You're listening to Brains On, where we're serious about being curious. Brains On is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation. If only... Anyone knew what it was like to be me, a misunderstood vampire bat. I'm sorry. I couldn't help but overhear you. Did you say you're a vampire bat? I did. A very misunderstood one. Why so misunderstood? It's my name, you see. People hear the word vampire and they run away screaming. Or throw garlic at me. I mean...
Actually love how garlic smells, so that's not so bad. But still, no one understands what it's like to be me. I think I understand. At least a little. You? Who are you anyway? The name Squid. Vampire Squid. Vampire Squid? You mean you also have vampire in your name? I never thought I'd see the day. Well, the day is here, Vampire Bat. You're not alone anymore. And I think we could make beautiful music together.
And then, Molly, the squid and bat break out into a song. You know, because it's a musical. And it's going to be simply spine tingling. The song's working title is I'm Not a Monster. It goes something like this. Mr. Bonejangles, I... love to hear more about the new musical you're working on um squiddler on the roof yes right your new musical squiddler on the roof but i have to go tape an episode right now Okay, well, just think on it. I only need a few more investors for a shot at Broadway.
You're listening to Brains On from APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom and my co-host is Quinn from Rosemount, Minnesota. Hi, Quinn. Hi, Molly. It's October, the time of year when we like to have a little creepy Halloweeny fun. So we decided to do an episode all about vampires. Quinn, what comes to mind when I say vampires? Vampires, I know that they're not real, but vampire stories creep me out. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. So...
Have you seen vampire movies, heard vampire stories? Like what kind of vampires have you heard about? I've heard about Dracula, definitely. Yeah, it's a little creepy to imagine a creature with fangs that wants to suck our blood. Yeah. Have you encountered any other blood-sucking creatures like mosquitoes or ticks? Oh, yeah. Whenever me and my family have gone camping, we've seen mosquitoes and ticks a lot. Yeah. Minnesota, we love mosquitoes. Well, I shouldn't say we love.
Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes love us in Minnesota. Do you get itchy when you get mosquito bites? Yes, I do. Me too. What's your favorite remedy to get over the itchiness? We have this thing at home called the bug bite thing, and it sucks all the juice out of your bug bite, and it makes it itch not at all. That sounds amazing. Yeah. My daughter's been putting toothpaste on her bug bites, and she swears by it.
I haven't tried it yet, but she's like, Mom, you've got to try this. It's a little toothpaste, and it works. I usually just take ice to it or cross it with my fingernail. Oh, yeah. I've done that, too. That just kind of hurts. And then it still itches. Yeah. It's not the best. So tell me, do you love Halloween things?
Yes, I love Halloween. At home, we love to like decorate the house for Halloween. And this year, since I love Broadway, I'm going to be Elphaba from the Broadway musical Wicked. Perfect. Yes. And there's a movie coming out of that too. Yeah. Are you pretty excited? Yeah, I'm really excited. Okay, so Elphaba, tell me how you're going to do the costume.
So we just bought like a witch costume and then we bought like a green face paint stick and we're going to paint my face green. Yeah, because like her main thing is that she has green skin. Yeah. So you have to do all your skin. That's going to be really fun. Yeah. And then in Minnesota sometimes you...
have to plan for a coat or something because sometimes it's cold for trick-or-treating do you have like a coat plan that you can work into your costume well my costume is all long-sleeved so perfect good but other years i've had to like wear coats and snow pants underneath my costume One year I dressed as a quilt for Halloween because it was so cold and my normal costume wasn't going to work. So I just pretended I was a quilt. Oh, cool. That's one way to get around it, I guess. Yeah.
All right, Quinn, let's get to it. As you said, vampires don't exist. They're a made-up legend that's been around for over a thousand years. There are stories of vampire-like creatures all throughout history, from ancient Greece to China to medieval Europe. There are lots of different versions. In some of the stories, vampires have pale skin and sharp teeth called fangs.
Sometimes they're super strong. And some legends say that sunlight weakens a vampire, so they sleep during the day and only come out at night. In other stories, vampires can turn themselves into a bat. Or a wolf. These are only stories, but people have been fascinated with the idea of vampires for a very long time. You can find them in all kinds of books, TV shows, and movies. Like Dracula.
The Count from Sesame Street. Ah, that's one. One bat. Two. Two bats. Three. Three fabulous flyers. Ah, ah, ah. Or Vampirina, a cartoon about a vampire kid who sings in a band called the Ghoul Girls. Or even one of my favorite books, Bunnicula. It's about a vampire-like bunny that sucks the juices out of vegetables. Aw, so cute. It is cute. Since vampires aren't real, today we're going to turn our attention to bloodsuckers that do exist. There are lots of them and they are super fascinating.
Some of them you've probably heard of, like mosquitoes, ticks, and lice. But others might surprise you. Like, did you know that some... Birds drink blood? Strange, but true. Yes. One tiny finch in the Galapagos Islands pecks at the skin of seabirds and then laps up the blood. There's also a fish that lives in the Amazon River in South America. It's called the toothpick fish.
This little fish sneaks under the gills of a bigger fish, and then, you guessed it, it drinks its blood. Blood might not sound tasty to us, but it's got vitamins and nutrients. That's why so many different animals drink it. Today, we're going to get to know one of these blood-sucking creatures, maybe one of the most famous ones out there. It even has vampire in its name. Vampire Bats!
Vampire bats live in Central and South America, from Mexico all the way down to Chile. And get this. Vampire bats are the only mammal that survives entirely on blood. That might sound kind of creepy, but vampire bats are seriously cool creatures. To learn more, we talked with someone who knows a lot about them. My name is Dr. Mae Dixon. I'm a vampire bat researcher, and I work at The Ohio State University.
May has spent years studying vampire bats in Panama. Panama is a long, narrow country that connects North and South America like a land bridge. And it has a lot of vampire bats. These baddies are pretty small, about the size of a lemon. They have fluffy, soft brown bodies, leathery wings, and big pointy ears that stick straight up. Their faces are also super wrinkly, like a raisin. Mei says that every vampire bat has a unique face, just like humans.
They have very distinct faces, and for the people who love them, they look very different, and you can even tell them apart by their faces. How they hunt is also super cool. Picture this. It's dusk. The sun has just set, and it's getting dark outside. Vampire bats are starting to come out. They're popping their heads out of caves and other hidey holes. One little bat sniffs something with her powerful nose.
And she hears something, too. She's looking for a cow, pig, or other large animal whose blood she can sip. Our bat friend finds an animal by sniffing around for its smell and listening for its breathing. Then, Mae says, the bat lands on the ground. So, first of all, vampire bats are so unusual for bats because they can walk.
So they fly, they often approach their prey flying, but then they can land on the ground and they use their really elongated thumbs to walk or even run on the ground. And by doing that, they can land on the ground. an animal or nearby and approach them very stealthily. That's right. Vampire bats can walk on their thumbs. And sometimes they even hop like little rabbits.
But even though they're called vampire bats, they don't actually suck out the blood. They have a different way of getting it. Right. Once our bat buddy finds a cow or other big animal, she makes a tiny cut with her teeth and laps up the blood. Here's the really cool thing. Her spit has a special chemical in it that keeps the cut from hurting the animal.
You don't have to be afraid of vampire bats. They hardly ever bite humans. And even though vampire bats sometimes get a bad rap, May says there are so many fascinating and surprising things about these creatures. Like how they have best friends. Most bats are social, but vampire bats take that to the next level. They're incredibly social. Vampire bats have... best friends and friendships and in these friendships they
They hang out really close to each other, grooming and cleaning one another. Vampire rats are just so affectionate towards each other. They spend a huge amount of time hanging out, hugging, essentially, with their wings wrapped around each other. Vampire bat besties even call back and forth to each other. May shared a recording of these bat calls with us. Bats make sounds that are so high-pitched, it's hard for our human ears to hear them.
But if we slow them way down, we can hear the noises they make. Check it out. I bet they're talking about how they're best friends. Best baddie friends forever. BBFFs. They probably have friendship bracelets and secret bat handshakes. And bat sleepovers. May says friendship and cooperation are really important for vampire bats. Bat friends even share food with each other and can save each other's lives.
It's really hard to be a vampire bat. Blood is not a great food, actually. It's hard to store fat if you're eating blood. And so if bats... miss a meal, they can be in real danger because they can starve after only three days of not eating. So if a bat comes back to the roost and it's hungry, it hasn't eaten. Its best friends will share their own food with the other bat and can save their lives that way. That's true friendship.
Seriously, May says vampire bats are super cool creatures that deserve our respect and care. I think we're often afraid of animals we don't understand. And vampire bats live such different lives than us. And I think... Because of that, they feel alien to us. But just because we don't understand something doesn't mean we can't admire and respect it.
They're beautiful. They're amazing. They're fascinating. And they can teach us a lot if we learn from them and pay attention to them. And I think they really are deserving of our attention. We're going to talk about another amazing creature with vampire in its name in just a moment. But first, take a bite out of this, Quinn. It's time for the... Are you ready, Quinn? Yes. All right, here it is. What do you think?
I think it's someone in a pool going underwater and screaming into the microphone. I think you're right. That's exactly what that's very Halloween-y, don't you think? Yeah. I love it. Let's hear it one more time. Yeah. What do you think? I'm going to stick with my guests for now because I hear all the people in the background and then I hear the person taking the breath to go underwater. Excellent ears, Quinn. Well, we're going to hear it again.
Get another chance to guess and hear the answer after the credits at the end of the show. We're working on an episode all about whale communication. Whales talk to each other using different sounds like clicking and singing, but a lot of times we don't know what they're saying. So we want to hear from you. If whales could talk to humans, what do you think they'd want to tell us? Maybe a really good whale joke or some advice? Record your whale message and send it to us at BrainsOn.org. So.
Quinn, what do you think the whales would like to tell us? What's it like to have opposable thumbs? Yes, and what would we say to them? We'd say, pretty good, we can give a big thumbs up. Yeah. I like that. Record your whale message and send it to us at BrainsOn.org. And while you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Like this one. How do our bodies make a fever? You can find answers to questions like these.
on the Moment of Um podcast. Again, that's BrainsOn.org. And keep listening. Brains On Universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Brains On, we know you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore. Here we are in Brains On universe. Home to my favorite podcasts. Brains on. Smash boom best. Forever ago. I found one. Forever. The history show hosted by Joy Dolo.
It was the early 1800s. Beethoven was busy composing new symphonies. Steam-powered trains were brand new inventions. And a British naturalist named William Swainson was exploring the jungles of Britain. Listen to Forever Ago wherever you get your podcasts. Hey friends, Molly, Sandin, and Mark here with some very big news. Drumroll please. We're hitting the road in search of adventure, fresh air, and you.
That's right. We're going to be live at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado on Sunday, April 27th. Our science-themed live stage show takes the audience on an adventure through the brain, complete with magic tricks, dance moves out of... body experiences, mystery sounds, and a game show. Molly, you almost left out the most important part. Yeah, Molly, don't forget the big party.
Oh, right. After the shows, we're throwing a brain-tastic bash. Join us afterward for a VIP party where we'll play games, guess mystery sounds, pose for photos, and give as many high fives as humanly possible. Snag a spot by purchasing a VIP... when you buy your show ticket. Oh, that reminds me. I've got to start training. These hands aren't going to high five by themselves. Good idea. And remember, Spots are limited, so grab your tickets today at BrainsOn.org slash events.
The Sold a Story podcast is about how teaching kids to read went wrong. But now we have a story about a school district where things are going very right. Let me make sure my friends are sitting crisscross applesauce. I've never had a child that couldn't read. How did they do it? When I tell some of my other colleagues that may be at other schools that this is what I do, and they would say, are you kidding me?
New episodes of Sold a Story are available now in your podcast app. You're listening to Brains On from APM Studios. I'm Quinn. And I'm Molly. Today, we're talking all about nature's vampires, animals that feed on blood. We just heard about how vampire bats drink blood from big animals like cows and pigs. And they also have best friends who cuddle with each other and share food.
But there's another vampire creature who lives in the deep ocean, the vampire squid. I love vampire squids, but don't let the name fool you. They are neither squids nor vampires. Plot twist. Yes, they're related to squids, but they're a totally different creature. And get this, they... Don't drink blood. They're named after vampires because they have webbed arms that sort of look like a fictional vampire's cape, and they sometimes look like the color of blood.
Okay, so why do you love vampire squids so much? Thank you for asking. In honor of their eight arms, here are the top eight reasons to love vampire squids. Number one. They're survivors. They live in the deep ocean where there's not a lot of oxygen and not a lot of food. So what do they eat? That brings me to reason number two. Unlike actual squid, these gentle creatures are not hunters. They eat marine snow. It can snow underwater? No, it's way grosser than that.
Marine snow is what scientists call the tiny bits of dead sea creatures, rotting plants, poop, and mucus that drifts down to the ocean floor. Oh, wow. I will not be making a snowman out of that. Fair. But here's reason number three. Vampire squids do kind of make snowballs out of marine snow, except some scientists call these balls mucus dumplings. Mucus.
Dumplings? A meal fit for a vampire squid. They have two long skinny tentacles in addition to their eight arms. These tentacles are covered in mucus. They stick out their tentacles. The marine snow gets stuck to it. and makes a kind of dumpling. Wow, okay. Still stuck on the name mucus dumpling. Reason number four.
Vampire squids have lots of little spikes on the underside of their webbed arms. They can protect themselves by pulling their arms up over their body. And when they do, they look like spiky pineapples. Great for keeping predators away. Do they squirt out ink like other squids? Ah, great question. And the answer is reason number five. Instead of ink, they squirt out bioluminescent mucus. Mucus again?
But this time it glows. Since it's so dark in the deep ocean, black ink wouldn't help hide them from predators, but glowing mucus does. Okay, if we're going to talk about mucus, the glowing kind is pretty cool. Reason number six. They have giant, gorgeous eyes. Number seven. They can regrow their limbs if they get injured. Reason number eight, they have beautiful singing voices. Oh, the old jaw gets unhinged sometimes.
Mr. Bonejangles, vampire squids do not sing, and we're trying to tape an episode here. I know. Sorry to interrupt, Molly, but I thought you and Quinn would want to hear the opening number to my new musical, Squidler on the Roof. You know the scene I was telling you about before? Oh, right. The one where a misunderstood vampire bat meets a friendly vampire squid? Exactly the one! I just finished the demo tape, and in my humble opinion, it's a bone! A fine masterpiece!
I'd love to hear it. You know what? Me too. Roll that demo tape, Mr. Bonejangles. You? Who are you anyway? The name Squid. Vampire Squid. Vampire Squid? You mean you also have vampire in your name? I never thought I'd see the day. Well, the day is here, Vampire Bat. You're not alone anymore, and I think we could make beautiful music together. Some animals salivate at veggies and fruits on a plate. But I confess plants aren't for me.
They're not your cup of tea I wouldn't say I'm a carnivore My preferences lead a bit more To blood types like A, O, or B Taken so delicately Excuse us, we just want to live our lives We're sick of this rotten publicity We need our own story Not monsters So let us So let us So let us be Some folks will get the creeps About monster squids in the deep But I only eat marine snow as it drifts by down below. The vampire myth is to blame. We're feared, but that's just our names.
We just want you humans to know. That's why we're telling you so. Excuse us, we just want to live our lives. We're sick of this rotten publicity. We need our own stories if we're gonna thrive. We're animals, not monsters. So let us... So let us, so let us be Vampires are just fictional stories like Dracula or the Count from Sesame Street. But there are tons of real animals that drink blood. Like vampire bats. They're the only mammals that survive entirely on blood.
And they have best friends who cuddle with each other and share food. There's also the vampire squid. It doesn't drink blood at all. But it does other cool stuff, like eating mucus dumplings and squirting out glowing ink. That's it for this episode of Brains On. This episode was written by Shayla Farzan and Molly Bloom. With production help from Anna Wegel. It was edited by Sandin Totten. Fact checking by Jess Miller.
We had engineering help from Josh Savage-O with sound design by Rachel Breeze. Original theme music by Mark Sanchez. We had production help from the rest of the Brains on Universe team. Rosie DuPont. Anna Goldfield, Nico Gonzalez-Whistler, Ruby Guthrie, Lauren Humpert, Joshua Ray.
Mark Sanchez, Charlotte Traver, and Aron Woldeselassi. Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Gavati and Joanne Griffiths. Special thanks to Mae Dixon, Nick Ward, and Aaron Ward. Brains On is a non-profit public radio program. There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brains On Universe on YouTube where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes. Or head to brainson.org.
While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions. Speaking of mystery sounds, are you ready to hear it again? Yes. All right, let's hear it. All right. Any new thoughts? Sticking with your original answer? What do you think? I don't have any new thoughts. I think I'm going to stick with what I have. Okay. Remind us what it was.
It was that someone is in a pool and then they go under the water and then they scream into the microphone. I love it. I'm ready to know if you're right. Let's hear the answer. Hi, my name is Ria, and I'm from Bethesda, Maryland. That was the sound of me screaming underwater. Oh my gosh. Quinn, how do you feel? I feel awesome. That was so good. You were exactly right.
Normally at home, I get partial credit. I get them half right, but I actually got it right. 100% right. This is a very impressive mystery sound. Yay. Screaming underwater. I hope whatever they use to record, it's fine. They had a cool underwater recorder, I guess. It's pretty awesome. Yeah. Do you ever go underwater and try to talk to somebody so you can try to make out what they're saying? Yeah. It's tough. Yeah, it is. Thank you.
Now it's time for the brain's honor roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives. William from New York City. Simon from Elora, Ontario. Nolan from Timonium, Maryland. Lex, Lee and Lena from Yorktown, Virginia. Mia from St. Paul, Minnesota. Lucian from Lake Forest Park, Washington. Sarah Ellen from New York. Ariel from East Greenbush, New York. Jackson from Laramie.
Wyoming, Kiva from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, Carrie from Gardendale, Alabama, Ravid from California, Aaron from Potomac, Maryland, Brandon from Cebu, Philippines, Zach from Quezon City, Philippines, Woodrow, Augustus, and Ruby from Knoxville, Tennessee, Anders and May from Pine City, Minnesota. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.
San Pablo, California. Juliana from Boston. Emerson from Vermont. Kavir from Los Angeles. Theo from Jefferson City, Missouri. Robbie from North Bay, Ontario. Sophia from West Covina, California. Ava from Dubai. Ram from Troy, Michigan. Charlie from Austin, Texas. Karina and Joseph from New Jersey. Rowan from Watertown, Massachusetts Lucy from Marlboro, New York and Peter and Benjamin from Cleveland
This is our last episode of the season. We'll be back in December with a fresh new batch of episodes for you. Thanks for listening. The Sold a Story podcast is about how teaching kids to read went wrong. But now we have a story about a school district where things are going very right. Let me make sure my friends are sitting crisscross applesauce. Hands in their lap.
I've never had a child that couldn't read. How did they do it? When I tell some of my other colleagues that may be at other schools that this is what I do, they would say, are you kidding me? New episodes of Sold a Story are available now in your podcast app.