1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Manke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales are right there on display, just 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: Ah the butterfly, the fashion icon of the insect world, 7 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: is one of nature's most fascinating shape shifters. From early childhood, 8 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 1: we marvel at this creature's transformative abilities, changing from lowly 9 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,960 Speaker 1: crawling caterpillars into winged beauties in the space of just 10 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: a few weeks. In addition to being easy on the eyes, 11 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: butterflies lack the drawbacks that make so many other insects 12 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: frustrating pests. They don't bite or sting or carry malaria. 13 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,400 Speaker 1: They can even be good for our gardens. You hardly 14 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: ever hear anyone complain about a butterfly infestation, so when 15 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: researchers released a flock of the insects on a remote 16 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: island in the nineteen nineties, they did not expect any downside. 17 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: Their goal was to study population bottlenecks. That's a term 18 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: for mass casualty events like a natural disaster or a plague. 19 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 1: If enough members of species die out, these survivors might 20 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:34,959 Speaker 1: not have enough genetic diversity to go on, but pinpointing 21 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: exactly how much diversity is needed can be tricky. In 22 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: this case, the scientists were going to take a small 23 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: population of butterflies and release them somewhere that they couldn't 24 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: bump into others of their kind. Whether they died out 25 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: or thrived would tell scientists a lot about the impacts 26 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: of their limited gene pool, but they had to be careful. 27 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: Introducing invasive species to a new area can be unpredictable 28 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: at best. Even a small chain to an existing food 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: chain can wreak havoc on an ecosystem. So to limit 30 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: the impact of their experiment, the scientists selected a tiny 31 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: island in the Finnish Archipelago. There was little life there 32 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: besides grass and flowers, and the butterflies they'd be using 33 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: were too weak to reach the neighboring islands. It was 34 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: as close to laboratory conditions as you could get in nature, 35 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,120 Speaker 1: with no chance of affecting the surrounding area, or so 36 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: they thought. The scientists released the young caterpillars on the 37 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: island and then departed, planning to check back in at 38 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: regular intervals. At first, everything proceeded as expected. The caterpillars 39 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: spread across the island, chewing through the grass and the flowers. 40 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: But just as they were getting ready to pupate, something 41 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: strange happened. Some of the caterpillars began to curl and twist, 42 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: convulsing as something wriggled beneath their skin. Then dagger like 43 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: mandibles burst from their flesh, ripping and tearing. The creature 44 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: tore its way free of the caterpillar's body and took 45 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: to the sky. When the scientists returned to the island, 46 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: they found it swarming with insects. Not beautiful butterflies, though, 47 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: but ugly stinging wasps. A large number of the caterpillars 48 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: had been infected with these parasite wasps. The eggs had 49 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: hatched inside the caterpillars' bodies, and the wasps had eaten 50 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: their way free, killing their hosts in the process. Naturally, 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the researchers were horrified they had botched the experiment and 52 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: released an invasive insect into the Finnish countryside. These wasps 53 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: were much stronger than the butterflies and had already spread 54 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: beyond the island. And it wasn't just one species that 55 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: they had to worry about. You see, many of the 56 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: wasps also contained an even smaller, more rare parasite wasp, 57 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: which in turn carried a rare form of bacteria that 58 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: hadn't previously existed in the area. Like a horrific set 59 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: of Russian nesting dolls, The tiny aliens would eventually burst 60 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: from their host's bodies. At this point, there was very 61 00:03:57,760 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: little that could be done. The cat was out of 62 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: the bag, or the wasp was out of the caterpillar, 63 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: so to speak. The researchers did eventually publish their findings, 64 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: offering their experiment as a warning about the risks of 65 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,800 Speaker 1: working with invasive species. There is a silver lining, though, 66 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: The few caterpillars that didn't get eaten from the inside 67 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: out thrived thirty years later. They're still on the island 68 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 1: along with those wasps. If you visit in the early summer, 69 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: you'll be greeted by a kaleidoscope of beautiful winged survivors. 70 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 1: Just be careful not to get stung. The whole problem 71 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: started back in seventeen oh eight off the coast of Cartania, Columbia, 72 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 1: where a massive ship docked in the harbor, one hundred 73 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: and twenty eight feet long, sporting three decks, three masts, 74 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: and sixty four guns. The san Jose was one of 75 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: Spain's largest galleons, and it was preparing to set sail 76 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: for the Motherland, laden with new world treasure. At the time, 77 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: Spain was in shambles. The King of Spain had died 78 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: without an air in seventeen hundred, launching the War of 79 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: Spanish Secession. On one side was the French. On the other, 80 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: the Austrians, Dutch, and the Holy Roman Empire, as well 81 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: as the British. Whoever controlled the Spanish Crown controlled the 82 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:27,359 Speaker 1: seas and the flow of commerce from the Americas, which 83 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: is why just before the san Jose set sail, a 84 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 1: dark shadow appeared on the horizon. It was a squadron 85 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: of British ships, there to capture the san Jose's treasure 86 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: for their own. In the ensuing shootouts, a cannon ball 87 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: accidentally hit the san Jose's store of powder and ammunitions. 88 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,799 Speaker 1: The ship exploded, sending the San Jose twenty billion dollars 89 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: worth of gold and jewels and six hundred souls to 90 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,479 Speaker 1: the bottom of the sea. For decades, the San Jose 91 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: sat forgotten under the waves. Its billion dollar treasure of gold, silver, 92 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,160 Speaker 1: and precious emeralds lay in wait for whoever was brave 93 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: enough to seek it out. At least that's how a 94 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 1: treasure hunt hill normally goes, But the story of the 95 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: San Jose doesn't end with some intrepid adventurers getting the 96 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: payday of their lives. Instead, the discovery of the San 97 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: Jose set off an international custody battle that's still raging today. 98 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,920 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty one, a US salvage company called Glacamora 99 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,600 Speaker 1: made the discovery of a lifetime. There, resting on the 100 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: seafloor outside Cartana was the remains of a massive Spanish galleon. 101 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: It was the San Jose, undisturbed for more than three 102 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 1: hundred years, with all its treasure inside. They quickly approached 103 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,640 Speaker 1: the Colombian government to strike a deal. They would work 104 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:46,359 Speaker 1: together to raise the wreck and then split the treasure 105 00:06:46,440 --> 00:06:49,520 Speaker 1: fifty to fifty. But the Colombians were not exactly happy 106 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: about the deal, and it quickly devolved into a drawn 107 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: out legal battle. In twenty fifteen, thirty five years after 108 00:06:56,440 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: the Glacamora's initial discovery, the Colombian government made announcement it 109 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: was them, and not the Americans, who had discovered the 110 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:07,480 Speaker 1: San Jose without any knowledge gleaned from the American expedition. 111 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: They had found the sunken ship on a different part 112 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: of the seafloor. The Colombians sent down a quake robots 113 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: to make images and confirm that it was the ship 114 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: in question. In their considered legal opinion, the Glacamora expedition 115 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: had no claim to the treasure. Now, if you're thinking 116 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: that this sounds like a convenient way to avoid sharing 117 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: the treasure, you would be right. But while this sneaky 118 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: move may have targeted the Americans, it also made way 119 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: for other entities to lay claim to the ship. First 120 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,360 Speaker 1: of all, there's Spain, the country who owned the galleon. Today, 121 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: they argue that if the British hadn't sunk the San 122 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: Jose in seventeen oh eight, all of that gold and 123 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: jewels would be sitting in the Royal treasury. So the 124 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: least that Colombia could do would be to return it. 125 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: But if they did that then they would interfere with 126 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: the indigenous people's claim. Native groups from Peru and Bolivia 127 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: argue that the treasure was stolen from their land by 128 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: the Spanish. It should be returned to its place of 129 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: origin as reparations for colonization. Colombia wanted to keep the 130 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: ship and its treasures, not to enrich the country, as 131 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: they say, but to educate the public. They plan to 132 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: raise the ship and house it in a museum. And 133 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: all of these plans you see, to raise the ship 134 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,960 Speaker 1: and redistribute its wealth go against what the archaeologists and 135 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,720 Speaker 1: the historians want. In their eyes, the wreck should be 136 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,239 Speaker 1: left as it is. The treasure and artifacts on board 137 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: give context to the ship as an archaeological site. Not 138 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: to mention the wreck is also a graveyard. Archaeologists argue 139 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: that six hundred souls who died in the sinking should 140 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 1: be left undisturbed where they are. Altogether, there's no easy 141 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: answer for what should happen to the San Jose. The 142 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: court case between the American salvage company and the Colombian 143 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: government has made its way to the International Court of 144 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,959 Speaker 1: Justice in the Hague. Between unclear maritime laws and confusion 145 00:08:56,040 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: over international jurisdiction, there's honestly no easy answer for who 146 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: gets the twenty billion dollar hoard. When it comes to 147 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: buried treasure, it turns out that long John Silver was wrong. 148 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: X may mark the spot, but it doesn't win in court. 149 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:17,439 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 150 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 151 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 152 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,600 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 153 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,959 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 154 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 155 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,199 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 156 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:46,280 Speaker 1: Worldoflore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.