WEBVTT - Why Do Animals Sploot?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>Rain Stuff Lauren Vogel Bomb Here. Do you ever come

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<v Speaker 1>home on a hot day and just lie down on

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<v Speaker 1>your cool kitchen floor? Does it sometimes happen that someone

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<v Speaker 1>else then walks into the room and expresses concern for

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<v Speaker 1>your health? Well, welcome to the life of a squirrel.

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<v Speaker 1>In the summer, the squirrels get hot just like the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of us mammals, and when this happens, they lie

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<v Speaker 1>flat on their bellies with their front legs stretched out

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<v Speaker 1>before them and their back legs kicked out behind. This

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<v Speaker 1>position has been dubbed a splut by pet enthusiasts on

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<v Speaker 1>the Internet, and perhaps originally to describe the same behavior

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<v Speaker 1>spluting in dogs and cats. The Collins English Dictionary contains

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<v Speaker 1>a brief definition for splute, suggesting that it's perhaps altered

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<v Speaker 1>from splat. Scientists call it heat dumping. Although all mammals

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<v Speaker 1>have sweat glands, it's actually pretty rare for mammals to

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<v Speaker 1>use them to cool down the way that we humans do.

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<v Speaker 1>Most mammals only have sweat glands on the soles of

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<v Speaker 1>their feet and palms of their hands. This is intended

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<v Speaker 1>to help provide grip during emergency climbing or leaping. But

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<v Speaker 1>because many mammals have much thicker coats of fur or

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<v Speaker 1>hair than we humans do, cooling by producing all over

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<v Speaker 1>sweat that can then evaporate wouldn't work as well as

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<v Speaker 1>it does for us. This is why many animals like cats, dogs, birds,

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<v Speaker 1>and lizards pant, and why some splute. But while it

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<v Speaker 1>makes a lot of sense on a hot day to

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<v Speaker 1>expose the maximum amount of your body surface area to

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<v Speaker 1>a cool surface, when wildlife does it, people tend to

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<v Speaker 1>freak out a little. The New York City Department of

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<v Speaker 1>Parks and Recreation received enough concerned calls about splitting squirrels

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<v Speaker 1>in the summer of two that they felt cold to

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<v Speaker 1>tweet a photo of a squirrel belly down on the

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<v Speaker 1>ground and all four paws outstretched like Superman, with this message,

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<v Speaker 1>if you see a squirrel lying down like this, don't worry.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just fine. On hot days, squirrels keep cool by splouting,

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<v Speaker 1>stretching out on cool surfaces to reduce body heat. It

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<v Speaker 1>is sometimes referred to as heat dumping. Splouting can be

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<v Speaker 1>observed in many warm blooded animals when the temperature soars.

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<v Speaker 1>The only real necessity is that the surface upon which

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<v Speaker 1>the animal is spluting be cooler than the surrounding air.

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<v Speaker 1>You can observe everything from grizzly bears spouting on rocky beaches,

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<v Speaker 1>to rabbits, chipmunks, and even young birds stretching out to

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<v Speaker 1>cool off. The reason for the face down position is

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<v Speaker 1>that most mammals and birds have less fur and feathers

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<v Speaker 1>on their underside than on their back, which allows for

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<v Speaker 1>the cool surface to make more contact with their skin.

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<v Speaker 1>Adult birds tend to stay in an alert up right position,

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<v Speaker 1>but they will fluff out their feathers and extend their

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<v Speaker 1>wings while crouching over a cool surface to increase air flow.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a bit more efficient than simply moving into the shade,

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<v Speaker 1>and definitely a lot more pleasant than what some storks

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<v Speaker 1>and vultures do to cool off, which is poop on

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<v Speaker 1>their own legs. Being mostly liquid, the poop acts much

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<v Speaker 1>like our sweat and helps them cool down as a evaporates.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article it spluting It's

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<v Speaker 1>what all the cool squirrels are doing this summer on

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<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com, written by Jesslin Shields. Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang.

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