Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology and hey, what did you call me? Today?
Speaker 1: On the show, we're talking about ridiculous species names and
Speaker 1: learning all about the animals behind them. Can you really
Speaker 1: judge a pig boat worm by its name or a
Speaker 1: screaming hairy armadillo or a lump sucker fish? Who comes
Speaker 1: up with these names? Anyways? Discover this and more as
Speaker 1: we answer the angel question how do you like your
Speaker 1: Frida egg jellyfish stinger? Side up? Joining me today is
Speaker 1: our producer Joe L. Monique and entertainment journalist and scientist
Speaker 1: KB Welcome. Thanks so much for having me. What what
Speaker 1: is your science background? Yeah, so my degrees are actually
Speaker 1: in biology and chemistry, and so my master's in biology
Speaker 1: with the concentration on immunology. So after I finished my
Speaker 1: master's UM, I taught UM at a university some biology courses,
Speaker 1: and at the same time I was actually doing biobedical
Speaker 1: research for like a biotech company, so doing all of
Speaker 1: those things, and then I transitioned to healthcare from that
Speaker 1: kind of a streamline. All while still doing entertainment because
Speaker 1: it's always a juggle. How did you sort of like
Speaker 1: go from the healthcare field to entertainment. When I was
Speaker 1: doing the research, it was more isolating, So for me,
Speaker 1: that just it didn't work out. Like I'm definitely more
Speaker 1: of a people person, so, um, I ended up getting
Speaker 1: kind of a natural transition. Like the products that we
Speaker 1: were working on at my biotech company were used in
Speaker 1: cardiovascular surgeries. So I ended up having a hospital basically
Speaker 1: like poached me and see if I wanted to work,
Speaker 1: um just kind of on the healthcare side, doing more
Speaker 1: like quality improvement work and process improvement. So I did
Speaker 1: that for them, and um, I've just been doing that
Speaker 1: ever since. So I actually still do a double juggle
Speaker 1: in terms of having a day job and then doing entertainment.
Speaker 1: Um just because like unfortunately I have not been at
Speaker 1: a point and the entertainment side of things to be
Speaker 1: able to you know, kind of work full time in
Speaker 1: that space, um and transition completely. So yeah, so I
Speaker 1: still do like consulting work in the health care. I'm
Speaker 1: just I just no longer do like scientific research. But
Speaker 1: I'm still Yeah, that's incredible. So today on the show,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about. I mean, it's actually kind
Speaker 1: of like what we're talking about, Like science sometimes seems
Speaker 1: really stuffy, but it can be really funny and fun
Speaker 1: and lighthearted. And you can tell just by the fun
Speaker 1: that scientists have naming animals. So uh, this idea was
Speaker 1: actually from a listener from Grace non Sycamore on Instagram,
Speaker 1: who says, can we learn about animals with silly names?
Speaker 1: For example the pig butt worm or spiny lumps Locker
Speaker 1: and Grace Heck, yes, that's what we're doing today. That
Speaker 1: is an amazing idea. Thank you so much. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you guys also have ideas, and you can message me
Speaker 1: at creature feature pot on Instagram, and I love those ideas.
Speaker 1: You always come up with such good ideas, my wonderful listeners.
Speaker 1: So today, Yes, silly names, ridiculous names. Why are animals
Speaker 1: named these things? Is it just scientists being rude to
Speaker 1: the animals? Are these accurate names? So our first section
Speaker 1: are names that sound like insults, and we're going to
Speaker 1: start off with the pig butt or it is? I mean, okay,
Speaker 1: you get you guys, explain what you're seeing here? What
Speaker 1: what what are you guys looking at? I sent you
Speaker 1: both an image of the pig butt worm. One. Uh,
Speaker 1: this is an appropriate name, and I can't blame scientists.
Speaker 1: They're not bad people. This is an accurate description of
Speaker 1: I would never guess it's a worm. So okay, imagine
Speaker 1: you only like blowing bubbles, but it's like big lead chew,
Speaker 1: so it's kind of thin, but it's like meant to
Speaker 1: be super stretchy. Now imagine you blew a bubble and
Speaker 1: your friend blue a bubble right next to each other,
Speaker 1: and it kind of had a but inside. That's what
Speaker 1: it looks like I've seen. So this looks really interesting
Speaker 1: to me. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. It does
Speaker 1: kind of remind me a little bit of like an embryo. Um. So,
Speaker 1: like when I'm looking at and I'm like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: because you know, obviously, like the outer parts are very
Speaker 1: very translucent. Um, I do see that kind of indentation
Speaker 1: that Joel just mentioned that kind of looks like something
Speaker 1: is going to come out of that butthole. But then
Speaker 1: in the center, you know, you kind of have this
Speaker 1: pink mass, which I assume is just you know, the
Speaker 1: the actual worm I guess on the inside. Um, but
Speaker 1: it does remind me of an embryo. I'm not it's
Speaker 1: like an embryonic but yes. So this is also own
Speaker 1: as the flying buttocks. Even its Latin name k opter
Speaker 1: Us pug a pork kindness means captured worm that looks
Speaker 1: like the rump of a pig, So even the fancy
Speaker 1: scientific sounding word is a bit rude. This is a
Speaker 1: deep ocean dwelling worm about the size of a hazel
Speaker 1: nut that looks like a disembodied but uh, and a balloon.
Speaker 1: It's like basically an inflated butt balloon. But it is
Speaker 1: in fact a segmented worm. So what's going on is
Speaker 1: that one of their segments is inflated so large you
Speaker 1: can barely see the other segments, but they're all kind
Speaker 1: of crammed in there. That's that sort of like pink
Speaker 1: stuff you see sort of at the front. It's just
Speaker 1: all the rest of its body all jumbled up right there.
Speaker 1: But the inflated part of the worm, which is the
Speaker 1: main part you can see, helps it float. But moreover,
Speaker 1: it looks like a hini, looks like a rear end,
Speaker 1: looks a bit like a toshi. Oh sorry, I just
Speaker 1: I had to google it, you know, because questions, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's faces. What it picture? Oh my god, it's like Katie,
Speaker 1: what is that like bear thing? But it's like microscopic.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the tartar grades, the water bears, watter bears. Yes,
Speaker 1: it has a face like that thing. Oh it's so ugly.
Speaker 1: It kind of looks like a Jim Henson muppet. It
Speaker 1: looks like one of the oh yeah, the like the
Speaker 1: yipp aliens, except that it's eyes. And I hate to
Speaker 1: get rude, but its eyes do look a little bit
Speaker 1: like boobies, like a little bit like boobies. It's just
Speaker 1: irises are nipular. They are nipular. Thank you. That's a
Speaker 1: good word. That's an excellent word. So this strange animal
Speaker 1: with boobies for eyes is found up to one thousand,
Speaker 1: two hundred meters, which is about four thousand feet under
Speaker 1: the sea, not quite at the sea floor, but in
Speaker 1: the oxygen minimum zone. And they seem to have no
Speaker 1: means of locomotion other than just being buoyant and passively drifting.
Speaker 1: So they just float along collect food in their mouths,
Speaker 1: and their mouths look a little bit like a butt
Speaker 1: hole coming out of the butt. And they also dangle
Speaker 1: a cloud of mucus out of their mouths to help
Speaker 1: catch marine snow, and marine snow is this like you
Speaker 1: know how in documentaries where you see the camera and
Speaker 1: you see this like snow like stuff drifting in the ocean,
Speaker 1: these little party it looks like dust in in a
Speaker 1: beam of light, but it's underwater. That's marine snow, and
Speaker 1: that's just little bits of organic to try this, it
Speaker 1: can even be poop, like that's a big thing, is
Speaker 1: fish poop. So indeed, this is a floating butt that
Speaker 1: eats poop. There's never been a less attractive animal. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: Now I beg to differ because let me tell you possums.
Speaker 1: Opossums are like horrifying, So I don't know I can
Speaker 1: at least tolerate this one. I do feel like that
Speaker 1: Jim Henson Muppets reference is accurate, Like once you look
Speaker 1: at the mouthpiece or what I'm assuming is a mouth piece,
Speaker 1: When you look at the mouthpiece, I'm like, oh, that
Speaker 1: definitely looks like a muppet. When I look into the
Speaker 1: eyes of a possum, all I feel is terror do
Speaker 1: look a little skexas like though dark crystal skeps, Like, gosh,
Speaker 1: they're so I do like a possum. Also, you should
Speaker 1: check out possums, which are the Australian version of the opossums.
Speaker 1: North America's only more supial. But possums are actually in
Speaker 1: Australia are absolutely adorable and it's fun to see. Like
Speaker 1: Australian's idea of what a possum is is probably very
Speaker 1: different from in the US. I do love a possum,
Speaker 1: a u s possum. They're a little toilet toilet teddy bears.
Speaker 1: There's no such things a toilet teddy where it's together.
Speaker 1: They're a little they're cute, little little toilet mice scamber around,
Speaker 1: but they're they're great for the environment. They eat ticks.
Speaker 1: They eat a bunch of ticks, which is great. They
Speaker 1: eat they're sort of the terminus for a lot of
Speaker 1: disease because they're resistant to a lot of diseases and
Speaker 1: they eat eat a lot of ticks. So there. I
Speaker 1: know they look a little bit, you know, they look
Speaker 1: a little bit like a sort of a a garbage squirrel,
Speaker 1: but you know it's they're quite quite good animals. A
Speaker 1: garbage squirrel. Yes, they do do a lot for the environment. However,
Speaker 1: I never want to cross the path. One time, truly,
Speaker 1: one knocked on my front door and I was stopping.
Speaker 1: I'm so serious. It was late at night. I think
Speaker 1: that it was honestly just trying to figure out like
Speaker 1: what to get into. And I was just like, no,
Speaker 1: is it like, do you have a minute to talk
Speaker 1: about possum? Jesus, do you have a minute to talk
Speaker 1: about the ticks in your area? I'm not satisfied with this.
Speaker 1: Introducing tick Hoover nine thousand. Uh, poor little possums. Our
Speaker 1: next animal sounds like it would be horrifying, but it
Speaker 1: is absolutely adorable, at least in my opinion. This is
Speaker 1: the lump sucker fish. So lump sucker fish are a
Speaker 1: family of adorably portly little fish who have modified pelvic
Speaker 1: fins that act as suckers to help them cling to
Speaker 1: the ocean floor. So I love it when a name
Speaker 1: of an animal is really accurate. These are lumpy fish
Speaker 1: that have suckers. And there you have it, it's the
Speaker 1: lump sucker fish. Oh my god, I love it. These
Speaker 1: are kind of cute. I mean I could actually see
Speaker 1: this fish and like finding Nemo or the little Barmaid,
Speaker 1: like I could just you know, see one of these
Speaker 1: creatures being like the best friends sidekick in an animal movie.
Speaker 1: They also look they look like Miyazaki creatures, like a
Speaker 1: pan or spirited away little creature. You guys. Katie has
Speaker 1: provided us with a photo of one just sitting on
Speaker 1: somebody's finger. Is literally the size of a fingernail. But
Speaker 1: also it looks so sad, I comforted, like so like
Speaker 1: just pouty, like on the verge of a breakdown, like
Speaker 1: it needs a hug and noone is hugging this tiny face,
Speaker 1: please help it. It kind of has the set the
Speaker 1: same sad face that Et did, like when he arrived.
Speaker 1: It's like that same kind of demeanor, like a little
Speaker 1: bit of a downturned pout, like a who. They are
Speaker 1: a family of fish, so there are many different species.
Speaker 1: They tend to be. They all tend to be very round.
Speaker 1: They all have that sucker and they can that sucker
Speaker 1: is so strong they can like attach themselves to your
Speaker 1: fingers and you can lift your hand and they'll just
Speaker 1: dangle from your fingers. And there is a photo of
Speaker 1: that which I've provided you guys, also including the show notes.
Speaker 1: And there is a specific species called the Pacific spiny
Speaker 1: lump sucker, which is an adorable little yellow fish that
Speaker 1: only grows to be about one to three inches, which
Speaker 1: is about the size of a grape or kumquat. And
Speaker 1: they live in shore waters, attaching themselves to reefs, help patches,
Speaker 1: and even manmade docks. They live about five feet underwater,
Speaker 1: so they're not like super super deep sea fish, but
Speaker 1: you know they're they're under there, and like all lump suckers,
Speaker 1: they are bad swimmers. They are not very good at swimming.
Speaker 1: That's where you live. It's like they're like slaws and
Speaker 1: panda bears. You're not supposed to exist. I just I
Speaker 1: just imagined them like literally struggling for their lives and
Speaker 1: they're like I need something to land on, I need
Speaker 1: something to just stick to. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: And they like when they have to escape, it just
Speaker 1: sort of pathetically bobble around trying to get away. They
Speaker 1: can swim. It's just sad looking. It's it's bad swimming.
Speaker 1: People have a lot of bodies, so it's like a
Speaker 1: it's like a muscle thing like on the muscles like
Speaker 1: get through that. They don't have a lot of things
Speaker 1: like yeah, it seems like their bodies are mostly built
Speaker 1: for attaching to things and not necessarily swimming, so they
Speaker 1: kind of like stick onto things and hide themselves within
Speaker 1: help or within rocks to defend themselves. And they don't
Speaker 1: typically swim that much, so it's like a lot of
Speaker 1: energy conservation because you're not fighting the currents or anything.
Speaker 1: You can just kind of attach yourself to a safe
Speaker 1: place and stay there. And they do hunt. They eat
Speaker 1: small crustaceans and worms, but basically they hunt after stuff
Speaker 1: that's pretty easy to get so like slow moving or
Speaker 1: even completely stationary invertebrates. And when they do swim, it's
Speaker 1: usually to spawn, so the most swimming they'll do in
Speaker 1: their life is to get together and create some little babies.
Speaker 1: And the males will do most of the parental care,
Speaker 1: so they'll spawn with the female. But the male will
Speaker 1: attach itself with its little sucker near the eggs and
Speaker 1: will defend them and use their fins to aerate the
Speaker 1: water around the eggs to get them fresh oxygen. So
Speaker 1: cute little bubble daddies. How progressive are they? The males
Speaker 1: they're I mean, if they're defending their eggs, they're pretty aggressive.
Speaker 1: They will they will nip at anything trying to approach.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're not you know, they're they're quite small,
Speaker 1: so they don't present a serious threat. But they will,
Speaker 1: they'll do their they'll do their gosh darndists to be intimidating. Oh,
Speaker 1: I was saying, how progressive they are. As progressive they
Speaker 1: are exactly parental, parental, leave for men for fishmen for
Speaker 1: a little, for a little. Lump suckers. Yeah, right, lump
Speaker 1: suckers get it. They get it. So it's just a funny.
Speaker 1: I'm I'll put these in the show notes, but I'm
Speaker 1: sharing them with you guys to a few funny videos.
Speaker 1: There's one of lump suckers in an aquarium in Japan
Speaker 1: called the epsom Chinogaua Aqua Stadium, and they put balloons
Speaker 1: under the water, and the lump suckers attached themselves to
Speaker 1: the balloons, just like incredible. A bunch of these guys
Speaker 1: on a disco ball and oh my god, give me
Speaker 1: a light show and let's party underwater disco ball. They
Speaker 1: look so adorable though on this, I mean, I can't,
Speaker 1: I can't lie. I mean, even though they're actually like
Speaker 1: probably scouring at us in terms of their facial it's freshions.
Speaker 1: They're still so adorable because so yeah, and they definitely
Speaker 1: have resting grump face. There's another video of a smaller
Speaker 1: lump sucker looking for something to attach to and all
Speaker 1: it finds is an another lumpsucker's head, so it just
Speaker 1: attaches itself to the other lump sucker. I like the
Speaker 1: one that's upside you guys, there's fins are so small
Speaker 1: like they're they're they're like underneath their body and so
Speaker 1: they can't do much with them. The ones that are
Speaker 1: on their sides are like very tiny, and so when
Speaker 1: they move like we could, it's like a little bit
Speaker 1: to the left, a little to the right. It looks
Speaker 1: like they're giant heads are trying to guide them, but
Speaker 1: they don't know what to do, and they hop they
Speaker 1: attached to something. It's just too much, too much energy.
Speaker 1: They're like, I can't exert too much energy. I really
Speaker 1: need a plushy of these. Yes, I I so sympathize
Speaker 1: with the like I feel like a lump sucker right now.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just like I want to attach myself to
Speaker 1: something and just have food float by and just like
Speaker 1: nab it, you know what I mean? Yes, Yes, the
Speaker 1: life right now. I mean, I feel like, since we're
Speaker 1: just all at home, this is the ideal life for
Speaker 1: us being lump suckers. We're having the lump sucker life.
Speaker 1: They embody my whole attitude right now. I think, just
Speaker 1: the perpetual grump face trying to stick on to something
Speaker 1: else mine, maybe without the ground face, but their general
Speaker 1: laid back to me or at pretty much everything. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's definitely me right now. This is my expression reading
Speaker 1: the news every day, just like m M m M.
Speaker 1: So our next animal also found under the ocean, where
Speaker 1: its name sounds like an insult. I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: it means, but it definitely sounds like one. It is
Speaker 1: the tasseled wolf. Wait, the tasseled wobegong ah grandpa face. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean this fish looks like an angry old man.
Speaker 1: What in the okay? So all these features are from
Speaker 1: a Miyazaki film that has yet to be made. He's
Speaker 1: taking notes and he's ready. This thing literally it blends
Speaker 1: in so good with the sea floor, and it looks
Speaker 1: like a face on the sea floor, like it's got
Speaker 1: a giant mouth, and like, imagine, what's a Christmas tree
Speaker 1: and evergreen it's not like evergreen like nettally like all
Speaker 1: over its base, and then a big like big bird's
Speaker 1: best imaginary friend looks his mouth. It does have gonzo
Speaker 1: vibes to it, and that it's like kind of furry
Speaker 1: and wild. And then it's got these eyes which don't
Speaker 1: look like they can see much. It's like so far
Speaker 1: up on its head and then spread apart that it
Speaker 1: only getting side vision. It's only peripheros. I am. It's
Speaker 1: almost a sure that we have seen this creature in
Speaker 1: Howard the Duck, Like it just feels like it belongs there.
Speaker 1: This would it surprise you guys to learn this is
Speaker 1: actually a shark A shark A shark, Yes, it does
Speaker 1: give me wheel shark vibes now that you say it.
Speaker 1: It's a carpet shark that lives in the coral reefs
Speaker 1: off the coast of northern Australia and New Guinea. When
Speaker 1: it's swimming, it looks kind of like you took a
Speaker 1: regular shark and just pancaked it and then added a
Speaker 1: bunch of tassels to it, like a shark rug, you know,
Speaker 1: like a bear skin rug if it's like a shark
Speaker 1: skin rug, except you added a bunch of tassels along
Speaker 1: the edges, but when it's resting, it will often curl
Speaker 1: its tail in so it's more spherical and kind of
Speaker 1: looks like a bath mat with like an angry face
Speaker 1: on it and a huge mouth. And it grows to
Speaker 1: be about four to five feet a little over one
Speaker 1: meter in length, and it's not like too dangerous, but
Speaker 1: it has been known to bite and attack people. Basically
Speaker 1: because it's so well camouflaged, people will just like step
Speaker 1: on it or step near it, and then it'll bite
Speaker 1: you exactly. Do you think you're walking on a bath
Speaker 1: mat but it's somebody's face. I'm not gonna lie. When
Speaker 1: you said it was a carpet shark, I immediately thought
Speaker 1: that was like a vacuum. Like it just like a
Speaker 1: carpet shark. I'm like, is this the new vacuum that's
Speaker 1: about to come out? Oh my god, it does sound
Speaker 1: like a vacuum. I bet hang on, I'm gonna google
Speaker 1: carpet It may already be a vacuum vacuum because if not,
Speaker 1: you have to patent that immediately. Oh no, it's a
Speaker 1: it's a vacuuming. I was like, I mean carpet shark.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm getting vacuum vibes. I mean, the
Speaker 1: evergreen is so ever present. Like when Joel said that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, it looks so piny, like the sides
Speaker 1: of this animal just looks very piny. Like it's small
Speaker 1: like trees, almost like a Douglas fur or nobody. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so those eyes are terrified now. It does look even
Speaker 1: though it looks like a Doofy Miyazaki character or a
Speaker 1: muppet or like Beauty and the Beasts living carpet, it
Speaker 1: is a fierce predator and it is an ambush predator,
Speaker 1: so all of that fringe is meant to help its
Speaker 1: profile blend in with the sea floor, so like an
Speaker 1: unsuspecting fish will pass by and then suddenly this like
Speaker 1: carpet matt comes to life and eats it on up.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, what a slick predator. It's always the cute
Speaker 1: ones that are the most ferocious. I feel like I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, it's always the unassuming ones that
Speaker 1: are the most ferocious. And you know, this guy's like,
Speaker 1: oh I'm gonna get you. Just wait, yeah, naughty little carpet,
Speaker 1: naughty little rug. It's like if the magic carpet and
Speaker 1: the Laddin had like a big face and just ate
Speaker 1: the monkey and was a terror behind the a booze back.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I remember were incorrectly, they did fight
Speaker 1: like the monkey and the carpet did fight a lot.
Speaker 1: So I feel like if it had a mouth, it
Speaker 1: would have eaten eaten that monkey right up. I mean
Speaker 1: a boom was kind of a terror though, like he
Speaker 1: was kind of a jerk, so I get it. The
Speaker 1: carpet was like, leave me alone. I've been chilling, you
Speaker 1: know in this cave for forever, is what it seems like.
Speaker 1: Let me live. I wish the remake had had the
Speaker 1: carpet eat eat the monkey. That is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's what that's the only bad part of the remake
Speaker 1: is that they give the carpet teeth in a face
Speaker 1: and have it eat that gosh dang monkey. Maybe they're
Speaker 1: listening now, and we will do the sequel. They will
Speaker 1: incorporate a carpet shark, or they will turn the carpet
Speaker 1: into a carpet shark. And about a decade when they
Speaker 1: do the re remake of all these things, where maybe
Speaker 1: they'll do like an animated remake of the live action
Speaker 1: remake of the animated version. Then just give the carpet
Speaker 1: a face and I'll and I'll give you my my bucks. Disney, Disney,
Speaker 1: are you listening, here's the new plan for give us this.
Speaker 1: Here are some honorary mentions of names that sound like insults.
Speaker 1: There's the penis snake, which is neither a snake nor
Speaker 1: a penis, but a limbless amphibian that looks unfortunately phallic.
Speaker 1: The c pig, which is a little pink c cucumber,
Speaker 1: which really only looks like a pig if you mean
Speaker 1: an inflatable, faceless, tentacled pig. Then there's the bah Humbuggy,
Speaker 1: a small land snail found in the Ba district and Fiji.
Speaker 1: Apparently biologists are hopeless dad jokesters and couldn't resist naming
Speaker 1: this newly discovered boss snail bah Humbuggy. When we return,
Speaker 1: will quit with the insults and brainstorm some names for
Speaker 1: your band. Oh and they happen to be the names
Speaker 1: of some real animals too, So in this action we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about some incredible names. But this time
Speaker 1: I think rather than insults, we sound like metal bands.
Speaker 1: So if you are an aspiring musician and you're looking
Speaker 1: for a name for your metal band. I've got some
Speaker 1: for you here, and the first one is the hellbender salamander. Really, Dad,
Speaker 1: that's wow. That was not a good metal impression. Do
Speaker 1: they do? Do do? Do? It's metal at the Renfair,
Speaker 1: Katie my metal band with my lute, just you know,
Speaker 1: grinding on that lute. So. The hellbender salamander is a
Speaker 1: giant salamander found in eastern and central United States. It
Speaker 1: is the largest salamander in North America, living in freshwater
Speaker 1: streams and rivers, and it reaches up to about five pounds,
Speaker 1: which is about two point three kill grounds, and up
Speaker 1: to two and a half feet which is about seventy
Speaker 1: centimeters in length. So it's the size of I don't know,
Speaker 1: a ferret, a small ferret. Yeah, it's not terribly large,
Speaker 1: but it's big for a salavador. Yeah, it's not like
Speaker 1: the giant Chinese salamander big, where it's basically the size
Speaker 1: of a toddler. But this, yeah, it's it's pretty big.
Speaker 1: And the name hellbender seems to be from early settlers
Speaker 1: who found the salamanders grayish brown skin which has these
Speaker 1: skin flaps on the side that sort of undulate, and
Speaker 1: it's got the slimy body that it just undulates in
Speaker 1: this really weird psychedelic way. And so they thought that
Speaker 1: this looked like the horrible tortures of the infernal regions,
Speaker 1: and that it is hell bent on returning to Hell,
Speaker 1: which is a very like, very settler thing to be. Like,
Speaker 1: this is a new thing for me. I bet it's
Speaker 1: a demon from Hell. I mean, honestly, it looks so
Speaker 1: kind that like being a demon from Hell is the
Speaker 1: exact opposite of what I think. I mean, honestly, though,
Speaker 1: it does just kind of look like a pile of mud. Yeah,
Speaker 1: these are chill. They're chill like these settlers had, you know,
Speaker 1: they had issues, and they are harmless to humans. It
Speaker 1: is a carnivore. They eat small fish and crayfish, but
Speaker 1: so do we exactly. And they breathe underwater through gas
Speaker 1: exchange on those skin folds, so that that undulating skin,
Speaker 1: the kind of loose skin on its side, that's so
Speaker 1: it can breathe, So layoff, come on. Lungs, Yeah, it's so,
Speaker 1: it's like it actually has lungs and gill slits. But
Speaker 1: it also basically sort of like other amphibians like frogs.
Speaker 1: It can breathe through its skin, so it does gas
Speaker 1: exchange through its skin underwater. And actually, speaking of the
Speaker 1: whole issue of giltlets and lungs, so in its early
Speaker 1: stage and its larvel stage, it actually has um these
Speaker 1: sort of like external gill feathery gills um like an axelattle,
Speaker 1: and axlattles are just a species of permanently immature salamanders.
Speaker 1: So have you guys seen an ax a lottle before? No, Okay,
Speaker 1: I got to spell it because that is ax my
Speaker 1: tom phonics education really holding me back. It's not an
Speaker 1: ax a little, it's an ax alttle. Oh my god. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've seen this thing before. It definitely looks like a
Speaker 1: pokemon if you're at home trying to research it's a
Speaker 1: x O l O T L s H. It's got
Speaker 1: pink spiny things on its head and blue eyes and
Speaker 1: like the legs, and I kind of wish it were
Speaker 1: like five feet I could like love it and hug
Speaker 1: on it. Oh my god. People do actually keep these
Speaker 1: as pets because they're so cute. You can't really, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a really good idea to handle it
Speaker 1: like a lot of amphibians, and you know their skin
Speaker 1: is sensitive, but yeah, they do. They are very very
Speaker 1: cool looking, very cute. I think they have rather sort
Speaker 1: of the opposite of the lump sucker. They have a
Speaker 1: perpetual little smile. I know, I'm saying they're are like
Speaker 1: a lot of animated films, But what is the animated
Speaker 1: film that looks almost exactly like this? I mean, the
Speaker 1: creature is like a lot larger. How to train your dragon?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I feel like it is. Maybe I feel
Speaker 1: like they may have created that dragon based off this,
Speaker 1: because the same type of like ear structures and face
Speaker 1: shape and yeah, okay, basically acts altels look a lot
Speaker 1: like the immature stage of other salamander species, And normally
Speaker 1: salamanders go through this larval stage where they look like
Speaker 1: ax lattels, and it's the same as like frogs. So
Speaker 1: frogs go through a larval stage where they're little tadpoles.
Speaker 1: Looks like it's got feathers coming out of the side
Speaker 1: of its head. Those are actually external gills that collect
Speaker 1: oxygen from the water. And they do have little feet,
Speaker 1: little arms, and little legs and little tails that are
Speaker 1: kind of like um, look like a little there. They're
Speaker 1: hind tail, looks a little bit like a fin, and
Speaker 1: they're completely aquatic. And while normally salamanders like the hellbender
Speaker 1: salamander will actually grow to a mature stage where they
Speaker 1: lose those external gills and they actually have lungs, but
Speaker 1: they also have they can do gas exchange on their skin.
Speaker 1: Axlttles just permanently stay in this larval juvenile stage. Um
Speaker 1: their whole lives and um uh. If you actually inject
Speaker 1: an ax alttle with I think it's iodine, it will
Speaker 1: turn into an adult morph of it, which it's its
Speaker 1: species will not. Yeah, it's species will not do that
Speaker 1: without human intervention, which is incredibly amazing. It's yeah, humans
Speaker 1: don't screw this up for the ax alattles because honestly,
Speaker 1: to be enjoy your childhood and your youths forever, it
Speaker 1: is a trap. So stay young while you can. Don't
Speaker 1: let the humans turn you into an adult. They're sort
Speaker 1: of like vampires of of the salamander world a little bit.
Speaker 1: They do sometimes eat each other too. I forgot to
Speaker 1: mention that horrifying. Listen, they went from so cute just
Speaker 1: so horrifying, and just seconds imagine watching one of these
Speaker 1: like munch on another one of these, I mean, and
Speaker 1: they have like cannibal morphs where it's like bigger ones
Speaker 1: that tend to eat their siblings more. But look, that
Speaker 1: happens in a lot of animals. I don't want to
Speaker 1: judge these just because they engage in some light cannibalism.
Speaker 1: That's pretty common, so common amongst a lot of species exactly.
Speaker 1: But I will say, you know, just keep your youth
Speaker 1: no matter what. They're here at Creature Future Pod, we
Speaker 1: are anti cannibalism. They just want you to know. I
Speaker 1: don't know what's happening today. Yourself, Joel, speak for yourself.
Speaker 1: Protein is protein. Kidding, you're scaring me. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. Our next animal, the screaming Harry armadillo
Speaker 1: near near Lunar. I just love these like random riffs
Speaker 1: that you're doing. Yeah, yeah, the screaming Harry armadillo. Which God, please, somebody,
Speaker 1: if you have a band that you have not named yet,
Speaker 1: please name it this. I would love that this is
Speaker 1: named a screaming Harry armadillo because it is an armadillo
Speaker 1: who screams and is Harry. You gotta love an accurate name.
Speaker 1: You just I love it. So this armadillo is found
Speaker 1: in South America. It looks a lot like a regular armadillo,
Speaker 1: but it's got a lot of hair grown out of
Speaker 1: its plate armor, a bunch of these long white hairs,
Speaker 1: and indeed screams so when it is handled, it squeals.
Speaker 1: So here it is doing one of its famous screams.
Speaker 1: So like it sounds kind of like a crying man
Speaker 1: drake sound, I think, yes, And it's harry with like
Speaker 1: a lot of like thready things like a man drake.
Speaker 1: This is the inspiration. Yes, oh my gosh, look at
Speaker 1: these nails though in this kind of I mean truly, like,
Speaker 1: can we get some nail clippers for this? It needs
Speaker 1: those because it loves to burrow, so it is, it
Speaker 1: is a burrowing animal. Those long hairs probably protect it
Speaker 1: from sand and other substrate because it actually lives in
Speaker 1: a variety of areas in South America, from dry forests
Speaker 1: to grasslands to hot deserts. So it basically needs to
Speaker 1: protect its botty and to be able to burrow. Throw
Speaker 1: in these different kinds of substrates, and those long claws
Speaker 1: will help it dig into the sand or into the
Speaker 1: dirt um and one of the things they love to
Speaker 1: do is actually dig under rotting carryon so dead bodies
Speaker 1: and wait around. And it's like, why are they doing this?
Speaker 1: Are they just creepy and gothic. It's actually because they
Speaker 1: are insectivores, and they will wait for the insects that
Speaker 1: come to eat rotting carrion and then just like burst
Speaker 1: up from the crown and eat these insects. And it's
Speaker 1: that's definitely after this because then you can reenact on
Speaker 1: stage like just a nerde dead bodies and beast on
Speaker 1: the bugs underneath, and that is the start of your show.
Speaker 1: This is very death metal black metal is I think,
Speaker 1: except it's really interesting that this armadillo's underbelly kind of
Speaker 1: reminds me of that at the same like underbelly of
Speaker 1: the turkey, the way it's fashioned. It just has the
Speaker 1: longer hairs around it. But yeah, yeah, it's I think
Speaker 1: they're adorable. They're like really hairy, and they're kind of pudgy,
Speaker 1: and they've got that classic little triangle armadilla face and
Speaker 1: little ears and then when you pick it up, it'll
Speaker 1: it'll just like you, oh, you know what. It actually
Speaker 1: sounds almost exactly like porges from Star Wars. Yes, you
Speaker 1: know the pork alarm cry? Yes, so I guess they
Speaker 1: stole it from Star Wars. Huh, do we know what
Speaker 1: the dream is? Like? An alarm thing? Is it warning others?
Speaker 1: It's actually not necessarily warning other armadillos because they aren't
Speaker 1: very social. Most likely it is to startle the predator.
Speaker 1: Or it's kind of like this car alarm system with
Speaker 1: a lot of preyed upon animals where they do an
Speaker 1: alarm call that will threaten the predator to get more
Speaker 1: predators to come. So they're like saying, I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: up a fuss, and then other predators that are maybe
Speaker 1: bigger than you is going to come over to see
Speaker 1: what's going on. So it scares them off because they
Speaker 1: a lot of predators are themselves prey to larger predators,
Speaker 1: so they can be easily spooked by an alarm call
Speaker 1: like that. And here I just thought that this armadillo
Speaker 1: was mostly a scorpio and wanted to be left alone
Speaker 1: and was doing the high pitched screens so that it
Speaker 1: would be dropped and could continue on its way independently. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's definitely a narc i would say, although,
Speaker 1: although I feel like if you're about to get eaten,
Speaker 1: I think that's the one time you get to be
Speaker 1: an arc. So our next animal with a very metal
Speaker 1: band sounding name is the scenarious mourner. So this is
Speaker 1: a bird that lives in South America in tropical and
Speaker 1: subtropical forests, and it's na ame sounds very metal, but
Speaker 1: it's just kind of like a standard bird name, I guess.
Speaker 1: So it the scenarious part, even though it sounds amazing,
Speaker 1: it just means an ashy grayish color um sort of
Speaker 1: an ashy gray brown, which is usually used to describe
Speaker 1: bird plumage, So scenarious like kind of grayish brown bird plumage.
Speaker 1: And then it's called mourner, probably for its sad sounding calls,
Speaker 1: sort of like a mourning dove. It kind of does
Speaker 1: a which I guess is uh, it's sad sounding, But
Speaker 1: the really interesting part of this bird's life happens when
Speaker 1: it's just a baby, so nestling. Scenarious mourners are not
Speaker 1: a sort of ashy gray. They're actually bright orange with
Speaker 1: long feathers covered in these white tips. And the reason
Speaker 1: they look this way is they're actually meant to mimic
Speaker 1: the look of this toxic hairy caterpillar of the flannel.
Speaker 1: So this is the only known instance of a bird
Speaker 1: mimicking and invertebrate to protect itself. So this bird is
Speaker 1: so intriguing to me, like masking as a caterpillar. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think this is the only known instance of like
Speaker 1: a bird mimicking and invertebrate and something that's you know,
Speaker 1: a lot smaller than them. I mean, it's not necessarily
Speaker 1: smaller than the nestlings though, because like these caterpillars are
Speaker 1: quite big, a lot of their bulk is taken up
Speaker 1: by their hair. So I just posted the picture. There's
Speaker 1: this like it's this sort of yellowish orange caterpillar that
Speaker 1: looks people say looks like Trump's hair. I actually think
Speaker 1: it looks. It's a lot fuller, a lot more heresuit.
Speaker 1: But the hairy caterpillar that this bird nestling imitates is
Speaker 1: orange with sort of black hairs and white tips. It
Speaker 1: looks very, very similar. And to step it up a notch,
Speaker 1: the nestling will also mimic its movement by slowly moving
Speaker 1: its head back and forth like it's caterpillar kind of
Speaker 1: moving along. So there's actually a video of that. I'm
Speaker 1: putting it in the show notes, but you guys can
Speaker 1: take a look at that. Oh my gosh, the way
Speaker 1: that it turns its head. Yeah, that's so strange. It
Speaker 1: is of how in the second part of the video,
Speaker 1: it's just the birdie getting food from its mom, and
Speaker 1: so it's like goes from this very like slow moving
Speaker 1: like I'm a caterpillar. I'm a caterpillar, and then it
Speaker 1: like pokes its little head up and you see it's
Speaker 1: a little bird face and he's like, oh food, and
Speaker 1: it just turns back into a bird. When they're head
Speaker 1: they're down. Can it see at all? I mean, I
Speaker 1: can see the ground, but it's not really interested in
Speaker 1: looking at the predator. Its main thing is it sees
Speaker 1: a predator. It feels in danger somehow, and then it
Speaker 1: just puts its head down and starts moving like a
Speaker 1: caterpillar because it's a nestling, so it really doesn't have
Speaker 1: means of escape. It can't run away, it can't fly away,
Speaker 1: so looking like a toxic caterpillar is probably it's best bet.
Speaker 1: And these caterpillars are not only toxic to eat, but
Speaker 1: also they have venomous spines in all of that hair
Speaker 1: that will sting you if you touch them, So like
Speaker 1: if you see I would say, in general, a hairy caterpillar,
Speaker 1: even though they look soft and like you could pet it,
Speaker 1: they you don't want to do that because a lot
Speaker 1: of them have irritating or even venomous spines. So yeah,
Speaker 1: leave leave those fuzzy caterpillars alone. There are some species
Speaker 1: of caterpillars that aren't too dangerous that you can pick up,
Speaker 1: but I would air on the side of not touching
Speaker 1: a fuzzy caterpillar unless you know what it is, but
Speaker 1: definitely not these ones that are these orange, huge caterpillars
Speaker 1: in South America, like for for reference, It's like, I
Speaker 1: feel like one of these caterpillars could sort of like
Speaker 1: take up the space of your hands, so you could
Speaker 1: like hold it in your hand, but you shouldn't because
Speaker 1: it'll sting you. It's sleep screaming. Look at these bright colors.
Speaker 1: I'll kill you, Yes, kill you if you touch me,
Speaker 1: making itself super appealing, like you don't I look attractive
Speaker 1: with these great bright colors, And then it takes a
Speaker 1: turn for the worst. Well, it's actually a case of
Speaker 1: APIs semitism. Where to us humans. It may look very beautiful,
Speaker 1: but these bright, exaggerated colors are sort of warning these
Speaker 1: other animals, sort of like what tide pods are trying
Speaker 1: to do with humans, where it's like this is hard,
Speaker 1: like you don't want to eat it. It's right, bright orange,
Speaker 1: bright orange, and fluffy. That's no good. It's kind of
Speaker 1: the the I like to call it the gritty defense,
Speaker 1: you know, the mascot gritty. It's like yes from the team, Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: some something like that. I don't know hot bands, hockey,
Speaker 1: I apologize hockey, but yeah, it's gritty and gritty. Of course,
Speaker 1: as we know, if you try to tell they're gonna
Speaker 1: kill us Philadelphia, please, I do love my bad. I
Speaker 1: do love gritty. But if you do touch Gritty, he
Speaker 1: does sting you with his venom, and he will also
Speaker 1: consume you and eat you. Gritty's mouth is a good
Speaker 1: example of the fish you're talking. Oh yes, shark, yeah, carfect,
Speaker 1: the tasseled Woebegong. Yes, yes. I feel like if you crossbread,
Speaker 1: the tasseled Woebegong and the scenarios Mourner, you would get
Speaker 1: Gritty absolutely figured out. We've done it. We've figured out
Speaker 1: how scientists genetically engineered the gritty. You're welcome, Philadelphia. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I need to look at gritty and see
Speaker 1: what gritty looks like. We always need to look at gritty.
Speaker 1: You can't not look at okay, yeah, also real Jim
Speaker 1: Hinson esque, Yes, got it with a menacing aura. I
Speaker 1: would say, like a muppet with a very menacing aura
Speaker 1: and mean definitely carpet shark for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Just you know, flags Welcome back to our podcast, Gritty
Speaker 1: Talk the Nitty. Oh eight. Damn it, I should have
Speaker 1: said the nitty gritty. Here are some honorary mentions of
Speaker 1: totally metal sounding animals. There's the ghost bat, a bat
Speaker 1: who is well surprisingly corporeal. Then there's the goblin shark,
Speaker 1: a shark who honestly looks too goofy to be scary,
Speaker 1: with a long snout and wonky teeth. And finally, the
Speaker 1: black ghost knife fish, which is a long eel like
Speaker 1: fish that floats like a ghost and can actually produce
Speaker 1: electric signals, which it uses to search for food and
Speaker 1: to signal to mates. When we return, hold onto your
Speaker 1: Cabusians were about to get Susian. Okay, so now I
Speaker 1: want to talk about silly animal names that to me
Speaker 1: sound like something that Dr Seuss came up with. I love.
Speaker 1: I love the Doctor SEUs books when I was a kid.
Speaker 1: I think any person who has an interest in evolutionary biology,
Speaker 1: all of the creatures that Dr SEUs comes up with
Speaker 1: and all the fake like biology facts about them, it
Speaker 1: is so amazing and so fun. Like I remember there
Speaker 1: was oh and I guess I don't remember the rhyme,
Speaker 1: but it was this this animal that would like nip
Speaker 1: its tail, but its tail was so long that it
Speaker 1: took a long time for the nerves to reach the brain,
Speaker 1: and then it would like nip it at night, and
Speaker 1: then it would finally feel the nip in the morning
Speaker 1: and it would wake up. Just incredible Dr Seuss logic.
Speaker 1: Of course, neurons and nerves act very quickly, so this
Speaker 1: would not be the case, but still I love that idea.
Speaker 1: So our first Dr susie an animal is the fried
Speaker 1: egg jellyfish. I bet you guys will never guess what
Speaker 1: this is. Look like a fight eggs Yes, it's a
Speaker 1: jellyfish that wait for it, it looks like a Friday egg.
Speaker 1: Um Frida egg is not cute, but it is gorgeous
Speaker 1: and I can't understand why. But something about like the
Speaker 1: yellow sheen of the yolk and then like the whites
Speaker 1: of it. Frida egg just looks pretty and it does.
Speaker 1: Fish is no exception, is also pretty. Yeah, it's stunning.
Speaker 1: Like the translucent part is really really gorgeous. Obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: the translucent part at the top where the yellow kind
Speaker 1: of center is looks great. But then of course you
Speaker 1: have the translucent kind of tentacles that are happening at
Speaker 1: the end. Um, it is really adorable. I mean yeah,
Speaker 1: I actually share that that feeling of like eggs are
Speaker 1: pretty to look at, like Friday eggs and raw eggs.
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure about like hard boiled eggs unless
Speaker 1: you do it like I used to not like hard
Speaker 1: boiled eggs until I found out could do it. There's
Speaker 1: a way to do it so that the yolk is
Speaker 1: like not super hard. Um, so it's still kind of
Speaker 1: like orange and gelatinous. And that I think, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that sort of that like the I think I feel
Speaker 1: like the once the yolk turns yellow, no no thank you,
Speaker 1: no thanks, not into it, but like the orange joke,
Speaker 1: it's really good. Yes, I'm I'm I'm a huge snob
Speaker 1: about it's just your preference. But I guess back to
Speaker 1: jellyfish and not just me ranting about my egg preferences.
Speaker 1: I mean it's relevant because this definitely just looks like
Speaker 1: a Friday egg. It does, yeah, and like it has
Speaker 1: a yellow colored center, the rest of its gelatinous body
Speaker 1: is off white. And because it's a jellyfish and it
Speaker 1: has this radial symmetry, it looks like a perfect Friday egg.
Speaker 1: And there's a few like different species of jellyfish that
Speaker 1: kind of look like fried eggs. Um, here's another one,
Speaker 1: a photo of it on the beach, and it looks
Speaker 1: indistinguishable from like someone just like dropped an egg, like
Speaker 1: a raw egg on the beach. Like that's what I
Speaker 1: would think walking vibe like this is a raw egg.
Speaker 1: And then you know, if you poke it, probably it
Speaker 1: also looks dramatically different outside of water. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: part of that is probably because it's yeah, it's translucent
Speaker 1: to the sand is Yeah, it's taking on the sands
Speaker 1: actual components. But a lot of it too is just
Speaker 1: they're so fascinating. I wonder though, like what are there, like,
Speaker 1: what's the purpose of this jellyfish, you know, this fried
Speaker 1: egg jellyfish. I mean, I can't. I couldn't really find
Speaker 1: like a reason for why it's yellow on the inside.
Speaker 1: The closest I could find is just their coloration seems
Speaker 1: to depend on their diet um. So I would assume
Speaker 1: the food that it's eating is giving it this pigment.
Speaker 1: And to understand sort of like why jellyfish looks this way,
Speaker 1: we could learn a little bit about jellyfish anatomy because
Speaker 1: it is very weird. So this is this is just
Speaker 1: sort of a basic rundown of most jellyfish in their anatomy. Uh,
Speaker 1: jellyfish may not seem like an animal, but they are.
Speaker 1: They do not have a centralized nervous system or a
Speaker 1: respiratory system. They breathe through gas exchange all over their body,
Speaker 1: but they do have some organs I think that are surprising.
Speaker 1: So first of all, the main part of the jellyfish,
Speaker 1: the part that kind of looks like a mushroom cap,
Speaker 1: is called the bell or hood, which is sort of
Speaker 1: a that that membrane is sort of like dome shape.
Speaker 1: They actually do have eye spots, so they I think
Speaker 1: this is something that you know, a lot of people
Speaker 1: may not know about jellyfish. They have eyes. A lot
Speaker 1: of jellyfish have these very rudimentary eye spots that can
Speaker 1: just tell light from dark. But some jellyfish, like the
Speaker 1: box jellyfish, have any four eyes arranged radially around the jellyfish,
Speaker 1: so they have three hundred sixty degree vision and they
Speaker 1: can see some color and they wink at you. Though
Speaker 1: they can wink wink win quin quick quick wink at you.
Speaker 1: I don't believe they have eyelids. They do not have isolids.
Speaker 1: They also probably their site is pretty rough. I would
Speaker 1: imagine it's just seeing sort of rough light and dark
Speaker 1: and sort of blobby color shapes. Someone make a twenty
Speaker 1: four lens glasses so that they can see better. Under
Speaker 1: the law is yes, twenty four eyes. Though they'll be
Speaker 1: called by others, Oh no, not horribully jellyfish. And along
Speaker 1: the rim of the bell often jellyfish have tentacles that
Speaker 1: can sting and stun their prey. They also like inside
Speaker 1: so that outer rim of these sort of thinner tentacles
Speaker 1: on the inside, these more bull key looking things are
Speaker 1: called oral arms. And these are these arms that can
Speaker 1: pull food into their mouths and they also have stinging
Speaker 1: cells often on these these parts, and in the center
Speaker 1: of the jellyfish is a mouth and a stomach pouch.
Speaker 1: And again these these are completely radially symmetrical, so they
Speaker 1: have radial gonads and so you know, like on the
Speaker 1: top of jellyfish often, especially like moon jellies and other
Speaker 1: sort of translucent jellyfish, you see the sort of like
Speaker 1: almost floral design. It looks like a little flour on
Speaker 1: the top of the jellyfish. That is actually it's go
Speaker 1: nuts because they are radially um symmetrical um and jellyfish
Speaker 1: can do sexual and asexual reproduction. So adult jellyfish, which
Speaker 1: are called medusa, can release sperm and eggs into the
Speaker 1: water for sexual reproduction, and baby jellyfish, which are called polyps,
Speaker 1: can actually re produce a sexually through butting, which is cloning,
Speaker 1: so basically like like growing a smaller another polyp off
Speaker 1: of them. So really really interesting creatures, these jellyfish. So
Speaker 1: with this fried egg jellyfish, it seems like it's bell
Speaker 1: part is sort of this off white translucent color and
Speaker 1: the inside so it's like it's um stomach and its
Speaker 1: mouth parts and it's gonads and all that stuff on
Speaker 1: the inside is this yellowish color, and my guests would
Speaker 1: be it's because of its diet, having some it's getting
Speaker 1: some sort of yellow coloration from its diet. So it's
Speaker 1: really interesting and delicious looking. Kind of want to fry
Speaker 1: one up. I know it wouldn't be good. I understand.
Speaker 1: I understand it wouldn't be good. It wouldn't taste good,
Speaker 1: it would probably hurt me. Um, I I still want it.
Speaker 1: They're out. Yeah. Yeah, it's like things that that look
Speaker 1: edible that are not going to be edible, but they
Speaker 1: just you know what I mean. It's like, ah, it's
Speaker 1: like tide pods to the pods, always the tide which
Speaker 1: are literally the products we have right now. Yeah, or
Speaker 1: like fabuloso. It's so delicious, looks like I could just
Speaker 1: drink it up. Why do they make they make cleansing
Speaker 1: products look so refreshingly good. It's like it's febinosa, actually
Speaker 1: fresco with a twist. You know, you'll never know. So
Speaker 1: another gorgeous creature. I'm really just now realizing a lot
Speaker 1: of these are marine animals, and I guess we just
Speaker 1: some of the best names we reserve for marine animals.
Speaker 1: But this is the red lipped batfish, which again sounds
Speaker 1: very Dr. Sussian. Seems like there'd be some kind of
Speaker 1: like doctor rhyme that's like the red lap batfish? Is
Speaker 1: that fish which lips is red? I'm not good. The
Speaker 1: rhymes that Dr SEUs came up with were like, I
Speaker 1: just I can't try to rhyme anything with us, but
Speaker 1: I can say that it is not cute to me.
Speaker 1: It kind of has the face of a squirrel with like,
Speaker 1: you know, these very bright red lips, the lips are studying,
Speaker 1: and then this kind of bat like body, but an
Speaker 1: aquatic gat like it just it reminds me of a
Speaker 1: squirrel bat, an aquatic squirrel bat with perfect lipstick. I
Speaker 1: feel like they took the fancy red that's supposed to
Speaker 1: match everybody and we're like, yes, this is my color.
Speaker 1: I've discovered it. The white mustache is very relatable usally
Speaker 1: you mustache, but it's not going anywhere unless you wax it. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I'm confused by Okay, listen, scientists, a bat fish.
Speaker 1: It's got no wings. Uh, it is not black in color.
Speaker 1: It does not have like bad ears. Where why a
Speaker 1: bad fish? I don't know. It's bone structured, is kind
Speaker 1: of similar to a bat, like, even though it doesn't
Speaker 1: have the wings. If you're looking at the bone like,
Speaker 1: look at the legs and the things. Those are very
Speaker 1: bad like to me, I think if you look at
Speaker 1: it like aerially, maybe it looks a little more. I
Speaker 1: actually agree. I don't think it looks too much like
Speaker 1: a bat. To me, it looks more like a weird
Speaker 1: kite with legs. Oh my goodness, I'll show you a
Speaker 1: diagram of what its top sort of looks like. I
Speaker 1: actually love this diagram because the red lips are lovingly rendered.
Speaker 1: It actually looks a little bit like a manta ray,
Speaker 1: but with legs when you look at it aerially. But
Speaker 1: when you look at its front, it's just sort of
Speaker 1: this weird triangle shape with angry little eyes in the
Speaker 1: middle and uh kind of big nose and then just
Speaker 1: the most kissable maybe line list just this amazing pout,
Speaker 1: a powdered limping. What's under these lips I mean are perfect?
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, you probably don't want to go too
Speaker 1: far underneath joel Um, you might find focus on the legs.
Speaker 1: Just focus right here in this bold lip. It's a
Speaker 1: bold lip, but I do like it. I'm still getting
Speaker 1: those that, like the legs still remind me of a bat.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I still feel like that in terms
Speaker 1: of but that's the only thing. I mean that base
Speaker 1: is one present squirrel like look at the nose, look
Speaker 1: at the eye placement, like a squirrel that did A
Speaker 1: did A got your lipstick for a gift card. But
Speaker 1: those limbs, those limbs are actually modified fins that have
Speaker 1: become these limb like appendages. And it's actually lost most
Speaker 1: of its ability to swim in favor of walking along
Speaker 1: the ocean floor. So it just kind of like skitters
Speaker 1: across the ocean floor looking for small fish. And it
Speaker 1: has this modif fied fin on its forehead called an elysium,
Speaker 1: which is similar to an anglerfish that is used as
Speaker 1: a lure for small fish. And it also has a
Speaker 1: bioluminescent bulb on it. And it grows to be it's
Speaker 1: not actually that big. It grows to be um, although
Speaker 1: I guess it's surprisingly large when I think about how
Speaker 1: goofy it looks. But it grows to be a little
Speaker 1: over a foot in length, so forty centimeters um. And
Speaker 1: it's those huge pouty lips, which I think are just
Speaker 1: I'm honestly, jealous are used to attract mates during spawning,
Speaker 1: So yeah, they the sexy red lips are in fact
Speaker 1: meant to look sexy. That's right there, what they where's
Speaker 1: my partner? Essentially there to lure lure their partners on open.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this color would work on me.
Speaker 1: Maybe I think it would look lovely. You're very sweet.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, though, like has you know, I feel like
Speaker 1: maybe it's got it's got too much of an orangy undertone,
Speaker 1: and like I need more of a Barry undertone. But honestly,
Speaker 1: it could just be the lighting. It could just be
Speaker 1: the lighting. That's true. Well, if I could borrow borrow
Speaker 1: their lipstick, did you ever do that? Like? As kids
Speaker 1: are so gross though, just like sharing makeup with your friends.
Speaker 1: Now I think about it, I'm so disgusted, but you know,
Speaker 1: you just try it. You got try on trial on
Speaker 1: those colors. Spread your germs and get some mono the
Speaker 1: old fashioned way. Kids today are too coddled, what with
Speaker 1: germ theory and everything, and now kids I'm trying to
Speaker 1: think what the kids are like kindergarten for a second
Speaker 1: grade who are like not sharing must be the most
Speaker 1: drilled into them. Thing ever, like like share and make
Speaker 1: sure like somebody asked, you know, just let him take
Speaker 1: it for a little bit. Be friendly. And now I
Speaker 1: feel like, like you don't even share a pencil, No, don't,
Speaker 1: because I don't know if it's been in their mouth
Speaker 1: or what. Bring your own door knobs, Bring your own
Speaker 1: door knobs. Children in plastics, yeah, just in bubble wraps
Speaker 1: to protect them from every direction, and so they won't
Speaker 1: touch anything, they won't share anything. They won't you know,
Speaker 1: they'll bounce if anyone hits them with anything because of
Speaker 1: bubble Boy. Bubble Boy for real, in real life, we're
Speaker 1: headed that way. We are in a world well in
Speaker 1: other news, there is a there is an animal called
Speaker 1: the proboscus monkey, and this is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: monkeys in the world. They are amazing, lovely. They sound
Speaker 1: like a Doctor Who's character, and they look like a
Speaker 1: Doctor Seu's character, and I think they're absolutely gorgeous. Proboscus
Speaker 1: monkeys have a big nose, and it's actually seems a
Speaker 1: little bit rude to be like, oh, you you have
Speaker 1: a big nose, Well, we're going to call you proboscis monkey.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, thanks. I guess, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: it's nice of you. I suppose just set rude rude scientists.
Speaker 1: So these are found in mangrove forests in Borneo, and
Speaker 1: they actually live in the similar areas to where orangatans live,
Speaker 1: and they co exist relatively without incident. So males grow
Speaker 1: to be about two and a half feet long, not
Speaker 1: including the tail, which is about seventy five and up
Speaker 1: to fifty pounds, which is about so a little smaller
Speaker 1: than like a laboratory retriever. And females are about half
Speaker 1: their weight and a little shorter. And males are the
Speaker 1: only ones that have those huge proboscis is. So those
Speaker 1: big noses that look like a cartoon character. They look
Speaker 1: like it looks like a cartoon knows that you drew
Speaker 1: on them like as a child, like you know, the
Speaker 1: the old like World War two drawing. What's it called?
Speaker 1: Like Kilroy was here, do you guys know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about? There was like but it does look like
Speaker 1: a caricature, like an exaggerated character. It looks like ziggy cartoons.
Speaker 1: Oh that thing A lot of guys got a tattoo
Speaker 1: of in the nineties. Oh, I mean, yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know what that is. I feel like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of cartoons that have that, just like
Speaker 1: this knows profile, but yeah, like like Ziggy. Remember Ziggy
Speaker 1: for those of you guys if you don't know. He's
Speaker 1: like flesh colored but he like has no torso it's
Speaker 1: just like his legs in a giant head and then
Speaker 1: he wears a big shirt and no pants and no pants. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mostly know Ziggy from the Seinfeld episode where Elaine
Speaker 1: accidentally played giarizes a Ziggy cartoon, which I thought was great.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Ziggy cartoons were basically like Ziggy sadly looking
Speaker 1: at something and being like, well, my life isn't great,
Speaker 1: Ziggy off, that's really sad. I don't know anything about
Speaker 1: this character. I don't either, but I do think so.
Speaker 1: I looked at like the photos that the National Geographic
Speaker 1: took of these monkeys, and they're like the most stunning portraits.
Speaker 1: I'm like, wow, I think they're beautiful, Like I understand, like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's it's funny they have they have these cartoonish noses,
Speaker 1: but I think they are actually stunning animals because they
Speaker 1: have this orange fur on their backs and tops of
Speaker 1: their heads, lighter fur on their bellies, and they have
Speaker 1: these kind of like round pop bellies. They have grayish
Speaker 1: limbs and a long gray tail, sort of long face,
Speaker 1: and their faces are wreathed in this really neatly koifed fur,
Speaker 1: and they also have this like band of fur around
Speaker 1: their neck and shoulders. It's very neat. It looks like
Speaker 1: they like they have a haircut like a like a
Speaker 1: groomed dog or something where it looks very like Regal,
Speaker 1: almost like it looks like very like European Regal. Their
Speaker 1: fur looks incredibly soft, and they just look so well taken. Kira,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know another way to say it,
Speaker 1: but they just looking together. Self care is important, um
Speaker 1: right on the head when you were like Regal, Yes,
Speaker 1: I feel like Star Wars Wishes, Star Wars and Alien
Speaker 1: look exactly exactly. And females, even though they don't have
Speaker 1: the characteristic big nose, they do have a quite interesting
Speaker 1: little sort of upturned I think it's very cute little
Speaker 1: upturned nose. And they are a bit smaller than the males,
Speaker 1: but they also have this very wise looking face like
Speaker 1: they contain multitudes, and they are also very very beautiful there.
Speaker 1: For this auburn color at the top is really really beautiful.
Speaker 1: I wish I had that, you know, like I have
Speaker 1: sort of reddish hair. I wish you know, I want
Speaker 1: what she has. So I'll take the number whatever that is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And males have a lot to offer for females. Not
Speaker 1: so they're big noses are very attractive to the females
Speaker 1: because they allow males to produce very loud mating calls.
Speaker 1: So they are these resonant chambers. They can produce these
Speaker 1: loud mating calls. They also have you know, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get get a little bit crude, but this is you know,
Speaker 1: this is just truth. This is just like they have
Speaker 1: bright red penises and a black scrotum, which is very
Speaker 1: attractive to the females. You know. Look, they're like they're
Speaker 1: jasmine up and they're actually relatively mellow monkeys. So they
Speaker 1: will live in groups that typically have a dominant male
Speaker 1: and a bunch of females and that sometimes like comes
Speaker 1: across as like oh, well, you know, this is unfair
Speaker 1: to the females. But basically, like the dominant male kind
Speaker 1: of switches out sometimes and like membership and these groups
Speaker 1: sort of like switches, and the females kind of have
Speaker 1: a hierarchy um and often sort of determine dynamics about
Speaker 1: the group. H And also these groups are not very violent,
Speaker 1: so they're not a lot of infighting, although there's some
Speaker 1: sort of like dominance competition amongst females and they're but
Speaker 1: they're also not violent towards other groups, and they coexist
Speaker 1: with other groups, like sometimes they'll share sleeping areas and
Speaker 1: water holes and just kind of like they're very chill
Speaker 1: and mellow. There's not that much aggressive competition. There's like,
Speaker 1: of course a little bit some conflict, but it's just
Speaker 1: they're really pretty mellow, which is really cool. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of monkeys and primates that are a little
Speaker 1: more on edge, like baboon troops are quite can be
Speaker 1: quite aggressive. Chimpanzees can be quite aggressive. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: these guys are chill, they're mellow. They just eat fruits
Speaker 1: and leaves. They are fantastic swimmers. They love to leap
Speaker 1: into water and belly flop and they have these web
Speaker 1: toes that help them swim. They're just kind of like
Speaker 1: surfer dude monkeys, you know what I mean. Very chill,
Speaker 1: very community oriented, exactly. Yeah, I love these I love
Speaker 1: these monkeys are They're one of my favorites. They're just
Speaker 1: so I love. I love the whole vibe. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a cool vibe. It's a chill vibe.
Speaker 1: I think they might be my favorite one that we've
Speaker 1: discussed today, for sure, clearly the superior funny named animals. Ah.
Speaker 1: I do love the lump sucker a lot. Yes, Oh,
Speaker 1: I know, yes, I forgot about. Maybe it's the tie
Speaker 1: I die. Okay, here's the pitch. It's the monkey and
Speaker 1: the fish and their best friends. But they can only
Speaker 1: kind of like hang out at the water, and the
Speaker 1: monkey likes to help a fish like find good like
Speaker 1: places to sit. But then someone messes up the monkeys
Speaker 1: do and I don't know, only all the suckers have
Speaker 1: to help him get it together, and they do it
Speaker 1: by all sitting there, and then they use their bodies
Speaker 1: to help basically home his hair back into the They
Speaker 1: use their suckers and do a perm Oh my god,
Speaker 1: is so good. This is so good. I need it.
Speaker 1: Let's do it? What an idea? Oh my goodness? Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: And I feel like any of these, any of these
Speaker 1: animals could just be the star of the show. May
Speaker 1: it might struggle a little bit with the pig boat worm.
Speaker 1: Gonna be honest, might struggle a little bit. Three year
Speaker 1: olds are gonna love saying pig but worm. That's true.
Speaker 1: It'll be a big hit with the three year old
Speaker 1: and prop boulders. It's part jokes. I was like and
Speaker 1: probably the teenagers to Adam Sandlers stars in pig butt All.
Speaker 1: I guess Adam Sandler has gone serious now, hasn't he?
Speaker 1: I mean kind of. I feel like at his at
Speaker 1: his core, he's still Rob Schneider turned into a pig
Speaker 1: butt worm. That's a movie. That's definitely a move. We
Speaker 1: can make anything happen. We can. I think we can. Well,
Speaker 1: that is all of these silly named animals that I
Speaker 1: want to share with you today. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for joining me, Kay, I especially appreciate that you are
Speaker 1: coming on the show today. And do you have anything
Speaker 1: to share with our audience, any projects, anything of plug
Speaker 1: and where could people find you? Yeah? Well, thank you
Speaker 1: again for having me. This was great. I learned so
Speaker 1: much about these fascinatingly wonderful creatures with these insane names.
Speaker 1: Um and Yeah, you can find me on all social
Speaker 1: media at at the Lady k B that's t h
Speaker 1: E l A d y k A y b um
Speaker 1: and I do have a few articles of pieces coming
Speaker 1: out today. I had an article from out with Michael
Speaker 1: Hey Williams about his role in HBO's Luck Trap dree
Speaker 1: um and I have a couple of pieces coming out
Speaker 1: next week from my interviews with the cast of The Boys,
Speaker 1: with premieres next Friday, season two of that show as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, where can they find those? Yes, I'm so sorry,
Speaker 1: thank you picture. I'll keep me on track. Um, Yes,
Speaker 1: so you can find my pieces um at comics beak
Speaker 1: dot com. All of those pieces will be out. I
Speaker 1: know I'm checking those out. I love Lovecraft Country. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: And Joel, where can people find you? You guys know what?
Speaker 1: You can find me all over the internet at twellmo
Speaker 1: meek that's j O E L L E m O
Speaker 1: N I Q you eat. I've got things over at
Speaker 1: a B club if you want to read some of
Speaker 1: those on Lovecraft Country, I'm breaking it down weekly. The
Speaker 1: episodic recaps of each episode also show me podcasts. Come
Speaker 1: check out Big Doctor's Real Friends. That's a Scrubs rewatch show.
Speaker 1: You can check out Nightcall, where the girls look into
Speaker 1: weird things that are happening at our actual dystopian reality.
Speaker 1: It used to be fun and now it's scary, but
Speaker 1: it's still so good. Yeah, and then always what you hear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you can find us on the internet at Creature
Speaker 1: feature Pot on Instagram, at Creature feet Pot on Twitter.
Speaker 1: That's fi A T not EPI E T. That is
Speaker 1: something very different. And you can find me at Katie
Speaker 1: Golden k A T I E G O L D
Speaker 1: I N. Just you know if you're interested in my
Speaker 1: Katie thoughts. And of course, as always I am at
Speaker 1: pro bird rites where I I'm not secretly a bird.
Speaker 1: That's silly and ridiculous and also slander and I will
Speaker 1: sue you crow bono. If you guys are enjoying the
Speaker 1: show and you want to leave a review in a comment,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that and I read them all and
Speaker 1: I got I just really appreciate all my listeners so much.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy that you are listening to the show. Um.
Speaker 1: I think someone commented on the show that they wanted
Speaker 1: to send me some art. You can do that by
Speaker 1: sending it to my Instagram at Creature feature Pod or
Speaker 1: I also have an email Creature feature Pod at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com. So for that listener who had some artwork
Speaker 1: and was wondering where to send it to, those are
Speaker 1: two places you can do that. Thanks to the Space
Speaker 1: Classics for their super awesome song x Alumina. Creature features
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio or more podcasts like
Speaker 1: the one you just heard. Visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or Hey, just between you and Me wherever
Speaker 1: you get your favorite shows. See you next Wednesday Day.