Adaptation Station

inspiration from. We'll discover some incredible immunities from critters we think of as dirty or dangerous, some animals who are hardcore to the bone, and some insects who are getting pretty creative with this whole adaptation thing. Discover this and more as we answer the asual question are birds real now? I know it's tough uncertain times for a lot of

us right now due to coronavirus US. California and New York just issued orders for people to shelter at home and shut down non essential businesses or are having people work from home. This may seem extreme and scary, but getting that social distance is one of the best ways we can adapt right now to slow the spread of the virus. Human beings have a great advantage when it comes to being adaptable. We can at will change our societal habits to help protect us from new dangers such

as a virus. So while it may be jarring to have to adapt to this new, more isolated way of life, think of it as a temporary society level adaptation. Not everyone can stay at home, such as people who work in grocery stores, pharmacies, and of course our nurses and doctors who are all risking their health to keep society functioning and save lives. But if you're able to stay home, it's incredibly important that you do so, even in areas

where it hasn't been ordered. It may seem like a trivial thing, but by staying home when you can, you could literally save thousands of lives. I may seem like I'm exaggerating, but mathematically and scientifically it is absolutely the truth. Human contact is an exponential chain. If you contact one person, and that person contacts two people, and those two people each contact to other people, et cetera, you've indirectly contacted

thousands and thousands of people. In terms of viral transmission, this means by breaking the chain even at one point, at one person, by staying home and away from groups of people, you've potentially saved thousands of lives in a way. This is a bit awe inspiring. Right now we have the power to be superheroes, to save someone's dad or grandma or sister, or your own friends and families. I know how weird it is to alter our habits so drastically,

but adaptation can be strange. So today I want to talk about some very pecute all your animal adaptations to help inspire our own social isolation adaptation. Joining me today on a trip to adaptation station is writer and co host of the Nightcall podcast Emily Yoshida. Thank you so much for having me, Katie. Yeah, thank you for joining me. So we are talking, uh sort of living room to living room on the internet, a new experience for all um. But uh yeah, it's I'm really glad you're here to

join me. I have some really these are some of my favorite animal adaptations. Of course I say that every episode that these are my favorite animals, but it's always true. First, I want to before we begin, I want to encourage people to rate, review, download, and subscribe to the podcast. It's actually super helpful to get us up in that algorithm, and that's how we get sponsors, and that's how I get money. So I can buy a bunch of yarns so I can knit a bunch of stuff while I'm

stuck at home. I'm actually gonna start, I think crocheting a rug, because you know, that's what you do. I thought to find a project. I think any project that doesn't involve a screen is super important. Right now, Yeah, what are you do? You have any things that you're

doing at home to kind of stay occupied? Well, I um made the mistake of trying to move in the middle of all this so um, which also involves getting a lot of furniture, because I mostly got rid of all my furniture after the last place that I moved from. So I UM, I did happen to find a really cute, um little art deco credenza, but cheap. But it was cheap because it needs to be refinished. So I'm going

to start my first refinishing project. Now, for those of us speaking hypothetically, those of us who are uncivilized and don't actually know what a credenza is? What? What is that? This is? Basically, um, it's like an entertainment center. It's a se down. It's just a kind of low, long um shelf, usually withdrawers, or like a record cabinet if it's from the error of records um where you can just kind of put your inner you can put your various consoles and whatever on top or inside of it.

And uh yeah, I see. So those hypothetical people who didn't know what a credenza is, now they know. You learn something new every day. Yeah, well that's I think that's a that's a great project to have this kind of I mean, first of all, it gives you something to spend your time doing, and also it's improving your home, which you're gonna be a a lot right now. Yeah, anything to improve the home is really paramount right now, because you notice every little thing that's wrong with it exactly.

I'm like, have I vacuumed this carpet enough? I know I vacuumed it this morning, but should have vacuum it now. I don't even have a vacuum yet, So that's I've got to cross that bridge when we get there. Just use a pair of tweezers and tweez up individual floor particles. I mean, you got time. I mean, yeah, it's it's thorough and by the time you're done with with going across the entire floor, the other end of it probably

needs to be tweezed again. So yeah, exactly. Well, speaking of vacuums, I want to talk about nature's little vacuum, the opossum. So you know, you've you've seen an opossum before. You know, these little, these little trash buddies. They are the only marsupial found in North America. What was your attitude towards opossums? You know, I had a really um scarring experience with a possum when I was when I was young. And it wasn't that it was like it

wasn't that I got attacked by one or anything. It was just that I saw one at my school bus stop when I was I think I must have been in third grade or something, and um, it was out for some reason in daytime, and I think it couldn't see but it was just acting like it was drunk. So it was like umbling down the street and I never you know, I was like pretty young, I've never seen an animal act that way before, and it was

really upsetting. It felt like a kind of like a zombie um possum wandering down the street, and I got really freaked out, and I ran up to the house that the driveway that I was waiting in just to like wait till it passed by. Yeah, I mean that's a that's a fairly rational reaction to an animal that's stumbling around when it's drunk that or like it's drunk, because that is actually one of the signs of rabies.

But as we'll talk about, actually the possums are they're not immune to rabies, but they are one of the animals that are less likely to have rabies. So I think that because they look a little off putting. They have very teethy faces, they kind of look a little bit like big weird rats that they feel like they should be teeming with disease. But they're actually not that bad, and in fact, they in some ways actually save us from some dis eases. So just a few opossum facts here.

They are, like I said, the only marsupial found in North America. As marsupials, they have pouches, and when they give birth to their litter, which is about seven babies. Uh, they look like little tiny, weird jelly beans that crawl up into their pouch and attached to one of their mother's thirteen teats that are inside this pouch. So think about it's like a kangaroo. But there's about seven of them and they each get in that pouch and attached to one of one of those nice nice mom mom teets.

And when they get too big for the pouch, they will write on her back. I find that adorable. Some people might not so much. I'm hoping to convert people to be a possum lovers. They seem scary to a lot of people, and I understand it. They they've got a little bit of a stink face. I see it. But they're actually pretty cool and one of the less dangerous wild animals. So they aren't very aggressive. Obviously. Here's the caveat and never tried to pick up a while

the possum never try to handle it. That's not going to be good. It will probably bite you if you, like try to grab it, but they don't. They're they're typically pretty scared of people. Well, they're not scared of people. They're kind of chill around people. They've gotten used to humans, but they don't they're not aggressive. They don't really want

to tangle with you. When they feel threatened or cornered, they will hiss, spare their teeth, but mostly like if they really feel threatened, they'll do the whole play dead thing. So yeah, they're they're pretty, they're pretty chill. They just don't like if you scare them, they will try to protect themselves. And yeah, that playing dead thing. I think that also kind of gives them a spooky reputation, because there's nothing more upsetting than saying what you think is

roadkill suddenly like jolt up. Yeah, I mean, it's not that I don't think they're cute. I do think that they're rather cute. It's just that there's something sort of uncanny about the postums that. Yeah, I guess that does account for it somewhat. Yeah, it's an unusual animal. I mean I definitely had a scare from an opossum when I was a kid. We had one in the backyard and it looked dead. Of course, we knew that opossums play apossum and pretend to be dead, but I guess

we just didn't realize the extent to it. We thought it was just sort of like he would be able to see it breathing, and it's on its back and it's kind of like got one eye peeking open to see if you're buying it something like that. But this thing looked super dead. It smelled dead. It was rigid, like I think my dad very gently moved it with a shovel to see if it was alive, and it was stiff. It seemed like it had rigor mortis. And so my dad was like, well, you know, we we

lived next to a canyon. So he very like gently and respectfully picked it up with shovel covered in it like a rag, and like carried it over to the canyon because he was thinking like, well, you know, at least then if we get if coyotes come to get it, like, it'll be in the canyon and not our backyard. But as soon as he kind of he you know, very gently kind of like put it because he he was you know, he was kind of freaked out about it. He wasn't like, oh, let's let's eat this up a

possible over here. So he just was like, all right, sorry a little guy, and like put in the canyon and we watched it kind of roll off this shovel onto the ground. And it just gets on its feet and walks away. And it was the spookiest transition from like, yeah it was. It was so it was so spooky. And usually it's not really their fault. They're not doing

it intentionally. It's actually a fainting response, so it's an automatic response and they can't wake up until after a little bit of time passes, just kind of like like fainting. So they're as they're probably as freaked out by it as you are, to be honest, is there an actual difference between an opossum and a possum? Yeah? Yeah, possums are related and they are also marsupials, but they're in Australia and opa sums are basically found in North America.

But is there anything they're different like, and do they look they look different? They are different species? Yeah, huh, I had no idea. I thought it was just interchangeable. Yeah. A lot of people find possums to be a little cuter. Their faces are a little less like long and rat like, they're fluffy. Uh, they're they're actually I find them very adorable.

I also like opossums aren't an American variety, but I think more people find the possums a little cuter because they're fluffy, or they kind of look more like Teddy Bear, Like I'm looking it up right now. I looked up possum versus opossum, and I found an image that says possum is an Australian cutie and opossum is an American freaky. It's true, Okay, I didn't realize this I and I don't even know that I was familiar with the possum

because this is a new looking creature to me. I've only seen an opossum, so I think they're both cute personally, but I get it, I get why they're little different. So one other reason the opossum has a bit of a spooky reputation is that when they're scared, one of the things they do is this open mouth, defensive hissing and drooling, which makes them look like they're rabid. But typically this is just a defensive technique meant to freak

you out, and they're actually not necessarily rapid. Obviously, I would never risk it personally. Uh that It's like, it's like, why why risk it? You know, they're not, like I said, some people think that they're immune to rabies they're not. They can still get it, just at a lower rate uh compared to other mammals, and this is speculated to be due to their lower body temperatures. They run a

little colder than most mammals do. In fact, when they're playing dead, they can lower their entire body temperature by an additional half a degree celsius and they release anal gland odors. Their parasympathetic nervous system makes their respiration dropped by a third, in their heart rate drop by a half. So that's why they can pull off such a compelling definitely learn how to do that. How do they know

what what what it means to smell dead? Like? Well, you know, it's it's not the individual, it's their parasympathetic nervous system, which they really don't have any control over. It just kind of happens automatically, and it's just over over many, many thousands of years of evolution, each of these traits seemed to give them a little bit of a benefit in terms of deterring predators and making them

think they're a stinky corps. I have to say that I'm really glad that um myself, but also, like all humans, don't have the same reaction to being scared that our anal glands produced the smell of a corpse, because I think that that would be going to a horror film a really unpleasant experience. Some people do poople, yeah, you know not not is common, but no shame here. This is a no shame the podcast. You can poop yourself

a little bit as a treat. So I think one of the lesser known things about opossums is some of their superpowers. So apossums are actually immune to many snake venom varieties. So peptides in their blood grant them immunity to snake venom of several species, including some rattlesnakes, and vipers, and it even works against snake venom from species outside of their natural habitat of North America, like India's rush

russell viper. And these peptides have been isolated by researchers and have been found to work to protect mice who have been injected with the opossum peptides, and researchers think that these apostom peptides could be used as a cheap universal anti venom, especially in areas where snake bites are common and I think that's really cool that, you know, I think a lot of people think of this as this little like stink beast that is scary and dirty, but like they may hold the key to helping us

with snake bites a right, good for possums, Good for possums. Yeah, thank you guys. They also helped fight against lime disease. So, like I was saying, these are nature's vacuums because they love to eat ticks. It's their favorite things. They eat ticks like popcorn. I don't know what's your what's a what's a snack that sings to you? Popcorn? Yeah, I

love popcorn. T Well, they eat them like popcorn, and dear ticks love to give you lime disease, which is a very serious disease that can linger for years and years and years and cause a lot of nasty complications and is really a terrible thing. And you know, when opossums eat up those deer ticks, that decreases the number of deer ticks out there, and that helps control the

spread of lime disease. In fact, opossums are able to kill of the ticks that get on their fur, and they'll also eat a bunch of ticks that they find on the ground. They just hoover them up. They love them so much. It makes me feel like possums like if they're if they're eating all this stuff, they're there, this is what they They're like bottom feeders basically, which makes me feel like they will survive the apocalypse more so than anybody else, right, I mean, they're like they're

like little Nature's little room buzz. It's it's pretty incredible. So it's like, I now understand why it's kind of nasty to eat possums as like roadkill. I've never I've never eaten a possum, and I don't know what it takes. I've never heard it's done what people report. I figure it is done. Like do you know like what people describe the taste does? Is it like kind of ticky? Just imagine it being kind of meally like yeah, yeah, well,

I'm glad that they enjoy what they're eating. I feel like it is a bit of the killing the Golden goose though, right, Like if they eat so many deer ticks, you can't can't eat deer ticks if if you're eating the animal they eats the deer ticks. They also eat cockroaches, rats, mice, dead animals, snails, and slugs, basically anything nasty they're happy to eat. Are they considered scavengers or um? There are omnivorous scavengers. They're pretty opportunistic. They will scavenge, they'll hunt,

they'll eat fruit, and they'll eat all sorts of little critters. Yeah. They they're a little they're they're a little trash buddies. They love it. They're they're, like I said, Nature's room buzz. Well, how do they compare to raccoons? So I feel like, are like the cuter possums, like, because they're also little trash buddies to the raccoons eat all this nasty stuff. Also, raccoons are also omnivores and they do hunt as well as eat plants and and berries and uh, you know, insects.

But I would say, actually, I'm a little like if you were to say, do you want to spend time with an opossum or a raccoon, I would pick the opossum. First of all. Raccoons have, as far as I know, higher rates of rabies than opossums, and I think they're probably a little bit less chill than an opossum. They may seem a little less scary, but I think that

apossums are slightly more more chill than raccoons. Like I feel like if I hung out with an apossum, the worst thing that was going to happen to me is I had to smell in some stinky death anal gland odors from the possum. But yeah, they're they're, They're I think their diets are pretty similar. Now. I don't think raccoons are as good as hoover and up those ticks, though they don't have that nose, that little needle nose to get in all those It's like an ant eater

or something. It's like it's like a little funnel for for dear two. Well, I haven't seen any attempts on YouTube to domesticate possums, but maybe they're out there. I just know that that's a whole genre of YouTube that I have watched. I'm sure there are opossum pets. I'm positive I wouldn't I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. I'm not sure they would make the best pets, but I'm sure it so another animal that I think is kind of scary but actually could offer us some promise are sharks. Now.

I love sharks, and I think that public attitudes on sharks are shifting slowly but steadily. More people like sharks while they seem scary. I think there's a potential that in the future sharks could save many more lives than they actually end up taking. Which sharks. There are so many different species of sharks, and most of them are harmless, and the ones that are dangerous kill very few people. So it is I think they get a bad reputation for,

you know, not not the best reasons. I mean, I mean, yeah, okay, sometimes they'll they'll munch on a leg or two. I get it. It's not always great, but yeah, they they have these really interesting properties, and they actually are seem to be quite hardy, and it's speculated that they may get disease at a lower rate, including cancer. I've got a like a lot of things with research about animals. The truth of this may be complicated by the fact

that it's hard to study them. So while they're are fewer reports of disease and sharks, that could be that it's harder to locate six sharks because like, if they're unhealthy, they're less likely to say like approach or research vessel and get you know, inspected by researchers, and their low rates of cancer could be because they have some resistance to it, but it could also be that they live in relatively carcinogen free environments, so they're just less likely

to get cancer because they're in this like open ocean where there aren't as many carcinogens as other places. There is a myth, and I'm surprised to learn this that people thought that sharks are immune to all disease and can't get cancer, which is not true. They can, in fact get cancer. And while this seems kind of like a harmless myth, like, oh man, that's that's cool, that's a fun reputation for the shark to have, it's actually

really harmful for the sharks and for people. So the myth originates by this idea that their cartilage can stop camp sir, and this has actually led to killing sharks for their cartilage for a treatment that doesn't work. So both the sharks who get killed and the people who have cancer who get duped into buying these pills are

the victims here. And this myth is based on some real research which is finding that cartilage has anti angiogenic properties, so that means it inhibits the growth of new blood vessels, and so tumors actually grow by sending out growth hormones to encourage blood vessels to feed them. It's all very like sci fi spooky, like you have this tumor and it's like sending out messages to your body to get like, uh,

blood vessels to grow towards it and feed it. So if you have something that's anti angiogenic, which just means it it blocks the growth of blood vessels, that can help slow the growth of a tumor. And cartilage has that property. And so someone got it in their head that, oh, shark cartilage like must be great at this because we don't find that many sharks with tumors. And if you take a pill with some ground up shark cartilage, it's going to help your cancer. But it doesn't it has

it actually. In fact, it's like we know demonstrably that these shark cartilage pills have absolutely no effect on tumors. And so it's a really frustrating thing where people, you know, kind of get like, there's it's the misuse of research, and it's it's always frustrating to see that where it's like you have something that's like based in a little bit of science. You know, first of all, shark cartilage

may be no different from other cartilage. And second of all, you can't just eat cartilage, you know, that's not how it's gonna help with with tumors. So it's always it's always frustrating, I think, because I think it dilutes actual research when you get these sort of half half developed things where it's like, okay, so it's like the whole stem cells thing. Have you there's that podcast on it.

Have you listened to that one? What's it called? It's always funny when you do see like a beauty product or something, it's like it's stem cell i cream. It's like, what, so you have the stem cells on your body? Yeah, you just put them on your body. That's how they work, right, I mean I'm looking. Oh, oh it's called it's called Bad Batch and it's I I highly recommend that as

long as you're not squeamish about medical stuff. But yeah, it's it's a great investigative podcast into the world of how stem cells, which are actually a really promising field of research, are misused by some bad actors who are like, you know, you just like put stem cells in random places in your body and that helps you somehow. And it's like, no, just stem cells to your forehead. Apply the stem cells directly to your forehead. Vape the stem cells. You know. I saw, I saw our local vape shop

was still open. Great to see that essential business still open by the studio or um well no, just just by my just by my apartment, because I'm this this is my studio now and my home and my everything. Well we'd is we we dispensaries are considered a necessary business to stay open during our lockdown. So you know, I mean that I actually humans are death. That I get though, I mean we WE'D I think as Actually it's got like a medicinal purpose, so that that that

I'm okay with. I don't know, maybe vapes do too. I don't want to be so harsh on the vapes. It's just funny enough, yeah, exactly. So, despite the fact that shark cartilage doesn't seem like, you can't just eat shark cartilage, please don't. It doesn't help. There is some real research about a promising gift that sharks could give medicine, and it is an organic compound found in dog fish sharks that has broad anti viral properties. Again, don't just

rub a dog fish shark on your forehead. That's not gonna work. But let me let me talk about this compound. So it's called squalamine. So it hasn't yet yielded any medications that work on humans, but researchers are studying how to use it to work as an anti viral in people and potentially even to treat certain cancers and eye disorders. So, squalamine has been found in dog fish shark tissue and it can help fight viruses. It's been tested against viruses

behind dangay fever and hepatitis. Again, it hasn't been used to treat humans yet. It's just been found like in isolation, like it can like kill these viruses and it disrupts a virus's life cycle, which makes it harder for the virus to propagate within live tissue. So I think that's that's pretty that's pretty cool, as long as we don't get some some jerk who's like, oh, you've got to grind up a dog fish and turn it into a Well,

how do you get the extracts from it. Do you you have to kill it to get it or I, well, I would assume. I would assume most of the time they are killing the sharks to get this compound. That's why it's so frustrating when it's like, Oh, just just be like some kind of weird mermaid vampire and drink dog fish shark blood while we're still working on those apossum and shark derived super serums. We owe a lot of things to many animals for their contribution to medicine.

The Brazilian pit viper's venom was able to be used to synthesize capital prill, an anti hypertensive compound that helps reduce blood pressure and can reduce the risk of death after a heart attack. It can also help spare the kidneys in cases of diabetes. A hormone found in the heel monster lizard's minimous saliva helped synthesize accinetide, a treatment for diabetes. There are many other things discovered about animal biology that has and will continue to be able to

contribute to medical science. Just one reason it's so important to care about our ecology and the survival of species. Obviously, we should care just because animals are cool and red and wonderful, but they can also save our butts, So let's save their butts. To ask not what you can do just for your own butt, but for every other butt on the planet. Inspiring words. When we return, we'll talk about a couple of very cute little animals with

a very spooky secret. Welcome to today's installment of the League of Supercritters who care about justice and heroism. When danger calls, who's there to answer the phone? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it a semi aquatic amphibian? It's that last thing. It's Dr Newtton, a Newt who was blasted with radioactivity. You know, the good kind that turns you into a superhero, not the

bad kind that destroys every cell in your body. Anyways, Dr Newton patrols the city or well, you know, the pond, and uses his incredible superpowers to fight evil, such as Gills Finnegan, the dastardly fish, who is evil. When the bad guy attacks rib Capaw, Dr Newton uses his rib cagerane to stab the bad guy in the mouth with this rib bones. Pretty cool superhero. So and only I'm going to talk about the Spanish ribbed newt, which has one of the most unusual defensive tactics I've ever seen

in any kind of animal. If you look at the document, you will see a picture of this little guy really stunning, kind of inquiry adorat um and dirty is the right word for him. Yes, yes, I captioned this as a very dirty looking animal. It's got those big, big eyes, it's got like a big wide mouth that's kind of permanently affixed, and kind of a doofy little that is the sound. This picture is very much a sort of audible picture, and it is that kind of like, I

don't know, guys, I don't know, very cute. He's very wet looking and very cute. Yeah, yeah, he is very cute. He looks very harmless and kind of dopey. But he's got rib spikes. Now, if you scroll down, you will see those rib spikes, and they're weird. So he can actually thrust his rib cage over to the side and poke his rib bones out of his skin. So when the Spanish ribbed newt feels threatened, it pushes its pointy rib bones out of its side and uses them to

sting predators. So it swings the rib cage until it pierces through their skin, and at the same time, their skin actually produces a milky toxin, so when the rib cage pokes through the skin, it actually picks up the toxin that's on the surface of the skin. And when it jabs its predator, those rib bones work as toxic barbs to thend off the animal trying to eat it, and it can cause pain or even death to any predator unlucky enough to try to put this thing in

its mouth. Um. This just reminds me of like either the Maleficent movie or when Lady Gaga had like the bony cheekbones, like that kind of cool look. It's like that, but with your ribs, which also just feels like a whole um certain genre of terrible tumbler that used to exist. I do feel like this could be a Gaga address. Like a dress that like makes it look like you have these rib bones like sort of jetting out of

your side, like spoilers or something. It's very fashioning. It's very like like um like constructed sort of um tour. It's a very like severe kind of almost eighties look. I feel like, yeah, yeah, like like you just have spikes kind of coming out everywhere on your shoulder pads. You got shoulder pads, it can poke an eye out. Yeah, it is kind of like that. I mean work, it's quite a look, it is. It's it's a statement, I would say, and the statement is don't put me in

your mouth. So you'd think it would kind of suck to have to constantly pierce through your own flesh with your ribs um kind of like how it to day It's fine, but yeah, it's like with wolverine where they're actually able to very quickly heal their skin. So that always kind of weirded me out with like wolverine cards, like he just always like with his little hand claws. They just always are cutting through that skin between your knuckles.

It's creepy. But yeah, I mean kind of kind of a rip off of the Spanish rib new Really, do you think it's actually inspired by that? I mean, does any other animals do this sort of quick healing thing. I've never I've never heard yea, yeah, actually so a lot of amphibians are very good at healing their skin, and in fact, harry frogs also do something similar. We've

actually talked about them. On the show before on the Superheroes episode, Harry frogs will break their handbones and push them through their skin like claws, so very much like Wolverine, and they're also able to heal well. It's actually not quite known how what how these guys work. It's assumed that they're able to heal up quickly because like there have been specimens caught that seemed to have healed, but they've never actually been able to keep one in captivity

and see what the processes. So we aren't quite at the point where we can make a human Harry frog hybrid for a very like weird looking huge Hugh Jackman, you know, like a frog froggish huge Jackman. I don't

like that image at all. Well, it's not as cool like to fight with your ribs as like um is to fight with your your hands or your claws or something like if you're just sort of singing your Torso I think that's a matter of perspective because if it's like if it's from like like aggressive torking, I think that could be actually a really cool way to fight someone. It's like, look, but don't touch right exactly, sort of

like just like a seductive dance. But you're you've got like ribs, spikes just like jutting out of your skin. That's yeah, convenient exactly that This is one word comes to mind with these newts that can jab their own rib bones out of their skin, and it is convenient. But using your bones as a defensive weapon isn't unique to amphibians, which sounds like a really weird pickup line.

So I want to talk about pottos and they are primates who are in the same sub order as lemurs, and they live in tropical rainforests in Africa and in English speaking regions in Africa. It's actually known as the softly softly do you two? It's smooth, quiet gait through the trees. Same and yeah, Emily is freaking out a little bit because they're so cute. It looks so soft. Oh my gosh, I believe it earned its name. Yes

they are, Yes, they are incredibly soft. They are closely related to slow lorises, and they actually look a little bit like them. They've got that really soft looking rusty tan for they've got big brown eyes that you could just drown in. Their adorable I'm I am in love, of course, I'm always falling in love hopelessly on this podcast, and here I go again. I am in love with the potto. So they also have short, fluffy tails. They

are very furry, and they have little nubby ears. Emily, how would how would you in your own words, describe this animal? Um? This animal looks like an emoji. UM. It's got these little ears that are like they I don't know. It says that they're about fourteen inches long, so it looks like the ears might be about the size of like a pinky finger. They're just like we're gonna imagine like putting up your little pinkies next to

your head to little little potto ears. UM. In one of these pictures here, his tongue is sticking out, so he kind of looks like the tongue sticking out smiley. Uh.

I don't know. I think I think like the an amanopia for this animal is just like nam Nam Yeah, uh like you, like you said, they're about fourteen inches or thirty five centimeters long, excluding that little tail, and the tail is only about two to four inches or five to ten centimeters, And they have stubby little fingers and in fact, they don't really have an index finger. It is vestigial and it's only a tiny little nub.

And they have what is known as a toilet claw on their hind legs that they use for personal grooming. And I'll leave it to the imagination what you think they use that for. That's a very nice euphemism there. It's not just for potty stuff. It's it's you know,

like it's like, yeah, exactly. So they actually don't have too many predators just because of their nocturnal habits, their quiet movement through trees, and their ability to do crypsis through very slow movement, and they just kind of quietly hang out in the trees and eat fruit and insects.

But if they do come in contact with a predator, and they have a nifty defense tactic, which is that they have unusually long and sharp neck vertebrae that are really pointy, and it seems like they should almost pierce through the skin, but fortunately they don't. They are covered in thick fur and skin, so it's just this kind of like weird bumpy neck that's got these like spikes right under the skin. And you can see a skeleton of one of these guys if you scroll down, and

you can see their neck. How sharp and pointy their neck vertebrae is, which is, you know, not not super common with mammals. It looks almost like a like some something evolved from a stegasaur or something like. It's just

these sort of like fingers kind of on the neck. Yeah, it's interesting you say that because there are some paleontologists who point to this animal is kind of an example of what these may have been used for, like comparing their skeleton to some of these dinosaurs skeletons that have that those like weird and of course dinosaurs often had much more elaborate uh exactly like these big, big, long

cervical vertebrae that we're just like incredible. But yeah, these these guys have it too, and they um so when they're threatened, they will tuck themselves in a cute little ball with their hands covering their heads, which is just adorable. And it just exposes those next spikes, which again they're not so long that you can't like see like like spines like on a porcupine coming out of their neck.

It's just that their neck kind of like protrudes a little bit, and it's a little blumpy and it's thought that it kind of functions like one of those anti coyote vests that little dogs wear. Have you seen them where it's like these like plastic spikes that cover your entire dog to try to protect it with from coyotes. And it's like the dorkyest looking vest you can get your dog, but it does keep them safe from coyotes.

I like the idea that like a dog is going to wear it and get made fun of by its dog friends, but then a coyote comes and like he bravely fends off the coyote with his like crazy like safety vest. It's like just punk like punk. It's just punk fashionactly, it is punk fashion. Yeah, these are very punk punk primates. And yeah, so like it's gonna be kind because like if a predator goes for the neck, it's gonna get that kind of those spines, those bony

protrusions in its mouth. It's not going to be great. It's gonna be harder for it to get at the neck. But it's also these next spines might not only be used as an anti predator defense. It's thought that it's also used in mating, and there's some evidence to suggest that they use these to stimulate sexual partners, and that's fun. It's always nice to have like ant though on the back of your neck a vibe. It's look, I think it's kind of neat, you know, like like they've got

they've got love and war in one in one bone structure. Yeah, it's business in the back, but that business is also party as well. I like it, very cute. And then there's one more picture I did of one of these little guys in a defensive posture, very cute, tucking its little head down there. I love I love these guys. I love that. Yeah, yeah, these these guys. And also like the we talked about the slow lorist too. They

just have very interesting creative defensive techniques. Of course, the slow lorist can get it kind of secretes a toxin from near its armpits in its arms, and then it licks that up and then it once it's in its mouth, it can then bite something and it has a toxic bite because of the stuff that it's like from its armpits. So that that's that's pretty cool. Cute, cute, little Cutei's with real real weird, weird stuff. They're gonna pull on you if you try to threaten them. Oh I'm looking

at slow Loris's slow Laura. Oh my god, I love them, love them great animal. A plus, did you know that children have weird bones? Children's bones heal much more quickly than us adults, despite all that tree climbing in general tomfoolery, because children's bones grow so rapidly. When they break, they heal much more quickly than our old adult bones, and the fact that they're still growing allows the bones to

fix its shape. Kid bones are also super bindy. They're less brittle than adult bones, and they're more prone to bending than breaking. This isn't always a good thing. A bent bone can be more difficult to treat and set than a cleanly broken bone because it's harder to detect on an X ray and the nature of the injury is less clear. Bones that bend and break in children are called green stick fractures. This references the difference between

new green branches and old dry branches. New branches bend a bit before cracking, whereas old dry branches are brittle and will snap and break. Really makes me feel good about being an adult. The green stick fractures typically occurs in kids under ten years old. Also, did you know that babies have way more bones than adults. While most adults have two hundred and six bones, babies have almost

three hundred. This is because when you're born, you have more soft cartilage in the body, and these soft bones fused together as you drow. When we return, we're going to discuss a couple animals that don't have any bones at all. Make no bones about these animals. They have some pretty wild adaptations. Right now, rumors abound that birds aren't real, that there's some kind of government conspiracy or

robotic draw own. As a totally unbiased party who is not funded by Big Bird, I could tell you that, absolutely, declaratively, positively, this is categorically false, a foul accusation. My lawyers are fighting against crow bono. My lawyers, who are well versed in bird law, are also working on another case copyright infringement. The defendant a six legged flying impost So Italy, if you could, could you take a look at the YouTube videos that I have linked for you? Sure think right now?

The sounds not important, just the visuals. Well, it looks like a big old butterfly, but it's also a hummingbird. The humming fly butterbird, butterbird, I like that name better. Unfortunately they are called hummingbird moths, but butterbird is a great name that, uh think. Yeah, it's too bad you weren't around when they were naming these guys. So hummingbird moths are indeed moths. There are different species and genuses found all over the world. It's a moth. Yes, Oh

it's creepy. I hate it. Oh. I thought I totally just thought it was a bird that was that was acting like, Oh, that's so weird. Oh I kind of I kind of hate this son. Did you think it was like a hummingbird? I thought it was like proboscis. It was using like, oh weird. I mean you are you are right about the proboscis part, so you know. Um, but yeah, they are. They are insects and they look a lot like hummingbirds. Um. There's the hummingbird hawk moth

species found in southern Europe, northern Africa, and Japan. And there's the Himarus genus of moths, also known as hummingbird moths down in North America and the UK. Both the hummingbird hawk moths and the Himarus moths belong to the sphinx moth family. So some species of Himarus moths have transparent pains on their wings, such as the snowberry clear

wing moths. So that's one way you can kind of tell the difference between the North American and UK hummingbird moth and the hummingbird hawk moth is that if they have clear wings, they're probably in North America or the UK. Not that it sounds like you're going to go out of your way to try to find these guys, because you seem very freaked out. Now. The reason Emily is having such a strong reaction is they look uncannily similar

and they act exactly like hummingbirds. In fact, a lot of hummingbird sightings actually are erroneous, uh, because they are the hummingbird moths instead. And and like the Audubon Society has a whole thing about like being able to tell the different guys. I'm sure they're suing them for copyright infringement, yeah, but yeah, like to telling the like do a takedown complaint on hummingbird mobs. But yeah, they they are hard

to tell apart, especially because they move so fast. Um it is a and you might think that this is because like the moms are mimicking the hummingbird, but in fact they're not. It is a case of convergent evolution. So convergent evolution is when you have two different animals. They can be related. They could be completely unrelated, like in this case, but they will evolve very similar traits

but completely separately. And for that it can be like for the same reason, it can be for slightly different reasons, but like, basically they have evolved very very similar traits and sometimes very startlingly close ways. Like these these molds that look like hummingbirds. If you scroll down, you'll see another one that looks weirdly like it's shockingly like a hummingbird. Yeah. The tail thing is also really upsetting. I don't know, Yeah,

I guess it feels sort of annihilation or something. It just feels like, yeah, for having this weird mind of its own. And yeah, like someone took a moth and put it in a mold and grew it in the shape of a hummingbird. Yeah, I mean, so they are, like you mentioned that tail, they like down to these very minor details, they look very similar and act very similarly to hummingbirds. So they can beat their wings rapidly.

They produce a buzzing sound just like hummingbirds. They hover and sip nectar from elongated proboscus that looks like a beak. Uh their butts look like hummingbird butts. They have a fan tail of bristly hairs that looks like a hummingbird's tail, and it's body is covered in hairs that look like

hummingbird feathers. And sometimes they even share the same coloration as hummingbirds, like they have that bright green and red that a lot of hummingbirds have, and that bright coloration even serves a similar purpose to hummingbirds in terms of it being for sexual selection. And they even look like they have pupils, which they actually don't, So like many insects, they have faceted eyes, and it's just it looks like they have pupils that follow you everywhere, But this is

an optical illusion. These faceted eyes actually absorb light coming in. Like if you have a shiny ball and like you move around, it looks like that highlight, that little shiny highlights kind of following you around. It's just like that, except sort of inverse. Instead of reflecting light, it is absorbing the lights so as you move around, it looks like there's a dark spot, so it looks like their eyes are following you, but they're not. You look, you

look terrified. Yeah, the moths were an early kind of creepy, creepy thing for me as a kid. And I don't know why, Like moths are pretty relatively harmless, but they always they always freaked me out as a kid. So I don't like learning about this other whole other life of moths, the moths masquerading as a harmless hummingbird. Yeah. I actually so when I was a kid, I've had some good experiences with them. Maybe, well, I guess it's all perspective, because maybe for you this would be a nightmare.

But I had a sphinx moth, which is, like I said, that is the it's the same family that these hummingbird

moths are in. And it was just this big I actually think I thought it was a hummingbird um, And it was like flying around and it landed on me, and it was this beautiful, beautiful moth with this beautiful kind of pink and black coloration, and it was just very friendly and it didn't want to leave me, and it like clung to my shirt and I tried to, like I was pretty pleased with it, and I was on a hike, and at the end of the hike, I tried to like delicately pull it off me and

put it on a plant, but every time I would pull it off, it would like fly back on me and like cling on um. So I ended up just like going home with it because it was just like a local hike, so it wasn't a change in environment, but it would not like I kept trying to release it,

and it kept just like attaching itself to me. So I like put a little box, put some like plants and stuff in the box to like for its natural environment, because I thought it was like best friends with me, and I put in the box and it died in like probably probably what was going on was I was probably wearing like a bright shirt and these moms like once they have made it, that's actually the end of their life, uh cycle. So it was probably at the

end of its life, Michael. It probably saw me this bright, warm thing and it was just like, all right, I'm going to cling onto you until till it's over. So I felt I felt so bad though, because I was like, you're my new best friend, and then it passed away and I was just I was totally devastated. So, you know, I've always had a soft spot for molds. So the reason they actually look and act so similarly to hummingbirds is that basically the hummingbird model works just as well

for them as it does for hummingbirds. So if you think about it, it makes sense the hummingbirds styled of hovering instead of landing to sip nectar. It both helps them avoid predation because they're not stopping, it helps them get as much nectar as possible, and it works for these molds as well. And in fact, in a way, they are superior to the hummingbird when you look at their wing beat capacity, So hummingbirds get in fifty wing beats per second while the mingbird. Hawk moths get in

eighty five wing beats per second. And they are unlike a lot of moths, which are nocturnal, they're active in the day because you know, flowers sometimes go to sleep at night and actually close up shops. So you want to get as many much of that sweet sweet nectar in your little body as you can, you gotta go around during the day. So they are active at the same time as hummingbirds too, so you know, and they

have there in the same flowery regions as well. So a lot of times you see a hummingbird if you live in the regions where they the hummingbird moth is that maybe a big old moth. Wow, I've I've been. My eyes are opened now. I will never trust an adorable hummingbird again. Um, but I mean, I guess it does make sense because a hummingbird is really imitating a bug more than it's imitating a bird, like a hummingbird in many ways acts more like a bug, like yeah,

something it's just looks exactly looks like a hummingbird. There is a there's a hummingbird called I think the b hummingbird, and it's yeah, little tiny, it's not quite as small as a bee, but it's pretty dang close. It is teeny weeny. Yeah, yeah, they are sort of there is kind of a weird it's like, I guess, sort of

the the crossover species between bird and insect. Obviously that's not how evolution works, but you know, like I feel like if there was some kind of like uh insect bird conference, like you'd have the diplomats from the insect to bird congregation, be like the hummingbird moths and then the hummingbirds, and it's like, see, we're not so different after all. So what is your attitude towards ladybugs? Um?

I like ladybugs. I generally try to, you know, move them outside if they're inside, and make sure that they can be, you know, in their natural habitat. I tried to be kind to them. Yeah, have you ever had like, have you ever picked up a ladybug and it seems like it peas on you? I don't thinks so, but I don't know. I've Yeah, I've had. This happened to me a lot, especially as an inquisitive child who doesn't

respect the personal space of insects. Um. I would pick up any insect I could find, and I would often just pick up a ladybug. And what would happen is it looks like it peas on you because it releases this sort of orangeish yellow fluid on your hand. It doesn't smell really good. Um. And it was very frustrating as a kid because it's like I loved the ladybugs. I wanted to hold them, and it's like, oh, I just pete on me for some reason. But here's the thing.

It's not really p. They p defensive blood on you to ward you off. If you've ever harassed a ladybug, maybe it's happened to you that like kind of stinky yellowish liquid. But it is, first of all, it's not p. It is defensive hem o lymph, which is ladybug blood. Man called ladybugs. Why that they? Oh? Because like period thing? I don't I kind of I was like, so suddenly bad.

I was like, on how periods work. It does scare some people off, so you know, I could definitely see some like early eighteen hundreds biologists finding a ladybug and it's like, look at this ladybug, you know, having her period all over my hand. Well, actually, it also doesn't come out of the ladybugs private parts. It comes out of its leg joints, which it secretes out to kind of gross you out so you won't eat it. It works, well, I was reading this thing. It even works on pest control.

I was reading the America con Pest blog and it warns people who have their homes invaded by ladybugs, quote, please don't frighten the ladybugs. Like they're they're how to guide in terms of how to deal with a ladybug invasion, just cryptically saying like, please don't frighten the ladybugs. It's

not gonna be pretty. And yeah. So, while ladybugs are great for your garden because they eat up destructive aphids, you know, sometimes they invade your home by the thousands, which is I've never had that happen either, but it can happen, and often, like when cold weather happens and they are trying to find a nice, warm place, it's

pretty rare that you'll get a massive ladybug invasion. Usually it's just like a handful of them getting inside and chilling out, in which case I mean, come on, you can. You can share the space with a couple ladybugs, But I do see that it's a problem when thousands of them get inside. Now do you dare click on the video know that I have in this document, Emily, Yeah, okay, fine, this is like the kind of thing that turns my stomach. I even like ladybugs, but um well, if you want,

I can just describe this video's not for me. It's already it's I get bumped out and they're like yellow and brown. Um, yeah, oh yeah, you like the bright red ladybugs. I really get worried for them. It feels like it feels like, for whatever reason, I don't think this is true, but I always assume it's like they're like leaves that haven't been like doing there. I see they haven't been when they're sort of a dimmer color. No, no, that's not necessarily true, but yeah, I get it, like

sinks sort of. The more dusky colored ladybugs feels like wrong, like there's there's they're like zombie ladybugs or something. But no, um, but this is an ABC News video that explores someone's house that has been invaded by thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of ladybugs. It's just a sea of this orangy red moving mass of ladybugs. And they're like trying to sweep it up, and they've got like buckets of ladybug as if they're bailing out a

ship that's drowning in ladybugs. It's a you know, a little and a lot of massive amounts of any anything. It's not gonna don't know. It's like it's like the whole phobia, but bus just yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty bad. I don't know why I thought it would be a great idea to bring this up as people stay in your homes. I guess a positive spin could be like, maybe your board at home, but at least your home isn't filled with ladybugs, unless it is filled with ladybugs,

in which case I'm sorry. Well, I'm glad. That's there's a new problem that I didn't know about that somebody can have and I now I know about. I mean, but doesn't it make you feel grateful that your house isn't flooded with lady fo um? I've had the ants thing. The ants thing is a common California problem. Uh, exactly, But I don't know something about the ladybugs. The boldest they look like worts all over your home. Yeah, I

love and they'll kee blood at you to make them mad. Well, Emily, thank you so much for joining me today having I really appreciate it. Is there anything you want to plug for our listener? Sure, you can listen to my podcast that I do with Molly Lambert and Tess Lynch called Nightcall right here on the iHeart Network. And I'm also on Twitter at Emily Orshda. I don't really know what's going on there, but that's kind of where you can

find me most times. Um, and that's it. And I'm in my house also, it's another place that I will be pretty reliably over the next who knows how long, So all sorts of Yeah, it's it feels like I have like a portal to another world right now, because like you're in your house and I'm in your house, but like it's like we're connected through the portal of podcasting all the reality out there, everybody's living rooms and

their microphone setups exactly exactly. You can find us at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram, Creature Feet Pod on Twitter. That's f e A T, not f E T. That's something very different. You can find me also on Twitter. I'm at Katie Golden if you're interested in my Katie thoughts, and of course I'm at Pro Bird Rights, where I try to debunk this insane claim that birds aren't real in our some government conspiracy. Come on people, or should

I shage say sheeple people, sheep people. Anyways, we also have shirts in our store. I will provide a link for that in the show. No, and and yeah I will. New episodes are going to keep coming out every Wednesday because I'm all set to keep recording at home. And thank you guys so much for listening to us, and thanks to the Space Cossics for their super awesome song. Ex Alumina Creature Feature is a podcast by i Heeart

Radio You. If you want to listen to more awesome podcasts like the one you just heard, you can go to i heeart radio dot com, the I heart radio app, or wherever you listen to your ding ding podcast. Be your next Wednesday