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 today on the show, we're talking
Speaker 1: about Swiss cheese trees and the strange animals whose stories
Speaker 1: are full of holes. Big triple phobia warning for this episode,
Speaker 1: especially if your name is Pinocchio and you're made out
Speaker 1: of wood. From hidden delicacies within rotting logs to nutty
Speaker 1: drama to the story of a parasites parasite, we're looking
Speaker 1: at what happens when the giving tree gives you nausea.
Speaker 1: Discover this more as we answer the age old question
Speaker 1: would you eat living tree noodles? Joining me today on
Speaker 1: this Woody Journey is co host of the Ethnically Ambiguous podcast, writer,
Speaker 1: director and friend of the show, Sharene Lanny Yunas. Welcome
Speaker 1: at me tree, Thanks for having me. Is that your
Speaker 1: impression of a tree getting eaten alive? Yeah? That's that
Speaker 1: you say that. Yeah, they imagine it kind of like
Speaker 1: high pitched and kind of alarming, and oh it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's like the voice in a Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Speaker 1: when he gets like flattened or whatever. Oh yeah, we're
Speaker 1: like they put the little shoe in the acid. That
Speaker 1: was a children's movie. Yeah, that's we Obviously it scarred me.
Speaker 1: I'm still thinking about it when I'm two. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so we are talking about the the horrible desecration of wood.
Speaker 1: To be fair, not all of these animals harm trees,
Speaker 1: but they do very strange things to the trees. And
Speaker 1: so I am serious when I say that if you
Speaker 1: have triple phobia, this may not be the episode for you.
Speaker 1: There are and certainly, like I, I do include some
Speaker 1: images in the show notes, and I would definitely warn
Speaker 1: you not to look at those. Um But yeah, I
Speaker 1: I think that it is really interesting that you look
Speaker 1: at a tree and you think of sort of the
Speaker 1: normal way that it supports life, like maybe a bird's
Speaker 1: nest and its branches, and like little caterpillars munching on
Speaker 1: its leaves. But some really weird stuff can happen, like
Speaker 1: inside of wood, which uh, you know is not a
Speaker 1: phrase I would have thought I would say this morning,
Speaker 1: but here I am saying it. Yeah. I love trees.
Speaker 1: I love everything they do. Hot take hot take trees.
Speaker 1: Go look at one. They are giving you life and
Speaker 1: you should go hug it um. But yeah, I didn't
Speaker 1: know what this show is going to be about this morning. Disclosure.
Speaker 1: I just kind of woke up like maybe twenty minutes ago.
Speaker 1: But I'm really happy to be here today and I
Speaker 1: love that I'm starting my day with this because definitely
Speaker 1: woke me up. I don't think I have it's called tripophobia,
Speaker 1: right the p I don't think I have it, but
Speaker 1: I don't enjoy looking at stuff like that. So I'm
Speaker 1: if you if you have it, or like, if you
Speaker 1: don't like that stuff and you're still listening, this is
Speaker 1: I'm for you, you know what I mean, Like, I
Speaker 1: get you. I'll be here as your what's it called?
Speaker 1: You know you're representative your holes? Good exactly because I
Speaker 1: think it's gnarly and even now looking at some of
Speaker 1: the photos, I my stomach is like nope, but uh
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think trees are fascinating and I'm actually
Speaker 1: kind of interested to know stuff that I don't know
Speaker 1: about them, so I'm kind of excited. Yeah. I I
Speaker 1: knocked on Cheren's window this morning, waking her up, and
Speaker 1: it's like, you want to talk about tree holes with me?
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, why are you here? I
Speaker 1: thought you were in Italy. I flew all the way
Speaker 1: back to the US. Just awake Sharin up. So we
Speaker 1: can talk about tree holes. And the first thing I
Speaker 1: want to talk about is something that even like, when
Speaker 1: I saw a photo of this, I did not believe
Speaker 1: it at first. I thought it was some kind of photoshop,
Speaker 1: you know, some kind of or manipulation, some kind of
Speaker 1: internet um hoax. But no, this is very real. Imagine
Speaker 1: being able to crack open an old rotting log and
Speaker 1: inside are just these long, giant gray worms that look
Speaker 1: like they're these organs inside the tree. One might find
Speaker 1: it horrifying, but indeed these things are actually a delicacy,
Speaker 1: as if you were cracking open a giant oyster. So
Speaker 1: nothing to be afraid of. They are apparently actually delicious.
Speaker 1: Where do they grow so? Or where are these things? So?
Speaker 1: These are called the to maia look woodworms of the Philippines.
Speaker 1: They really look bizarre, like this tree has been invaded
Speaker 1: by wormy aliens or like started to grow veins or
Speaker 1: something that it looked to me like yeah yeah, because
Speaker 1: when you split it open, it's like this big log
Speaker 1: and you can see these holes kind of in it,
Speaker 1: but also like in these holes like coming out like
Speaker 1: these these sort of gray ropes, slimy ropes, so it
Speaker 1: looks like it it has been invaded by some kind
Speaker 1: of worm. Actually these are not worms at all. They're
Speaker 1: in fact a type of seafood, so which doesn't seem
Speaker 1: the most likely place to find seawood inside of rotting tree. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's interesting. I mean, yeah, it looks pretty gnarly.
Speaker 1: It's like definitely looks like it's been sewn together or something.
Speaker 1: There's like these threads back and forth. But if if
Speaker 1: this happened to me, if I was cutting something open
Speaker 1: and that I opened it up to see that I
Speaker 1: would never recover. I traumatize. I would think that like
Speaker 1: the tree was half it was like a dryad or
Speaker 1: something halfway between sort of morphing from a human into
Speaker 1: a tree. But it's like intestines are still there or something.
Speaker 1: So yeah, oh god, yeah, I would also be horrified
Speaker 1: if I did not know what I was dealing with.
Speaker 1: But if you do know what you're dealing with, you
Speaker 1: may feel excited because this is actually culinary delicacy in
Speaker 1: the Philippines. And like I said, this is actually type
Speaker 1: of seafood because the woodworm is not a worm. It
Speaker 1: actually belongs to a family of clams known as shipworms.
Speaker 1: So these are clams. Can you believe it? No, I
Speaker 1: really can't. I don't know how that do the trees
Speaker 1: grow next to the should at least or not really
Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, So these are mangroves and they actually
Speaker 1: will grow in saltwater intertidal zones. So mangroves are one
Speaker 1: of the only trees that can actually tolerate saltwater. And
Speaker 1: since they grow submerged in the saltwater, a lot of
Speaker 1: their branches and stuff gets soft or rotted, and it
Speaker 1: is the perfect place for these woodworms or shipworms to
Speaker 1: find a home. So these are sometimes called the termites
Speaker 1: of the sea for their wood boring habits. They have long,
Speaker 1: tubular worm like bodies and can grow up to a
Speaker 1: meter or a little over three feet long. And yeah,
Speaker 1: but despite looking like some kind of giant like spaghetti,
Speaker 1: they are in fact a clam and do have all
Speaker 1: the anatomical features of a bivalve mollusk, just sort of
Speaker 1: great modified to this new purpose. So like all bivalves,
Speaker 1: they have an input and an output siphon. They use
Speaker 1: to basically filter the sea water and get their oxygen
Speaker 1: supply with internal gills. And they have a shell, but
Speaker 1: the shell, instead of nicely closing like a clam, is
Speaker 1: actually broken apart on one end and the other, so
Speaker 1: they have a little fragment of shell on sort of
Speaker 1: the butt end and on the head end. So the
Speaker 1: on the butt end they have those siphons, and they
Speaker 1: have a little shell fragment that can actually cover up
Speaker 1: those siphons and close up the hole that they've board
Speaker 1: into the wood for protection from a predator that might
Speaker 1: want to pull them out and eat them like a
Speaker 1: spaghetti as as do humans. So on the other end
Speaker 1: is actually the part that bores through the wood. It
Speaker 1: has the mouth, It has the foot of the clam,
Speaker 1: which the all clams have a foot. It's this fleshy
Speaker 1: part that it can use to dig in the sand,
Speaker 1: but in this case it's digging in soft wood. And
Speaker 1: it also has another piece of its shell up there
Speaker 1: that is wrapped around this part of its head kind
Speaker 1: of like a drill, and it can use this to
Speaker 1: rasp at the wood and bore its way into the wood. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so you have basically a long noodle with like
Speaker 1: a drill on one end and breathing tubes on the other,
Speaker 1: which is it's so bizarre to me that somehow a
Speaker 1: clam has found itself in this situation. Yeah, that is
Speaker 1: very fascinating. Yeah, because you're right, it has been greatly
Speaker 1: modified in ways, like I wasn't even expecting it to
Speaker 1: have a shell on either end or or all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That's so fascinating to me. Have you ever read a
Speaker 1: ginge too? The um it's like this horror manga artists,
Speaker 1: there's this there's this famous one that is like a
Speaker 1: sort of or I should say infamous on the internet
Speaker 1: where it's this thing where people find all of these
Speaker 1: people shaped holes in a cliff side and then they're
Speaker 1: just like kind of drawn to going in the hole.
Speaker 1: But for some reason, like on the other end of
Speaker 1: the horror, on the other end of the whole miles away,
Speaker 1: like the there was like an earthquake that caused the
Speaker 1: person shape of the hole to turn into like this
Speaker 1: narrow things, so when they come out on the other side,
Speaker 1: they're all warm ified and it's just a it's a
Speaker 1: very I would only recommend this comic to people who
Speaker 1: have a high tolerance for sort of bizarre body horror stuff,
Speaker 1: but it it is. It's definitely one of the most
Speaker 1: infamous horror mangas out there because of that very weird visual.
Speaker 1: But it does make me think of whatever solution has done,
Speaker 1: if these clams, turning them from this nice little, you know,
Speaker 1: like a little neat and tidy animal into this weird,
Speaker 1: weird worm. But it really works for it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that image just really kind of healthy. It makes
Speaker 1: more sense when you put it that way, like evolutionarily,
Speaker 1: like what must have happened. But now body horror stuff
Speaker 1: is not for me, not your jam, not my jam.
Speaker 1: But but that does sound just like from my my
Speaker 1: image of my head is very funny imagining that manga
Speaker 1: just like it is. It is funny your bread looking
Speaker 1: hoole bread man looking hole. Then it becomes it probably isn't,
Speaker 1: but in my head it's like it is man bread,
Speaker 1: Oh it is. It's it's funny. It's both funny and
Speaker 1: it's funny horror like there's a certain humor to it,
Speaker 1: and I think that's what makes it work so well,
Speaker 1: is that there's like it's a surrealism plus horror plus
Speaker 1: a good amount of humor. Um so good. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: it has some balance. It is balance stuff. I I
Speaker 1: personally do like it, but I'm also I look at
Speaker 1: these kinds of things like these worms and stuff, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: that's neat instead of like, oh no, that's that's not good.
Speaker 1: There's worms in that wood. Um, so like kind of
Speaker 1: how like blue cheese is rotting? Like is this this
Speaker 1: wood is rotting? Right? Yes, yes, it's because that it's
Speaker 1: They like the rotting wood because it's soft and it
Speaker 1: lets them eat the wood. And they actually have bacterious
Speaker 1: symbiotic bacteria inside of the woodworm clam that helps them
Speaker 1: digest that would and turn it into usable nutrients for
Speaker 1: the clam. So it's similar to how termites work. Termites
Speaker 1: also have a symbiotic bacteria gut bacteria that helps them
Speaker 1: digest woods, so it's the same thing with this clam.
Speaker 1: And yeah, rotting wood is the reason it's rotting is
Speaker 1: because things like bacteria, area and microorganisms are eating it
Speaker 1: breaking it down. So it makes a lot of sense
Speaker 1: for these these clams to go into rotting wood. Not
Speaker 1: only is it softer, easier for them to bore through,
Speaker 1: it's also the preferred meal of something like a bacteria,
Speaker 1: And the problem with trying to eat live wood, even
Speaker 1: though there are animals that do eat living wood, is
Speaker 1: that the plant will have defenses against it, maybe sap.
Speaker 1: It will be more sort of a harder exterior, harder
Speaker 1: to drill into. So rotting wood is often the meal
Speaker 1: of choice for the lazy animal it doesn't want to
Speaker 1: have to deal with the natural defenses that a living
Speaker 1: tree will have. But it's so funny just think of
Speaker 1: these animals. It's just like, I'm gonna phone it in today.
Speaker 1: Just yeah, that's interesting. I mean, it kind of makes
Speaker 1: me fascinated, like how these trees are still growing and
Speaker 1: a lives because it's they're they're growing next to like
Speaker 1: the sea or like salt water. They're rotting. Things are
Speaker 1: eating them. Well, what's like they I thought in my
Speaker 1: head for for the treat to survive, there has to
Speaker 1: be some kind of symbiotic relationship. But is there not
Speaker 1: really at all? I mean, I think if you think
Speaker 1: of it more like the treat to wore or something
Speaker 1: that eats the carcass of something else. So like we
Speaker 1: have a lot of scavengers that will eat the carcasses
Speaker 1: of animals, like a vulture may eat the carcass of
Speaker 1: an animal um, but that doesn't mean it's actually going
Speaker 1: to hurt that animal's population, because it's only eating the
Speaker 1: the dead animals. It's a scavenger um or like crabs
Speaker 1: and um. You know, the these these things at the
Speaker 1: bottom of the ocean that eat dead whales. They're not
Speaker 1: actually killing off the whales. They're just eating the whales
Speaker 1: that naturally die. And so things like things happen to
Speaker 1: trees that causes them to fall over, branches to fall off,
Speaker 1: and then when that happens, um, then you'll have these
Speaker 1: these detritivores come and eat these the dead parts of
Speaker 1: the tree. And it's actually a good process in general,
Speaker 1: especially on the forest floor, because then you will take
Speaker 1: something like a dead chunk of tree and turn like
Speaker 1: these bacteria and microorganisms will actually turn it into a
Speaker 1: fertile sort of soil with a lot of nutrients, and
Speaker 1: then other animals can come in and eat those things.
Speaker 1: So it's actually very good service that when animals eat
Speaker 1: something that's dead and rotting, and really the main threat
Speaker 1: to these mangroves are as usual humans, Like if we
Speaker 1: go into these regions and like um for instance, typically
Speaker 1: the eating of these woodworms is not an issue when
Speaker 1: it's done sort of like occasionally with tourism and people
Speaker 1: maybe seeking this out as like a tourist experience. That
Speaker 1: does make it a little more iffy in terms of
Speaker 1: whether that could remain sustainable. But yeah, they I do
Speaker 1: not think that the woodworms really hurt the living trees.
Speaker 1: They just feed off of the rotting wood. Now, if
Speaker 1: you're a boat, maybe you would have to worry about
Speaker 1: them because they might eat through your boat, or at
Speaker 1: least that's sort of these these legends of these shipworms
Speaker 1: um eating through these boats. I don't know how much
Speaker 1: damaged they could actually have done to some of these
Speaker 1: like big wooden boats in the past, but they were
Speaker 1: definitely seen as a menace for for these boats. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like the termites the yes, exactly, but you can you know,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you clarified. Yeah, that's true. That's yeah. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't think anyone needs termites um, but
Speaker 1: I'm glad you clarified that because in my head, to
Speaker 1: be honest, maybe this is silly, but I was imagining
Speaker 1: that all the trees are rotten, right, Like I didn't
Speaker 1: I didn't know there were like a live versions of
Speaker 1: this true, which is my own ignorance. Uh, but I'm
Speaker 1: glad you clarified. Does that just make yeah, okay, thank you? Yes,
Speaker 1: But uh so it is a sustainable system as long
Speaker 1: as there's not too much interference that goes on. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's uh, as long as like people don't
Speaker 1: over overhunt these things or sort of tried to, you know,
Speaker 1: basically create farms for it, which would be using up
Speaker 1: sort of mangrove wood and generally disrupting the ecosystem. They are.
Speaker 1: They are edible apparently. Um. They can be either eating
Speaker 1: raw sort of like an oyster, or they can be cooked.
Speaker 1: They are typically seasoned with coconut vinegar, lime juice, Chilian salt,
Speaker 1: and it apparently has a sort of creamy, salty oystery
Speaker 1: taste to it. It doesn't. I'm not a musclely oyster
Speaker 1: person neither am I Actually I'm not exactly sure why
Speaker 1: this happens, But every time I've tried to eat like
Speaker 1: muscles like, I've gotten a stomach ache. I threw up once,
Speaker 1: So I don't know if that was just a coincidence
Speaker 1: or if I should maybe avoid those. So personally, I
Speaker 1: might avoid these just because I don't have a great
Speaker 1: track record with shellfish. But it definitely sounds like it
Speaker 1: sounds kind of good, like, it sounds like the sounds
Speaker 1: like if you like oysters, and yeah, you would like
Speaker 1: it for sure. Yeah it's just I think so, but yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan of shellfish, you would probably like this.
Speaker 1: Um uh, because it isn't shellfish, right, shellfish noodles, shellfish noodles,
Speaker 1: tree noodles. Yeah, so, Sharine, I'm sorry to subject you
Speaker 1: to more tree horror of what happens to to tree. Um,
Speaker 1: but this one might be my my least favorite photo
Speaker 1: that I've seen some far. They're like in this document. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I do not like this one. I do
Speaker 1: not like it. Would it be would you be okay
Speaker 1: with describing what you're seeing or would you like me
Speaker 1: to give Yeah? Sure, Katie, really just really asking a
Speaker 1: lot right now? Okay, it's a tree. It's a big
Speaker 1: part in the tree, and um, there are all these
Speaker 1: circular orange looking balls embedded in the tree. But like
Speaker 1: everywhere that the holes are everywhere, there's more whole balls
Speaker 1: than there are tree bark that I can see. It's
Speaker 1: just like covered in these holes, and there's a bird
Speaker 1: looking thing. It's a bird on the tree, on the tree,
Speaker 1: and it's eating these balls out of the tree. Um.
Speaker 1: And honestly, knowing that or balls is less nauseating than
Speaker 1: like if they were worms coming out of it. It's
Speaker 1: not like it's like a weird squeezy toy with like
Speaker 1: stuff coming out, if that makes sense, right. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if that was a good explanation, but there.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like this, and I hope to
Speaker 1: never see anything like this again. Um. Yeah, Well, because
Speaker 1: you you do live in California, there is a chance
Speaker 1: you might see this. It also looks like I'm moving. Well,
Speaker 1: don't move to Oregon, the southwestern United States or South America.
Speaker 1: Don't move near oak forests. This is where you would
Speaker 1: find it. Um. So what you know, I love forest,
Speaker 1: I love Oregon. Also, do you know I'm allergic. I'm
Speaker 1: allergic to oak. So well, this is a deadly tree
Speaker 1: for me. Not deadly. I probably just get a rash.
Speaker 1: But you'd get a rash on your body and on
Speaker 1: your mind if you saw one of these, because this
Speaker 1: is an oak tree and what you're seeing, those orange
Speaker 1: balls are actually acorns. Oh oh, they do look like that.
Speaker 1: They have little acorn top, yes, and it's like a
Speaker 1: tree that has been Swiss cheese ified, and in every
Speaker 1: little hole is an individual acorn, which like when you
Speaker 1: see it's like, well, how does this happen? Like are
Speaker 1: the acorns going rogue and attacking their own kind? Is
Speaker 1: it like a squirrel mafia and they're getting into acorn gunfights?
Speaker 1: The key is that bird you see perched on the tree.
Speaker 1: So humans aren't the only ones who can find a
Speaker 1: nice meal stored in trees. Uh. Even though typically we
Speaker 1: think of squirrels when we think of storing acorns, there
Speaker 1: are other animals that enjoy a nice acorn uh. The
Speaker 1: acorn woodpecker uh is a really interesting type of woodpeckers.
Speaker 1: So woodpeckers of course peckwood. It's in in the day name.
Speaker 1: And usually they will drill out holes in wood for
Speaker 1: things like finding larva inside the tree, so they'll find
Speaker 1: a grub and pull it out. They can even drill
Speaker 1: a hole for their nest inside a tree. Sometimes they'll
Speaker 1: drink sap out of a tree. But the acorn woodpeckers
Speaker 1: takes it to another level where they will drill out
Speaker 1: holes as little cobby holes for acorns that they store
Speaker 1: to eat later. So well, a quick physical description of
Speaker 1: this acorn woodpecker. It looks like your standard woodpecker. It's
Speaker 1: a medium, So I thought that was woodpecker, but I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to go on the record being like
Speaker 1: that's a woodpecker and you're like no, yeah, yeah. I
Speaker 1: would have punished you for guessing. Yeah, you're not allowed,
Speaker 1: because I feel pretty silly now because they're so obviously acorns,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And I would just describe
Speaker 1: it that was like orange. I don't think you should
Speaker 1: feel silly because that's just not a place you expect
Speaker 1: acorns to be in, right, It's like like sure, if
Speaker 1: they were on the ground, you'd be like, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: an acorn. But they're embedded in a tree, so you're
Speaker 1: not gonna necessarily first jump to acorn. Yeah no, thank
Speaker 1: you for making me not feel less dumb. But but
Speaker 1: it's so interesting like this the habit, or about the habit,
Speaker 1: the fact that this bird is making these cobbies for
Speaker 1: like the self control of this bird has not just
Speaker 1: like gorge and all these savings, Like what how does
Speaker 1: it guarantee that other birds like it won't. It's it's share. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just think it's very fascinating, fascinating. Their behavior is
Speaker 1: so interesting. They're so meticulous and they take a lot
Speaker 1: of steps to ensure that these acorns are safe. They'll
Speaker 1: even so as the acorns dry out, because they save
Speaker 1: these acorns for a while they're preparing for the winter
Speaker 1: where there's less food sources available. It's very similar to
Speaker 1: what squirrels do, and they know, well they don't maybe
Speaker 1: consciously no, but as time goes on, acorns will actually
Speaker 1: dry out and shrink. They'll constrict as the moisture leaves
Speaker 1: the acorn. Even though there's the inside the shell and
Speaker 1: the acorn, there's still that meat of the acorn that
Speaker 1: is a great food source. But as the acorn gets smaller, uh,
Speaker 1: it's in danger of falling out of these holes. So
Speaker 1: the woodpecker actually takes it out of the larger hole
Speaker 1: and puts it in a smaller hole so it's less
Speaker 1: likely to followut. So it's constantly rearranging these acorns, making
Speaker 1: sure they're all snugly fit, and they're like they're like
Speaker 1: some kind of neurotic acorn librarian constantly reshuffling these acorns,
Speaker 1: putting in new acorns. Uh. And and you're absolutely right that,
Speaker 1: like it is tricky to make sure other birds don't
Speaker 1: come in and steal their acorns. So some of these
Speaker 1: woodpeckers in some regions have developed a strategy of teamwork,
Speaker 1: making the dream work. Uh. So they will form um
Speaker 1: what are called breeding collectives. So these are basically families
Speaker 1: that are staying together protecting their what is called a
Speaker 1: granary tree, so it's like where they're storing their acorns.
Speaker 1: And these these breeding collectives typically are something where you
Speaker 1: have um high related nous. So you'll have maybe three
Speaker 1: females who are all sisters, and then maybe they meet
Speaker 1: a group of seven males who are brothers. They're not
Speaker 1: related to the females, so you get that good genetic diversity.
Speaker 1: And but then they're like, hey, look at look at
Speaker 1: these hunky brothers. Come and mate with us, like this
Speaker 1: group of sisters. It's it's a it would definitely be
Speaker 1: like a TLC show if if these birds got a
Speaker 1: TLC deal. Um, that is so fascinating. Honestly, I kind
Speaker 1: of love these birds, like i I'm imagining them neurotically,
Speaker 1: like just rearranging these acorns like a puzzle or something,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, just like trying whatever. Um,
Speaker 1: the idea of an erotic bird makes me feel at
Speaker 1: peace knowing that there are other animals that are neurotic
Speaker 1: and not just um someone, So it's pretty we go ahead,
Speaker 1: go ahead. As someone with O c D. I do
Speaker 1: I do appreciate these birds? Yes, yes, I I too,
Speaker 1: exactly in the same way. I'm like, wow, this is it.
Speaker 1: I feel see thank you a corn Worth picker. But yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's funny, like I don't feel it's grossed out
Speaker 1: by this tree, knowing that it's just these cubbies for
Speaker 1: this food. Um, it's pretty adorable, to be honest. Not
Speaker 1: the tree itself, I will not say this adorable, but
Speaker 1: the act. Yeah, what what does what does wood picker
Speaker 1: is doing is pretty freaking cute. It's a it's a pantry,
Speaker 1: not not some kind of tree that's grown with horrible
Speaker 1: acorn eyeballs. Exactly exactly. Also, I want to the more
Speaker 1: we talked about acorns, like I want to try an acorn.
Speaker 1: Are acorns edible too? They are? But it requires preparations.
Speaker 1: So this is something that was done actually by the
Speaker 1: people who first lived here before Europeans came and colonized,
Speaker 1: which basically you have to because two acorns have um,
Speaker 1: they're toxic if you just eat the bra But you
Speaker 1: can make basically acorn meal and you can boil I
Speaker 1: think you boil out the more um acidic toxins out
Speaker 1: of the acorn, and then you can grind them up
Speaker 1: into an acorn meal. And this was actually used um
Speaker 1: as sort of a staple food often in a lot
Speaker 1: of civilizations in early America. M M, that sounds tasty.
Speaker 1: I want to try some acorn meal. I mean completely serious.
Speaker 1: Just make sure it's cooked. Don't go and eat raw acorns,
Speaker 1: because you'll get a stomach ache. You know. I'm glad
Speaker 1: you said that, because you never know if I was
Speaker 1: a hike one day and be like, oh, that was
Speaker 1: the time to try this acorn um. No, I I've
Speaker 1: enjoyed this segment. I thank you. I'm glad I know
Speaker 1: about this now. Well, you know, you probably if you
Speaker 1: did try to eat when you learn pretty quick that
Speaker 1: it's not something you can just eat raw like that. UM.
Speaker 1: They actually have a very better taste. It's well when
Speaker 1: you crack it. You can crack open. If you find
Speaker 1: an acorn on the ground, you can definitely explore inside
Speaker 1: the acorn. You can crack it open. You'll find the meat.
Speaker 1: If you're lucky, you'll find a grub actually inside. Sometimes
Speaker 1: an acorn will have a little hole and a grub
Speaker 1: will come in and eat that meat. Um. Which for
Speaker 1: a woodpecker, if some of their acorns get eaten by grubs,
Speaker 1: that's fine, they just eat the grubs. Um. For a human, arguably,
Speaker 1: it's still fine. You can just eat that grub. But uh,
Speaker 1: the meat is actually very bit it's soft. And I
Speaker 1: know this because my grandparents used to live in Ohi, California,
Speaker 1: where there's a ton of oak trees in their backyard
Speaker 1: which is covered absolutely covered in oak trees and um acorns,
Speaker 1: and I would collect a bunch as a kid, and
Speaker 1: of course I was curious, and of course I had
Speaker 1: to try eating one. And I tried it. It was
Speaker 1: terrible tasting. So you definitely need to prepare these the
Speaker 1: acorn before you actually eat it. Okay, okay, I'll keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. Also, glad you're not dead, you acorn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a surprise to me as well. There are so
Speaker 1: many things that look back on and I'm just like,
Speaker 1: how am I still here? But I'm glad that in
Speaker 1: my opinion, as I was scrolling through this document in
Speaker 1: the beginning, that what I thought was the worst image
Speaker 1: is now not so bad because of this cubby woodpecker deal.
Speaker 1: So I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm I'm glad. Sometimes
Speaker 1: knowledge is all, It's all it takes to turn a
Speaker 1: nightmare into an adorable woodland story. However, there is still
Speaker 1: some some drama with these woodpeckers because they form these
Speaker 1: like cohesive units, these family units. Off in the offspring
Speaker 1: will stay and help with rear the chicks and stuff.
Speaker 1: You have this group of woodpeckers and they're able to
Speaker 1: defend that granary pretty well. But what happens when one
Speaker 1: of the woodpeckers dies or this woodpecker group destabilizes is
Speaker 1: you start to get a bunch of interlopers who rush in.
Speaker 1: There can be something like other species of birds like
Speaker 1: scrub jays come flock over to try to steal as
Speaker 1: many acorns as they can while that group of woodpeckers
Speaker 1: is in disarray. But you also have uh members of
Speaker 1: the same species, other acorn woodpeckers who come in either
Speaker 1: to spectate. So there are these woodpeckers who are not
Speaker 1: necessarily ready to try to find a nest site, but
Speaker 1: they still just come to kind of be looky lose,
Speaker 1: which is really interesting. They will fly for many miles
Speaker 1: just to see, like, hey, is what's going on here?
Speaker 1: And they watch like they're watching a TV show, like
Speaker 1: a drama. Um. But in addition to them, there are
Speaker 1: these warrior warrior woodpeckers who have come to actually try
Speaker 1: to fight for a vacant breeding spot in this group.
Speaker 1: So it is quite quite a drama, and it's just
Speaker 1: so funny to imagine all these birds are you and
Speaker 1: you have these thieves from another species trying to steal
Speaker 1: the acorn, and then other acorn woodpeckers fighting and bickering
Speaker 1: over who gets to take the empty nest spot, and
Speaker 1: then these other woodpeckers just sitting on the sidelines eating
Speaker 1: a little like tiny tub of popcorn or something going
Speaker 1: like you know, like huh, I never knew ryl like
Speaker 1: had quite the strong clause. Just that is so freaking fascinating.
Speaker 1: I that is just like the acorn wars or honestly,
Speaker 1: don't tell anyone about this idea, but I think this
Speaker 1: is a great Pixar movie. Right, Let's work on this
Speaker 1: Pixar movie. Absolutely right. I've generated so much free content
Speaker 1: for Pixar. I'm shocked I have not received a check
Speaker 1: in the mail from them, honestly. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it is begging to be a movie. Yeah, there's like
Speaker 1: so many frack factions, fractions. There's so there's so many
Speaker 1: factions of like these birds and these like motivations, and
Speaker 1: like the fact that they all have their own personalities,
Speaker 1: whether it's like the spectator or like with the people
Speaker 1: that want to become the people the birds that want
Speaker 1: to become warriors. I just think it's what an interesting
Speaker 1: little species species. Yeah, it's I mean it makes me
Speaker 1: feel like where when humans watch trash TV, because I
Speaker 1: mean everybody loves a little bit of trash TV, myself included,
Speaker 1: whether it's rubber necking that's what they call it when
Speaker 1: you're like even on the freeway. Yeah, yeah, exactly, whether
Speaker 1: you love to watch a soap opera or reality TV.
Speaker 1: At least it's not just us. It's also woodpeckers m
Speaker 1: not so different. They're just like us, Like the Star magazine.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna talk about I mean, we just talked
Speaker 1: about woodpecker drama, but this is this is like some
Speaker 1: drama layered upon drama, like some kind of drama sandwich
Speaker 1: or drama like parfait. It's it's layers and layers here,
Speaker 1: and it is what happens when a parasite is itself
Speaker 1: victimized by another parasite. So there is something called a
Speaker 1: goal wasp, and these are wasps that they may not
Speaker 1: actually look like a wasp to us, because when when
Speaker 1: we think of a wasp, we think of the black
Speaker 1: and yellow sort of you know, menacing looking stinging things.
Speaker 1: But these are actually kind of chunky. They're black with
Speaker 1: these red legs, so they don't really look like a
Speaker 1: wasp um and they're not really threatening. They don't believe
Speaker 1: they really sting um. And the only case in which
Speaker 1: you should be afraid of these wasps are if you
Speaker 1: are an oak tree, a maple tree, a rose bush,
Speaker 1: or basically any kind of plant unlucky enough to make
Speaker 1: this gall wasp uh look you up and down and
Speaker 1: decide to be an unwelcome guest. Nice I am looking
Speaker 1: at the It's like a little chunky guy. You're right, yeah,
Speaker 1: chunky chunkster. Yeah. Interesting, I didn't know that that thing existed, said,
Speaker 1: I don't believe it stings humans, but it does. It
Speaker 1: is a menace to plants and trees. Have you ever
Speaker 1: seen on an oak tree something that looks like this
Speaker 1: year ball like a growth tree or yeah, it's like maybe, yeah,
Speaker 1: I can imagine that. Yeah, I mean there's a photo
Speaker 1: there for you. It just based. It just looks sort
Speaker 1: of like a like a ball growing on branch and
Speaker 1: like little yeah, and you were called galls. They're called galls,
Speaker 1: and you only find them like occasionally, and they're sort
Speaker 1: of bizarre because I remember seeing these as a kid
Speaker 1: growing up, of course with my weird interactions with oak trees,
Speaker 1: and like picking one and being like thinking it was
Speaker 1: like some kind of fruit, but when you open it up,
Speaker 1: what you're going to find it's actually some wasp larvae.
Speaker 1: So the wasp, the gall wasp will lay their eggs
Speaker 1: inside the flesh of the plant and induce the plant
Speaker 1: to form a gall, which is usually it's kind of
Speaker 1: like a hollow plant pearl. You know how oysters will
Speaker 1: form a pearl from an irritation, like a little piece
Speaker 1: of sand or maybe a pair or a site and
Speaker 1: form this protective coating around it. Plants seem to do
Speaker 1: the same thing, so it is a spherical growth that
Speaker 1: can happen on the branches, on the leaves, on the roots,
Speaker 1: even flower buds, and it's this like round kind of
Speaker 1: growth thing, or sometimes like if it's on a leaf,
Speaker 1: it's a little flatter, so it looks more like a
Speaker 1: like a doughnut or something, or a cheerio um. But uh,
Speaker 1: it's growing around this implanted egg or these implanted eggs
Speaker 1: that the wasps leave. And how the wasp actually makes
Speaker 1: the plant create this growth is not entirely well understood.
Speaker 1: There's some theories that's maybe either a chemical or physical
Speaker 1: trigger that like makes the plant react defensively. But this
Speaker 1: defense is actually working in the favor of the wasp
Speaker 1: larva because as this thing grows around little larva, it
Speaker 1: not only provides protection to the larva, but inside that
Speaker 1: ball is going to be some fleshy meat of the
Speaker 1: plant that the larva can feed on as it develops.
Speaker 1: So it basically tricks the plant or the tree to
Speaker 1: grow a crib for the larva, and the cribs walls
Speaker 1: are just lined with food and so it can happily
Speaker 1: eat inside the skull be really safe and cozy. Uh
Speaker 1: inside this ball that you'll find on something like an
Speaker 1: oak tree. That is so fascinating. That is so fascinating.
Speaker 1: I mean for my first instinct, I'm sorry, but I
Speaker 1: was like, this is like the balls of the tree.
Speaker 1: But it's so much more than that. Yeah, what a
Speaker 1: what a weird I mean yeah, used the things trees
Speaker 1: do never see. Like, there's just so many things that
Speaker 1: people probably are not aware of. And honestly, the little
Speaker 1: gall wasp, it's a pretty cute guy. If they're just
Speaker 1: trying to start a family. They are, they are. I
Speaker 1: find them cute. I think they're kind of like chunky
Speaker 1: and bumbly looking. Yeah, they're like fuzzy little guy. There's
Speaker 1: this little guys. Unfortunately, even though this plan is pretty
Speaker 1: good in terms of protecting the gall wasp larva, and
Speaker 1: then like once they metamorphosized into adults, they will bore
Speaker 1: a whole out of the gall and emerge well nourished
Speaker 1: and safe. Sometimes the best plans go awry, and that
Speaker 1: is when your your parasitic Uh, your parasitic plans are
Speaker 1: interrupted by another parasite. So there is something called the
Speaker 1: crypt keeper wasp which has a creepy name. Uh, it
Speaker 1: doesn't look that creepy, but its behavior is definitely definitely
Speaker 1: sus Uh. So the crypt keeper wasp is found in
Speaker 1: the US, and it is an iridescent green and blue
Speaker 1: wasp that it doesn't look that menacing, and it's really
Speaker 1: not if you're a human. It's got these fuffy antenna
Speaker 1: and they don't really typically sting people. Um, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's beautiful. It is genuinely maybe the prettiest insect I've
Speaker 1: seen in my life. It's so like, yeah, you're indescent
Speaker 1: and the color is just straight out of euphor you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's got it's definitely an aesthetic and it look
Speaker 1: it looks like a little insect fairy. It looks kind
Speaker 1: of dainty with these little funny antenna. It is not
Speaker 1: it is not by any means menacing, menacing or grotesque looking.
Speaker 1: Their behavior though, it's not about what you look like
Speaker 1: on the outside, it's what's on the inside and inside
Speaker 1: these are creepy little fiends. So, uh, the crypt keeper
Speaker 1: wasp will find the galls of the gall wasp. Those
Speaker 1: those little cribs. Basically that the gall lops have tricked
Speaker 1: the plant into forming these cocoons made out of plant material,
Speaker 1: and they will bore a little hole in them and
Speaker 1: lay it's larva inside. So now you've got two larva
Speaker 1: inside this gall. You have the gall lost larva and
Speaker 1: the crypt keeper wasp larva. And that's just the beginning
Speaker 1: of it, because it gets seriously weird. The crypt keeper
Speaker 1: larva bites down onto the gal lop larva and somehow
Speaker 1: mind controls it to start metamorphosizing into an adult ahead
Speaker 1: of schedule and start burrowing out of the gall early.
Speaker 1: But what happens is, because it has hijacked at the
Speaker 1: gal wasps normal metamorphosis, it actually turns into this weird
Speaker 1: thing where it's like burrows a hole that's too small
Speaker 1: for it, so it can only squeeze its head out,
Speaker 1: and then it gets duck. And then what the crypt
Speaker 1: keeper lava does is starts eating the goal wasp from
Speaker 1: the butt up to the head. So the head is
Speaker 1: protecting the crypt keeper larva by blocking this entrance that
Speaker 1: the crypt keeper has forced this goal wasp to make,
Speaker 1: and so it gets to eat the rest of its
Speaker 1: body it's like, you know the thing where like remember
Speaker 1: when Pooh Bear gets stuck in in that hole. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like if piglets started eating Pooh Bear from
Speaker 1: the butt up and just leaving his head as like
Speaker 1: a door. That is so unsettling. I take back everything
Speaker 1: I said about this beautiful insect. That is so unsettling,
Speaker 1: that is so just left up. I cannot get over that.
Speaker 1: That's I mean, I know animals and insects do crazy things.
Speaker 1: I totally understand, but like that is demented. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: It's like it's insidious. Yeah, it's mean. I just like
Speaker 1: to imagine you scolding this little wasp out now, just
Speaker 1: like like shaking your finger and it's like, stop being mean.
Speaker 1: You're being mean. Yeah it is, but it is objectively
Speaker 1: just a little bit mean and really really left up.
Speaker 1: It's rude. It's rude. It's it's a very uh, it's
Speaker 1: a party foul, it's a it's an evil little guys.
Speaker 1: It's just brewing. It's like it's it's it's seed where
Speaker 1: it's not welcome, eating what's already there, and then just
Speaker 1: like making like I don't know, it's just it's all
Speaker 1: very strategic, manipulative, and like, I guess, is there another
Speaker 1: way for this creep crypt keeper wasp to spawn or
Speaker 1: is this like, like, is there a motivation for doing
Speaker 1: it this way versus another way? Yeah, so the motivation
Speaker 1: is I mean, it's very machiavellian. It's it not only
Speaker 1: gets to have a free home, right, it deposits as
Speaker 1: larva somewhere where it's safe. The larva also gets extra nutrition.
Speaker 1: And by making the goal wasp chew its way out
Speaker 1: of the goal, uh, it increases the chance of the
Speaker 1: crypt keeper's survival because that it takes effort to board
Speaker 1: its way out of this this goal. So crypt keepers
Speaker 1: who don't uh somehow they don't do that mind control
Speaker 1: and don't make the gal wasp drill its own drill
Speaker 1: the exit for it actually have a lower chance of survival.
Speaker 1: And when they are when they do metamorphosize and they
Speaker 1: are ready to to emerge, they just chew through the
Speaker 1: head and pop about the Yeah it's not it's snarly.
Speaker 1: It's snarly. The mind control thing is is wild to me. Wait, so,
Speaker 1: like so in most cases they just leave the head there, Well,
Speaker 1: they leave the head there while they're still chilling out
Speaker 1: inside of the gall, like eating the eating the flesh
Speaker 1: of both the both the gall wasp and also the
Speaker 1: probably I think they also eat the inside of the
Speaker 1: gall so they're um, just just hanging having a good time,
Speaker 1: being a weird little freak. And then they they leave
Speaker 1: the head there while they're still inside, because that is
Speaker 1: protect that's basically acting as a door. It's protecting them
Speaker 1: from other intruders. So yes, it's pretty you know, it's
Speaker 1: pretty insidious. That is mean and evil, and the gall
Speaker 1: laws was so cute and these be sad that it
Speaker 1: has these like predators that are technically part of the
Speaker 1: same little family but are mind controlling and eating them
Speaker 1: from them. But up they're just trying to do their thing.
Speaker 1: Like is really being that uh offensive or like in
Speaker 1: this crypt keeper wasps way. Yeah, I mean I'm always
Speaker 1: with the underdog, yeah, even if the upper dog, upper dog,
Speaker 1: even if the other side is so beautiful, yeah, the
Speaker 1: upper dog. Yeah. I do think this would also make
Speaker 1: a good like kind of like a high school movie,
Speaker 1: you know, where you have the pretty popular upper dog
Speaker 1: wasp and then maybe the sort of maybe not as
Speaker 1: glitzy and shiny, but adorable in her own way wasp
Speaker 1: and then she just gets eaten by the uh by
Speaker 1: the popular Tina Wasp. It's like our tim Burton. It's
Speaker 1: like our Timberton version of a Pixar movie. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: to be kind of dark and weird. Um, but I
Speaker 1: think we can make it happen. Yeah. I would like
Speaker 1: to see like a high school team musical but they
Speaker 1: eat each other like like sort of cannibalize. You know,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't I that was I don't actually want to
Speaker 1: see that now that I'm thinking about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: but it is really fascinating. I had no idea that
Speaker 1: animals or not. I guess they're insects, but like they
Speaker 1: mind controlling thing is still kind of tripping me out.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, yeah know, it's really bizarre, and I don't
Speaker 1: think they know exactly what they're how they're doing it.
Speaker 1: My guests, my my guests. That will probably have to
Speaker 1: put my foot in my mouth for later, but it
Speaker 1: I think it's probably some kind of chemical that the
Speaker 1: the crypt keeper parasite. It's actually technically a parasitoid, not
Speaker 1: a parasite, because like a parasite will live off its
Speaker 1: host over long periods of time, whereas a parasitoid actually
Speaker 1: will devour its host eventually like kill it. So the
Speaker 1: but anyways, back to what I was saying is I
Speaker 1: bet what it's doing is like excreting some chemical that
Speaker 1: stimulates some kind of like hormone production inside the gall wasp,
Speaker 1: causing that premature development, which also causes it to prematurely
Speaker 1: try to bore out of the gall. But because it's premature,
Speaker 1: it's unable to get all the way out. The whole
Speaker 1: size isn't quite right, and so it's like it sounds
Speaker 1: like there's it's it's just it's just so weird. Though
Speaker 1: to me, it blows my mind as well that something
Speaker 1: can like I mean, obviously each individual crypt keeper is
Speaker 1: not figuring this out on its own, but that evolution
Speaker 1: can have such a twisted, twisted pathway to create such
Speaker 1: a devious parasite. But we we see it happen over
Speaker 1: and over again. Yeah, like to hijack another intersects like
Speaker 1: growth cycle or you know what I mean that is
Speaker 1: that is yeah, can't get over that as baffled, Well,
Speaker 1: I think, uh, I think we have thoroughly freaked out Sharine.
Speaker 1: But before we go, I do need to answer an
Speaker 1: important question, and that's guests Who's squawking? Every week we
Speaker 1: play the guests who squawking Mystery Animal sound game. I
Speaker 1: will play an animal sound and you guys out there, uh,
Speaker 1: we'll try to guess who is making that sound last
Speaker 1: week's mystery animal sound. Uh. So, first let's find out
Speaker 1: the answer to last week's mysteries sound. The hint was
Speaker 1: this is what happens when you get a little too
Speaker 1: nosy with this group. Yeah, so sharene, do you have
Speaker 1: any guesses for who's squawking? That's there's a lot going
Speaker 1: on in that soundclip. I I don't even know. It
Speaker 1: sounded a little bit like a donkey. At times, it
Speaker 1: sounded a little bit like a bird that was getting squished. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I have a feeling it's going to not be
Speaker 1: as simple as as a donkey or as a a bird. Um.
Speaker 1: But squawking does make me feel like it has to
Speaker 1: be a bird. But it doesn't have to be a bird.
Speaker 1: That's why the game is called right. Yeah, no, it
Speaker 1: does not have to be a bird. It can be
Speaker 1: basically any any living animal on the planet, any living organism. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so the donkey guest is very good you actually share
Speaker 1: that guest with my guest on the podcast last week.
Speaker 1: I think it's a really good guess. I will be honest,
Speaker 1: if I had to try to guess this, I don't
Speaker 1: think I would get it. So um, but uh, this
Speaker 1: is actually a troop of proboscis monkeys. So oh, that's
Speaker 1: what it is. And I was a second guess. You
Speaker 1: should have You should have gone with that. You should
Speaker 1: have gone with that one. I know I was on
Speaker 1: the tip of your tongue. Congratulations to everyone who gets
Speaker 1: correctly in the through fastest were of course our resident
Speaker 1: champion antib and Saga E and China s. Good job,
Speaker 1: you guys, really impressive. So Proboscis monkeys are old world
Speaker 1: monkeys found in Borneo. They have a really distinctive look.
Speaker 1: They have these pot bellies is sort of like flat,
Speaker 1: almost comb overlooking hairstyle of orange fur. They have these
Speaker 1: pink faces and for the males they have this really long,
Speaker 1: floppy nose. It do you know, like I think I've
Speaker 1: seen you were Like the image that you're conjuring up
Speaker 1: is bringing up an image that you remember, like Ziggy,
Speaker 1: that old newspaper comic. Uh. Like there's also like the
Speaker 1: kilroy was here thing with that little character with the
Speaker 1: big like um big nose or like in Popeye cartoons.
Speaker 1: I think there's like another one. It looks like that
Speaker 1: like Carton. Yeah, like that cartoon, um big nose. Like
Speaker 1: that's like looks like if you kind of like had
Speaker 1: sort of a half half filled water balloon and like
Speaker 1: it's like squid words nose. I'm sorry I didn't reach
Speaker 1: for the obvious thing. It's a squid word nose. So, um,
Speaker 1: this is the proboscis. Uh. It's called a proboscis. You
Speaker 1: can call it a nose. Um. So it's only in
Speaker 1: the males that they have the squid word nose. And
Speaker 1: it's because the females find it hot. They think it's
Speaker 1: really attractive. They're able to produce louder calls with this
Speaker 1: bigger roboscis uh, and so females really enjoy that. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're highly vocal. They will make numerous vocalizations communicating
Speaker 1: with each other. So what you heard in this clip
Speaker 1: was like a whole bunch of them. And so those
Speaker 1: weird like honking, grunting noises were probably coming from the
Speaker 1: males with their big floppy squidward noises. Interesting, that is
Speaker 1: very fascinating. Uh wow, another Pixar movie. I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: everything is a Pixtar movie. Um, then you forget that
Speaker 1: like movies are based on real life and not that
Speaker 1: like real life is her mind. I'm getting to two
Speaker 1: in my head here. I think maybe these these monkeys
Speaker 1: were designed by someone out of cal arts. That makes sense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So onto this week's mystery animal. Sound. Here is the hint.
Speaker 1: It's sounds like an adorable squeaking mouse, except it has
Speaker 1: way too many legs to be a mouse. Sharene who
Speaker 1: do you think it's squawking? Here? I do not know.
Speaker 1: It has to be has to have more than four legs.
Speaker 1: So I was thinking it's an insect potentially, or I mean,
Speaker 1: I can't be an octopus. I imagine octopus and everything
Speaker 1: else that have legs under the ocean maybe aren't audible.
Speaker 1: Um maybe I'm wrong? Who knows? Um wow? I yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of want to say it's like a cicada.
Speaker 1: Looking it's not a cicada. It's not that noise, but
Speaker 1: I kind of think it's like this, like a cricket,
Speaker 1: like and act or something. And if not, what kind
Speaker 1: of animal has more than four legs. I feel dumb.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be so obvious. Well,
Speaker 1: these are very good guesses. I'll give you that, So
Speaker 1: don't feel dumb. Yeah, and it's either like an insect
Speaker 1: or like a starfish or but it's not a starfish.
Speaker 1: I know it's not a starfish. But yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it's like a weird insect thing that pops up
Speaker 1: in the springtime or something. You know. Well, that is
Speaker 1: a very good guess. Uh. I will reveal the answer
Speaker 1: to this week's gives hoo squawking on next creature feature
Speaker 1: next Wednesday. So sharing, thank you so much for joining
Speaker 1: me today and for enduring the weird, grizzly things that
Speaker 1: happened to these trees. Yeah, I I feel better than
Speaker 1: I did an hour ago. Um, I'm glad we got
Speaker 1: through it. I feel like I learned a lot. You know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of fascinating stuff that trees do that
Speaker 1: I had no idea about. So I appreciate you talking
Speaker 1: to me through them. Yeah, you learned a lot. You
Speaker 1: made some some new friends with these gossipy woodpeckers. Um,
Speaker 1: where can people find you? You can find me on
Speaker 1: the internet if you wish, I'm on Twitter at shiro
Speaker 1: hero six six six and on Instagram at shiro hero um.
Speaker 1: I just released another poetry book. If you guys want that,
Speaker 1: just d n me. I'm doing bundles of both of them.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know if I'm still going on anyway,
Speaker 1: I'm i'm a I'm around just if you just look
Speaker 1: me up. You don't have to like it, but you
Speaker 1: do have to. Actually, I'm I'm laying down the law.
Speaker 1: You must lick her up. There will be consequences if
Speaker 1: you don't. Of course, if you think you know who's
Speaker 1: squawkings this week, or if you want to write to
Speaker 1: me a question, a comment, picture of your pet, you
Speaker 1: can write a Creature feature pot at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: I'm also on the internet at Creature Feature Pod on
Speaker 1: Instagram and Creature feed Pod on Twitter. That's f e
Speaker 1: A T, not f e ET. That is something very different.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the
Speaker 1: show and you leave a rating or review, I read
Speaker 1: all the reviews. I tape them up all over my walls,
Speaker 1: like I think from that movie The Shining or something. Anyways,
Speaker 1: I I do love reading the reviews, so I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it whenever someone takes the time to leave one.
Speaker 1: And thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome
Speaker 1: song excel Alumina. Creature features a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit
Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or Hey, guess
Speaker 1: what where have you listened to your favorite podcast, even
Speaker 1: if it's like inside a rotting log I don't judge you.
Speaker 1: See you next Wednesday.