not too discriminating. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So like you're enough no matter what form you come in,
Speaker 1: better than a pile of larva. Like if a pile
Speaker 1: of larva can find love, anyone can, even whoever is
Speaker 1: considering it. Yeah, so so there you go. You know,
Speaker 1: idiot horned dog bees making finding love in the strangers
Speaker 1: of places, even if it's an actual pile of larva,
Speaker 1: who want to go and parasitize a bees nest? Amazing, wonderful, incredible,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for for that email, Barbara. Um
Speaker 1: And yeah, if anyone else wants to send me a
Speaker 1: listener email. I think I'll do more of this reading
Speaker 1: it on the show if you guys like it, because yeah,
Speaker 1: I think sometimes you guys spend in such interesting stories
Speaker 1: that I just have to share it. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think we I think we've done it. We've gone from
Speaker 1: living tampons two bees that try to mate with balls
Speaker 1: of Larva, So I think that'll do it for today.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me, Vanessa. Do you
Speaker 1: have anything to plug other than your cinematic venture to
Speaker 1: digitize your Shark movie that you made with her and
Speaker 1: or Herzog when you were tenure hol Uh. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: have a podcast as well called Kicking and Streaming. Um.
Speaker 1: If you like either horror movies or martial arts movies. Uh.
Speaker 1: We put them together because we think that they're basically
Speaker 1: peanutter and chocolate, so if you love one, you'll probably
Speaker 1: like the other one. They hit a lot of the
Speaker 1: same notes. Uh. And we try and basically challenge each
Speaker 1: other to double features each week. So one person picks
Speaker 1: a movie and then the other one tries to find
Speaker 1: a pairing for it, and then we name that pairing
Speaker 1: and come up with what you would have at concessions
Speaker 1: with that pairing. And sometimes they're real concession stuff and
Speaker 1: a lot of the times they aren't. But I've had
Speaker 1: a ton of fun doing it, and it's basically like
Speaker 1: brought back the feelings of sitting in a Denny's talking
Speaker 1: about movies with your friends that I've like, deeply missed
Speaker 1: in Quarantine. So check it out. We have a couple.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of episodes that I really like
Speaker 1: and some coming up that are absolutely bonkers. So cannot wait.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Can you guys talk about Slither? Not yet,
Speaker 1: glad if you want to be on and bring it forward,
Speaker 1: make it a promise to come on for Slyther and
Speaker 1: s they tampons. Yes, incredible, definitely if you like this episode,
Speaker 1: I bet you're gonna like the nest of podcast. We
Speaker 1: get gross. But yeah, where where can people find you?
Speaker 1: On the social media? You can find me under at
Speaker 1: ne scritten still gotta get that last name changed under
Speaker 1: all farms of social media. And you can find my
Speaker 1: podcast Kicking and Screaming under kickscreen Pot on all farms
Speaker 1: of Circles at Well. And you can find us on
Speaker 1: the internet at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram at Creature
Speaker 1: feet Pot on Twitter. That's f a t not et
Speaker 1: that is something very different. You can also email me
Speaker 1: at Creature Feature Pod at gmail dot com. And I
Speaker 1: am Katie Golden. I have a Twitter. It's Katie Golden
Speaker 1: on Twitter. And as always I'm also a pro bird
Speaker 1: writes where you know I'm not secretly a group of
Speaker 1: birds trying to get a bird agenda through the podcast industry.
Speaker 1: That's and that's just ridiculous. Shane. Anyways, thank you guys
Speaker 1: so much for listening. If you're enjoying the show, please
Speaker 1: leave rating, click on the stars. And yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for production for listening. You can't he can't
Speaker 1: see me surely uh and thanks to the Space Classics
Speaker 1: for their super awesome song Excelumina. Creature features a production
Speaker 1: of I heart Radio. For more podcasts like the one
Speaker 1: you just heard, visit the I heart Radio app Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or Hey, guess what where have you listened your favorite shows?
Speaker 1: It's you next Wednesday.