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Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology

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Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology, and I am recording this podcast from

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Speaker 1: my living room. Will my dog make a gift appearance today?

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Speaker 1: I've got to tell you her podcasting skills are rough.

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Speaker 1: As we are all adapting to a new way of

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Speaker 1: life right now, in the name of public health, I

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Speaker 1: want to look at some incredible animal adaptations to draw

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Speaker 1: inspiration from. We'll discover some incredible immunities from critters we

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Speaker 1: think of as dirty or dangerous, some animals who are

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Speaker 1: hardcore to the bone, and some insects who are getting

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Speaker 1: pretty creative with this whole adaptation thing. Discover this and

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Speaker 1: more as we answer the asual question are birds real now?

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Speaker 1: I know it's tough uncertain times for a lot of

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Speaker 1: us right now due to coronavirus US. California and New

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Speaker 1: York just issued orders for people to shelter at home

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Speaker 1: and shut down non essential businesses or are having people

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Speaker 1: work from home. This may seem extreme and scary, but

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Speaker 1: getting that social distance is one of the best ways

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Speaker 1: we can adapt right now to slow the spread of

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Speaker 1: the virus. Human beings have a great advantage when it

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Speaker 1: comes to being adaptable. We can at will change our

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Speaker 1: societal habits to help protect us from new dangers such

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Speaker 1: as a virus. So while it may be jarring to

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Speaker 1: have to adapt to this new, more isolated way of life,

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Speaker 1: think of it as a temporary society level adaptation. Not

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Speaker 1: everyone can stay at home, such as people who work

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Speaker 1: in grocery stores, pharmacies, and of course our nurses and

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Speaker 1: doctors who are all risking their health to keep society

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Speaker 1: functioning and save lives. But if you're able to stay home,

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Speaker 1: it's incredibly important that you do so, even in areas

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Speaker 1: where it hasn't been ordered. It may seem like a

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Speaker 1: trivial thing, but by staying home when you can, you

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Speaker 1: could literally save thousands of lives. I may seem like

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Speaker 1: I'm exaggerating, but mathematically and scientifically it is absolutely the truth.

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Speaker 1: Human contact is an exponential chain. If you contact one person,

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Speaker 1: and that person contacts two people, and those two people

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Speaker 1: each contact to other people, et cetera, you've indirectly contacted

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Speaker 1: thousands and thousands of people. In terms of viral transmission,

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Speaker 1: this means by breaking the chain even at one point,

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Speaker 1: at one person, by staying home and away from groups

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Speaker 1: of people, you've potentially saved thousands of lives in a way.

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Speaker 1: This is a bit awe inspiring. Right now we have

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Speaker 1: the power to be superheroes, to save someone's dad or

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Speaker 1: grandma or sister, or your own friends and families. I

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Speaker 1: know how weird it is to alter our habits so drastically,

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Speaker 1: but adaptation can be strange. So today I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about some very pecute all your animal adaptations to

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Speaker 1: help inspire our own social isolation adaptation. Joining me today

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Speaker 1: on a trip to adaptation station is writer and co

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Speaker 1: host of the Nightcall podcast Emily Yoshida. Thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for having me, Katie. Yeah, thank you for joining me.

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Speaker 1: So we are talking, uh sort of living room to

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Speaker 1: living room on the internet, a new experience for all um.

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Speaker 1: But uh yeah, it's I'm really glad you're here to

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Speaker 1: join me. I have some really these are some of

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Speaker 1: my favorite animal adaptations. Of course I say that every

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Speaker 1: episode that these are my favorite animals, but it's always true. First,

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Speaker 1: I want to before we begin, I want to encourage

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Speaker 1: people to rate, review, download, and subscribe to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's actually super helpful to get us up in that algorithm,

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Speaker 1: and that's how we get sponsors, and that's how I

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Speaker 1: get money. So I can buy a bunch of yarns

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Speaker 1: so I can knit a bunch of stuff while I'm

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Speaker 1: stuck at home. I'm actually gonna start, I think crocheting

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Speaker 1: a rug, because you know, that's what you do. I

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Speaker 1: thought to find a project. I think any project that

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Speaker 1: doesn't involve a screen is super important. Right now, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: what are you do? You have any things that you're

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Speaker 1: doing at home to kind of stay occupied? Well, I

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Speaker 1: um made the mistake of trying to move in the

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Speaker 1: middle of all this so um, which also involves getting

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Speaker 1: a lot of furniture, because I mostly got rid of

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Speaker 1: all my furniture after the last place that I moved from.

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Speaker 1: So I UM, I did happen to find a really cute,

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Speaker 1: um little art deco credenza, but cheap. But it was

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Speaker 1: cheap because it needs to be refinished. So I'm going

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Speaker 1: to start my first refinishing project. Now, for those of

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Speaker 1: us speaking hypothetically, those of us who are uncivilized and

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Speaker 1: don't actually know what a credenza is? What? What is that?

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Speaker 1: This is? Basically, um, it's like an entertainment center. It's

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Speaker 1: a se down. It's just a kind of low, long

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Speaker 1: um shelf, usually withdrawers, or like a record cabinet if

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Speaker 1: it's from the error of records um where you can

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Speaker 1: just kind of put your inner you can put your

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Speaker 1: various consoles and whatever on top or inside of it.

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Speaker 1: And uh yeah, I see. So those hypothetical people who

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Speaker 1: didn't know what a credenza is, now they know. You

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Speaker 1: learn something new every day. Yeah, well that's I think

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Speaker 1: that's a that's a great project to have this kind

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Speaker 1: of I mean, first of all, it gives you something

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Speaker 1: to spend your time doing, and also it's improving your home,

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Speaker 1: which you're gonna be a a lot right now. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: anything to improve the home is really paramount right now,

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Speaker 1: because you notice every little thing that's wrong with it exactly.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, have I vacuumed this carpet enough? I know

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Speaker 1: I vacuumed it this morning, but should have vacuum it now.

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Speaker 1: I don't even have a vacuum yet, So that's I've

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Speaker 1: got to cross that bridge when we get there. Just

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Speaker 1: use a pair of tweezers and tweez up individual floor particles.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you got time. I mean, yeah, it's it's

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Speaker 1: thorough and by the time you're done with with going

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Speaker 1: across the entire floor, the other end of it probably

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Speaker 1: needs to be tweezed again. So yeah, exactly. Well, speaking

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Speaker 1: of vacuums, I want to talk about nature's little vacuum,

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Speaker 1: the opossum. So you know, you've you've seen an opossum before.

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Speaker 1: You know, these little, these little trash buddies. They are

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Speaker 1: the only marsupial found in North America. What was your

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Speaker 1: attitude towards opossums? You know, I had a really um

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Speaker 1: scarring experience with a possum when I was when I

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Speaker 1: was young. And it wasn't that it was like it

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Speaker 1: wasn't that I got attacked by one or anything. It

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Speaker 1: was just that I saw one at my school bus

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Speaker 1: stop when I was I think I must have been

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Speaker 1: in third grade or something, and um, it was out

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Speaker 1: for some reason in daytime, and I think it couldn't

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Speaker 1: see but it was just acting like it was drunk.

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Speaker 1: So it was like umbling down the street and I

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Speaker 1: never you know, I was like pretty young, I've never

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Speaker 1: seen an animal act that way before, and it was

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Speaker 1: really upsetting. It felt like a kind of like a

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Speaker 1: zombie um possum wandering down the street, and I got

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Speaker 1: really freaked out, and I ran up to the house

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Speaker 1: that the driveway that I was waiting in just to

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Speaker 1: like wait till it passed by. Yeah, I mean that's

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Speaker 1: a that's a fairly rational reaction to an animal that's

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Speaker 1: stumbling around when it's drunk that or like it's drunk,

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Speaker 1: because that is actually one of the signs of rabies.

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Speaker 1: But as we'll talk about, actually the possums are they're

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Speaker 1: not immune to rabies, but they are one of the

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Speaker 1: animals that are less likely to have rabies. So I

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Speaker 1: think that because they look a little off putting. They

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Speaker 1: have very teethy faces, they kind of look a little

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Speaker 1: bit like big weird rats that they feel like they

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Speaker 1: should be teeming with disease. But they're actually not that bad,

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Speaker 1: and in fact, they in some ways actually save us

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Speaker 1: from some dis eases. So just a few opossum facts here.

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Speaker 1: They are, like I said, the only marsupial found in

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Speaker 1: North America. As marsupials, they have pouches, and when they

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Speaker 1: give birth to their litter, which is about seven babies. Uh,

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Speaker 1: they look like little tiny, weird jelly beans that crawl

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Speaker 1: up into their pouch and attached to one of their

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Speaker 1: mother's thirteen teats that are inside this pouch. So think

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Speaker 1: about it's like a kangaroo. But there's about seven of

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Speaker 1: them and they each get in that pouch and attached

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Speaker 1: to one of one of those nice nice mom mom teets.

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Speaker 1: And when they get too big for the pouch, they

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Speaker 1: will write on her back. I find that adorable. Some

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Speaker 1: people might not so much. I'm hoping to convert people

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Speaker 1: to be a possum lovers. They seem scary to a

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Speaker 1: lot of people, and I understand it. They they've got

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a stink face. I see it.

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Speaker 1: But they're actually pretty cool and one of the less

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Speaker 1: dangerous wild animals. So they aren't very aggressive. Obviously. Here's

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Speaker 1: the caveat and never tried to pick up a while

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Speaker 1: the possum never try to handle it. That's not going

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Speaker 1: to be good. It will probably bite you if you,

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Speaker 1: like try to grab it, but they don't. They're they're

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Speaker 1: typically pretty scared of people. Well, they're not scared of people.

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Speaker 1: They're kind of chill around people. They've gotten used to humans,

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Speaker 1: but they don't they're not aggressive. They don't really want

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Speaker 1: to tangle with you. When they feel threatened or cornered,

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Speaker 1: they will hiss, spare their teeth, but mostly like if

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Speaker 1: they really feel threatened, they'll do the whole play dead thing.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, they're they're pretty, they're pretty chill. They just

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Speaker 1: don't like if you scare them, they will try to

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Speaker 1: protect themselves. And yeah, that playing dead thing. I think

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Speaker 1: that also kind of gives them a spooky reputation, because

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Speaker 1: there's nothing more upsetting than saying what you think is

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Speaker 1: roadkill suddenly like jolt up. Yeah, I mean, it's not

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Speaker 1: that I don't think they're cute. I do think that

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Speaker 1: they're rather cute. It's just that there's something sort of

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Speaker 1: uncanny about the postums that. Yeah, I guess that does

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Speaker 1: account for it somewhat. Yeah, it's an unusual animal. I

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Speaker 1: mean I definitely had a scare from an opossum when

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Speaker 1: I was a kid. We had one in the backyard

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Speaker 1: and it looked dead. Of course, we knew that opossums

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Speaker 1: play apossum and pretend to be dead, but I guess

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Speaker 1: we just didn't realize the extent to it. We thought

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Speaker 1: it was just sort of like he would be able

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Speaker 1: to see it breathing, and it's on its back and

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Speaker 1: it's kind of like got one eye peeking open to

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Speaker 1: see if you're buying it something like that. But this

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Speaker 1: thing looked super dead. It smelled dead. It was rigid,

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Speaker 1: like I think my dad very gently moved it with

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Speaker 1: a shovel to see if it was alive, and it

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Speaker 1: was stiff. It seemed like it had rigor mortis. And

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Speaker 1: so my dad was like, well, you know, we we

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Speaker 1: lived next to a canyon. So he very like gently

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Speaker 1: and respectfully picked it up with shovel covered in it

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Speaker 1: like a rag, and like carried it over to the

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Speaker 1: canyon because he was thinking like, well, you know, at

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Speaker 1: least then if we get if coyotes come to get it, like,

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Speaker 1: it'll be in the canyon and not our backyard. But

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Speaker 1: as soon as he kind of he you know, very

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Speaker 1: gently kind of like put it because he he was

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Speaker 1: you know, he was kind of freaked out about it.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't like, oh, let's let's eat this up a

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Speaker 1: possible over here. So he just was like, all right,

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Speaker 1: sorry a little guy, and like put in the canyon

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Speaker 1: and we watched it kind of roll off this shovel

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Speaker 1: onto the ground. And it just gets on its feet

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Speaker 1: and walks away. And it was the spookiest transition from like,

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Speaker 1: yeah it was. It was so it was so spooky.

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Speaker 1: And usually it's not really their fault. They're not doing

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Speaker 1: it intentionally. It's actually a fainting response, so it's an

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Speaker 1: automatic response and they can't wake up until after a

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Speaker 1: little bit of time passes, just kind of like like fainting.

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Speaker 1: So they're as they're probably as freaked out by it

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Speaker 1: as you are, to be honest, is there an actual

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Speaker 1: difference between an opossum and a possum? Yeah? Yeah, possums

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Speaker 1: are related and they are also marsupials, but they're in

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Speaker 1: Australia and opa sums are basically found in North America.

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Speaker 1: But is there anything they're different like, and do they

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Speaker 1: look they look different? They are different species? Yeah, huh,

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Speaker 1: I had no idea. I thought it was just interchangeable. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: A lot of people find possums to be a little cuter.

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Speaker 1: Their faces are a little less like long and rat like,

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Speaker 1: they're fluffy. Uh, they're they're actually I find them very adorable.

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Speaker 1: I also like opossums aren't an American variety, but I

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Speaker 1: think more people find the possums a little cuter because

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Speaker 1: they're fluffy, or they kind of look more like Teddy Bear,

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Speaker 1: Like I'm looking it up right now. I looked up

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Speaker 1: possum versus opossum, and I found an image that says

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Speaker 1: possum is an Australian cutie and opossum is an American freaky.

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Speaker 1: It's true, Okay, I didn't realize this I and I

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Speaker 1: don't even know that I was familiar with the possum

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Speaker 1: because this is a new looking creature to me. I've

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Speaker 1: only seen an opossum, so I think they're both cute personally,

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Speaker 1: but I get it, I get why they're little different.

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Speaker 1: So one other reason the opossum has a bit of

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Speaker 1: a spooky reputation is that when they're scared, one of

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Speaker 1: the things they do is this open mouth, defensive hissing

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Speaker 1: and drooling, which makes them look like they're rabid. But

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Speaker 1: typically this is just a defensive technique meant to freak

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Speaker 1: you out, and they're actually not necessarily rapid. Obviously, I

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Speaker 1: would never risk it personally. Uh that It's like, it's like,

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Speaker 1: why why risk it? You know, they're not, like I said,

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Speaker 1: some people think that they're immune to rabies they're not.

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Speaker 1: They can still get it, just at a lower rate

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Speaker 1: uh compared to other mammals, and this is speculated to

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Speaker 1: be due to their lower body temperatures. They run a

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Speaker 1: little colder than most mammals do. In fact, when they're

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Speaker 1: playing dead, they can lower their entire body temperature by

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Speaker 1: an additional half a degree celsius and they release anal

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Speaker 1: gland odors. Their parasympathetic nervous system makes their respiration dropped

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Speaker 1: by a third, in their heart rate drop by a half.

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Speaker 1: So that's why they can pull off such a compelling

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Speaker 1: definitely learn how to do that. How do they know

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Speaker 1: what what what it means to smell dead? Like? Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's it's not the individual, it's their parasympathetic

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Speaker 1: nervous system, which they really don't have any control over.

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Speaker 1: It just kind of happens automatically, and it's just over

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Speaker 1: over many, many thousands of years of evolution, each of

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Speaker 1: these traits seemed to give them a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a benefit in terms of deterring predators and making them

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Speaker 1: think they're a stinky corps. I have to say that

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Speaker 1: I'm really glad that um myself, but also, like all humans,

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Speaker 1: don't have the same reaction to being scared that our

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Speaker 1: anal glands produced the smell of a corpse, because I

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Speaker 1: think that that would be going to a horror film

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Speaker 1: a really unpleasant experience. Some people do poople, yeah, you

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Speaker 1: know not not is common, but no shame here. This

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Speaker 1: is a no shame the podcast. You can poop yourself

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Speaker 1: a little bit as a treat. So I think one

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Speaker 1: of the lesser known things about opossums is some of

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Speaker 1: their superpowers. So apossums are actually immune to many snake

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Speaker 1: venom varieties. So peptides in their blood grant them immunity

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Speaker 1: to snake venom of several species, including some rattlesnakes, and vipers,

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Speaker 1: and it even works against snake venom from species outside

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Speaker 1: of their natural habitat of North America, like India's rush

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Speaker 1: russell viper. And these peptides have been isolated by researchers

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Speaker 1: and have been found to work to protect mice who

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Speaker 1: have been injected with the opossum peptides, and researchers think

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Speaker 1: that these apostom peptides could be used as a cheap

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Speaker 1: universal anti venom, especially in areas where snake bites are

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Speaker 1: common and I think that's really cool that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of people think of this as

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Speaker 1: this little like stink beast that is scary and dirty,

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Speaker 1: but like they may hold the key to helping us

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Speaker 1: with snake bites a right, good for possums, Good for possums. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: thank you guys. They also helped fight against lime disease. So,

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Speaker 1: like I was saying, these are nature's vacuums because they

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Speaker 1: love to eat ticks. It's their favorite things. They eat

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Speaker 1: ticks like popcorn. I don't know what's your what's a

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Speaker 1: what's a snack that sings to you? Popcorn? Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: love popcorn. T Well, they eat them like popcorn, and

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Speaker 1: dear ticks love to give you lime disease, which is

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Speaker 1: a very serious disease that can linger for years and

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Speaker 1: years and years and cause a lot of nasty complications

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Speaker 1: and is really a terrible thing. And you know, when

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Speaker 1: opossums eat up those deer ticks, that decreases the number

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Speaker 1: of deer ticks out there, and that helps control the

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Speaker 1: spread of lime disease. In fact, opossums are able to

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Speaker 1: kill of the ticks that get on their fur, and

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Speaker 1: they'll also eat a bunch of ticks that they find

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Speaker 1: on the ground. They just hoover them up. They love

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Speaker 1: them so much. It makes me feel like possums like

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Speaker 1: if they're if they're eating all this stuff, they're there,

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Speaker 1: this is what they They're like bottom feeders basically, which

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Speaker 1: makes me feel like they will survive the apocalypse more

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Speaker 1: so than anybody else, right, I mean, they're like they're

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Speaker 1: like little Nature's little room buzz. It's it's pretty incredible.

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Speaker 1: So it's like, I now understand why it's kind of

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Speaker 1: nasty to eat possums as like roadkill. I've never I've

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Speaker 1: never eaten a possum, and I don't know what it takes.

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Speaker 1: I've never heard it's done what people report. I figure

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Speaker 1: it is done. Like do you know like what people

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Speaker 1: describe the taste does? Is it like kind of ticky?

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Speaker 1: Just imagine it being kind of meally like yeah, yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I'm glad that they enjoy what they're eating. I feel

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Speaker 1: like it is a bit of the killing the Golden

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Speaker 1: goose though, right, Like if they eat so many deer ticks,

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Speaker 1: you can't can't eat deer ticks if if you're eating

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Speaker 1: the animal they eats the deer ticks. They also eat cockroaches, rats, mice,

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Speaker 1: dead animals, snails, and slugs, basically anything nasty they're happy

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Speaker 1: to eat. Are they considered scavengers or um? There are

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Speaker 1: omnivorous scavengers. They're pretty opportunistic. They will scavenge, they'll hunt,

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Speaker 1: they'll eat fruit, and they'll eat all sorts of little critters. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: They they're a little they're they're a little trash buddies.

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Speaker 1: They love it. They're they're, like I said, Nature's room buzz. Well,

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Speaker 1: how do they compare to raccoons? So I feel like,

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Speaker 1: are like the cuter possums, like, because they're also little

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Speaker 1: trash buddies to the raccoons eat all this nasty stuff. Also,

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Speaker 1: raccoons are also omnivores and they do hunt as well

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Speaker 1: as eat plants and and berries and uh, you know, insects.

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Speaker 1: But I would say, actually, I'm a little like if

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Speaker 1: you were to say, do you want to spend time

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Speaker 1: with an opossum or a raccoon, I would pick the opossum.

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Speaker 1: First of all. Raccoons have, as far as I know,

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Speaker 1: higher rates of rabies than opossums, and I think they're

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Speaker 1: probably a little bit less chill than an opossum. They

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Speaker 1: may seem a little less scary, but I think that

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Speaker 1: apossums are slightly more more chill than raccoons. Like I

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Speaker 1: feel like if I hung out with an apossum, the

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Speaker 1: worst thing that was going to happen to me is

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Speaker 1: I had to smell in some stinky death anal gland

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Speaker 1: odors from the possum. But yeah, they're they're, They're I

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Speaker 1: think their diets are pretty similar. Now. I don't think

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Speaker 1: raccoons are as good as hoover and up those ticks,

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Speaker 1: though they don't have that nose, that little needle nose

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Speaker 1: to get in all those It's like an ant eater

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Speaker 1: or something. It's like it's like a little funnel for

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Speaker 1: for dear two. Well, I haven't seen any attempts on

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Speaker 1: YouTube to domesticate possums, but maybe they're out there. I

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Speaker 1: just know that that's a whole genre of YouTube that

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Speaker 1: I have watched. I'm sure there are opossum pets. I'm

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Speaker 1: positive I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure they would make the best pets, but I'm sure

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Speaker 1: it so another animal that I think is kind of

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Speaker 1: scary but actually could offer us some promise are sharks. Now.

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Speaker 1: I love sharks, and I think that public attitudes on

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Speaker 1: sharks are shifting slowly but steadily. More people like sharks

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Speaker 1: while they seem scary. I think there's a potential that

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Speaker 1: in the future sharks could save many more lives than

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Speaker 1: they actually end up taking. Which sharks. There are so

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Speaker 1: many different species of sharks, and most of them are harmless,

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Speaker 1: and the ones that are dangerous kill very few people.

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Speaker 1: So it is I think they get a bad reputation for,

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Speaker 1: you know, not not the best reasons. I mean, I mean, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: sometimes they'll they'll munch on a leg or two. I

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Speaker 1: get it. It's not always great, but yeah, they they

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Speaker 1: have these really interesting properties, and they actually are seem

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Speaker 1: to be quite hardy, and it's speculated that they may

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Speaker 1: get disease at a lower rate, including cancer. I've got

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Speaker 1: a like a lot of things with research about animals.

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Speaker 1: The truth of this may be complicated by the fact

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Speaker 1: that it's hard to study them. So while they're are

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Speaker 1: fewer reports of disease and sharks, that could be that

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Speaker 1: it's harder to locate six sharks because like, if they're unhealthy,

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Speaker 1: they're less likely to say like approach or research vessel

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Speaker 1: and get you know, inspected by researchers, and their low

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Speaker 1: rates of cancer could be because they have some resistance

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Speaker 1: to it, but it could also be that they live

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Speaker 1: in relatively carcinogen free environments, so they're just less likely

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Speaker 1: to get cancer because they're in this like open ocean

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Speaker 1: where there aren't as many carcinogens as other places. There

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Speaker 1: is a myth, and I'm surprised to learn this that

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Speaker 1: people thought that sharks are immune to all disease and

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Speaker 1: can't get cancer, which is not true. They can, in

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Speaker 1: fact get cancer. And while this seems kind of like

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Speaker 1: a harmless myth, like, oh man, that's that's cool, that's

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Speaker 1: a fun reputation for the shark to have, it's actually

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Speaker 1: really harmful for the sharks and for people. So the

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Speaker 1: myth originates by this idea that their cartilage can stop

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Speaker 1: camp sir, and this has actually led to killing sharks

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Speaker 1: for their cartilage for a treatment that doesn't work. So

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Speaker 1: both the sharks who get killed and the people who

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Speaker 1: have cancer who get duped into buying these pills are

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Speaker 1: the victims here. And this myth is based on some

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Speaker 1: real research which is finding that cartilage has anti angiogenic properties,

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Speaker 1: so that means it inhibits the growth of new blood vessels,

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Speaker 1: and so tumors actually grow by sending out growth hormones

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Speaker 1: to encourage blood vessels to feed them. It's all very

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Speaker 1: like sci fi spooky, like you have this tumor and

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Speaker 1: it's like sending out messages to your body to get like, uh,

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Speaker 1: blood vessels to grow towards it and feed it. So

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Speaker 1: if you have something that's anti angiogenic, which just means

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Speaker 1: it it blocks the growth of blood vessels, that can

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Speaker 1: help slow the growth of a tumor. And cartilage has

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Speaker 1: that property. And so someone got it in their head that, oh,

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Speaker 1: shark cartilage like must be great at this because we

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Speaker 1: don't find that many sharks with tumors. And if you

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Speaker 1: take a pill with some ground up shark cartilage, it's

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Speaker 1: going to help your cancer. But it doesn't it has

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Speaker 1: it actually. In fact, it's like we know demonstrably that

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Speaker 1: these shark cartilage pills have absolutely no effect on tumors.

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Speaker 1: And so it's a really frustrating thing where people, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of get like, there's it's the misuse of research,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's always frustrating to see that where it's

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Speaker 1: like you have something that's like based in a little

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Speaker 1: bit of science. You know, first of all, shark cartilage

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Speaker 1: may be no different from other cartilage. And second of all,

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Speaker 1: you can't just eat cartilage, you know, that's not how

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Speaker 1: it's gonna help with with tumors. So it's always it's

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Speaker 1: always frustrating, I think, because I think it dilutes actual

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Speaker 1: research when you get these sort of half half developed

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Speaker 1: things where it's like, okay, so it's like the whole

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Speaker 1: stem cells thing. Have you there's that podcast on it.

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Speaker 1: Have you listened to that one? What's it called? It's

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Speaker 1: always funny when you do see like a beauty product

422
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 1: or something, it's like it's stem cell i cream. It's like, what,

423
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 1: so you have the stem cells on your body? Yeah,

424
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:20,560
Speaker 1: you just put them on your body. That's how they work, right,

425
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: I mean I'm looking. Oh, oh it's called it's called

426
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 1: Bad Batch and it's I I highly recommend that as

427
00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: long as you're not squeamish about medical stuff. But yeah,

428
00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:34,919
Speaker 1: it's it's a great investigative podcast into the world of

429
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: how stem cells, which are actually a really promising field

430
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,600
Speaker 1: of research, are misused by some bad actors who are like,

431
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,280
Speaker 1: you know, you just like put stem cells in random

432
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: places in your body and that helps you somehow. And

433
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:52,119
Speaker 1: it's like, no, just stem cells to your forehead. Apply

434
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:57,520
Speaker 1: the stem cells directly to your forehead. Vape the stem cells.

435
00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 1: You know. I saw, I saw our local vape shop

436
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: was still open. Great to see that essential business still

437
00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:10,160
Speaker 1: open by the studio or um well no, just just

438
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 1: by my just by my apartment, because I'm this this

439
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:17,399
Speaker 1: is my studio now and my home and my everything.

440
00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: Well we'd is we we dispensaries are considered a necessary

441
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,040
Speaker 1: business to stay open during our lockdown. So you know,

442
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,119
Speaker 1: I mean that I actually humans are death. That I

443
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:31,199
Speaker 1: get though, I mean we WE'D I think as Actually

444
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:35,359
Speaker 1: it's got like a medicinal purpose, so that that that

445
00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: I'm okay with. I don't know, maybe vapes do too.

446
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: I don't want to be so harsh on the vapes.

447
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: It's just funny enough, yeah, exactly. So, despite the fact

448
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: that shark cartilage doesn't seem like, you can't just eat

449
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,960
Speaker 1: shark cartilage, please don't. It doesn't help. There is some

450
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 1: real research about a promising gift that sharks could give medicine,

451
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,040
Speaker 1: and it is an organic compound found in dog fish

452
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:08,479
Speaker 1: sharks that has broad anti viral properties. Again, don't just

453
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,320
Speaker 1: rub a dog fish shark on your forehead. That's not

454
00:27:11,359 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 1: gonna work. But let me let me talk about this compound.

455
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: So it's called squalamine. So it hasn't yet yielded any

456
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:23,720
Speaker 1: medications that work on humans, but researchers are studying how

457
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: to use it to work as an anti viral in

458
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: people and potentially even to treat certain cancers and eye disorders. So,

459
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: squalamine has been found in dog fish shark tissue and

460
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,480
Speaker 1: it can help fight viruses. It's been tested against viruses

461
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:49,480
Speaker 1: behind dangay fever and hepatitis. Again, it hasn't been used

462
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 1: to treat humans yet. It's just been found like in isolation,

463
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,639
Speaker 1: like it can like kill these viruses and it disrupts

464
00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,439
Speaker 1: a virus's life cycle, which makes it harder for the

465
00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,880
Speaker 1: virus to propagate within live tissue. So I think that's

466
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 1: that's pretty that's pretty cool, as long as we don't

467
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,080
Speaker 1: get some some jerk who's like, oh, you've got to

468
00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 1: grind up a dog fish and turn it into a Well,

469
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,840
Speaker 1: how do you get the extracts from it. Do you

470
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,560
Speaker 1: you have to kill it to get it or I, well,

471
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 1: I would assume. I would assume most of the time

472
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 1: they are killing the sharks to get this compound. That's

473
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,640
Speaker 1: why it's so frustrating when it's like, Oh, just just

474
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:33,240
Speaker 1: be like some kind of weird mermaid vampire and drink

475
00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: dog fish shark blood while we're still working on those

476
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: apossum and shark derived super serums. We owe a lot

477
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,240
Speaker 1: of things to many animals for their contribution to medicine.

478
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,320
Speaker 1: The Brazilian pit viper's venom was able to be used

479
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:58,040
Speaker 1: to synthesize capital prill, an anti hypertensive compound that helps

480
00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,240
Speaker 1: reduce blood pressure and can reduce the risk of death

481
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 1: after a heart attack. It can also help spare the

482
00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: kidneys in cases of diabetes. A hormone found in the

483
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 1: heel monster lizard's minimous saliva helped synthesize accinetide, a treatment

484
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: for diabetes. There are many other things discovered about animal

485
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:21,360
Speaker 1: biology that has and will continue to be able to

486
00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: contribute to medical science. Just one reason it's so important

487
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: to care about our ecology and the survival of species. Obviously,

488
00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:32,520
Speaker 1: we should care just because animals are cool and red

489
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:35,640
Speaker 1: and wonderful, but they can also save our butts, So

490
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: let's save their butts. To ask not what you can

491
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: do just for your own butt, but for every other

492
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,720
Speaker 1: butt on the planet. Inspiring words. When we return, we'll

493
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,440
Speaker 1: talk about a couple of very cute little animals with

494
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:59,760
Speaker 1: a very spooky secret. Welcome to today's installment of the

495
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 1: League of Supercritters who care about justice and heroism. When

496
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: danger calls, who's there to answer the phone? Is it

497
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it a

498
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 1: semi aquatic amphibian? It's that last thing. It's Dr Newtton,

499
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,600
Speaker 1: a Newt who was blasted with radioactivity. You know, the

500
00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: good kind that turns you into a superhero, not the

501
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: bad kind that destroys every cell in your body. Anyways,

502
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: Dr Newton patrols the city or well, you know, the pond,

503
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,680
Speaker 1: and uses his incredible superpowers to fight evil, such as

504
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: Gills Finnegan, the dastardly fish, who is evil. When the

505
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: bad guy attacks rib Capaw, Dr Newton uses his rib

506
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 1: cagerane to stab the bad guy in the mouth with

507
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 1: this rib bones. Pretty cool superhero. So and only I'm

508
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,320
Speaker 1: going to talk about the Spanish ribbed newt, which has

509
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 1: one of the most unusual defensive tactics I've ever seen

510
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: in any kind of animal. If you look at the document,

511
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: you will see a picture of this little guy really stunning,

512
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 1: kind of inquiry adorat um and dirty is the right

513
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 1: word for him. Yes, yes, I captioned this as a

514
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: very dirty looking animal. It's got those big, big eyes,

515
00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: it's got like a big wide mouth that's kind of

516
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: permanently affixed, and kind of a doofy little that is

517
00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:38,560
Speaker 1: the sound. This picture is very much a sort of

518
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: audible picture, and it is that kind of like, I

519
00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: don't know, guys, I don't know, very cute. He's very

520
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 1: wet looking and very cute. Yeah, yeah, he is very cute.

521
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: He looks very harmless and kind of dopey. But he's

522
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 1: got rib spikes. Now, if you scroll down, you will

523
00:31:57,800 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 1: see those rib spikes, and they're weird. So he can

524
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:09,560
Speaker 1: actually thrust his rib cage over to the side and

525
00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: poke his rib bones out of his skin. So when

526
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:18,719
Speaker 1: the Spanish ribbed newt feels threatened, it pushes its pointy

527
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: rib bones out of its side and uses them to

528
00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: sting predators. So it swings the rib cage until it

529
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 1: pierces through their skin, and at the same time, their

530
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: skin actually produces a milky toxin, so when the rib

531
00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: cage pokes through the skin, it actually picks up the

532
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:42,160
Speaker 1: toxin that's on the surface of the skin. And when

533
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: it jabs its predator, those rib bones work as toxic

534
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,440
Speaker 1: barbs to thend off the animal trying to eat it,

535
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: and it can cause pain or even death to any

536
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 1: predator unlucky enough to try to put this thing in

537
00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:03,880
Speaker 1: its mouth. Um. This just reminds me of like either

538
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:08,560
Speaker 1: the Maleficent movie or when Lady Gaga had like the

539
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: bony cheekbones, like that kind of cool look. It's like that,

540
00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 1: but with your ribs, which also just feels like a

541
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 1: whole um certain genre of terrible tumbler that used to exist.

542
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,720
Speaker 1: I do feel like this could be a Gaga address.

543
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 1: Like a dress that like makes it look like you

544
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 1: have these rib bones like sort of jetting out of

545
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,720
Speaker 1: your side, like spoilers or something. It's very fashioning. It's

546
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: very like like um like constructed sort of um tour.

547
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 1: It's a very like severe kind of almost eighties look.

548
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, yeah, like like you just have

549
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: spikes kind of coming out everywhere on your shoulder pads.

550
00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 1: You got shoulder pads, it can poke an eye out. Yeah,

551
00:33:54,880 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: it is kind of like that. I mean work, it's

552
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,400
Speaker 1: quite a look, it is. It's it's a statement, I

553
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,160
Speaker 1: would say, and the statement is don't put me in

554
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,960
Speaker 1: your mouth. So you'd think it would kind of suck

555
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:14,839
Speaker 1: to have to constantly pierce through your own flesh with

556
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,399
Speaker 1: your ribs um kind of like how it to day

557
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:23,560
Speaker 1: It's fine, but yeah, it's like with wolverine where they're

558
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: actually able to very quickly heal their skin. So that

559
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,120
Speaker 1: always kind of weirded me out with like wolverine cards,

560
00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:34,120
Speaker 1: like he just always like with his little hand claws.

561
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: They just always are cutting through that skin between your knuckles.

562
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 1: It's creepy. But yeah, I mean kind of kind of

563
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:46,040
Speaker 1: a rip off of the Spanish rib new Really, do

564
00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:48,319
Speaker 1: you think it's actually inspired by that? I mean, does

565
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,439
Speaker 1: any other animals do this sort of quick healing thing.

566
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,400
Speaker 1: I've never I've never heard yea, yeah, actually so a

567
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,240
Speaker 1: lot of amphibians are very good at healing their skin,

568
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: and in fact, harry frogs also do something similar. We've

569
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:06,000
Speaker 1: actually talked about them. On the show before on the

570
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:11,040
Speaker 1: Superheroes episode, Harry frogs will break their handbones and push

571
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,719
Speaker 1: them through their skin like claws, so very much like Wolverine,

572
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:18,919
Speaker 1: and they're also able to heal well. It's actually not

573
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:23,120
Speaker 1: quite known how what how these guys work. It's assumed

574
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,879
Speaker 1: that they're able to heal up quickly because like there

575
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: have been specimens caught that seemed to have healed, but

576
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 1: they've never actually been able to keep one in captivity

577
00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 1: and see what the processes. So we aren't quite at

578
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: the point where we can make a human Harry frog

579
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,720
Speaker 1: hybrid for a very like weird looking huge Hugh Jackman,

580
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:48,160
Speaker 1: you know, like a frog froggish huge Jackman. I don't

581
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,640
Speaker 1: like that image at all. Well, it's not as cool

582
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 1: like to fight with your ribs as like um is

583
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 1: to fight with your your hands or your claws or

584
00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,480
Speaker 1: something like if you're just sort of singing your Torso

585
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: I think that's a matter of perspective because if it's

586
00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:08,479
Speaker 1: like if it's from like like aggressive torking, I think

587
00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:12,280
Speaker 1: that could be actually a really cool way to fight someone.

588
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:16,279
Speaker 1: It's like, look, but don't touch right exactly, sort of

589
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 1: like just like a seductive dance. But you're you've got

590
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: like ribs, spikes just like jutting out of your skin.

591
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 1: That's yeah, convenient exactly that This is one word comes

592
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: to mind with these newts that can jab their own

593
00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:32,239
Speaker 1: rib bones out of their skin, and it is convenient.

594
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 1: But using your bones as a defensive weapon isn't unique

595
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: to amphibians, which sounds like a really weird pickup line.

596
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,319
Speaker 1: So I want to talk about pottos and they are

597
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 1: primates who are in the same sub order as lemurs,

598
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:54,480
Speaker 1: and they live in tropical rainforests in Africa and in

599
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,080
Speaker 1: English speaking regions in Africa. It's actually known as the

600
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:02,320
Speaker 1: softly softly do you two? It's smooth, quiet gait through

601
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:07,279
Speaker 1: the trees. Same and yeah, Emily is freaking out a

602
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 1: little bit because they're so cute. It looks so soft.

603
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I believe it earned its name. Yes

604
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 1: they are, Yes, they are incredibly soft. They are closely

605
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 1: related to slow lorises, and they actually look a little

606
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:27,280
Speaker 1: bit like them. They've got that really soft looking rusty

607
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,399
Speaker 1: tan for they've got big brown eyes that you could

608
00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: just drown in. Their adorable I'm I am in love,

609
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 1: of course, I'm always falling in love hopelessly on this podcast,

610
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 1: and here I go again. I am in love with

611
00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 1: the potto. So they also have short, fluffy tails. They

612
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 1: are very furry, and they have little nubby ears. Emily,

613
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,759
Speaker 1: how would how would you in your own words, describe

614
00:37:53,760 --> 00:38:00,719
Speaker 1: this animal? Um? This animal looks like an emoji. UM.

615
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,319
Speaker 1: It's got these little ears that are like they I

616
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,759
Speaker 1: don't know. It says that they're about fourteen inches long,

617
00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,719
Speaker 1: so it looks like the ears might be about the

618
00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:11,399
Speaker 1: size of like a pinky finger. They're just like we're

619
00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: gonna imagine like putting up your little pinkies next to

620
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:18,000
Speaker 1: your head to little little potto ears. UM. In one

621
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,839
Speaker 1: of these pictures here, his tongue is sticking out, so

622
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:25,719
Speaker 1: he kind of looks like the tongue sticking out smiley. Uh.

623
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:28,680
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I think like the an

624
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: amanopia for this animal is just like nam Nam Yeah,

625
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:39,760
Speaker 1: uh like you, like you said, they're about fourteen inches

626
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,160
Speaker 1: or thirty five centimeters long, excluding that little tail, and

627
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:45,279
Speaker 1: the tail is only about two to four inches or

628
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 1: five to ten centimeters, And they have stubby little fingers

629
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 1: and in fact, they don't really have an index finger.

630
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 1: It is vestigial and it's only a tiny little nub.

631
00:38:57,239 --> 00:39:00,360
Speaker 1: And they have what is known as a toilet claw

632
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,400
Speaker 1: on their hind legs that they use for personal grooming.

633
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: And I'll leave it to the imagination what you think

634
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:10,359
Speaker 1: they use that for. That's a very nice euphemism there.

635
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 1: It's not just for potty stuff. It's it's you know,

636
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:19,879
Speaker 1: like it's like, yeah, exactly. So they actually don't have

637
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:24,799
Speaker 1: too many predators just because of their nocturnal habits, their

638
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: quiet movement through trees, and their ability to do crypsis

639
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 1: through very slow movement, and they just kind of quietly

640
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,239
Speaker 1: hang out in the trees and eat fruit and insects.

641
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:39,480
Speaker 1: But if they do come in contact with a predator,

642
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:43,759
Speaker 1: and they have a nifty defense tactic, which is that

643
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 1: they have unusually long and sharp neck vertebrae that are

644
00:39:48,719 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 1: really pointy, and it seems like they should almost pierce

645
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,440
Speaker 1: through the skin, but fortunately they don't. They are covered

646
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:57,879
Speaker 1: in thick fur and skin, so it's just this kind

647
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:01,480
Speaker 1: of like weird bumpy neck that's got these like spikes

648
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:06,320
Speaker 1: right under the skin. And you can see a skeleton

649
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 1: of one of these guys if you scroll down, and

650
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 1: you can see their neck. How sharp and pointy their

651
00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 1: neck vertebrae is, which is, you know, not not super

652
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 1: common with mammals. It looks almost like a like some

653
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,520
Speaker 1: something evolved from a stegasaur or something like. It's just

654
00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,760
Speaker 1: these sort of like fingers kind of on the neck. Yeah,

655
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:33,240
Speaker 1: it's interesting you say that because there are some paleontologists

656
00:40:33,280 --> 00:40:35,920
Speaker 1: who point to this animal is kind of an example

657
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:39,800
Speaker 1: of what these may have been used for, like comparing

658
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,880
Speaker 1: their skeleton to some of these dinosaurs skeletons that have

659
00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: that those like weird and of course dinosaurs often had

660
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:53,160
Speaker 1: much more elaborate uh exactly like these big, big, long

661
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:57,479
Speaker 1: cervical vertebrae that we're just like incredible. But yeah, these

662
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:01,359
Speaker 1: these guys have it too, and they um so when

663
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,799
Speaker 1: they're threatened, they will tuck themselves in a cute little

664
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:08,320
Speaker 1: ball with their hands covering their heads, which is just adorable.

665
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,959
Speaker 1: And it just exposes those next spikes, which again they're

666
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:16,160
Speaker 1: not so long that you can't like see like like

667
00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: spines like on a porcupine coming out of their neck.

668
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,319
Speaker 1: It's just that their neck kind of like protrudes a

669
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 1: little bit, and it's a little blumpy and it's thought

670
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,440
Speaker 1: that it kind of functions like one of those anti

671
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 1: coyote vests that little dogs wear. Have you seen them

672
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 1: where it's like these like plastic spikes that cover your

673
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 1: entire dog to try to protect it with from coyotes.

674
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:43,839
Speaker 1: And it's like the dorkyest looking vest you can get

675
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:46,839
Speaker 1: your dog, but it does keep them safe from coyotes.

676
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,839
Speaker 1: I like the idea that like a dog is going

677
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: to wear it and get made fun of by its

678
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,239
Speaker 1: dog friends, but then a coyote comes and like he

679
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,080
Speaker 1: bravely fends off the coyote with his like crazy like

680
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: safety vest. It's like just punk like punk. It's just

681
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,319
Speaker 1: punk fashionactly, it is punk fashion. Yeah, these are very

682
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 1: punk punk primates. And yeah, so like it's gonna be

683
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:13,719
Speaker 1: kind because like if a predator goes for the neck,

684
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,360
Speaker 1: it's gonna get that kind of those spines, those bony

685
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:19,840
Speaker 1: protrusions in its mouth. It's not going to be great.

686
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:22,839
Speaker 1: It's gonna be harder for it to get at the neck.

687
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:28,919
Speaker 1: But it's also these next spines might not only be

688
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:33,319
Speaker 1: used as an anti predator defense. It's thought that it's

689
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:37,720
Speaker 1: also used in mating, and there's some evidence to suggest

690
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:42,080
Speaker 1: that they use these to stimulate sexual partners, and that's fun.

691
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,400
Speaker 1: It's always nice to have like ant though on the

692
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:52,439
Speaker 1: back of your neck a vibe. It's look, I think

693
00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: it's kind of neat, you know, like like they've got

694
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: they've got love and war in one in one bone structure. Yeah,

695
00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:02,919
Speaker 1: it's business in the back, but that business is also

696
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:07,399
Speaker 1: party as well. I like it, very cute. And then

697
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:10,240
Speaker 1: there's one more picture I did of one of these

698
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:15,359
Speaker 1: little guys in a defensive posture, very cute, tucking its

699
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:19,320
Speaker 1: little head down there. I love I love these guys.

700
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,880
Speaker 1: I love that. Yeah, yeah, these these guys. And also

701
00:43:23,960 --> 00:43:26,799
Speaker 1: like the we talked about the slow lorist too. They

702
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 1: just have very interesting creative defensive techniques. Of course, the

703
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:35,760
Speaker 1: slow lorist can get it kind of secretes a toxin

704
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:39,040
Speaker 1: from near its armpits in its arms, and then it

705
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 1: licks that up and then it once it's in its mouth,

706
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,000
Speaker 1: it can then bite something and it has a toxic

707
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:48,520
Speaker 1: bite because of the stuff that it's like from its armpits.

708
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:53,920
Speaker 1: So that that's that's pretty cool. Cute, cute, little Cutei's

709
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 1: with real real weird, weird stuff. They're gonna pull on

710
00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,359
Speaker 1: you if you try to threaten them. Oh I'm looking

711
00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: at slow Loris's slow Laura. Oh my god, I love them,

712
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:11,719
Speaker 1: love them great animal. A plus, did you know that

713
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:16,600
Speaker 1: children have weird bones? Children's bones heal much more quickly

714
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:21,200
Speaker 1: than us adults, despite all that tree climbing in general tomfoolery,

715
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:25,759
Speaker 1: because children's bones grow so rapidly. When they break, they

716
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: heal much more quickly than our old adult bones, and

717
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,520
Speaker 1: the fact that they're still growing allows the bones to

718
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,839
Speaker 1: fix its shape. Kid bones are also super bindy. They're

719
00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 1: less brittle than adult bones, and they're more prone to

720
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:43,480
Speaker 1: bending than breaking. This isn't always a good thing. A

721
00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:46,360
Speaker 1: bent bone can be more difficult to treat and set

722
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:50,200
Speaker 1: than a cleanly broken bone because it's harder to detect

723
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 1: on an X ray and the nature of the injury

724
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 1: is less clear. Bones that bend and break in children

725
00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,760
Speaker 1: are called green stick fractures. This references the difference between

726
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,239
Speaker 1: new green branches and old dry branches. New branches bend

727
00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:08,840
Speaker 1: a bit before cracking, whereas old dry branches are brittle

728
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,680
Speaker 1: and will snap and break. Really makes me feel good

729
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:16,480
Speaker 1: about being an adult. The green stick fractures typically occurs

730
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:20,120
Speaker 1: in kids under ten years old. Also, did you know

731
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:24,120
Speaker 1: that babies have way more bones than adults. While most

732
00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:27,720
Speaker 1: adults have two hundred and six bones, babies have almost

733
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: three hundred. This is because when you're born, you have

734
00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:34,840
Speaker 1: more soft cartilage in the body, and these soft bones

735
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:38,879
Speaker 1: fused together as you drow. When we return, we're going

736
00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:41,920
Speaker 1: to discuss a couple animals that don't have any bones

737
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:44,759
Speaker 1: at all. Make no bones about these animals. They have

738
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:54,680
Speaker 1: some pretty wild adaptations. Right now, rumors abound that birds

739
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:59,000
Speaker 1: aren't real, that there's some kind of government conspiracy or

740
00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 1: robotic draw own. As a totally unbiased party who is

741
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:08,959
Speaker 1: not funded by Big Bird, I could tell you that, absolutely, declaratively, positively,

742
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 1: this is categorically false, a foul accusation. My lawyers are

743
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:17,400
Speaker 1: fighting against crow bono. My lawyers, who are well versed

744
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:21,879
Speaker 1: in bird law, are also working on another case copyright infringement.

745
00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 1: The defendant a six legged flying impost So Italy, if

746
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 1: you could, could you take a look at the YouTube

747
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:38,440
Speaker 1: videos that I have linked for you? Sure think right now?

748
00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:43,720
Speaker 1: The sounds not important, just the visuals. Well, it looks

749
00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:47,640
Speaker 1: like a big old butterfly, but it's also a hummingbird.

750
00:46:48,440 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 1: The humming fly butterbird, butterbird, I like that name better.

751
00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 1: Unfortunately they are called hummingbird moths, but butterbird is a

752
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,480
Speaker 1: great name that, uh think. Yeah, it's too bad you

753
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:05,719
Speaker 1: weren't around when they were naming these guys. So hummingbird

754
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 1: moths are indeed moths. There are different species and genuses

755
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:14,640
Speaker 1: found all over the world. It's a moth. Yes, Oh

756
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:19,160
Speaker 1: it's creepy. I hate it. Oh. I thought I totally

757
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:20,920
Speaker 1: just thought it was a bird that was that was

758
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:25,200
Speaker 1: acting like, Oh, that's so weird. Oh I kind of

759
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:28,840
Speaker 1: I kind of hate this son. Did you think it

760
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 1: was like a hummingbird? I thought it was like proboscis.

761
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:37,240
Speaker 1: It was using like, oh weird. I mean you are

762
00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:41,879
Speaker 1: you are right about the proboscis part, so you know. Um,

763
00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:45,479
Speaker 1: but yeah, they are. They are insects and they look

764
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:50,560
Speaker 1: a lot like hummingbirds. Um. There's the hummingbird hawk moth

765
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:55,000
Speaker 1: species found in southern Europe, northern Africa, and Japan. And

766
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:59,040
Speaker 1: there's the Himarus genus of moths, also known as hummingbird

767
00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:03,520
Speaker 1: moths down in North America and the UK. Both the

768
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:07,359
Speaker 1: hummingbird hawk moths and the Himarus moths belong to the

769
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:12,440
Speaker 1: sphinx moth family. So some species of Himarus moths have

770
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:16,840
Speaker 1: transparent pains on their wings, such as the snowberry clear

771
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: wing moths. So that's one way you can kind of

772
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:24,880
Speaker 1: tell the difference between the North American and UK hummingbird

773
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,640
Speaker 1: moth and the hummingbird hawk moth is that if they

774
00:48:27,719 --> 00:48:30,680
Speaker 1: have clear wings, they're probably in North America or the UK.

775
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:33,279
Speaker 1: Not that it sounds like you're going to go out

776
00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:35,240
Speaker 1: of your way to try to find these guys, because

777
00:48:35,280 --> 00:48:39,480
Speaker 1: you seem very freaked out. Now. The reason Emily is

778
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:43,520
Speaker 1: having such a strong reaction is they look uncannily similar

779
00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 1: and they act exactly like hummingbirds. In fact, a lot

780
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:53,319
Speaker 1: of hummingbird sightings actually are erroneous, uh, because they are

781
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:57,760
Speaker 1: the hummingbird moths instead. And and like the Audubon Society

782
00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:00,319
Speaker 1: has a whole thing about like being able to tell

783
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:08,240
Speaker 1: the different guys. I'm sure they're suing them for copyright infringement, yeah,

784
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:11,160
Speaker 1: but yeah, like to telling the like do a takedown

785
00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:16,360
Speaker 1: complaint on hummingbird mobs. But yeah, they they are hard

786
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:20,200
Speaker 1: to tell apart, especially because they move so fast. Um

787
00:49:20,239 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 1: it is a and you might think that this is

788
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,319
Speaker 1: because like the moms are mimicking the hummingbird, but in

789
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,960
Speaker 1: fact they're not. It is a case of convergent evolution.

790
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 1: So convergent evolution is when you have two different animals.

791
00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:38,880
Speaker 1: They can be related. They could be completely unrelated, like

792
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:43,080
Speaker 1: in this case, but they will evolve very similar traits

793
00:49:43,239 --> 00:49:47,440
Speaker 1: but completely separately. And for that it can be like

794
00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:50,680
Speaker 1: for the same reason, it can be for slightly different reasons,

795
00:49:50,719 --> 00:49:54,080
Speaker 1: but like, basically they have evolved very very similar traits

796
00:49:54,719 --> 00:50:00,600
Speaker 1: and sometimes very startlingly close ways. Like these these molds

797
00:50:00,680 --> 00:50:03,560
Speaker 1: that look like hummingbirds. If you scroll down, you'll see

798
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:10,359
Speaker 1: another one that looks weirdly like it's shockingly like a hummingbird. Yeah.

799
00:50:10,400 --> 00:50:14,359
Speaker 1: The tail thing is also really upsetting. I don't know, Yeah,

800
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:17,480
Speaker 1: I guess it feels sort of annihilation or something. It

801
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:21,040
Speaker 1: just feels like, yeah, for having this weird mind of

802
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:24,360
Speaker 1: its own. And yeah, like someone took a moth and

803
00:50:24,600 --> 00:50:26,719
Speaker 1: put it in a mold and grew it in the

804
00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:30,680
Speaker 1: shape of a hummingbird. Yeah, I mean, so they are,

805
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:35,040
Speaker 1: like you mentioned that tail, they like down to these

806
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:39,120
Speaker 1: very minor details, they look very similar and act very

807
00:50:39,160 --> 00:50:42,680
Speaker 1: similarly to hummingbirds. So they can beat their wings rapidly.

808
00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:46,360
Speaker 1: They produce a buzzing sound just like hummingbirds. They hover

809
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,920
Speaker 1: and sip nectar from elongated proboscus that looks like a beak.

810
00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:54,759
Speaker 1: Uh their butts look like hummingbird butts. They have a

811
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:58,560
Speaker 1: fan tail of bristly hairs that looks like a hummingbird's tail,

812
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:02,960
Speaker 1: and it's body is covered in hairs that look like

813
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:07,879
Speaker 1: hummingbird feathers. And sometimes they even share the same coloration

814
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:11,880
Speaker 1: as hummingbirds, like they have that bright green and red

815
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:15,640
Speaker 1: that a lot of hummingbirds have, and that bright coloration

816
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:20,520
Speaker 1: even serves a similar purpose to hummingbirds in terms of

817
00:51:20,640 --> 00:51:26,359
Speaker 1: it being for sexual selection. And they even look like

818
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:31,600
Speaker 1: they have pupils, which they actually don't, So like many insects,

819
00:51:31,680 --> 00:51:35,680
Speaker 1: they have faceted eyes, and it's just it looks like

820
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 1: they have pupils that follow you everywhere, But this is

821
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:44,480
Speaker 1: an optical illusion. These faceted eyes actually absorb light coming in.

822
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:47,160
Speaker 1: Like if you have a shiny ball and like you

823
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:50,000
Speaker 1: move around, it looks like that highlight, that little shiny

824
00:51:50,080 --> 00:51:53,160
Speaker 1: highlights kind of following you around. It's just like that,

825
00:51:53,200 --> 00:51:56,360
Speaker 1: except sort of inverse. Instead of reflecting light, it is

826
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,560
Speaker 1: absorbing the lights so as you move around, it looks

827
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:00,640
Speaker 1: like there's a dark spot, so it looks like their

828
00:52:00,640 --> 00:52:03,680
Speaker 1: eyes are following you, but they're not. You look, you

829
00:52:03,719 --> 00:52:11,560
Speaker 1: look terrified. Yeah, the moths were an early kind of creepy,

830
00:52:11,960 --> 00:52:14,000
Speaker 1: creepy thing for me as a kid. And I don't

831
00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:17,719
Speaker 1: know why, Like moths are pretty relatively harmless, but they

832
00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:20,000
Speaker 1: always they always freaked me out as a kid. So

833
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:24,160
Speaker 1: I don't like learning about this other whole other life

834
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:30,920
Speaker 1: of moths, the moths masquerading as a harmless hummingbird. Yeah.

835
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,200
Speaker 1: I actually so when I was a kid, I've had

836
00:52:33,239 --> 00:52:36,120
Speaker 1: some good experiences with them. Maybe, well, I guess it's

837
00:52:36,120 --> 00:52:38,720
Speaker 1: all perspective, because maybe for you this would be a nightmare.

838
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:43,120
Speaker 1: But I had a sphinx moth, which is, like I said,

839
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:47,040
Speaker 1: that is the it's the same family that these hummingbird

840
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:50,440
Speaker 1: moths are in. And it was just this big I

841
00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:53,839
Speaker 1: actually think I thought it was a hummingbird um, And

842
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,439
Speaker 1: it was like flying around and it landed on me,

843
00:52:57,680 --> 00:53:01,680
Speaker 1: and it was this beautiful, beautiful moth with this beautiful

844
00:53:01,760 --> 00:53:04,880
Speaker 1: kind of pink and black coloration, and it was just

845
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:07,480
Speaker 1: very friendly and it didn't want to leave me, and

846
00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:09,279
Speaker 1: it like clung to my shirt and I tried to,

847
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:11,440
Speaker 1: like I was pretty pleased with it, and I was

848
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:13,479
Speaker 1: on a hike, and at the end of the hike,

849
00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:15,799
Speaker 1: I tried to like delicately pull it off me and

850
00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:17,600
Speaker 1: put it on a plant, but every time I would

851
00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:19,440
Speaker 1: pull it off, it would like fly back on me

852
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:22,759
Speaker 1: and like cling on um. So I ended up just

853
00:53:22,840 --> 00:53:25,440
Speaker 1: like going home with it because it was just like

854
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:28,000
Speaker 1: a local hike, so it wasn't a change in environment,

855
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:31,520
Speaker 1: but it would not like I kept trying to release it,

856
00:53:31,560 --> 00:53:34,359
Speaker 1: and it kept just like attaching itself to me. So

857
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,200
Speaker 1: I like put a little box, put some like plants

858
00:53:37,200 --> 00:53:40,600
Speaker 1: and stuff in the box to like for its natural environment,

859
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:42,160
Speaker 1: because I thought it was like best friends with me,

860
00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:44,200
Speaker 1: and I put in the box and it died in

861
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:49,160
Speaker 1: like probably probably what was going on was I was

862
00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:52,799
Speaker 1: probably wearing like a bright shirt and these moms like

863
00:53:52,880 --> 00:53:55,319
Speaker 1: once they have made it, that's actually the end of

864
00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:59,120
Speaker 1: their life, uh cycle. So it was probably at the

865
00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:02,360
Speaker 1: end of its life, Michael. It probably saw me this bright,

866
00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:04,839
Speaker 1: warm thing and it was just like, all right, I'm

867
00:54:04,880 --> 00:54:08,560
Speaker 1: going to cling onto you until till it's over. So

868
00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:11,120
Speaker 1: I felt I felt so bad though, because I was like,

869
00:54:11,160 --> 00:54:13,120
Speaker 1: you're my new best friend, and then it passed away

870
00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:16,840
Speaker 1: and I was just I was totally devastated. So, you know,

871
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:19,680
Speaker 1: I've always had a soft spot for molds. So the

872
00:54:19,840 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 1: reason they actually look and act so similarly to hummingbirds

873
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:28,879
Speaker 1: is that basically the hummingbird model works just as well

874
00:54:28,920 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 1: for them as it does for hummingbirds. So if you

875
00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:35,239
Speaker 1: think about it, it makes sense the hummingbirds styled of

876
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:39,280
Speaker 1: hovering instead of landing to sip nectar. It both helps

877
00:54:39,320 --> 00:54:42,560
Speaker 1: them avoid predation because they're not stopping, it helps them

878
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:45,960
Speaker 1: get as much nectar as possible, and it works for

879
00:54:46,000 --> 00:54:50,040
Speaker 1: these molds as well. And in fact, in a way,

880
00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:53,239
Speaker 1: they are superior to the hummingbird when you look at

881
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:57,879
Speaker 1: their wing beat capacity, So hummingbirds get in fifty wing

882
00:54:57,960 --> 00:55:01,600
Speaker 1: beats per second while the mingbird. Hawk moths get in

883
00:55:01,719 --> 00:55:06,920
Speaker 1: eighty five wing beats per second. And they are unlike

884
00:55:06,920 --> 00:55:10,000
Speaker 1: a lot of moths, which are nocturnal, they're active in

885
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:13,279
Speaker 1: the day because you know, flowers sometimes go to sleep

886
00:55:13,320 --> 00:55:16,239
Speaker 1: at night and actually close up shops. So you want

887
00:55:16,239 --> 00:55:18,920
Speaker 1: to get as many much of that sweet sweet nectar

888
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:21,120
Speaker 1: in your little body as you can, you gotta go

889
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:23,840
Speaker 1: around during the day. So they are active at the

890
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:26,520
Speaker 1: same time as hummingbirds too, so you know, and they

891
00:55:26,840 --> 00:55:30,560
Speaker 1: have there in the same flowery regions as well. So

892
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:33,160
Speaker 1: a lot of times you see a hummingbird if you

893
00:55:33,200 --> 00:55:36,160
Speaker 1: live in the regions where they the hummingbird moth is

894
00:55:36,320 --> 00:55:40,200
Speaker 1: that maybe a big old moth. Wow, I've I've been.

895
00:55:40,400 --> 00:55:43,440
Speaker 1: My eyes are opened now. I will never trust an

896
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:49,480
Speaker 1: adorable hummingbird again. Um, but I mean, I guess it

897
00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 1: does make sense because a hummingbird is really imitating a

898
00:55:52,520 --> 00:55:55,319
Speaker 1: bug more than it's imitating a bird, like a hummingbird

899
00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:58,720
Speaker 1: in many ways acts more like a bug, like yeah,

900
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:03,279
Speaker 1: something it's just looks exactly looks like a hummingbird. There

901
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:06,400
Speaker 1: is a there's a hummingbird called I think the b hummingbird,

902
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:10,840
Speaker 1: and it's yeah, little tiny, it's not quite as small

903
00:56:10,880 --> 00:56:13,319
Speaker 1: as a bee, but it's pretty dang close. It is

904
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:16,279
Speaker 1: teeny weeny. Yeah, yeah, they are sort of there is

905
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:19,440
Speaker 1: kind of a weird it's like, I guess, sort of

906
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: the the crossover species between bird and insect. Obviously that's

907
00:56:25,640 --> 00:56:31,080
Speaker 1: not how evolution works, but you know, like I feel

908
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:34,120
Speaker 1: like if there was some kind of like uh insect

909
00:56:34,239 --> 00:56:38,040
Speaker 1: bird conference, like you'd have the diplomats from the insect

910
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:41,399
Speaker 1: to bird congregation, be like the hummingbird moths and then

911
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:43,960
Speaker 1: the hummingbirds, and it's like, see, we're not so different

912
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:50,520
Speaker 1: after all. So what is your attitude towards ladybugs? Um?

913
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:55,279
Speaker 1: I like ladybugs. I generally try to, you know, move

914
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:57,680
Speaker 1: them outside if they're inside, and make sure that they

915
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,480
Speaker 1: can be, you know, in their natural habitat. I tried

916
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 1: to be kind to them. Yeah, have you ever had like,

917
00:57:04,719 --> 00:57:07,600
Speaker 1: have you ever picked up a ladybug and it seems

918
00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:12,360
Speaker 1: like it peas on you? I don't thinks so, but

919
00:57:12,560 --> 00:57:16,520
Speaker 1: I don't know. I've Yeah, I've had. This happened to

920
00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:19,520
Speaker 1: me a lot, especially as an inquisitive child who doesn't

921
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:23,880
Speaker 1: respect the personal space of insects. Um. I would pick

922
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:26,400
Speaker 1: up any insect I could find, and I would often

923
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:29,120
Speaker 1: just pick up a ladybug. And what would happen is

924
00:57:29,160 --> 00:57:32,120
Speaker 1: it looks like it peas on you because it releases

925
00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 1: this sort of orangeish yellow fluid on your hand. It

926
00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:38,920
Speaker 1: doesn't smell really good. Um. And it was very frustrating

927
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 1: as a kid because it's like I loved the ladybugs.

928
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:43,800
Speaker 1: I wanted to hold them, and it's like, oh, I

929
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:47,360
Speaker 1: just pete on me for some reason. But here's the thing.

930
00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:52,600
Speaker 1: It's not really p. They p defensive blood on you

931
00:57:52,760 --> 00:57:56,000
Speaker 1: to ward you off. If you've ever harassed a ladybug,

932
00:57:56,040 --> 00:57:59,280
Speaker 1: maybe it's happened to you that like kind of stinky

933
00:57:59,360 --> 00:58:02,880
Speaker 1: yellowish liquid. But it is, first of all, it's not p.

934
00:58:03,400 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 1: It is defensive hem o lymph, which is ladybug blood.

935
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:14,280
Speaker 1: Man called ladybugs. Why that they? Oh? Because like period thing?

936
00:58:14,600 --> 00:58:18,960
Speaker 1: I don't I kind of I was like, so suddenly bad.

937
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:24,280
Speaker 1: I was like, on how periods work. It does scare

938
00:58:24,320 --> 00:58:27,479
Speaker 1: some people off, so you know, I could definitely see

939
00:58:27,560 --> 00:58:32,160
Speaker 1: some like early eighteen hundreds biologists finding a ladybug and

940
00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:35,080
Speaker 1: it's like, look at this ladybug, you know, having her

941
00:58:35,200 --> 00:58:40,200
Speaker 1: period all over my hand. Well, actually, it also doesn't

942
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:45,160
Speaker 1: come out of the ladybugs private parts. It comes out

943
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:49,320
Speaker 1: of its leg joints, which it secretes out to kind

944
00:58:49,320 --> 00:58:54,920
Speaker 1: of gross you out so you won't eat it. It works, well,

945
00:58:54,960 --> 00:58:58,480
Speaker 1: I was reading this thing. It even works on pest control.

946
00:58:58,720 --> 00:59:01,600
Speaker 1: I was reading the America con Pest blog and it

947
00:59:01,640 --> 00:59:06,720
Speaker 1: warns people who have their homes invaded by ladybugs, quote,

948
00:59:06,840 --> 00:59:10,200
Speaker 1: please don't frighten the ladybugs. Like they're they're how to

949
00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:14,080
Speaker 1: guide in terms of how to deal with a ladybug invasion,

950
00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:17,280
Speaker 1: just cryptically saying like, please don't frighten the ladybugs. It's

951
00:59:17,280 --> 00:59:21,360
Speaker 1: not gonna be pretty. And yeah. So, while ladybugs are

952
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:25,480
Speaker 1: great for your garden because they eat up destructive aphids,

953
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:29,600
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes they invade your home by the thousands,

954
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:33,800
Speaker 1: which is I've never had that happen either, but it

955
00:59:33,880 --> 00:59:38,680
Speaker 1: can happen, and often, like when cold weather happens and

956
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:41,480
Speaker 1: they are trying to find a nice, warm place, it's

957
00:59:41,520 --> 00:59:45,560
Speaker 1: pretty rare that you'll get a massive ladybug invasion. Usually

958
00:59:45,560 --> 00:59:47,640
Speaker 1: it's just like a handful of them getting inside and

959
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:49,960
Speaker 1: chilling out, in which case I mean, come on, you can.

960
00:59:50,080 --> 00:59:53,040
Speaker 1: You can share the space with a couple ladybugs, But

961
00:59:53,160 --> 00:59:56,400
Speaker 1: I do see that it's a problem when thousands of

962
00:59:56,440 --> 00:59:59,640
Speaker 1: them get inside. Now do you dare click on the

963
00:59:59,720 --> 01:00:05,280
Speaker 1: video know that I have in this document, Emily, Yeah, okay, fine,

964
01:00:06,680 --> 01:00:08,640
Speaker 1: this is like the kind of thing that turns my stomach.

965
01:00:08,720 --> 01:00:12,720
Speaker 1: I even like ladybugs, but um well, if you want,

966
01:00:12,760 --> 01:00:18,080
Speaker 1: I can just describe this video's not for me. It's

967
01:00:18,160 --> 01:00:20,640
Speaker 1: already it's I get bumped out and they're like yellow

968
01:00:20,680 --> 01:00:24,400
Speaker 1: and brown. Um, yeah, oh yeah, you like the bright

969
01:00:24,440 --> 01:00:27,280
Speaker 1: red ladybugs. I really get worried for them. It feels

970
01:00:27,320 --> 01:00:29,360
Speaker 1: like it feels like, for whatever reason, I don't think

971
01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:31,240
Speaker 1: this is true, but I always assume it's like they're

972
01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:34,120
Speaker 1: like leaves that haven't been like doing there. I see

973
01:00:34,160 --> 01:00:37,920
Speaker 1: they haven't been when they're sort of a dimmer color. No, no,

974
01:00:38,080 --> 01:00:40,600
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily true, but yeah, I get it, like

975
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:44,760
Speaker 1: sinks sort of. The more dusky colored ladybugs feels like wrong,

976
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:49,720
Speaker 1: like there's there's they're like zombie ladybugs or something. But no, um,

977
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:53,840
Speaker 1: but this is an ABC News video that explores someone's

978
01:00:53,880 --> 01:00:56,840
Speaker 1: house that has been invaded by thousands and thousands and

979
01:00:56,920 --> 01:01:00,720
Speaker 1: thousands and thousands and thousands of ladybugs. It's just a

980
01:01:00,880 --> 01:01:05,600
Speaker 1: sea of this orangy red moving mass of ladybugs. And

981
01:01:05,640 --> 01:01:07,840
Speaker 1: they're like trying to sweep it up, and they've got

982
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:10,760
Speaker 1: like buckets of ladybug as if they're bailing out a

983
01:01:10,840 --> 01:01:16,640
Speaker 1: ship that's drowning in ladybugs. It's a you know, a

984
01:01:16,720 --> 01:01:21,680
Speaker 1: little and a lot of massive amounts of any anything.

985
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:24,400
Speaker 1: It's not gonna don't know. It's like it's like the

986
01:01:24,480 --> 01:01:31,040
Speaker 1: whole phobia, but bus just yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty bad.

987
01:01:31,440 --> 01:01:33,760
Speaker 1: I don't know why I thought it would be a

988
01:01:33,800 --> 01:01:36,440
Speaker 1: great idea to bring this up as people stay in

989
01:01:36,560 --> 01:01:39,240
Speaker 1: your homes. I guess a positive spin could be like,

990
01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:42,400
Speaker 1: maybe your board at home, but at least your home

991
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:46,680
Speaker 1: isn't filled with ladybugs, unless it is filled with ladybugs,

992
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:53,439
Speaker 1: in which case I'm sorry. Well, I'm glad. That's there's

993
01:01:53,440 --> 01:01:55,720
Speaker 1: a new problem that I didn't know about that somebody

994
01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:58,800
Speaker 1: can have and I now I know about. I mean,

995
01:01:58,880 --> 01:02:01,400
Speaker 1: but doesn't it make you feel grateful that your house

996
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:07,040
Speaker 1: isn't flooded with lady fo um? I've had the ants thing.

997
01:02:07,240 --> 01:02:11,160
Speaker 1: The ants thing is a common California problem. Uh, exactly,

998
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:14,040
Speaker 1: But I don't know something about the ladybugs. The boldest

999
01:02:14,240 --> 01:02:16,880
Speaker 1: they look like worts all over your home. Yeah, I

1000
01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:27,800
Speaker 1: love and they'll kee blood at you to make them mad. Well, Emily,

1001
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:31,680
Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me today having I

1002
01:02:31,720 --> 01:02:35,440
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Is there anything you want to plug

1003
01:02:35,680 --> 01:02:39,760
Speaker 1: for our listener? Sure, you can listen to my podcast

1004
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:43,680
Speaker 1: that I do with Molly Lambert and Tess Lynch called

1005
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:48,960
Speaker 1: Nightcall right here on the iHeart Network. And I'm also

1006
01:02:49,040 --> 01:02:52,120
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Emily Orshda. I don't really know what's

1007
01:02:52,160 --> 01:02:54,600
Speaker 1: going on there, but that's kind of where you can

1008
01:02:54,680 --> 01:02:59,240
Speaker 1: find me most times. Um, and that's it. And I'm

1009
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:03,000
Speaker 1: in my house also, it's another place that I will

1010
01:03:03,040 --> 01:03:06,560
Speaker 1: be pretty reliably over the next who knows how long,

1011
01:03:06,760 --> 01:03:11,280
Speaker 1: So all sorts of Yeah, it's it feels like I

1012
01:03:11,360 --> 01:03:14,480
Speaker 1: have like a portal to another world right now, because

1013
01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:17,080
Speaker 1: like you're in your house and I'm in your house,

1014
01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:20,760
Speaker 1: but like it's like we're connected through the portal of

1015
01:03:20,880 --> 01:03:24,760
Speaker 1: podcasting all the reality out there, everybody's living rooms and

1016
01:03:24,800 --> 01:03:31,280
Speaker 1: their microphone setups exactly exactly. You can find us at

1017
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:35,280
Speaker 1: Creature Feature Pod on Instagram, Creature Feet Pod on Twitter.

1018
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:37,880
Speaker 1: That's f e A T, not f E T. That's

1019
01:03:37,880 --> 01:03:41,320
Speaker 1: something very different. You can find me also on Twitter.

1020
01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:45,520
Speaker 1: I'm at Katie Golden if you're interested in my Katie thoughts,

1021
01:03:45,720 --> 01:03:49,680
Speaker 1: and of course I'm at Pro Bird Rights, where I

1022
01:03:49,720 --> 01:03:54,720
Speaker 1: try to debunk this insane claim that birds aren't real

1023
01:03:54,920 --> 01:03:58,920
Speaker 1: in our some government conspiracy. Come on people, or should

1024
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:04,720
Speaker 1: I shage say sheeple people, sheep people. Anyways, we also

1025
01:04:04,920 --> 01:04:08,080
Speaker 1: have shirts in our store. I will provide a link

1026
01:04:08,120 --> 01:04:12,600
Speaker 1: for that in the show. No, and and yeah I will.

1027
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:16,040
Speaker 1: New episodes are going to keep coming out every Wednesday

1028
01:04:16,120 --> 01:04:19,280
Speaker 1: because I'm all set to keep recording at home. And

1029
01:04:19,360 --> 01:04:22,720
Speaker 1: thank you guys so much for listening to us, and

1030
01:04:22,840 --> 01:04:26,360
Speaker 1: thanks to the Space Cossics for their super awesome song.

1031
01:04:26,520 --> 01:04:30,000
Speaker 1: Ex Alumina Creature Feature is a podcast by i Heeart

1032
01:04:30,120 --> 01:04:32,920
Speaker 1: Radio You. If you want to listen to more awesome

1033
01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:35,280
Speaker 1: podcasts like the one you just heard, you can go

1034
01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:38,400
Speaker 1: to i heeart radio dot com, the I heart radio app,

1035
01:04:38,720 --> 01:04:41,800
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your ding ding podcast. Be

1036
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:42,800
Speaker 1: your next Wednesday