WEBVTT - Listener Q's: Bee Meat Slurry 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:10.480 Welcome to Creature Feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:15.280 of Mini Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.120 and today on the show it's another listener's Questions episode. 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:24.120 Every week, well not every week, but you know occasionally 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.040 I do these. You write to me your questions, and 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:31.240 I try to answer them the best that I can. 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.319 Thank you so much for your emailed questions. If you're 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:36.919 listening to this and you're saying, hey, I have an 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:42.199 evolutionary biology question, a question about animals and parasites and 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.360 so on that I would like answered, you can write 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.640 to me at Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com. So 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.320 let's get right into your questions. Hi, Katie. I found 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.959 a new subreddit called Crowbro. There's lots of cute stories, pictures, 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.600 and videos of people friending or feeding corven. I saw 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.920 this lovely post, and I guess I have never seen 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:10.080 ravens up close before. They're beautiful. It looks like they 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.039 have feathers coming from their face down their beaks a bit. 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.040 Is there any reason evolutionarily why they would need feathers 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.399 on that part of their beak? Is this normal for 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.280 more or all birds asking the true bird lady, do 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.200 you think it would benefit to get rid of those 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.280 stragglers or to keep them or get more. I'm not 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.560 sure why I'm surprised to see it, but truth be told, 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.160 I don't look at birds too closely because well, they're 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:36.279 flight risks. Some screenshots attached in case it gets removed 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.240 or anything. Thank you Chloe Story. So, first of all, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.840 that's an incredible subreddit. I'm very much in favor of 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:47.440 befriending ravens and crows with photographs and tasteful snacks, and 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:53.200 this is an absolutely fantastic observation and wonderful questions about 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:57.480 the feathers around their beaks. So both ravens and crows 0:01:57.520 --> 0:01:59.960 have feathers that covered the tops of their beaks allthough, 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:04.240 so in general, raven beak feathers and also their little 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:07.480 throat feathers, like their little beards, tend to be shaggier 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:12.400 than crows, but they both have them. So interestingly, those 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.440 feathers do cover their nostrils, which is something that isn't 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:21.560 found in all birds, so that seems like that might 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.880 be giving us a hint as to what they're for 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.720 the fact that they are so far down on their 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.320 beaks that it's also covering their nostrils. Then again, many 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.400 other birds don't have any feathers covering their nostrils, so 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.120 what gives, Like, what is going on here? So what 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.160 are those feathers? Those feathers on top of a crow 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.720 or raven's nose are called Richdal bristles. They're present in 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:48.560 other birds, but in many bird species they're smaller and 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.840 less noticeable, maybe even absent. But some of them have 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.880 them where they're just kind of like whiskers above their beaks. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.080 So their purpose seems to be widely very in birds, 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:06.320 having evolved and been lost multiple times. Some birds seem 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.880 to use them as sensory organs, similar to cat whiskers, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:14.960 and there has been a study that found that species 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.800 who are active in low light conditions grow longer Rickdal bristles. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:23.520 But that's a bit different from this question in terms 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:28.760 of the corvids, because their bristles aren't long in the 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.400 sense of like cat whiskers, where they're sort of sticking 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.600 out as sensory organs. They're long and then flat against 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:37.760 their bills. So I'm not sure if using them as 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.400 a sensory organ is the answer there in terms of 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.800 our crows and ravens. So you'd think that the fact 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.600 that ravens and crows and other corvids have a high 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.560 density of richtal bristles over their beak would be easily 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:58.080 explained like kind of a standard crow fact, standard raven fact. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:03.080 But actually no. So the purpose of richt ol bristles 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.440 and the reason for the differences and their shape and 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:12.600 density is somewhat debated, and it seems somewhat understudied. So 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:14.920 let's look into this. Let's try to come up with 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:19.359 some theories and think through what might make sense. So 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.880 why might they be covered? Let's compare them to other birds. 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.600 Let's look at sort of features of crows and ravens 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.680 and try to figure out what are some of the 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:37.359 possible theories for these these feathery beaks. So the first 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.200 thing I thought of was like, well, does this have 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:43.720 something to do with them being carrion birds? So while 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:47.880 it is true that crows and ravens do eat carrion, 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:52.839 it seems like, so you know, maybe the covered beaks, 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.160 maybe that's some kind of protection keeping stuff out of 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.680 their nostrils, keeping pathogens out of their nostrils as they 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.360 root around in carrion, and that could be the case, 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.480 and there is certainly an incentive to heap like blood 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.680 and guts and stuff out of their nostrils or to 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.640 help protect their nostrils from pathogens. But there are other 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:17.160 carrion birds, like many species of vultures and condors, that 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:24.440 have relatively naked beaks, whereas there's other carrion raptors like 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.680 bearded vultures who feed mostly on bones, who do have 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.480 beaks that are covered in bristles, kind of similar to 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.800 ravens and crows, which is really interesting. So you have 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.800 both both of these kind of styles. Most of these 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.360 fashions and birds who eat carrion where some of them 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:45.240 their beaks are covered, some of them are uncovered. So 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.440 I'm not exactly sure whether eating carrion has anything to 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.080 do with the state of feathers on their beaks. So 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:58.320 bearded vultures, crows, and ravens who do have covered nostrils 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.280 do live in environments that can get really cold, so 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:04.760 you know, I looked into other birds, like birds who 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:08.280 are cold specialists. It does turn out that penguins who 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:12.640 live in cold environments also have nostrils that are covered 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.960 in like these velvety feathers, which may help them with 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:20.600 temperature regulations. So that's one possibility, right, Like the feathers 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.040 on their beaks helps keep them warm in the cold, 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.919 But there are plenty of birds who live in cold 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:32.760 environments who do not have feathers covering their bills. This 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.000 doesn't necessarily mean that the feathers aren't used to help 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:40.040 in the cold. Different species can approach problems from different 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:45.760 evolutionary angles, of course, but maybe some winter birds such 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:48.120 as cardinals who don't seem to have a ton of 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.960 feathers covering say their nostrils, have different techniques to stay 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.160 warm in the winter, and their behaviors are going to 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.840 be different from ravens and crows. So these these little 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:02.840 birds that often feed on seeds, they may have seed 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:05.680 stores which might require less exposure of the beak to 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.840 the cold, snowy forage. Like they're probably not getting into, like, say, 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:13.440 a frozen carcass with their beaks so much because they 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.960 eat seeds instead. And they have a different bill shape 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.280 which is kind of like a bit thicker and broader, 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.080 which is great for cracking seeds. So you know, maybe 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.160 they have a different technique for staying warm in the winter, 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:29.840 that doesn't require them to have as much coverage over 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:33.800 their bills. But you know, it could also mean that 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.360 the feathers over the beaks for ravens and crows has 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.480 nothing to do with staying warm in the cold. Interestingly, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.400 rooks are a species of corvid with a distinctively bald beak. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.680 Like this is a characteristic that if you're curious, like, hey, 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.800 why does this crow seem to have a white, sort 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.440 of featherless area around its beak, It's like, well, that 0:07:55.640 --> 0:08:00.720 is actually probably a rook. So understanding why why rooks 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.680 are featherless might help us understand why crows and ravens 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:10.160 do have feathers on their beaks. So juvenile rooks actually 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.160 do have feathers on their beaks, just like crows and ravens, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.160 but as they mature at around six months, they lose 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:21.480 these feathers. So often when there's a difference between juvenile 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.280 and adult morphology, it's either due to a vulnerability that 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:31.160 the juvenile has, or behavioral difference or sexual selection. So 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.120 a lot of say like penguin baby penguins have a 0:08:35.160 --> 0:08:37.680 lot more down, a lot sort of fluffier. They're not 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:41.280 really built to say, swim around so much, but they 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:45.680 are built to be able to stay warm because they're 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.520 going to be a lot more vulnerable to the cold. 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.360 They won't need to swim because their parents are going 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.200 to be feeding them. And then they grow in the 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.439 feathers that are more specialized for keeping them dry and 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:04.640 hydrodynamic as they grow older. Now, some birds also don't 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.960 develop their adult coloration until they are mature, so any 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:13.240 sorts of ornamentation, any kind of feather patterns that would 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:18.320 help for sexual selection, don't develop until they're older. So 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:23.319 these feathers on their beaks, there's like a few possibilities 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.320 right for why they have them when they're young but 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:27.840 not as adults. Like it could be that that bald 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:32.320 beak is a feature of sexual selection. It could be 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.440 that juveniles are more vulnerable to say, the cold, or 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:40.600 maybe to pathogens, and so having those feathers over their beaks, 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.640 over their nostrils is much more important for the young 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:49.679 rooks than for the adults, which, you know, it still 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.720 kind of presents this mystery because having a covered beak 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.760 as an adult seems like it could also have benefits. 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:02.120 So why did rooks lose this this covering, whereas other 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.280 corvids like ravens and crows seem to have these feathers 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.240 all over their beaks, you know, pretty far down. Actually, 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.920 it is quite noticeable once you do see them up close, 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.800 because it's true their feathers are black and it kind 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:17.599 of blends in with their beak. But then once you 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.040 see it, you can't really not see it anymore. They 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.680 have these very fluffy beaks, especially ravens, because their feathers 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.160 a little shaggyar, so you can really notice that beak fluff. 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.120 So that's kind of all to say that I don't 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:38.040 necessarily have a really precise answer for you, not yet. 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:40.839 At least I will continue to look for when I've 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.200 reached out to some crow experts, some corvid experts, and 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:49.079 if I find a really compelling answer, like maybe some 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:53.319 new research or some really compelling theories, I will definitely 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:56.120 share them with you. This is just such a good 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.920 question because it's such a good observation, first of all, 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.280 to notice, yeah, they do have these feathers on their beaks, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.040 and then also to think of like, hey, you know, 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.880 is this a normal thing for birds? What are those feathers? 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.120 What purpose could they serve you are definitely thinking like 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:15.400 an evolutionary biologist, that's a fantastic question. And yeah, it 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.680 is surprising to me always that sometimes there's a lot 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.000 of there are things that seem relatively like, yeah, we 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.559 should have an answer for that, but you know, it's 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.360 hard for me to find like a definitive study or 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.800 a definitive answer that seems to indicate exactly what those 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.920 that feature of the animal is. So in a way 0:11:32.960 --> 0:11:35.880 that's exciting, right, Like, there's still things that are left 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:38.679 to figure out. So I will keep you updated. I 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:42.040 will continue to reach out to corved experts and see 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:46.040 if I can find out exactly why they have those 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.480 feathers on their beaks. My guess would be it's a 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.760 form of protection of some kind, Like it either keeps 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:56.240 their beaks warmth, or it's protecting their nostrils from say 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.959 dust or pathogens or something similar to say like eyelashes 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.720 on a human, right like, or nose hairs, right like, 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.920 something that is a part of like maybe their passive 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.200 immune system, right like they're keeping stuff out maybe because 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.080 they're so they have to be so omnivorous, so like 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.800 they'll they're definitely not above eating carrion, but they have 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:19.360 to eat different kind of weird things, so maybe that's 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:23.480 to help protect them. Whereas maybe a vulture that doesn't 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.160 have feathers on its beak has a different, like different 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:30.880 techniques for keeping pathogens out, like a maybe a different 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:32.920 part of their immune system that's a lot stronger. They 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.000 have highly acidic stomachs, things like that. So you know, 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.320 it's it's it is a really interesting thing. It's a 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.240 really interesting observation. So thank you so much for that question. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.719 All right, next listener question. This person received a newsletter 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.240 from dog Juice. I don't know what dog juice is, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.000 but it sounds delicious, said Hi Katie. I received a 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:58.200 newsletter in my inbox from dog Juice today and found 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.960 this to be particularly interesting here to share jessec So 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.720 she links to a study called Sneeze to leave. African 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:12.400 wild dogs like on Pictus, use variable quorum thresholds facilitated 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:17.160 by sneezes in collective decisions. So this is a study 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.000 I'm actually familiar with. I think it's really really cool. 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:22.920 So just a kind of brief summary of it is 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:27.480 that this study found that African wild dogs engage in 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:31.040 sneeze democracy if one of them wants to move on 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:36.120 from somewhere, she will sneeze, and you know it's a 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.320 controlled sneeze, Like if you have a dog, you might 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.600 kind of know what this is. Like a dog can 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.960 kind of like do this sort of like a like 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.640 sneeze on command apparently, and like my dog does so 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:51.000 frequently when she's trying to tell me something. So and 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.560 these are African wild dogs who are not domesticated. They 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:59.160 are wild animals. They will they live in pack structures 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.520 with as a hierarchy. But interestingly they also seem to 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:08.560 really kind of rely on group decision making. So one 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.679 dog sneezes, and then maybe her neighbor agrees like yeah, 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.720 I want to move on, and then her neighbor sneezes, 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.080 and then if there's enough sneezing, like a critical mass 0:14:17.080 --> 0:14:20.920 of sneezing, the pack will move on. It's like basically 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:22.680 like hey, who wants to get out of here and 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.960 go somewhere else? Dominant dogs in the pack might get 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:30.520 more clout for their sneezes. It's not maybe exactly one dog, 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.320 one sneeze vote, but it really does depend on the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:39.280 other dogs agreeing. So if you have a domesticated dog, 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.520 you will know that they're highly social and they use 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.640 their sneezes to communicate to each other as well as 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:50.680 to us humans. Sneezes and dogs can mean distress or 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.520 a desire to play, maybe just to get your attention frustration. 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:59.320 Sometimes my dog loves to sneeze loudly and wetly into 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.760 my face when I'm not paying enough attention to her, 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.920 like when I'm writing my responses to listener questions for example. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:12.240 All right, onto the next listener question. This is from 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.760 Scott M. Have you discussed carrion bees yet on the pod? 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.480 They are super cool bees that are adapted to eat meat. 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:22.600 So hey, Scott, you know what. I cannot remember if 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:24.720 I have discussed them or not, but even if so, 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:28.680 they are worth more than one mentioned because you are correct. 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.320 They are super cool and I could talk about them, 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:35.960 probably in their whole episode, but why not spit some 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.320 carrying bee facts right now? These are bees found in 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.960 South America in rainforests. They're also known as vulture bees, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.600 and as both their names suggest, they feed exclusively on 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:55.520 dead animals, which is called obligate necrophagi, so that means 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.000 they have to eat dead meat. And that is what 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.600 they are involved to do. As honeybees are nectivorous, they 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.560 are flesh chivorous. That is not a real word, but 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:11.600 I just said that. So there are three species of 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:16.480 carrion bees. They're all very closely related, very similar. So 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:20.560 as creepy as it sounds, they're actually harmless to the living. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.400 They don't have stingers. They're stingless type of bee. Like 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:29.280 honey bees. They live in use social colonies with defined 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:35.920 social structures, rolls and a queen. So yeah, they're essentially 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.720 like honey bees, but they don't have stingers, and they 0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:45.600 eat you know, rotting flesh instead of nectar. So carrion 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.640 bees will find a carcass, just as a honey bee 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:51.880 would find a flower, and signals to other members of 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:55.040 the colonies to come join them. So they will crawl 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:57.760 into sort of orifices in the carcass to get to 0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.760 soft tissue. One of their favorite places to climb up 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:06.000 in apparently is the eye socket, which you know, lovely 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.280 cute little bees. So they will start to chew little 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:12.359 bits of flesh away and they don't eat it right away, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.439 they will carry it back to the colony. Now, this 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:19.119 is the point at which some of the research is 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.720 a little threadbare about these bees. We're not exactly sure 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.000 how they process these pieces and meats, but there's a 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.560 couple theories. So they The thing that researchers know is 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:32.880 that they steal the meat away and these little wax pots. 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.440 What they don't know is whether they do some kind 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:38.920 of pre processing, like pre digesting with like a special 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.040 gland or some enzymes, and then spit it into the 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.760 wax pots, or if they just place it directly without 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:51.879 doing any kind of digestion, and then inside the little 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:56.399 wax pots is where sort of all of the processing happens. 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.960 All the processing happens. So either way, the meat goes 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:04.359 through some sort of breakdown process in these wax pots 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.680 and it turns into a nutritional paste that the bee 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.399 can easily consume and digest over the course of a 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.359 few days. So at first people thought that this was 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.879 just honey right from like flowers, weird honey or like, 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.320 but it's actually kind of it's meat honey. It is 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:27.560 a nutritive substance made out of flesh rather than the 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:33.480 proteins found in plant pollen. So a study charmingly called 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:36.919 why did the bee eat the chicken, symbion gain loss 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:41.560 and retention in the vulture. Be microbiome examined the gut 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:46.120 microbiome of carrion bees versus nectivorous bees and found a 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:50.040 shift in what sorts of digestive bacteria live in the 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:54.199 carnivorous bees, So their guts are more acidic in general, 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:57.240 protecting them from pathogens that might be present in carrion. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:02.520 So these bees have evolved from being nectivores, you know, 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:07.320 sipping nectar to eating meat, and meat can be a 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:12.119 lot more dangerous in terms of pathogens that can be found, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:15.639 like bad bacteria that can be found growing on the meat, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.879 and so if you eat that and you consume that 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:19.960 you don't have any defense against it, you can get 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:23.680 really sick. That's one reason that humans like our whole 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:29.359 thing is that we developed an ability to cook our meat, 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.520 which not only protects us from pathogens, but it also 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.760 helps process the meat a bit, which helps us digest 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.480 it more efficiently. And so that cooking has been really 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:43.600 important for us. And these bees have a double kind 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.280 of a double pronged approach here. Not only are their 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:51.440 guts more acidic, allowing them to digest meat better, they 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.760 also process it by putting it into these little wax pots. 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:57.879 So you know what, we really share a lot with 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:05.320 carnivorous bees. You think about it onto the next listener question. Hi, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:07.520 I just listened to the episode about ear mites and 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:11.840 dog hair and have an allegory with photo receipts. I 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:14.320 adopted my dog Milly when she was seven months old 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.159 and she had short, straight fur. The first time she 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.480 went into heat, her fur grew about one and a 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.480 half inches and went full curly. Sue. She'll be three 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:24.800 on Valentine's Day and she looks like an orange and 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:28.119 white shag carpet. Love the show, especially when there's a 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.000 story about animals who do crimes or get sweet sweet revenge. 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:34.280 And this is from Michael, and I got photos of 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:40.160 smooth Milly and fuzzy Milly. I love so cute. Thank 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.000 you for sending me this very adorable and very important 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:48.880 case study of Milly's fluffiness. First of all, adorable, she's 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.239 adorable with both hairstyles. Tell her that she's beautiful no 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.720 matter what she does with her hair. And although I 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:59.520 do have to say I love the shag carpet version 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.760 of Milly, you know, thinking about it. Actually, my dog 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.840 went through something similar, not quite as dramatic as Milly. 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.639 But when she was a younger dog, when she was 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:13.600 a puppy, her hair was smooth, short and straight until 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:17.320 you know, I don't know exactly, but I would I 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.359 want to say, like when she was about a year old, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:24.360 maybe she got a lot fluffier, with a few curls 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.960 here and there. So like, hormones are really wild in 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.600 how much they can affect the body. As for animals 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.360 who get revenge, there's a few stories that I love. 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:39.800 Of course. One is that the fact that crows can 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:45.800 remember the faces of those who have wronged them, or 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:47.840 even the faces of those that they simply do not 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.600 like and find to be suspicious and questionable of character, 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.600 so that there have been these amazing studies by researchers 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:59.359 who will provoke them by holding up dead taxidermine crows, 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:03.199 which not surprisingly crows don't like. They don't like it 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:08.320 when you do that. But the researchers wore masks to 0:22:08.480 --> 0:22:12.359 product their real identity, because the crows were able to 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:16.800 recognize their faces, the masked faces, and they would attack them. 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:21.400 They'd get really agitated and go on the offense against them, 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.840 which they had this behavior for many years, Like they 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.640 would learn to hold grudges for years and they would 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:32.600 teach it to their young. So I mean to be 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.880 fair though to these crows. I think that's completely justifiable. 0:22:36.480 --> 0:22:39.159 If someone holds like a dead crow out to a 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:42.199 group of crows and they're also wearing this super scary 0:22:42.280 --> 0:22:45.440 mask and they're like, hey, crows, what's up, Like you're 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:49.399 gonna not make friends with the crows? Like this is 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:52.880 the opposite, Like Listener mentioned the Crowbros subred out where 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.320 it's like you offer tasteful snacks and you take photos 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:58.680 of how pretty the crows are. That's how to befriend 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.960 a crow. This is how to the enemy a crow. 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:04.680 And you probably don't want to do that unless you're 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.600 a researcher whose identity is being protected by the Witness 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.359 Protection Service, because these crows will remember you and they 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:17.120 will attack you. So that's I do love that story 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:22.440 of animals holding onto a grudge, another fun act of revenge. 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:28.360 Actually bringing up another sort of creature that we talked 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:34.440 about today. Bees, different types of bees Asian bees, and 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:38.760 they have evolved to having a defense against Asian giant hornets. 0:23:39.760 --> 0:23:42.000 So we had this big scare in the US where 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:44.760 we had some invasive Asian giant hornets, and it was 0:23:45.240 --> 0:23:48.360 very concerning because the bees that live in North America 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:51.920 do not have defenses against Asian giant hornets. So these 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:56.240 these hornets who prey on bees were just going hogwild 0:23:56.400 --> 0:24:01.800 on bee hives, and so and kind of intervention had 0:24:01.800 --> 0:24:03.840 to happen in terms of trying to get rid of 0:24:03.920 --> 0:24:11.520 these giant hornets. And in contrast, bees that are in 0:24:11.600 --> 0:24:14.640 the sort of natural environment of Asian giant hornets, ones 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:19.120 that have co evolved with these hornets, do have defenses 0:24:19.160 --> 0:24:22.920 against these murder hornets. So what happens is these bees 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:27.040 will surround the hornet and wiggle their cute little bodies, 0:24:27.640 --> 0:24:30.560 generating a massive amount of heat. So, like one bee 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:32.880 wiggling might not generate a lot of heat, but if 0:24:32.880 --> 0:24:36.040 you form a bee ball, a bunch of bees cramped 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:39.000 together like in a mosh pit, like all jiggling and 0:24:39.119 --> 0:24:42.639 vibrating and beating their little wing muscles, they can actually 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:46.400 generate quite a bit of heat. That literally, once they've 0:24:46.520 --> 0:24:51.760 completely ensconced this hornet, they can boil the hornet alive 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:54.919 and don't feel too bad for the hornet, because if 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.240 she had her way, she'd be beheading and eating scores 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:02.080 and scores of bees. You know, yeah, these these bees 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:05.800 have developed a strategy to counter the incredible ferocity of 0:25:06.680 --> 0:25:11.040 Asian giant hornets. So real David and Goliath situation, except 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:17.000 it's like hundreds of Davids, all like Towerking to defeat Goliath, 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:21.480 which sounds fantastic. I'd love to see that. Also, I'm 0:25:21.560 --> 0:25:26.520 sure that you've heard of orcas ramming boats, so I 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:30.680 would love to think that this is revenge against loud, 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:36.560