1 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News Headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,479 Speaker 1: Kel's we Can review with Ryan kel Kell in now 3 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 1: Here's Kel in Denmark. The only known specimen of narwhale 4 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: beluga whale hybrid has been officially identified. The odd whale 5 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: was killed by a subsistence hunter in the eighties. He 6 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: kept the skull and recognition of the fact that it 7 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: was noticeably different from the typical belugas. The skull was 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: discovered by the scientific community in the nineties sitting on 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:40,919 Speaker 1: top of the hunter's tool shed. Just recently, through their 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: use of modern comprehensive DNA testing, the skull has been 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: confirmed to be a real deal nar luga. The pure 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,480 Speaker 1: white beluga and the unicorned narwhale have some real differences. 13 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,080 Speaker 1: At first glance. Belugas, again are white, while narwhals are 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: often gray speckled with whites and browns. Bluega Us can 15 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: have forty teeth between the top and bottom jaw, while 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: the narwhale mail can grow a ten foot long tooth 17 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:08,399 Speaker 1: out the front of its head, yet has no teeth 18 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: whatsoever on its bottom jaw. Despite those basically external differences, 19 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: the whales share much of the same diet and feed 20 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: at much of the same depths. They live on the 21 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: same block and eat at the same restaurant, so to speak. 22 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,479 Speaker 1: In fact, it is thought that these two whales were 23 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 1: actually the same whale up until about five million years ago. 24 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: I'm not sure if that makes this an ancestral story 25 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: or not, but will carry on. The bluga and the 26 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: narwhal are the only two members of the monodont today family. 27 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: They're similar in size. Beluga is getting up in the 28 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,479 Speaker 1: range of three thousand pounds and fourteen feet long, narwall's 29 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: about pounds and seventeen feet in length. Bolts can be 30 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: found in Arctic waters year round. Kind of making the 31 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: case for this marine mammal union right. Well, doesn't seem 32 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: that these two species hook up very often sexually speaking. 33 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: Analyze genomes of narwhale and beluga show no evidence of 34 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: successful hybridization between the species for at least the past 35 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: one point to five million years. As far as we know, 36 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,880 Speaker 1: and we know admittedly little about this. The subsistence hunter 37 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: may have killed the only ones in existence, or perhaps 38 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: ever to exist. You did hear that, right, I said 39 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: ones as in plural. The single skull was analyzed, tested 40 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: and identified, but there were actually three of the whales 41 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,119 Speaker 1: in the pod killed by the subsistence hunter in Greenland 42 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: that day. Now you may be thinking, how awful this 43 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: bloodthirsty hunter just squashed a species that you know may 44 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: have just crawled from the primordial muck for the very 45 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: first time. Maybe, but that's one hell of a coincidence. 46 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: And also, at the risk of sounding completely insensitive, that's 47 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: exactly how evolution works, how the whole derned game has played, 48 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: so to speak. Hybrids happen all the time and all 49 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: throughout the animal kingdom. Mule deer and whitetailed deer will hybridize. 50 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: Bee below is across between a buffalo and domestic cattle. 51 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: A mule is a hybrid of a horse and a donkey. 52 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 1: A grizz and a polar bearer will get together on occasion, 53 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 1: creating something folks called pisley. Apparently, if a camel and 54 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: a lama shack up, it's called a comma. It's a 55 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: long list of humorous names, but the point is hybrids 56 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: in some cases don't farewell in nature and most often 57 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: do not reproduce. I'm spelling this out because it takes 58 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: millions of years of hybridization to create a new species 59 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: capable of reproduction. Our subsistence hunter didn't eradicate a species. 60 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: You probably just closed the nar Luga chapter before a 61 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: few of the last pages were read. This week we're 62 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: talking beavers, wolves, the relationship between elephants and frogs, and 63 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: so darn much more. But first I'm gonna tell you 64 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: about my week. It's fishing season in Montana and elsewhere 65 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: for that matter. Grab my fly pole. Hit the Blackfoot River. 66 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: You know that movie or river runs through it where 67 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: the one McClean boy is played by Brad Pitt and 68 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: he shows people how to cast a fly rod. That 69 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: is forever frustrated fishing guides ever since that movie. Well, 70 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: a good amount of time from that book and that 71 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: film is spent on the quote big Blackfoot. And that's 72 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: where I spent a couple of days. The fishing was good, 73 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: the scenery great. On my way home, just outside of 74 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: the bare Mouth exit, I noticed a beaver walking Interstate ninety. 75 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: I was headed east. The beaver heading west caught me 76 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: a bit off guard. But believe it or not, this 77 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,359 Speaker 1: isn't the first time I've come across North America's largest 78 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: rodent or castor canadensists in a strange place. Beavers are 79 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: typically pretty stationary during the winter, living and reproducing and 80 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: bank dens or domed lodges, constructed mud weeds, sticks, and 81 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 1: even sizeable logs. By the time spring rolls around mon 82 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: pob beaver are ready to kick the kids out of 83 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: the dam, timing the emptying of the nest with spring floods. 84 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:02,160 Speaker 1: The high water can train support young beavers strange places, 85 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 1: even some places that might eventually turn high and dry. 86 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: It's a risky but essential part of beaver life. One 87 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: time I came across a beaver carcass in the middle 88 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: of a prickly pear cactus covered prairie in eastern Montana. 89 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: It had been a particularly high year for spring runoff, 90 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,480 Speaker 1: and every little drainage that could carry water did. In 91 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: this case, a beaver had followed a series of greeks 92 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: and rivulets small streams which ultimately left him, I assume, 93 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: without water. Eventually he had to try and walk his 94 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: web feet and water slap and tail across the high 95 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,760 Speaker 1: dry cactus patch where I would ultimately find his remains. 96 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: Doesn't sound like a great way to go, but that's 97 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: the danger of dispersal. Spreading those genes has a cost. 98 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: That's just the beavers side of things. The critters that 99 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: eat the beaver's side of things is where it gets 100 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: even more interesting. In Voyagers National Park, a park in 101 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: northern Minnesota named after the famed French Canadian fur traders 102 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: of the region. If you haven't heard of or don't 103 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,320 Speaker 1: know what a voyager he is, you're in luck. I'm 104 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: gonna tell you right now. The voyagers, as in the 105 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: people not the park, had serious reputations, and for good reason. 106 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: They operated massive birch bark canoes, sometimes forty feet in length, 107 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,279 Speaker 1: loaded to the hill with bundled beaver pelts and trade goods. 108 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: The big canoes that operate on the Great Lakes and 109 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: Ottawa River could haul three to four tons of beaver 110 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: bundles at a time. That's roughly sixty seven eight nine 111 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,479 Speaker 1: ninety pound bundles of beaver pelts. Those bundles would then 112 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: need to be portaged on the back of the voyager 113 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:38,679 Speaker 1: in between lakes. Some accounts described the trade that defined 114 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: these stout canoeists was the ability to carry two of 115 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,919 Speaker 1: these bundles at a time. The heyday of the voyager 116 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: was back in the seventeen hundreds through the early eighteen 117 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: hundreds and pretty cool stuff. What's happening currently in voyagers 118 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: and just outside the National Park with beavers is pretty 119 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: darn interesting as well, so we'll get back to that. 120 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: Since two thousand fifteen, by all, just in voyagers have 121 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 1: identified more than four hundred wolf beaver ambush sites and 122 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: one individual wolf that killed twenty eight beavers in one year. 123 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: A scat analysis study of a thousand samples of wolf 124 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: poop showed that beaver was actually the preferred prey of 125 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: wolves during May and June, and voyagers that diet timed 126 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: perfectly with the dispersal of naive young beavers from the lodge. 127 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: Since we talked about canoes and we're currently in the 128 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: Upper Midwest, I just can't not talk about the Boundary 129 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: Waters Canoe Area. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area was established 130 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty four and it is our most visited 131 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: wilderness area in the US, averaging a hundred and fifty 132 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: five thousand people per year, over one million acres in size, 133 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: twelve hundred miles of established canoe routes, with more than 134 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 1: two thousand designated camp sites and eleven hundred lakes. This 135 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: place is known for Northern pike, small mouth bass, that 136 00:07:56,120 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: golden child of Midwest fisheries, the walleye, as well as 137 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: a heck of a lot of other fish, birds, bears, moose, 138 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: and general outdoors good times. Right now, there is a 139 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: proposed sulfide or copper mining operation that could potentially have 140 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: a huge impact on this area as well as areas 141 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: downstream like Voyagers. Mining in this area isn't new. Five 142 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: point one billion tons of iron ore came out of 143 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: Northern Minnesota from eighteen to two thousand eighteen. The deposit 144 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:34,440 Speaker 1: in question, containing a possible four billion tons of gold, silver, palladium, platinum, copper, nickel, 145 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 1: has an estimated value of over one trillion dollars, which 146 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:41,280 Speaker 1: you know, sounds like a hell of a lot of money. 147 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 1: Here's the rub. The proposed mind site sits within an 148 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: area protected by this nineteen seventy eight Boundary Waters Canoe 149 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: Area Wilderness Act and Act that band mining within the wilderness, 150 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,199 Speaker 1: and an additional two thousand acres that would provide additional 151 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: protection for the entirety of the Rainy River Draining Basin, 152 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: which is also part of Voyagers National Park. The Boundary 153 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: Waters Canoe Area is considered the headwaters and the entire 154 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: rainy river drainage basin headwaters meaning basically the start or 155 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: the head end, the tippy top from which water must 156 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:17,080 Speaker 1: flow down. The mind property is least US Forest Service 157 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: ground and ministered by the Bureau of Land Management. Signed 158 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: a nineteen sixty six before the Boundary Waters Canoe Area 159 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: Wilderness Act went into effect, six percent of Minnesota's water. 160 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: The National Forest that calls the Boundary Waters home holds 161 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,839 Speaker 1: twenty percent of the fresh water in the entirety of 162 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,680 Speaker 1: the U. S National Forest System. That old saying of 163 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: you know, stuff flows downhill is something to keep in 164 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: mind here. I like folks to make a living. I 165 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: realize we in the US consume a lot of goods 166 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: that require raw materials to make. I just don't know 167 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: if those raw materials should come from this particular spot. 168 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about this scenario and 169 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: you should you own this land, check out Sportsman or 170 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: the Boundary Waters dot Org. They're just one of the 171 00:10:02,840 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: many groups looking out for this incredible area. Moving on 172 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: to some quick hitters. One thing everyone is talking about 173 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: is the so called mummified man that was supposedly rescued 174 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: from the den of a brown bear out in the 175 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: remote wilds of Russia's Tuva region. The man was apparently 176 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,959 Speaker 1: attacked and drug into the den, severely injured, surviving off 177 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: his own urine for a month. At that point, he 178 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,199 Speaker 1: was located by chance, again in the remote, remote wilds 179 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: of Russia, by hunters in the exact same spot, not 180 00:10:34,679 --> 00:10:37,200 Speaker 1: looking for him, but they happen to have dogs that 181 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: found him. I have so many, so many questions as 182 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: the validity of this report and how this conflicts with 183 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: my general sense of bare behavior that I can just 184 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,480 Speaker 1: barely stand to mention it here. So if you want 185 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:53,120 Speaker 1: to follow up on this, our own Spencer new Hearth 186 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: has done some digging on his own. Find out what 187 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: he knows at the meat eater dot com. Moving on 188 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,559 Speaker 1: to Morse strange occurrences with people in wildlife, social media 189 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: influencers and the wildlife they pose with or getting some attention. 190 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 1: In Australia, for the low price at two grand to night, 191 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,320 Speaker 1: you can pose nude in the bathtub inches from tigers 192 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: in a glass walled enclosure, or get a picture sitting 193 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:21,199 Speaker 1: on an elevated deck next to a draft so there's that. 194 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: If you've been looking for a deal on African elephants, 195 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,319 Speaker 1: Zimbabwe has got a deal for you. Just last May, 196 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: China and Dubai reportedly purchased ninety elephants for only two 197 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: point seven million or eight pound. The President of Zimbabwe 198 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: is looking to reduce their current elephant herd from eighty 199 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 1: four thousand to fifty thousand. Also up for grabs or 200 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: lions and buffalo. No word on shipping costs. On the 201 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: topic of elephants only in Myanmar, not Zimbabwe. A recent 202 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: study has found that Asian elephant tracks provide predator free 203 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: breeding areas in the pack of dern puddles. The elephant 204 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: tracks can remain for a year or more and helped 205 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: connect frog populations hopping over to birds. Ancient ones EO. 206 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: Carracius Brackyptera was blue, or at least a maximum probability 207 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: of only nineteen percent that EO. Carracius Brackiptera was gray. 208 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: The Journal of Royal Science Interface just published a study 209 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:25,599 Speaker 1: of the oldest fossil evidence of blue feathers ever found. Apparently, 210 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: blue feathers are fairly uncommon and are determined by pigments 211 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: within microscopic pigment sacks called milano zones. Milano zomes, and 212 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 1: modern birds tend to have distinct shapes. Recently, researchers looked 213 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,079 Speaker 1: at seventy two feathers from today's bird groups, then cross 214 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: reference the milano zomes and their corresponding colors with the 215 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: fossilized Eo Carrossis Brackiptera, and determined almost certainly that this 216 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: possibly fifty six million year old bird from the Eocene 217 00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: period was blue. To Linger on the topic of ancient 218 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: birds that are tough to pronounce, Europe's first ever giant 219 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:08,600 Speaker 1: bird fossil was just discovered in Crimea. Giant bird fossils 220 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: have been discovered elsewhere, but until now not in Europe. 221 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: Paleontologists believe the specimen of giant bird to be Packy 222 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: Struthio or a relative of Packy Struthio, based off of 223 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,439 Speaker 1: the mass and length of a femur. This bird from 224 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 1: the Crimean Peninsula is estimated to have weighed nine pounds 225 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: and may have competed with one of our ancestors, Homo 226 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: erectus pounds. That's roughly three times the size of an 227 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: ostrich or your average telephone pole or one testicle from 228 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: the right whale magic of the Internet, folks. Turns out 229 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: the net is full of testical facts. Alright, We're moving on. 230 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: In Malaysia, customs officials have been busy making back to 231 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: back bus. One bust for the attempted smuggling of thirty 232 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,120 Speaker 1: one point six pounds of meth value to add a 233 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy two thousand, five hundred dollars. The other 234 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:07,280 Speaker 1: bust for the attempted smuggling of five thousand, two hundred 235 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: and fifty five baby red eared slider turtles valued at 236 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: twelve thousand, six hundred dollars. Both smuggling attempts involved two 237 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 1: men with the illegal contraband hidden in their luggage. The 238 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: math carries the death penalty upon conviction. The turtles are 239 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: fine and up to five years in jail. Remember the 240 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:30,239 Speaker 1: South Carolina guy who branded sharks. Well, Apparently the illegal 241 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: tagging of fish is becoming a thing. So we're going 242 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: to finish this week out at the desk of poor 243 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: decision making or the people who follow through with bad 244 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: ideas and torment animals for no reason desk. The title 245 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: is a work in progress at interim desk job anyway, 246 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: A tournament angler on Lake Michigan recently landed a fish 247 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: saddled with an eternal symbol of devotion or perhaps misery. 248 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: The fish, a steel head caught not far from Chicago, 249 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: had a wedding ring zip tied to its tail. A 250 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: fishing guide had cut the fish two months previous, strapped 251 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: the emblem of his failed marriage to the fish's tail, 252 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: and set the steel head free. Photos show that the 253 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: zip tie was damaging the caudle peduncle, which is a 254 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: fancy name for the spot just in front of its tail, 255 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,200 Speaker 1: and it looked just completely flat out miserable for the 256 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:29,359 Speaker 1: steel head. Now, I've got nothing against grand symbolic gestures, 257 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: but burdening a fish with your literal emotional baggage is 258 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: the move of a man who just doesn't think things through. 259 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: You could call this behavior selfish, even hell. One could 260 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:42,800 Speaker 1: go as far as to speculate that behavior like this 261 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: didn't do much to prolong the marriage. You could go 262 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: as far as to look at this situation and think 263 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,320 Speaker 1: how lucky this fishing guide's ex lady is to have 264 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: that ring off her finger. Thanks for listening, and remember 265 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: to tell me where I messed up or what I'm 266 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 1: missing at a s K C A L. That's asked 267 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: Cal at the meat eater dot com. If you like 268 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: what you've heard so far, go to places where podcasts 269 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: are streamable and downloadable, like iTunes and leave me a 270 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: review and hit that furthest right hand start. If you 271 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 1: want even more, follow me on Instagram at old cal 272 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: O L C A L four oh six. That way, 273 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: maybe you can see if I believe in this stuff myself. 274 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: Have a great week.