1 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,799 Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 2 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: and today on the. 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 2: Show, it's a listener Questions episode. 5 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: I answer your questions that you send to me at 6 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 1: Creature Feature product gmail dot com. Do you have any 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: questions about evolutionary biology, your pets, animal behavior. I will 8 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: do my best to answer them. I love these questions. 9 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:38,199 Speaker 1: They often make me do a little bit of homework, 10 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,839 Speaker 1: do some research, phone up on my evolutionary biology and 11 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: so I love them and I really appreciate you guys 12 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: writing in. Let's get right into the first listener question. Hi, Katie, 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: I absolutely love learning and I love animals, so when 14 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: I found your podcast, I was a static. I'm constantly 15 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: annoying my friends and family with the fascinating facts I've 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: learned while to your podcast. I am still working my 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,639 Speaker 1: way through your podcast, so I'm not sure if you've 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,000 Speaker 1: covered this topic yet, but I am so fascinating with 19 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: animals that have evolved to change their sex. I know 20 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: there are fish, clownfish, and Asian sheep's head rass that 21 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: can do it, and also a lizard in Madagascar. I 22 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: think that lays fertilized eggs limiting the need to mate 23 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 1: with a male. It's just so amazing how nature can 24 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: just evolve like that in order to survive. Are there 25 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: other animals besides those two fish and that lizard that 26 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: have evolved in this way? No, I'd love to hear 27 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: more from a biologists perspective on this topic. Also, if 28 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: this is an episode already ready, which is it? 29 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 2: Which one is it? 30 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,840 Speaker 1: I want to hear all the things. Thank you again 31 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: for such a great podcast and can't wait to hear more. 32 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: This is Chelsea from Coal Valley, Illinois. Hi, Chelsea, thank 33 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: you so much for your question. I will definitely get 34 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: into some details and facts and examples of animals who 35 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: change their sex, But first I can tell you about 36 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: the some of the episodeodes where I have covered some 37 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: of this. There's plenty of stuff to go over those, 38 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: so I have plenty more to talk about right now 39 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: and then also on later episodes. But a couple examples 40 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:17,360 Speaker 1: of episodes where I cover sex swap shenanigans. There's one 41 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: that was published January twentieth. In twenty twenty one, it 42 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: was an episode called Paul Blart Jurassic Park cop where 43 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 1: we talked about whiptail lizards and clownfish. And on June nineteenth, 44 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, I did an episode called Happy Pride 45 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:39,079 Speaker 1: that was on all sorts of animal sex diversity, both 46 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,720 Speaker 1: in terms of like biological sex and also sexuality. There's 47 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: probably more episodes where I talk about these things, but 48 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,959 Speaker 1: those are the two that I can remember. Anyways, I 49 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: am as fascinated as you are by animals and the 50 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: ways in which sex is not really a binary, or 51 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: at LEAs it's not a strict set in stone binary 52 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: in a lot of cases in animals. First, let me 53 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: explain before I go onto the new examples. Let me 54 00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:13,639 Speaker 1: explain the ones that you brought up, Chelsea. The clownfish 55 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: and Asian sheep's head rass. These are two species of 56 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: fish which are sequential hermaphrodites, which means they change sex 57 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: during their life cycle. So clownfish famously can change their 58 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: sex depending on their environment as well as a hierarchical 59 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: social system. So they start out as males, and a 60 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,880 Speaker 1: dominant male will listend to the rank of breeding female, 61 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: and this is sort of like the queen of a 62 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: group of all males. Her second in command. The second 63 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:55,000 Speaker 1: most dominant is a breeding male, and so these are 64 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: the two. These are the only two that generally breed 65 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: in these groups. It's these two and then a bunch 66 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: of other males, and they live together, protect each other. 67 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,839 Speaker 1: Often they live among the sea and enemies because they 68 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: are able to be resistant to the ceain enemy toxins 69 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: while benefiting from the protection and the cea An enemies 70 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:20,480 Speaker 1: benefit from the little scraps of food that the clownfish 71 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: lead behind. So they're living there. But then they also 72 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: live in a social group where you have a queen 73 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: dominant female, then the second in command, which is a male. 74 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:34,960 Speaker 1: Those two breed, and then the rest of the males 75 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: just kind of orbit around them benefit from the territory, 76 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: but they are not breeding. If the breeding female dies 77 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: is lost moves on, the second in command male actually 78 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: turns into a female, and then he becomes a she 79 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 1: and becomes the breeding female, the new sort of like 80 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: queen of this little colony, and then just the non 81 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:06,280 Speaker 1: breeding males then becomes her consort, the next second in command, 82 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,559 Speaker 1: who will eventually then take over her spot and become 83 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: female when she dies or if she's killed. So this 84 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:19,599 Speaker 1: is how it works, right, It's a really interesting system. 85 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: These fish will change sex throughout their lifetime based on 86 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,919 Speaker 1: the social hierarchy, which is there's really in one of 87 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,839 Speaker 1: these little colonies, there's only one female who's breeding and 88 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: then her second in command. It's not really a harem 89 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: situation where she's breeding with all the males. That's not 90 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,720 Speaker 1: really happening. She's breeding with her one second in command male, 91 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 1: and then the rest of the males are just in 92 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,280 Speaker 1: a way waiting their turn. And they also benefit from 93 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: the protective nature of having a colony. So you know, 94 00:05:54,880 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: it's a really interesting system. So the Asian, she said 95 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:05,840 Speaker 1: wrass are similarly really interesting. So they start out as 96 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: normal looking tropical fish. The young ones are sort of 97 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 1: orangish orangish with a white stripe. Older ones turn more 98 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: of an olive tan color, they still have the little 99 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: racing stripe. Now, unlike the clownfish, which all start out 100 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: as males, the sheep head rass all start out as females. 101 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: When they get old enough, which is about ten to 102 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: fifteen years old and big enough, they actually turn in 103 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:42,239 Speaker 1: two males at that point and they undergo a really 104 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: dramatic change in body size and shape, so they look 105 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: very very different from their juvenile female forms. They lose 106 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: any of the youthful coloration. They turn a sort of 107 00:06:57,960 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: tan brown color or a reddish color. 108 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:00,800 Speaker 2: Uh. 109 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:06,080 Speaker 1: And most notably, their heads kind of balloon out and 110 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: get bulbous and puffy and big, so they have this 111 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: huge growth on the forehead, an extruded, puffy lower jaw, 112 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: and they grow from a little over a foot at 113 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 1: their mature female size to up to two feet as 114 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: a male. So the change from female into a male 115 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,760 Speaker 1: is permanent and they'll live the rest of their lives 116 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: as a big headed dude. And this is a really 117 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: interesting case where it doesn't really seem the environment might 118 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: play a role, but in general it's just once they 119 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: get big enough, they are able to turn from a 120 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: female into a male, and. 121 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 2: This is just their life cycle. 122 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: So clownfish and cheap drasts are far from the only 123 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: fish who can change their sex. There are many many 124 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: species of both sequential hermaphrodites. These are the clownfish and 125 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: the rass are the two examples of that, but there 126 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,239 Speaker 1: are also a lot of species of fish who can 127 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: change back and forth where it's not a permanent change. So, 128 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: coral gobies are a genius of small colorful fish that 129 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: live in nooks and crannies of coral reefs. They're very pretty, 130 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: very cute, but they don't want to waste encounters with 131 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,120 Speaker 1: other coral gobies. So if they happen to both be 132 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: the same sex, usually one of them will rapidly change 133 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: sex in order to mate with the other. And in 134 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: a lot of species they form long term pair bonds. 135 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:42,840 Speaker 1: So for them, when their partner dies, if their partner 136 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 1: dies before them, they'll go find another goby and if 137 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,400 Speaker 1: they are the same sex with this other gobi, they 138 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,960 Speaker 1: will change their sex to mate with them, to match 139 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: with them, and they can switch back and forth if 140 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 1: they need to. So really really interesting again, like this 141 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: is something where they have you know, it is easier 142 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: for them to be able to change their sex than 143 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: to make sure that they're finding a male or a 144 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,080 Speaker 1: female if they happen to be the opposite sex. Incredible. 145 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: So another one that you mentioned are the New Mexico 146 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: whiptail lizards. So they are I think this is the 147 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:31,839 Speaker 1: lizard that you're mentioning, Chelsea. Now, these are a type 148 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: of lizard, a species that are found in New Mexico 149 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: and Arizona, and they don't change their sex, but they 150 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: are all females, so they do not need males to reproduce, 151 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:52,360 Speaker 1: and they're a hybridization basically of these very closely related 152 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: species of lizards. And so what happens is that these 153 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: females actually have three chromosomes triploid rather than having two 154 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: chromosomes like humans and a lot of animals have, and 155 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:14,320 Speaker 1: so they are able to reshuffle these three chromosomes and 156 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 1: produce a reshuffled clone in an act of parthenogenesis. So 157 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:29,160 Speaker 1: that's reproduction without sex. So usually asexual reproduction can cause 158 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:31,959 Speaker 1: issues when you don't have a. 159 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,920 Speaker 2: Lot of genetic diversity. 160 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,479 Speaker 1: So you'll have a lot of species of animals, particularly 161 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:43,239 Speaker 1: insects and invertebrates, where they will have an asexual reproduction 162 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,640 Speaker 1: phase and then a sexual reproduction phase so that they're 163 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,319 Speaker 1: able to multiply a lot without needing to go through sex. 164 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: But then they will every so often have some sex 165 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: so that they can introduce some genetic Diversityids do this 166 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 1: where some generations are asexual and then another there's every 167 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:09,600 Speaker 1: so often there will be a generation of them that 168 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: are sexually reproducing, and then that helps them increase the 169 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:21,239 Speaker 1: genetic diversity of their population. A lot of like coral species. 170 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: What they do is they will go through asexual reproduction 171 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: phase budding, creating. 172 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,240 Speaker 2: Clones, and then those clones. 173 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: Will then go through a sexual reproduction phase, so that 174 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: you're basically going back and forth between asexually reproducing and 175 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: then sexually reproducing. So the benefit of asexual reproduction is 176 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:43,800 Speaker 1: you can do it really quickly. You don't need to 177 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 1: find a partner, which is great when you're coral and 178 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: you can't. 179 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:50,079 Speaker 2: Move, and. 180 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: You can do like a lot of it at once. 181 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,359 Speaker 1: But then the benefit of sexual reproduction is the introducing 182 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: more diverse genome and that is useful because if you 183 00:12:05,480 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: have a disease or change in the climate or a 184 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: new predator, having a larger, richer genetic library increases the 185 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: chance that some of your offspring is going to have 186 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: some genetic quality or mutation or capability of a future 187 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: mutation that will allow them to survive. So the whiptailed 188 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: lizards kind of bypass that by having that set of 189 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: three chromosomes that they can kind of shuffle and create 190 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:40,440 Speaker 1: new combinations that allow them to asexually reproduce. Interestingly, they 191 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:44,920 Speaker 1: don't need to have sex because they don't need to 192 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: be fertilized, and they don't do that, but they do 193 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: pseudocopulation where essentially one female lizard will hump another female lizard, 194 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: and it's actually useful in addition to probably being a 195 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: nice social activity for them, it induces ovulation and it's 196 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: a really interesting thing where it's like there's no real 197 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:14,239 Speaker 1: practical purpose to it other than encouraging ovulation and probably 198 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 1: being a way for them to socially connect. So yeah, 199 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,960 Speaker 1: really really interesting reptiles there. Another example of an interesting 200 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:29,080 Speaker 1: reptile is the bearded dragon, which this is another case 201 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:36,280 Speaker 1: of non set in stone sex. So this actually happens 202 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,959 Speaker 1: when they are still in the egg. So, like many reptiles, 203 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: the temperature of incubation will determine the sex of the embryo, 204 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: but unlike some other reptile species, they also have a 205 00:13:54,600 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: chromosomal determinant of sex upon fertilization. So what this is 206 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: that they will sometimes have like say, one sex upon fertilization, 207 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:16,280 Speaker 1: but then that can be overridden by the temperature of incubation. 208 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: And this typically happens when you have a male chromosomally 209 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 1: and then a high incubation temperature, which actually will turn 210 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:36,040 Speaker 1: it into a fully functional physiological female with male chromosomes. 211 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: So yeah, this is this is a case in which 212 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:46,360 Speaker 1: like the male embryo transitions physiologically into a female in 213 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: the embryo as the embryo inside the egg before it hatches, 214 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: so it's able to get pregnant, breed act like a female, 215 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: but it has the genetics of a male. In human 216 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: we have cases like this. It's not due to the 217 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: temperature in utero, but there are definitely cases of people 218 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: who are intersex or have androgen and sensitivity syndrome, where 219 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: you have you may have genes that say one thing 220 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: right like say x Y like your male, but then 221 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: you have your physiologically appear female. So you know, this 222 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: does happen in humans. It's just not like as it 223 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: doesn't happen as a rule, whereas in bearded dragons it 224 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: happens every time the eggs are incubated at a higher temperature. 225 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: So you know, if anyone tells you that sex is 226 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: really a very simple binary, they have not listened to 227 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: this podcast or really gotten into the juicy bits of 228 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: evolutionary biology where things get a lot more fun. So 229 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: I hope that helps satisfy some of your curiosity. But 230 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: I'm definitely we'll talk more on the show about these 231 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: kinds of things because there are so many, many, many, 232 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: many examples of interesting sex sort of like either sex 233 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: changes or different kinds of systems than what we think, 234 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: like what is the traditional view of what is normal 235 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: and natural in terms of having a male and a 236 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: female and they have sex and they have an offspring. 237 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: A lot of different ways to do it in nature. 238 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: So thank you for that question. Onto the next listener question. 239 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: This one's short and sweet, but I like it. What 240 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: are the smallest sharks and. 241 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 2: What do they hunt? This is from Ada. 242 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: So the smallest known sharks are the dwarf lantern sharks, 243 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: which are tiny guys who can fit in the palm 244 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,440 Speaker 1: of your hand. They grow to be about only up 245 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,920 Speaker 1: to eight inches long, which is around twenty centimeters. They 246 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: are found in the waters off of Colombia and Venezuela. 247 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: They live at depths of over nine hundred feet which 248 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,160 Speaker 1: is over two hundred and eighty meters, so they're relatively 249 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:28,639 Speaker 1: rare to spot because they're in the twilight zone, which 250 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 1: is this depth of the ocean. Where there's a little 251 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 1: bit of light but not much. They are a brownish 252 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: dark gray color and they have big old eyes. So 253 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:44,880 Speaker 1: they also have a series of black markings along their 254 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: sides and on their bellies. Actually also on their bellies. 255 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:53,919 Speaker 1: They have photophores, which are light producing cells, so they 256 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: can actually light up in the dark twilight zone depths 257 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 1: where they live. So the light producing cells accomplish a 258 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: couple of things. They can attract prey, which I don't 259 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 1: know if we have a lot of specifics on what 260 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: they eat exactly, but it is going to be things 261 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:23,160 Speaker 1: like invertebrates or smaller vertebrates like smaller fish. But really interestingly, 262 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: this light also acts as camouflage, which sounds counterintuitive, right 263 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: you're lighting yourself up. That seems like it'd making more noticeable, 264 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: But like I said, the photophores are along their belly, 265 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,080 Speaker 1: and so if you're a predator, you're only going to 266 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:43,600 Speaker 1: see those lights looking up and upwards. When you're in 267 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: the toilet zone, light is actually filtering down. So if 268 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,440 Speaker 1: you look down and you're in the twilet zone, it's 269 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: all darkness, but if you look up, you're seeing light 270 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: filtering in from the sun or the moon, and if 271 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:03,400 Speaker 1: you have something that has a dark underside and it's 272 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: not illuminated, you're going to see like a shadow above 273 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: you and see like, oh, that looks like a nice snack. 274 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: But with these lantern sharks, because their bellies are slightly luminous, 275 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: it actually blends in with the light filtering down from above, 276 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: so predator looks up and can't necessarily tell the difference 277 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,600 Speaker 1: between the lit up belly of this lantern shark and 278 00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: the rest of the diffuse light coming in from above. 279 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: You actually see this not always with light producing coloration, 280 00:19:34,520 --> 00:19:39,879 Speaker 1: but with say white bellies for animals, where they'll have 281 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: a darker top and then white bellies a la an orca, 282 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,679 Speaker 1: and that helps camouflage them. For orcas, it's not as 283 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: much for detection, maybe as being able to ambush prey. 284 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: But yeah, so for the lantern sharks though, they are 285 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:03,400 Speaker 1: literally lighting up with bioluminescence these photophores. So interestingly, there 286 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: is a similarly sized shark, maybe a little bigger, like 287 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: by a fraction. 288 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 2: Of an inch. It's maybe on average. 289 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: Bigger, but it's a completely different species of shark in 290 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: a completely different region in the waters near Japan. The 291 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: philippines in Australia actually at a similar depth in the 292 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,920 Speaker 1: twilight zone as this other the lantern shark, but they're 293 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:34,439 Speaker 1: very morphologically that is, like physically similar to the lantern shark, 294 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: despite being a completely different, unrelated species in a different 295 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: area of the world. This is called the small eye 296 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: pygmy shark and it's also tiny brown and they also 297 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:51,880 Speaker 1: have photophores, light producing cells on their bellies, and it's 298 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:56,600 Speaker 1: thought they use the same strategy as the lantern shark, 299 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 1: so the lights help them camouflage but also tracked small prey. 300 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: We do know a little more about what kind of 301 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:10,879 Speaker 1: prey these guys eat, which is small squid, shrimp, krill, 302 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: and smaller fish like lantern fish. Now lanternfish, don't get 303 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 1: that confused with lantern sharks. The lantern sharks that we 304 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:22,359 Speaker 1: just talked about too big for these guys live in 305 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:25,359 Speaker 1: a different area. But lantern fish, which are these tiny 306 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: little guys, our prey for the small eye pygmy shark. 307 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,480 Speaker 1: So my guess would be that it's slightly smaller look 308 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 1: alike the lantern fish or lantern shark that we talked 309 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:44,080 Speaker 1: about earlier probably eats very similar things, probably shrimp, krill, 310 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: other invertebrates, and then smaller fish. 311 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 2: So there you go. 312 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,280 Speaker 1: They do hunt, but they also gotta be sneaky because 313 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: they are small and snack sized, and they use that 314 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: really cool trick of lighting their tummies so that when 315 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: you're looking up above, they blend in with the light filtering. 316 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:07,800 Speaker 2: Down in the twilight zone. 317 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,960 Speaker 1: Whereas if you're looking above and down below at them, 318 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: you don't see the lights on their bellies. You just 319 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: see that dark brown color that blends in with the 320 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: murkiness of the depths. 321 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,919 Speaker 2: So really really cool. Thank you for your question. 322 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:29,399 Speaker 1: Onto the next listener question. I got sent a video 323 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: of a marmot and the email goes, I saw this 324 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: cute marmot video on Reddit today and don't think I've 325 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: heard you talk about them that much. I'd love some 326 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: more episodes about rodents. I love rats, but also Keppy barras. 327 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,399 Speaker 1: I would love to hear any episodes about Marmott's, Beaver's, 328 00:22:44,440 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: Kepby Burrows, etc. While not a rodent, I love higher 329 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: axes now because of you, hope you enjoy the video 330 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:55,479 Speaker 1: from Chloe. The video is of a marmot stealing a 331 00:22:55,520 --> 00:23:01,320 Speaker 1: cracker from a man slowly approaching the camera, stopping every 332 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:03,480 Speaker 1: time the man looks at him, and then every time 333 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,399 Speaker 1: the man looks away, comes right up steals the cracker 334 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: right out of his hands, which is a very very 335 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:14,240 Speaker 1: marmot behavior. So thank you for this video and for 336 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,920 Speaker 1: question Chloe. I'll talk a little bit about marmots right now. 337 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: Definitely will have occasion to talk about more rodents in 338 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: the future on the podcast. So marmots are very very cool. 339 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:32,680 Speaker 1: I've personally run into them hiking in the Sierra Nevadas. 340 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: There's the yellow bellied marmot in Canada and western US. 341 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 2: They're quite big. 342 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: They're like, I would say, like a very fat cat size, 343 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 1: like they're larger than your average cat, and they're very cute. 344 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:55,159 Speaker 1: They are indeed large rodents. In fact, they're technically a 345 00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: type of ground squirrel. They don't look very squirrely, they 346 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: don't generally have the fluffy long tails like squirrels. There 347 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: are many different species of these though, so there are 348 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: fifteen species found in Europe, Asia and North America, so 349 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: they get around. If you're not sure what a marmot is, 350 00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: think of a groundhog. The ground hog is actually a 351 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: species of marmot. So if you've seen a groundhog, you'll 352 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: have a general idea of what a marmot looks like. 353 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,680 Speaker 1: Of course, different species have slightly different colorations, slightly different shapes. 354 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: A lot of them are a bit bigger than a groundhog. 355 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: You might hear about marmots in the news every so often, 356 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:46,880 Speaker 1: well pretty rarely, when someone contracts the bubonic plague from 357 00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: them by hunting and consuming their meat, particularly if it's 358 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: raw or undercooked. So this doesn't really happen in North America. 359 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: This is usually something that happens in Northeast Asia. So 360 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: technically you could get the plague from an infected marmot 361 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,160 Speaker 1: if fleas travel from the marmot to humans, but that's 362 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: really rare these days. I was unable to find an 363 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: example of that happening in recent history. I think probably 364 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: it's just very uncommon to be living in close quarters 365 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 1: with marmots to the point where a flea is gonna 366 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,560 Speaker 1: bite an infected marmot, get off the marmot and get 367 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,439 Speaker 1: on you and bite you. The last time there was 368 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: a plague caused by marmots was the Manchurian Plague of 369 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: nineteen ten in Northeast Asia, during which people caught the 370 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:50,159 Speaker 1: pneumonic plague from marmot fleas killed a lot of people, 371 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: killed like at least sixty thousand people, so. 372 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 2: It was very serious. 373 00:25:55,760 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: But yeah, it's really not very common, not something to 374 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:05,479 Speaker 1: worry about. I have not seen any cases of plague 375 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: being transmitted from marmot's to humans in America. 376 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 2: In North America. 377 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: It could happen, but it's I haven't seen any documentation 378 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 1: of it, because they are technically a carrier of the 379 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 1: the bacteria that can cause the plague. Yeah, it's just 380 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 1: really rare that someone would be in close proximity with 381 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: a marmot and a flea would jump from that marmot, 382 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: which would happen to be infected, which is also very rare, 383 00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: and then happen to by the person. It just it 384 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: doesn't really happen personally. I wouldn't cuddle with a marmot, 385 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: but yeah, they're probably not going to want. 386 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 2: To cuddle with with you either. 387 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: A wild marment is not going to have interest stealing 388 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: your food. Yes, and you're you're not going to get 389 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,120 Speaker 1: sick by a marmot just running up and stealing your food, 390 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: but you should still do your best to secure your 391 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: food when you're hiking. But yeah, the more recent cases 392 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 1: of plague have been from people hunting and consuming their meat, 393 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:20,560 Speaker 1: particularly raw and undercooked meat, but even that is extremely 394 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 1: extremely rare. So Prairie dogs, which are another very rare 395 00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: source of the plague, are highly related to marmots. Marmots 396 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,959 Speaker 1: differ from perry prairie dogs because they're a lot larger. 397 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:43,400 Speaker 1: They don't have as large and strictly struct structured communes 398 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: as prairie dogs do. Prairie dogs basically live in like 399 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: quite large prairie dog cities, whereas marmots kind of live 400 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: in smaller population marmot towns. Marmots, depending on the species, 401 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: are still quite highly social with each other. They will 402 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,760 Speaker 1: groom each other, allow their young to play together. There's 403 00:28:02,840 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: usually like a breeding pair that lives with a bunch 404 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: of different other breeding pairs, and they all have their 405 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,479 Speaker 1: babies and stuff. Different species may be more or less social, 406 00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: but they're usually pretty friendly with each other. They're not 407 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: going to be necessarily friendly with you. They can be 408 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: quite aggressive and territorial if you're not in the cool 409 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 1: marmot club. The marmots that I encountered while backpacking were 410 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:36,200 Speaker 1: really bold. They were very unafraid of hikers. They actually 411 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,720 Speaker 1: stole my brother's hiking pole. My brother got it back 412 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: after a extremely funny chase. Probably what they were after 413 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:51,840 Speaker 1: is the salty sweat on the handle of the hiking pole. 414 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,520 Speaker 1: So we have salt in our sweat, and if you're backpacking, 415 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,959 Speaker 1: if you're hiking, you're going to sweat a lot, and 416 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: so that's salty sweat gets on your hiking equipment, from 417 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,920 Speaker 1: your palms, transferred onto the handles of your hiking poles, 418 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: or on your backpack, or on your clothes. And marmots 419 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 1: love salt. It's an important mineral in their diet. They're 420 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: attracted to the smell of it and they want to 421 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 1: eat it, and so it's actually if you look up 422 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: marmots stealing hiking poles or chewing on hiking poles, it's 423 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: very common. And they especially love the ones the poles 424 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,960 Speaker 1: that like have the cork because that absorbs a nice 425 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: amount of sweat. And so if you're hiking in a 426 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: marmot area, it is as important to secure anything that 427 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,959 Speaker 1: has your sweat on it as it is to secure 428 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: your food, because the marmots will steal it and sometimes 429 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: chew the handle of your hiking pole right off, chew 430 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: up your clothes or your backpack because they love salt. 431 00:29:58,760 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 2: They'll also go. 432 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: After your fo which again you should The video of 433 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: the Mormon eating the crackers very cute, but you shouldn't 434 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:11,440 Speaker 1: be encouraging them to eat human food. Not great for them. 435 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: Also turns them into bold little thieves. They were a 436 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,719 Speaker 1: menace for us when we were backpacking. They were very 437 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: very unafraid of us, really trying to steal our things 438 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,280 Speaker 1: right in front of us. They've learned that we're not 439 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: about to do anything to them. So yeah, they've become 440 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: pretty incorrigible, very cute, very cute guys though, So thank 441 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:43,760 Speaker 1: you guys so much for your questions. I will reveal 442 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,120 Speaker 1: the answer to last week's mystery animal sound next week 443 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: on the full length episode. I do want to say, like, 444 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:56,320 Speaker 1: I got a lot of people who guessed correctly, so 445 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: I'm really proud of you guys for that. And so yeah, 446 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: if you want to hear that sound, if you listen 447 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: to the last two weeks episode at the end we 448 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: do the animal sound gissing game. And yeah, if you 449 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: have your own question and you would like. 450 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:14,239 Speaker 2: Me to answer it. 451 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,800 Speaker 1: You can write to me at Creature featurepod at gmail 452 00:31:17,840 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: dot com any question about evolutionary biology, animal behavior, even 453 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: pet questions. I'll be happy to read them and answer them. 454 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: And yeah, thanks to the Space Cossacks for their super 455 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 1: awesome song Exolumina. Creature features a production of iHeartRadio. For 456 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,440 Speaker 1: more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the 457 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or Hey guess what wherever. 458 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:43,520 Speaker 2: You listen to your favorite shows. 459 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: I'm not your mother. I can't tell you what to do. 460 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: I do suggest you not let a marmot eat your 461 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: hiking pole. It's not good for them, and then you 462 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: don't have a hiking pole, which man, I love hiking poles. 463 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: They're great for your knees. That's my advice. See you 464 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: next Wednesday.