WEBVTT - Listener Questions: Do Mosquitos Never Sleep!? 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.480 Welcome to Creature Feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:15.880 of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:19.200 and today on the show, it's a listener questions episode. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:27.240 You guys, send me your questions about evolutionary biology, animal behavior, pets, birds, worms. 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:31.080 You send those to Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.479 and I do my best to answer them. And I 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.240 love this because it always sends me on really interesting 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:43.200 or thought journeys research. So let's get right into it. Hey, Katie, 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.720 I have a question and a conundrum for you in 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:49.879 tech behavior question. I know bugs must rest somehow and sometime, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:52.840 but it seems like there's always a type of mosquito 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.840 around day or night. Are there specific times of day 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:59.800 when bugs, or at least those awful zebra mosquitoes will 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:03.080 be so that I can sit outside in peace. I 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.640 also wanted to ask your philosophy on naming pets. Below 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.280 er some pictures of my new friend. The name this 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.039 shelter gave him didn't fit, so I've been referring to 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.720 him as my guy, but all I know he thinks 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:18.200 his name is Hey. Personally, I think I feel like 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.840 a name needs to be at least three levels of meaning, 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:24.040 but I've got a mental block theories, ideas, scathing, derision. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:29.080 Thanks for the creatures and the features, Andrew, Thank you 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.080 so much. Andrew. First of all, I think Hey or 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:38.600 Guy is an absolute cutie. My philosophy on pet naming 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:43.880 is basically anarchy. I think, whatever you want to name them, 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.240 you know, it's sometimes it's good to have like a 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.480 name that you can definitely say in like a friendly 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:56.320 upbeat tone. But usually my pet names are two syllables. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:58.960 They have like an E sound at the end. That's 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.080 just my thing. Like I had it Pete the parakeet, 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:07.040 Poppy the parakeet, Binkie the cat, Stewie the hamster, Mousey 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.080 the mouse, which one of my more creative namings, and 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:15.080 of course Cookie the dog, and I had just thought about, like, well, 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:16.680 why do I do this? Why do I always have 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:18.839 it and in an E sound? And I think it's 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:22.240 because my name is Katie, so I'm just used to 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.519 name sounding like that with an E at the end. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.639 But I don't think all pets need to be named 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.720 that way. Really, it's just if the name has a 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:39.320 positive association for you, that's the most important part, because 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.720 pets can understand tone of voice, but they can't really 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.680 understand words so much. We can teach them a few words, 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.600 but your dog's not gonna know. Really the difference between 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.919 being named like no Stradamus or being named guy as 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:57.960 long as you're saying it with a lot of love. 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:04.359 So that's that's it. Onto the question about most squitos. 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:09.239 Do they ever sleep even though it seems like they don't, 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.000 because believe me, it really does seem that way, they're 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:17.280 always around, they do actually sleep, so researchers have studied 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:22.440 mosquitoes sleep in several species and found that sleep deprived 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.359 mosquitoes would choose rest over blood meals, so they do 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.960 need sleep. They will even sometimes prefer sleep over biting you, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.280 but that's only when they're sleep deprived. The problem is 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:39.600 that they're not always sleep deprived, so mosquitoes are really 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.840 easily roused from rest by the smell of a nearby 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.440 food source, and if they're not sleep deprived, they'll happily 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.720 wake up to try to bite you. University of Cincinnati 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.520 researchers had to take this into account when designing their 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.280 research on mosquitoes, because mosquitoes tend to wake up and 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.680 become active when human researchers walk in the room because 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:07.000 basically they smell like a banquet, and so they had 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.240 to isolate their mosquitoes that they were doing sleep studies 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:15.240 on from passers by. So that's one reason it seems 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:19.200 like they don't sleep, you see. Assistant Professor of Biology 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:23.240 Joshua bin Watt said, quote, it's really hard to quantify 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:25.760 sleep and mosquitoes when as soon as you walk in 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:31.720 the room, you're considered their Thanksgiving dinner. So that's one problem. 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:37.160 Mosquitoes are great at waking up, smelling us, and then 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:41.600 wanting to bite us. Another problem is that different species 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:48.839 have different sleep schedules. So if you're in a mosquito 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:53.360 rich area, the chances are that you have multiple species 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.360 there and some species that are going to be active 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.159 at different times a day, and some of that means 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:03.279 even during the daytime hours and then even at night 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:08.159 there may be mosquitoes that are active. So for instance, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:12.839 the striped mosquitoes Adias elbow pictus, also known as the 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:17.479 Asian tiger mosquito, are those black and white banded mosquitoes. 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.160 I think some people call them zebra mosquitoes. They're found 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.839 in tropical areas as well as the south and southwestern US. 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:29.320 They are real menaces. They can spread danga and zeka 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:35.040 in areas where the disease is prevalent. They're not inherently diseased. 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.320 They can only spread the disease if the pathogen is 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.200 present in that environment and in that country. That's why 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:46.960 mosquito related deaths are worse in some countries. They like 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:50.200 to feed during the day, primarily in the morning and 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:54.760 the evening, while resting at night. Now, at the same time, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:59.920 common mosquitoes kulex are more active and tint to bite 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.120 at night, so those are also the ones that make 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.960 more sound buzz in your ear. So this is why 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.640 it seems like mosquitos never rest. They do, but usually 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.640 at least one species is on the clock. And also 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:19.279 even though they might be resting, they're very sensitive and 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:23.360 they can detect carbon dioxide emissions so easily that we 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:26.240 make while we're breathing that they can wake up, find 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.920 you and eat you. They are just really good at it. 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:34.560 And I'm sorry, there's no better there's no good news 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:37.760 I can tell you about mosquitos. They're just amazing at 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.440 finding us and biding us. All right, on to the 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:47.520 next listener question. Dear Katie, could you kindly focus your 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.480 powers of research and deduction on this poor creature? So 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.839 I was sent a video of what appears to be 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:59.760 a crocodile with a deformed S shaped spine. All right, 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.440 now back to the email. What happened to them? Where 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:05.640 in the world are they? Are they being well taken 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.479 care of? Are they suffering? Is this common among crocodilians? 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:10.080 A huge fan of the show, and we'll give you 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.080 a million good reviews if you can find any answers 0:07:12.080 --> 0:07:13.720 about this little guy, who I think is my new 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.800 spirit animal, at least a million good reviews. Thanks for 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.520 all you do. Keep up the good word, Susie. Thank 0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:25.320 you so much for your question, Susie. So I can 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.280 tell you what happened to them and about their care, 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:33.400 I can't. I couldn't figure out where this specific crocodile was. 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.240 But let me get into what's going on with this guy. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:41.440 Just a description of the video. It's a very It's 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:43.760 a crocodile that looks like it has a really really 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.040 severe like scoliosis. It's spine is shaped like an s. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:50.840 It's kind of like it looks a little bit scrunged 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.920 up in a way, and it is alive and it's 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.200 walking and it's an adult, but it's moving pretty awkwardly 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:02.200 due to this huge s and spine. This unfortunately seems 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.280 to be a crocodile with cayphoscoliosis, which is a curved 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:13.720 deformation of the spine caused by osteomalicia, which is kind 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:17.400 of the word for quote, soft bones. This is due 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:22.360 to improper mineralization during development, so it starts when they're 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:28.120 baby crocodiles. This is a disorder primarily found unfortunately in 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:33.800 captive crocodiles, because when they're young, what can happen is 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:37.160 they're not getting enough calcium and other minerals in their diet, 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:43.439 so they start to develop these symptoms. Other symptoms are translucent, 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:49.560 glassy teeth, inflexible jaws. They call them rubber jaws in 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.360 the medical literature. It's just these jaws that they don't 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.840 have enough of the calcium and these other minerals to 0:08:56.960 --> 0:09:01.400 have the strength in their jawbones, and so that can 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:07.000 also cause spinal deformities. So when crocodiles are only fed 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:14.120 meat without bones or other supplementation, like say, just fed chicken, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.520 raw chicken with no bones. No, they're supplements, no other vitamins. 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:21.679 They don't get enough calcium in their diet to properly 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.200 grow their bones. In the wild. They don't just eat 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:29.480 deboned chickens you'd get in the grocery stores. Some captive 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:34.720 crocodiles are fed, but they'll eat entire animals, including bone, skin, joints, 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:39.600 all the things that wild crocodilians can break down and 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.440 use as nutrients. They also get a variety, right, they 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.360 don't just eat chickens. They eat a variety of different 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:51.320 animals which give them a variety of nutrients. So it 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:56.160 can be treated in young crocodilians with calcium supplementation which 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.840 will save their lives. But any spinal deformation is likely permanent, 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:04.800 so if they start to get a spinal deformation as 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:08.280 a baby crocodile, they'll just have that throughout their whole lives, 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.640 as can be seen in the adult crocodile in the 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:16.920 video that Susie sent to me. So without treatment, though, 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.280 they will lose the ability to walk, lift their heads, 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:24.480 and eventually this is fatal. So this is why wild 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:29.720 animals like crocodiles, alligators. All crocodilians are really not good pets. 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.520 I mean, it's pretty obvious, right because once they grow 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:39.840 up they can also eat you. But beyond sort of 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.200 the you know, an adult crocodile, an adult alligator is 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:47.079 not a good pet because they are an alligator and 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:52.600 a crocodile, and they are built to be eaten swimming machines, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.960 not pets. The other factor is that they have very 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:00.520 specific dietary and behavioral needs which are typically not feasible 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:05.320 for the average pet owner. They may be adorable as babies, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.240 they are really really cute babies, but they're predators. They're 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.040 not only driven to dangerously try to eat prey, which 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:15.760 is not great in the suburbs, but they must do 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:19.120 so for their own health. So even if you keep 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:23.160 your pet crocodile from eating the neighbor's dog, it's gonna 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.880 be unhealthy, probably because it's not getting the full diet 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:31.800 that it needs. It's actually this is kind of tangential, 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:34.360 but it's one of the reasons I cringe sometimes when 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:39.240 I see tiktoks of people giving their dogs or cats 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:44.440 completely raw diets. Sometimes that's okay, but if you're not 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.520 an expert and you're not being guided by a veterinarian. 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:54.720 Giving your animals more quote unquote like natural foods isn't 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:59.360 necessarily good because unless you're getting all of the nutrients 0:11:59.360 --> 0:12:01.679 that they need, and you could be missing something, right, 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.360 Like if you feed your dog just chicken every night, 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.960 like cooked chicken, that's not enough. So kibble has a 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.720 lot of problems. I agree with that. Kibble's definitely not perfect, 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:20.040 but good kibble is nutritionally balanced with these components that 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.480 your dog or your cat needs. So if you don't, 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:28.400 if you're not an expert, kibble's pretty good and that 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.360 will get your dog and your cat the nutrition that 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:35.560 it needs. And so unless you really know what you're doing, 0:12:36.440 --> 0:12:40.640 you can actually paradoxically deprive your pet of nutrients if 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.760 you say, feed them raw meat only right, you may 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.320 have the best of intentions wanting to have a healthy 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:52.360 animal and actually accidentally give them a nutritional deficiency. Dogs 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.280 in particular, are very different from their wild wolf counterparts 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.280 and have different dietary needs. So looking at what a 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.439 wolf feeds is not necessarily gonna help a dog. They've 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.199 evolved to be able to eat eat near our human 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.200 tables and our food supply. They actually have evolved to 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:12.400 be able to digest grain in a way that wolves can't, 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:18.200 so it is it's tricky. I'm not saying that fresh 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:21.360 meat raw diets are always bad and that you shouldn't 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.680 ever do them, but it's really important to do it 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:29.280 with a guidance from a veterinarian so you can find 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:32.920 out make sure that you're not accidentally depriving your pet 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.680 of key nutrients. It's also good in terms of like 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.960 individual animals will have out food allergies sometimes, right, so 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.640 some people actually do have to put their pets on 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.520 a specific diet, sometimes a raw diet because of food allergies, 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.320 but those are guided by a veterinarian. They're probably also 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:56.320 being given vitamin supplements. So yeah, anyways, trying don't just 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:01.120 feed your dog or cat raw sheet every night, that's 0:14:01.200 --> 0:14:04.920 not a good situation. And don't feature pet crocodile, just 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:09.120 raw chicken, and don't have a pet crocodile is the 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:13.840 main takeaway. So unfortunately, Yeah, I feel really bad for 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:21.560 this crocodile in Susie's video. Not fair, not a great situation, unfortunately. 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:29.320 All right on to the next listener question, Dear Katie, 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.440 I am reading a marvelously gospy British bird book and 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:38.280 hit a puzzle to quote my commonplace book. Okay, So, 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.800 a female cuckoo seeks to lay an egg in the 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:43.680 nest of a bird of the same species it hatched 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.520 in quote from the book. Having contracted out the care 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.600 of it's young to a series of foster parents. The 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.720 cuckoo's breeding season comes to an end as soon as 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.400 the eggs are laid, or in the case of the male, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.359 as soon as the females are no longer soliciting for copulation. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.400 Cuckoos have no need to hang out out and find 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:03.080 out the fate of their progeny. The youngsters have an 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.200 internal clock and will and compass that will help them 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:09.560 make their way under their own steam to the wintering areas. 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:14.400 Thus their task completed, Some adult cuckoos migrate south as 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.480 soon as they can. Amazingly, this means that some reach 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.680 their winter quarters even before their offspring leave the foster nest. 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.120 This is domin Nick Kuzin's twenty twenty four The Hidden 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.800 Life of Garden Birds, the unseen drama behind everyday survival 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.360 that sounds like a great book. By the way, I 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.360 probably need to read that right back to the email, 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:38.400 and that's it in the book, leaving me to figure 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.680 figuring that first year migrating cuckos learn how to be 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.720 cuckoos really only when they reach their winter quarters, the 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.440 shyness with which they must approach other cuckoos for the 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:50.080 first time. I wonder how comparable it is to homeschool 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:54.080 students arriving out of college campus. Typically, birds learn the 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.000 songs of their species by hearing them in the nest 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.560 and for some birds local groups. They're often human discernible 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.200 regional variants. In doing a light web search to find 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.560 out what has been found out about this processing cuckoos, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.880 I've found research on Chinese blackbirds learning cuckoo calls and 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.480 teaching them to other blackbirds in the vicinity. Can you 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:16.040 elucidate Thanks in advance, Mary Anne. What a thoughtful, well 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:19.920 researched email. This is really impressive. Thank you so much 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.600 for this. This is a great conundrum. So essentially the 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.880 question is how do cuckoos learn how to be cuckoos 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:31.200 if their parents abandon them to care abandon them In 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.400 the care of these foster parent birds foster parents is 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.800 kind of a nice way of putting it. Really, these 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.720 are brewd parasites, right, Birds that lay their eggs in 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.280 the nests of unsuspecting birds to the detriment to these 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:50.720 other birds real offspring, and so they're considered parasitic. And 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:55.720 the quote unquote foster parents are host parents, right, it's 0:16:55.800 --> 0:17:00.960 not sort of a consensual adoption happening happening here. So 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:07.040 but nevertheless, this problem remains, right the cuckoo, how does 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.360 it learn to be a cuckoo or a cowbird? Write 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.840 another brood parasite, how does it learn to be a 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.320 cowbird when it doesn't have a cuckoo parent or a 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.520 cowbird parent there to teach it? And we know a 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:22.440 lot of birds learn, so they learn complex songs from 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:28.240 their parents. The songbirds are fascinating because they present a 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:32.879 really interesting case of both the power of pre programmed 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.920 behaviors learned behaviors. They've been studied a lot by linguists 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:41.480 because of their ability to learn complex songs, but also 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.719 have the framework that they're built with to learn complex songs. 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:52.720 But brood parasites like cuckoos and cowbirds are really interesting. 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:57.560 They share something in common, so they have really strong 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:04.600 pre programming that keeps nature in a sense stronger than nurture. 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.560 So there was a study done on cowbirds where the 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.960 sounds of a host species and their own species were 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.560 both played to them from a young age. The cowbirds 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.639 instinctively had a preference for the sounds of their own species. 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.800 So this means they have a built in schematic for 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.880 what cowbirds are meant to sound like, so they are 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:32.720 born within their brains basically a framework that will recognize 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.080 the call of a cowbird and know that is a 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.800 cowbird call and something they should pay attention to versus 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:43.119 the call of their you know, quote unquote foster parents. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.159 Another interesting study found that they have a preference for 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:51.239 birds who share the color of their own plumage, so 0:18:51.320 --> 0:18:54.080 they're looking at their own plumage, they see the color 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.560 and they're drawn towards that type of plumage. The way 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.800 they found this out was by painting brown cowbirds black 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.240 and raising them in isolation, and they would find that 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.439 these cowbirds will incorrectly prefer birds with black plumage, So 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.639 that part they are learning, but it's self referential and 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:16.040 they're programmed to know to look at themselves rather than 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.320 their foster parents for cues on who is going to 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:23.719 be their appropriate mate. There's also some research that finds 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:26.880 that they self reinforce with their own song. Right, They're 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:29.600 pre programmed with an ability to do a song, and 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.360 then they listen to themselves, and then that this kind 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.760 of creates a reinforcement loop of knowing what song to 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:42.040 recognize as a cowbird song or a cuckoo song. So 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.480 basically cowbirds and cuckoos, these brood parasites are born with 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:55.639 brood parasite dot ex right a program, a strong program 0:19:55.680 --> 0:20:00.000 that tells them that they should learn either from them 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.800 themselves or not from their host species, and it gives 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:09.920 them certain bits of data right about like what does 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.960 the sound of a cowbird? What is that? And what 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:19.640 should I look for in plumage And basically it prevents 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.600 them from imprinting too much on their host species. Also 0:20:24.680 --> 0:20:29.200 something to note is like, compared to songbirds, their calls 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.960 are really simple, like the cuckoo call cuckoo. You might 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:35.960 have heard it. It's like, oh, you know, very simple call. 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:40.440 Cowbirds I can't really do. It's kind of this gurgling 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.400 sound and a chatter, even though it's sort of hard 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.000 for me a human to do. It is not a 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:51.959 long complicated song, nor do they have a repertoire of 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:55.680 many different songs like some songbirds do. And those kinds 0:20:55.720 --> 0:21:01.679 of songbirds absolutely have to learn that repertoire, so to 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.679 be pre programmed. Essentially, you do need relatively short and 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:10.440 simple songs. The birds that have the really long complicated 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:16.080 songs vast repertoires do need to learn them. So as 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:19.360 versatile and as plastic as human brains are, right, we're 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:25.280 great learners. We are so affected by our environment. We 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.359 definitely don't seem like little preprogrammed robots, right, and I 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.800 wouldn't say we are, but we are born with certain 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:35.679 schematics and there's a lot of weird pre programming that 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:39.439 we have because essentially, when you are first born, you 0:21:39.520 --> 0:21:43.880 have to come out being able to identify your own species. 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:47.000 Other humans got to be able to eat, and you 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:49.400 got to be able to cry make sound when you're 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:55.200 in distress. But what's really interesting is that newborn babies 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:58.639 have a rough schematic for what a human face looks like, 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.119 and from a young age seems to know that there 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:07.680 is the facial parts are supposed to fall in certain places, Essentially, 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:11.919 they are more likely to look at correct facial diagrams, 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:16.520 like a simple drawing of a face, and they're less 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:20.320 interested in random patterns or diagrams of faces that have 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.520 been scrambled around, like a nose on the forehead and 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:26.840 eyes and places they're not supposed to be. They're really 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.400 drawn towards a facial schematic of eyes essentially where they're 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.680 supposed to be nose mouthed in relatively the correct proportions. 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:40.680 So it's a bit spooky to consider that. Even we 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:46.320 come with a lot of pre programming, but it's necessary 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:49.840 for our survival to come prepared to eat recognize members 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.600 of our own species. Also, even for the things that 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:57.840 we learn, right, we have certain frameworks for learning. We're 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:02.000 not completely blank slates. Were kind of like a canvas 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:07.280 that has like basic schemas already penciled out a little bit. 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:11.000 And then as we're growing, we are just absorbing so 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:15.119 much information and we're learning so much. And this is 0:23:15.160 --> 0:23:18.359 a little different from like a cowbird or a cuckoo, 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:23.160 who is probably learning, you know, of course they are 0:23:23.640 --> 0:23:26.200 some things, but they're not learning a whole lot from 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:30.720 their host species. They're basically pre programmed with the edict 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:34.080 that you know this, this bird that is feeding you 0:23:34.800 --> 0:23:36.560 is not your own species. You don't need to pay 0:23:36.560 --> 0:23:38.359 attention to them too much. You need to pay more 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:42.360 attention to your own plumage. And then they've also got 0:23:42.359 --> 0:23:46.199 these handy calls. So is it like being homeschooled and 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:49.639 going off to college for the first time. I can't 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:53.199 speak to homeschooling. I haven't experienced it, so I don't know, 0:23:53.840 --> 0:23:58.280 but I would say that these birds probably are a 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:02.600 lot more comfortable meeting members of their own species for 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:06.399 the first time in a way then say, you know, 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:11.080 we would write because they do come with so much 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:15.360 pre programmed schema where it's like, ah, yes, I had 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:18.600 these instructions to seek out a bird that has this 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:21.160 call and a bird that has this kind of plumage, 0:24:21.640 --> 0:24:26.080 and there they are. So I don't think they're necessarily confused, 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:28.960 but it is a little spooky maybe to think of 0:24:29.000 --> 0:24:33.880 them as these robots that come with programming. But that's 0:24:34.320 --> 0:24:37.600 what happens with a lot of animals, animals that come 0:24:37.720 --> 0:24:40.760 right out of the shell, having a lot of behaviors 0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:44.359 that they just can go right into, like sea turtles 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:49.119 kind of following the light of the moon, sort of 0:24:49.119 --> 0:24:53.959 reflecting on the ocean, knowing to go towards that ocean 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:57.680 water that just is in them right as they hatch. 0:24:57.880 --> 0:25:02.120 No learning, just they gotta go. So uh yeah, it's 0:25:02.200 --> 0:25:05.679 a it's an interesting thing. I guess it's kind of 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:08.320 nice to be an animal that has a lot of 0:25:08.359 --> 0:25:12.800 stuff that we get to learn and shape us that 0:25:12.840 --> 0:25:16.320 we're not inherently born with. So yeah, we're not like 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:20.520 a cowbird or cuckoo. Although I guess being able to 0:25:20.560 --> 0:25:23.439 just leave your kid with some hapless victim and have 0:25:23.520 --> 0:25:26.080 them raise it, is that a good thing. I don't know. 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:30.719 I like kids, all right, guys, So thank you so 0:25:30.840 --> 0:25:34.359 much for all your questions. If you have an animal 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:38.080 related question that you'd like to send to me, you 0:25:38.119 --> 0:25:41.240 can write to me at Creature feature Pod at gmail 0:25:41.400 --> 0:25:44.639 dot com. I'm definitely gonna do a few more of 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:47.800 these episodes. I'm kind of taking like a quasi summer break, 0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:50.400 but I still want to have some freshness in here, 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:53.080 and I feel like having listener questions episodes is a 0:25:53.080 --> 0:25:56.680 good way to do it. I hope that you're liking them, 0:25:57.080 --> 0:26:00.639 and I will see you next Wednesday. Two features a 0:26:00.640 --> 0:26:04.479 production of iHeartRadio for more podcasts like the one you 0:26:04.560 --> 0:26:08.320 just heard, Visit I heard Radio, app Apple podcasts, or Hey, 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:10.560 guess what? What? Have you listened to your favorite shows? 0:26:10.920 --> 0:26:13.399 I can't judge you and thanks to the Space Classics, 0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:16.040 but they're super awesome. Song Excellana, I think I did 0:26:16.119 --> 0:26:19.720 the outro in the wrong order, but you know, only 0:26:19.800 --> 0:26:22.719 God can judge me. See you next Wednesday.