Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature future production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host
Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology,
Speaker 1: and today on the show Pink Oh, the Fabulous Fuchions
Speaker 1: the prettiest pink found in nature. Pink is sometimes maligned
Speaker 1: as a frivolous color, but as we'll find out, nature
Speaker 1: takes its pink very seriously. From camouflage to ambush's, river
Speaker 1: battles and poison. We're taking a look at the dark
Speaker 1: side of pink. Discover this more as we answer the
Speaker 1: angel question should you stop to smell the flowers? Or
Speaker 1: stop before smelling the flowers? Joining me today is friend
Speaker 1: of the show, My friend, host of the podcast that Hey.
Speaker 1: I am also on co hosts one might say of
Speaker 1: secretly incredibly fascinating, secretly incredibly Alex Schmidt. Welcome.
Speaker 2: I think the color pink would be a good topic,
Speaker 2: and it's great to find out about it through animals
Speaker 2: right now. That's so exciting. Yeah, I'd always great to
Speaker 2: be here. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, we should do like a secretly incredibly fascinating
Speaker 1: all the color Pink movie.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's that thing I've heard from the internet. That
Speaker 2: it was once considered a boy's color before it was
Speaker 2: considered a girl's color, which is neat yea. And beyond that,
Speaker 2: I don't really know much about it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we should do it.
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep like just ambushing you with pitches
Speaker 1: for the show on live air, continually make you feel
Speaker 1: awkward about it.
Speaker 2: You should. Here's what you do when we look at
Speaker 2: each other on zoom. You get a bunch of like
Speaker 2: lamps set up right, and then the bulbs are pink tinted,
Speaker 2: and you have like pink gels, you know, and you
Speaker 2: just gradually increase the pinkness of the room. Yes, to
Speaker 2: incept me into saying, oh, a pink topic.
Speaker 3: Exception another Christopher Allan movie.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so this week, in honor of the Barbie movie,
Speaker 1: we are talking about the color pink. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: think either of us have seen the Barbie movie yet.
Speaker 1: I'm actually supposed to see it tonight, so I am
Speaker 1: very excited.
Speaker 3: Nice, So I'm going in.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen that, and I also haven't seen a pinkheimer.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 2: There we go.
Speaker 1: There we go, like a pink mushroom cloud from a
Speaker 1: horrible nuke. No, I've also not seen Oppenheimer. I'm planning
Speaker 1: actually to turn this into a bit of a Barbenheimer.
Speaker 1: Not this episode, but next episode I will talk about
Speaker 1: explosive animals, so get ready for that. But yes, so
Speaker 1: there will be no Barbie movie spoilers in this simply
Speaker 1: because I cannot because I do not know any spoilers.
Speaker 1: We're just talking about how pink is an underrated color
Speaker 1: in the animal kingdom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know of a lot of pink animals.
Speaker 2: I guess. I guess a flamingo jumps to mind. Yeah
Speaker 2: about it?
Speaker 1: Who were not talking about? Because that one's too obvious.
Speaker 1: So we are talking about animals that I'm hoping, well,
Speaker 1: you may have heard of a few of these, but
Speaker 1: I'm hoping some of them are at least new to you.
Speaker 1: So first, Alex, did you know if there is a
Speaker 1: tiny pink polka dotted horse that lives under the sea?
Speaker 2: No? That should that should have been the third movie
Speaker 2: in the triple feature.
Speaker 1: Here we go, you know, Yes, so there is a
Speaker 1: teeny tiny polka dot pink polka dot uh, teeny weeny
Speaker 1: sea horse called the Pigmy Sea Horse. And just look
Speaker 1: at this thing?
Speaker 2: So cute it does? It has like a baby horse face. Ye,
Speaker 2: if that makes sense, which is extra cute, very into it.
Speaker 1: It looks like my little pony version of a sea horse.
Speaker 1: It's very very cute.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: It is found in Southeast Asia, in the Coral Triangle area.
Speaker 1: And there are actually a few species of pygmy sea horses,
Speaker 1: all very tiny, all very cute, and some of them
Speaker 1: are pink. And they are about half an inch to
Speaker 1: an inch long or about fifteen to twenty five millimeters.
Speaker 1: Because they're so tiny inchnackable, they like to mimic the
Speaker 1: color and texture of the coral that they hide in.
Speaker 1: So when you look at a thing of coral, you
Speaker 1: may not be able to see these little guys, but
Speaker 1: they're in there, hidden away secretly.
Speaker 2: Even just the location the Coral Triangle is cute. I've
Speaker 2: never heard of that. Great. It sounds like it contains
Speaker 2: literally my little pony. Great, yeah, really good.
Speaker 1: It made up cartoon city for a little cartoon my
Speaker 1: little sea horse. And yeah, but they are so cute.
Speaker 1: They're very pink. They have these pink, bulbous polka dot
Speaker 1: So when I say polka dots, they're actually three dimensional
Speaker 1: polka dots because they're kind of bulbous, which helps them
Speaker 1: fit in with this coral that is very it's very bulbous,
Speaker 1: it's pink. But interestingly, some of these species of pigmy
Speaker 1: seahorses actually will change their color based on the coral
Speaker 1: that they live on. So a young pigmy seahorse will
Speaker 1: settle on some coral, it will sense the color of
Speaker 1: the coral, and over a few days they will alter
Speaker 1: their color and their texture to match the coral. So
Speaker 1: this means that the same species can come in a
Speaker 1: range of colors from red to orange to yellow to pink.
Speaker 2: So, oh man, there's a whole like rainbow of them.
Speaker 2: This the most forget a triple feature. I just want
Speaker 2: to see this movie instead of either of the famous ones. Right,
Speaker 2: come on? Even even the three dimensional polka dots look
Speaker 2: like the candy dots, which I've mostly had in movie theaters.
Speaker 1: Yeah they're so cool.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So, there are actually specialized pigment cells on their skin
Speaker 1: called chromatophores that allow them to change color. And it's
Speaker 1: not like an instant change. You know. Have you seen
Speaker 1: maybe octopus or cuttlefish be able to very quickly change
Speaker 1: their color. These are not that quick. It takes a
Speaker 1: few days for it to change color, but still it's
Speaker 1: really really interesting. And those bumpy, little like candy dot
Speaker 1: looking things are actually called tubercules, which sounds less appealing
Speaker 1: than candy dots, but yeah, they are fleshy projections that
Speaker 1: grow on their skin. And when you look at coral
Speaker 1: and you try to find these little guys, if you're
Speaker 1: not zoomed in on it, it is very difficult. They
Speaker 1: are very good at camouflage.
Speaker 2: Good for them. I expect nothing less from my favorite
Speaker 2: tiny sea horses. And if people though know, I'm mostly
Speaker 2: repulsed by most sea creatures, and I like this one.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean. This is a very cute
Speaker 2: sea creature.
Speaker 1: I found the friendliest looking sea creature that I could.
Speaker 2: For you, Alex, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of friendly creachy creachies, friendly creaties, spiders. I
Speaker 1: like spiders. I think they're cute. Most people, well, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess I don't know how many people
Speaker 1: don't think they're cute. I would assume most. But maybe
Speaker 1: maybe the world's turning around on spiders. Maybe we've got
Speaker 1: a spider revolution. But I want to talk about a
Speaker 1: spider who is so fashionable, very Barbie very pink and
Speaker 1: likes to match its outfit with flowers.
Speaker 2: Oh fantastic. That okay, Yeah, humans can't be the only ones.
Speaker 2: No makes sense.
Speaker 1: Look, humans love flowers, but so do so many other animals,
Speaker 1: and they also like to match their fashion with flowers. So.
Speaker 1: Tamysis onustus is a spider also known as a crab
Speaker 1: spider or flower crab spider, found in Eurasia. It's pretty small.
Speaker 1: It's only about seven to eleven millimeters, which is under
Speaker 1: half an inch big. So if you're scared of spiders,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a.
Speaker 3: Little one, not.
Speaker 5: Menacing.
Speaker 2: I have I have a creative note for this species, yes,
Speaker 2: which is flower crab spider, much stronger than crab spider.
Speaker 2: Just switch to that, like it's are you kind of
Speaker 2: broke up? It's like dropping the the off of Facebook, Like,
Speaker 2: just switch to flower crab spider. Don't don't leave that
Speaker 2: crab spider branding laying around as an option. Flower crab
Speaker 2: is one hundred times nicer and more marketable. That's my
Speaker 2: note in this, like Silicon Valley Cafe or whatever. I'm
Speaker 2: justin Timberlake in the movie The Social Network. Now, yeh,
Speaker 2: add the flower instead of drop the.
Speaker 1: Flower crab spider. Yeah, it is, thank you for marketing.
Speaker 1: This kind of the most important part of this spiders.
Speaker 1: I think spiders do just need more marketing and fewer
Speaker 1: people would be afraid of them. So flower crab spiders.
Speaker 2: Crab spiders sounds like just one hundred stabby points. Yeah,
Speaker 2: the flower crab spider. It sounds like a lady with
Speaker 2: an orchid in her hair. You know, way better.
Speaker 1: You know, It's funny because like, crab spiders are actually
Speaker 1: typically very pretty, very beautiful. There's in I don't know,
Speaker 1: I find find them quite appealing. They're they're not nearly
Speaker 1: as menacing as you would think that they are. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: they are found in Eurasia. They actually live in a
Speaker 1: symbiotic relationship with flowers, so they will feed on insects
Speaker 1: that can harm the flower. They also benefit from the
Speaker 1: flower because the flower attracts insects and this spider crab, sorry,
Speaker 1: this crab spider can actually eat those insects, and if
Speaker 1: they can't find any insects to eat, they can sip
Speaker 1: on the nectar of the flowers. So they benefit the
Speaker 1: flower by protecting it, and the flower benefits them by
Speaker 1: providing them with food, and just like the pygmy seahorse
Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier, they can detect the color
Speaker 1: of the flower that they've chosen as their home, and
Speaker 1: over the course of a few days, they can actually
Speaker 1: change their color to match the flower. So it is amazing.
Speaker 1: So this also means that this species can come in
Speaker 1: a variety of different colors, from pink to yellow, to
Speaker 1: kind of orange colors to sort of purple colors. But yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of them are pink because there are a
Speaker 1: lot of pink flowers.
Speaker 2: That's and that's so Barbie to me, Like not just
Speaker 2: being pink, but making the active choice of pink and
Speaker 2: selecting it and making it your thing. That's very very Barbie.
Speaker 2: Good job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's very Barbie, very Barbie. I having not seen
Speaker 1: the Barbie movie, I assume the conclusion is that we
Speaker 1: should all be wearing pink, and I think that is
Speaker 1: what Greta Garowig is probably aiming for. That, like, pink
Speaker 1: is a great color that we should all choose to wear.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's taken aside in the I don't know Pantone
Speaker 2: Wars or paint story decisions. I don't know where these
Speaker 2: color fights are happening, but I have in favor of
Speaker 2: her taking a stand.
Speaker 1: Very brave, just full on fist fights in the paint
Speaker 1: aisle of lows.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So, not only can they change the pigmentation and structure
Speaker 1: of their cells to change their color in a way
Speaker 1: that is visible to humans, they can also change the
Speaker 1: ultraviolet light that they reflect to match their flower. Thus
Speaker 1: they are actually camouflaged for birds and other insects that
Speaker 1: see UV lights.
Speaker 3: So they have.
Speaker 1: Completely matched their flower both in the visible spectrum for
Speaker 1: humans and the UV spectrum for birds and other insects.
Speaker 1: And this is very important because they don't want to
Speaker 1: get eaten by birds and they want to eat insects,
Speaker 1: so being invisible to birds and insects provides them both
Speaker 1: with protection and the ability to ambush an unsuspecting bug
Speaker 1: who comes to a flower thinking it's gonna get a
Speaker 1: nice snack but then becomes a snack.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, this okay, So it does have the powers
Speaker 2: of the movie character the Predator. Yes, which has always
Speaker 2: needed a Barbie extension. We have all felt, We've all
Speaker 2: known this, Why fight alien when you can fight or
Speaker 2: team up with Barbie? And I think I think we
Speaker 2: finally achieved it.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 1: Gosh, a pink predator would look so fly. I love that.
Speaker 1: I really love that for him. Yeah, her, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure I guess them. I don't. I don't want to
Speaker 1: the predator. It's never explicitly said what gender the predator is,
Speaker 1: but yes, I love that for the predator.
Speaker 2: Right, the predator is a spectrum. We all know this.
Speaker 1: Oh man, a pink A pink predator would be just
Speaker 1: so boss. I love that. So we're going to take
Speaker 1: a quick break and when we return, we are going
Speaker 1: to talk about an animal who is pink. Seems like
Speaker 1: it comes straight from a Lisa Frank notebook, but it's
Speaker 1: incredibly metal.
Speaker 3: We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: So we are back, and uh, do you remember Lisa
Speaker 1: Frank and all of those colorful notebooks back? And I
Speaker 1: want to say the nineties was when that was the
Speaker 1: main era of Lisa Frank of course, the artist who
Speaker 1: made those beautiful rainbow colored notebooks with really bright colors,
Speaker 1: lots of cute animals rainbows, pandas, puppies and dolphins and horses.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't possess them, but I had classmates who did.
Speaker 2: And you can't miss them. If anyone in your class
Speaker 2: has one, you'll notice. And yeah, and I like was
Speaker 2: happy for them. I didn't. I think I knew some
Speaker 2: guys who were like, oh, that's girly, but like it
Speaker 2: was just fine, it was cool. Yeah, it was just
Speaker 2: it was.
Speaker 1: Just colorful animals. I don't understand. I don't understand how
Speaker 1: colorful animals is girly, but you know, sure, fine, I'm
Speaker 1: happy to claim that. I'm happy to claim all the
Speaker 1: colorful animals and keep them for myself.
Speaker 2: It's a big win for girls.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, exactly, Like only girls like ponies and dolphins.
Speaker 1: It's like, dude, we get horses and dolphins. Wow, all right, fine,
Speaker 1: leaving it on the table.
Speaker 3: We'll take them.
Speaker 2: Ice cream is for girls. Okay, thank you, take cookies.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So there is actually, in reality a pink dolphin,
Speaker 1: and not just one pink dolphin, but a whole species
Speaker 1: of pink dolphins.
Speaker 2: Wow. Okay, oh yeah, I'm seeing the picture here. Wow, yep,
Speaker 2: it's just pink. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It turns out that Lisa Frank is not making up
Speaker 1: pink dolphins. Pink dolphins exist. These are the Amazon River
Speaker 1: dolphins found of course, can you guess.
Speaker 2: Where Amazon River dolphins. Let's say the Amazon River, Alex,
Speaker 2: you're so smart.
Speaker 1: Yes, they are found in the Amazon River. They grow
Speaker 1: to become pink as they mature into adults. Males are
Speaker 1: pinker than females. Take that status quo, the idea that
Speaker 1: pink is a girl color and not a boy colored.
Speaker 1: Dolphins do not see it that way. Pink is very
Speaker 1: much more of a Females do get a little pink
Speaker 1: on them, but males are far more pink.
Speaker 2: That I know. We were joking about where is it
Speaker 2: located with the Amazon River, but I still kind of
Speaker 2: wanted to say, Miami. This is a Miami energy. To me,
Speaker 2: it's in the water. It's bold, it's just out there
Speaker 2: being itself. It feels like the opposite of camouflage somehow.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's great, Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 2: It has real speedboat energy. You know, it's good.
Speaker 1: It does definitely look like an inflatable pool toy, but
Speaker 1: it's a you know, it's not a friendly inflatable pool
Speaker 1: toy because the reason that their pink is actually very
Speaker 1: metal as their skin is worn down, so they actually
Speaker 1: start out gray when their babies, when they're juveniles, they're gray,
Speaker 1: but as they get a number of abrasions through kind
Speaker 1: of knocking around, rough housing, even fighting with each other.
Speaker 1: These abrasions form this scar tissue. So they, you know,
Speaker 1: form the scar tissue very easily, which turns pink. And
Speaker 1: so this is the reason that males tend to be
Speaker 1: pinker than females is that males are more aggressive. They
Speaker 1: rough house, they fight more often, and so they have
Speaker 1: built up this layer of battle pink.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Perfect, Now we have the competitor of the spider
Speaker 2: crab predator. Couldn't even say its name. I'm so terrified
Speaker 2: it can battle the battle pink.
Speaker 3: Dolphins battle pink.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought this. I I don't know if I'm
Speaker 1: exactly right about this, but I thought that pink was
Speaker 1: considered a boy's color at some point, because pink was
Speaker 1: considered just the younger version of red and red was
Speaker 1: a manly color because red is blood and blood is
Speaker 1: in war, and war is for boys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does make as much sense as any cultural
Speaker 2: belief about gender and colors of the spectrum because all
Speaker 2: the colors are for everybody. It's sort of like Lisa Frank,
Speaker 2: fundamentally it's for everybody, and so sure that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Victorians who I believe.
Speaker 1: Picked that sounds like trying to turn our kids into dolphins.
Speaker 2: That's true, that's just straight up true. That's my main issue.
Speaker 2: But made gold.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so actually male.
Speaker 2: Dogar do I get on purpose? Anyway? Go on, go on.
Speaker 1: So one of the theories is that really pink male
Speaker 1: dolphins are attractive females because it shows that they are
Speaker 1: battle tested, which you know, it's like this is being
Speaker 1: pink is like being a sort of a scarred up
Speaker 1: Viking in the dolphin world. So you know, gosh, now
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of pink Vikings and I love that too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that would have been good. Why not?
Speaker 3: Why not?
Speaker 1: Just like, can you imagine a pink, pink beard with
Speaker 1: all the little like braids in it, pink helmet. I
Speaker 1: know they didn't wear little horned helmets, but can you
Speaker 1: imagine a pink one.
Speaker 3: That'd be fun.
Speaker 2: In the in the sitcom, they had a bunch of
Speaker 2: white gear and then one red sock got into the laundry.
Speaker 2: There you go, you know, and they're like, I can't
Speaker 2: believe we have to sack a monastery looking like this. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we feel so silly.
Speaker 1: But then it becomes the most feared color in the
Speaker 1: whole Nordic seas.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they learned from one of their victims. Don't worry,
Speaker 2: You're still cool. And they have a heart worming moment.
Speaker 2: But also it's a Viking raid on a monastery. That's
Speaker 2: just history for you.
Speaker 3: This is true history.
Speaker 1: And yes, so pink dolphins are basically the battle scarred
Speaker 1: Vikings of the dolphin world. So another pink South American
Speaker 1: animal is the roseate spoonbill bird, found in the southern
Speaker 1: parts of North America as well as in South America.
Speaker 1: It is beautiful. I actually think it is in some
Speaker 1: ways more gloriously pink than the flamingo. It is a
Speaker 1: just fantastic looking bird.
Speaker 2: It is. I last time I was at a zoo,
Speaker 2: they had a lot of flamingos and they are paler
Speaker 2: than you think in your imagination and in your mental picture,
Speaker 2: flamingos are sort of a pastal almost, And this spoon
Speaker 2: bill is really bold. Yes, it's got the Lisa Frank
Speaker 2: going It has.
Speaker 1: Got the Lisa Frank look going on. They live in
Speaker 1: both fresh and salt water in coastal regions, and like
Speaker 1: the flamingo, their pink coloration is from their diet, which
Speaker 1: is high in carotenoids, so these are found in abundance
Speaker 1: in crustaceans, insects, plants, and mollusks. The spoon bil will
Speaker 1: also feed on frogs, fish, and newts, so it'll pretty
Speaker 1: much eat anything it can get in its spoon bill
Speaker 1: that is small enough and slurpable enough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that seems technically difficult, like trying to pick up
Speaker 2: a frog with a spoon. I know it's different, but
Speaker 2: also in my head it's not so wow, very impressive.
Speaker 1: But imagine if the spoon was tongs like sort of
Speaker 1: a salad, you know, like those salad tossers.
Speaker 3: It's like a spoon.
Speaker 1: I guess there's also a fork on it tongs, So
Speaker 1: now you go, okay, it's a yeah, a tongue bill.
Speaker 1: It should be called the tongue bill, come on, guys,
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's called the spoon bill because of its long,
Speaker 1: spoon shaped bill. It's body shape overall looks kind of
Speaker 1: like a heron, except for this flat, long spoon like bill.
Speaker 1: Its neck is a little thicker than a heron perhaps,
Speaker 1: And of course it has beautiful bright pink feathers. And
Speaker 1: they use that spoon bill by kind of swishing it
Speaker 1: side to side in the water, catching and filtering prey
Speaker 1: through that spatula like structure, and just they look absolutely
Speaker 1: fabulous doing it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. The other day I saw a heron take off,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's like beholding an angel. I would
Speaker 2: really like to see a spoon bill take off. Now,
Speaker 2: that would be great. An angel with a big I'll
Speaker 2: probably go look it up.
Speaker 1: An angel with tongues for a face, honestly, still more
Speaker 1: majestic in ethereal than the Biblical description of angels being
Speaker 1: just eyeballs and wings. Eyeballs and wings.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no tongues, no pink. Come on, come on, Bible,
Speaker 2: let's punch this up. I have notes for the flower
Speaker 2: crab spider, and I have notes for I guess revelation
Speaker 2: is where they do a lot of the angel descriptions. Anyway,
Speaker 2: there we go.
Speaker 1: If a biblical angel came to me with its hundreds
Speaker 1: of eyes and wings and stuff and said be not afraid,
Speaker 1: I'd still be afraid. Whereas if an angel came to
Speaker 1: me and it had a big old spoon force it
Speaker 1: was like being not afraid.
Speaker 3: I'd be like, no, dude, I'm not afraid. You're great.
Speaker 1: Just a little note, just a little like, you know,
Speaker 1: constructive critique for the Bible, like pressing.
Speaker 2: The button on some kind of home security system and
Speaker 2: then realizing this will still be a difficult call. I
Speaker 2: don't know how to explain this with the Hope security people.
Speaker 1: Well, we are going to take a quick break, and
Speaker 1: when we come back, we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: a beautiful Barbie with legs for literally days. Alex, what
Speaker 1: if we took a millipede and made it fashion? Huh?
Speaker 2: What if?
Speaker 1: What if?
Speaker 2: What if we do it?
Speaker 1: Let's do it? So Uh. There is a millipede that
Speaker 1: is very real and very much exists, called the shocking
Speaker 1: pink dragon millipede, also known as Desmoxides proposia. It's actually
Speaker 1: pretty new on the books. It was first documented in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven. That doesn't mean it's when it
Speaker 1: was discovered. Is the first time it's sort of been
Speaker 1: documented in modern biology.
Speaker 2: That's I'm seeing a picture of this that's astounding. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's a very visible insect.
Speaker 1: It's very visible. It's very very pink, extremely pink, one
Speaker 1: might say, shockingly pink.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like if we discovered Barbie last year. And
Speaker 2: that's what's the movie's about. Like, it's an Indiana Jones
Speaker 2: style pick sure about can you believe we found an
Speaker 2: entire pink dream house? Like I think we would have
Speaker 2: found this sooner, but okay, sure.
Speaker 1: I like the idea that this is a primordial Barbie,
Speaker 1: like Barbie goes through stages of evolution to reach Barbie hood,
Speaker 1: and this is just this looks like the primordial billion
Speaker 1: year old Barbie. And it's both horrifying and very fashionable.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like the first Barbie dream boat grows wheels to
Speaker 2: walk on land as a dream car. You know, it's
Speaker 2: some kind of weird Cronenberg evolution. I like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is like if Cronenberg directed the Barbie movie,
Speaker 1: which honestly that might be good.
Speaker 3: That might be real good.
Speaker 1: So this beautiful we.
Speaker 2: Should have titled the Barbie movie Crimes from the Future.
Speaker 2: That would make sense. That would be a fun different.
Speaker 1: Title for it, fashion Crimes from the Future. So this
Speaker 1: shocking pink dragon millipede. And I'm not adding I'm not
Speaker 1: the one adding in the shocking pink that is in
Speaker 1: its name shocking pink dragon millipede. It lives in the
Speaker 1: Utaite then I Province in Thailand. It's found in forest
Speaker 1: just kind of lurking among the leaf litter floor. Apparently
Speaker 1: they emerge in the rain like some kind of glorious
Speaker 1: fashion show that happens, except that it's a little bit creepy.
Speaker 2: I'm meant to that. I have oddly begun reading about
Speaker 2: fancy French fashion shows by like top designers, and there
Speaker 2: tends to be some really elaborate staging that you would
Speaker 2: never know about without reading about it. So this makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 2: some kind of waterfall effects and the theming, yeah into it.
Speaker 1: Well, fashion Week, call me when your fashion show has
Speaker 1: a bunch of leaf litter in your models, like crawl
Speaker 1: out of the leaf litter with so many legs, then
Speaker 1: I'll pay attention. So this millipede is not just beautifully
Speaker 1: fashionable with over fifty long, slender pink legs, it is
Speaker 1: also covered in menacing pink spikes. It's punk. It's pink.
Speaker 1: It's pink punk.
Speaker 2: It's truly it's cartoon colored, like it's brighter than this
Speaker 2: spoon bill. I feel like we've increased the saturation of
Speaker 2: the pink as we've spoken, which is great. As I
Speaker 2: looked down our various photos of animals, it just keeps
Speaker 2: getting more Barbie it keeps getting more Angeline if people
Speaker 2: know that La reference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm at the Angeline. I'm at the Barbie Show.
Speaker 1: I'm at the hot topic Angeline Barbie Show combination.
Speaker 2: And then you need special protective sunglasses like the Oppenheimer
Speaker 2: characters to look at it. It's too pink, too bright.
Speaker 1: You may also want some Oppenheimer protection from this because
Speaker 1: not only is it fabulous, it is very dangerous to eat.
Speaker 1: It is toxic. So it produces a toxic hydrogen cyanide
Speaker 1: compound and a series of glands which are very very
Speaker 1: toxic when eaten. And so this pink coloration is not
Speaker 1: just so it can show up to a Barbie premiere
Speaker 1: looking the best. It is so other animals won't eat
Speaker 1: it because they look at that. And that is a
Speaker 1: back off pink. This is a I am toxic. You
Speaker 1: don't want any of this pink. It's kind of I mean,
Speaker 1: it's the pink that Britney Spears was serving in her
Speaker 1: Toxic music video.
Speaker 2: Oh right, yes, yeah, it's almost exactly that outfit and
Speaker 2: maybe texture. As I look at it, it really wow,
Speaker 2: this is just a Britney Spears bug. That's good.
Speaker 1: Yeah, cool, It really is pink punk, and I love
Speaker 1: her for this. This millipede. She she is as the
Speaker 1: kids say, serving it. I think that's what the kids say.
Speaker 1: I think they say serving. I think they say. They
Speaker 1: might still say fire.
Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: But don't serve this bug at dinner.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, because you'll get very sick. So yeah,
Speaker 1: this actually apparently they kind of smell like almonds, which again,
Speaker 1: like she's peak and she's got almond perfume and she's
Speaker 1: covered in spikes. But the almond perfume is deadly because
Speaker 1: cyanide has a slight almond sweet almondy smell. It's kind
Speaker 1: of a bit it's definitely bitter tasting. You don't want
Speaker 1: to eat it. But yeah, apparently it kind of smells
Speaker 1: a little bit like almonds. And so yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: When you have a warning coloration, that is also known
Speaker 1: as a possimitism. So maybe we've got Barbie all wrong.
Speaker 1: Maybe the pink coloration is telling you don't eat the barbie.
Speaker 1: It's full of cyanide.
Speaker 2: Warning, do not play. Warning warning.
Speaker 1: I have heard that Mattel is incredibly lutigious. So just
Speaker 1: for the record, barbies do not contain cyanide. They are
Speaker 1: safe to play with and maybe eat No, don't eat them.
Speaker 1: I take that back, don't eat them.
Speaker 2: Just a lot of pink lawyers are going to descend
Speaker 2: on both our locations. That's how it goes.
Speaker 1: Just everyone is from Everyone is l from Legally Blonde
Speaker 1: covered in pink, just absolutely bankrupting me to the point
Speaker 1: of ruin, but in pink with pink.
Speaker 3: So it's fine.
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, she would either extremely work for them or
Speaker 2: be some kind of opposing force who's there, Like, like,
Speaker 2: I feel like l would work for the firm up Mattel.
Speaker 2: And then there's some kind of villain speech in the
Speaker 2: middle of the movie where Mattel says, we're not so different,
Speaker 2: you and I, and you see like, oh, that's kind
Speaker 2: of true. They both wear pink.
Speaker 1: That's true, we're both wearing pink.
Speaker 2: Buttel is also like German or Blowfeld for some reason.
Speaker 2: But I'm into it.
Speaker 1: Cool. Yeah, I feel like Elle from Legally Blonde would
Speaker 1: note the slight difference in shades of pink that they're
Speaker 1: wearing to prove that they are actually different. But yes,
Speaker 1: you're right, she would.
Speaker 2: Definitely be ooh, damn you woods, damn you. And and
Speaker 2: she's holding swatches, and you just can't disagree. She's right,
Speaker 2: She's right, She's got the swatches.
Speaker 1: Reese Witherspoon, German matel Witherspoon, you want to get in
Speaker 1: back into the movie game. I mean, she's she's still
Speaker 1: back in the movie game. She's never left the movie game.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying, call us, you want to be in
Speaker 1: another another one of those legally blonde movies. We got
Speaker 1: the script already for you. Yeah. I just thought of
Speaker 1: between taping this and release. Oh what Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 2: Bill Oh, and I have gotten to see her take off.
Speaker 2: She is nailing it. Proud of you, Reeese, good job.
Speaker 1: Alrighty, Well, before we go, Alex, we got a play
Speaker 1: a little game. You like games, Alex, you like games?
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, this is the best game in podcasting. Here
Speaker 2: we go.
Speaker 1: This game is called Guess Who's Squawking? The Mystery Animal's
Speaker 1: Own Game. Every week we play a mystery a sound
Speaker 1: and you, the listener, and you the guests, tried to
Speaker 1: guess who is making that sound. It can be any
Speaker 1: animal in the wild, in the entire wild, and the
Speaker 1: oceans in the world, and the sky on the land,
Speaker 1: and the trees and the mountains Waywhere what do you
Speaker 1: want from?
Speaker 2: Let's bring back in the.
Speaker 1: So I always provide a hint because I am so
Speaker 1: so nice. Last week's mystery animal sound hint was this
Speaker 1: start your engines, fellas. This speedster is rubbing up but
Speaker 1: running is not exactly what's on his.
Speaker 5: Mind, Alex, did you hear that beautiful sound?
Speaker 2: I did, and from the hint, I feel like, no legs.
Speaker 2: So sorry, shocking pick millipede, It's not you, You're out? Is
Speaker 2: it some kind of I'm imagining those elephant seals with
Speaker 2: the big things on their faces that help them make noise.
Speaker 2: Is it.
Speaker 1: That's a good guess. Yeah, it's wrong, but it's a
Speaker 1: good guess.
Speaker 2: I got that feeling. That's okay.
Speaker 1: So I feel like perhaps I have misled you with
Speaker 1: my clue because not only does it have legs, it
Speaker 1: has some of the most impressive of legs in the
Speaker 1: animal kingdom. Because this is the booming call of a
Speaker 1: male ostrich who is very turned on. Congratulations to Auntie
Speaker 1: Me and Joey B who both guessed correctly.
Speaker 2: Cool.
Speaker 1: Wow, this is specifically the call of the male ostrich.
Speaker 1: Females do not make this call, and he is doing
Speaker 1: it because he sees a lady he is trying to impress.
Speaker 1: So ostriches are incredibly impressive runners. They may be flightless,
Speaker 1: but it can go over forty miles per hour around,
Speaker 1: which is around seventy kilometers per hour. They are the
Speaker 1: fastest terrestrial bird. So males will offer this booming call
Speaker 1: to attract females.
Speaker 3: But that's not it.
Speaker 1: Their mating ritual is fascinating and intricate and very silly.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I'll bet they're already ninety nine percent silly
Speaker 2: looking as it is, so the mating has got to
Speaker 2: be funnier.
Speaker 1: So the male will make this like call until he
Speaker 1: has attracted the attention of a female. But that's not
Speaker 1: good enough for her. She wants to test his metal,
Speaker 1: and so she will lead him on a ceremonial chase
Speaker 1: where she runs away from him and he chases her.
Speaker 1: Now this is he's not actually chasing her in aggressive manner,
Speaker 1: and she's still in control of the situation. Even though
Speaker 1: it might look like she's running away from him and
Speaker 1: he's chasing her. It is more of a ritual, and
Speaker 1: she will see if he can keep up with her
Speaker 1: to make sure he has good stamina and is a
Speaker 1: fit prime male. So she will slow down and maybe
Speaker 1: she's interested, maybe she's not. But to try to really
Speaker 1: seal the deal, the male will unfold his wings and
Speaker 1: perform a sexy dance for her. He'll get on his knees,
Speaker 1: which his knees are kind of actually his ankles like
Speaker 1: what we look at and seems like backwards knees our ankles,
Speaker 1: and its knees are like further up.
Speaker 3: But he will get down.
Speaker 1: Lift his wings up and kind of flap them consecutively,
Speaker 1: like doing a little bit of the wave, and he
Speaker 1: will roll his head and his neck around and around.
Speaker 1: It's a very impressive dance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it sounds like it. This is great, and it is.
Speaker 1: It's funny because it isn't very clearly a sensual dance.
Speaker 1: I feel like sometimes when you see a mating dance
Speaker 1: from an animal, you're like, that doesn't seem sexy. This
Speaker 1: one is like, yeah, he's trying to do a sexy dance.
Speaker 3: For sure.
Speaker 2: It sounds like the dance it says that a lot
Speaker 2: of human guys do when they're just trying stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like, what if I get down like
Speaker 2: this and wiggle like this. You just see him try
Speaker 2: it on the floor at a wedding or something, and
Speaker 2: they're like, look, we're all getting creative, we're all experimenting,
Speaker 2: and I'm into it.
Speaker 3: Great, I'm doing the Ostrich.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a little funny, especially because they have such
Speaker 1: glorious fanlike feathers they look it looks a little bit burlesque,
Speaker 1: to be honest, which is great. And he'll also do
Speaker 1: these cute little trots to impress the female where he's
Speaker 1: holding his little wings out well big wings really, and
Speaker 1: fluttering his feathers and does this like cute little like
Speaker 1: tippy tap trot. It is the most dainty looking thing,
Speaker 1: and it's incredibly cute. If the female is impressed, she'll
Speaker 1: actually sort of flutter her wings in a seductive fashion
Speaker 1: and then they will mate. So it is quite a
Speaker 1: charming and cute mating ritual that these do. It's I
Speaker 1: would definitely look up a video of Ostrich mating ritual.
Speaker 1: It's it's very good.
Speaker 2: I like that. The female part is to my human mind,
Speaker 2: so much more normal. Yeah, like one wing flutter. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that makes total sense. That's how I assume all birds
Speaker 2: express attraction. And then the guy is like step seven
Speaker 2: as I waggle my wings in a different angle. It's
Speaker 2: just really wild and weird.
Speaker 1: Great, it's like just doing the worm. It's doing the
Speaker 1: robot like like wiggling, gyrating everything, working up a sweat
Speaker 1: out of breath, and the female just kind of gives
Speaker 1: the equivalent of like thumbs up.
Speaker 3: Good job.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, like good job doing seventeen different Ostrich fortnight
Speaker 4: dances that are also sexual.
Speaker 2: I will briefly assent good.
Speaker 1: Oh man, such a try hard, poor tryhard Ostrich. Well,
Speaker 1: Alex onto this week's misery animal sound. The hint is this,
Speaker 1: don't get too cocky. You may have to think further
Speaker 1: back to get this one right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so Alex.
Speaker 1: Can you guess who is making.
Speaker 3: That sound that was?
Speaker 2: I appreciate your hint because it sounds like a reaster,
Speaker 2: but from your hint, think farther back. Well, And people
Speaker 2: have encouraged us to do a stuff about chickens. I
Speaker 2: don't mean to keep breaking up set. Oh yeah, please
Speaker 2: don't bring briefly looking at chickens.
Speaker 1: Bring up our other podcasts that we're on secretly incredibly fascinating.
Speaker 1: It sure would be a shame if people checked out
Speaker 1: our other podcast called Yeah Secretly incredibly fascinating.
Speaker 2: But so I'm gonna say some sort of is.
Speaker 1: My guess, Alex, you are absolutely correct, but I am
Speaker 1: going to bleep you out. People will know that you
Speaker 1: are correct, but they won't know what you said, so
Speaker 1: you get all of the smugness without the spoiler.
Speaker 2: Oh sick. This is the best best of all worlds
Speaker 2: for me and you folks keep playing play.
Speaker 1: Hot and you get to keep guessing. If you want
Speaker 1: to guess, you can send me an email at Creature
Speaker 1: Feature Pod at gmail dot com. I will reward the
Speaker 1: three fastest guessers with the best reward of all time.
Speaker 1: I say your name on the podcast and I'd be like,
Speaker 1: good job. Uh. Isn't that worth more than money? You know,
Speaker 1: a moment of me saying like good job thumbs up
Speaker 1: by yes. Uh. Please do send me your guesses, and
Speaker 1: of course, if you have animal related questions, you can
Speaker 1: only send them to me at Creature featurepot at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. As well, I will occasionally do listener questions episodes,
Speaker 1: and if you write me a question, I might read
Speaker 1: it on the show and if you're lucky even answer it.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Alex, thank you so much for coming on today. I
Speaker 1: wonder where people can find you.
Speaker 2: It's always the best. And I don't know if we've
Speaker 2: mentioned Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, which is a podcast that I've thrilled.
Speaker 2: Katie Golden co host with me every week I do,
Speaker 2: and it's it's just a blast. If you search Secretly
Speaker 2: in your podcast app, it comes up, it's the red
Speaker 2: one Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. It's just it's just the best time.
Speaker 1: It's a podcast that I am on and I guess
Speaker 1: Alex tool but it's really good and you should check
Speaker 1: it out.
Speaker 3: And we talk about things.
Speaker 1: And the best part is I don't do the research.
Speaker 1: I sit back and let Alex do all the work.
Speaker 1: But I'm there and I say.
Speaker 2: Things, and you know so much from my other things
Speaker 2: making this shows it makes it. It's just been such
Speaker 2: a rich experience to get to make it with you
Speaker 2: every week and been a blast. And Katie was on
Speaker 2: like the first ever taping, which became the second episode
Speaker 2: about cattle. She's there from early on too.
Speaker 1: That's right. I was in on the ground floor of
Speaker 1: the SIF Empire. That's that's it was a worthwhile investment.
Speaker 1: But yes, do check that out enjoy the Bobby movie.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna see it, see if this episode is even relevant.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then next week it all goes to planned.
Speaker 2: Did you did you pronounce b like the Australian slang
Speaker 2: fire b the Bobby.
Speaker 1: Like Barbara Barbraster I sand kind of thing, but it
Speaker 1: could also be Australian. I see where you're going with that.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 1: But yes, next week we'll do we'll we'll do one
Speaker 1: in honor of Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer Oppenheimer. Uh. You know that
Speaker 1: one will certainly be lighthearted and fun. But yeah, well
Speaker 1: we'll talk. Well, well, I'll figure out some connections between
Speaker 1: animals and explosions that are bad.
Speaker 2: I'll bet that I'll be more positive about the atomic bomb.
Speaker 2: So that's gonna be a fun episode. It's gonna be good.
Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee that they will be less depressing
Speaker 1: than the atomic bomb, almost guarantee it. Well, I will
Speaker 1: catch you next week. Thank you guys so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the show and you leave a rating
Speaker 1: or review, I read every single rating. Wait, I read reviews,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate ratings, and they really do help out
Speaker 1: the podcast. Thanks to these Space Classics for their super
Speaker 1: awesome song x Alumina. Creature Feature is a production of
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio Network. If you want to listen to more
Speaker 1: podcasts like the one you're just heard, this is the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio w ap Apple podcast or Here's what wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite show.
Speaker 3: I don't care, I don't judge.
Speaker 1: Enjoy, Enjoy the movies, Enjoy them, Enjoy the Barbie movie
Speaker 1: in Phoenix Wednesday,