Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature feature production of I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology
Speaker 1: and evolutionary biology. And wait, what's that? Do you hear that?
Speaker 1: Oh my god? It's a bird eisode, an episode dedicated
Speaker 1: entirely to birds. Today we're talking thirsty birds. These avians
Speaker 1: are some regular Fabians. Wait, Fabian, I don't know, Babian,
Speaker 1: baby Fabian? What do you mean like Fabio, like the
Speaker 1: romance novel guy, Yes, it's I'm gonna change it to Fabio.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Fabian. These avians are some regular
Speaker 1: fabios ruling the ladies with spectacular displays of romance. Why
Speaker 1: do birds dance? Why do some birds do the moonwalk?
Speaker 1: What's the weirdest mating call? And can you walk on water?
Speaker 1: If you love someone? In to discover this more as
Speaker 1: we answer the angel question, which lucky single bird will
Speaker 1: my guests choose? On the mating game. So, birds are
Speaker 1: a unique class of animal. They're thirsty as heck. They
Speaker 1: go through intense, incredible, intricate mating rituals to impress their
Speaker 1: prospective partners. They will perform complex song and dance routines.
Speaker 1: On the name of catching some birdie's eye, and they'll
Speaker 1: where gaudy outfits of brilliant feathers, inflatable goldor pouches, and
Speaker 1: dangling wattles. So why do birds engage in such complicated
Speaker 1: courtship displays. The simple answer is that it's a test
Speaker 1: of fitness. Birds must invest a lot of time, effort,
Speaker 1: and energy into laying eggs, sitting on them, and feeding
Speaker 1: their chicks, so finding the fittest or most faithful partner
Speaker 1: is important. But this simple explanation becomes more muddied when
Speaker 1: you factor in some of the more complex effects of
Speaker 1: sexual selection. Sexual selection is process by which evolution shapes
Speaker 1: animals based on their ability to find an impressimate enough
Speaker 1: to pass on their genes. So what can happen with
Speaker 1: sexual selection is exaggerated runaway traits that may have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with actual physical fitness but purely appealed to
Speaker 1: the female bird's sense of beauty. Take, for instance, a long,
Speaker 1: fancy tail like those found on birds of Paradise or
Speaker 1: the Great Argus. These tales may have nothing to do
Speaker 1: with physical fitness and may in fact handicap the bird's
Speaker 1: ability to fly or maneuver but at some point females
Speaker 1: found this long, exaggerated tail attractive. Maybe a slightly longer
Speaker 1: tail originally indicated fitness, but females were so into it
Speaker 1: the tail got longer and longer and more extravagant. This
Speaker 1: is a theory put forth by the book The Evolution
Speaker 1: of Beauty by Richard Prum, which suggests that birds became
Speaker 1: so fancy because well, female birds thought it looked great
Speaker 1: and they were super into it. As we discuss bird
Speaker 1: courtship displays, it will become clear that many of these
Speaker 1: rituals go beyond simple utility and into pure bird high fashion.
Speaker 1: Joining me today to talk about these thirsty birds as
Speaker 1: comedian and bird lover, not like a bird who's a
Speaker 1: lover or a lover of a bird, but a human
Speaker 1: who appreciates birds. Can you yes, hello, I could be
Speaker 1: the other two types of bird lover as well. You
Speaker 1: will be eventually okay podcast, Yeah, I can't wait looking
Speaker 1: forward to it, Like do you love a bird? Issode?
Speaker 1: So thanks for bringing me I was. I knew I
Speaker 1: had to have you on because we talked about this
Speaker 1: and you were really excited about talking about bird dances
Speaker 1: and birds basically birds. They get crazy when they get
Speaker 1: into the mating rituals. They get a little funky, they
Speaker 1: go crazy, they go all out, they go all the
Speaker 1: bells and whistles. It's too many steps, a lot of them.
Speaker 1: I mean, I said this last time, but it's just
Speaker 1: too much work, right, It's very extra, yeah, extra. It's
Speaker 1: like a guy showing up on the first date with
Speaker 1: like uh one guy tried to hit on me once
Speaker 1: by doing magic tricks and he just like pulled out
Speaker 1: like a straight up magic kit from his pockets and
Speaker 1: it was like like bits of rope and cards and stuff.
Speaker 1: That is the closest you'll get to a bird mating exactly,
Speaker 1: somebody doing at least three magic tricks to repress you.
Speaker 1: It was at a dog park. What a what a
Speaker 1: place of romance. That's amazing that he just had his
Speaker 1: thing a magic tricks carries it around in his pockets.
Speaker 1: What a jam of a man. That's wonderful. So first
Speaker 1: I want to talk about one of the most complicated
Speaker 1: and spectacular mating rituals. Let's talk about some Greebes. Greebs
Speaker 1: you ever seen a gree before. Here's the thing. I
Speaker 1: think I've said this before. I um, look, at a
Speaker 1: lot of birds, but I don't learn what their names
Speaker 1: are where they're from. Well, so you don't, I mean,
Speaker 1: like I think that you just have to ask questions
Speaker 1: and like listen. So when they introduced themselves, to focus
Speaker 1: on their name, try to kind of associate it with
Speaker 1: something someone they're like, you know, I'm Frank and I'm
Speaker 1: from Florida, like Frank and Florida, and he's like a
Speaker 1: frigate bird and those are you know that that helps
Speaker 1: devices to agree. So grebes are a family of aquatic birds.
Speaker 1: They have many different species with a wide distribution, and
Speaker 1: I want to talk about one species of grebe in particular,
Speaker 1: the western grebe. So these grebes live in the lakes
Speaker 1: and marsh's in western North America and in north and
Speaker 1: central Mexico. So here's a here's a picture I've seen
Speaker 1: that I've seen that bird before. You've seen that bird,
Speaker 1: this one in particular, Yes, I've seen well, I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's that photo, but I've seen that bird
Speaker 1: on the multiple bird instagrams I follow. I've a yes,
Speaker 1: So it's it's an aquatic bird. It kind of looks
Speaker 1: like smaller swan or like a goose. But it's got
Speaker 1: this sharply pointed bill, and it's got a white underbelly,
Speaker 1: a black hooded head, and a black back and baliant,
Speaker 1: bright red eye. It really does. It looks like a
Speaker 1: strung out like rock. Yeah singer kind of kind of
Speaker 1: got like a buzz cut, like a military buzz cut
Speaker 1: on the top of its head too. You know, females
Speaker 1: actually look pretty similar. There are some slight differences. Males
Speaker 1: have longer, thicker bills, and when prenting themselves, this is
Speaker 1: males and females. All these birds. When prenting themselves, they
Speaker 1: will swallow their own feathers to pad the insides of
Speaker 1: their stomach to protect it from fishbones. I mean, I've
Speaker 1: got a fishbone cut in my throat and feathers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just empty like rip open a pillow and empty that
Speaker 1: out in your mouth. And I'll do that as soon
Speaker 1: as I get home. Give good advice on this show totally. So.
Speaker 1: They have one of the most beautiful involved mating dances
Speaker 1: of the bird world. It is a multi stepped ritual
Speaker 1: and process. I would expect nothing less. So let's let's
Speaker 1: start at the beginning. First, they will send out a loud,
Speaker 1: high pitched call this which is called advertising. It is
Speaker 1: I mean sex cells it does it does, doesn't it?
Speaker 1: Bird sex really sell, you know, just like a khloec
Speaker 1: does make the money. Okay, yeah, the kloe kloeca is
Speaker 1: the birdhole though kloecs make of the money once they
Speaker 1: have made these calls and they will pay off. Sometimes
Speaker 1: there's like an awkward third wheel which and they will
Speaker 1: try to compete to get the wood the female over
Speaker 1: to their side, but eventually they'll end up as a pair.
Speaker 1: And the first part of the ritual is the dip shake,
Speaker 1: the dip shake, and that's when they will mirror each
Speaker 1: other's actions and they'll sort of like dip their neck
Speaker 1: down and like dip dip their beaks and bills in
Speaker 1: the water, and it's sort of like a like a
Speaker 1: you know, like a sachronized wimming exactly two swans of
Speaker 1: a fossy style like the shake with the ship little
Speaker 1: shake and like jazzy exaggerated movements. Wonderful and the then
Speaker 1: once they do this for a while and they seem
Speaker 1: to be into each other, they will run across the
Speaker 1: surface of the water like a couple of regular Jesus Christs.
Speaker 1: Or like dash and the incredible remember running across the water.
Speaker 1: Let me show this to you, because this is I
Speaker 1: would love to see what that looks like. You have
Speaker 1: to see what it looks like. They're here. You see
Speaker 1: the dip shake where they're they've paired off and they're
Speaker 1: kind of dipping their heads and making these graceful, elegant movements,
Speaker 1: and then they will just take off. Oh wow, they're
Speaker 1: just yeah, they're just running on some tippy toes right
Speaker 1: across the water. Wow, this posture is certainly something. Yes,
Speaker 1: So they stick their heads up in the air and
Speaker 1: their wings backwards and they just tippy tap over the water.
Speaker 1: It looks like they look like it's like a freaking
Speaker 1: bird ballet. It's crazy. Wait, how far do they go?
Speaker 1: They can go a good, good distance. They just wow,
Speaker 1: this is amazing. Yeah, they can go like, um, is
Speaker 1: it the speed or their feet or like what is
Speaker 1: helping them not fall through the both? So they have
Speaker 1: these webbed feet and when they slap it again, like,
Speaker 1: have you ever just like open handed slapped water? I
Speaker 1: have done. You're really mad at the water, jerk water.
Speaker 1: You got some shoes there with the water. You know, Look,
Speaker 1: let's not get into it. But but you feel that
Speaker 1: resistance right because your your hand hasn't quite broken the
Speaker 1: water tension, the surface tension of the water, and so
Speaker 1: their feet are these little webbed feet, and so when
Speaker 1: they slap them against the water, they don't break through
Speaker 1: the surface tension right away. Now, if you do that
Speaker 1: fast enough and you've got enough velocity, you can actually
Speaker 1: run across the water. Me I can you know you're
Speaker 1: not a bird? Sorry, fine, but they can slap their
Speaker 1: feet up to twenty steps per second, which is pretty
Speaker 1: I mean, can you do that? Absolutely not, absolutely not
Speaker 1: without tripping and falling right into the water. You would
Speaker 1: not get a mate, I'm sorry. Yeah, but it is.
Speaker 1: It's a test of strength, fitness, and willingness. It's just
Speaker 1: really you're trying to impress the mate too, because it's
Speaker 1: a lot Like I said earlier, these these guys are
Speaker 1: going to have to spend a lot of time taking
Speaker 1: care of these eggs and then the chicks, and it's
Speaker 1: to see how far are you willing to go? Oh
Speaker 1: that makes sense. Yeah, And once they're done with this
Speaker 1: ostentatious display, they will dive headfirst into the water, kind
Speaker 1: of like they're exiting a water slide. And then if
Speaker 1: this all goes well, it's not done. The ritual is
Speaker 1: not complete. I didn't think so. Two steps not anything.
Speaker 1: If they're into each other, that comes to the next
Speaker 1: step of the courtship, which is the weed ceremony. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, what is that gonna bean? I'm gonna preempt
Speaker 1: all the jokes. Of course, birds do not smoke cannabis.
Speaker 1: So look, I know everyone was going, they're like, oh man,
Speaker 1: Katie's gonna make some sick weed jokes or twenty you know,
Speaker 1: you know, get getting roasted. That's not a weed term.
Speaker 1: Look roasted, getting blazed? There there it is getting toasty.
Speaker 1: Uh smoking the cotton. No, I think, what munchy for
Speaker 1: reef munching on those clouds. We shouldn't do this, No,
Speaker 1: we should stop. So what happens is they will hold
Speaker 1: a bunch of pond weeds in their bills, stare into
Speaker 1: each other's eyes, and weave their heads back and forth
Speaker 1: and circle each other. You have to see this, Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this more fossy. It looks like it sounds
Speaker 1: like more of a you know, it's it's it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to describe it. It's they just
Speaker 1: have they have bills full of weeds and they just
Speaker 1: like now this, I have questions about what does this
Speaker 1: show off? Um, they're literally just holding a bunch of
Speaker 1: weeds in their mouth, he sort of shaking their head
Speaker 1: left and right like they're saying nothings. Here's Here's the
Speaker 1: thing is, I don't know my I'm gonna guess what
Speaker 1: this could mean. And I feel like one thing birds do,
Speaker 1: and one thing that these birds do in particular is
Speaker 1: when they're nesting. So if the female is sitting on
Speaker 1: the eggs, the male will go out and get the
Speaker 1: female food. But then they'll switch off, so then the
Speaker 1: male will sit on the nest and the female will
Speaker 1: go out and get food for both the male and
Speaker 1: the chicks once they've hatched, or the female and the chicks.
Speaker 1: It's basically, you know, they're trading off these responsibilities. How
Speaker 1: good and equal I should all learn. And they'll also
Speaker 1: like carry the chicks on their backs and when when
Speaker 1: they're out on the water. So I think that this
Speaker 1: could be sort of like I'm not even sure. It's
Speaker 1: like offering each other these things, showing like I will
Speaker 1: give you things now, like it's almost like symbolic, maybe
Speaker 1: like this this pond weeds. It's not actual. It's not actual,
Speaker 1: So it's almost like presenting someone a bouquet like these
Speaker 1: are flowers. I'm not going to eat the flowers, but
Speaker 1: they look cool, I guess, and thank you. That's pretty funny.
Speaker 1: I do think we could delete that step. Just just
Speaker 1: take like like a piece of bread and put it
Speaker 1: in the person's mouth and like I will provide. That's enough, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I gotta edit some of these bird mating rituals. I'll
Speaker 1: delete whatever is too long. Well, now I want to
Speaker 1: move on to another bird dance, which is perhaps not
Speaker 1: as multi stepped, but it is certainly as impressive. So
Speaker 1: this is the red capped mannequin. And we're actually going
Speaker 1: to talk about a few mannequin bird species because they
Speaker 1: are extra extra. Can't wait. So this is a little
Speaker 1: bird that lives in the human forests in South America.
Speaker 1: The females look pretty normal. They're kind of a olive brown,
Speaker 1: greenish brown. They look a bit like a wren, sort
Speaker 1: of a normal, normal looking bird. Nothing to write home
Speaker 1: about you, and nothing to write right to your your parents.
Speaker 1: Just like I saw a bird. It was brown and small. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do that, they'd say, Okay, so freaking what,
Speaker 1: don't contact me again that your parents say, you know,
Speaker 1: they they're they're nice that they want to hear about
Speaker 1: all the birds I've seen. I hope nothing last for you.
Speaker 1: But the males are spectacular. They have a brilliant red head,
Speaker 1: a black body, and bright yellow pants, which they're not,
Speaker 1: you know, their feathery legs, but they look like little pants. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let me show you. Let me see these pants. They're spectacular.
Speaker 1: Look at that guy. Wow, yes it is. It's like pants.
Speaker 1: They're like Shakespearean pantaloons. Yeah, yeo, like little little little tights.
Speaker 1: It's amazing. Now, this is a good bird eyeball. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love a dope birdie eyeball. Yeah, it's got it's
Speaker 1: got these bright yellow eyes as well, so you know
Speaker 1: it is. It's a very I don't know, it looks
Speaker 1: he he looks like a backup dancer in like an
Speaker 1: eighties music video. Oh totally. Those yellow pants are like
Speaker 1: emmer pants exactly exactly. So they also have the moves
Speaker 1: to back up their flamboyant outfit. They will pick out
Speaker 1: a branch to be his courtship display area and they
Speaker 1: will get the female's attention by snapping their wings and
Speaker 1: making buzzy buzzing sounds like little firecrackers. And then comes
Speaker 1: the dance and what I how I could describe this
Speaker 1: and is like a extremely rapid moonwalk. Like, uh, I
Speaker 1: think I've seen this. I think I've seen this bird
Speaker 1: in a video where someone edited Michael Jackson. This is yes,
Speaker 1: absolutely this is that bird. So let me show you again,
Speaker 1: just to refresh your memory. Please, also because I want
Speaker 1: to see it again personally. Just like shimmies across them
Speaker 1: incredible shimmying. It's just amazing. It's the best shimmying I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. I don't even know how he moves like that.
Speaker 1: It's like it's um you know those things in the
Speaker 1: airport where you just like a walkway that moves fast
Speaker 1: like the magic carpet. Yes, yes, it looks like he's
Speaker 1: just standing and he's kind of stick in his butt
Speaker 1: in the air. He's showing off those yellow pants. He's
Speaker 1: flapping his wings. It's this whole spectacle. It's it's very
Speaker 1: it is very Michael Jackson in the spectacle nature of it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so it is basically he is just hopping
Speaker 1: his little feet up and down extremely quickly, and he
Speaker 1: almost like like if you've ever like had like you
Speaker 1: know those things that you get a restaurant and they vibrate,
Speaker 1: it's like come gye and it's on the table. It's
Speaker 1: just like kind of like a like spera um. I
Speaker 1: could have made a more dirty version of that, but
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna. It's okay, you just said that now.
Speaker 1: So if his moves are good enough, then he can
Speaker 1: mate with a female. But if he's got to really
Speaker 1: really put on a great show for her, dam And
Speaker 1: you got to pick a good little twig branch right
Speaker 1: with no bumps so you can do your right. And
Speaker 1: I gotta lay down some stage tapes so you know
Speaker 1: where the start position is. Yeah, you know you've got
Speaker 1: to think about lighting the magic hour, right, Yeah, geez,
Speaker 1: it's a lot to think about for a little bird.
Speaker 1: It's tough. Well, here's another species of mannequin, and these
Speaker 1: ones actually resort to a wingman, a backup dancer wing man.
Speaker 1: So this is the male lance tailed mannequin, and they
Speaker 1: are found in tropical regions of Introl in South America.
Speaker 1: They're small birds, again pretty similar looking to the other
Speaker 1: the red capped mannequin but um and the females look
Speaker 1: almost exactly the same as the red capped mannequin females,
Speaker 1: but the males are quite different. So they're mostly jet
Speaker 1: black with highlights of a bright red cap of feathers
Speaker 1: on their head like a little baseball hat. Looks like
Speaker 1: a beret to me, Yeah, like a beret. That's a good,
Speaker 1: good point. And they have a brilliant blue cape of
Speaker 1: feathers across their backs. It's just like a bird. Oh yes,
Speaker 1: you want to see my moves west, I'm wet and
Speaker 1: a blue cape. You will be umpressed by my move
Speaker 1: watch me. So unlike most birds, they will actually have
Speaker 1: a wingman and they hear it, we got it? Did
Speaker 1: you get it? Do you get it? The joke is
Speaker 1: birds aren't men nice, alright, So the mannequins will engage
Speaker 1: in cooperative courtship where they will help each other out
Speaker 1: to woo the ladies. So the males will dance together
Speaker 1: in a sort of leap frog pattern and flapping their
Speaker 1: wings as one jumps up and hops over the other,
Speaker 1: and they're singing and flapping and clacking the whole time.
Speaker 1: These feeds of acrobatics. You alexis you see my butt?
Speaker 1: Now my butt is upside down, but now it's my
Speaker 1: but now it's teebut. It's mesmerizing perfect. Why would so?
Speaker 1: So there's usually an alpha male that gets to then
Speaker 1: mate with a female and the other one is truly
Speaker 1: just the wingman, So why would they do this? And
Speaker 1: these these are unrelated birds. They aren't like siblings or
Speaker 1: something that are kind of working together. So this relationship
Speaker 1: of the alpha and beta, like the main dancer in
Speaker 1: the backup dancer, can last for years and the alpha
Speaker 1: gets to mate with a female, and what the beta
Speaker 1: gets out of it is actually he will be more
Speaker 1: likely to survive and then eventually become an alpha later on.
Speaker 1: So everyone starts as a little bait. Everyone, everyone starts
Speaker 1: at the bottom. This is how dance companies work. You
Speaker 1: gotta pay your dues. You gotta have like twenty unpaid
Speaker 1: internships before you can afford your rent. That's right, that's well,
Speaker 1: you made a Saturday. So they also work together to
Speaker 1: defend their territories, so that that is also an explanation
Speaker 1: why these the beta males get something out of it
Speaker 1: where it's like, you know, once the alpha like moves
Speaker 1: on or once they've they've done, done their deeds and
Speaker 1: learned from the alpha, then they kind of have a
Speaker 1: nice because she set up there. Yeah, but even more
Speaker 1: impressive is the blue mannequin, which forms full on boy
Speaker 1: bands for the ladies. Oh I'm not even how many
Speaker 1: boys were talking. We're talking up to six boys, maybe
Speaker 1: even more boys. Look a lot of boys is the point.
Speaker 1: So it's like bts, Oh yeah, oh this is These
Speaker 1: are the K pop birds for sure, totally. There's the
Speaker 1: sensitive one. There's like sort of the goofy one. So
Speaker 1: here they are the first they kind of practice and
Speaker 1: actually they're practicing in front of not a female but
Speaker 1: a juvenile male which is not grown in it's And
Speaker 1: this one is so funny, like the the alpha one
Speaker 1: is yelling at the other ones trying to get them
Speaker 1: in line. Wait practice this. So now here's the real
Speaker 1: show and they here's all his his three backup dancers,
Speaker 1: and they are they do that same leap frog pattern
Speaker 1: where they more birds with a whole with a whole band,
Speaker 1: a whole boy band. These boys go and she's checking
Speaker 1: them out. And what's really funny, so it looks like
Speaker 1: a bird carousel. They're they're flying up there, scooting along
Speaker 1: the branch and then flying up and scooting it like
Speaker 1: a conveyor belt of these dancing birds. And the more birds,
Speaker 1: you know, like the more of this spectacle, the more
Speaker 1: impressed this female is. But she will ultimately only mate
Speaker 1: with the alpha. And like before we talked about like
Speaker 1: these betas do get an advantage in terms of like
Speaker 1: someday they may be the ones. But this is a
Speaker 1: trip because like once the male then we'll break off
Speaker 1: and do sort of a solo dance to finally seal
Speaker 1: the deal. But look at these his backup dancers are
Speaker 1: looking with absolute wrapped attention to see if he gets
Speaker 1: to mate with the female. Their bros to get it.
Speaker 1: They just watch as they mate there and they're they're
Speaker 1: just completely wrapped. It's so so funny. But that, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a wingman, right, Like how like opens the bedroom
Speaker 1: door for you and like watches and gives you guys
Speaker 1: a thumbs up, and it's like yeah, man, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Snow Ball is a very special cockatoo who became an
Speaker 1: Internet sensation and taught evolutionary biologists a thing or two
Speaker 1: about dance. Snowball showed an understanding of rhythm. His owners
Speaker 1: observed him bobbing his head in time to the Backstreet
Speaker 1: Boys song Everybody Back Streets Back, also demonstrating that birds
Speaker 1: can have really good taste in music. Videos were uploaded
Speaker 1: of Snowball's dance routines to YouTube, which not only caught
Speaker 1: the eyes of swooning fans, but of neuroscientists at the
Speaker 1: Neuroscience Institute of Lahoya, California. Dr Anne Rhode Patel invited
Speaker 1: Snowball into his lab and played some of Snowball's favorite music.
Speaker 1: The researchers found that Snowball was able to adjust his
Speaker 1: dance movements to the tempo of the music, something previously
Speaker 1: thought to be a uniquely human characteristic. Could this mean
Speaker 1: that our ability and love of dance and music may
Speaker 1: go further back in our evolutionary history than previously thought.
Speaker 1: While we're not descended from birds, obviously, finding this ability
Speaker 1: and a completely different animal seems to indicate that dance
Speaker 1: moves are not unique to humans. Recent research suggests that
Speaker 1: bonobos and chimpanzees also have an ability to appreciate rhythm,
Speaker 1: though they aren't quite as adept as snowballed the cockatoo,
Speaker 1: and a video of a sea lion at you see
Speaker 1: Santa Cruz shows her bowsing her head to boogie Wonderland.
Speaker 1: So maybe dance is even more of a universal language
Speaker 1: than we thought. When we return, we're going to listen
Speaker 1: to some bird songs. You can really well, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if you can dance to them, but they do
Speaker 1: slap sometimes literally. Birds are song machines. Traditionally, songbirds use
Speaker 1: their syrinx to produce complex calls and songs. That syrinx,
Speaker 1: unlike the larynx found in humans and other mammals, is
Speaker 1: located where the trachea forks off into the bronchial tubes
Speaker 1: of the lungs, so birds can actually vibrate two sides
Speaker 1: of their searings at once, producing simultaneous notes or even
Speaker 1: two different independently controlled notes at once. They use these
Speaker 1: songs to communicate territory or to attract females for mating,
Speaker 1: and in general it is the males who sing, whereas
Speaker 1: females have simple, more practical calls. But in the tropics
Speaker 1: many female birds also sing, and sometimes pairs of birds
Speaker 1: will engage in duetting, where they sing together to see
Speaker 1: if they're a match or to strengthen their pair bond.
Speaker 1: Some birds have an incredibly complex repertoire of songs, like
Speaker 1: the brown thrasher, who has a discography of over two
Speaker 1: thousand songs. Other birds may rely on just one simple
Speaker 1: but incredibly unique call, as will now discuss. So, Kimma,
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you. This bird does not
Speaker 1: have a huge repertoire, does have really complex song, but
Speaker 1: it has one of my favorite bird calls, of a wonder.
Speaker 1: It's a one hit wonder, top of the charts forever.
Speaker 1: So this is the black bellied bustard and it is
Speaker 1: a ground dwelling bird that lives in the grasslands and
Speaker 1: woodlands of sub Saharan Africa. It's about two ft long.
Speaker 1: It's got a long neck and pointed beak and long legs.
Speaker 1: They're kind of a tan buff color. The males have
Speaker 1: a black belly lined in white streaks. Well, how would
Speaker 1: you describe this bird. It's sort of like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: this is wrong because it's a whole different family of birds,
Speaker 1: but it's like pheasants that I think that's that's appropriate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's kind kind of it's a lot more simple.
Speaker 1: It's it's more like brown colored, a little sleeker, longer neck,
Speaker 1: not as many dude outs coming off of it. Legs,
Speaker 1: but legs though, But those legs though, good legs. And
Speaker 1: they are omnivores. They base sickly eat whatever they can
Speaker 1: get in their mouths, so seeds, nuts, berries, small mammals, snakes, lizards, bugs,
Speaker 1: anything your hands. So the males will try to win
Speaker 1: over females with a very interesting mating call. It kind
Speaker 1: of sounds like a wheezy whistle and then like a
Speaker 1: champagne bottle being on court. So let me, let me
Speaker 1: have you listened to this? What? And that's that's their
Speaker 1: only that's the only mating call. That's the only thing
Speaker 1: they do. It sounds like, you know, the tricker you
Speaker 1: put like your thumb in your mouth and then can
Speaker 1: you do that? I can't do and let me try.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna Yeah, it's more of a pop. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm some people. Oh it's the one where you like, um,
Speaker 1: tap your cheek. Yeah, and it sounds like a little
Speaker 1: drop of water. We can't do it as good as
Speaker 1: this bird man. Yeah, I'm not going to attract any
Speaker 1: female black bellies with that garbage. In a way, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it sounds like like a champagne bottle being and corked
Speaker 1: and like there are some accounts of these biologists saying
Speaker 1: like they were like like in these woodlands and just
Speaker 1: like heard they thought it was a champagne bottle, and
Speaker 1: it's just like what what is that? Does the reverse happen?
Speaker 1: Those biologists just out there partyne and a bunch of
Speaker 1: female a bunch of horny birds come over. We're ready.
Speaker 1: I mean it works on me, to be honest, get it,
Speaker 1: get it, I get it. So let's look at another
Speaker 1: pretty spectacular bird mating calls. So this is the club
Speaker 1: winged mannequin. Now I love this bird because again it's
Speaker 1: another mannequin and these are just crazy birds that go
Speaker 1: all out with mating. And this one is a great
Speaker 1: example of that evolution of beauty idea because their evolutionary
Speaker 1: traits for their bird call have kind of hampered them,
Speaker 1: kind of been a handicap for them, but it's really
Speaker 1: effective for mating. So let me know this to you
Speaker 1: just pooped, I did see that? Kind of describe what
Speaker 1: you're seeing there? Okay, Well it looks so it dips
Speaker 1: its head down, it sticks its butt up and then
Speaker 1: it looks like it's like you blew into a whistle,
Speaker 1: like this whole bird turns into a whistle and it
Speaker 1: makes like the sound, and then it's but comes up
Speaker 1: in the air and its wings sort of fan out.
Speaker 1: And what if I told you it's not using its
Speaker 1: styris at all to make this. Yeah, I knew it.
Speaker 1: It's coming out of its butt, isn't it. Come on,
Speaker 1: it's actually coming out of its wings. So this is
Speaker 1: the club winged mannequin. And they like to beat, pop
Speaker 1: and lock it basically, and that little like little like
Speaker 1: pepper ye, that is the sound of their wings vibrating.
Speaker 1: So they're found in the cloud forest of the Andes
Speaker 1: Mountains of Columbian, Ecuador. Uh. They use their wings in
Speaker 1: a way very similar to how crickets rub their wings together. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So their wings have these if modified feathers that will
Speaker 1: produce sounds when smacking against each other when the bird
Speaker 1: shakes them, so like kind of like a bunch of castanets,
Speaker 1: I guess. And so they have evolved these solid wingbones
Speaker 1: like as you know, like a lot of wingbones are
Speaker 1: actually kind of hollow, which allows better flight, but they
Speaker 1: have to be solid otherwise they would just snap these
Speaker 1: wings in half when they're when they're vibrating them and
Speaker 1: when they're doing this like wing beatboxing, and it can
Speaker 1: shake its wings over a hundred times a second, creating
Speaker 1: complex sounds. And this makes their wings less efficient for flying,
Speaker 1: but great at buzzing. Fly. Yeah they can, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's they're they're more clumsy flying, which seems like that
Speaker 1: would be bad for their overall fitness. But the ladies
Speaker 1: love it. The ladies love a man who can't fly
Speaker 1: very good. It's kind of like, I mean, like, I
Speaker 1: feel like this happens in human culture a lot, but
Speaker 1: the inverse where women do stuff like we have to
Speaker 1: wear high heels or do these like you know, this
Speaker 1: crazy stuff to like look attractive, but then we can't walk.
Speaker 1: That's true. Then this is this bird. This is this bird,
Speaker 1: and you know, I feel like it's just not it's
Speaker 1: these standards, you know, having solid bones in your wings.
Speaker 1: Come on, dang the media female gaze man. Yeah exactly. Uh.
Speaker 1: And now I want to talk about another bird. This
Speaker 1: is called the capuchin bird, sort of like the capuchin monkey. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: named after the same group of monks, and you will
Speaker 1: find out. Why once you take a look at these guys,
Speaker 1: let me get you. I'm looking at a picture. This
Speaker 1: is a funny looking bird. Yeah. So it's about the
Speaker 1: size of a small crow. And while it's not closely
Speaker 1: related to crows and it's not a corvid, it kind
Speaker 1: of looks like, say you gave a crow a big,
Speaker 1: fluffy brown body, and then it just has a bald
Speaker 1: forehead and beak. It's got that crow face. And then yeah,
Speaker 1: it just looks like it's wearing some like very fuzzy
Speaker 1: brown jacket exactly with a hood up or something like
Speaker 1: a big fuzzy brown parker. I think they're named after
Speaker 1: the compuchins because it looks like a hood It's like
Speaker 1: a brown hooded monks robe. Look like the spy versus
Speaker 1: spy guys. Yeah, the face does. Yeah. So they're found
Speaker 1: in the humid forests in South America, and males and
Speaker 1: females look basically the same. I mean, look they look
Speaker 1: how they look, you know, that's them. That's them. They
Speaker 1: aren't really going to impress you with their beauty. So
Speaker 1: males will gather in lex high in the forest canopy. Now,
Speaker 1: so a leck is like a big group a big
Speaker 1: area where male birds will come to display for females.
Speaker 1: So it's like a stage, like a stage where a
Speaker 1: bunch of or like a runway. They're all just like,
Speaker 1: here's my stuff for their looks, uh, elect for their
Speaker 1: love it. I love that good, nice, nicely done. So
Speaker 1: they rather than try to impress the females with their beauty,
Speaker 1: which is non existent. Now there. I love these birds.
Speaker 1: They're fun looking. They're kind of fun, which is weird, right, No, No,
Speaker 1: I love them. I'm into him. But they their main
Speaker 1: thing is they're a very interesting call. And when I
Speaker 1: say interesting, it's not not quite like like this isn't
Speaker 1: this isn't like amazing singing. This isn't like Lizzo, but
Speaker 1: they are. They are singing their truth. So it's like
Speaker 1: me singing yes, yes, I'm there with you. So here
Speaker 1: it is very flat, a little bit well we'll flat,
Speaker 1: little pitchy. Yeah, okay, get it. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: a little turned on by that. Wow, you love a
Speaker 1: solemn lat pitchy. I love a sort of growling buzz
Speaker 1: moan thing going on, you know. Yeah. So what's cool
Speaker 1: about these guys is that they have these big air
Speaker 1: sacks on their throats that will inflate and they will
Speaker 1: act as these resonance chambers that allow them to be
Speaker 1: heard over great distances. So when they when they do
Speaker 1: sort of these these very odd sounding booty calls, you
Speaker 1: can hear it all the way across from the other
Speaker 1: side of the forest canopy. Damn, I got some good
Speaker 1: receptions four bars. But you can actually so these the
Speaker 1: skin on these air sax is kind of thin, so
Speaker 1: when they inflate it their feathers, but you can like
Speaker 1: see the light beaming through their throats kind of glowing.
Speaker 1: It's incredible. Yeah, and that I'm into these birds. I
Speaker 1: love these like uh and I do also like that
Speaker 1: they kind of look like compuchin monks and they also
Speaker 1: like their their chants are these sort of like these
Speaker 1: Grigorian cancel of like, man, it's very mystical. I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm in a fantasy world where these birds are
Speaker 1: going to take me on some kind of spiritual journey.
Speaker 1: You can become the queen of the capuchin bird or
Speaker 1: like you know, the Dark Crystal universe. These are like
Speaker 1: all these birds are. These are for sure. It's sort
Speaker 1: of like not like the you have the rou and
Speaker 1: the skex is, but these are like the euro sketx
Speaker 1: where it's like they have both that the sort of
Speaker 1: mystics and that weird bird face going on. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: And so now here's maybe the goofy ist call in
Speaker 1: the bird kingdom. This is the willow grouse or also
Speaker 1: called the willow ptarmigan, and it's a small grouse, which
Speaker 1: is a ground dwelling bird. Kind of like they they're
Speaker 1: they're sort of look a little bit like, um, it
Speaker 1: looks like a chicken to me if I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the same Yeah, like a sort of sort of chicken shaped.
Speaker 1: But they're but they're they've got kind of a marbled
Speaker 1: reddish brown coloration. Females have a more subdued brown and
Speaker 1: also males have these eye waddles, so these fleshy extensions
Speaker 1: off the top of the eye that become red and
Speaker 1: engorged during mating seasons, so it looks like super awesome eyeshadow.
Speaker 1: But the best part of these birds is absolutely their
Speaker 1: mating calls. So let me okay, I'm so excited. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, do it again? What? Oh I don't know,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. They sound like crazy frog at ringtone, Yeah,
Speaker 1: or like what was like the the coundar can or
Speaker 1: just do it over? I can't do it. I can't
Speaker 1: do it. Let's hear it one more time, okay, because
Speaker 1: this is just so good. It's it's so it's goofy.
Speaker 1: I can't too much. I don't know. I can't do it.
Speaker 1: Good for them that it's so good, so that that
Speaker 1: wins the goofiest. But they're they're the females are into it.
Speaker 1: They love it. I love it. I love it too.
Speaker 1: I picked this one. This is good. This isn't the
Speaker 1: mating game. Sorry, I'm sorry. Keep your feathers on all right. Sorry.
Speaker 1: So the loudest bird on earth is no full volume
Speaker 1: into our earphones. So I want to talk about the
Speaker 1: male white bell bird. And they scream at females at
Speaker 1: scream I'm this is not a joke. They scream at
Speaker 1: females at rock concert levels. And so these birds live
Speaker 1: in the Amazon rainforest. It's actually in the same family
Speaker 1: of birds as the compuchan bird, but they look wildly different.
Speaker 1: So it's a thing on their nose. Yeah, so that's
Speaker 1: a wattle. So first, let me tell people what you're
Speaker 1: looking at. It's no, that's cool. I just love that
Speaker 1: that the introduction of this bird is what the hell
Speaker 1: of the what is going on with this bird? So
Speaker 1: they're about the size and shape of a crow, maybe
Speaker 1: a little smaller, but the females are brownish, all of color,
Speaker 1: and the males are snow white. They have these big
Speaker 1: gray mouths and a long gray wattle and that's what
Speaker 1: you're seeing, that fleshy protuberans, sort of like the wattle
Speaker 1: on a turkey, but that dangles off the side of
Speaker 1: his beak and it's nearly the length of his entire body.
Speaker 1: That's why I was very excited. It's a big old
Speaker 1: flesh tassel. I mean, that's its purpose is to excite
Speaker 1: the female, so it's got you already. But this ridiculous
Speaker 1: kind of fleshy beak tassel is not enough to woo
Speaker 1: the ladies. So they have to scream at your damaging levels,
Speaker 1: so they can produce a sound that can reach a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five decibels. So that's about as loud
Speaker 1: as a jet plane takeoff, a siren, or a pneumatic
Speaker 1: drill way. Yeah, so you want to hear it? I
Speaker 1: guess here. Let me just to be safe, I'm going
Speaker 1: to turn the lap top down, just just a scooch. Okay,
Speaker 1: look at this guy. I love When he turns his head,
Speaker 1: the wattle just jiggles uncontrollably. Wow. Yeah it's an alarm. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it just has like a hollow echo e like, yeah
Speaker 1: it does. It's like it's just like like if you go,
Speaker 1: like you go on a date and a guy just
Speaker 1: like blasts and airhorn in your I'm here let today, damn.
Speaker 1: So once the male has lured a female to his perch,
Speaker 1: he'll blast one more loud note in her face and
Speaker 1: she's well, actually, what's funny is the female seemed to
Speaker 1: catch on that the males are going to pull the
Speaker 1: stunt because like in preparation they kind of scoot back
Speaker 1: a couple of ye yes that It's just it's I
Speaker 1: don't know that to me. It's so I guess on
Speaker 1: the nose where it's like it's like these males just
Speaker 1: going at like siren levels of wailing, just like come
Speaker 1: get this, come on, get this, come get this bird,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, and then it's like they scream a
Speaker 1: huge thank you in their face once you do get
Speaker 1: paid deck a tragic bay geez. Why do humans enjoy song.
Speaker 1: This question has puzzled psychologists, neural just an evolutionary biologists
Speaker 1: for a long time. Music is universal, found in every
Speaker 1: culture all over the world, and has been ubiquitous throughout
Speaker 1: known human history. We do know why music makes us
Speaker 1: feel good. Neurologically speaking, it sets off the dopamine reward
Speaker 1: centers of the brain, like those that are triggered after eating.
Speaker 1: The question as to why it sets off the brain's
Speaker 1: reward pathways is more mysterious, but there was one compelling
Speaker 1: theory from philosopher, composer and music theorist Leonard Mayer in
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties. He argued that music is all about
Speaker 1: the setup of expectations. The pattern of rhythm and melody
Speaker 1: sets us up to make predictions about what note or
Speaker 1: beat will come next, and we're rewarded when we gets right,
Speaker 1: or perhaps surprised and intrigued when we gets wrong. It's
Speaker 1: almost like a slot machine where we put our guesses
Speaker 1: in and notes come out, an addictive game of auditory chance.
Speaker 1: And the fact that these same dopenine reward systems are
Speaker 1: associate did with sex and drugs may make the lyrics sex,
Speaker 1: drugs and rock and roll a bit on the nose
Speaker 1: or on the beach. When we return, We're going live
Speaker 1: on the set of the popular bird dating game show,
Speaker 1: The Mating Game. Welcome to the Mating Game, the Birden
Speaker 1: matchmaking Show. I'm your host and wing woman Katie Golden.
Speaker 1: Like like a seagull? Yes wow. Four hopeful contestants will
Speaker 1: strut their stuff in an effort to impress our lucky
Speaker 1: guest Kima though, Wait, what what kind of bird are you? Anyways? Oh? Uh, okay?
Speaker 1: What bird? Can I answer? It? Into my name? Did
Speaker 1: a goal? What you got? Katie? Kimmy up the partridge?
Speaker 1: Partridge wonderful? Count on you, so, Kimmia. You can ask
Speaker 1: our hopeful contestants a series of questions to see who
Speaker 1: you would like to take out on a date. You
Speaker 1: and the winner will get an all expenses paid dining
Speaker 1: experience at Shay Worms, a restaurant that serves only worms.
Speaker 1: Piles and piles and piles of worms. One of us
Speaker 1: is getting be really excited about. Yeah, so, Kimmy, are
Speaker 1: you ready to meet your suitors? I can't wait, yea. So.
Speaker 1: Contestant number one is Howard the bower Bird from Papua
Speaker 1: New Guinea, Contestant number two is frank At the frigate
Speaker 1: Bird from the Galapagos Islands. Contestant number three is Kevin
Speaker 1: the Kiwi from New Zealand, and Contestant number four is
Speaker 1: Scourge Skull, the bald Eagle from the us um Okay.
Speaker 1: I guess um, I'm not looking for anything too serious, uh,
Speaker 1: but I would like to know you know, um, I
Speaker 1: I notice what people are wearing when I first look
Speaker 1: at them. So I was just wondering, like, how would
Speaker 1: you guys impress me with your looks to start? So
Speaker 1: contested number one, how are the bower bird? How would
Speaker 1: you answer Keimmy's question? Yeah, I'm a flame bower bird.
Speaker 1: My name is Howard. How are the bower bird? I
Speaker 1: am a flame bower bird and I can be the
Speaker 1: flame to set your heart on fire. As you can see,
Speaker 1: the outfit I'm wearing is very, very spectacular. Yes, I
Speaker 1: have a flaming red head and chest that sort of
Speaker 1: I like how it turns into this armor into this
Speaker 1: bright yellow and around my belly, and I have these
Speaker 1: yellow eyes and I wear these black fingerless gloves for
Speaker 1: the fashion. Yes, and I think I look I am
Speaker 1: the most spectacular bird. Here. Look, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: men's words about a I blow these other birds out
Speaker 1: of the water. Howard, you are on fire? Yeah, so
Speaker 1: I get it. You're very funny. I love it. I
Speaker 1: love it. Contestant number two, Frank the frigate Bird, How
Speaker 1: would you answer Kimmy as a question? What what kind
Speaker 1: of outfit are you going to wear to your date? Hey,
Speaker 1: so my name is Frank. Frank. I'm a frigate bird.
Speaker 1: In fact, I happened to be a magnificent frigatebird. Look
Speaker 1: what can I say? The title is accurate. I live
Speaker 1: on the Galapagos Islands. I got some cousins in Florida, though,
Speaker 1: if you want to ask, So, I'm kind of a
Speaker 1: big fella. I'm about inches high. I got a wingspan
Speaker 1: of eight feet and not the brag, not the brag.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of me. Look, but the way
Speaker 1: I address is mostly practical. I got a long, hooked beak.
Speaker 1: It's perfect for catching fish, like I will catch fish
Speaker 1: it is. It is a great beak for catching fish.
Speaker 1: I can shive so many fish in there you would
Speaker 1: not believe. I got this hand so inky, black feathers
Speaker 1: and okay, so you know I am a I am
Speaker 1: a guy with practicality, but I do like to impress
Speaker 1: the lady. So when we're on a date, I got
Speaker 1: this big red goler pouch like you wouldn't believe. And
Speaker 1: when we are on my date, I'm sorry, when we
Speaker 1: are on our date, I will inflate this goler pouch
Speaker 1: and it will look like a big red balloon. It
Speaker 1: is incredible. I love balloons. That's so wonderful. Frank, are
Speaker 1: you gonna love this balloon? I can tell you. I
Speaker 1: can tell you all right, Frank. So now Contestant number three,
Speaker 1: Kevin the Kiwi, What what would you wear on your date?
Speaker 1: So my online is Keevan Keevan Achille. I'm from News Island. Um,
Speaker 1: so look what can I say? I am this is
Speaker 1: basically my only outfit. Um, I'm a small brown bird.
Speaker 1: I do not have the capability of flight. Um I've
Speaker 1: look I am covered in fluffy brown fur. And of
Speaker 1: course I've got a bit of a long bike and
Speaker 1: at the tips of my bike. Now this is sort
Speaker 1: of interesting. I hope you like this. I hope you
Speaker 1: find this interesting. I've got nostrils at the tip of
Speaker 1: my bike, and you see what I use that as
Speaker 1: I stick him in the ground, right, and I get
Speaker 1: worms out of the ground, get lots of worms. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can get a lot of worms. Can you get
Speaker 1: as many worms as Frank can get? Fish? Well, I
Speaker 1: don't like to, you know, compare myself. What I'm here for.
Speaker 1: I'm here to do Kevin. I mean, look, I'm pretty okay,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I overwhelmed. Kevin's okay, cute little guy, you know,
Speaker 1: shape block shaped, luck, a little ball? Yes, you are?
Speaker 1: You look like the fruit the key wi now, Scared
Speaker 1: Skull the bald eagle. Oh what what would you say
Speaker 1: you would wear on your first day? Listen? My name
Speaker 1: is Scourge Skull bad boy, and I'm a bald eagle. Listen,
Speaker 1: I live in the us of a pretty in the
Speaker 1: metal um. But you know, on on our first date,
Speaker 1: I wear this. It's what do I say? I I
Speaker 1: you know, I think I look pretty pretty metal already.
Speaker 1: I've got razor sharp talents for ripping flesh off of creatures,
Speaker 1: for digging into the skin of a fish and ripping
Speaker 1: it out of the water. It's uh's And I've got
Speaker 1: a brown jacket. No, I know, I like it's Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uh, you know, I actually really like it. My
Speaker 1: grandma gave it to me. Yeah. I like the confidence
Speaker 1: that you don't you know, no comovers or nothing. No, no,
Speaker 1: you know what you know, you rock it out, rock
Speaker 1: it out, man. Look, you know the lifestyle, the metal lifestyle.
Speaker 1: It's all about just like you accept you accept your
Speaker 1: mortality and look being a bald eagle. Look, it's not.
Speaker 1: There's no shame in being a balled eagle. It is
Speaker 1: you're like, hey, you know what, maybe I don't have
Speaker 1: hair up top. I've just got some feathers, but you
Speaker 1: know what, like that doesn't mean like, look, I embraced
Speaker 1: my mortality could happen at any time. Who cares? Who
Speaker 1: cares what my flesh vehicle on this planet looks like? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Rock and roll? Okay, how that was very impressive. You
Speaker 1: guys are all very impressive. Well, yeah, thank you. I
Speaker 1: know you're going to choose me. How so far you do? Look,
Speaker 1: I know, well here's what I would like to know. So, um,
Speaker 1: I know what you guys look like now, but what
Speaker 1: would we do maybe on our first date? What would
Speaker 1: you do to impress me instead of like what you
Speaker 1: look like? You know, how are the barrow bird. How
Speaker 1: would you answer this. I'm so glad you asked. Oh no,
Speaker 1: I have a great date for you. Okay, So I
Speaker 1: will built for you a bower. You get it in
Speaker 1: someone name power. So okay, I'm so excited. So in
Speaker 1: my area, in my little area, I have gathertte the
Speaker 1: most spectacular sticks for you, and I have built a
Speaker 1: horror way out of sticks. Now, now this is the
Speaker 1: best part. I have put berries inside of this holloway
Speaker 1: of sticks and they are blue. I've even put some
Speaker 1: flowers and berries. I really like the color blue, and
Speaker 1: I have decorated it with the most beautiful berries. And
Speaker 1: you know you will. Here's what work on. Okay, here's
Speaker 1: what will happen. I will carry you over and you
Speaker 1: will you will come towards My power is very fancy,
Speaker 1: and then you will look into my eyes. You see
Speaker 1: the peo pus in my eyes They are dilating. Well,
Speaker 1: it's very mesmerizing. Yeah. Yeah, you look into my eyes.
Speaker 1: They get bigger and smaller, and one I I people
Speaker 1: get big and the other one gets smaller and they
Speaker 1: direct slowly losing me. How no, no listens, Okay, you
Speaker 1: don't like that, Okay, cool. Cool. We move on. So,
Speaker 1: now I do a dance for you. Okay, I'm back in. Yes,
Speaker 1: So I waved my arm very slow like a matador.
Speaker 1: You see my arm waving. Oh, yes, yes, as you
Speaker 1: And now I do a dance I do to call
Speaker 1: the sprinkler sprinkler. Yes, the sprinkler dance. I'm actually going
Speaker 1: to show you. Now. Um, here's a description for the listeners.
Speaker 1: Kimmy is now watching how Are the bower Bird as
Speaker 1: he does a very well, let me say, very unique
Speaker 1: dance for her. So as Howard the bower Bird dances,
Speaker 1: he extends his wing, he puffs out his feathers and
Speaker 1: you know the sprinkler dance move totally. He's doing that
Speaker 1: a lot, and he looks extremely he thinks he is
Speaker 1: hot stuff here, that's some hot stuff. I have to
Speaker 1: agree you would like it. I have you. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: then to seal the deal, you know what I have
Speaker 1: for you, I have a present. It's a very I
Speaker 1: figured yea thank you Howard. Now, Frank the frigate Bird,
Speaker 1: what would you do on your first date? Well, listen,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to the Leck, right, you know we
Speaker 1: get everybody meets at the Leck, right, we all go
Speaker 1: to the leck. I like where you're going earlier leck
Speaker 1: to show off you look it's cool. So we go
Speaker 1: to the neck and I'm gonna look. I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: straightforward with you. I inflate my big red necksack. I
Speaker 1: inflated all big. It's like a bigger balloon. And here's
Speaker 1: here's what happens. There's gonna be a lot of guys here.
Speaker 1: But if any guy tries to steal you his weight
Speaker 1: he looked at you wrong, I'm gonna pop his neck balloon.
Speaker 1: Does he die? Well no, but he doesn't got a
Speaker 1: neck balloon anymore? Oh my god. Well he looked at
Speaker 1: you funny, So what not gonna I'm not gonna stand
Speaker 1: for it. He looked at you funny. I'm gonna pop
Speaker 1: his deck blue and listen, you don't gotta worry about building, no, nest.
Speaker 1: I'm going to take care of that for you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: You like my neck balloon? I do. It's good. It's big, right,
Speaker 1: it's really big. Really all you care about? I think?
Speaker 1: Frank now, Kevin the kiwi? Um, what would you do
Speaker 1: on your first date? All? Right? On our first date,
Speaker 1: I figured, um, we made up in like in the
Speaker 1: middle of the night. Yeah, um, a bit forward, I think, Oh, which,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry I didn't to be forward. Um, so I
Speaker 1: was thinking, we can do it whatever you want. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be honest with you. I'm sort of I'd
Speaker 1: sound pretty submissive basically take you yeah, only equal the shots,
Speaker 1: and I figure if you if you won't want to listen,
Speaker 1: I will ask you permission. And what I'd really like
Speaker 1: to do is touch a bomb with me, Like is
Speaker 1: that all right? You want to touch my bum with
Speaker 1: your if you're right with it? Okay? And what I
Speaker 1: thought we'd do is I just sort of tap your
Speaker 1: bomb with me bike, And isn't this the beak that
Speaker 1: you bragged about having those nostrils on the end? Yes?
Speaker 1: Stick it into the ground. I love getting worms out
Speaker 1: of the ground. Like if you like me to, okay,
Speaker 1: if your bomb with my bait, I'll allow it. Then
Speaker 1: what well, online, if you love me, I'll be with
Speaker 1: you with the rest of my life. That's my life
Speaker 1: is Yeah, we'll be together forever forever. That's as long
Speaker 1: as I live. Oh my god, So you just want
Speaker 1: and done? Huh? Oh? You know, I feel like like
Speaker 1: like commitment, like security, alright, back to feel taken care of.
Speaker 1: Thank you for answering my question. I love you. Oh no,
Speaker 1: So now, Scourge Skull the Bald Eagle, what would you
Speaker 1: do on your first date? I figure on our first date,
Speaker 1: we fly up into the sky. We get up like
Speaker 1: almost into the stratosphere, you know, yeah, and then we
Speaker 1: lock our razor sharp tales together and then we twirl
Speaker 1: around and as we spin as we fall down down
Speaker 1: down towards the ground in a totally brutal death spiral.
Speaker 1: I mean, like we could die if we don't like
Speaker 1: pull up at the last second, which I think is
Speaker 1: pretty freaking sweet if you like it, if you knew
Speaker 1: it and you're into me, it's like it's right, or die,
Speaker 1: my dude, like we I am in it for life,
Speaker 1: for life? Oh you too, Yeah, I will if the
Speaker 1: whole death spiral thing doesn't kill us first, Like I
Speaker 1: am in it right or die baby or hardcore man? Okay, wow, Kimmy,
Speaker 1: how are you? How are you feeling about the contestants?
Speaker 1: Um so far? I think I'm into certainly I have
Speaker 1: a front runner here, yeah yeah, oh my, oh my god,
Speaker 1: get him, get him, Oh my god. Scurge Skull has
Speaker 1: got Kevin in his mouth. Spit them out, spit them out.
Speaker 1: Eight spin no no, no. All right, Well, so now
Speaker 1: we have three contestants ate Kevin. I mean, look, you
Speaker 1: know they did sign a waiver, so what can I say? Um?
Speaker 1: Was sweet, but you know I was not going to
Speaker 1: pick Kevin. Good thing because he's gone now, So your options.
Speaker 1: Contestant number one, how are the barrow bird oil? You'll
Speaker 1: pick me? I think you would not. I don't think
Speaker 1: it would be disappointed. Contestant number two, Frank the frigate Bird. Listen,
Speaker 1: I just I put myself out there. If you like it.
Speaker 1: If you like the Frank, you like the Frank. If
Speaker 1: you don't like the Frank, what am I gonna do?
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna change for you. They can do that, um.
Speaker 1: Contestant number three for good Kevin. Really it's very dark.
Speaker 1: Okay to be a moisture you should do. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: trying to get you out of there, buddy. Do you
Speaker 1: want fringe? Yeah, let's let's do that. We'll stay friends. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure. Crush or down here with some fun?
Speaker 1: Yeah boy? Bye h And Contestant number four Scourge Sculled
Speaker 1: the Bald Eagle. I don't know. I feel like it'd
Speaker 1: be totally metal if we went out, man, I know
Speaker 1: you think that would be totally totally sick and awesome. Okay, alright,
Speaker 1: so who do you choose, Kimmy. Well, listen, I'm not
Speaker 1: really into near death experiences, so I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna date Scourge sculled the bald Eagle. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: It's fine, man. Metal is not about it's not about
Speaker 1: making people do what they don't want to do. It's
Speaker 1: about it's about living life and like being out there
Speaker 1: with your emotions, being honest. You appreciate the honesty, man, Oh,
Speaker 1: you're pretty open. I actually like that answer more than
Speaker 1: all the other things you've said. Damn it, it's okay.
Speaker 1: We're already past this. And you know what, as much
Speaker 1: as I love Joey on The Circle, I do think
Speaker 1: Frank is lacking a lot of you watch The Circle? No,
Speaker 1: I don't even worry Frank. Did you watch The Circle? Yeah? Definitely,
Speaker 1: I know what you're talking about. Okay, Well, Frank, you're
Speaker 1: just trying to relate to me, I think. But you're sweet,
Speaker 1: but I'm a little worried about how brash you are
Speaker 1: so well. Listen, some people don't like the frank lifestyle.
Speaker 1: That's okay, okay, well thanks. So it looks like I
Speaker 1: choose Howard. I know you choose you know. It's my accident.
Speaker 1: Is weird. It's like I'm from Germany, but I'm actually
Speaker 1: from the pouting gime. Isn't that weird? Yes? That was
Speaker 1: a weird Guinea accent. Yeah, but I'm so happy you've
Speaker 1: chosen me. I have so many berries for you, perfect,
Speaker 1: and I can't wait for the berries and the baskets
Speaker 1: and the whatever dance you're gonna do. I'm going to
Speaker 1: do such a sprinkler dance for you. Can't wait. Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for playing the mating game. Wow, I found
Speaker 1: a mate to you, did I found Howard the bower Bird.
Speaker 1: And look, if you don't like them, I mean, next
Speaker 1: mating season you can pick another one. That's what's good,
Speaker 1: you know. And they came on a little strong, a
Speaker 1: little fast. Yeah, they were like, sorry, so sad, please
Speaker 1: don't touch my bump from you. We can't do anything
Speaker 1: from him there. Thank goodness, thank you all for joining
Speaker 1: us for the mating game. The Mating Game is not
Speaker 1: responsible for anyone who gets eaten by other contestants. If
Speaker 1: anyone gets eaten by other contestants, please do not repeat
Speaker 1: the actions you've seen. I do not try this at home.
Speaker 1: Do not actually date a bird at home. And I
Speaker 1: wear a helmet. Everyone wear a helmet all times. Just
Speaker 1: wear helmets helmets all the time. Well, KIMMYA, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for being with me today, for being a
Speaker 1: contestant on the Mating Show. I mean, it seems like
Speaker 1: you've found you've kind of found birdlow blow. Yeah. Like
Speaker 1: I said in the beginning, I'm all kinds of bird lover.
Speaker 1: Bird love is one of the greatest loves that you
Speaker 1: can find when it comes to birds. What I always say,
Speaker 1: it's good. So before we go, I want to do
Speaker 1: a quick Koala update corner. I don't know. Maybe I'll
Speaker 1: do some like musical thing like Koala update. Maybe like
Speaker 1: a siren sound something's going in here right now Koala update.
Speaker 1: Maybe a Kuka broo, I don't know, whatever I can
Speaker 1: find for free on the internet Cola update. So thank
Speaker 1: you guys so much for voting in our Koala off
Speaker 1: here at Creature Future, we are going to officially adopt
Speaker 1: a Koala from the Important Querie Koala host Biddle and
Speaker 1: you guys voted, and I'm gotta say so, it was
Speaker 1: actually pretty a lot closer than I thought it would be.
Speaker 1: The runner up is Crescent Head Jimmy Barrington Xavier didn't
Speaker 1: quite make the cut. Sorry Barrington. Paul was also up there.
Speaker 1: But the winner is drum Roll Koala Role, Cougarbera role.
Speaker 1: It's Oxley Twinkles. So I'm going to adopt Oxley Twinkles.
Speaker 1: You know what, maybe I do feel bad that Crescent
Speaker 1: had Jimmy. You know, maybe I'll maybe I'll toss and
Speaker 1: tossing a donation for Crescent Head Jimmy too. Thank you
Speaker 1: guys so much for voting again. Visit the Port mcquarie
Speaker 1: Koala Hospital website. I'll include a link in that if
Speaker 1: you want to adopt a Koala of your own and
Speaker 1: help out, because they really do need the help right
Speaker 1: now given the fires in Australia that that really really
Speaker 1: hurt the Koala population. But I think if we all
Speaker 1: work together with with Koala kind, we can we can
Speaker 1: make it through. So do you have any koala's to
Speaker 1: plug or it doesn't have to be koala's. I have well,
Speaker 1: I don't have any koalas to plug, but I do
Speaker 1: think everybody else should go plug a koala and perhaps
Speaker 1: I will go as well. But here's my regular plug.
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Instagram at child clown or
Speaker 1: Twitter at child clown with an underscore because somebody else
Speaker 1: said feature, Oh my god, it's probably that that freaking,
Speaker 1: that freaking fricking bird Frank Frank Gee, I bet chu clown,
Speaker 1: So it's funny. Why not? I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: what I was doing with Frank, like it was like
Speaker 1: Bonds almost, but then I guess season two of the Wire.
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure what I was doing. No hard feelings.
Speaker 1: So you can find us on the internet Creature Feature Pod. Wait,
Speaker 1: actually no, sorry, we've actually moved to the rt I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio website now, so it's actually so like, if
Speaker 1: you go onto the I Heart I Heeart Radio I
Speaker 1: heeart dot com and you look for a Creature feature
Speaker 1: you can find our web page, and if you go
Speaker 1: into the main Creature Feature page you can find all
Speaker 1: the episodes and all the footnotes and everything. You can
Speaker 1: also find us on Instagram at Creature Feature Pod on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Creature feet Pod. That's f e A T
Speaker 1: F E E T leads to you to a slightly
Speaker 1: different Twitter account, and you can find me personally on
Speaker 1: Twitter at Katie Golden. And of course, as always, I
Speaker 1: am at pro bird writes, who may or may not
Speaker 1: have paid me off to do this episode. But look,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, I mean nothing, no no, no,
Speaker 1: I mean I did it not because of the pressure
Speaker 1: of my boss, who is secretly a bird. Anyways, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the show,
Speaker 1: you know, go ahead and click on There are buttons
Speaker 1: I think that have stars on them. If you click
Speaker 1: like all five stars. I think something special happens, like
Speaker 1: a little bit of confetti just appears in front of
Speaker 1: me in real life, like a confetti cannon just shoots
Speaker 1: at me in real life, and I'm like, wow, someone
Speaker 1: someone likes me and it's really nice. And then if
Speaker 1: you want to leave a review, But honestly, even if
Speaker 1: you just subscribe and download the episodes, that really does help.
Speaker 1: That help out, like even more than you probably know.
Speaker 1: Thanks to the Space Classics for their super Birdie song.
Speaker 1: X Alumina Creature features a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: to hear more shows like this visit the heart radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: See you next Wednesday,