WEBVTT - Listener Q's: Talking Mice! 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.600 Welcome to Creature Feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:15.440 of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.960 and today on the show we're answering your listener questions. 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.560 That's right. You can write to me and I will 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.880 try my best to answer your questions about animals, about 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:31.639 evolutionary biology, about psychology, and everything in between. You could 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:35.720 write to me at Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com. 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.400 Let's get right into it, Hi, Katie, listening to one 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.239 of your earlier episodes on Rats. I am reminded of 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:44.519 this rats news from a few days ago with a 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:49.760 link to a YouTube video. Enjoy I guess smiling crying 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.560 face from jessec Hi Jesse, thank you for the cool video. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.160 This video is a nicely done summary by Anton Petrov, 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:04.360 which is is a recap of the study a humanized 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:10.280 Nova one splicing factor alters mouse vocal communications published this 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:15.920 February in Nature. So let's talk a bit about this study. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:20.880 So mice were genetically modified to have a gene alteration 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:26.120 that is unique to humans, targeting a specific gene called 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.920 NOVA one, which, among other things, is a blueprint for 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:34.080 the development of neurons in the brain, so all mammals 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:38.320 have NOVA one, but there is a specific change in 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:42.240 the amino acid sequence that seems to be specific to humans, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:46.440 even setting us apart from our close extinct relatives like 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:52.280 the Neanderthals. So researchers in the study use the Crisper 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:57.800 gene editing method to introduce this human amino acid sequence 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:03.400 change into embryonic minds, and they found that, yeah, these 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:07.000 mice started talking and walking and dancing little top hats 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.640 and singing about cheese. Well okay, so not exactly, but 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:16.040 the findings were pretty interesting. So the mice that were 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:24.320 given this humanized NOVA one gene alteration had different vocalizations 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:29.040 both as babies and as adults. They had a higher 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:35.760 frequency vocalizations as puffs, so higher in the frequency in 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:41.760 terms of higher pitched and interestingly, these higher pitched vocalizations 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:47.400 lessited less of a response from their mothers. So I 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.519 find this really important to point out because it really 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.920 shows how difficult it is for a massive brain changing 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:59.280 mutation to actually take hold in an animal, because it's 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.760 not always going to be beneficial in a population. It 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:07.680 could just as likely doom this animal that has this mutation. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.360 So in this case, right, if these were natural born mice, 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:17.120 they might have more difficulty communicating to their own parents, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.680 their own mothers, and so if the mother doesn't properly 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.440 respond to its calls for food or alarm calls, that 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:30.160 might make the baby mouse less prone to survival. And 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:33.320 so you could have a mutation that could potentially be 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:38.360 beneficial down the road, right, creating more intelligent mice. But 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.360 if in the shorter term it creates a situation in 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.600 which the mouse offspring are less likely to survive, that 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.760 mutation is not necessarily going to beneficial. So back to 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:55.240 the study. As adults, the mice with this humanized nova 0:03:55.280 --> 0:04:03.040 one gene had more complex, high frequency vocalizations when attempting 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:07.200 to communicate, especially when the male mice would attempt to 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.720 communicate with female mice to convince them to mate. So 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:17.120 this is another interesting indication about how a mutation, where 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.640 it in natural populations, might either positively or negatively impact 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:26.480 the organism's chance of successful reproduction. Right. So, in birds, 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:31.800 for example, some species have evolved to have very complex 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:36.159 mating calls, which the females seem to appreciate because it 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:41.400 offers some signaling about the male's fitness mental physical fitness. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.200 The male has the resources, the time, and the intellect 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:51.200 to be able to memorize really long songs. So in mice, 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.800 it could be a situation in which these more complex 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.200 vocalizations actually elicit a better response from mates, or it 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:01.719 could be a worse response. Right the the female mice 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.440 may have no idea what the males are talking about 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.960 because they've essentially started speaking a slightly different mousey language. 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:14.360 So the human mutation of the nova one gene did 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.160 not suddenly gift mice the ability to speak, but it 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:22.880 did alter their vocalizations, including possibly creating more complex use 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:27.200 of syllables in adults, which is really interesting and it 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.279 does offer more evidence that this gene sequence might be 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:35.919 at least in part responsible for the development of human speech. 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.160 It might also provide evidence that humans were genetically unique 0:05:40.360 --> 0:05:44.599 from our Neanderthal relatives, which could mean that Neanderthals did 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.240 not use language in the same way that we did. 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:52.480 There are multiple theories about this. Some anthropologists and researchers 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.160 and evolutionary cologists thinks that it might be likely that 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.800 Neanderthals had some form of language, whereas others think that 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.280 the human brain probably had a change in it, a 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:08.360 structural difference that was so profound that that is what 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:13.039 allowed us to form our complex language that probably was 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:17.720 different from There was certainly communication among Neanderthals and vocalizations, 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.120 but it may have been either a proto language or 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:25.600 something more simple than our language. So yeah, this is 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:31.400 a really interesting addition to the evidence about how we 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.440 developed language. And I do know what you guys are thinking. 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:38.640 You're wondering if you could inject this gene into your 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.200 dog and get her to talk. So basically the answer 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.839 is no. First of all, it would need to be 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.960 in an embryo, so you can't inject this gene into 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:51.240 like an adult, fully developed animal and expect there to 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.360 be much of a difference. Secondly, our ability to speak 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.440 requires not just one genetic mutation, but an entire cognitive 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.600 framework that an animal like a dog most likely lacks. 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.240 So who knows exactly what this would do in say 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.680 a dog, It may have no effect. It may have 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.640 some effect on their ability to bark or produce sort 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:20.560 of different barking patterns vocalizations. It would not give the 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:25.000 dog the ability to speak, because a dog doesn't have 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:30.120 the same kind of cognitive structures that human beings have 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.360 that allow us to speak. So, for instance, our ability 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:37.040 to nest concepts is really important in our ability to 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.200 understand language, and that might be something that's a little 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.880 bit beyond a dog. Could you, though, say, edit the 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:49.760 genes of a more cognitively advanced animal, like say an 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:54.400 elephant or a chimpanzee and give them more complex vocalizations 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:58.520 and allow them to maybe eventually be able to speak 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:02.280 with each other over man, maybe thousands of years of evolution. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.960 Maybe Ah, that's a solid Maybe I would say you 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.600 would just have to do some wildly unethical experimentation and 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.920 wait thousands of years. But you know what, never say never. 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.120 All right on to the next listener email. Hi, Katie, 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.200 just wanted to drop a note after a recent episode 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.760 which discussed different ways of managing populations of animal shelters 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.520 and possible regional differences in quote unquote no kill versus 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.720 other animals shelters. My sisters and I have both been 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.839 involved in animal rescue over the years, and my sister 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.600 has fostered numerous dogs, including a pregnant mama and assisting 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.600 the birth of her puppies. She kept Mama pick attached 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.480 for the tax. Thank you for that. It was very cute. 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:47.560 I hope it's a consolation to know that there are 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.559 many rescues in my area, the Northeast, where no kill 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:53.640 shelters are more common, who specialize in pulling animals from 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.840 ones that use euthanasia. There's also lots of rescues that 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.160 pull from New York City Animal Control as well. These 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.160 rescues find dogs who are on borrowed time and get 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.760 foster commitments. Once there's enough, though, they send vans down 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.960 to transport them up here so they can be saved 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.240 and have good homes. Most that pull from far away 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.280 have entire networks of transport drivers that travel in legs. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.560 It's a small dent, but at least they can save 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.160 some A lot of the shelters the rescue we work 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:23.959 for are in the Carolinas, and we are in New York. 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.000 Not sure about other parts of the country, but it 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.000 seems to be the area closest to us that has 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.760 a big dog overpopulation issue in their public shelters. And 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:35.520 this is from Caroline H. Hi. Caroline, I really appreciate 0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:37.920 you writing in and letting me know about these programs. 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:40.880 I love to hear that there's a network of limited 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.960 intake and general intake shelters, so also known as no 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:50.280 kill versus you know, euthanasia shelters. I think that's fantastic, 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.240 especially when different states can work together to get animals 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.840 to the homes that they need. It's you know, I 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:01.240 think that both shelters perform very important services, and the 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.319 fact that they can work together to try to get 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.880 the dogs and cats to the resources that they need 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:11.840 is wonderful, very beautiful. So just to share some stuff 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:14.440 that I've learned being in Italy, there's a lot of 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.280 cooperation between shelters in the South and the North to 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.960 spread out the number of animals in any given shelter. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.600 In turn, there are huge numbers of dogs that find 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.360 their way to people's homes. And this city really loves dogs. 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.679 I've never been in a city that loves dogs so much, 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.920 which is great for me as a dog owner. Most 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.800 restaurants and shops allow you to bring your dog given 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:38.760 that they're well behaved. There are tons of pet welfare 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.520 laws on the books. It does kind of mean, actually 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.160 that there's a lot of dog poop on the streets, 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.000 even though I'd say about ninety five percent of people 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.319 clean up after their dogs. There's so many dogs that 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.840 even the five percent of people who are naughty and 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:55.080 don't clean up after their dogs means that there's a 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.679 good amount of mess for the rest of us. So 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.040 people here also really love cats, so they're generally not 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.199 allowed outside here. In turn, there are even requirements from 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.640 shelters that balconies have to be kept secured so cats 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:12.520 don't accidentally fall out of their apartments. I have actually 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:16.640 seen cats on leashes on a surprising number of occasions. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.040 We've even seen a cat that was not on a 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:24.080 leash but was following his owner around very very dutifully 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.800 and loyally. I've never seen that before, but that was 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.400 pretty incredible. There was another one that was sitting on 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:32.920 its owner's shoulders while he was writing one of those 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:37.000 hoverboard thingies, so like the owner was riding the hoffboard, 0:11:37.040 --> 0:11:39.439 not the cat, the cat was sitting on his owner's shoulders. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:44.079 It was incredible to see, and I would be remiss 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.800 if I didn't mention one of the most famous cat 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.280 shelters in Italy, which is in Rome, the Lago di 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:54.480 Torre Argentina, which is near where Julius Caesar was assassinated. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:59.439 These are Roman ruins and the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.440 has about one hundred and fifty feline residents who wander 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.480 around the ruins and are fed near this shed where 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.640 archaeologists used to store their tools. It started as an 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:16.040 informal arrangement where cats who would congregate there because it 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.800 was a pleasant place for them to sun themselves or 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.240 sleep in the shade, would get fed by the locals 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:24.520 and by the groundskeepers, and now it's become a more 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.840 formal situation. They work with vets to make sure that 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.480 the cats are spayed and neutered, and visitors can come 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.880 donate to the shelter, buy little chotchkeys, and all the 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:37.680 proceeds go to benefit the cats. They can even go 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.560 and meet a cat and adopt ones, so it's really 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:44.080 really cool. I actually I have been to Rome. I 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.200 have not been to this cat sanctuary, but I have 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.599 been to other ruins, and there are cats that like 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:54.360 to hang out there as well. So they are just 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.480 rolling around sun bathing themselves, probably right on the spot 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:02.600 where Julius Caesar was assessed. If they fits, they sits, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:08.920 even if it's the side of a historical assassination. Hi Katie, 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.480 thank you for answering my questions and responding even when 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.040 I didn't have a question. Today, I do have a question, 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.439 and it's about emperor penguin chicks. They are so adorable, 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.880 but why, specifically, what is the evolutionary advantage for them 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:23.360 to look the way they do, spinning their chick hood 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.800 in the dead of an Antarctica with no natural predators. They 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.960 have no need for camouflage, so why I certainly wouldn't 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:31.720 mind if they have evolved simply to be so darn cute. 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.720 A side note, I had a similar question about pandas 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.199 in general until a recent documentary revealed that wild panda 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:41.440 mothers would leave their babies on tree branches that perfectly 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:44.720 camouflage them to keep them away from male pandas. It's 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.280 uncanny and satisfying to see at the same time. Cheers Jesse, 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:53.360 Hi Jesse, this is a great question. So emperor penguin 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:56.640 chicks do actually have to worry a bit about predators, 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.839 though they might not be who you would expect. So 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:04.120 other seabirds do like to eat young chicks, like giant 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:10.040 petrels and skuas, so most likely the young penguins feathers 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:15.440 are designed primarily for warmth rather than swimming, so the 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.240 young penguins do not need to swim. Little babies don't 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.000 swim out, they don't go fishing. It's that's all their parents. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:26.960 So their feathers are very downy. They're really fluffy, fluffy, 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.440 they're very fluffy. It's designed for warmth rather than being 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.800 able to swim, so that's their sort of baby down coat. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:41.400 In terms of coloration, the grayish white of their coats 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.880 probably helps the grayish white of their plumage probably helps 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:49.760 them blend in somewhat with their environment, while the black 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:53.120 on their heads and beaks and the little patch under 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.600 their chins give their parents a good target for where 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.920 to deposit food and helps them identify them as a chick. 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:05.040 So the features that we find cute about the baby penguins, 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.120 like how their cheeks and eyes are surrounded by white feathers, 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.320 that little black patch under their chin allowing their faces 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:15.160 to be more recognizable, may also be in a way 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.360 cute so to speak, to the adult penguins, eliciting a 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:23.960 maternal or paternal response, helping them to recognize the chicks 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:27.920 and making them want to care for them, so similar 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.520 to how we find human babies cute and animals because 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.240 animals proportions can be similar to human babies and elicit 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.960 that same sort of care taking response, that may be 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.280 achieving the same thing with the adult penguins. In a way, 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.720 evolving for cuteness is not a bad idea. That may 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.640 be part of the reason they look this way. As adults, 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.800 they do need to change because they need to grow 0:15:51.840 --> 0:15:56.480 in feathers that are more that are more ideal for 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.760 swimming rather than for simply one they do have a 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:06.360 nice downy layer underneath their sleeker swimming feathers. They also 0:16:06.440 --> 0:16:10.280 need to advertise their sexual maturity to mates, so they 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:15.520 lose their baby feathers that down and they molt, and 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.520 then they develop that striking black, white and orange coloration 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:23.120 that emperor penguins are so well known for, which advertises 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.440 that they are also now sexually mature. Their little tuxedo 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.960 suits might help them evade predation in the water as 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.760 well through the lightness of their bellies and the darkness 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.400 of their backs, because there's this phenomenon where when you're 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.880 below something in the ocean and looking up, light is 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.960 coming down from the top, so if you're looking up, 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.080 things are light, and so if something has a light belly, 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:51.080 it'll blend in better with looking up through the light 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.480 filtering in through the top of the ocean, whereas if 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.960 you're looking down, it's further away from the source of light, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:58.760 so it gets darker the further down you go. So 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:01.800 you're looking down something has a dark back, it's more 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.840 likely to blend in with the darkness of the ocean. 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.280 That's why things like penguins and orcas have that coloration 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.159 where it's dark on the top and then light white underbelly. 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:15.840 It's very striking looking to us, but it actually acts 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:20.760 as camouflage. The orange coloration, like along their beaks and 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.080 on their chests, is likely for sexual selection purposes. As 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.920 I mentioned earlier, they want to advertise that they're sexually mature, 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.240 they're ready to mate, and both males and females have 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:37.119 this coloration, which is typical for birds, especially who both 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.040 invest a lot in childcare. So, which is the case 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.160 for emperor penguins, both the males and the females have 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.639 to tend the eggs take turns getting fish sitting on 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.760 the eggs, so they both need to impress one another 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:56.160 in order to mate, whereas in other species of penguin 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:59.360 or in birds, where it's the female who primarily does 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:03.199 the care tape, then she needs to be choosier in 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.240 terms of her mate, and that's usually where you get 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:09.760 this larger sexual dimorphism, meaning differences between the male and 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.639 the female, where maybe the female is more optimized for 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.080 camouflage and the male's more optimized for showing off as 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.760 plumage and impressing a female. So in this case and 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.800 inmper penguins, they're both trying to impress each other while 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.880 also retaining some of that camouflage, and that's why they 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:30.480 have both the stunning orange bands near their mouths and 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.199 on their chests. But they also have the black and 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.600 white coloration that helps them camouflage while swimming, which is 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.720 where adult inmper penguins are going to find most of 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:46.920 their predators while they're swimming. All right, last listener question, 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.240 plaid frogs. These pictures look fake. The lighting is too 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.560 perfect for the wild, and they are all taken at 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.320 the same angle and distance. Are these AI generated or 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.200 are there actually a species of classy dapper frogs out there? 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.000 And then this was followed up by a quick email 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.359 that said, disregard that last email plaid frogs. I'm ninety 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:07.720 eight point four six seven percent sure that was an 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:12.119 April fool's joke. This is from JR. S. I won't 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.160 disregard this email because I see this all the time 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.040 where there's I mean, obviously this was an April fool's joke, 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.520 but there's so many AI images out there now of 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.560 animals that are meant to deceive rather than just be 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:30.639 a fun April fool's prank, and I find it frustrating 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:37.240 because real frogs that actually exist have incredible skin textures 0:19:37.280 --> 0:19:40.800 and colorations that don't look like they should exist. So 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:45.639 now it feels like people may see something really incredible 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:47.919 or real frog and go like, ah, that might be AI. 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.640 So let me give you some examples of some frogs 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.040 that might look like they are AI creations, but they 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:59.360 absolutely exist. One of them is the glass frog, which 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.480 is found in Central America. There's a few different species 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:05.680 of glass frogs, but in general, they have skin that's 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:12.480 so transparent you can actually see their organs. The translucency 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.199 is so that they can camouflage against the leaves that 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.879 they sit on, so basically, you know, they have a 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:26.240 invisible camouflage mode, which is incredible. When they're asleep, most 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.480 of their blood is concentrated in the liver, leaving them 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.880 mostly colorless and translucent, so they can be safe from 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:35.600 predators while they're at rest. When they're awake and their 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.920 blood is flowing, they're a little more not I would. 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.280 They're still translucent there, but there's more color to them 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.280 so you can see them a little more clearly. Of course, 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:49.160 there's poisoned dart frogs that are absolutely beautiful, have amazing colorations. 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.119 You've probably seen these before. They're the frogs that have 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.680 the really bright coloration. Most of them are very very toxic. 0:20:56.880 --> 0:21:00.520 Some of them are mimics of the toxic and dart 0:21:00.520 --> 0:21:04.439 frogs so they can get some advantage. So some of 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.280 my favorites just by looks are Zimmerman's poison frog found 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:12.160 in Peru, which has these beautiful black spots and mint 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:17.080 green and yellow sort of reticulations. It's really really pretty. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.720 Also in Peru is the red headed poison frog, and 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:23.919 I like this one not just out of solidarity as 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:25.960 a fellow redhead, but because it looks like half of 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:29.800 its body got dunked in sort of an orange glaze, 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.800 while the bottom half is reticulated blue and black. So 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:37.080 it's absolutely stunning. And something that's not a poisoned dart 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.240 frog but is really really pretty, at least during certain 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:44.360 periods of the season is the Indian bullfrog. The males 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.159 turn bright yellow during mating season, and their vocal sacs 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:51.040 are this bright blue, so when they're inflated, they look 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:56.479 like these bright blue balloons attached to this lemon yellow frog. 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.119 It's really really pretty, really cool to look at. And 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:01.920 then if you ever if you want to look at 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:06.800 online for Indian bullfrogs, you can usually find videos of 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:10.320 these guys in huge clusters, a bunch of them loudly 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:13.560 making their call and trying to find a mate, so 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:17.560 really amazing. So there are some really cool frogs out there, 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.640 and they're not AI generated, which can be frustrating, but hey, 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.320 you know what, if you ever see something and you're 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:29.080 because AI is getting better and better and it gets 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.400 easier and easier to be fooled bite, especially because there 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:35.160 are genuinely really cool animals out there that do look 0:22:35.240 --> 0:22:38.240 like they might have been generated by AI and you 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:40.560 can't tell the difference and you want my help with it, 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:42.840 just go ahead and email me. You can email me 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.600 at Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com and I'll 0:22:45.640 --> 0:22:48.800 help you figure out whether an image is real or not, 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:51.760 or a hoax or whatever it is. And if you 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:54.840 have any questions, you can also email me and I 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:58.040 will do my best to answer them. Thank you guys 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.120 so much for listening. And if you're enjoying the show 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:02.879 and you leave a rating or a review, you know 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:07.640 that that helps me in that does improve the metrics 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.920 of the show. I don't know algorithms. We're all ruled 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:14.040 by computers. Now. Soon the AI frogs will take over, 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.479 and I, for one, I don't know if I welcome 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.640 them because they look too smooth. It's creepy. I don't 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:23.960 like it. Anyways, guys, thank you again for listening and 0:23:24.280 --> 0:23:25.880 I'll see you next Wednesday.