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 I want to believe the truth
Speaker 1: is out there people. That's right. Today, we're talking about
Speaker 1: aliens noises right here on Earth. Does that sound paradoxical? Well,
Speaker 1: maybe you should think about whether we're the aliens all along?
Speaker 1: Just kidding that stupid. We'll be looking for aliens on
Speaker 1: Earth from the bottom up, Aliens under the sea, on land,
Speaker 1: and in the skies. Discover this and more as we
Speaker 1: answer the angel question, do animals really need to breathe spoilers, Yes,
Speaker 1: for the love of God, don't hold your breath. But
Speaker 1: we will find that this answer isn't as universal as
Speaker 1: we thought. So when you think of an alien, what
Speaker 1: comes to mind? Is it a gray humanoid shaped being
Speaker 1: with a big egg head and giant black eyes. Is
Speaker 1: it a little green martian with antenna? Is it a grotesque,
Speaker 1: acid spit drooling, leathery monster. Our concepts of aliens very
Speaker 1: widely and can range from being minimally imaginative, like aliens
Speaker 1: being blue humans, for example, to being wildly and nightmarishly
Speaker 1: fanciful like hr Geiger's concept art for Ridley Scott's Alien.
Speaker 1: But you don't need to look to the stars for
Speaker 1: alien life forms. Here on Earth, we're constantly discovering new
Speaker 1: life or discovering new startling truths about the creatures we've
Speaker 1: previously dismissed as being boring. Many of the strangest animal
Speaker 1: discoveries are found in our oceans. These extraterrestrials aren't very terrestrial,
Speaker 1: but they certainly are extra. Take, for instance, an unassuming,
Speaker 1: harmless little blobular fish eating parasite that has been found
Speaker 1: to have a shocking trait that has left researchers reeling.
Speaker 1: Joining me today to have some alien encounters is producer
Speaker 1: at I Heart Media, Joel Monique. Hey, Katie, I'm super
Speaker 1: excited to be here, especially after that intro. I'm especially
Speaker 1: excited to have you because you are the new producer
Speaker 1: on my podcast, Creature Feature, taking over for Ana Hosnia,
Speaker 1: who has been amazing. I love her, Yes, but I
Speaker 1: am really excited to have you on board, so it's
Speaker 1: pretty fun. Yes, I love especially these sort of out
Speaker 1: of the world. Uh I don't I forget the word
Speaker 1: for like Bigfoot and the lockness. Mons. Cryptids are my favorite.
Speaker 1: I have friends who play a D and D cryptid things.
Speaker 1: All of the characters are like handcrafted and other stats
Speaker 1: are kind of made with the group and some die
Speaker 1: and just what fun. That's wonderful. I'm a fan of
Speaker 1: cryptids and D and D. Yeah, you know the show.
Speaker 1: We take sort of a scientific perspective, so I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily going to be speculating about X files aliens, but
Speaker 1: looking at real life, documented alien like creatures that are
Speaker 1: here on Earth, it is going to be so fun.
Speaker 1: So first I want to talk about parasites. Are are
Speaker 1: you cool with parasites actually having one living? Are they
Speaker 1: cool awesome beings that have made some great sci fi
Speaker 1: horror creatures. Absolutely? Yeah, I think I'm on the same
Speaker 1: page as you. So there's a recent discovery of a
Speaker 1: parasite that actually does not need to breathe, which, yeah,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Every other animal on the planet has
Speaker 1: to breathe. As far as we know, there's no other
Speaker 1: animal we've ever discovered that doesn't breathe. So this is
Speaker 1: a parasite called H. Salm salmon nicola. Salmon nicola salmon nicola.
Speaker 1: It sounds like salmon cola like salmon cola, and it
Speaker 1: is actually I mean, it is kind of a gross animal.
Speaker 1: So it parasitizes salmon and it doesn't necessarily hurt the salmon,
Speaker 1: and it's not harmful if we eat it. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of gross. It's also called tapioca disease because they
Speaker 1: form little tapioca like cysts in the salmon's flesh. Yeah,
Speaker 1: kind of nasty, but not like when you think of
Speaker 1: all the really devious parasites that mind control animals are
Speaker 1: killed them from the inside out. It's really pretty benign, truly, truly,
Speaker 1: other than being gross, just like the tapioca disease. I
Speaker 1: just think about getting a salmon and they don't catch
Speaker 1: that the parasite until it's too late. Yeah, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what has happened refreshing salmon a coola. So it's a
Speaker 1: multicellular animal that looks like a sperm with a classic
Speaker 1: gray alien head. So let me show you a picture
Speaker 1: of these guys. Okay, if I had to describe it,
Speaker 1: it looks like the sperm trying to penetrate the egg
Speaker 1: in biology, but one creature. Yeah, it's actually a bunch
Speaker 1: of these. I think surrounding a salmon cell. And it
Speaker 1: is they look they have little they look like they
Speaker 1: have little alien eyes, like if a sperm had an
Speaker 1: alien head, you know, the classic gray alien head with
Speaker 1: the big black eyes. But it is they aren't exactly sperm.
Speaker 1: They are an animal. It's actually a Niderian, which is
Speaker 1: a phylum of aquatic animals which includes jellyfish and enemies
Speaker 1: and coral. But this has kind of gone through a
Speaker 1: process of d evolution where it has simplified its bodies significantly,
Speaker 1: evolving into these little sperm like alien creatures that are
Speaker 1: entirely dependent on salmon to survive. And those eyes are
Speaker 1: not actually eyes. They are former stinger cells like that
Speaker 1: jellyfish have, but they don't actually use them for stinging anymore.
Speaker 1: They have been modified to be able to cling onto
Speaker 1: the salmon's tissue, so they use those to kind of
Speaker 1: grasp on to tissue, yeah, attached to it, and then
Speaker 1: feed off of them. So another thing that is peculiar
Speaker 1: about H. Salminicola is that it seems to have lost
Speaker 1: its mitochondrial DNA, which is a big deal. So I
Speaker 1: used to have like a full like body, like assume
Speaker 1: closer to a jelly probably closer to a jellyfish. Uh,
Speaker 1: And it certainly used to have mitochondrial DNA but now
Speaker 1: it's gone, which is hitherto unknown to happen in animals. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so what that means? Okay, I think I need to
Speaker 1: it's very sort of like shrouded in this jargon, but
Speaker 1: like I need to emphasize how crazy it is because
Speaker 1: like all other known living animals have mitochondrial DNA. It
Speaker 1: is typically necessary for survival because the mitochondria is the
Speaker 1: powerhouse of the cell, as we all learned in by aology,
Speaker 1: And without that mitochondrial DNA, I means these the gush
Speaker 1: darn things don't breathe. They don't have to breathe, so
Speaker 1: not only like the basic cell of life, but also
Speaker 1: they don't inhale anything. Yeah, how are they still classified
Speaker 1: as animals? Like? What makes them still fit into that category? Well,
Speaker 1: I mean that's an interesting question. Our classification of things
Speaker 1: can get a little muddled. But I think in terms
Speaker 1: of it being an animal, it definitely evolved from animals,
Speaker 1: and it still I guess needs a TP to survive
Speaker 1: and we'll discuss how it gets it later. But it
Speaker 1: also reproduces and it has cellular structure that otherwise makes
Speaker 1: it an animal, but except for this thing, which okay, wow,
Speaker 1: let's talk about why the mitochondria is typically so important
Speaker 1: for animals to survive. So it is responsible for converting
Speaker 1: food into energy using oxygen to turn a setal coenzyme
Speaker 1: A into a dinna sine triphosphate or a t P,
Speaker 1: which is the basic currency of energy for all living tissue.
Speaker 1: Now that sounds like super complicated, but basically it's just you.
Speaker 1: You eat food, it takes that food, it oxidizes these
Speaker 1: acids from the food into a t P, and then
Speaker 1: that a t P when it's broken apart in your body,
Speaker 1: that produces energy. So like for your muscles to move
Speaker 1: your breaking apart a t P nuts like releasing this
Speaker 1: this energy out like they're like little little batteries essentially,
Speaker 1: so oxygen. To to oxidize the the proteins from the
Speaker 1: food into a t P, you need oxygen. So that's
Speaker 1: why most animals need to breathe and so in that
Speaker 1: chemical reaction that converts a TP or converts food into
Speaker 1: a TP is also known as the crib cycle, which
Speaker 1: everyone hates to learn about. Um, but no I don't
Speaker 1: mean that, I do mean that actually, never mind. So,
Speaker 1: so all animals go through this crub cycle except for
Speaker 1: these little freaks. Do they have a cycle of their own? Well,
Speaker 1: researchers are exactly sure what's going on in these guys.
Speaker 1: So they sequenced the H. Salmon nicola DNA and found
Speaker 1: absolutely no mitochondrial DNA. They were shocked and did it
Speaker 1: again and still found none, and they were really confused.
Speaker 1: They looked at their closest relatives, and their closest relatives
Speaker 1: did have mitochondrial DNA, and then they you know, studied
Speaker 1: again and like it's they've concluded they just don't have it.
Speaker 1: They don't have a mitochondria. They have a mitochondria like structure,
Speaker 1: but it lacks the enzymes necessary for the crub cycle,
Speaker 1: which means, again confirming that they don't breathe. So it's
Speaker 1: thought that these like mitochondria like structures are this digital,
Speaker 1: which means it's like a carryover from their previous evolutionary forms.
Speaker 1: So like an example would be in humans. Well, it
Speaker 1: was once thought that the appendix was vestigial. Now it's
Speaker 1: thought that it does kind of maybe have some function,
Speaker 1: but yeah, like it's any kind of organ or something
Speaker 1: that is not is no longer necessary. While researchers aren't
Speaker 1: exactly sure how h salmon nicola gets its fuel, there
Speaker 1: is a theory that they have a way of directly
Speaker 1: stealing a TP from their host salmon. Oh that's really cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's just absorbing, it's making the fish are doing
Speaker 1: all the breathing for them. Essentially. It's interesting to think
Speaker 1: of a parasite as leaching off of your mitochondrial like
Speaker 1: basic cell structure and as opposed to just eating chunks
Speaker 1: of flesh. Right, we're growing like giant stems out of brains.
Speaker 1: Like whatever parasite that invades ants is uh it somehow
Speaker 1: more creepy and horrifying. That is how it could do
Speaker 1: you possibly defend from that gets gets like into your
Speaker 1: body in such an intimate way. Not super fun and
Speaker 1: I think I mean other than these guys looking like
Speaker 1: alien sperm, they are. It is an interesting thing discovery
Speaker 1: because it shows that potentially aliens in a very different
Speaker 1: environment from Earth, there are ways for them to survive
Speaker 1: and to convert energy in a different way than animals
Speaker 1: on Earth. So obviously this guy isn't necessarily an example
Speaker 1: of an alien, because it still needs an animal that
Speaker 1: goes through respiration, that breathes to survive. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to say, like what the chemical structure of
Speaker 1: another planet is totally. So you know, perhaps there's a
Speaker 1: way of aliens on another planet to directly extract energy
Speaker 1: from some source on that planet that is different from
Speaker 1: how animals here extracted from their parasitic beings. Huge sperm
Speaker 1: aliens is what I'm saying, flop it around second energy
Speaker 1: from the Earth and they just all surround the planet
Speaker 1: like they're a bunch of sperms surrounding an egg. That's
Speaker 1: my vision of aliens. Horrifying, horrifying thought, and yet more
Speaker 1: riginal than anything Hollywood has come up with in so long.
Speaker 1: You think that, I mean, like there's all these sort
Speaker 1: of like weird metaphors, Like I mentioned alien before, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of like phallic stuff and like weird
Speaker 1: kind of I guess sexual metaphors with probing. I say,
Speaker 1: skip all the all the middlemen there, all the metaphors
Speaker 1: for the sperm guys. Come on, there's no need to
Speaker 1: there's no need to be subtle. So another animal I
Speaker 1: want to talk about that it lives in the ocean.
Speaker 1: That super looks like an alien is actually an animal
Speaker 1: that looks like a jellyfish, but is not related to
Speaker 1: jelly fish at all. So I think it's funny because
Speaker 1: like this h salmon coola is actually the parasite we're
Speaker 1: talking to related to jellyfish, looks nothing like a jellyfish.
Speaker 1: This guy looks like a jellyfish, not related to jellyfish,
Speaker 1: jelly nature. Could you just I don't know, Like, why
Speaker 1: do you have to be so cooy about things? So here,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm just gonna show you this picture
Speaker 1: before introducing it to you. It looks like if rainbow
Speaker 1: road where a jellyfish and slam, It's so beautiful. It's
Speaker 1: a rain It's like one of those rainbow aliens and
Speaker 1: star Trek the next generation or they're like, oh, we've
Speaker 1: got a it's like a spaceship. No wait, it's a
Speaker 1: living creature. It looks like a giant yeah. And so
Speaker 1: basically it looks like a silky alien spaceship trailed by
Speaker 1: a long flowing veil of rainbows. And it is called
Speaker 1: the blanket octopus. And it is an octopus, a magical name.
Speaker 1: So females grow up to be about six ft long,
Speaker 1: but grow up to a little under an inch, so
Speaker 1: they're about the size of a wall. Okay, first of all,
Speaker 1: a majestic species. Yes, this is the truth. Long women
Speaker 1: love it, Yes, exactly so, I mean, aside from them
Speaker 1: looking incredible like a rainbow blanket following a spaceship, they're
Speaker 1: mating process is crazy. So to mate, the male detaches
Speaker 1: a special arm that holds his sperm packet. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: we're talking about sperm so much in this episode. What
Speaker 1: am I gonna say? It's it's nature, guys. So it's
Speaker 1: called a hecto caudalyss hecta caudalus. It presents this hecta
Speaker 1: caudals to the female, and the female keeps it in
Speaker 1: her mantle, which is like that sort of dome structure
Speaker 1: of the octopus. But it just like has a empty
Speaker 1: space in its mantle that it like keeps it these
Speaker 1: hectic caudals sperm packets, and it's like a diamond, but
Speaker 1: it's a bagful sperm right exactly like that, And she
Speaker 1: will keep it there until she decides to make babies,
Speaker 1: at which point the female will pull the sperm packet
Speaker 1: out of her mantle and season her eggs with the
Speaker 1: sperm like it's a gutting salt chairs let's look out.
Speaker 1: I love it. So. Tom Traganza, who is a biologist
Speaker 1: at the University of Exeter, describes it the sleek quote.
Speaker 1: When she comes to need to fertilize her eggs, she
Speaker 1: can pull that arm out and squirt the sperm over
Speaker 1: her eggs, like squirting soy sauce onto a fried egg. Science.
Speaker 1: Thanks scientists, you weird horny boys. So he has a
Speaker 1: detachable arm, yes, and then at the end of it,
Speaker 1: I just keep picturing it in him in terms, and
Speaker 1: it's horrifying. It's like if a guy came up to
Speaker 1: you gave you a little like ketchup packet of his sperm,
Speaker 1: and then like when you needed to make a baby,
Speaker 1: you just squirted on your egg. This seems less messy emotionally. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit. It is a little more just
Speaker 1: like you know, like transactional. I guess, like here you go,
Speaker 1: and she can actually keep several of these hectocotalist is
Speaker 1: in her mantles. Yeah, it's like when when you keep
Speaker 1: going out for fast food and you get like these
Speaker 1: like packages of soy sauce or of ketchup, and you're like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want it now, I've got too many. You
Speaker 1: start storing them in your snack drawer and then you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need seasoning. And you open your snack drawer and
Speaker 1: you've got like packages from McDonald's. You've got like all
Speaker 1: these other you know, things from Chipotle, and you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I have all the packages I need except it sperm.
Speaker 1: I pictured it like a hot sauce sample packet. It's
Speaker 1: just like maybe Franks today. I guess that's the kids
Speaker 1: are having this. Why not so that titular blanket of
Speaker 1: the blanket octopus has a function other than looking absolutely gorgeous,
Speaker 1: and it certainly does. It's iridescent. Here's another picture of it. Beautiful.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. Literally from every angle, she's stunning. I
Speaker 1: want a dress made out of this, I mean not
Speaker 1: literally made out of the octopus. I would feel really
Speaker 1: guilty about that, but that would be sad. That's sad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I want a dress that looks like this, you know,
Speaker 1: Tessa Thompson, or something like this. Yes, I will show
Speaker 1: you later for like a show. And it's like a
Speaker 1: halter it's got like seventies sleeves, so they're cut from
Speaker 1: the shoulder to the wrist and gather at the wrist.
Speaker 1: You knowson secretly a blanket octopus, so that blanket is
Speaker 1: actually webbing between their tentacles, and this webbing can be
Speaker 1: held out like a large veil, which makes them appear
Speaker 1: larger and more imposing. Two would be predators. I see that.
Speaker 1: I see that sometimes I address see more imposing when
Speaker 1: I have to walk in scary parts of Los Angeles. Well,
Speaker 1: like you know, like nobody messes with people who wear capes.
Speaker 1: That's it's like, if you wear a cape, who's gonna
Speaker 1: like a cost you? Because they're like, you're either really
Speaker 1: wealthy or you're a vampire. Either way, you know, if
Speaker 1: your countess or a vampire, you can royally screw someone
Speaker 1: if they mess with you. I like to picture a
Speaker 1: very wealthy lady who would just stab you, but she
Speaker 1: got a cap, like you just gotta under a stiletto
Speaker 1: holding up her bun love. Yeah, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: you know, when you hold up that, they're like when
Speaker 1: you want to scare off a bear, you're supposed to
Speaker 1: like hold up your jacket like a bear. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: make lots of noise. This blanket can also be detached
Speaker 1: as a last resort to distract a predator, sort of
Speaker 1: like how lizards detached their tails. But it's sort of
Speaker 1: it's like if finally you know, the cape isn't working,
Speaker 1: so you like throw your cape off and you're like,
Speaker 1: what exactly? And yes, and I'm not done yet. They
Speaker 1: also have another defensive technique, so they are immune to
Speaker 1: the venomous man of War, which is a jellyfish like
Speaker 1: hydrozone with potent venom that can cause severe pain and
Speaker 1: human and paralysis and fish. And the blanket octopus, because
Speaker 1: it's immune, can rip these tentacles off the man o
Speaker 1: War and uses them as defensive weapons. So they just
Speaker 1: that's so cool. Yes, they you love a bio weapon,
Speaker 1: especially now if you think about like the hooded Rainbow
Speaker 1: and the waves were like flows in the water, and
Speaker 1: then the side there's like all of these tentacles and
Speaker 1: it's now dangerous. We're also gorgeous a symbol for all women. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want I want blank like a blanket. I know
Speaker 1: that we have superheroes that are based on animals. I
Speaker 1: got spider Man, Wolverine, hawkman, haart man, you got you
Speaker 1: got the cat laid catwoman. I want blank blanket octopus woman. Yeah,
Speaker 1: blanket octopus lady, I think totally her name and she
Speaker 1: has her cape is this iridescent rainbowy thing that makes
Speaker 1: her look enormous and she can use to throw in
Speaker 1: people like it wraps around enemies faces. And she has
Speaker 1: a giant octopus in her layer. Yes, and she's she's
Speaker 1: best friends with a giant blanket octopus. And she has
Speaker 1: like a big i want to say, like a big
Speaker 1: flail that's made out of stinging jellyfish tentacles. She dates
Speaker 1: a giant squid and together they have the ocean. Yes,
Speaker 1: and she lays a bunch of eggs and sprinkles it
Speaker 1: with sperm packets. So my last underwater alien is the
Speaker 1: it's got the best name of the bunch. It's called
Speaker 1: the sarcastic fringe head, which looks like a predator mouth,
Speaker 1: you know, like from the movie Predator. So the sarcastic
Speaker 1: french head is a small fish found in the Pacific Ocean.
Speaker 1: They they're sort of god. These guys have the weirdest names.
Speaker 1: So they are um a tube blinny, which stay with me.
Speaker 1: It is part of the Blenniform order of fish who
Speaker 1: live in tube structures made by other organisms. So this
Speaker 1: order of fish are this group of fish are called
Speaker 1: two Blinny's, and the sarcastic fringe head is a species
Speaker 1: of too blinny. Does that make sense? It just I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think of organic tubes made by other species.
Speaker 1: So I think about a say, like an animal it
Speaker 1: has a big twirly shell, like a nautilus or something.
Speaker 1: They'll live like in the nautilus shell, or like a
Speaker 1: like a worm that that a tube worm that makes
Speaker 1: a big tube. They'll live in that other structure. So
Speaker 1: they just borrow other structures from from other organisms that
Speaker 1: make these tubes. So normally the star sarcastic french head
Speaker 1: looks pretty doofy. They've got these big bubble eyes and
Speaker 1: weird just really weird cartoonish mounds. Oh wow, Okay, So
Speaker 1: he's like your jaw connects like right under your cheek,
Speaker 1: but his extents past his cheek. It's weird. Mostly his
Speaker 1: cheek is on top of his jaw. The whole lower
Speaker 1: part hinges open. That's really cool. Yeah, it's cute, like
Speaker 1: being a fish he's cute. He is cute at this
Speaker 1: moment when they're territorial. Oh my god, I'm seeing the
Speaker 1: predator now. It looks like a predator mouth. That frick
Speaker 1: that's scary. So the reason their lips look so doofy
Speaker 1: and so long, like they look like a big like
Speaker 1: cartoon fish with this like a big smile, almost like
Speaker 1: a big clown smile, with these like big like cartoonish lips.
Speaker 1: But that's because those actually unfold into this terrifying predator
Speaker 1: mouth looking thing that it's almost like a mouth umbrella.
Speaker 1: I guess that's a good descriptions for it. But they
Speaker 1: distend their mouth, which unfurls these two flaps, and they
Speaker 1: actually use these uh in territorial competition with other males.
Speaker 1: So they deploy, they deploy the mouth umbrella, and then
Speaker 1: they like kiss each other violently, like they push each
Speaker 1: other's mouth flaps, so it looks like they're kissing, but
Speaker 1: they're actually like competing, and then it's a territorial display
Speaker 1: to determine who has the bigger mouth and the one
Speaker 1: that is bigger. It's like, okay, this is how big
Speaker 1: you are, and that actually helps them resolve territory issues
Speaker 1: without resorting to actual violence. That is very creative of them.
Speaker 1: I love a non violent approach. I'm shocked that with
Speaker 1: all of the with scary, terrifying nous of the mouth,
Speaker 1: but it isn't enacted for more violence. It seems like
Speaker 1: it just seems like that. And then I swallowed half
Speaker 1: that guy. Yeah, yeah, you would think so, but no,
Speaker 1: it's just it's like it's basically just sort of, uh,
Speaker 1: I guess a sport thing where you know, whoever's got
Speaker 1: the biggest flappiest mouth wins. I know a lot of winners.
Speaker 1: Oh good, good, that's good. Do you want to see
Speaker 1: a video of this guy? Oh god, oh my god. Okay,
Speaker 1: so he's here, he's eating. He doesn't actually deploy his
Speaker 1: predator flaps when he's eating. He just kind of, you know,
Speaker 1: he's got his big dufy mouth. He looks like a muppet.
Speaker 1: He does look like that's maybe the best way. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: he does look like a muppet. And he's not the
Speaker 1: first he's not going to be the first one. Today
Speaker 1: he looks like a muppet. But then when when sharp
Speaker 1: little teeth like here he is with his rival, deploys
Speaker 1: the mouth flap, it opens into a full triangle, a
Speaker 1: big triangular. He's got you beat, bro, you gotta back down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've done, sir, and they got It's like kind of
Speaker 1: pink and yellow too. It's actually, if you ignore the
Speaker 1: fact that it's a horrible mouth, it's kind of pretty.
Speaker 1: I gues like a like a venomous vagina and yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: a little bit. God, this is Freudian males competing by
Speaker 1: with their weird venomous mouth vagina's Yeah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: It's disgusting and it's beautiful, like life. That is That
Speaker 1: is life, isn't it. That's that's a good summary of life.
Speaker 1: Disgusting and beautiful. So how would a planet host life?
Speaker 1: How likely are aliens and what would they look like?
Speaker 1: It's hard to fathom what alien life would look like
Speaker 1: on another planet without knowing that planet's environment. Earth is
Speaker 1: considered a Goldilocks planet. It's not too far from the
Speaker 1: Sun to be an ice planet, not too close to
Speaker 1: be a barren husk, and just the right size to
Speaker 1: have a solid, stable land and water mass. Were incredibly
Speaker 1: lucky to exist. But where else could life exist? Our
Speaker 1: Solar system doesn't seem to hold much hope for another planet.
Speaker 1: With alien life, But the moons of Jupiter are another matter.
Speaker 1: Europa is thought to have a subsurface ocean with oxygen
Speaker 1: and water, necessary ingredients for life. In Cleatus, one of
Speaker 1: Saturn's moons, may also have liquid water and molecular hydrogen,
Speaker 1: which could be an alternative source of energy for life.
Speaker 1: If life exists on these planets, they may need to
Speaker 1: be extremophiles, organisms like bacteria that can survive in nutrient
Speaker 1: sparse environments by clinging to thermal vents at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the ocean, or perhaps like the h Salmonicola, they've
Speaker 1: developed an alternative way of procuring energy that is unlike
Speaker 1: anything seen on Earth. When we return, we're going to
Speaker 1: emerge from the ocean and look at some aliens living
Speaker 1: ride here on our very earthen terrain. It's easy enough
Speaker 1: to find aliens living under the sea, as it's such
Speaker 1: a different environment. What about extraterrestrials. While all us animals
Speaker 1: living on Earth may share our gravitationally bound earthly nature,
Speaker 1: our environments differ so much that it's easy to find
Speaker 1: completely alien looking creatures right here on land. Consider the
Speaker 1: diverse biomes of the planet. The frigid tundra, the scorching desert,
Speaker 1: the grasslands full of dastardly carnivores, the forests full of
Speaker 1: devious parasites and hungry birds. It's hard to be an
Speaker 1: animal in any of these extreme environments, and the pressure
Speaker 1: to survive can create some truly unique looks. The ability
Speaker 1: to find a highly specialized evolutionary path is called an
Speaker 1: evolutionary Niche You have found a very specific environment and
Speaker 1: you've adapted to it. You have a very particular set
Speaker 1: of skills, skills you have acquired over millions of years
Speaker 1: of evolution. So, Joel, I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: about a little critter called the pink fairy armadillo. Sounds
Speaker 1: horrified the pink do not take his child because because yes,
Speaker 1: well that's true. But these are actually now, I find
Speaker 1: them cute. Okay, I'm that sounds like a caveat well,
Speaker 1: I find a lot of things cute. Uh. It does
Speaker 1: look a little bit like an armadillo that has been
Speaker 1: turned inside out. Oh my god, So here's a picture
Speaker 1: of it. Oh, but it is cute. It is cute, okay.
Speaker 1: It's color scheme is like a light pink sunset with
Speaker 1: like furry white and it kind of looks like a gopher.
Speaker 1: But then it has like, Okay, is that a hard
Speaker 1: shell or is it fleshy? What's going on with that
Speaker 1: between it's leathery, but it's not. It's not like bone hard.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of leathery. And then also has these
Speaker 1: like duck cloth like sort of like probably would have
Speaker 1: been between a dinosaur and a chicken. Yes, yes, like
Speaker 1: big shovel feet, wild, big shovel chicken. I've never seen
Speaker 1: anything like a creature. So they are the smallest species
Speaker 1: of armadillo, only about three to four inches long. Yeah,
Speaker 1: very cute. They live in Argentina. They're nocturnal. They live
Speaker 1: in burrows and they eat insects, worms, snails, and plants.
Speaker 1: They like you said, I love your description. That's going
Speaker 1: to be very useful for our listeners to get it.
Speaker 1: It's hard, it's it's so hard to describe these animals
Speaker 1: because you look at it, it's like it's just like,
Speaker 1: got a pink cape made out of flesh. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: looks soft and kind of squishy, soft and squishy. So
Speaker 1: they have white furry bellies, huge shovel like claws on
Speaker 1: the front for burrowing and on top they have pink
Speaker 1: plate mail that runs from the top of their nose
Speaker 1: down their back, covering their butt, back, head insides, so
Speaker 1: similar to other armadillo species, this hardened, leathery carapace is
Speaker 1: actually made out of bands that allow the armadillo to
Speaker 1: curl up in a ball, and it's actually more flexible
Speaker 1: and softer than other armadillo species. So unlike other armadillos,
Speaker 1: the pink fairy armadillo, their armor is not completely attached
Speaker 1: to its body, but by a membrane that runs along
Speaker 1: its spine. So armadillos that that body covering they actually
Speaker 1: have actual bone under that that plate mail like you know.
Speaker 1: But with the fair armadillo, while they do have a
Speaker 1: reinforced bony butt, the rest of that armor is actually
Speaker 1: not uh, sort of covering bone. So uh. It's also
Speaker 1: sort of flatter than your typical armadillo, Like your typical
Speaker 1: armadillo has that sort of I guess, dome like armor.
Speaker 1: This kind of runs just along the back. It looks
Speaker 1: like a heavily starched cape, I guess. And uh, this
Speaker 1: shell is made out of dermal scale. It is. It's
Speaker 1: a nice light pink. It's very pretty. Yeah, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like it's like these bands, these bands of of this armor,
Speaker 1: and it's pink, and it because it's less tough than
Speaker 1: their other relatives. Researchers think it has a purpose beyond protection,
Speaker 1: so it may be less about armor and more about
Speaker 1: thermal regulation, which sounds not since making. I mean, so
Speaker 1: that would just mean like it's helping protective from being
Speaker 1: too cold or helps insulate the heat. I could see it.
Speaker 1: It does seem drink to me, that it is like
Speaker 1: adjacent to an armory a little bit, sort of seems
Speaker 1: that none of the same basic functions, just as the
Speaker 1: curvy crazy path of evolution. But yeah, it actually so
Speaker 1: it can both help keep it cool and keep it
Speaker 1: warm in a way that is not very intuitive but
Speaker 1: really cool. So it lives in the death asert shrub
Speaker 1: land that can get very hot during the day and
Speaker 1: very cold at night, especially under those burrows. So the
Speaker 1: pink fairy armadillo's armor is pink because it's full of
Speaker 1: blood vessels, of course, which sounds weird, but like when
Speaker 1: you blush, like that's your blood, you know, like it's
Speaker 1: it's there's nothing gross about it. It's a cute blush.
Speaker 1: So and it can actually pump blood in and out
Speaker 1: of that carapace, which lowers or raises its core temperature
Speaker 1: to achieve thermoregulation, meaning like a temperature that is healthy
Speaker 1: for the animal. So yeah, So by filling its armor
Speaker 1: with blood, it exposes the blood to greater surface area
Speaker 1: and air, cooling it down before it recirculates. And by
Speaker 1: restricting the flow of blood through the carapace, the blood
Speaker 1: remains in the armadillo's core, staying warm and concentrated. So
Speaker 1: we kind of do something similar as humans. Um like
Speaker 1: when you're cold, your nose and your fingers, getting them
Speaker 1: the quickest because you are actually vasal constriction that your
Speaker 1: blood vessels are constricting and keeping all that blood in
Speaker 1: your center, which is the most important place for it
Speaker 1: to be, because like you can lose a finger, but
Speaker 1: you know your heart needs that blood. YEA. Luckily for
Speaker 1: the pink fairy armadillo, that carapist seems to do just
Speaker 1: fine with both increased or decreased blood flow, acting as
Speaker 1: an a c heating unit for this little guy. It
Speaker 1: sounds uh convenient, and I wish I could do it
Speaker 1: with my hair and or neck. In the summer, it's
Speaker 1: super hot out here. In l a. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: would be great if I could just be like, which
Speaker 1: is with all the blood vessels to my hair, just
Speaker 1: cool at the top of my head down. If I
Speaker 1: had like a pink a cool pink jacket that like
Speaker 1: was an a c unit and like could keep me warm,
Speaker 1: that would be incredible. Well okay, yes. It also has
Speaker 1: a kind of weird s own shaped tail that helps
Speaker 1: them balance as they dig, and they have that like
Speaker 1: armored butt plate, like this bony butt and that helps
Speaker 1: them burrow as by acting as a dirt compactor. So
Speaker 1: as they dig, they tossed the dirt under their bellies
Speaker 1: and then they kind of push their butt against it
Speaker 1: and it compacts the dirt behind them with their butt plate,
Speaker 1: so it helps get the dirt out of the way
Speaker 1: so they can like have an area to breathe in
Speaker 1: front of them, and it also helps stabilize the burrow.
Speaker 1: The sites in industry, they have um basically like a
Speaker 1: lab where a bunch of like subterranean creatures and or
Speaker 1: like there's a section for ducks because the ducks can
Speaker 1: see like how do they develop from like egged chicks
Speaker 1: and they're all like underglass and is really cute and
Speaker 1: for like some of the subterrent creatures, there's just whole
Speaker 1: carved out for where they like burrowed. I want to
Speaker 1: see this thing like dig and burrow. It's so tiny
Speaker 1: and small and cute. Let me get you. I think
Speaker 1: I actually have him, Franklin. They are not good. I
Speaker 1: know you're not suggesting this, but they are not. But
Speaker 1: they I do want to make the point. Not I
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not putting you on blastom, you understand.
Speaker 1: But I do think that it is an interesting thing
Speaker 1: because they are sometimes like people attempt to keep them
Speaker 1: as pets and the space Yeah, exactly, it seems like it.
Speaker 1: They'd be a cute fun pet. They have a abysmal
Speaker 1: survival rate in captivity. They're very delicate creatures and like
Speaker 1: they have like I talked about that evolutionary niche. They
Speaker 1: have evolved so specifically for this very highly specialized environment.
Speaker 1: Taking them out of that environment and like touching them,
Speaker 1: it's like it stresses them out. They can die of
Speaker 1: stress essentially. And it also they're they're not made for
Speaker 1: any other environment essentially. They're so specialized. So like like
Speaker 1: when people try to keep them as pets, they typically die.
Speaker 1: And in fact, they're actually really hard to observe by
Speaker 1: researchers because you can't like keep them in captivity and
Speaker 1: they're hard to spot. They're very elusive, so they are
Speaker 1: not great pets. And you really, if you ever, I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think any of our listeners are probably gonna
Speaker 1: happen upon one, but if you do, you should not
Speaker 1: pick it up. Even though there is this picture of
Speaker 1: someone holding it that is a researcher. Um, it's so cute.
Speaker 1: It just fits in the palm of your hand. It
Speaker 1: looks like a real life Pokemon. It does. It does.
Speaker 1: I need to do a whole episode on real life Pokemon. Please,
Speaker 1: But let me show you this. Here's a here's a
Speaker 1: little It's kind of hard to see because it's night
Speaker 1: vision camera, but here it is digging and you see
Speaker 1: the butt plate kind of like poking pushing the dirt back.
Speaker 1: You guys, you would think that, but like, oh, it's
Speaker 1: literally the tiniest little pet and then it goes on
Speaker 1: to the next thing. It's so dang cute, adorable. Little Franklin.
Speaker 1: As sponsor one at a Zoo, we have adopted a koala.
Speaker 1: I wanted to adopt oh, I'm sorry. The Coola's name
Speaker 1: is Oxley Twinkles, and she's my best daughter. And I
Speaker 1: actually have a dog too, so I can't say she's
Speaker 1: my best daughter. I love both of my animal daughters exactly,
Speaker 1: my best daughter abroad. And I'm trying to adopt a
Speaker 1: velvet worm. Those are adorable little worm like creatures, but
Speaker 1: they are hard to find an adoption agency that has
Speaker 1: velvet worms. Actually, I'm just if anyone knows about a
Speaker 1: research group or something that that handles specifically insect stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah he does support, Yeah, exactly, And I guess I
Speaker 1: want to adopt a pink fairy armadillo to also, again,
Speaker 1: not to have as a pet, but just to you know,
Speaker 1: sponsor also the magic like just I love a tiny
Speaker 1: I will send it little drawings of itself a little
Speaker 1: tiny tiny look. Yeah. Yeah, there we go. So now
Speaker 1: I want to talk about another terrestrial, alien looking animal.
Speaker 1: And I'm moving from the mammals onto the insects. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is where we're getting from, getting the little nervous.
Speaker 1: I would say, don't be too nervous of the insects
Speaker 1: this They look completely wild and crazy. I don't think
Speaker 1: they look creepy especially, so I want to talk about
Speaker 1: tree hoppers. Treehoppers are a family of insects related to
Speaker 1: cicadas and leafhoppers, and they are found all over the
Speaker 1: world except except Antarctica too cold, and they eat plant
Speaker 1: sap so their mouth is basically two straws, one that
Speaker 1: pumps saliva into the plant, the other that sucks up
Speaker 1: the plant saliva smoothie. And so they're pretty harmless. Other
Speaker 1: I mean, they are actually kind of pests for farmers
Speaker 1: and for for plant populations, and they can be bad
Speaker 1: if they're an invasive species, but in terms of like
Speaker 1: flesh creatures, we don't need to worry about so all
Speaker 1: the terms that doesn't affect up plant growth, we're good. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: And they're also here's I want to talk about some
Speaker 1: of their behavior first before I show you what they
Speaker 1: look like, because I want you to see them for
Speaker 1: who they truly are. So they're really good moms. They
Speaker 1: sit on their eggs, unlike many many insects species drop
Speaker 1: A lot of insects just drop them and go. But yeah,
Speaker 1: these these ones sit on their eggs and they defend
Speaker 1: them from predators. And when the eggs are hatching, into
Speaker 1: these nymphs. The moms will punch a bunch of holes
Speaker 1: into the plant stem so that the little baby tree
Speaker 1: hoppers have a little little places to suck out. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like your mom punching a straw into capris
Speaker 1: son and handing it to you. Mom. I was getting frustrated.
Speaker 1: But in addition to being good parents, these are some
Speaker 1: of the weirdest salvador dally looking things on planet. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna show you some of these guys.
Speaker 1: It's so funky. Is that a tail? What is the
Speaker 1: curved top? I will explain all, but just describe what
Speaker 1: you're saying. Okay, imagine like a backwards C, but like
Speaker 1: the letter C. And then it's like a gunnametal gray,
Speaker 1: but there's some shiny like silver scales. Maybe um, there
Speaker 1: is no face. It's got like a rhino horn that
Speaker 1: sort of looks like a jack knife on top of
Speaker 1: what I assume is the head, and like two little
Speaker 1: feet and some things that could be wings but are
Speaker 1: definitely not going to give him any elevation or lift.
Speaker 1: It is so weird. So that's just one species. Let's
Speaker 1: move on to another one. What Okay, So This one
Speaker 1: has like yellow kind of guys, which I means about
Speaker 1: you expect that, But then like a split Pope's hat,
Speaker 1: like Pope's hat, and then it looks like just like
Speaker 1: a little bit looks kind of like a batman hat
Speaker 1: to except with really long air. I also see a
Speaker 1: gesture in there at the end. It would definitely be
Speaker 1: just dress. And here's what do you think you're looking at? Here?
Speaker 1: That looks like a picture of a weird dragon with
Speaker 1: no wings. So this is actually a bunch of them
Speaker 1: and they are covering a tree branch and they see
Speaker 1: it now it gives me like weird They look like
Speaker 1: thorns coming out of the branch. They're like these green
Speaker 1: thorny things with like and then here's one of them individually.
Speaker 1: This is They're less scary as one, but still not
Speaker 1: something I told me you have like a thing about swarm,
Speaker 1: so I try to keep the swarminess of this down.
Speaker 1: Um So yeah, yeah, it's just like a it's like
Speaker 1: a green triangle. And then this one, okay, it's like
Speaker 1: a real black slug like it's to me it looks
Speaker 1: like a bird duty. It can also look like a
Speaker 1: bird duty. I'm seeing a weird penguin. Here's why. It's
Speaker 1: that a white belly, but it's like all black back
Speaker 1: but also like humping is back. It's confusing. It looks
Speaker 1: like it looks like a poopy penguin. Penguin, so uh.
Speaker 1: They come in a wide variety of shapes, as you
Speaker 1: can see, which is due to their huge fancy pronotum,
Speaker 1: which is the top part of their exoskeletal thorax. So
Speaker 1: if you think of it in human terms, it's like
Speaker 1: a hard shell right at the back of your neck
Speaker 1: that grows out really big. That would be so helpful. Yeah,
Speaker 1: except it's insects and they don't really have next like
Speaker 1: vertebrates do. Uh, So I don't know how useful that
Speaker 1: comparison is it then does it rest just behind their head? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like their head and then it rests right behind
Speaker 1: its head. And then it's like but it can grow
Speaker 1: like over and around there. It's just it goes wherever
Speaker 1: it wants to go, it seems. And these shells grow there. Sorry,
Speaker 1: these exo skeletons grow in completely out of control ornate architectures,
Speaker 1: often to help camouflage the tree hopper as a thorn
Speaker 1: or part of a plant or bird duty or whatever
Speaker 1: for the triangular part that's its head. Yeah, well it's
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's head again, it's like it's like, so,
Speaker 1: so they have an exo skeleton right that that outer carapists.
Speaker 1: It's that exo skeleton, like right at the back of
Speaker 1: its head, just like growing way far out. Okay, I see.
Speaker 1: And so there is an incredible diversity of tree hoppers.
Speaker 1: They all look absolutely bonkers. And one of my favorites
Speaker 1: I haven't shown you yet it is the Brazilian tree
Speaker 1: hopper or sorry, did I call them grasshoppers? Their tree hoppers,
Speaker 1: and I think, and so the Brazilian tree hopper has
Speaker 1: a head full of orbs, and here it is, my god,
Speaker 1: it's like staring into the face of death. It's got
Speaker 1: four eyes but they're black, and they sit on top
Speaker 1: of its head. And then it heads very narrow like
Speaker 1: that guy on Beetle Juice when you shrunk his head,
Speaker 1: and then like some white like graffiti over its mouth.
Speaker 1: It's literally horrifying. I could see animorphizing that I'm making
Speaker 1: an alien for a movie. It looks like so it's
Speaker 1: like there's this stem that comes off of its head
Speaker 1: and then like almost like a helicopter, but on the
Speaker 1: end of each blade is like a bulb. So there's
Speaker 1: like these four black bulbs and those are actually not eyeballs, No, No,
Speaker 1: those are just like that offshoot of it's carapace that's
Speaker 1: growing in this weird shape. It's covered in hair and
Speaker 1: um Researchers aren't precisely sure why it looks like this.
Speaker 1: One theory is that since the orbs are covered in hairs,
Speaker 1: it's some sort of sensory apparatus. But then why it's
Speaker 1: shaped like one of those clacker ball toys like it
Speaker 1: doesn't really make sense. But I like this theory, which
Speaker 1: is it looks like opio cort aceps, which is that
Speaker 1: parasitic fungus that you actually mentioned earlier. So there's a
Speaker 1: parasitic fungus that will infect ants and other insects and
Speaker 1: it'll just sprout out of their head uh and produce
Speaker 1: like this fruiting body that then produces spores, and it
Speaker 1: kills the insect. It's no good for the insect, so
Speaker 1: insects generally want to avoid that. And so if you
Speaker 1: have a fake sport growing out of your head like
Speaker 1: this Brazilian tree hopper seems to maybe have the idea
Speaker 1: is that insect predators are going to avoid it because
Speaker 1: they don't want to deal with that parasitic fungus. And
Speaker 1: eventually in the in the documentaries I can remember watching
Speaker 1: with these ants and these parasites don't think kind of
Speaker 1: get left behind. They're like, colony is like, oh no,
Speaker 1: you need to stay way outside here by yourself. And
Speaker 1: then it's awful because they're alive, Like as it's growing,
Speaker 1: it like literally spits their brain and chew from the
Speaker 1: inside out. Then it's just just long and then it
Speaker 1: looks horrified. Yeah, it's terrible, and it makes them go
Speaker 1: crazy because so what happens is in an ant colony,
Speaker 1: they will when they detect a sign of this fungus,
Speaker 1: they will send out a party of ants on a
Speaker 1: suicide mission where they just walk the ant who is
Speaker 1: infected with this fungus far far away so that it
Speaker 1: doesn't affect the rest of the colony, and that that
Speaker 1: insect with the fungus infection. Usually the ones that carry
Speaker 1: it far away, they'll get infected too, but by that
Speaker 1: pot point they're far enough away, uh, And so they
Speaker 1: will It drives them to climb up plants as high
Speaker 1: as they can go, which is not typically their behavior
Speaker 1: because you don't want to be necessarily visible to birds
Speaker 1: and other predators. But it drives them up and up,
Speaker 1: and that helps the spores because then the spores want
Speaker 1: to uh well, they don't want anything because they're a fungus,
Speaker 1: but you know, evolutionarily speaking, it helps them disperse because
Speaker 1: they get up hyponic plant and they actually the ants
Speaker 1: that are infected with this, it makes them uh go
Speaker 1: like grip onto the plant in this like death grip
Speaker 1: with their mandibles is like sort of the last phase
Speaker 1: of this weird fungus zombie infection. So it's super bad
Speaker 1: news for insects. And so if they see something that
Speaker 1: looks like it's infected with it, I'd imagine that they
Speaker 1: would probably avoid it. I like that they have um
Speaker 1: police slash healthcare procedures. We don't have medicaid for medicare
Speaker 1: or nothing. You need to solve this on your own.
Speaker 1: Get out so you don't be patients. Zero pow yourself
Speaker 1: up by your antstraps. I'm imagining little boots on an
Speaker 1: ant caldute. I'm trying to think of a pun with
Speaker 1: medicare for all, and it's just not coming medic carapist
Speaker 1: for all. There it is. In science fiction there are
Speaker 1: often insect oid aliens. But why didn't insects develop intelligence
Speaker 1: like mammals. One problem is that insects are restricted in size.
Speaker 1: While brain size isn't always directly correlated with intelligence, you
Speaker 1: do need at least some material to work with, and
Speaker 1: if you're an insect with only a few hundred thousand
Speaker 1: brain cells compared to a human brain that has almost
Speaker 1: hundred billion brain cells, you're at a distinct disadvantage. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the growth of insects became stunted hundreds of millions of
Speaker 1: years ago. Insects used to be huge. Around three hundred
Speaker 1: million years ago, dragonflies could grow up to two feet
Speaker 1: long in wingspan. The high oxygen levels in the atmosphere
Speaker 1: allowed the insects to get enough oxygen in their large
Speaker 1: bodies through their tiny breathing tubes. However, their stunted size
Speaker 1: wasn't only due to the drop in oxygen levels. It
Speaker 1: was also due to the experience of words. When birds
Speaker 1: came on the scene, Fossil records of large insects suddenly plummeted.
Speaker 1: Despite the fact that researchers estimate oxygen levels increased during
Speaker 1: this time. It's thought that these predatory flying beaked harbingers
Speaker 1: of death birds forced insects to value maneuverability over size,
Speaker 1: the predation by birds driving them to become smaller and
Speaker 1: more discreet, adopting crypsis and camouflage like our tree hopper friends.
Speaker 1: Maybe on an alien planet rich with oxygen and lacking
Speaker 1: the menace of birds, insects could have grown larger and
Speaker 1: perhaps more intelligent. Now, the best strategy that insects have
Speaker 1: for intelligence is in numbers. Be in ant colonies with
Speaker 1: small individual sizes but large numbers of members may form
Speaker 1: a high intelligence that helps their survival while not sacrificing
Speaker 1: their ability to dodge a predator and of course their
Speaker 1: strength in numbers. Birds, meanwhile, are masters of the skies,
Speaker 1: and though they would come to have their fair share
Speaker 1: of predators, they were luckier than insects, and we're able
Speaker 1: to develop greater size, intelligence and sometimes completely bonkers ornamentation,
Speaker 1: which we'll discuss right after this break. In science fiction,
Speaker 1: we aren't always creative enough with aliens. There aren't that
Speaker 1: many flying aliens flying saucers, sure, but the idea of
Speaker 1: an alien with wings is perhaps a step too far
Speaker 1: for it to be the main trope when it comes
Speaker 1: to aliens, But I don't see why aliens wouldn't have wings.
Speaker 1: After all, it's a trait that evolved independently in many
Speaker 1: different animals on Earth. Insects, birds, bats, and even gliding lizards,
Speaker 1: squirrels and fish have wings. But birds have the biggest
Speaker 1: monopoly on the skies, and some of these aviens are
Speaker 1: truly alien looking, giving us a perspective on what flying
Speaker 1: extraterrestrials might look like. I always thought birds would make
Speaker 1: the best alien inspiration for movies, because the thing is,
Speaker 1: if you look at like the aliens that have made
Speaker 1: it two movies, rafa hanging out like either reptilian or humanoid,
Speaker 1: which is fair. Reptiles have like crazy jaws and like
Speaker 1: the claws and everything these that we actually fear. I'm
Speaker 1: terrified of birds, and I have this conversation with you
Speaker 1: last weeks. They really truly scare me. I only like
Speaker 1: ravens because I respect them and I understand like they're like, listen,
Speaker 1: we can hold a grudge. Um we are called a murder. Uh.
Speaker 1: They're just like they like They're very upfront about how
Speaker 1: horrifying they are. They're like, they know they came from dinosaurs,
Speaker 1: and they're not gonna let you forget either. Other birds
Speaker 1: are like, look at I'm adorable. I'm like, no, like
Speaker 1: when do you? Guys will just die bomb from the
Speaker 1: sky and destroy. And then if you look at like
Speaker 1: some of the patterns of colors on their wings or
Speaker 1: designs and stuff, some of the way their heads turn
Speaker 1: owls truly alien like, very creepy. I'm nervous about what
Speaker 1: you have from You're also kind of excited. I do
Speaker 1: agree that birds are very alien looking. It is going
Speaker 1: to be my mission, while you are the producer of
Speaker 1: this podcast, to convert you into a bird lover. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, at task. My brother will be very happy
Speaker 1: if you can do. I am a huge, huge bird
Speaker 1: lover hashtag proverb rites, but it is yeah. I I
Speaker 1: do agree though they are they are horrifying personally. I
Speaker 1: just love that I reflected you. You you respect all
Speaker 1: the creepy things. So first I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you about the king vulture. Oh my god, have you
Speaker 1: ever seen a vulture like up close and in person
Speaker 1: in your life? I have seen them at zoos. I've
Speaker 1: never seen one just out and about, so I've been
Speaker 1: to the zoo again. I'm from Chicago's zoos in Chicago
Speaker 1: will sometimes just let their birds own kind of free
Speaker 1: or they have in like in Park Zoo there's a
Speaker 1: giant bird cage that's a dome, so they have a
Speaker 1: aviary you can walk through and the birds are kind
Speaker 1: of free and throwing around there. Or they've got these
Speaker 1: very like low swooping nets so they can travel um.
Speaker 1: But when you get outside, then you're like, there's a giant,
Speaker 1: like I want to say, twelve foot tall bird cage
Speaker 1: with a bunch of predatory birds and it just looking down.
Speaker 1: So as a child, I was afraid of birds. But
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit every spot in the zoo because we
Speaker 1: were with a lot of kids. I'll close my eyes.
Speaker 1: Well here is like the flapping of me screeching, and
Speaker 1: I was like, it's gonna be fine. We just have
Speaker 1: to get outside there, Like Joel, you've made it through
Speaker 1: the House of Terror and now you're just amongst the birds.
Speaker 1: And I looked up an huge vulture like you know,
Speaker 1: getting wings air in its wings, like flapping and looking
Speaker 1: down at me, and I was like, I can't like
Speaker 1: it was really that and a peacock. It cemented my
Speaker 1: fear of birds for life. Okay, a giant peacock chasing
Speaker 1: you down when you're fied. So you would say if
Speaker 1: peacock combined with a vulture would not be your favorite animal? No, no, no.
Speaker 1: The King vulture has a face like a star trek alien.
Speaker 1: It's a New World vulture found in Central and South America,
Speaker 1: excluding condors. It's the largest New World vulture, with a
Speaker 1: wingspan of seven feet. And while their bodies are pretty
Speaker 1: plain white, black and gray, their heads are sort of incredible.
Speaker 1: They So I'm gonna show you some pictures. Hold. Oh no, okay,
Speaker 1: imagine the beatiest turkey eye you've ever seen, just staring
Speaker 1: at you, and then it's like a gnarled thing on
Speaker 1: its beak. Oh my freaking god. No, this is like
Speaker 1: the King of Evil. But it's a it's like a
Speaker 1: it's like a sunset, though its head looks like a
Speaker 1: rainbow sun. No with it's like, oh, white body and
Speaker 1: black tipped. We I hate looking at it. I love it.
Speaker 1: This is my nightmare. Fuel. Well, we have very different
Speaker 1: opinions on this bird, and that's okay, agree to disagree.
Speaker 1: So their heads, like other vultures, are mostly bald, but
Speaker 1: in their case their heads are vibrantly colorful and covered
Speaker 1: in weird dude ads. So they have an orange and
Speaker 1: black beak and a bright orange wattle on the top
Speaker 1: of their beak that kind of looks like a shriveled brain. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then they it's not a brain, it's just a
Speaker 1: fleshy growth. They have bright blue, wrinkly, bulbous cheeks with
Speaker 1: a wrinkled tube of flesh that goes from the cheekbone
Speaker 1: down the neck and turns from blue to orange and
Speaker 1: then yellow. Their eyes are bright turquoise, almost white, and
Speaker 1: their eyelids are reddish pink. Their necks are like a
Speaker 1: sunset purple melts into pink, which turns into orange and
Speaker 1: finally gradiates into yellow. It's beautiful in my opinion. Their
Speaker 1: face is covered in thin black bristles, but under that,
Speaker 1: peeking through is their skin, which is bright purple, and
Speaker 1: on the very top of their heads they have a
Speaker 1: bald spot which is bright pink. The base of its
Speaker 1: neck is also bare a pinkish purple which often shows
Speaker 1: through its chest feathers, so it looks like it has
Speaker 1: this weird bulbous growth coming out, but that's just its neck,
Speaker 1: so it is. Yeah, it's an incredible animal. Of course,
Speaker 1: I understand why people fear vultures because they are associated
Speaker 1: with death and decay, but they actually serve a very
Speaker 1: important service to nature. They take care of dead bodies
Speaker 1: and they prevent the spread of disease, and they're they're
Speaker 1: kind of like a dead end for a lot of
Speaker 1: diseases which they are able to fight off or are
Speaker 1: immune to, and so when they're basically eating up a
Speaker 1: dead body, that prevents that body from being a petri
Speaker 1: dish full of nasty bacteria and disease. A circle of life.
Speaker 1: But these are such like they're so flamboyant. Like usually
Speaker 1: like undertakers, you know, and vultures they have that sort
Speaker 1: of grim look. They're they're they're you know, they have
Speaker 1: like their brown and black and over searching out. But
Speaker 1: these guys are festive. They're like the fun mortician, you know,
Speaker 1: they have a smartoes of death holidays exactly. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: like they're they're like a Pastel goff, but they're not. Actually,
Speaker 1: they're like more of a I guess bright my Thaie Goff.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, Lolita go I think, yeah, totally yeah. But
Speaker 1: like with these bright, like really brilliant colors, like they
Speaker 1: look like a tropical sunset with bright blues and reds
Speaker 1: and purples, the fact that their body is white is
Speaker 1: really the anti vulture. Yeah yeah, they're like yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: still not messing with them. In terms of why they
Speaker 1: look this way, I'm actually not sure and I couldn't
Speaker 1: find any great research on it. If it does exist
Speaker 1: out there, like hit me up, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: about it. Um. My first thought is that maybe it's
Speaker 1: sexual selection, but the females are very similar looking. There's
Speaker 1: not a lot of sexual dimorphism, meaning like where a
Speaker 1: lot of bird species the male is like flamboyant and colorful, jazzy,
Speaker 1: and the female is just brown and sort of like okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah exactly, like like you impress me, not the other
Speaker 1: way around it, which I love. I love. In this case,
Speaker 1: it's sort of like gender parody. They're both It could
Speaker 1: still be sexual selection, but like in puffins, where they're
Speaker 1: both trying to impress each other, which I kind of
Speaker 1: I like that a puffin is another bird I can
Speaker 1: chive with puffins are cool. Yes, so you're cool with puffins.
Speaker 1: They're just called puffins, like they're puffy muffins, and they're
Speaker 1: so cute and sweetly see you know, kind tempered. Yes, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: they they are. They're they're pretty cool. Not fish. They
Speaker 1: kill a lot of fish. But I'll also they're delicious.
Speaker 1: You could blame them. I The next bird I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about is I hope you like
Speaker 1: this one a little better. It is the cock of
Speaker 1: the rock. Okay, first of all, a name A plus
Speaker 1: a plus name. So the cock of the rock is
Speaker 1: another South American bird, but this one lives in the
Speaker 1: cloud forests of the Andies. So they're a medium sized
Speaker 1: tropical bird. And the male this is the one where
Speaker 1: the males are super fancy and the females are kind
Speaker 1: of a like, I don't know, normal looking, and so
Speaker 1: they the males are bright orange and they look like
Speaker 1: some kind of weird disc headed alien. So they have
Speaker 1: this orange crust of feathers covering the beacon top of
Speaker 1: its head that makes them look like their head is
Speaker 1: a disk or a frisbee. So here is what this
Speaker 1: guy looks like. Oh oh oh, you would not know
Speaker 1: you were looking at a bird like, is it an
Speaker 1: octopus under water? Is it a squid? Is it a
Speaker 1: one eyed orange people eater? Yeah, it looks like it
Speaker 1: looks super muppet like, because like sort of one of
Speaker 1: those Jim Hintson muppets where they don't even have like
Speaker 1: real faces. I guess where she's like. You think he
Speaker 1: talks like biger like. And then also I forget what
Speaker 1: they're called, but they're like all one fuzzy colored things
Speaker 1: and they shake and it's from another children's program. If
Speaker 1: you saw it, guys wiggles totally Yeah, perfect this It
Speaker 1: doesn't even look like a bird. I love it a
Speaker 1: little Oh no, close your mouth. I hate it now.
Speaker 1: I saw the whole thing, and you see it when
Speaker 1: it without the mouth is kind of cute. It looks
Speaker 1: like a weird little little tube with the beat of predator.
Speaker 1: There's another another picture of it. Yeah, if it keeps
Speaker 1: his mouth closed, we're okay. But even that pictures given
Speaker 1: me a lot of side at and I don't appreciate
Speaker 1: a bird judging me like that. So the males use
Speaker 1: this incredible look to attract females in fancy courtship displays,
Speaker 1: and the males will bob do like push up motions.
Speaker 1: They'll jerk their weird disc heads around and if the
Speaker 1: female likes it, she'll peck his neck in they'll go
Speaker 1: off in mate, also fitting in well. At Venice Beach,
Speaker 1: they the males form these clicks and then their territory
Speaker 1: from outsider males or predators. Together skateboard or waits to
Speaker 1: live and they are done. Brow up. Check out my
Speaker 1: frisbee head bro Oh my god. So I want to
Speaker 1: cap off the show with one of the most absurd
Speaker 1: muppet alien looking birds on the planet. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you'll be a fan of this one, because they are.
Speaker 1: They go from being cute muppets to looking like horrifying aliens,
Speaker 1: and that can be like the same bird can go
Speaker 1: from looking like I'm a cute dirty muppet to being
Speaker 1: like I am a horrible alien. Maybe i'll name my patronis.
Speaker 1: So first let's just hear what it sounds like. Oh goodness,
Speaker 1: So this is the PO two. It looks and sounds
Speaker 1: like a haunted alien ghost. So PO two's are a
Speaker 1: group of birds, and there are multiple species, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna listen to a couple of different species. So this
Speaker 1: is the great potwo call. Oh yeah, yeah, it sounds
Speaker 1: like it's screaming mom, but it's been a deformed vocal
Speaker 1: cords or something like they maybe I don't know, oh no, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, here's a nightmares. Here's another great potwo call.
Speaker 1: Oh oh, who can do that too? Well? Too well, yes,
Speaker 1: I'm a human. And it's like the it's like the
Speaker 1: body snatcher sounds like at the end of Body Snatchers.
Speaker 1: And then here's its song. That's just it's called its
Speaker 1: song is a little less body snatcher, but it's very haunting. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is the this is the common Poe two catalog number.
Speaker 1: That's not the common now, that's some guy from the
Speaker 1: Cornell Lab Science. It sounds sad, Okay, maybe it's misunderstood.
Speaker 1: It's like I'm trying to say, hey, people are like
Speaker 1: you sound horrify and sing with friends, and they're like,
Speaker 1: we still don't like you. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: looks like vermo. Yeah. So the Poe two's, like I said,
Speaker 1: are a group of birds who have a very distinctive look.
Speaker 1: And this time it's actually for survival and not sexual selection.
Speaker 1: So surviving preditors and being able to hunt. So they
Speaker 1: are also found in Central and South America. They're related
Speaker 1: to night jars and frog mouths, and they are nocturnal insectivores.
Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna before I describe them, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna show you some pictures. Okay, okay, okay, oh okay.
Speaker 1: So imagine a soulless owl with a neck, and this
Speaker 1: is what you get. You guys. There's don't have the
Speaker 1: beaks are open and their eyes are entirely black. There's
Speaker 1: another one. Oh my god, this is lit. Oh no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I can look at his face. Okay, it does kind
Speaker 1: of look like one of the puppies here because it's
Speaker 1: got really round eyes and so you know, our human
Speaker 1: brains are like that means cute and innocent. But I'm
Speaker 1: also seeing death in those eyes and don't trust it.
Speaker 1: So what Joel is seeing is the po two who
Speaker 1: has huge wal eyed, bulging eyes. They kind of look
Speaker 1: like goldfish eyes. Those pupils can go from being small
Speaker 1: points to expanding to cover the entire iris. That's what
Speaker 1: I saw. A black eyes. Okay, that explains it. They
Speaker 1: have huge, wide mouths and they are a tawny brown
Speaker 1: with modeled coloring a bit like owl's feathers, and they
Speaker 1: are one of the dirtiest looking birds on the planet.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, they can be. They range from being
Speaker 1: to me terrifying to being adorably stupid cute sort of
Speaker 1: like you know how like pugs or like or oh
Speaker 1: you know, like um, like a bulldog. Bulldog has that range,
Speaker 1: like the porks in Star Wars where they have those
Speaker 1: like little wal eyed looks. Yeah, they do have. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know what, that's probably the best sci fi interpretation
Speaker 1: of it. Yeah, totally. So. The reason their eyes are
Speaker 1: so huge is that helps them see at night, and
Speaker 1: they actually also have eyelids that are slitted, so they
Speaker 1: have slits in that allows some light in, so they
Speaker 1: can see predators even when their eyes are closed, so
Speaker 1: they are always watching you. Their mouth is large enough
Speaker 1: for them to swallow prey hole without bothering to chew
Speaker 1: it up that I definitely even being able to do
Speaker 1: that in fact, and I know I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: like the advocate for the PO twos, but one PO
Speaker 1: two was found with a small bird in its stomach,
Speaker 1: So yeah, that big mouth can get a lot done.
Speaker 1: I think they most commonly eat insects, though I think
Speaker 1: it's unusual for them. Could have even been an accident,
Speaker 1: you know, just he was yawning and a bird flew in,
Speaker 1: Like we don't know. I'm saying he has a right
Speaker 1: to an attorney, proven guilty. So they have an unusual
Speaker 1: Cripsis tactic, which is to do a little acting, a
Speaker 1: little method acting, or they pretend to be a tree stump,
Speaker 1: and they will stand rigid still and and just very
Speaker 1: very stationary, stretched their heads out and the tops of
Speaker 1: their heads are kind of flat, so it actually gives
Speaker 1: this very realistic impression of a tree stump and like
Speaker 1: a branch that's been broken off, because that that feathering
Speaker 1: color that's sort of pretty like modeled brown and white
Speaker 1: is like is actually meant to look like tree bark
Speaker 1: and that. So here's a here's a picture of one
Speaker 1: of these guys in action. Okay, oh wow, the way
Speaker 1: that his back sort of looks hollowed out even yeah,
Speaker 1: like the black on a really good camouflage. You probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't know this was a bird except that his eyes open.
Speaker 1: And then here's another instance of it. Kind of just
Speaker 1: they they flatten their feathers and stretch out so they
Speaker 1: look thin and branch like. He definitely mold to the
Speaker 1: tree that they're on, And it makes sense to me
Speaker 1: the animals with just cozy up to it's kind of
Speaker 1: warm for some reason, I'm an animal too dumb to
Speaker 1: think that through God, it would suck if a woodpecker
Speaker 1: like was like came up to them like, oh, this
Speaker 1: looks like a branch. Yeah. So they'll only lay one
Speaker 1: egg at a time, and they they are a method
Speaker 1: of laying eggs seems completely stupid, but they will lay
Speaker 1: a single egg on top of a tree stump, just
Speaker 1: kind of balanced up there, um, and it looks very precarious,
Speaker 1: just like boop, there it goes. Where's the nest So
Speaker 1: it actually looks is meant to kind of look like
Speaker 1: a fungal bulb. So sometimes trees will sort of grow
Speaker 1: like a fungus on it that looks like a bit
Speaker 1: like a bulb and it just kind of precariously, uh,
Speaker 1: sits on this tree stump. And the nestlings once they hatch,
Speaker 1: are too small to look like tree stumps, but their
Speaker 1: coloration makes them look like tree fungus a little bit.
Speaker 1: So let me show you when I think the bag
Speaker 1: these are cute, but you might think they're a little horrible.
Speaker 1: So here's a little baby, he's not horrible. There's another one.
Speaker 1: Uh and then oh, here's another adult looking very much
Speaker 1: like a tree. That's a master camouflage exactly he's doing.
Speaker 1: He's like, it's incredible because he's flattened the feathers like
Speaker 1: against the tree. The coloring of the feathers perfectly blends
Speaker 1: in with that modeled tree. I literally can barely tell
Speaker 1: where the tree ends and starts. It's it's incredible, but yeah,
Speaker 1: that is. That is the story of the Poe two,
Speaker 1: who has one of the most haunting calls and to me,
Speaker 1: ranging from adorable to completely insane possessed alien looks. If
Speaker 1: that fish from segment one with the big mouth means
Speaker 1: this Poe too, it's on mouth contest. I can yawn
Speaker 1: really so dirty. I can like yawn really wide, like
Speaker 1: my I have like bad jaw problems because I get
Speaker 1: like team j and stuff in. One of the problems
Speaker 1: I think is a yawned too wide and look like Jessie,
Speaker 1: how do you want how maybe? Oh my god, I thought,
Speaker 1: I was like yeah, I opened my mouth and she
Speaker 1: was like, no, I can extend this. Wow, I could
Speaker 1: swallow one of these birds. Well before we go, I
Speaker 1: do want to do a bit of self promotion. Uh, well,
Speaker 1: show promotion shirts. We have shirt, beautiful, beautiful shirt. So
Speaker 1: I we have actually had a few shirts. Um, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to wait to promote shirts until I got
Speaker 1: the Creature Feature logo shirt where I wanted it to be.
Speaker 1: And uh it is a shirt with the Creature Feature
Speaker 1: logo that has been hand drawn by yours truly. Wa
Speaker 1: she did a fabulous not just saying that as the
Speaker 1: producer of Vision real good, She's just saying it because
Speaker 1: I know they are up in the store. I will
Speaker 1: include a link to it in the show notes, but
Speaker 1: if you want to just tap it in with your
Speaker 1: finger things, it is www dot t public dot com,
Speaker 1: slash stores, slash Creature Feature and uh, I am wearing
Speaker 1: the shirt right now. It is it's got Creature Feature
Speaker 1: on it, and it's got our lizard man and our
Speaker 1: cat Lady on it. And um, I do believe the
Speaker 1: shirts will be on sale for only fourteen bucks if
Speaker 1: you heard deal ideal right yea, So those will be
Speaker 1: online and there's a few other designs there, so please
Speaker 1: do check those out, Joel, do you good anything to plug? Uh? No,
Speaker 1: I'm a writer, a p club would quarter and other pleases.
Speaker 1: So if you're interested in culture entertainments, you can always
Speaker 1: come check me out over at Joel Monique. That's j
Speaker 1: O E l l E M O n I q
Speaker 1: u E at Twitter, Juel more week all one more
Speaker 1: on the tweeters, and you can find us on the
Speaker 1: twitters at Creature feet Pod that's f e A T
Speaker 1: not f et totally. Uh. You can also find us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Creature Feature Pod, Facebook at Creature Feature
Speaker 1: Pod on line on the I Heart Radio website I
Speaker 1: Heard Radio dot com and just search for a Creature
Speaker 1: feature and you can find me personally just Katie and
Speaker 1: her Katie thoughts at Katie Golden on Twitter. And you
Speaker 1: can find you know the bird version of me, my
Speaker 1: bird Sona at pro bird Rites, where I fight for
Speaker 1: the rights of birds and Joel, I hope that I
Speaker 1: can convert you. It's gonna be an interesting journey and
Speaker 1: I look forward uh to getting to know more bird. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bird vangelized bird evangelized bird vangelize. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't see my deep seated irrational fear change. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I wish you love well. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining you today. This has been a last Thanks
Speaker 1: for having this is awesome. If you're enjoying the show,
Speaker 1: please rate, subscribe, like it. The stars put all the
Speaker 1: stars on and I really appreciate it. Thank you so
Speaker 1: so much for listening. Thanks to the Space Cossics for
Speaker 1: their super alien song. X Alumina. Creature features a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Listen to more podcasts like the
Speaker 1: one you just heard. Visit I hurt radio dot com,
Speaker 1: I Hurt Radio Apple, where I really listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. See you next Wednesday. I keep thaking them,
Speaker 1: don't That's not that I'm not great.