Speaker 1: Part one, Why It's the way it is.
Speaker 2: On today's Why It's the way it is, we're going
Speaker 2: to talk about something called predator swamping. You might hear
Speaker 2: that and picture a wolf running through a swamp. That's
Speaker 2: not what this is, though predator swamping can involve wolves.
Speaker 2: Predator swamping is a strategy. It's a technique or a
Speaker 2: way in which prey animals, meaning you know, animals that
Speaker 2: are consumed by other animals, in which prey animals can
Speaker 2: produce their babies in a way that reduces, okay, or
Speaker 2: diminishes the chance that their babies are going to be.
Speaker 3: Killed by predators.
Speaker 2: Now, to do this, let's picture ourselves up in the
Speaker 2: Arctic Okay, up in the far North. So let's say
Speaker 2: we're gonna go up to the top end of Alaska
Speaker 2: where the northern border of Alaska comes up against the
Speaker 2: Arctic Ocean. There aren't any trees up there. It's a
Speaker 2: type of low brush called tundra. It's a lot of water,
Speaker 2: a lot of mosquitoes, there's a consistent wind that comes
Speaker 2: off the ocean, Okay, and it's just a big, broad,
Speaker 2: wide open landscape. And in some of these areas of
Speaker 2: northern Alaska along the coast, huge congregations of cariboo will
Speaker 2: gather during the spring calving season. When I say huge
Speaker 2: congregations the cariboo, I mean it could be thousands. It
Speaker 2: could be tens of thousands of.
Speaker 3: Cariboo will all.
Speaker 2: Gather on this landscape in the spring to have their babies.
Speaker 2: Why do they do this. It could be a bunch
Speaker 2: of reasons why they go up there. Mosquitos, like I said,
Speaker 2: are terrible, but there's a breeze off the ocean that
Speaker 2: can keep the mosquitoes down and that can be helpful
Speaker 2: to them because the mosquitos up there can get so
Speaker 2: bad they'll kill a baby cariboo. They'll draw so much
Speaker 2: blood that a baby caribou can literally die from blood loss.
Speaker 2: But there's another reason they go up there. Cariboo have
Speaker 2: a lot of predators. Their primary predators in that area
Speaker 2: are wolves and grizzly bears. Okay, when all these caribou
Speaker 2: gather up, thousands of caribou gather up, they draw in
Speaker 2: some predators. Okay, packs of wolves are going to show up,
Speaker 2: grizzly bears are going to show up, and they're there
Speaker 2: and they know what's gonna happen. They know that all
Speaker 2: those caribou are gonna start having babies, and they know
Speaker 2: that those babies are going to be very vulnerable for
Speaker 2: a few hours, for a couple of days, because once
Speaker 2: they're a couple days old, they can get up and run.
Speaker 3: With their mom. But when they're being born and in
Speaker 3: the first few hours of their.
Speaker 2: Life, they can be vulnerable, meaning wolves can just run
Speaker 2: up and grab them.
Speaker 3: So back to these huge groups.
Speaker 2: Now, picture that over the course of a couple days,
Speaker 2: Over the course of a few days, every single mom
Speaker 2: of caribou all of a sudden has her baby.
Speaker 3: Okay, they swamp.
Speaker 2: Let's say they swamp the landscape with babies and they're
Speaker 2: all being born at the same time. Now, what are
Speaker 2: those predators gonna do. They're gonna get some sure, right,
Speaker 2: each of those wolves is gonna get one, they're gonna
Speaker 2: get two. But then after a couple of days, all
Speaker 2: those baby caribou were able to run around, and the
Speaker 2: wolves had their chance, right, they had their chance to
Speaker 2: prey on baby caribou.
Speaker 3: But the chance was super short. It was a period
Speaker 3: of just a few days. And it's over imagine a difference.
Speaker 2: So let's keep that id in mind, where they swamp
Speaker 2: the landscape with babies, way more babies on the ground
Speaker 2: at any given time, way more babies on the ground
Speaker 2: than those wolves would ever have a chance of picking up.
Speaker 2: But picture of caribou did it differently. Picture if they
Speaker 2: trickled in over the.
Speaker 3: Course of months.
Speaker 2: Okay, they come in over the course of months, and
Speaker 2: every day a few of those caribou mommies have their babies.
Speaker 2: What's gonna happen then, Well, every day all summer, those
Speaker 2: wolves are gonna be nabbing up whatever baby caribou hit
Speaker 2: the ground. It's just gonna keep happening, and they're gonna
Speaker 2: keep eating them. It's gonna keep happening, and they're gonna
Speaker 2: keep eating them. In the end, that caribou herd would
Speaker 2: probably lose way way more caribou calves than they would
Speaker 2: have had they just all done it at once. It
Speaker 2: created so much food on the ground, so many fawns
Speaker 2: on the ground all at once, that it kept the
Speaker 2: predators busy long enough for everybody else to get up
Speaker 2: and get ready to go. That strategy is predator swamping.
Speaker 2: You're producing so many babies that the predators don't have
Speaker 2: a chance of eating them all, you know some are
Speaker 2: gonna survive. There's another really famous case or often mentioned
Speaker 2: case of predator swamping, which is baby sea turtles that
Speaker 2: synchronize their hatch. Okay, so mama turtles come up on
Speaker 2: a beach, they all lay their babies. Now, if every
Speaker 2: night some of those babies popped out of the hole
Speaker 2: and made a break for the ocean, they're just gonna
Speaker 2: get picked off. But picture on some perfect night, thousands
Speaker 2: of those little babies all of a sudden, miraculously, in
Speaker 2: a synchronized way, all at once, thousands of those babies
Speaker 2: come out of their holes and run to the ocean.
Speaker 3: What's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Maybe there's a few birds around, there's a few crabs around.
Speaker 2: They don't have a chance to get them all. They
Speaker 2: can get a couple, but they're not gonna get them
Speaker 2: all because they all came at once.
Speaker 3: That is predator swamping. One of the reasons.
Speaker 2: Why some animals synchronize the birth of their young, or
Speaker 2: synchronize the hatching of their young as a way to
Speaker 2: make sure that some are gonna get lost, but most
Speaker 2: are gonna make it.
Speaker 4: Part two.
Speaker 5: Guess that critter, it's time for guess that critter. Where
Speaker 5: we play animal sounds and you've got to guess what
Speaker 5: animal is making those sounds. You'll learn some neat facts
Speaker 5: about these animals and develop your ear to better identify
Speaker 5: their sounds in the wild or in this case, maybe
Speaker 5: in your attic too. And don't worry, we'll throw in
Speaker 5: some clues along the way. Now, listen closely. These are
Speaker 5: the cries from a whole flock flying overhead. Groups of hundreds,
Speaker 5: if not thousands, will fill the sky during their spring
Speaker 5: and fall migrations, and their calls can be heard from
Speaker 5: miles away. These critters prefer open areas, such as meadows,
Speaker 5: agricultural fields, and the edges and shorelines of marshes and
Speaker 5: lakes in the mountains. You might occasionally find them feeding
Speaker 5: in high altitude alpine zones or even open avalanche shoots
Speaker 5: where sliding snow has scrubbed away all the trees. They're omnivorous,
Speaker 5: meaning they'll eat just about anything with their long sharp beak, berries, roots, forbes,
Speaker 5: agricultural crops such as wheat, alfalfa, and corn, plus all
Speaker 5: manner of insects and even small vertebrates. That's a critter
Speaker 5: with a backbone, such as rodents, lizards, frogs, and baby birds.
Speaker 5: They can grow nearly four feet tall and weigh over
Speaker 5: ten pounds. They're gray in color with a bright crimson
Speaker 5: red patch on their heads, so they're easy to see
Speaker 5: and also easy to hear. Their calls can sound like rattling, bugling, hissing,
Speaker 5: and honking. Here's what a male can sound like. These
Speaker 5: animals sure can dance during courtship. They twirl and jump,
Speaker 5: pump their heads, stretch their wings, and bow. You may
Speaker 5: hear them making these dueting sounds while dancing. These animals
Speaker 5: lay eggs and raise one brood or family of young
Speaker 5: per year. Juveniles stay close to their parents for nine
Speaker 5: to ten months after hatching before they go off on
Speaker 5: their own. The babies of this bird species are known
Speaker 5: as colts. Here's what one sounds like, and here are
Speaker 5: what slightly older juveniles sound like. Okay, it's time for
Speaker 5: the reveal. It's a sand hill crane. Their name comes
Speaker 5: from habitats that they use in and around the Sand
Speaker 5: Hills region of Nebraska, although they can be encountered throughout
Speaker 5: much of North America as they migrate back and forth
Speaker 5: from northern breeding grounds and southern wintering grounds. Thousands and
Speaker 5: thousands of birds gather every year in the Texas Panhandle.
Speaker 5: They can live for a very long time. The oldest
Speaker 5: one on record was at least thirty seven years old.
Speaker 5: Mating pairs of males and females will stay together for
Speaker 5: years so long as they're able to successfully reproduce together.
Speaker 5: When one of them dies, the other will seek out
Speaker 5: a new mate. You can legally hunt sand Hill grains
Speaker 5: in seventeen states. Their meat is thought to be so
Speaker 5: tasty and so similar to beef that they've earned the
Speaker 5: nickname Ribbi of the Sky.
Speaker 1: Part three Trivia.
Speaker 6: And now it's time for Meat Eater Kids Trivia, the
Speaker 6: other only game show where conservation always wins. This is
Speaker 6: a quiz show for kids who love the outdoors. Take
Speaker 6: it away, Spencer.
Speaker 4: Today, I'm joined by Jimmy, Rosie, Matthew, Aina, Mabel Hayden,
Speaker 4: and Conley. Each player will earn ten dollars for conservation
Speaker 4: with every question they get right.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 4: There's a potential for this room to earn up to
Speaker 4: two hundred and ten dollars this week. That donation is
Speaker 4: going to the Land Access Initiative, which provides more access
Speaker 4: to public lands for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, and
Speaker 4: whatever else you like doing outdoors. Let's see how much
Speaker 4: money our players can raise. Question one, Which of these
Speaker 4: states does not touch the apple Lachian Mountains? Is it Kentucky,
Speaker 4: Pennsylvania or California? Which of these states does not touch
Speaker 4: the apple Latchian Mountains? Kentucky, Pennsylvania, California. Rosie with the
Speaker 4: quickest answer, Rosie, do you have this one right?
Speaker 7: I think you think? Okay? Is anybody else in you're confident?
Speaker 3: Hayden?
Speaker 4: Your markers already down? Do you know this one? I know?
Speaker 4: Which of these states does not touch the Appalachian Mountains?
Speaker 1: Process of elimination?
Speaker 4: Okay, Kentucky, Pennsylvania or California. Two of those states touched
Speaker 4: the Appalachian Mountains. One of them does not. Does everybody
Speaker 4: have an answer?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, go ahead and reveal your answers.
Speaker 1: Rosie, uh Pennsylvania, Mabel California, Aina, California, Hayden California, Conley.
Speaker 8: California, Matthew California.
Speaker 4: Jimmy California. The correct answer is California. Almost everybody got
Speaker 4: that one right. The thirteen Appalachian Mountain states are Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi,
Speaker 4: New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia,
Speaker 4: and West Virginia. California is about two thousand miles from
Speaker 4: the Appalachian Mountains, which would be about a thirty hour drive.
Speaker 4: How many of you been to a state with the
Speaker 4: Appalachian Mountains?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 4: And Conley? Okay, Jimmy, what state were you in with
Speaker 4: the Appalachian Mountains? I don't actually know, Okay, I just
Speaker 4: remember Conley.
Speaker 7: What state have you been in with the Apple Aachian?
Speaker 1: I want to Alabama?
Speaker 7: Really?
Speaker 4: Did you see the Appalachian Mountains there?
Speaker 8: I don't think so.
Speaker 7: Don't think so. How about over here? Maybe line North Carolina?
Speaker 1: Every year, every single year you're seeing Apple Aachians. We've
Speaker 1: never gone and seen them. We're just in the on
Speaker 1: the beach.
Speaker 7: Okay, you might be able to see them from there.
Speaker 4: How to the Apple Aachians? How are they different than
Speaker 4: the rockies that you guys live by here?
Speaker 7: Do they look different? Yeah? What do you think?
Speaker 4: They're older?
Speaker 1: So they're wait, that's the right thinking about the right thing, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: I am they're older, so they're like more flat and
Speaker 1: not its like crooking.
Speaker 4: Because of the land.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get to science at mini lectures.
Speaker 3: Still.
Speaker 4: Question two, What word is defined as a smaller river
Speaker 4: that flows into a bigger river? Is it tributary, savannah
Speaker 4: or tide? What word is defined as a smaller river
Speaker 4: that flows into a bigger river, tributary, savannah or tide. Jimmy,
Speaker 4: you know this one.
Speaker 7: I think so, Jimmy. It looked like you didn't even
Speaker 7: need the choices. You are that confident. Wait, what's the
Speaker 7: thing again?
Speaker 4: Like, the definition is a small river that flows into
Speaker 4: a bigger river. Your choices are tributary, savannah or tide.
Speaker 7: A very confident room.
Speaker 4: Matthew is still thinking tributary, savannah or tide. Is everybody ready?
Speaker 1: Yep?
Speaker 4: Go ahead and reveal your answers.
Speaker 8: Rosie tributary, Mabel tributary.
Speaker 4: Tributary, Hayden, Conley tributary, Matthew, Jimmy, tributary. The correct answer
Speaker 4: is tributary. Almost everybody got that one right. The definition
Speaker 4: of a savannah is a type of grassland with scattered trees.
Speaker 4: The definition of tide is the periodic rise and fall
Speaker 4: of waters in the ocean, and a tributary is a
Speaker 4: small body of water that flows into a big body
Speaker 4: of water. Can you guys name some tributaries.
Speaker 7: For the Missouri River?
Speaker 1: Jefferson, There you go. There's three of them. We literally
Speaker 1: went to the place where they all go in Conley.
Speaker 4: Did she take yours? What's the other one?
Speaker 7: Madison?
Speaker 4: There you go, Madison. There's a lot of choices the Missouri.
Speaker 4: You've got the Yellowstone, the Jefferson, the Madison, the Gallot,
Speaker 4: and basically any of the creeks and rivers that you
Speaker 4: guys live by are a direct or indirect tributary to
Speaker 4: the Missouri River.
Speaker 3: Question three?
Speaker 4: Which of these animals has the most teeth? Is it
Speaker 4: a tiger, a great white shark for a beaver?
Speaker 7: Which of these animals?
Speaker 4: Which of these animals has the most teeth? Tiger, great
Speaker 4: white shark or a beaver? The way you think that's it,
Speaker 4: I think it's suposed to be a trick queshion.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna like think of something that we're gonna
Speaker 1: be like, wait, is this actually it? We're all gonna
Speaker 1: say something and it's not gonna be any of no
Speaker 1: one's gonna get it right real or we're just gonna
Speaker 1: all be I know real well.
Speaker 4: Which one has the most teeth tiger, great white shark
Speaker 4: or beaver?
Speaker 7: Is everybody ready?
Speaker 4: Yeah, go ahead and reveal your answers.
Speaker 8: Rosie, great white shark, Mabel, great white shark, Hayden great what, Conley, Matthew, Jimmy,
Speaker 8: great white shark.
Speaker 7: The correct answer.
Speaker 4: Is a great white shark. This was not a trick question.
Speaker 4: You all knew it one hundred percent right. Beaver have
Speaker 4: twenty teeth, tigers have thirty teeth, and great white sharks
Speaker 4: have three hundred teeth. The animal would be most teeth
Speaker 4: in the world is a snail, which has twenty thousand teeth. Humans,
Speaker 4: on the other hand, have thirty two teeth, which take
Speaker 4: about two minutes to brush. That means if a snail
Speaker 4: were to brush their teeth at the same pace, it
Speaker 4: would take over twenty hours to complete the job.
Speaker 7: Wait, how they're so tiny?
Speaker 4: It's like sandpaper. You know what sandpaper is, That's what
Speaker 4: their teeth look like. They got twenty thousand of those.
Speaker 4: So how you're asking the wrong person. I feel like
Speaker 4: I know a lot of things for you, Matthew, but
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 7: How they have twenty thousand teeth. Now I got a
Speaker 7: question for the room.
Speaker 4: So snails have thousands of teeth and dragonflies have thousands
Speaker 4: of compound eyes. Would you, guys rather be a dentist
Speaker 4: for a snail or an eye doctor for a dragon?
Speaker 7: Eye doctor for a drug?
Speaker 4: Why? You sound very confident. It's like you've thought about
Speaker 4: that question all your.
Speaker 5: Life has because it would be very, very, very difficult
Speaker 5: in the first place.
Speaker 4: And I don't think I'm gonna warm it for.
Speaker 3: Your snails teeth?
Speaker 7: Okay, please?
Speaker 4: Good reason, Oh, Rosie, Rosie has She's gonna bring us
Speaker 4: the Devil's advocate here. Why do you think it should
Speaker 4: be a snail teeth instead?
Speaker 5: So being an eye doctor for driving?
Speaker 8: Like, what if they need glasses, then we're supposed to
Speaker 8: do just make twenty thousand of them.
Speaker 7: That's a good point. What if that snail needs braces?
Speaker 1: Though, well, you're not your dentists probably really time.
Speaker 4: The correct answer, You're right puts an How about Phil?
Speaker 7: Phil? What would you rather do?
Speaker 6: I doctor?
Speaker 7: Obviously, Okay, I'm doing.
Speaker 3: How dare you I'm doing?
Speaker 4: That's it for today's rounder trivia, Phil the engineer? How
Speaker 4: much money did we raise? Well? They raised one hundred
Speaker 4: and ninety dollars one hundred and ninety dollars going to
Speaker 4: the Land Access Initiative. Well done, kids. Join us next
Speaker 4: time for more Meat Eater Kids Trivia, the only other
Speaker 4: game show where conservation always wins.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much for listening to Meat Eater Kids.
Speaker 6: We hope you enjoyed listening to the show as much
Speaker 6: as we enjoyed making it. If you'd like to hear more,
Speaker 6: had your parents leave the show a review, write us
Speaker 6: an email and tell.
Speaker 3: Your friends about it.
Speaker 6: Until then, get outside and don't stop being for me
Speaker 6: here day