1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,440 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:14,159 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,200 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: and monsters. In time, the Inuit people of the Bearing 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: Sea tell tales of Aklut, a folkloric monster that takes 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: the form of a giant orca while in the water, 8 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: but can also venture out onto the ice flows, where 9 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: it assumes the form of a giant wolf and hunts 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: the flesh of human beings. Whenever one encounters wolf prints 11 00:00:43,880 --> 00:00:46,639 Speaker 1: that terminate at the edge of an ice flow, then 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: one has found signs of the monster re entering the 13 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:57,800 Speaker 1: water to assume its orca form. The Oclut folk tale 14 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: is exciting and enthralling on its own, but it also 15 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: brings to mind the terrestrial ancestry of the orca or 16 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: killer whale. The leading hypothesis on whale evolution holds that 17 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: the creatures evolved from four legged land dwellers that increasingly 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,679 Speaker 1: took to the sea beginning some fifty million years ago. 19 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 1: While not wolves per se, these suspected whale ancestors are 20 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 1: sometimes described or illustrated as vaguely lupine in appearance. Orca 21 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: are sometimes described as the wolves of the sea, but 22 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 1: in scientists at the University of Copenhagen used genomic data 23 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: to determine that while walrus is shared more in common 24 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: with dogs and wolves, orcas had more in common with cows. 25 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: In prior research, mijard at All, writing for the journal 26 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: Mammalian Biology, hypothesized that the orca's ancestors might have been 27 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: something like a deer, perhaps similar to the modern water 28 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: loving mouse deer, which may jump into the water and 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: hide when threatened. Whatever the secrets of their origin, orcas 30 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 1: now exist in two to five subspecies or races, which 31 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: differ from each other in diet and appearance. Andrew Foot 32 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: at the University of Burne, Switzerland has argued that their 33 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: genomic differences are, as with humans, partially driven by culture 34 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: learned behaviors in ways of surviving that are passed down 35 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: within a given group. Aklut stands apart from genomics and 36 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 1: scientific scrutiny, but in some ways it nicely embodies the 37 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:42,959 Speaker 1: evolutionary connection between land and ocean. Tune in for additional 38 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you 39 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 40 00:02:49,639 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a 41 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts for my 42 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 43 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.