1 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:17,759 Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 3 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: and today on the show, it's another listener Questions episode. 4 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: You can write to me your questions at Creature Featurepod 5 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: at gmail dot com and I will do my best 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: to answer them. So let's get right into this comfy 7 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:40,240 Speaker 1: and cozy listener Questions episode. First question, According to Matt 8 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: Simon's Plight of the Living Dead, half of all animal 9 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: species are parasites. How have parasites become so successful? And 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: what role do they play in healthy ecosystems? Thanks Michael D. 11 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 1: From Sacramento. Hey Michael, thank you for your question. So 12 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: first I wanted to check on this whether it is 13 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: true that half of all animals are parasites, and it 14 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: seems roughly accurate. I've seen about forty percent being a 15 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: number kind of bandied about, but I think it's a 16 00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: little bit tricky to get an exact proportion. One thing 17 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: is that number of species is somewhat subjective, like do 18 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: you count subspecies? How closely related are the different parasite 19 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: species and so on, And of course biomass would be 20 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: quite difficult to calculate as well, but I think the 21 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: point still stands. There are a ton of parasites out there, 22 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: perhaps more than we would be comfortable acknowledging. So to 23 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 1: understand why there are so many different species of parasites, 24 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: I think we should go over all the different kinds 25 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: of parasites that are out there, because not all parasites 26 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: follow the flea sucking blood type model for parasitism. So 27 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: the flea type like the flea sucking your blood, is 28 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: an example of an ectoparasite. Ectoparasites live on the external 29 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,600 Speaker 1: body of their host, and they feed on their host's blood, skin, 30 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: or other important bodily components in a way that is 31 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: detrimental to the host. And endoparasite is similar, but it 32 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: lives inside the host. So an example would be a tapeworm. 33 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,520 Speaker 1: It feeds on the blood supply, flesh fluids, things that 34 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: are inside the host's body which the host needs. Remember, 35 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: parasites are necessarily by definition harmful to their hosts. It 36 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: is a form of symbiosis in which the parasite harms 37 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: the host in order to benefit itself. So another type 38 00:02:54,280 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: of parasite are the parasitoids. So parasitoids live on or 39 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: in their host. But the difference between a parasitoid and 40 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: another parasite is that parasitoids end up necessarily killing their host. 41 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: So an example is basically any number of species of 42 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:20,080 Speaker 1: parasitoid wasp who will lay her eggs on a host, 43 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: and those eggs hatch either on or inside of the host, 44 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: and the larva will eat the host until it is dead. 45 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:36,200 Speaker 1: Like the parasitoid wasp that attacks orb weaver spiders, these 46 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: larva will live on the orb weaver, slowly drinking their 47 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: fluids until the orb weaver is dead. So a parasite 48 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: that accidentally kills their host does not count as a parasitoid. 49 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: So say you have a really bad tapeworm, you get 50 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 1: really sick, and you die. The tapeworm is not a parasitoid. 51 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: It's just a parasite. It's not obligatory for the tapeworm 52 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: to kill you, but parasitoids necessarily consume their host. Parasitoids 53 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: can be ectoparasites, endo parasites, or in some cases, the 54 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: host can be paralyzed, dragged back to a din, and 55 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 1: slowly eaten over the course of hours, days, or even months. 56 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: In fact, some parasitoids will specifically target non essential organs 57 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:37,559 Speaker 1: first so that the host species lives longer. This gives 58 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: them more opportunity to eat flesh that is not rotting, 59 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,919 Speaker 1: that is fresh, So parasitoids blur the line between the 60 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:54,280 Speaker 1: categories of predation and parasitism. Also blurring lines are micropredators 61 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: such as mosquitoes or vampire bats. They are parasites, but 62 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: they don't don't live on their host or on a 63 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 1: single host. Instead, they go from host to host and 64 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,919 Speaker 1: will take little SIPs of their blood or feed on 65 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: whatever it is that they feed on. But they are 66 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: not quite predators because they do not directly kill or 67 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:25,760 Speaker 1: consume their host. They can incidentally kill their host through 68 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 1: spreading of pathogens, but this is not the same as 69 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: you know as by definition killing their prey, So they 70 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: are micro predators. They are parasites. They don't kill their host, 71 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 1: but they can accidentally kill their hosts through pathogens. And actually, 72 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,679 Speaker 1: speaking of spreading pathogens, this is related to another way 73 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:55,280 Speaker 1: to categorize parasites in terms of the way that transmission works. 74 00:05:55,880 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: So vector transmitted parasites use a taxi in order to 75 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 1: infect their host. So think of a protozoan parasite that 76 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: lives inside a mosquito. That mosquito goes to its target, 77 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: maybe a human, maybe an animal, and plunges its proboscis 78 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:23,000 Speaker 1: into your skin, and then that protozoan can go on 79 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: to infect you. So the protozoan is a vector transmitted parasite. 80 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: It is using the mosquito as a taxi and it 81 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: enters the host via this little living taxi, and it 82 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: causes us all sorts of problems like malaria. So very 83 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 1: important thing to know about these vector transmitted parasites if 84 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: you are, say a doctor or epidemiologist. So directly transmitted 85 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: parasites go by foot or wing flagella, wind, et cetera. 86 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: They directly trans port themselves to their host. So an 87 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: example would be a flea jumping onto your dog, or 88 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: you picking up a tick while walking through grass. Another 89 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,440 Speaker 1: type is trophically transmitted parasites. These are parasites that want 90 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: to be eaten. They are eaten by their host, or, 91 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: as is often the case, they are eaten by one 92 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: species and then a subsequent species, which is their true target, 93 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: and then they reproduce and feed inside of their final target. 94 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: An example of this includes roundworms. Another example is te gandhii, 95 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: everyone's favorite rat Zombi Fie protozoan. It will infest rats. 96 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: It will cause lesions in their brains, which makes the 97 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: rats uncharacteristically bold an affectionate towards felines, who return the 98 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: love by eating the rat and the protozoan. This Tea 99 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: gandhii will happily reproduce inside the cat, who then poops 100 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,760 Speaker 1: out more Tea Gandhi. The poop gets around the rat 101 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: accidentally in just some of that poop particle, and then 102 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: it gets the Tea gandii and the cycle begins again. 103 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: This is a trophically transmitted parasite. There are other types 104 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: of parasites that are sometimes forgotten different categories, such as kleptoparasites. 105 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: These are parasites that steal food from other animals. So 106 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: seagulls who love to snatch food out of another bird's 107 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: beak are kleptoparasites. Brood parasites are parasites that will use 108 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: the paternal or maternal care of another species in order 109 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: to benefit their own offspring, so cuckoo birds laying their 110 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: eggs and tricking other birds into raising their chicks is 111 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 1: an example of a brood parasite. Now, a very tiny 112 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: but interesting category is sex actual parasitism. It describes only 113 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: what anglerfish do. This only applies to anglerfish specifically. It 114 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:12,199 Speaker 1: is where the male attaches itself to the female physically 115 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: graphs itself to the female. It actually uses an enzyme 116 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,679 Speaker 1: that kind of melts the skin of the female a 117 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: little bit, so it can kind of melt itself onto 118 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: the female's flesh. Then it feeds off of her blood supply, 119 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,319 Speaker 1: and the only thing it doesn't return is produce sperm. 120 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: So the argument for this as a case of parasitism 121 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:37,839 Speaker 1: versus say, mutualism, is that the male takes more than 122 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: he provides, so like if he's taking more of their 123 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:46,079 Speaker 1: female resources than he provides in terms of say, sperm donation. 124 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: Social parasites are another category parasites. These are parasites that 125 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: infiltrate usocial or other types of social groups of animals, 126 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: mimicking them or sneaking by a notice, stealing resources from 127 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: the group, tricking adults into feeding them, or feeding on 128 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: their young. So there's a type of blue butterfly species 129 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: where the caterpillar mimics the larva of ants, the ants 130 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: will take it in, and sometimes it actually can imitate 131 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: the queen signals of the ants, further tricking the ant colony, 132 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: and it can go around feeding on larva or allowing 133 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: itself to be fed by the ants. So it's a 134 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: really sneaky form of parasitism. Another category is hyper parasitism. 135 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:41,360 Speaker 1: So hyperparasitism is basically the old rhyme. Big fleas have 136 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: little fleas upon their backs to bite them, and little 137 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: fleas have lesser fleas, and so on at infinitum. So 138 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: I actually had another listener question about how many levels 139 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,559 Speaker 1: of parasites you could have. This is from Jean Luke Picorgi, 140 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:58,839 Speaker 1: and the answer seems to be at least five. And 141 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: you see these chin anes of parasites in gal wasps. 142 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: So a gal wasp, the basic gal wasp, is a 143 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:12,000 Speaker 1: species of keeeny tiny wasp that forms a gall on 144 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: a plant like an oak tree. What a gall is 145 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: it's a bulb of flesh that the plant or tree 146 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:26,280 Speaker 1: is induced to create that does not benefit the tree, 147 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: but it benefits this wasp. So the wasp will drill 148 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: a hole into the bark or skin of the plant. 149 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: Sometimes these galls are created on leaves and stuff, but 150 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 1: we're focusing on an oak gal wasp. So it drills 151 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 1: into the oak's flesh and then this bulb forms and 152 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,719 Speaker 1: the gal wasps will lay it's a inside of this 153 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: bulb that is formed from basically this chemical that the 154 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: larvae excretes. And then this bulb that grows around the 155 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 1: larva has a fleshy interior that the larva feeds on, 156 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: So it's feeding on the tree. It's harming the tree, 157 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: and so that is why it is a parasite. Now 158 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: there are other gal wasps that then take advantage of 159 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 1: the previous gal wasp, the gal wasp that created this gall, 160 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: this bulb, and then it lays its own offspring inside 161 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: the other gal wasps gall. So it will sometimes harm 162 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: the larva of the previous tenant of this gall. Sometimes 163 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: it won't prevent it from developing, but it certainly steals 164 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: resources from it. And then you have parasitoid wasps like 165 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: the crypt keeper wasp. Remember a parasitoid necessarily kills its host. 166 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: So the crypt keeper wasp will lay its eggs inside 167 00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: the gall on top of an existing larva, and those 168 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: eggs will hatch into carnivorous larva which will feed on 169 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: the other gal wasp slowly. Again, the sort of distinction 170 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: between a predator and a parasitoid is a parasitoid feeds 171 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: slowly on its host over a long period of time 172 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,679 Speaker 1: before killing it. So this parasitoid gal wasp will feed 173 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: on the host larva and then it will continue to 174 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:29,600 Speaker 1: consume this victim larva slowly, and as the victim larva 175 00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 1: grows and develops into an adult wasp, the parasite larva 176 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: will compel it to drill its way out of the gall, 177 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: and then at this point the parasite will actually be 178 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: head the host gal wasp, and that head blocks up 179 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: the opening to the gall and basically creates a fleshy door. 180 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:59,079 Speaker 1: And then once that parasite larva continues to develop into 181 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: an adult, it can then just basically eat its way 182 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: through this head and emerge from the gall, so you 183 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: can have chains of Basically, the first layer of parasitism 184 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: is the initial gall creating wasp that is a parasite 185 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: on the oak tree, and then you have maybe a 186 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: gall wasp that is a parasite and infesting this gall 187 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: by stealing essentially the resources from the gall from the 188 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: bulb itself, and then another type of parasite that will 189 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 1: steal resources directly from the larvae, eat them, consume them, 190 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 1: a parasitoid, so you could actually get chains of this, 191 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: and apparently it's been observed to be up to around 192 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: five levels of parasitism, so things get wacky with these 193 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: gall wasps, really interesting. So the point of giving you 194 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: all these examples is to demonstrate the wide variety of 195 00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: parasites and parasitic strategies, which gives you a sense of 196 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: why there are so many parasites in the world. There 197 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: are near endless opportunities for parasites to take advantage of, 198 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: and typically when there is a niche say there's some 199 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 1: form of nutrition that can be exploited, there will be 200 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: an organism that, over millions of years evolves to exploit it. 201 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 1: We have limited resources on the planet, there's a lot 202 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: of competition for resources, so finding shortcuts or cheets can 203 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:36,800 Speaker 1: greatly enhance an animal's success, and of course the host 204 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: animals are also forced to develop strategies through evolution to 205 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: try to counteract the parasite's attack. So in terms of 206 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: what good they do for the ecosystem. By definition, parasites 207 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: are bad for the individual host. There is no good 208 00:15:55,080 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: parasite for an individual, but for say an ecosystem, they 209 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: can actually be critical. So an ecosystem is a whole group, 210 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: a delicate chain and web of animals interacting with each other, 211 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: and so even though a parasite may harm an individual, 212 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: they could provide a benefit to the ecosystem. So, for instance, 213 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 1: nutritional biomass mosquitoes provide a huge biomass for other animals 214 00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: to feed on. There's potential for parasites to keep certain 215 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: species from growing too numerous two dents which can maybe 216 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: help with plant growth. Say you have you know, too 217 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: many deer or too many rabbits or something, and they're 218 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: too dense. Much like how predators will help keep these 219 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: in check, parasites can also help keep them in check. 220 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: And this can help prevent say, plants from being devastated 221 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,000 Speaker 1: by too many herbivores or you know, it could keep 222 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 1: predatorspecies in check, and then that helps prevent too mini 223 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 1: predators from going around killing herbivores. So it can keep 224 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:14,040 Speaker 1: some of these things in balance, and it can also 225 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:19,719 Speaker 1: increase the biodiversity of the host species through selective pressures. 226 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: If you're a parasite and you're putting selective pressure on 227 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: your host, you may force it to adapt in some way, 228 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: and this can actually result in speciation, so a new 229 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 1: species arising from this. So this can increase biodiversity, increase 230 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: genetic diversity, which is really important in a changing world 231 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: where you may have certain shocks to an ecosystem. So 232 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 1: having more genetic diversity prevents a species from say, being 233 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,919 Speaker 1: wiped out by a change in the environment. Because you 234 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: have such a rich genetic library, you might be able 235 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:56,080 Speaker 1: to adapt to this change. So removing parasites from the 236 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: planet I think would be very very harmful, would be 237 00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: devastating because it would weaken this intricate web. I like 238 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 1: to call it like a Jenga tower, these complex interspecific 239 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: relationship between different species. And you remove one piece, maybe 240 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:15,720 Speaker 1: it doesn't do anything, but if you remove it, it could 241 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,640 Speaker 1: also make the whole tower collapse. So parasites very important 242 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:24,439 Speaker 1: for an ecosystem, very harmful for an individual. But I 243 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 1: love them because they're so weird and their strategies are 244 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: so intricate, and it's almost spooky sometimes how good they 245 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: are exploiting. So we're going to take a quick break, 246 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: and when we get back, we are going to answer 247 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: another listener question. All right, onto the next listener question. 248 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: This one says less of a question and more a 249 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,840 Speaker 1: layman's observation. Maybe you've covered it before. Kind of unusual, 250 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: how frogs don't have teeth yet eat flies, making them omnivorous. Right, 251 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,440 Speaker 1: and this is from Sherman. So Hi, Yeah, So some 252 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: frogs are omnivorous, meaning they eat plants as well as 253 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 1: meat or other things. So omnivores eat a variety of 254 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: different different fruits, usually meat and plants, maybe fruit, maybe nuts, seeds, whatever. 255 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: So some frogs do eat both plant matter and insects. 256 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: But if a hypothetical frog I'm among which there are 257 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: many species that only eat flies or only eat insects, 258 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: it would make it insectivorous. So insectivores are a type 259 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: of carnivore, a carnivore that specializes in eating insects. So 260 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:48,000 Speaker 1: some frogs will be omnivores, some frogs will be insectivores, 261 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: or some will be carnivores because they can eat both insects, 262 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,359 Speaker 1: small mammals, other frogs It kind of depends on the 263 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:59,959 Speaker 1: frog size. Frogs really love to basically eat anything can 264 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,719 Speaker 1: can fit in its mouth. Frogs typically aren't super picky 265 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,439 Speaker 1: when it comes to live prey as long as they 266 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: can fit it inside of them. So onto the teeth. Uh. Now, 267 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: it's true that frogs do not have a prominent visible 268 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:22,200 Speaker 1: set of teeth, but not all frogs are toothless. Some are, 269 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: and almost all frogs lack lower teeth, but there are 270 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:33,080 Speaker 1: many species of frogs that have tiny upper teeth or 271 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: teeth on the roof of their mouths. Frog teeth are 272 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,919 Speaker 1: really teeny tiny. They are not easily seen with the 273 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: naked eye. You usually have to use a CT scan 274 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,960 Speaker 1: of a skeleton or microscopic photography in order to see 275 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,360 Speaker 1: these teeth. But in terms of frogs that have both 276 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: an upper and lower set of teeth, there's only one 277 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,679 Speaker 1: known species of frogs that have this. This is Gunther's 278 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: mare supial frogs. They have a set of upper and 279 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: lower teeth, all extremely tiny teeth about the size of 280 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: a grain of sand. So this is really weird that 281 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: this is the case for Gunther's marsupial frogs because these 282 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: frogs lost their lower teeth two hundred million years ago 283 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,720 Speaker 1: along with these other frog species that don't have lower teeth. 284 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: But it has re evolved these lower teeth, which it's 285 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:33,879 Speaker 1: unclear exactly why they have. It's really fascinating that that 286 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:39,080 Speaker 1: they can re evolve these teeth after so long. But 287 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: it likely has something to do with grips. So you know, 288 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: you think of sand paper, right, even though these teeth 289 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,280 Speaker 1: are the size of a grain of sand. With sandpaper, 290 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: it's got a lot of traction, it's got a little grip. 291 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,400 Speaker 1: So it's thought that with frog teeth, whether they only 292 00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: have an upper set or they have that upper and 293 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: lower set, has something to do with providing some friction 294 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: to keep struggling prey from escaping, especially when it comes 295 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 1: to larger prey. So, in fact, there are some species 296 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: of frog that have developed a set of lower things 297 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: that kind of look like buck teeth, but really these 298 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: are bony projections. They're not teeth. They lack dentin. True 299 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: teeth has dentin, whereas these bony projections kind of look 300 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,240 Speaker 1: like little things, but they are not true teeth. But yeah, 301 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: you do not need teeth to be a carnivore. So 302 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:44,440 Speaker 1: examples of other carnivores that do not have teeth. Giant 303 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,440 Speaker 1: ant eaters do not have teeth. Their jaws barely function. Instead, 304 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: they rely on a long, sticky tongue to capture and 305 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: slurp up ants and termites. Similarly, pangolins have no teeth. 306 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: Pangolins are those little living pine cone like animals. Well 307 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:08,280 Speaker 1: they're not that little, actually, they're definitely an armful, but 308 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: they have those scales that kind of look like a 309 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:15,479 Speaker 1: pine cone, and they feed on ants and termites, but 310 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,479 Speaker 1: they don't have any teeth. They just have, you know, 311 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: a tongue and kind of viscous saliva. Pangolins will also 312 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: eat stones to help pulverize food in their stomachs. Stones 313 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: that are eaten in order to help with digestion are 314 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: called gastroliths. Pangolin stomachs are also lined with spines, which 315 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:41,400 Speaker 1: help further macerate the insects they eat. So even though 316 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:43,880 Speaker 1: they don't have any teeth in their mouth, they do 317 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: have ways to crush insects in their gizzard, which is 318 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: interesting because this is a strategy also used by birds. 319 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: Of course, birds do not have teeth. There are some birds, 320 00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,120 Speaker 1: especially filter feeders, who will have kind of tooth like 321 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:03,399 Speaker 1: ridges in their beaks, but they're not true teeth. But 322 00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: most many, many species of birds don't even have these. 323 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: They rely instead on their beaks. They can be really sharp, 324 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,520 Speaker 1: they can be shaped differently in order to achieve different 325 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,680 Speaker 1: kind of things, but they don't have teeth, and they, 326 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: like the pangolin, will actually sometimes swallow stones or sand 327 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:28,840 Speaker 1: in order to help with digestion in their gizzard. Of course, 328 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 1: beaks are also used by octopuses and squids, who are 329 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: also carnivores, and they don't need teeth. They use these 330 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:41,199 Speaker 1: beaks along with their tentacles in order to entrap and 331 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,200 Speaker 1: rip up and eat prey. Another one of the world's 332 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,399 Speaker 1: biggest carnivores, in fact, one of the biggest animals. The 333 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: biggest animal in the world has no teeth but is 334 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: a carnivore. These are toothless whales, baylean whales, who use 335 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 1: these broom like balen to sift out huge amounts of krill, 336 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,960 Speaker 1: which they gulp up. I know it's weird to think 337 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: of a baling whale as a carnivore, but they are. 338 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:18,320 Speaker 1: They eat krill. Krill is a living animal, it's meat. 339 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: They will eat so many of them. They are actually 340 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: really really good carnivore, very very high number of prey 341 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,880 Speaker 1: that they can get all at once. But yes, despite 342 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: their prey being so small, baling whales are carnivores and 343 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: they don't have to use teeth to do it, and 344 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: they are the world's largest animal. So teeth are important 345 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: for us though, so brush them. You know. It's not 346 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:48,400 Speaker 1: like we can put brooms in our mouth and use 347 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,439 Speaker 1: that to filter soup. I mean, maybe we could. I 348 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 1: don't recommend it, though, Keep those teeth brushed and flossed, 349 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: and you know, like drink a lot of water. Anyways, 350 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: We're gonna take another quick break, and when we come back, 351 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to answer the last listener question. Next listener question. Recently, 352 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: orchidmantis species have been shown that was once thought to 353 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 1: only be camouflage for mimicry are actually gliding surfaces too. 354 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: What are your favorite surprise animal abilities only found years 355 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: after the species was known and studied. This is from 356 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:36,360 Speaker 1: URF the MIRF. This is amazing. So orchidmantises, which are beautiful, 357 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 1: beautiful insects. They are a species of mantises that look 358 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,200 Speaker 1: like orchids, I mean the name is truly accurate. They 359 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: have pinks and whites and green colors, and they have 360 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: all of these like petal like protrusions, and they have 361 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:04,160 Speaker 1: these petal shaped lobes on you know, basically their their legs, 362 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:08,119 Speaker 1: and it looks beautiful. It makes them look like an orchid. 363 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,720 Speaker 1: It helps with their camouflage so that they can be 364 00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,639 Speaker 1: both protected and an ambush predator, which is really cool. 365 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: But the new news is that they can also use 366 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: them as gliding surfaces, essentially, like because the surface area 367 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: has increased, they can glide for short distances using these petals, 368 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: which can also be used for camouflage, which is just 369 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:40,600 Speaker 1: beautiful and fantastic. Other discoveries of animals that we've known 370 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: about for a really long time. I love it when 371 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: there's like a I don't want to say mundane animal, 372 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:47,919 Speaker 1: because I think they're all really interesting, but an animal 373 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:51,239 Speaker 1: we know, it's well known, and then suddenly something new 374 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: pops upwards we had no idea. One of the things 375 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: that I think is really funny is we keep discovering 376 00:27:58,040 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: that so many mammals biofluoresse, have biofluorescence, and we don't 377 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: know why. So it started out with a few discoveries 378 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: of mammals being biofluorescent. So biofluorescence means that they absorb 379 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: and re emit light. You can't see this with the 380 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,920 Speaker 1: naked human eye, but you can see it under black light. 381 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: So this was discovered in apossums, flying squirrels, and platypuses 382 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: and they were found to be biofluorescent. And then researchers 383 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,360 Speaker 1: started testing more mammals under black light. They did this 384 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 1: with specimens in museum or research catalogs, so they kept 385 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,160 Speaker 1: finding more and more species who were biofluorescent, and the 386 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: list kept getting longer and longer. So wombbats, bilbies, armadillas, 387 00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:53,000 Speaker 1: red foxes, dolphins, cats, house cats, bats, zebras, big cats, 388 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: they all were found to have biofluorescent fur or other 389 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: body parts. In fact, one hundred and twenty five species 390 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:06,040 Speaker 1: of mammals were found to biofluoresse when Western Australia Museum 391 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: puts specimens under UV light. So it's still not really 392 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: well understood exactly what is causing this. The emerging pattern 393 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: seems to be that nocturnal animals have stronger biofluorescence, but 394 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 1: this is still something found in diurnal animals animals that 395 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: are active during the day. So another pattern I guess 396 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,200 Speaker 1: is that white fur seems to be more likely to 397 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 1: be biofluorescent. So like in the case of housecats, only 398 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: white fur has been found to be biofluorescent, it's the 399 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: only type of fur that does so, but in other 400 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: species of animals, like there can be other colorations of 401 00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 1: fur that is biofluorescent. So yeah, it's really interesting. We 402 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:59,280 Speaker 1: kind of had no idea that this was a feature 403 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: for so many mammals, and so it's I'll be keeping 404 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: my eye on this for sure to find out if 405 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: they come up with any more hypotheses or do any 406 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 1: more testing to figure out why exactly this is the case. 407 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:20,959 Speaker 1: Is this just a basically like a evolutionary spandrel something 408 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: that serves no function but it's just it just happens 409 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: to be there and it's cool, or does it serve 410 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:32,160 Speaker 1: some kind of function, So yeah, it's very very interesting. 411 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: Another thing is I love it when we make new 412 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: discoveries about ants because ants are so common and they're everywhere, 413 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,080 Speaker 1: and it feels like we already know everything about ants, 414 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: but then ants always surprise us. So of course there 415 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 1: are many different ant species, so Just because we know 416 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,160 Speaker 1: a bunch of things about one ant species doesn't mean 417 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: we know everything about all the ant species. But still 418 00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,880 Speaker 1: it's really cool when we discover new things. So there 419 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: is a species of ant called the Indian jumping ants, 420 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: which are found in India. They are really interesting looking 421 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:16,000 Speaker 1: ants with elongated mandibles, and their colony structure is a 422 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:20,040 Speaker 1: little different from most ants. They have pretty small colonies, 423 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:26,080 Speaker 1: about one hundred individuals. They do have queens, but the 424 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: queen's position is a lot less secure and high up 425 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,800 Speaker 1: on a hierarchy than in typical ant colonies. You see 426 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:36,800 Speaker 1: workers that can rise to become queens and workers that 427 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 1: can control who is their queen. So if there is 428 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,600 Speaker 1: a queen who has not been approved of by the colony, 429 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: she can be dethroned and placed in queen custody, where 430 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: a very weird body transformation can take place. So when 431 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 1: an old queen dies in one of these Indian jumping 432 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 1: ant colonies, the queen is selected in a jousting competition. Yeah, 433 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: this is very medieval or Middle Ages. I'm not a historian. 434 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,960 Speaker 1: So they have those elongated manibles that I talk about, 435 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,920 Speaker 1: and they will essentially joust with each other until there 436 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 1: is a clear dominant winner. That winner will become the 437 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: new queen. And what happens when you attain power, Well, 438 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: your brain shrinks and your ovaries expand. So yes, the 439 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: queen's brain will shrink and her ovaries will expand, and 440 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 1: she assumes the position of being the breeding dominant queen. 441 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,680 Speaker 1: But if there is multiple ants that are starting to 442 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: develop into queens and one is unauthorized, or if there's 443 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,040 Speaker 1: a queen that is not performing her royal duties correctly, 444 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:57,960 Speaker 1: the worker ants will seize her into a restrictive hold. 445 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: They don't kill her, though. Ants are more civilized than 446 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:05,120 Speaker 1: humans are. When they are deposing a queen, this ant 447 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:10,640 Speaker 1: is just held until its brain expands and ovary shrinks 448 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: and it biologically turns back into a worker. So it's 449 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 1: kind of like a representative monarchy, democratic monarchy. It's a 450 00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: very violent one, but maybe not as violent as people. 451 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 1: I'm just saying the ants may have some things figured out, 452 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:35,520 Speaker 1: you know, except for the part where their leader's brain shrinks. 453 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,440 Speaker 1: It's not like that happens with humans anyways. I really 454 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: hope that you enjoyed this Listener Questions episode. If you 455 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 1: want your question to be answered. You can write to 456 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: me at Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. You 457 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: can write to me on Twitter if you dare delve 458 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,600 Speaker 1: in that murkiness. I'm still Katie Golden. There a T 459 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: I E G O L D I N. And I 460 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: will definitely keep doing these listener questions episode because I 461 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: love answering your questions. It forces me to do research 462 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: on topics sometimes or study up on things I've forgotten, 463 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: so it's a learning experience for me as well. Help 464 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:24,480 Speaker 1: me help you, help me help you to learn. Yes. Anyways, 465 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:29,320 Speaker 1: hope you're all doing well. Thanks to the Space Classics 466 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:34,000 Speaker 1: for their super awesome song Xolumina. Creature features a production 467 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the one you just 468 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,399 Speaker 1: heard this, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or Hey guess 469 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: what wherever you listen to your favorite shows. I'll see 470 00:34:43,760 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: you guys next Wednesday.