Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Future, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied
Speaker 1: psychology and evolutionary biology, and today on the show, conservation
Speaker 1: gets weird, from bird humping helmets to toxic toad sausage
Speaker 1: thrown out of helicopters. Sometimes conservationists have to get wild
Speaker 1: to save the wild. Discover this more as we answer
Speaker 1: to the age old question how do you keep a
Speaker 1: whooping crane from catching? Feelings for you? Joining me today
Speaker 1: is TV writer, cartoonist and filmmaker Anna Selina's welcome. Hi,
Speaker 1: so happy to be here. I am excited to have
Speaker 1: you back. And I was just talking with you about
Speaker 1: how I think of the last time I had you on.
Speaker 1: We talked about little cute owls, and for some reason
Speaker 1: it happened again and I didn't plan for it. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was like kind of some subliminal messaging that I
Speaker 1: got where it's like, I gotta talk about tiny owls,
Speaker 1: But are you ready to talk about tiny els? I am,
Speaker 1: because they're so cute. They are the cutest little babies
Speaker 1: that I mean. They're just like flying beaky kittens, you know. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they look like you could hold them in the palm
Speaker 1: of your hand and pet them. They would hate it.
Speaker 1: They would hate it to much. Yeah, so they are adorable.
Speaker 1: They are Western burrowing owls, and their territory is often
Speaker 1: threatened by land development, and so researchers and ecologists are
Speaker 1: trying to trick these tiny owls into locating somewhere else
Speaker 1: that is safe from land development. So Western burrowing owls,
Speaker 1: there's some of my favorite owls. I they're so expressed
Speaker 1: of They have some of the cutest pictures, and they
Speaker 1: are the only ground dwelling owl in North America. They
Speaker 1: stand at only ten inches tall, which is twenty five cimeters.
Speaker 1: They're found in Western America, including Canada and South America,
Speaker 1: and they live in grasslands like a bunch of little
Speaker 1: prairie dogs. They do look like prairie dogs, like poking
Speaker 1: out of the dirt and they it's like if a
Speaker 1: prairie dog was a bird, which is so cute. It's
Speaker 1: very cute, and there's actually a reason for that. These
Speaker 1: burrowing owls, despite their name, do not actually make their
Speaker 1: own home. They use burrows made by prairie dogs or
Speaker 1: maybe ground squirrels or other burrowing animals. So if there's
Speaker 1: an abandoned prairie dog burrow, they will take it over
Speaker 1: their squatters. Essentially, that is so resourceful like to to
Speaker 1: know that, oh I don't have to build my own hole,
Speaker 1: I can just use someone else's. I love that. It's
Speaker 1: like how I've started using a laundry service because I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't have to do my own laundry. I'm an adult.
Speaker 1: I get to choose what I waste my money on, exactly.
Speaker 1: I just love the thought of them going into the
Speaker 1: prairie dog home and knocking off all the prairie dog
Speaker 1: photos from the mantel and putting up their own little
Speaker 1: owl photos. Yes, and then the prairie dog comes back
Speaker 1: because they weren't actually moving, they just were on a
Speaker 1: little trip, and it's like, what the hell are you
Speaker 1: doing here? Yeah? Yeah, I feel like that must happen
Speaker 1: where they think something's abandoned and it's not, and then
Speaker 1: they probably get in a squabble with a prairie dog
Speaker 1: and then the little prairie dog police are called in
Speaker 1: and lawyers. Yeah, it gets really bloody. I hate to
Speaker 1: say it, but I just see those sharp beaks and
Speaker 1: I know in prairie dog court. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: there's like blood everywhere. Yeah, I get it. They're fighting
Speaker 1: over their home bird law, bird law. So yes. A
Speaker 1: cute note on these little owls is one way they
Speaker 1: defend themselves is they like to hiss and pretend to
Speaker 1: be a rattlesnake so they won't be disturbed. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have you listened to this because it is such
Speaker 1: a good mimicry situation. It's like it's like a cat
Speaker 1: hissing at you, but it does shake. They've like mastered
Speaker 1: the vibratto of a rattle, which is impressive. It really is.
Speaker 1: It really is, because it doesn't quite sound like the
Speaker 1: cat hiss. It does sound like that that rattlesnake rattle,
Speaker 1: which is actually when a rattlesnake hisses, that rattle is
Speaker 1: not produced by it's any kind of vocalization. It's the
Speaker 1: ah striation of these hardened scales on its back tail
Speaker 1: rattling together these dry scales. So the fact they can
Speaker 1: mimic that with the their vocalization is really impressive. But
Speaker 1: they are harmless little babies. Unless you are a small
Speaker 1: raptile road in or insect. They could probably scratch it
Speaker 1: pretty good. But again they're like, they're like flying cats,
Speaker 1: you know, so uh. They Unfortunately, because they live in
Speaker 1: these grasslands, they are really vulnerable to land development because
Speaker 1: that is a favored area to develop because it's flat,
Speaker 1: relatively easy to build on, and in fact, most of
Speaker 1: California's grasslands have been developed and put that puts these
Speaker 1: adorable little flying murder kittens in peril or things. That's
Speaker 1: so sad. It's like they've just moved into their new house,
Speaker 1: kicked off the prairie dog photos. Now they're losing their
Speaker 1: homes again. Yeah. Yeah, And they're actually a federally protected species,
Speaker 1: so developers have to relocate the owls when they develop
Speaker 1: on their habitat. They can't just go around killing a
Speaker 1: bunch of owls, which is good, um, but typically the
Speaker 1: land developers simply evict the owls from their homes by
Speaker 1: waiting for the owls to leave than destroying their burrows,
Speaker 1: and then when they get back, they're just their burrows
Speaker 1: are gone. There's also the method of translocation, where you
Speaker 1: remove the owls and take them somewhere else, but often
Speaker 1: the owls will simply try to return to where they
Speaker 1: knew their old burrows were only to be met with
Speaker 1: like some kind of McMansion being built. They're completely confused.
Speaker 1: That's so sad. It's really sad, especially when you consider
Speaker 1: how atrociously ugly mc mansions can be. And these owls
Speaker 1: are probably like, why do you have different roof styles
Speaker 1: altogether on one house? It doesn't make sense. The windows
Speaker 1: aren't symmetrical and stuff. When they just like when they
Speaker 1: just stick a turret on a house, you can't do that.
Speaker 1: Crimes against and all the houses look the same on
Speaker 1: the block. Crimes against nature and crimes against architectural style.
Speaker 1: So ecologists are trying to figure out a better way
Speaker 1: to move the owls to new homes on nature reserves.
Speaker 1: And they did a study comparing the fates of owls
Speaker 1: who were simply evicted versus those who were acclimatized to
Speaker 1: new burroughs. And they found that by relocating owls and
Speaker 1: creating a lived in burrow for them by doing things
Speaker 1: like thought fully splattering them with owl poops, sometimes real
Speaker 1: al poops, sometimes fake just just so you know, just
Speaker 1: this kind of artful little splatter Jackson Pollock like splatters
Speaker 1: of owl poop here and there. I'd love to sit
Speaker 1: in on like the designer, the interior designer using this
Speaker 1: al poop. Yeah yeah, just artfully sprang it on some
Speaker 1: of the walls, like you could use an accent while
Speaker 1: right here with ol poop. I think that'll really balance
Speaker 1: out the living room and live in the room up
Speaker 1: and you want you want to sense of motion, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you want some sense of motion. You want a nice
Speaker 1: function way. So there's a front facing window around here,
Speaker 1: um and that's that's where that will poople go. You
Speaker 1: openin up the space. I think that is so sweet
Speaker 1: to decorate an owl's little burrow for them. That's just
Speaker 1: the sweetest. It's the least we can do. That's true. Hey,
Speaker 1: I took your home, but I got you a new one,
Speaker 1: and don't worry. I pre pooped it. I just like that.
Speaker 1: It's humans and owls are essentially the same. When a
Speaker 1: real estate agent is trying to get you to buy
Speaker 1: a home, they bake some cookies in it so you
Speaker 1: smell freshly baked cookies. If we're trying to get an
Speaker 1: owl to settle on a home, it's like al poop
Speaker 1: into that right, you don't know it's covering. It reminds
Speaker 1: you of home right reminds you of your childhood. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: is it fresh? Oh yeah, that's fresh? Nice and warm? Yes,
Speaker 1: warm and cozy? What have real estate agents just went
Speaker 1: to the bathroom right before they try to show the home.
Speaker 1: So it just has that nice lived in you know.
Speaker 1: It's the sound of flushing and you feel like you're
Speaker 1: already home. The toilet seat is all still warm. Someone's
Speaker 1: just lit, uh match to try and get rid of
Speaker 1: the smell, but it just kind of covers it. You
Speaker 1: still smell it, but also smell the match. Yeah, I'd
Speaker 1: be like the smells like home, I would leave immediately,
Speaker 1: but I it would smell familiar, so freshly baked cookies
Speaker 1: and then the smell of a match, and then like poop.
Speaker 1: Wouldn't do it for you? I want to say no,
Speaker 1: but who knows. I've never bought a house. I don't
Speaker 1: know what it would be like. It depends if I
Speaker 1: bought a house. Yeah, I was on the artful splatter.
Speaker 1: Yeah absolutely so it's mid century splatter, Rococo splatter. H
Speaker 1: so uh. They also will play owl sounds near these burrows,
Speaker 1: kind of like, hey, other owls are digging it, maybe
Speaker 1: you'll dig it to uh, huh. So they actually did
Speaker 1: find that this was successful. The owls were much more
Speaker 1: likely to inhabit the homes and they were more likely
Speaker 1: to successfully breed. And that's really key because if we
Speaker 1: want to conserve their population, not only do we need
Speaker 1: to basically save their lives, we need to give them
Speaker 1: a conducive environment to have a family and continue their
Speaker 1: little owl life. Yeah, they're little owl lives. You know,
Speaker 1: they'd be really offended by that. They'd be like, actually,
Speaker 1: we have really rich lives where the protactists of our
Speaker 1: own story maybe little, but we have big dreams. We
Speaker 1: maybe little, but we have big dreams. I feel like
Speaker 1: that would be an amazing marketing poster for these owls.
Speaker 1: Like like you know how when they make a new
Speaker 1: housing development and they put up a billboard to like
Speaker 1: advertise the development, it's like the neighborhood of your dreams,
Speaker 1: say to raise a family, like but then have a
Speaker 1: little tiny billboard for these these owl villages where says
Speaker 1: we may be little, but we have big dreams. Join
Speaker 1: Owlie Hills, Ali Hills. It's perfect. They're playing the little
Speaker 1: owl sounds kind of like when you go to that
Speaker 1: Disney Town. How they're playing music in the rocks. Have
Speaker 1: you heard of this? Oh yeah, yeah, I mean it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: It is a very like curated sort of experience, just
Speaker 1: like Disneyland is where they play sounds, they waft sits
Speaker 1: for you. They make you feel like you're in a
Speaker 1: village and not being watched by Mickey Mouse from a
Speaker 1: surveillance tower. Exactly. We're creating little Disney villages for these
Speaker 1: owls are being watched. I want to see an owl
Speaker 1: in a little tiny teacup right now. Yeah, you can
Speaker 1: see it because you can imagine their little heads like
Speaker 1: twist stick around as the teacup twirls. They like the
Speaker 1: heads are just a little too long to swel around. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't get it. I'm not dizzy at all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is fine. This is like just a regular walk
Speaker 1: in the park for me. Man al Disneyland, that would
Speaker 1: be That's my dream. Uh yeah yes. So, so this
Speaker 1: technique of making a potempkan village is actually not unique
Speaker 1: to owl. So a potempkan village is a village that
Speaker 1: has a fake facade that makes it look lived in
Speaker 1: or desirable. Uh. This is, I guess um a technique
Speaker 1: that is used by conservationists where they are trying to
Speaker 1: get animals to see an area as a viable place
Speaker 1: to live. And they've actually done this underwater as well.
Speaker 1: So oh wow. Off the coast of Australia lies the
Speaker 1: sprawling Great Barrier reef. Unfortunately, coral reefs are actually in
Speaker 1: dangerous So the reef itself is made of living organisms,
Speaker 1: so coral is alive. Uh and if those die, so
Speaker 1: dies the reef and that ecosystem collapses. So when coral
Speaker 1: dies something happens called bleaching. So bleaching is when coral
Speaker 1: expels the symbiotic algae that lives inside it called I
Speaker 1: think it's zoe xanthela. It's a it's a complicated word,
Speaker 1: zoe x anthela. This can occur due to warming waters
Speaker 1: or changes in the amount of nutrients in the surrounding area.
Speaker 1: Often this is due to climate change. It can be
Speaker 1: due to water runoff from farms where you have fertilizer
Speaker 1: running off and changing the dynamics of the algae UH
Speaker 1: in that area, which can cause bleaching where a certain
Speaker 1: type of algae competes the symbiotic algae in the coral.
Speaker 1: It's a big problem and UH. Sometimes in addition to
Speaker 1: these these things like climate change or runoff from farms,
Speaker 1: you'll have a natural disaster that comes in like a
Speaker 1: cyclone that will destroy parts of the reef that are
Speaker 1: already vulnerable. And this has happened to parts of the
Speaker 1: Great Barrier Reef, much to the distress of ecologists who
Speaker 1: understand how critically important reefs are for the diversity of
Speaker 1: marine life. They're one of the most diverse uh and
Speaker 1: concentrated communities of sea life in the entire ocean. These reefs,
Speaker 1: they're amazing. I mean, they're beautiful to look at and
Speaker 1: they're so important ecologically. So of course when these reefs
Speaker 1: are dying or being destroyed naturally, we're thinking, well, how
Speaker 1: are we going to solve this problem. So one thing
Speaker 1: they do is they you can use the rubble from
Speaker 1: dead or destroyed coral colonies to try to rebuild the area.
Speaker 1: So they set up they kind of gather up coral
Speaker 1: where it has been destroyed, kind of pushes it together
Speaker 1: to make a new basically a skeleton for a new reef.
Speaker 1: And even if they are able to start growing back
Speaker 1: this coral, they need to convince other marine life to
Speaker 1: come settle because these ecosystems are very very They're like
Speaker 1: a tapestry. They're all woven in together. These species have
Speaker 1: such a close knit relationship they can be highly dependent
Speaker 1: on each other. So you need to get the whole
Speaker 1: community back to really see these reefs thrive. So they
Speaker 1: need to entice new visitors to come and settle there.
Speaker 1: And the way they did that was they set up
Speaker 1: a bunch of underwater speakers and played the sounds of
Speaker 1: a health the coral reef community. Oh wow, that's like
Speaker 1: playing party sounds. And then you get there and it's
Speaker 1: a really lame party. It's like, wait a minute, this
Speaker 1: sounded like a rag er out there. You told me
Speaker 1: Kelly was coming. Yeah, she's coming later, She's coming later,
Speaker 1: she's coming. Wait but I heard her voice. Yeah, don't
Speaker 1: look into it. It's a phone call. That is that
Speaker 1: would be scary, Like you go to a house party.
Speaker 1: There's music that sounds of crowds. You go and then
Speaker 1: there's just a bunch of mannequins set up and like
Speaker 1: you'd be like wait, wait wait, I know. It really
Speaker 1: makes you have empathy for these animals that are like
Speaker 1: this isn't real. What is this? Yeah, And if you're wondering,
Speaker 1: like well, wait, what does a coral reef sound like,
Speaker 1: Because it doesn't seem like a thing that would make
Speaker 1: sound other than just like water flowing around. It's actually
Speaker 1: really alive with sounds, and so I'm gonna play you
Speaker 1: a little clip of what that sounds like. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: So all those little crackling sounds, that's that very pleasant
Speaker 1: sort of background noise. Those are often the sounds of
Speaker 1: snapping shrimp. You can see here damselfish calling various other
Speaker 1: fish making these these calls that they often do to
Speaker 1: attract mates or to communicate with their neighbors. So it's
Speaker 1: very much alive with the sounds of these fish and
Speaker 1: invertebrates and all of these animals that make a coral reef.
Speaker 1: The coral reef. Yeah, that was like very calming. I
Speaker 1: think I could listen to that for like sleep. Sounds
Speaker 1: like to fall asleep, I know. And it's makes me
Speaker 1: feel like I'm at rainforest cafe. Oral cafe. You just
Speaker 1: kind of have to go underwater and somehow drink your
Speaker 1: my taie or banana through a straw. Yeah, yeah, now
Speaker 1: I'm seeing I'm seeing the concept now. No, I agree,
Speaker 1: it's very very soothing, and I want there to be
Speaker 1: more recordings of these reefs. I think it's kind of difficult.
Speaker 1: You need a special underwater recording device in order to
Speaker 1: capture these sounds. You can't necessarily hear them very well
Speaker 1: with our human ears because our ears don't really work
Speaker 1: that well under water. We're used to our ears working
Speaker 1: by having air bounce around and then bounce inside of
Speaker 1: our ear drum, which signals a nerve that to the
Speaker 1: brain that basically reconstructs this sound for us. So underwater
Speaker 1: ears are pretty bad. So if you try to listen
Speaker 1: to a coral reef with our human ears, it's really
Speaker 1: you're not going to here much. But we can record it,
Speaker 1: and I hope we continue recording it because I think
Speaker 1: there's something when you hear that. It really for me,
Speaker 1: even though I know, like, yes, they're alive, they're full
Speaker 1: of life, it's like it really gives me that sense
Speaker 1: of like a bustling city, like it's an underwater city
Speaker 1: of animals and it's so it just makes it feel
Speaker 1: all the more important to protect it. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: take a quick break, but when we return, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about more weird and wild conservation efforts. This
Speaker 1: time with some birds that are maybe a little bit
Speaker 1: too affectionate. M so anah. Sometimes you just gotta put
Speaker 1: a seaman collecting helmet on if you care about endangered birds,
Speaker 1: you know how that is. Yeah? Oh god, I have
Speaker 1: that on my wall. I have a crossed it so sad.
Speaker 1: When I get stressed, I remind myself i'd just have
Speaker 1: to wear a bird semen helmet. I have that same
Speaker 1: cross stitch Etsy. Did you get it on? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love it. Got it for Christmas a few years ago. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a you know, live laugh put a semen collecting
Speaker 1: helmet on your head. Yeah, I have that one in
Speaker 1: the kitchen. It's such a it's such a trite home
Speaker 1: decre Yeah, but everyone has it because it's true. That's yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. I mean, you know, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's an age old age old saying as old as
Speaker 1: as old as time, tail as old as time, for sure.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the cocapo, which is also known as
Speaker 1: the owl parrot. It is a beautiful, green and fluffy
Speaker 1: ground dwelling parrot. I feel like it's a record. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about two ground dwelling birds in one episode. I
Speaker 1: don't know that there's an award, So it is unusual
Speaker 1: because I'm like, wait, the like ground dwelling bird is
Speaker 1: a thing I don't even know if I fully knew that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So to learn about two it's like, do they think
Speaker 1: they're mice? I mean the other one thought it was
Speaker 1: a prairie dog. I feel like if you ask this
Speaker 1: if it thinks it's a mouse, it's gonna be very offended. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the world's only flightless parrot and it is
Speaker 1: endemic to New Zealand. Wow it is. That's yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1: It is really cool, and it's actually kind of goofy.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful bird, but at the same time really
Speaker 1: goofy looking. It looks like some kind of bird muppet.
Speaker 1: It's absolutely adorable. It is. The reason it's probably flightless
Speaker 1: is because New Zealand is an island and it's the
Speaker 1: animals there. Typically on an island can basically evolve into
Speaker 1: these very specific niches. So if you don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of ground predators in your area, uh, and you're
Speaker 1: isolated from the rest of the world where ground terrestrial
Speaker 1: ground predator may be able to migrate over, you may
Speaker 1: develop these traits that are say like being flightless, like
Speaker 1: the Kiwi in New Zealand is also flightless. Of course,
Speaker 1: we also know about the dodo who was flightless, which
Speaker 1: lived in Mauritius. Unfortunately, we know about what happened to
Speaker 1: the dodo, and this almost happened to the cacopo uh
Speaker 1: so Unfortunately they are critically endangered due to the introduction
Speaker 1: of non native predators. This includes rats, cats, ferrets, and
Speaker 1: stoats who came to the island of New Zealand with
Speaker 1: British colonizers colonizers in the eighteen hundreds. So this they
Speaker 1: almost suffered the same fate of the dodo, with total
Speaker 1: and total extinction. So the dodo is the same story.
Speaker 1: Uh Dutch colonizers came over to Mauritius. They brought with
Speaker 1: them cats and rats and dogs, and those hunted the
Speaker 1: dodo along with humans to extinction. But in eighteen ninety
Speaker 1: conservation efforts began. I guess people, unlike with the dodo,
Speaker 1: people are like, maybe we should save this bird. I
Speaker 1: don't know, it's a coool bird that does feel early
Speaker 1: for conservation efforts, it does. I mean, we're almost to
Speaker 1: the twentieth century, which you know, I guess it is.
Speaker 1: It is interesting. I think like there there was Probably
Speaker 1: it was because we had seen some extinction events before
Speaker 1: where we were like, oh, we made this go extinct,
Speaker 1: We made the dodo go extinct. Aby, we should not
Speaker 1: keep doing that. It took us long enough, but it
Speaker 1: has been a real struggle to keep their numbers healthy.
Speaker 1: As of now, there's only around two hundred wild cocopos. Uh.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons they are so rare is that
Speaker 1: they only mate during very specific and short time periods,
Speaker 1: which corresponds to the ripening of a fruit called the remove,
Speaker 1: which happens only once every five years. This sounds like
Speaker 1: it sounds like something from a Doctor Seuss book, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. That's like the coco po only
Speaker 1: mates once every five years when the fruit of the
Speaker 1: remove plant ripens. It really does every five years, except
Speaker 1: somehow rhyming, but it's close. It's got the alliteration and
Speaker 1: it really does. And there's also a like a particulars
Speaker 1: to this that I kind of relate to, where it's like, no,
Speaker 1: I kind you need everything to be right, don't have sex,
Speaker 1: Like I really need the right music, need the right
Speaker 1: fruit at a specific point in its rights. So sorry, right,
Speaker 1: not tonight. I actually need sliced pears. It has to
Speaker 1: be ripe, and I also need some lemon hibiscus tea um,
Speaker 1: and it can only happen four months out of the year.
Speaker 1: That's basically what these these birds are doing. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like they're saying they're on their period. I have a headache. Sorry, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a headache. Well, the reason for this is
Speaker 1: that this is a major part of their diet, this fruit.
Speaker 1: It's highly nutritious, and having their chicks timed around the
Speaker 1: supply of this fruit ensures their chicks will have the
Speaker 1: best chance of good nutrition when they're young and the
Speaker 1: best chance of survival. And cocopos live up to one
Speaker 1: hundred years, so the rarity of their mating cycles is feasible.
Speaker 1: Mm hm. Can you imagine if you saw one of
Speaker 1: these cocopos when you were like ten, and then like
Speaker 1: at age eighty nine, you see the bird fly, knowing
Speaker 1: that it's the same bird you saw when you were ten.
Speaker 1: I mean, they are flightless, so it's more of um
Speaker 1: when they fly, it's more of a sort of hop
Speaker 1: and flap kind of situations, so they can see this
Speaker 1: bird hopping. So this mating strategy does technically work, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't make It does limit them when they face
Speaker 1: challenges to their populations, such as new predators. They have
Speaker 1: a LEC mating system. Elect is like a large area
Speaker 1: where males will come to gather. It's like an arena
Speaker 1: where they strut their stuff, and these males will make
Speaker 1: these booming calls to entice females to mate eight hours
Speaker 1: a day for over four months. These dudes are thirsty
Speaker 1: and can you blame them? No, hey, you only get
Speaker 1: it every five years years when you're trying to get it,
Speaker 1: it's probably real pent up. Yeah, yeah, I mean they
Speaker 1: built so they build their own resonance chambers. They dig
Speaker 1: these things called bowls that will help amplify their calls.
Speaker 1: And the sound of it sounds like air being blown
Speaker 1: over an empty beer bottle, which I gotta hand it
Speaker 1: to of them, it is an erotic call. Yeah, oh god, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that's erotic audio. That's like they have websites
Speaker 1: for that, you know, like those jug bands where you
Speaker 1: got like do do do do do do do do
Speaker 1: do do do do do do that's yeah, it turns
Speaker 1: beyond every time I get my right fruit and I
Speaker 1: get that jug music. You're only human, how can you
Speaker 1: not be so? Here here is an actual call of
Speaker 1: the coco po trying to desperately find a mate. Just
Speaker 1: a little flavor of that bird's beautiful, beautiful hooting sound.
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like a jug, it really does.
Speaker 1: It's crazy that comes out of a bird. I know,
Speaker 1: I thought I was listening to jug music. I wonder.
Speaker 1: I don't think this research has ever been done, but
Speaker 1: I wonder if you took an empty beer bottle or
Speaker 1: a jug, you set yourself up near these coco pos
Speaker 1: and blue on it. If you'd get a horny female
Speaker 1: come in your way, well you splatter a little bird
Speaker 1: poop on the walls, and you just might that plus
Speaker 1: the jug. It's all about the atmosphere. Mm hmmm h
Speaker 1: hint to birds and human and so alike. So now
Speaker 1: something about birds in general which applies to these coco pos.
Speaker 1: They will often imprint on their parents. So when they hatch,
Speaker 1: they see their parents and they're like, that's what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be when I grow up. If they hatch around
Speaker 1: humans or are raised by humans, they will often imprint
Speaker 1: on humans because they look at a human and they think, hey,
Speaker 1: that's an adult me. I'm a person. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's so cute, it's adorable. It's what cause I don't
Speaker 1: want one of these as a pet because it'll be
Speaker 1: with me forever. I'm gonna tell you before the bird,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you why you don't want this as
Speaker 1: a pet, Like, aside from ethical reasons, um in just
Speaker 1: a minute. But when birds imprint on people, that's like
Speaker 1: when if you've raised like baby baby ducks or geese
Speaker 1: and they follow you around like they're following their mommy,
Speaker 1: that's because they have imprinted on you. Now, here's the
Speaker 1: downside is when they that Okay, I'm a human, that
Speaker 1: must mean when I grow up I'm going to fall
Speaker 1: in love with a human and have babies with them.
Speaker 1: So they will imprint on you, and then every other
Speaker 1: human they see they will assume is an adult bird
Speaker 1: that they're supposed to mate with, and they're gonna try
Speaker 1: and probably fall in love. Uh so, oh my god,
Speaker 1: oh god, I just want to know what that looks like. Well,
Speaker 1: i'll tell you what that looks like. It looks like
Speaker 1: a bird humping people's heads. So wow, these poor birds
Speaker 1: are so romantic to their detriment. They're like, they're like
Speaker 1: rom com heroes, Like, I can really understand how hard
Speaker 1: it is to be this romantic. It's unrequited love, which
Speaker 1: is probably the most tragic of all. When a bird
Speaker 1: loves a human and the humans like, no, we mustn't
Speaker 1: and the bird is like, but my heart is crying
Speaker 1: out for God. And then he was like, stop humping
Speaker 1: my head, And the bird is like, what is it
Speaker 1: about me that I can't find love? This is the
Speaker 1: case for the most notorious cocopo in the world named Sirocco,
Speaker 1: who has attempted to mate with many conservationists heads, including
Speaker 1: famed zoologist Mark Carowin Dean on BBC's show Last Chance
Speaker 1: to See Uh, he tried to hump this guy's head
Speaker 1: on national television adorable and people fell in love with
Speaker 1: him for it, which I think is great. So his
Speaker 1: humping habits have made him a celebrity and he has
Speaker 1: become the official bird ambassador to Cocopo conservation and people
Speaker 1: freaking love this humping bird. So researchers hoped to actually
Speaker 1: work with Sirocco's lust for the good of conservation by
Speaker 1: inventing the birds seven collecting helmet. That's disgusting. I mean
Speaker 1: some you know, it's science. It's uh. Sometimes in science
Speaker 1: you gotta think outside the bun, and sometimes thinking outside
Speaker 1: the bun means letting a bird hump your head. That
Speaker 1: sounds like an idea that like that guy at the
Speaker 1: office made who always has really wacky ideas, And you're like, okay, Jack,
Speaker 1: not now, it's not we're not looking for that. It's
Speaker 1: not Friday at four pm. And then one day everyone
Speaker 1: like just got drunk enough and they're like, you know what,
Speaker 1: this guy's got some good ideas. Let's let's do this
Speaker 1: firm helmet and then you wake up the next morning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I gonna have Why do we have twenty sperm helmets?
Speaker 1: Jack's idea? I love those birds. Yeah. Jack is from Texas,
Speaker 1: sy He won't stop trying to fuck the bird, but
Speaker 1: they keep him on the payroll because you know he's
Speaker 1: a nice guy. Lets to start talking to him. Uh
Speaker 1: so uh. When worn by the researchers, the helmet was
Speaker 1: designed to collect the you know, bird semen that was
Speaker 1: produced during the humping session. That was thought that they
Speaker 1: could use this for research samples and for conservation purposes,
Speaker 1: potentially for fertilization purposes. Unfortunately, listen, Sirocco is a discriminating
Speaker 1: little gentleman. He's got high standards. You can't just slap
Speaker 1: on a bird semen collecting helmet and think that Sirocco
Speaker 1: is automatically going to be attracted to you, because he's not.
Speaker 1: He's actually not going to be attracted to that. He
Speaker 1: refuses to make love to people who are wearing these
Speaker 1: helmet because Sirocco is attracted to human heads without a
Speaker 1: weird bubble wrap covering. And thank you very much. So,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, it's true. I get he imprinted on
Speaker 1: a human, not on a sperm helmet. So he's like,
Speaker 1: I want to see that big beautiful head like and
Speaker 1: if you've seen the sperm helmet, which you can if
Speaker 1: you check out the show notes, I don't blame him.
Speaker 1: It's not a good look. No, it looks like it
Speaker 1: looks like someone wrapped their head in bubble wrap and
Speaker 1: is some kind of conspiracy theorist who thinks that bubble
Speaker 1: rap will stop the four geez And I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be attracted to that, you know, No, No, yeah,
Speaker 1: you do. I mean it's like, do I want to
Speaker 1: date someone who's constantly warning one of those conspiracy tinfoil caps. No,
Speaker 1: I'd feel self conscious. I'd be like, I don't want
Speaker 1: to be seen this person. Yeah, so I get it.
Speaker 1: Sirocco is like he's just discerning and discerning who he
Speaker 1: falls in love with. You know. Sure he gives hardaway
Speaker 1: a lot, Yes, but that doesn't mean he's just some
Speaker 1: machine who you can program to love anything. No. No,
Speaker 1: just because he's open with his love doesn't mean he
Speaker 1: doesn't have standards. God damn it. I do think that
Speaker 1: Sirocco the Bird is begging for a Pixar movie. How
Speaker 1: do we not have a movie based on this real
Speaker 1: life bird about a bird who like keeps falling in
Speaker 1: love with humans and giving his heart away. I want
Speaker 1: to hear how you would plan to make that kid friendly.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, maybe it's time to just blend
Speaker 1: that audience a little bit. And if kids have to
Speaker 1: find out that a bird being attracted to a human
Speaker 1: means it tries to hump its head, then so be it.
Speaker 1: They got to learn someday. Yeah, exactly, So, preventing birds
Speaker 1: from imprinting on humans is actually a big problem with
Speaker 1: bird conservation, and sometimes bird conservationists to have to get
Speaker 1: very creative and creepy because, like obviously if you are
Speaker 1: doing a captive breeding program, a problem is if they
Speaker 1: see it's a human raising them and feeding them, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be like, Hey, that's my mommy or that's my daddy,
Speaker 1: And someday when I grow up, I'm gonna be a
Speaker 1: big human just like them and fall in love like
Speaker 1: with a human just like them. That's a problem. So
Speaker 1: whooping cranes, I'm gonna keep saying it that way. Whooping
Speaker 1: whooping cranes are the tallest North American bird and are
Speaker 1: a beautiful white crane with red spots on their heads
Speaker 1: and black wingtips. Their breathtakingly gorgeous birds. And here is
Speaker 1: why they are called whooping cranes. Play a sound for you, okay, magnificent?
Speaker 1: Yeah that was that was beautiful. Sounded like a siren
Speaker 1: but kind of skyrin I could listen to for a while.
Speaker 1: The it's a siren when you call nine one one
Speaker 1: because someone stole your heart because those are mating calls. Wow, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, to each their own. It's a very open
Speaker 1: minded of you. So whopping cranes are still endangered, but
Speaker 1: at one point they almost reached extinction. There were only
Speaker 1: twenty one birds left in the wild, with only two
Speaker 1: in captivity. In they were like a bird sneeze away
Speaker 1: from complete extinction. And this is in contrast to an
Speaker 1: estimated population of over ten thousand cranes before European colonizers
Speaker 1: arrived in North America. So they were once a thriving
Speaker 1: population of birds, but after the destruction of their habitat
Speaker 1: and over hunting, they almost were completely wiped out. And
Speaker 1: so conservation efforts had to leap into high gear if
Speaker 1: these birds were to be saved. So there were captive
Speaker 1: breeding programs and relocation to protected areas, and that has
Speaker 1: actually allowed the population to rebound somewhat to about eight
Speaker 1: hundred birds. Um, it's still not enough, and it's it's concerning.
Speaker 1: This is one of the areas where you can see
Speaker 1: the direct impact of politics on conservation. Budget cuts during
Speaker 1: the Trump administration actually closed a major whooping crane captive
Speaker 1: breeding program, uh the Pawtucket Wildlife Research Center. I feel
Speaker 1: like I didn't pronounce that right path puppies. While I
Speaker 1: look up the pronunciation. Your dog is the cutest little
Speaker 1: dog I've ever seen. Honestly, she's really small, but she's cute.
Speaker 1: She's just a little weener. I've seen her on Twitter.
Speaker 1: She's just so cute. I love I love her coat color. Okay,
Speaker 1: back back to the show. Uh So this actually caused
Speaker 1: the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to close down. They had
Speaker 1: been operating for over fifty years and had a flock
Speaker 1: of seventy five birds, and so these birds had to
Speaker 1: be dispersed to other captive breeding programs and zoos and
Speaker 1: this is expected to be a major setback for conservation efforts.
Speaker 1: So unfortunately, Uh yeah, politics directly interact kind of have
Speaker 1: a huge impact on conservation. It really is. It really is. Um.
Speaker 1: But in terms of how this conservation works, like I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, they have to prevent these birds from imprinting
Speaker 1: on their human caretakers like Sarocco did, because otherwise they'd
Speaker 1: all become Sarocca and fall in love with humans. Um.
Speaker 1: And so the conservationists wore whooping crane costumes while rearing them.
Speaker 1: This is important not just to protect humans from getting
Speaker 1: pumped buy a bunch of birds, but to make sure
Speaker 1: the birds will actually be able to successfully reproduce in
Speaker 1: the wild. Now, these costumes are not as if someone
Speaker 1: did like a Broadway musical about whooping cranes. They're not
Speaker 1: these like cute, cute, kind of like Disneyland character costumes
Speaker 1: of a big cartoon whooping crane. They're really creepy. They
Speaker 1: look like people in some kind of weird crane religious cult.
Speaker 1: So the humans will wear these like white hazmat suits
Speaker 1: are white like almost cloaks and capes, and then or
Speaker 1: maybe beekeeper suits, and then they have a fake whooping
Speaker 1: crane head attached to their arm like a puppet, and
Speaker 1: they use this fake head to feed the cranes. So
Speaker 1: I shared a picture of it with you, and it
Speaker 1: really wild. This looks crazy. It's some kind of it,
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't it look like some kind of weird priest. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it looks like a cult. It looks looks like the
Speaker 1: followers of this cult dress up in these weird pope
Speaker 1: like cloaks with the weird masks and then walk around
Speaker 1: with their birdmuppet hand through like this tall grass. It's
Speaker 1: I feel like it's out of a movie. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: looks like it's a midsummer situation, but just with crane. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but look at those cute adolescent cranes when their adolescents.
Speaker 1: They actually have this beautiful like brown and white speckled coat.
Speaker 1: It's just they're so beautiful, such beautiful birds. Um. Yes,
Speaker 1: but yeah, when humans try to pretend to be the cranes,
Speaker 1: we can't quite pull it off, at least from my perspective.
Speaker 1: So it looks very creepy, but it works on the cranes.
Speaker 1: They will see this and see you know, they're looking
Speaker 1: for these general patterns that the heads are fairly realistic,
Speaker 1: these fake puppet heads, and so they will imprint on
Speaker 1: these and learn what an adult crane looks like. So um.
Speaker 1: They will also, uh, they use this fake head to
Speaker 1: take care of them, to feed them, so they form
Speaker 1: this attachment with these these puppets. And they will also
Speaker 1: teach the cranes how and where to migrate by having
Speaker 1: the costumed rescuers lead them in an ultralight aircraft. It's
Speaker 1: like almost like a hang glider but with an engine,
Speaker 1: and they will fly along the proper migratory route and
Speaker 1: these little uh, these these teenaged adolescent cranes will follow
Speaker 1: them and learn the migratory route like they would if
Speaker 1: they had a community of actual cranes in the wild. Wow,
Speaker 1: you know what that reminds me of. I surely you
Speaker 1: have talked about this on this podcast Flyaway Home. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so uh it is just like the movie Flyaway Home.
Speaker 1: And there's a good reason for that. Flyaway Home was
Speaker 1: based on a real story. They probably had that at
Speaker 1: the beginning where it's like based on a true store
Speaker 1: and it was. It was, and it was based on
Speaker 1: the very real work established by Bill Lishman and Joe
Speaker 1: Duff who figured out how to teach young Canada geese
Speaker 1: to follow human lead migratory patterns using those light aircrafts
Speaker 1: and their research. They helped adapt that research to be
Speaker 1: used for these cranes. Yes, it's all connected, Jeff Bridges, right,
Speaker 1: that's who it was was, So that sounds right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: wow he I mean in my mind that's who did
Speaker 1: all the Oh Jeff Daniels, Jeff Daniels, Jeff Daniels. I
Speaker 1: understand he was playing a real person, but it's Jeff Daniels.
Speaker 1: The birds. So Anna, what if I told you that
Speaker 1: you could be a hero by throwing vomit inducing amphibian
Speaker 1: sausages out of a helicopter. I think I would like that.
Speaker 1: The idea of vomit inducing sausages sounds like it will
Speaker 1: make me vomit. But yeah, well, you don't happy sausages,
Speaker 1: you have to throw them out a helicopter. They seem
Speaker 1: like they would smell. But throwing sausages out of a
Speaker 1: helicopter sounds extremely fun. It does, doesn't it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: want that to be my superpower, to be able to
Speaker 1: fly and shoot sausages. Yeah, I'm down for that, you know.
Speaker 1: I figured like every superpower has some kind of like downside,
Speaker 1: like if you're immortal, you outlive all your loved ones.
Speaker 1: If you're invincible, everyone's trying to fight you all the time,
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. But what possible downside
Speaker 1: could flying and shooting sausages have? Oh? I mean none?
Speaker 1: I think none. Just I guess jet fuel from the helicopter. No,
Speaker 1: I'm saying if I could fly, so like if you
Speaker 1: could fly. Literally none exactly. I mean, if we're gonna
Speaker 1: get down to the nitty gritty though, So these sausages
Speaker 1: are made of what, well, they're made of toads? Uh
Speaker 1: So let me explain. Yeah, because I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: these aren't just normal sausages. I'm going to need information
Speaker 1: on that part. Yeah, you want me to show you
Speaker 1: how the sausage is made, because you may not want
Speaker 1: to know how the sausage is made. I want to know,
Speaker 1: all right, you can't handle the truth, all right here
Speaker 1: it is. So first, let's start with a well established
Speaker 1: fact that invasive cane toads are huge jerks and they
Speaker 1: are destroying Australia. So cane toads fascinating toads. I don't
Speaker 1: actually hate the species, but because they are invasive in Australia,
Speaker 1: they are causing a lot of problems for the native
Speaker 1: species and they have been devastating to a lot of
Speaker 1: these species that are endemic to Australia. They're found only
Speaker 1: in Australia, so it's not the toad's fault strictly speaking. Originally,
Speaker 1: the cane toads were imported by a bunch of dumb
Speaker 1: humans trying to protect cane sugar fields from cane beetles.
Speaker 1: But the toads didn't eat the beetles because the beetles
Speaker 1: like to live high up on the cane stocks, so
Speaker 1: instead the cane toads spread out and devoured everything else
Speaker 1: in their path and poisoned any predators that tried to
Speaker 1: take them down because cane toads will seep a toxin
Speaker 1: from there from the glands in their skin, so no,
Speaker 1: there was no natural predator that could take them down,
Speaker 1: and they just kind of have been going across Australia
Speaker 1: and conquering. So once toads conquering is a really funny image,
Speaker 1: is like toad kings and stuff exactly it. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: have the references. These are toad conquerors and they're of
Speaker 1: course they're assholes. Yeah yeah. And one such victim of
Speaker 1: these toad a holes is the Northern qual They are
Speaker 1: a carnivorous marsupial of Northern Australia. They're adorable. They look
Speaker 1: like a large spotted mouse with reddish brown coats and
Speaker 1: white reverse Dalmatian spots, pink noses. They'll whiskers and a
Speaker 1: long fluffy tail and round ears. They're so cute. Seeing
Speaker 1: pictures like this, like seeing little rats makes me miss
Speaker 1: my dog, but I am holding her, so that's okay.
Speaker 1: But something about like rats and stuff makes me miss
Speaker 1: my dog. Well, your dog's a ween or dog. Um. Also,
Speaker 1: you're holding her right now. She's so cute. I you're
Speaker 1: you're kind of holding her like she's like she's a
Speaker 1: weapon though you're like yeah, like you could just shoot,
Speaker 1: shoot with the dog, shoot puppy kisses with the dog.
Speaker 1: I like to I'm sorry for this tangent, but I
Speaker 1: do like to weaponize my dog. I'll pick her up
Speaker 1: and just hold her up near someone's face and she
Speaker 1: starts kissing them, So you know, weaponized kissies. I mean,
Speaker 1: my dog is a weapon because her breath is the
Speaker 1: most disgusting spell I've ever experienced. Doesn't no matter what
Speaker 1: you do, she eat, her breath smells horrendous. It's a
Speaker 1: bio weapon. Yeah, so if she tries to kiss it's like,
Speaker 1: oh god, so yes, so adorable. They are very precious
Speaker 1: and they're endangered. So the coals are carnivores. They will
Speaker 1: eat small insects, mammals, reptiles, and hey, amphibians. So you
Speaker 1: think great, have them eat these toads. Not great, because
Speaker 1: again the toads are toxic. They are poisonous when eaten,
Speaker 1: and so these poor quols will try to eat the
Speaker 1: cane toad. Try to be our little heroes on the
Speaker 1: front lines against the toad invasion, but the toad will
Speaker 1: kill them often because they're so highly toxic. And coals
Speaker 1: might be able to learn to avoid the toxic toads
Speaker 1: if they would actually be able to survive the deadly
Speaker 1: buffo toxin that the toad secretes, But more often than not,
Speaker 1: they don't survive it, so there's no way for them
Speaker 1: to learn. They just die. It is sad. And actually
Speaker 1: the learning curve for predators to learn to avoid dangerous
Speaker 1: prey is where we get interesting evolutionary traits like APIs semitism.
Speaker 1: So that's when you have a brightly colored animal or
Speaker 1: plant that is toxic. So a butterfly might have these beautiful,
Speaker 1: vibrant colors, but it is warning predators, Hey, if you
Speaker 1: eat me, i'm gonna be yucky. So a bird may
Speaker 1: eat a toxic butterfly and then vomit. It's not gonna die,
Speaker 1: but then it learns, hey, next time I see one
Speaker 1: of these pretty bright blue butterflies, I'm not gonna eat it.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. It's almost like symbiotic relationship in terms
Speaker 1: of the poisonous animal being like, I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: kill you. I'm just trying to live, like we can
Speaker 1: do this. Just don't eat me and and we'll all
Speaker 1: be good. It is. It is actually symbiotic relationship, because
Speaker 1: any interaction between two animals where they have a close
Speaker 1: relationship is defined as symbiosis. So yeah, so conservationists are
Speaker 1: trying to step in and basically do an artificial way
Speaker 1: of teaching coals how to avoid the cane toad. Now,
Speaker 1: we can't take coals to qual school, even though that
Speaker 1: would be so cute, Like can you imagine coal school
Speaker 1: local school? Oh, if it would be so small, such
Speaker 1: a tiny little school, you know, they would have the
Speaker 1: burrowing owls would be their teachers. I'm going to take
Speaker 1: rule coal in the coal school. Yeah yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: a really cute image. It would all take place, um
Speaker 1: in little mini school houses. Yeah, you know I'd teach there.
Speaker 1: I'd teach for coal school. I Also, it's like, how
Speaker 1: do I teach these coals? I gotta get the coals
Speaker 1: to listen to me. I gotta how do I get
Speaker 1: through to these coals just like sit backwards in the chairs,
Speaker 1: like listen, quols. I know I'm not a qual and
Speaker 1: you guys are all cools. But look, I know what
Speaker 1: it's like. I know what it's like to be a
Speaker 1: carnivorous marsupial. I get it. I see every animal you
Speaker 1: have introduced to me. I'm like, this sounds like a
Speaker 1: Pixar movie. Quolls too, I mean something about the name.
Speaker 1: It just rolls off the tongue. They have these cute
Speaker 1: little spots which is made for kids movie. Yes, do
Speaker 1: you have a little coal going to cool school? Coal school? Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 1: Cool school to back in session? So uh again. Conservationists
Speaker 1: are trying to teach the quolls to avoid cane toads
Speaker 1: so they don't accidentally poison themselves. And so how do
Speaker 1: they do this? Well, naturally, they're gonna make toad sausages
Speaker 1: from cane toad legs. So they will make toad sausages. Now,
Speaker 1: you can eat parts of a cane toad. In fact,
Speaker 1: some predators will actually come clever and learn how to
Speaker 1: only eat the part of the cane toad that is
Speaker 1: not toxic. Unfortunately, the quals haven't done this, but researchers
Speaker 1: can take parts of the cane toad that are edible
Speaker 1: I mean strictly speaking, and make toad sausages out of
Speaker 1: them and then lace them with a chemical that doesn't
Speaker 1: kill the coal, but just makes them feel nauseous, makes
Speaker 1: them nauseated, So this will hopefully make the coals associate
Speaker 1: those nasty toad sausages that made their tummies upset and
Speaker 1: learn to avoid cane toads based on the smell. So basically,
Speaker 1: the process of making these sausages hilariously gross. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: I have a few photos in the show notes, nothing
Speaker 1: too graphic, just like some cane toads next to a
Speaker 1: cutting board where you can see they're about to do
Speaker 1: some creative culinary cuisine with these cane toads. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: the fact that they're made into sausage feels ridiculous. It's like,
Speaker 1: I understand, you have to mix everything together and because
Speaker 1: it's parts of the toad, you can't just serve it
Speaker 1: up straight. But the fact that they're like little hot
Speaker 1: dogs here you go to the lot dogs is very silly. Well,
Speaker 1: they need to first, they need to be able to
Speaker 1: lace it with the nausea inducing drug, otherwise the calls
Speaker 1: won't learn anything. They'll just be like, hey, free sausage, great,
Speaker 1: and it needs to survive being thrown from helicopters. So
Speaker 1: sausage can't all exactly, it can't just have a meatball.
Speaker 1: The meatball go like splattering everything. I get it. I
Speaker 1: get now, how do these sausages not still explode when
Speaker 1: they hit the ground. I don't know. True. They must
Speaker 1: have been like, this is right, it's a durable sausage.
Speaker 1: It's gotta be like a weapon's grade sausage. I like,
Speaker 1: if you bit into it, you'd be like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is a tough sausage. That's a spicy sausage. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: you'd be like, oh that's I can't get my teeth
Speaker 1: through this sausage. Somehow, somehow I crave more though, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But there's a photo of a very solemn looking man
Speaker 1: inspecting a rack of toad sausages that again is in
Speaker 1: the show notes because I do love this picture. He
Speaker 1: looks like he knows what he's doing. Is ridiculous toad
Speaker 1: sausage expert. I wonder if they like consulted sausage makers.
Speaker 1: Surely to get the technology to make sausages and the flavor,
Speaker 1: they've got to make them appealing until the cools start
Speaker 1: to throw up. So like he's got to eat it
Speaker 1: and they can smell like puke. It has to be
Speaker 1: like a yummy sauce. It's gotta be yummy, and it's
Speaker 1: got to have that signature cane toad smell, because then
Speaker 1: they'll learn to associate the smell of cane toade. I'm
Speaker 1: sure it's like a very you know Gordon Ramsey process
Speaker 1: of like it like this sauce just raw. I can
Speaker 1: hear the cane toad practically riveting. Yeah, I mean, what
Speaker 1: really makes it feel like it's an episode of Master
Speaker 1: Chef is this other picture you have of someone using
Speaker 1: their bare hands to rip up the toad on a
Speaker 1: cutting board of a knife, like, put on some gloves
Speaker 1: that you're not cooking in your own home. Put on
Speaker 1: some gloves, just chopp at him and crack and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you're yeah, like a crab. Yeah, like you're playing a crab. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that that one. Soon a spatch cock chicken. These
Speaker 1: are toad. It's rough. I bet that all smells disgusted. Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm sure does it's there's no way. These are some
Speaker 1: stinky sausages. So yeah, yes, they have a very strong smell.
Speaker 1: You are correct, and uh they it seems like this
Speaker 1: completely off the wall. Banana's Bonker's plan is actually working.
Speaker 1: So they they throw them out the helicopters and they
Speaker 1: are tracking these qualls seeing that the calls are taking
Speaker 1: the toad sausages, and the qualls that are taking the
Speaker 1: toad sausages do seem to avoid the cane toad bait
Speaker 1: that they'll leave out, so they'll leave out some like
Speaker 1: I'm assuming probably these cane toad baits have been rendered safe,
Speaker 1: like they're toxic glands have been removed, and then they'll
Speaker 1: see if the calls will ignore them or not. The
Speaker 1: ones that have been trained with the tainted sausages are
Speaker 1: much more likely to avoid the cane toe bait. And
Speaker 1: it's just it's a miracle of science, these sausages. It is,
Speaker 1: you know. I think the trend in all of these
Speaker 1: that I find so interesting is like how nitty gritty
Speaker 1: it is. It's like you can't just mass produce something.
Speaker 1: Someone's literally standing there with a cutting board chopping up
Speaker 1: the frogs making them sausages and then distributing that, or
Speaker 1: like dressing up as a whooping crane with a puppet
Speaker 1: hand and feeding them. It's so it's crazy how easily
Speaker 1: and quickly we, you know, bring these species to near extinction,
Speaker 1: and how painstaking it is to conserve them. A pound
Speaker 1: of prevention is worth an ounce of toad sausages? Is
Speaker 1: the age old a dodge? Do you have that crosstitch? Yes?
Speaker 1: I I also have that crosstitch from Metsy here in
Speaker 1: my office. Yes. I see. It says work, bitch work,
Speaker 1: and then it says uh that one. I see. We
Speaker 1: peruse the same Metsy stores exactly. Yes. Motivational quotes relating
Speaker 1: to conservation, Yeah, I mean, I think it is one
Speaker 1: of those interesting things where you think about someone who
Speaker 1: goes into conservation work or into evolutionary biology. Did they
Speaker 1: ever imagine they'd be dressing up as a crane or
Speaker 1: making toad sausage? I don't think so, I really don't.
Speaker 1: But there's something so sweet about that. It like it
Speaker 1: shows you really have to care because you are. It's
Speaker 1: like being a really good teacher where it's like you
Speaker 1: gotta get in there, you gotta sit down with that
Speaker 1: student one on one and be like, Okay, so I
Speaker 1: hear you like uh Digimon? So I printed out a
Speaker 1: bunch of Digimon cards. I'm assuming the year is is
Speaker 1: a hit show. I'd love to see you try to
Speaker 1: teach teach a classes zoomers and be like, you guys
Speaker 1: think of algebra is like POGs. You know POGs, you
Speaker 1: know bogs. They're like, what are you talking about? Is
Speaker 1: that an app? And I'm like, how do I reach
Speaker 1: these kids? How do I reach these coals, these qualls? Right?
Speaker 1: Because in this example, I am in cool school. If
Speaker 1: that was not clear, Yes, I love it, I love
Speaker 1: I love qual school. But I think we have We've
Speaker 1: done it. We've discovered all these amazing conservation stories that
Speaker 1: are both They are inspiring, they are wonderful, and they're
Speaker 1: also weird and full of sausage. So what what more?
Speaker 1: What more can you ask for? I think I, for
Speaker 1: one thing, I don't want to eat sausage anytime soon
Speaker 1: because I keep coming back to this picture of the
Speaker 1: chopped up toads right next to sausage, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, doctor ruined for me. I am a vegetarian,
Speaker 1: but like even my smart pups are ruined for me.
Speaker 1: But um, my life will never be the same now
Speaker 1: that I've seen how cute quolls are, and I'll have
Speaker 1: to start thinking about that Pixar movie. That's wonderful. I
Speaker 1: guess we were actually taught in the school. It turned
Speaker 1: out the quolls where the teachers the whole time. Anyways,
Speaker 1: moving on, before we go, we have something very important
Speaker 1: to do, and that is answering the question we posed
Speaker 1: last week, which was guests, who was squawking? Who was squawking?
Speaker 1: What's going on? It's the Mystery Animal Sound game do
Speaker 1: I don't know? Uh, some kind of game show music
Speaker 1: going on. We play this every week. We play a
Speaker 1: mystery animal sound noise and you the listener, and you
Speaker 1: the guests, try to guess who is squawking? Who's making
Speaker 1: that noise? And last week's hint was, damn, what a
Speaker 1: weird baby? Here is the sound? So Anna, who do
Speaker 1: you think is? Who do you think it's making that noise?
Speaker 1: It does sound like a baby. Um, I feel like
Speaker 1: it's I'm going to say, like a duck, A kind
Speaker 1: of a duck maybe, mm hmmm, kind of. I know
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, but I'm going I'm going bird at least,
Speaker 1: I mean, you're trying. You're you are incorrect, um, but
Speaker 1: you know you're not as far away from the truth
Speaker 1: as you may have thought. It is not a bird,
Speaker 1: but it is an aquatic animal. Um. And so a
Speaker 1: big congratulations to Michael m, Emily m and Aaron Kay
Speaker 1: who all correctly guessed a baby beaver. It's a baby beaver.
Speaker 1: That's insane to guess that. Those people who guess that
Speaker 1: are brilliant because that did. I. First of all, I
Speaker 1: never knew what a beaver sounded like, And to put
Speaker 1: those two together, I'm like, what, I don't even have
Speaker 1: beaver top of mind. Ever. Yes, I you know, even
Speaker 1: though I make this game, it doesn't mean I necessarily
Speaker 1: be that good at playing the game. So I feel
Speaker 1: like my listeners are actually probably better than I would
Speaker 1: be at this game. Uh, it's an adorable sound. It
Speaker 1: sounds kind of like a little baby being fussy. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: this is a happy baby beaver. Uh. It is eating
Speaker 1: a sweet potato slice at Second Chances Wildlife Rescue in Kentucky,
Speaker 1: and it is making happy eating noises. So beavers are
Speaker 1: social animals and will often eat together in these dining
Speaker 1: rooms that they build inside their beaver lodge. All the
Speaker 1: theme of this episode has to be a little restaurants
Speaker 1: and hotels that animals make. We're really getting a cute
Speaker 1: little world here. It's tiny things. I guess beavers aren't
Speaker 1: that small, but beaver dining room is cute and definitely
Speaker 1: wood panel. It is cute. Yeah, beavers aren't small, but
Speaker 1: they are cute with their big orange iron teeth. Um.
Speaker 1: It is possible that these little happy grunts are social
Speaker 1: cues for it's eating time, it's snack in time, and
Speaker 1: entices other beavers to come and join. I read one
Speaker 1: account where it seems like they would make these happy
Speaker 1: noises when they're sharing food with each other. So absolutely adorable,
Speaker 1: sweet little yummy sounds. I should start doing that when
Speaker 1: I'm having a dinner party. Yeah, you're just hosting and saying, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: how's Kevin's word coming along? Brochette is ready memium. So
Speaker 1: onto this week's mystery animal sound. This is another baby
Speaker 1: aquatic mammal with big teeth. Adorable, but you'd better pray
Speaker 1: mom is not around. Huh h h h h. So
Speaker 1: who do you think is squawking baby rhino? Interesting guests?
Speaker 1: Interesting guests? Well, the answer will be revealed in next
Speaker 1: week's episode of Creature Feature. And if you think you
Speaker 1: know the answer, right to me at Creature Feature pot
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. You can reach out to me
Speaker 1: on other social media. I gotta warn you, I am
Speaker 1: the best at seeing your responses when it's through emails,
Speaker 1: So if you want me to see your guests, most
Speaker 1: likely I will see it if you email me at
Speaker 1: Creature Future Pod at gmail dot com. But I am
Speaker 1: also on Twitter at Creature feat Pod that's f E
Speaker 1: T not ev et that is something very different, and
Speaker 1: at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram. UM but Anna, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining me today through this weird
Speaker 1: and wild journey through creative conservation. Where can people find you?
Speaker 1: You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Bad
Speaker 1: Comics with an X, Bad Comics by Anna, That's Anna
Speaker 1: with two ends. Um and I also make my comic
Speaker 1: on Instagram and I highly recommend the comic. I I
Speaker 1: love how she personifies emotions in her comments. They are wonderful.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. And if you're enjoying
Speaker 1: the show and you leave a rating and a review,
Speaker 1: I read all the reviews. I really appreciate it. All
Speaker 1: of your kind comments, even if you have some creative feedback,
Speaker 1: I would love to hear from you. And thanks to
Speaker 1: the Space Classics for their super awesome song Exo Lumina
Speaker 1: Creature features a production of I heart Radio. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or Hey, guess what? Why
Speaker 1: do you listen to your favorite shows? See you next Wednesday.