WEBVTT - Edwin Rist and the Feather Underground 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.760 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.400 Elizabeth Dunton. Hey, Saron, I missed you. 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:08.560 I missed you too. I've been great. 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:09.880 Okay, I got a question for you. Yeah. 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:10.280 Yeah. 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:11.320 Do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:15.480 I do? I knew you would Ikea bags? 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:16.599 They are ridiculous. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:17.840 Nice, I love them. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:18.520 You want more? 0:00:18.680 --> 0:00:22.439 Yeah? I have a bunch of Ikea bags, very handy. Yeah. 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.440 Do you know that they make like really cool new 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:28.159 bags like backpacks and other types of stuff out of them. 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:30.000 People will take them and they've converted them. I saw 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:31.440 them at a flea market. 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:36.080 Oh really, Oh cool. So you know I do a 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:41.720 lot of mashups, and so think of the iconic Ikea bag. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.839 What if I don't if id and you. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.360 Just think about two iconic paintings. 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.760 Okay, you've got me. Unfortunately, go on, hold on. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:56.000 Hold on this just in This is not a mashup. 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:58.520 What this is? This is an update. This is a 0:00:58.600 --> 0:00:59.960 Ridiculous Crime update. 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:01.320 Oh hell yeah. 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.240 Okay, So you know how I was. You're so relieved. 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.080 So remember I told you about the Van Go Van 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:13.240 painting that was stolen from the Singer Laren Museum. Yeah, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:19.720 the parsonage garden. It's been recovered. The Laughing Boys and 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:23.800 that's that still hasn't been recovered, right, But the parsonage 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:28.880 is back. Baby. There's a Dutch art sleuth. His name 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:34.479 is Arthur Brand and he like had this unnamed contact. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.280 They met up. Dude gave him a Ikia bag with 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.960 something wrapped in an old pillow case and inside the 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.199 van go whoa, And so it's it. It's the real one. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.200 It's basically you can track it down to that Nil's 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:50.680 m the guy that I told you about. We pretty 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.880 much knew he did it, and so yeah, right, I 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.680 was right here it is. They they still have to 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.080 go through like you know, all these you know, looking 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.920 it over and double and triple checking and what have you. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:07.200 They're going to hand it over to the museum soon. 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.720 But yeah, so it's been recovered. We got that news. 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.480 The first person got it from a bunch of people. 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:14.880 But the first person did let us know, is Mary 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:20.600 Tarantino on Instagram. You Mary looking looking out So yeah, 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.880 that's ridiculous. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.720 If you got a second, do you have a second? 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:28.680 Are you in the mood to hear something ridiculous? 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:30.880 Because I got one for you, girl, I am Yeah. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:35.919 Okay, imagine two hundred and ninety nine rare tropical. 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.040 Birds, Okay, all in one room. 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.560 Exactly, and now they're all covered in bright plumage. It's 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:42.960 a rainbow of feathers, just a riot of color. Now 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:44.959 imagine these birds and their feathers are on display in 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:45.800 a British museum. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:46.720 I can see that. 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.560 Okay, right, totally fitting. Now, Next, try to imagine the 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.320 twenty two year old American who would steal those rare 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:54.440 bird feathers. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:55.160 Oh. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.040 Now, last, try to picture that same young American man 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.480 who's in your imagination as he sells the stolen rare 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.080 bird feathers on the black market in order to make 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.160 a small fortune so that he could buy a golden flute. 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.120 Is this a Hans Christian? 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:36.440 And this is ridiculous crime? A podcast about absurd and 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:40.000 outrageous capers, heists and cons. It's all with ninety nine 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:45.240 percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous ridiculous. All right, Elizabeth, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:47.280 I have an extra wild one for you today. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.680 I'm so glad I need it. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.280 Nice that shot. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:50.520 In the arm. 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:52.320 Okay, I got a lift for you. This story has 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:54.600 a little bit of everything. He's got rare birds. It's 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.040 got British naturalists, he's got one of the wealthiest men 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.440 in the world. It's got an American music lover. He's 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.840 got a thing for golden flutes. Sign me up, right, Okay, 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.920 let's just take an element by element first, one rare birds. 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:07.040 Yeah right. 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.840 You know how it's not easy to save nature from 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.840 the ever rushing onslaught of humanity. I hate to have 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:17.960 that job. Enter the naturalist. That's pretty much their job, right. 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:19.680 I mean, this is also the reason why we have 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.000 zoos and zoo keepers, same reason, right, and nature preserves 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.359 open the last resort naturalist museums, because if we can't 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.880 save the animal from disappearing from the natural world, at 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.000 least we can still look at it behind glass, at 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.680 memories right there it was. Now, can you imagine what 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:37.760 must feel like to be a modern naturalist like today? 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:40.760 I mean, they live a good life on one level, right, 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:42.840 Like they get a scrabble over rocks, they get to 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.800 climb around ravines, they're clambering up boreal footpaths. They have 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.719 a great life in that they're stalking across meadow hill 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:51.640 and dale just to see an animal. 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.360 I mean, how awesome is that it's pretty good job. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:56.279 That's a good job for you, but it does sound 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:57.080 like a job for me. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:58.680 Honestly, I don't think I could be one of them, 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:00.440 and I just want to be as a I told 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:01.520 I was one of the kids. I want to be 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.440 a marine biologist, right, I was that kid? 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.400 Dude? How many marine biologists are there in the world, 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.080 because I think every person in like fifth and sixth grade, Yes, 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.599 it was HiT's on marine biologist. But then it continues. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:14.599 Then you got people all the way into how many 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:15.040 are there? 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.680 Three thousand, two hundred and eighty four. 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.479 Okay, good to know, Yeah, ok question, probably have better 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.200 odds of being an MLB Baseball player than being a marine, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.359 but has no idea. I know you made that up, 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:28.080 and I love you for that. 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:29.880 I'm sure that you know it's close. 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.880 Yeah, let's just say. I'm just going to go out 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.599 here on the limb and say it. You have a 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:39.120 better chance of becoming a professional athlete than a marine biologists. 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.760 Wow, that's just kind of humbling, don't you think? I think? Maybe? 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:44.280 Right, I don't know, I know, I'm right. 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:47.240 Well, if you're a naturalist these days, you know you're 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:50.919 living through the anthroposscene mega extinction event. Yeah, right, so 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.760 you're documenting. Yeah, that's fun for you as a naturalist. 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:55.960 Now I found this one guy's a naturalist. I was 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:57.920 doing research for this story. Right. I find him. He's 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.640 down there in Mexico trying to track down a rare bird. Right. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.880 What he was all about was the Imperial woodpecker. Now, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:06.600 this is a huge, two foot tall striking bird, right, 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:10.080 with majestic plumage, has this really bright red crop on 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.080 top of its head, right, and it's believed to be 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:13.720 extinct or nearing extinction. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.839 They don't really know two foot tall woodpeckers, yeah. 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.279 And the mountains of Mexico, and it was it's circling 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:20.960 in the drain of life on earth right now. Right, 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.120 So this naturalist tramps out into the wilderness. He's just 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.720 to find the last imperial woodpecker. He's convinced there's been spottings. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.080 So what does he find, Elizabeth. He doesn't find the bird. Instead, 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.840 he finds a truck driver. Now this truck driver, yeah, 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:34.560 real close. He was a little bit taller than two feet, 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.920 but he had seen the Imperial woodpecker. He'd been crossing 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains down in Mexico. That mountainous 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.800 region is the home to the presumed last remaining Imperial woodpeckers. 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:48.320 So this truck driver he spots one. So when he 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:52.160 saw that brightly plumage bird perch on the Durango pine 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.839 tree branch high above him, it's the truck driver gazes 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:59.320 up at her right there resting feet that red feather crop. 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.480 I told you about catching the sunlight. He slowly pulled 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.200 out a gun and shot the woodpecker. Get then he 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.760 ate it. The truck driver told the naturalists this story 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.160 of his Imperial woodpecker encounter. He added that the bird 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.600 was on the car, which are in American English. This 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:19.320 says the bird was a one great piece of meat. 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:23.120 So his truck driver's meal may have been the last 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.160 Imperial woodpecker we'll ever see. 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.000 But what kind of gun did he shoot? It was? 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:28.520 I didn't. That was not in any of the stories. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.440 So I'm thinking, like, that's not a big bird, and 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:32.560 you're going to do a lot of damn. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:34.240 I think like a twenty two rifle, something that a 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:35.960 truck driver would have in their trucks. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.200 Anyway, I mean, I know you're hungry. 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:40.000 But come on to tell a hungry man not to eat. 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.960 Yeah, but of all the birds he doesn't know he's liked. Well, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.040 that one's the easiest to see. 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:46.640 It was just right near him. He figures out it's 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.280 in the trees. You know, we got plenty of birds. Now, 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.120 this more naturalist listening to this story of the truck, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.160 he's just losing. He's been dying to see this bird. Right, 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.240 it's possibly the last imperial woodpecker. And now this guy 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.080 they could be extend like we still don't know. We 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.640 still haven't seen one since this truck driver. Yeah, oh, 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.600 the life of the modern naturalist. But let's talk about 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:09.800 the lucky ones, the ones that got to quote, discover 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.200 everything and go around naming everything. The eighteenth and nineteenth 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:17.520 century naturalists, right, you know some of the big names, Carlneis, 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.080 John James Audubon, Alexander von Humboldt, and al. 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.840 Wallace, the greats, all the greats. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:26.920 Yeah. Well that last guy, that's just what Paul Simon 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.840 and I call him. We call him al Oh god hinterned. 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:36.640 Nineteenth century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. Hey. Now, Wallace 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.679 was a collector, extraordinariy. He dreamed of gathering up from 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.439 nature a storehouse and cataloging at all like a library 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.440 of Mother Nature. That's what he wanted, the greatest hits 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:48.839 of mothers, Nature's greatest works, but all of them really 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.640 now the scientists. He thought, I can put this collection 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.640 together for the benefit of all humanity. That's how this 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.839 cat talked to He's like all humanity, that's what I'm 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.480 doing this for now. He's super high mind, did very 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.800 noble view of himself and what he aimed to do. 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:04.880 But he was also very effective. Now, when I say 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.120 very effective, I mean like, after one trip down to 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.560 the Melee Archipelago that is at now Malaysia and Indonesia, Wallace 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.360 walked out of the jungles after harvesting get this, one 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.040 hundred and twenty five thousand specimens. 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:20.559 So he doesn't wait until they just the great Creator 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:21.040 takes him. 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:21.719 No, no, no no. 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.920 For guys, anthology is the hand of God. 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:30.800 Harvesting. Yes, So primarily he was gathering up butterflies, beetles, birds. Now, Elizabeth, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:32.960 you may be wondering, Saren, why did he need one 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.120 hundred and twenty five thousand specimens? Why basically in the 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.760 wings of a butterfly, Wallace saw world peace. 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.880 Oh God, I told you, you're trying to give me 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:44.360 a headache. 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:47.720 Nineteenth century. Yeah. So there's this book called Beauty Obsession 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:50.199 and the Natural History Heist of the Century. It's by 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:52.840 this author, Kirk Wallace Johnson. And in his book he 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.240 documents in great detail the story that I'm about to 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:56.959 tell you, and I will be quoting some of various 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.600 interviews he gave hyping his book. And in his book 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.520 The Writer Kirk Johnson, he concluded that the naturalist Wallace 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.319 believed that nature had written and I quote letters in 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:07.560 the volume of the Earth's Deep History. And if we 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.960 allow these things to disappear, we're essentially blinding ourselves to 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:14.800 these records. So real, high minded language. Right, it's a 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:16.800 heavy trip, but it got dude, ain't wrong, right. I'm 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.079 a big believer in biomimicry. You know this. I fully 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.160 agree with al. I mean, like, yeah, we gotta look 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.560 at nature as our place, not as something we exploit. 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:24.880 Sure. 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.559 Anyway, this naturalist ol Wallace, he goes tramp on off 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.199 to the South Pacific to study nature and birds and whatnot. 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.800 As I told you, for one of our big early trips, 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:34.880 he went down to the Melee Archipelago. While he was there, 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.280 he collected all these creatures he found undud you know, 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.720 fascinating or pretty or whatever. He ends up writing some 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:43.120 papers for science journals. He's particularly smitten with the birds 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.320 of Paradise. You know, the birds of Paradise. Really okay, 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.160 so those are his birds, not the flower, the bird 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.400 obviously he loves it right. In one paper that was 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.240 published in eighteen fifty five, Wallace wrote that quote, every 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:55.320 species has come into existence coincident, both in space and time, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.880 with pre existing closely allied species. So basically what he 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.880 had concluded is that each species came into being through 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.240 a divergence with apparent species. And this natural progression, if 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.679 you or if you prefer this evolution, was how new 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.280 animals came into being. In other words, he came up 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.880 with Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest on his own, 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.320 and three or four years before Darwin published it. So 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:21.360 he sent his ideas to Darwin in eighteen fifty eight. Yes, 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.200 and Darwin was so struck by them and how similar 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:26.480 they were to his own ideas, which he had been 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.760 developing independently. That he showed, you know, he showed his 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.200 buddies Wallace's ideas, right, and he was like, look, homies, 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:33.600 look what this cat came up with. Do I need 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.080 to be worried about this? And his buddies, right, Darwin's 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.560 close homies. They're also scientists, right, So once a geologist 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.520 and other dudes a botanist. Now they considered this question 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:43.600 earnest and they come back to Darwin and they're like, look, 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:45.480 my dude, d we got to be straight up with 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.920 you about this. This guy he's got all the same 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.280 stuff as you. So we're thinking this, it's better to 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.960 keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And he's like, ooh, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.320 Darwin's like, my geez, I like that, that's what's up. 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.280 I'm going to do that. So I'm going to invite 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.560 him to publish a piece with me in my journal, 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:02.920 but I'll position it so that my ideas are up 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:05.880 front and his ideas are just like further confirmation of mine. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.600 Think that'll play. They're like, that's what's up. 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:10.600 Right, So, and that is what was up. 0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.480 And that's what was up, Elizabeth. That was the move. 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.240 So Darwin, he does exactly that. He publishes his landmark 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.000 book on the Origin of Species very next year, eighteen 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.600 fifty nine, a year after Wallace's entem his work. So 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.040 now to seal the deal for his scientific fame, Darwin 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.240 came up with a presentation that featured extracts from his work, 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.800 two previous books of his, and some of Wallace's papers. 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:34.360 So then he presents them to the Linnaean Society, which 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.400 is basically the leading naturalist organization of the day. He's 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.839 now backseatd his brother forever. Right, So the paper that 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.719 Darwin presents and publishes is called on the Tendency of 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.840 Species to form varieties, and on the Perpetuation of varieties 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:50.000 and species by natural means of selection. Quite a banger, sure, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.440 yeah right, it has it's his name, right, just just 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.120 liquid words, right, But Wallace's name is on the paper, 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:57.920 so it was Darwin's. But everyone still treats it like 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.960 it's Darwin's paper. So boom, Darwin and seals the deal 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:02.959 in the science community, and we all know it now 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.920 as Darwin's theory of evolution. Wallace gets sidetracked for all times. Sorry, 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.040 now right now, Darwin, he was a little decent about 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.400 this he made sure that Wallace won a couple awards. 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:15.720 He gets some medals, and also when later when Wallace 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.800 was aged and poor because he did not get the 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:21.679 scientific glory, Darwin also made sure you know that Wallace 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:24.720 is watching himself be lost to history while he's still alive. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:26.920 Darwin got him a stipend of funds to live on, 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:29.720 so he was decent in that regard. But anyway, that's 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.320 pretty much how gangster Darwin iced out this guy Wallace. 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.520 So what about Wallace? Like, why should we not cry 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:35.319 for Wallace. 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.199 Argentina, don't cry for him because. 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.640 His story isn't over, Elizabeth. He later on became buddy 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.560 buddy with one of the richest men in the world. Yeah, 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.120 who offered him his entire naturalist collection and create a 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.920 great museum to display at all. That was a good outcome. 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:50.199 Right, Okay. 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.040 However, he wasn't the only one in England who zealously 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:56.160 coveted the feathers of rare tropical birds, so that led 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.040 to a negative outcome, which was okay. There was this 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.680 fashion trend going on the time, bright tropical feathers that 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.000 these guys in these naturalists have been collecting. Suddenly became 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:07.280 all the rage in eighteen seventies London society, right, anyone 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.679 who was anyone had to have some eye catching plumage, 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.199 something to decorate their high hat. Basically, the ladies of 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:15.160 London were like pimps. They needed all the feathers they 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:16.880 could get. They're like, give them to me, right, So 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.120 the fashion training creates a crime wave because they need 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.920 a black market to supply the ladies with the feathers 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.080 that they're willing to pay top dollar for. Us his 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.480 crime wave right and fashion trend synergy. It leads to 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.160 a creation of a network of feather getters m HM 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:35.240 and boom. Unscrupulous Europeans come rushing into the South Pacific 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.840 following Wallace, taking the same birds he's trying to take. Right, 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:41.720 they're taking him in such large numbers. They're just scouring 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.440 the jungles for rare feathers that are now basically worth 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.000 more than gold. That there are so many feather hunters, 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.680 and they resulted in a mass slaughter that was nicknamed 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.080 by the press at the time the slaughter of the Innocence. 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.600 That's how many birds they were taking, right. The wanton 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:57.720 bird killing got so bloody, so brutal that they eventually 0:14:58.040 --> 0:14:59.880 animal rights activists, they didn't have that name with the 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:04.480 ti time. They formed the first early animal conservation societies 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:07.040 just to stop the feather trade. So this effort leads 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.960 to legislation in the UK. The UK bans the feather 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.600 trade entirely. Right. So now these same groups would go 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.320 on to form animal rights and conservation groups that we 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.960 know of. This was their first success, really, right, your people, Elizabeth, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.320 So we don't have. 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:25.480 A lot of these birds anymore. So that Henrietta Baxter 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:27.800 Chonkington could walk down the street. 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:30.040 And look super flea and incredible, yes exactly, so she 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:30.960 could feel some kind of way. 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.080 Well, it's also like, you know, it's not new to 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:38.480 have the beautiful feathers and items like the Chinese Kingfisher headdress, 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.160 which are now in bits and pieces all over Western 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.040 gift shops in like China, Chinatown. 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:46.200 Yeah, you have. 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:50.840 Broken up into Vancouver to which is so heartbreaking that 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:51.200 you know. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.600 Anyway, So the thing is is that the eighteen seventies 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:57.800 allowed them to be able to get at an industrial 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.240 scale and harvest all this stuff. As before pe have 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.560 been getting it. They just couldn't go take steamships down 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.160 there and gingle tramping off and everything they could, much 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.120 like the gold Rush. Just imagine it for feathers. Yeah right, yeah, okay, 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:11.720 Well next up in our next element, the richest man 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.280 in the world. But first let's take a break and 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:37.440 we'll be back in two and two. All right, Elizabeth, 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.360 we're back. I got more nuts for you. Yeah ready, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:46.440 Enter Lord lionel Walter Rothschild, the second Baron Rothschild. Is 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.040 he an you could say so? I mean, I'm not. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.840 I'm not. I just meant the story itself. I got 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:52.840 I got a whole bag of nuts. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:54.640 I thought you had a bunch of bozos for me 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:55.320 to learn about. 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.160 I do that too. I got a I got a hole. 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.160 I got a bag of nuts and a bucket load 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.760 of bozos. This guy, he was the son of the 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.639 first Baron Rothschild aka Nathan, and his father was a 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.119 Nate magnate you know who he was. Father was an 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.399 international financier. This man, he'd founded the banking fortune that 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.160 we all still influences our world today. Right. His boy, 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.520 lionel Or Walter, as he was known to the fam 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:20.760 and to history, was the eldest of three kids. So 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.240 that means he stood in line to inherit everything and 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:25.800 become the next sigh On and so forth. But he 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:28.199 was kind of a delicate boy. So because of his 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.880 rather porcelain nature, he was homeschooled. And then that's where 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:33.280 he came up with his true life's ambition, which was 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.480 not running the family's banking empire. Instead, like Matt Damon, 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:37.560 he would buy a zoo. 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:39.200 Does he have soft hands? 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:40.920 No, he was a big dude. He's like six y 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:43.639 three and all that. Oh no, yeah, he had definitely 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.840 soft like butter soft hands, damp hands, moist, clammy hands. Yes, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.919 I imagine that. So being the son of fabulous wealthies, I'm 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:52.720 building a zoo and he can build a zoo, So 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:56.359 a tremendousuo fabulous zoo. He would have everything. And you 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.080 know he because as I said, he's a you know, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:01.159 child of wealth and privilege. He doesn't have to give 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.119 up this seven year old's dream. He can make it 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:06.240 actually happen, right, he has to wade out his family's 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.560 resistance to it. So eventually the family they buy him 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:13.040 the zoo, but not till he was forty years old. 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.639 By then, he had made it clear to everybody and 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.120 in every possible way that he had no head for finance. 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.720 And so Daddy says, I want a zoo exactly. 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.480 Daddy's like, Okay, give him the goddamn zoo. So they 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.400 bought him the zoo. Now, Walter he builds a zoo 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.160 right there on the family homes property at Tring Park. 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:30.960 And that's got to be fun. Like, you're one of 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.520 the richest men in the world. You live above the 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.400 lion cage that your son has created. You're like when 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:37.720 the wind shifts and you're like, we're gonna have to 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:41.440 change rooms, guys. So Walter Roschau he starts collecting animals. 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.560 He's like, this is like having a job, right. So, 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.040 but he's good to his word. His aim is to 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.640 become like Moses two point zero, just without the flood, right. 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:53.080 So he starts collecting everything butterflies. Mosah, what I say, Moses, 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:59.639 I'm sorry, Noah, come with me animals And then sorry, 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:01.840 You're right, Noah, not Moses. 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:03.560 I was trying to save you from like. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.000 The Instagram comments when I have like yeah flub yeah, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:06.359