1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lambin. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 2: focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters. In time, 5 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 2: I'd like to turn our attention once more to the 6 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 2: world of Jim Henson's nineteen eighty six fantasy film Labyrinth, 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 2: where a vast shifting maze surrounds the Goblin King's castle 8 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,239 Speaker 2: full of various hazards, traps, and riddles. It is not 9 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 2: uncommon to encounter the Goblin army in these parts, as 10 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 2: they tend to such important work as tormenting good natured 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 2: beasts like Ludo. In the film, Sarah encounters several heavily 12 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 2: armored goblins engaging in just such work with nipper sticks. 13 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 2: These are long sticks or cudgels with a strange bity 14 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 2: creature perched toward the end of the stick. These creatures 15 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 2: are hairless and pink, Their eyes remain closed, and they 16 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 2: seem unwilling or incapable of leaving the end of the 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,199 Speaker 2: stick that they cling to with clod hands and feet. 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 2: While the goblins don't bother to explain the origin of 19 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 2: the nipper sticks, and the bestiaries and novelizations I turn 20 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 2: to are equally silent on the matter. One is struck 21 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 2: by a sense of new born or larval morphology in 22 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 2: the nipper beast. It has not yet opened its eyes, 23 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 2: It does not move on its own, it has not 24 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,360 Speaker 2: grown hair. Its only defining behavior is to bite at 25 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 2: any and everything it can with its pronounced sharp teeth. 26 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 2: Larval aggression is very much reality in the animal world. 27 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 2: It is common among nursery mates, generally due to resource limitations. 28 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 2: Some salamanders and frogs even develop cannibal morphs with larger 29 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,360 Speaker 2: teeth and mouths to gobble up nursery mats when resources 30 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 2: are tight. While horrific sounding to us, this is just 31 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 2: the survival economics of the wild. It's also one way 32 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 2: of interpreting the large mouths and teeth of the nippers. 33 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,160 Speaker 2: Larvae have many enemies, however, so it also bodes well 34 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 2: for larvae to fend off predators as well as cannibal 35 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 2: adults of the same species. It has been theorized that 36 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 2: the dorsal spines on metallic blue lady beetle larvae serve 37 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 2: to protect them against attacks by the larvae of other 38 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 2: species species that often boast the speed, maneuverability and mandibles 39 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 2: to take out susceptible larvae. This according to intragilled predation 40 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 2: among Lady Beetles and a green lace wing by Macaud 41 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 2: and Grant from the Bulletin of Intomological Research in two 42 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 2: thousand and seven. In short, larvae and babies generally have 43 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 2: a great deal development left to do, sometimes in quite 44 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 2: a hurry, but in some cases it makes sense to 45 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 2: front load that development with an outsized ability to defend 46 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 2: yourself or to consume your competitors. One can easily imagine 47 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 2: the goblins of the Goblin City in Labyrinth capitalizing on 48 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,600 Speaker 2: these adaptations for their own nasty weaponry. Tune in for 49 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 2: additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, 50 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 2: you can email us at contact at Stuff to Blow 51 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 2: your Mind dot com. 52 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 53 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 54 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:48,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.