WEBVTT - A Chat About Sea Turtles with Christine Figgener 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:14.280 My Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.200 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:19.040 and we've got a really great interview to share with 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.639 you today. This is with Dr Christine Bigener. Uh so 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.520 as a way of introduction. Dr Christine Figner is a 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:32.000 marine conservation biologist and science communicator who has been really 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.880 successful on social media. Sometimes known as the Sea Turtle 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.479 straw Lady, she has raised global awareness of the issue 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.360 of ocean plastic pollution and has been studying sea turtles 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.400 for over fifteen years. You might have seen her in 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.479 a viral video moment where she was she and her 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.920 research team were removing a plastic straw that was lodged 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.720 in a sea turtles nose, and of course that video 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.520 triggered a lot of thought about what is what is 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.280 the effect to say single use plastics such as plastic 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:06.640 straws in on marine life. Christine today is a is 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.480 a science communicator who uh speaks at events about her 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.640 sea turtle conservation work, fighting plastic pollution, and empowering women 0:01:14.680 --> 0:01:18.480 in science. In eighteen, Time magazine honored her outreach and 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:22.480 advocacy efforts by naming her a Next Generation Leader. As 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.720 Director of Science and Education for the US based Footprint Foundation, 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.800 she travels the globe educating people about the effects of 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.440 plastic pollution on our environment and human health, and inspiring 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.360 people to reduce their use of plastic. She's also the 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.880 co founder and scientific lead of a community centered, grassroots 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:44.080 conservation organization in Costa Rica that is researching and protecting 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.320 sea turtles. Christine's overall goal is to reach as many 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:50.320 people as possible with her message to eliminate plastic from 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.440 our environment, save sea turtles from extinction, empower women in science, 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.520 and make our planets safer and healthier for wildlife and 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:00.760 people alike. So that's just a really fun at Let's 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.440 go ahead and dive into it. Let's get into some 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:10.000 gnarly facts and stories about sea turtles. We have all 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:13.919 sea turtle questions for you here today. We may ask 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:15.800 you whale stuff too, because you were You were also 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:20.600 originally interested in cetations, right, Yeah, somebody did the homework 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.880 on me. Yeah, I became a marine biologist because I 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.800 love humpback whales. Oh did you happen to read the 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:32.280 story of supposedly a man off the coast province town 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.000 who was a lobster diver reported that he was temporarily 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.040 swallowed by a humpback whale. Do you believe it's true? 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.040 Creepy and funny? Is that allegedly it's the same guy 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.120 that like a few years ago, survived airplane crash in 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.560 Costa Rica, one of the few survivors wow about having 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.960 more than one life. Yeah? Well wait, so do you 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:55.880 have any reason to be skeptical of the story or 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:57.639 do you think it's plausible that he did go into 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.520 the humpback whales mouth and then was spit out. I 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.040 think that's possible. I don't think it was swallowed. I 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.160 just think, I mean, not swallowed all the way right, 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.480 So I think probably. I mean, if you've ever seen him, 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.000 big whales feeding, right, so they kind of have those 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:12.400 bubble curtains and then they just go in and just 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.079 open their mouths wide just to like, you know, swallow 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.480 the largest quantity possible and if you happen to just 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.680 be there. But I'm sure that way I was like, 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.480 oh my god, what's that in my mouth? Is just 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:29.920 like wrong place, wrong time? Huh. Well, we just we 0:03:30.000 --> 0:03:31.760 just jumped right into it. Maybe we should back up 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.840 and uh and actually get officially started. Um, so one 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:36.840 place we do like to start here is Christine. Can 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:40.200 you just introduce yourself to the audience, stating your name, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.920 your title, as well as any key affiliations or employers 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:46.360 organizations that you want right up there at the top 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.400 with your ID. Yeah, my name is Christine Siginger. I 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:52.960 am I Trade the marine biologist, and I have been 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.080 working on the interface between conservation and applied signs for 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.080 about more than fifteen years now, mainly with sea turtles, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.760 but also with cetaceans and wells and dolphins. And right 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:09.640 now I am running a small community based grassroots organization 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.280 in Constrica that is protecting sea turtles. And I'm also 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.760 the director of science and Education for the US based 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:20.359 Footprint Foundation, which is we're trying to convince people to 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.479 reduce their use of plastics. So that's pretty much me 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.120 and I'm nutshell. I guess, so you mentioned that you 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:30.600 were originally interested in cetations before you got into sea 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:33.560 turtles as a research area. How did you How did 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:35.080 you make that leap? And I guess you can back 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.360 all the way up to setations if you want. Yeah, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.200 I mean I in my teens. You know, we're usually 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:44.960 people are obsessing about boy bands. I guess I'm not 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.320 going to say which one was popular during my times 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:52.360 because that would review my age, I guess um. But 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.440 instead of that, I was actually collecting you know, posters 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.640 and articles and other stuff about whales and dolphins, and 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.800 I put particularly loved hum big whales. So I I 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.520 play music. I played the guitar, and I sing, and 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.320 I always thought, you know, it would be so cool 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.000 to study the songs of hump big whales. You know, 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.440 it's kind of a cultural thing and it would have 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.440 combined a lot of my interests into like this one thing. 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.960 But then I happened to have the chance to go 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.560 to Costrica on a sea turtle or into a seaturtal 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.279 project when I did my master's into a leather bag project, 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.040 very specific, and I totally fell in love with that 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.400 type of work because it's super hands on. I don't 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.440 think there's that many, you know, jobs as a wildlife 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.680 biologist where you can be with such a large animal, 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.320 you know, for extended times in the natural environment without 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:51.400 having to you know, tranquilize them or restrain them even 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.960 in any shape or form, and it was so impressive, 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.600 just like the environment. Right, So you're on these tropical beaches, 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.200 have this incredible you know, biodiversity all around you. You 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.560 have the jungle right next to you on one side, 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:06.640 and you have you know, the vast ocean on the other. 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.920 You have this incredible night sky over your head. And 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.599 then you just you know, walk, you know, kilometers and 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.920 hours without end on the beach just to find this 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.560 like one track that leads up to the verm, up 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.400 to the vegetation, and you hope that the turtle is 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.320 still there. And then once you see the turtle, it's 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.480 just you know, they're real life dinosaurs if you think 0:06:30.560 --> 0:06:33.599 about it, right, they have been around for hundred on 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:35.920 a hundreds, but definitely more than a hundred million years, 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.160 especially leather bags, which are like the oldest lineage of 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.880 sea turtles that we still have. And when you just 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:46.320 sit next to them, they're massive. I mean, they're absolutely gigdentists. 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.719 And you can see them, you know, using their real 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:54.000 floppers just like hands, digging their ex chamberers, squeezing out 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.200 the eggs, creating a new generation. And yeah, I totally 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.680 I was totally aw and I just Okay, this is 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:02.679 like the coolest thing I've ever done in my life, 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.400 and that is just how I fell in love and 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.680 just stayed with it. Wow. You know, speaking of just 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.200 how long sea turtles have been around, Um, well, what 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:15.720 is it about the sea turtle that has enabled it 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.040 to survive while so many other marine reptiles have gone extinct? 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:20.520 Like what is what do you think is the winning 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:22.640 design of the sea turtle? You know, that's that's a 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:24.560 really good question, and I don't think we have like 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:28.480 a definite answer. I think, especially in evolutionary biology, we 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:33.440 always make very many intelligent guesses. But of course, at 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.480 one point there were a lot more sea turtle species 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.600 than there are nowadays. As so we are down to seven, 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:43.720 seven extant species. And if you look at the seven 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:46.920 species right now, it's really interesting because they all have 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.000 similar ecologies to certain degree because you know, you can 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.720 find them in usually warmer waters because the active therm, 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.720 so that means they cannot regulate their own body temperature, 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.560 so that means they have to get an outside source 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:03.000 to really you know, get their metabolism going. So that 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.120 means you find them in tropical waters subtropical waters and 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:11.320 they're all coming onto the beach to nest. But then 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.280 if you look at that diet, and I think that 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.160 is really the key is you know, how they diversified. 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.559 It's really over the over the axis of the diet. 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.600 So we have very specialized species such as the hawks 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.080 bill or the leather bags. Of the hawks bill feeds 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:29.200 mainly on sponges, the leather bag feeds mainly on jellyfish. 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:31.120 I mean, that's another really cool thing if you think 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:33.720 about how large that animal is that feeds on an 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:38.400 animal that's just barely you know, anything other than water. Um. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.520 Then we have green turtles that are as adults at 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.680 least mainly herbivorous, so they're very different in their you know, 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.480 trophic niche as we would say scientists. So that means, 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.800 you know, they have very different diet and that is 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:53.960 probably the the secret to their you know, coexistence, that 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.240 they're not competing with each other for resources. And the 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.960 other thing is sea turtles are incredible resilience. So I've 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.440 never met um animals that are so resilient. I mean, 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:10.120 I've seen so many turtles that have suffered incredible injuries literally, 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.880 you know, amputations, of limbs or really crazy damage to 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.640 their to their shell, and they're still able to survive 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.520 and not just survive, but you know, still kind of 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.960 go with their biological program go and mates come up 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:26.160 to the beach and lay their eggs, even though they 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:30.160 might have literally no real flippers anymore, or massive slashes 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.360 in their carapace. I mean, I've seen really really sad things, 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:35.480 but it also makes me think, wow, yeah, I mean, 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:39.040 you're really resilient, so that means things might not face 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:43.199 you as much as others. And they're also pretty widespread, right, 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.160 so that means we have really sea turtles and almost 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:51.199 all tropical waters. So um, even if maybe one population 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.800 might go extinct, they are probably able to repopulate, you know, 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.080 into in from that population into other areas again. And 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:00.400 that might have been you know, the secret of why 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.079 they were able to survive so long, because they were 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.240 probably able to first of all, migrate into into other 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.480 places if if things became inhabitable or were able to 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:15.000 you know, diversify that diet over the course of millions 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:18.880 of years. And it seems also be the body plan 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.480 that they have seems to be really successful. Right, So 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.160 I don't know if everybody knows that. But turtles, not 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:28.120 just sea turtles, Um. Their shell is actually made from 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:31.440 their rip cache that merged together. So the single rips 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.680 it's kind of you know, became bony and just like yeah, 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.760 became the shell. So the shell is actually the vertebrate, 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:42.280 and the rips and everything else like your shoulder blades 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.959 and everything moved inside. So they have created this incredible armor. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:51.040 I mean, in German, if you translate like turtle, it 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:55.040 actually means shielded toad because the habits like shield and protected, 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:59.240 right um. And that means of course that once sea 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.280 turtles have read to certain buddy size, there's not that 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.560 many natural predators that are actually able to eat a turtle, 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.800 right So right now, I mean we're taking like humans 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:12.800 aside at this point, but if you're talking about natural predators, 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.240 it's really only about you know, the the animals really 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.800 strong mandibles that can crack that shell. So that's the 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.720 tiger shark, is the j jack wires, and it's crocodiles 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.360 that might be able to really eat an entire turtle. 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:26.920 I mean they might be able otherwise to take like 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.040 a bite out of flipper, but that's not the delicious 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.640 pipe with all the fat and all the all the meat, 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:35.480 it's all inside of the shell, right, So correct me 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.280 if I'm wrong, But I believe there's still some mystery 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.440 about the sort of step wise evolutionary process that led 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.480 to the turtle having a shell? Isn't there? Because I 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.040 think I was reading that, Um, it's sort of hypothesized 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.480 that maybe a middle stage was first you had some 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:52.240 kind of lizard like creature that had a wide, large 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.199 rib cage, and then maybe in between it had a 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:57.200 body plan that was sort of like you would see 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.480 with models of the ankleosaurus, where they're sort of plates 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.439 all over the back, and then over time those plates fused. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.679 Is that sort of in the right direction? Yeah? I 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:08.160 mean I'm not an expert on like, you know, the 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:13.040 paleontology I think, or like the actual um evolution of 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.599 of like the body plant. But what's interesting if you 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:17.839 just look back, for example, even just look at the 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.480 leather back So we have seven species, as I said, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.679 and six of them all belong to the height shell turtles. Um, 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:26.760 so it's kind of the same group. And then we 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.079 have the leather back turtles, which are their own lineage, 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.920 and leather bags actually look a lot more like the 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:36.200 you know, the the older lineages as well, because they 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.040 have a reduced care place. So leather bags are pretty 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.880 much named because they have a soft shell, so they 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:44.679 do not have those bony plates. Um. If you look 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:46.280 at it at a skeleton of the leather bag, you 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.040 will not exactly see what I just said where the 0:12:48.120 --> 0:12:50.760 grips have grown together, so it's it's more like cartilage 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.320 um um. And parts of it is it's just like 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.280 a reduced shell. And our colon for example, which is 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:00.960 one of the you know, first seat riddles that that 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:03.840 we've known of from the fossil finds, looks a lot 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.880 like leather bags, so they have you know, they have 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.400 some type of shell, but it's more a reduced shell. 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:12.240 And also I think and other fossil finds, you can 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.560 see that certain sea turtles, for example, had a like 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.240 a stronger plastron which is like the belly part of 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.640 the shell victually as you know, um like kind of 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.439 a reinforced carapace which is the upper part of the shell, 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:29.520 and vice versa. So it might have been like different 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.440 pressures for example, of where your natural predators came from. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.120 So if you were mainly you know, attacked from the bottom. 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.960 Maybe it was you know, advantageous to have you know, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.600 a kind of reinforced shield on your belly rather than 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.679 on your back or vice versa. So you don't know. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.120 But that's, like I said, that's the intelligent guesses that 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:49.920 you have may have to make about evolution and why 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.920 certain things developed or weren't successful in the end. Excellent. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:57.600 So I'm not going to ask basically three questions at 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.600 the same time, but they're very they're very simple and sudden. 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.200 They are kind to flow together. So how many of 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.480 the seven extant sea turtle species have you observed in 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:08.760 the wild, which ones do you work with the most, 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.600 and do you have a favorite? So from the seven 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:16.920 I have seen in the wild six and missing the 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.160 flat fact turtle. So we have two species which are 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:25.440 considered endemic, which means they're only found in a very specific, 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:29.080 very limited geo geographic range, which is first of all, 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.360 the chempstradilely turtle, which can be mainly found or solely 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:36.520 found in the Gulf of Mexico. And then there's the 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:39.320 flat fact turtle, which is pretty much found in the 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:45.160 waters around northern Australia between Papa Papua New Guinea and 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.080 and in Australia they but they nest mainly on the 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.440 north shore of Australia, so I haven't seen that one yet. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:53.120 That is really, um my last one that I'm missing. 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.800 I do work mainly with the species that we have 0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:02.520 in Costrica where I'm based. So the species I started 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.000 with is the leather back turtle, but we're also getting 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.880 you know, a lower number of green turtles nesting in 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:12.800 the Caribbean as well as on the leather back beaches 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.200 I've worked on in the Pacific. And then for my PhD, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.360 I really extensively studied olive red lace, which is one 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.840 of the smallest species. And then right now, since last year, 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:27.800 I just initiated a larger hospital project, which is also 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:29.560 the same beach where the leather bags are nesting. So 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.360 you've always got some, but now we're really focusing on, 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.040 you know, monitoring the hospital population, which is not nesting 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:40.920 exactly at the same time than the leather bags. And well, 0:15:41.120 --> 0:15:44.480 my favorite one, hands down leather bags. I mean, I 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.080 hate to say it, and everybody that disagrees with me, 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:53.160 they're just wrong. Um just because leather bags I just incredible. 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:58.840 I mean they really they they just constitute so many 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.400 or like they have so many super a littles about them. 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.760 I mean, they are the species that are distributed the widest. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.600 So we're still talking about an active them animal, right, 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.600 an animal that is in fear not able to regulate 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.320 their body temperature. But you will find or you can't 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:18.720 find leather blacks in waters that are substantially colder than 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.400 what the perfect temperature would be for them. Right, So 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:24.640 our populations in Costa Rica, depending which side of the 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.360 coast on they feed either in front of Nova Scotia 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.760 in Canada, Wales, England, also in the North Sea, so 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:35.240 recently there was actually stranding in Denmark um and then 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:38.520 the ones that have nesting on the Pacific side they 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.000 are usually going down to Peru, which are also pretty 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:44.280 cold waters. And how they can do it is, you know, 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.640 they have really found a way of first of all, 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:51.000 maintaining their body temperature, the core temperature steady. So they 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.160 have this like incredible fatty layers. It's almost like a 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.760 winter coat that keeps them warm and insulated. But then 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.760 of course they don't have it on their flippers, but 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.960 they do have it around the esophagus, so that's really cool, right, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.960 So that means even when they like swallow their prey, 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:10.320 which might be colder than their core temperature, it prevents 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:16.080 their core body temperature from dropping. And then it is 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.239 you know, first, of course it's a large animal, so 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.160 they have a better surface to volume ratio. It's it's 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.600 it's a term, it's called the gun to thermi um. 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.720 You know that it's just like you don't lose as 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.760 much heat over your surface just because you're large. And 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:31.600 then also because your flippers of course are exposed, they're 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:33.840 not having this fetty tissue. And in theory, you know, 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.440 all that blood that circulates, the warm blood goes out, 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:39.320 would cool down, go back, but no, they have this 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:42.640 countercurrent system where you know, the warm blood that comes 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.520 from the body is actually warming up the cold blood 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.199 that comes back from the flipper without losing the heat. Right, 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.240 So they're pretty much just like pass it on to 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:55.040 the blood that goes back into the body. And then 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:56.880 the last thing that is actually a little bit more 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:00.359 recent is that some scientists just discovered that the bags 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.840 are able to produce a certain amount of body heat 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.360 through digestion, so they made them swallow temperature pills um, 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.119 you know little devices that can literally measure the different 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:12.920 temperature while they were going through the digestive track, and 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:16.480 they're like, wow, okay, you're digesting and you're actually producing here. 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:20.840 That's pretty amazing. So you know the limitations of what 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.320 we know about active therms and it's pretty it's pretty incredible. 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.200 I mean, other bags are just wow, mind blown. Would 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.320 would that last fact mean that it's not actually such 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.440 a strict dividing line between warm blooded animals and cold 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.679 blooded animals? But more question of degree this is this 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.240 is a good question. Some people have argued that leather 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:43.800 bags might be not as you know, strictly active therm 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.640 as we would have categorized them. But then, of course 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:49.720 where do you draw the line? Right? Scientists like to 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.119 have drawers where you can like stuff things into and 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:54.200 it's just like, okay, you have this, but not that. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.360 And I think sometimes, you know, especially when you think 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.359 about how evolution happens, it's just not that clear and cut. 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:05.240 So in talking about the leather back, you were mentioning 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:07.920 that it has a self warming throat. When you look 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:10.440 inside their mouth, it does really look like a horror show. 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.399 They have these uh, these spikes so what's going on 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.479 with all that? What does what does that tell us 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:19.000 about the lifestyle of the leather at sea turtle. Well, 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:20.959 I mean you just have to think about, right, you 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.840 are a leather back turtle, You're swimming underwater, and you 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:31.080 are trying to eat this very deliberate thing, what is 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:34.679 a jellyfish, But you also don't want to swallow the seawater, right, 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:37.120 So it's not like you're wanting to eat seawater all 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.000 the time, you know. So you're taking a bite and 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.320 you swallow the jellyfish. You swallow the seawater, but before 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:45.399 you maybe we shouldn't say swallow, so you kind of 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.000 take it into your mouth, but before you actually swallow it, 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:50.359 you want to get rid of the sea water. And 0:19:50.440 --> 0:19:52.440 so that means you also do not want to get 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.439 rid of the jellyfish though, But it's so you know, 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.320 sliming glibbery that there's a good chance it would go 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.639 out if it wouldn't be for those spines that a 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.520 cut during the entire mouth down all the way down 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.160 to the aesephagus. Actually, other sea turtle species have those 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:08.199 spines as well, they're just not so like in the 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.840 mouth cavity already, so it's usually just like the aesephagus 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.920 that is having those um But yeah, and in the 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.840 ladder bag, it's right behind the mandibles. It's where it starts. 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:19.000 So it looks at one of those alien mouth that 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.200 you know that I think that pretty typical I feel 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:26.080 in science fiction movies. But it's really about and they're 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.960 all pointing towards the stomach, and that means it's really 0:20:30.000 --> 0:20:32.080 kind of meant to, you know, for the jellyfish to 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.200 get stuck in it, and they are able to extract 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:37.880 the water, usually through their nostrils, so there's a connection 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.800 between the mouth cavity and the nose um so they 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.280 don't even have to open the mouth and then they 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:45.480 just collect the jellyfish and then they just swallow it 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:49.479 without all the seawater. That's amazing. So what does it 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.919 mean to specialize in eating jellyfish? Like, what kind of 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:54.840 niche is that? Is that the kind of niche where 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.320 you're getting more prey and it's easier to get or 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:00.560 is it the other way around? What does that mean 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.880 to you? Well, I mean, we don't know of how 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.880 it started right to just see what it is right now, 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.439 But the thing is the sort of leather backs feed 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.240 in areas where there's a high density of of of jellyfish, 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:17.040 so that means the energy that it takes for them 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.040 to get to those jellyfish is not as large. We're 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.439 not as big, and they're obviously able to still fatten 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:26.080 up enough to produce their eggs or have enough energy 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.880 to you know, do their large migrations. And it's really 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.000 funny if you ever get a chance to to watch 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:34.440 some of those videos that were filmed in Nova Score 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:36.639 in front of Nova s Kotia, it is really you know, 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:38.639 the leather bag just swimming through the water and just 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:43.959 like eating one eating another one do like these you know, 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.879 large groups of jellyfish. Um, it's just they have to 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.359