Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, and today on the show, it's interspecific animal friendships. These are special friends you don't care about their species. Can lyons, tigers and bears bee buds? Can? We find interspecific relationships throughout the animal kingdom. Joining me today to talk about these funny little animal friends is stand up comedian writer.
She runs the Facial Recognition comedy show at the Comedy Store. My good friend, Paula Viganolin. Welcome.
Hello, I'm so excited to be here. I love animal friends.
You suggested this topic to me. I did, I did.
I love it so much because I'm like, they have their own worlds. They love each I love when they cuddle each other. Sometimes they'll catch my dog's cuddling. It's rare. They play fight more. But whenever I see them like cuddle next to each other, I'm like, I'm gonna take a million.
Pictures of you. I'm babysitting three cats and sometimes they really like they'll they'll be cuddling and one of them just like is spelunking. In the other one's like ear. They love ears. They'll like go like rooting around in those ears for something, looking for gold, looking for brain Maybe I'm not really sure what's happening.
It's very cute trying to find the brain cells.
Two of them are orange, so like maybe they're like trying to like borrow each other's single brain cel to use that that day. But yeah, it is very cute. But today we are talking about animal friendships that form not just between two individual animals, but animals who are different species. These are interspecific animal friendships, which I think is really it's one of those areas where we are really fascinated by it, We really love to see it. And it gets into this issue of like, can animals
like have friendships, right? Are they just sort of acting on some kind of instinct. Is this all like strategy or can they actually feel like friendship and companionship with other species? I mean, obviously kind of the big one is like our relationships we have with our pets, which feels.
Exactly That's what I was gonna say. I feel like we get excited when other animals do it because we're like, oh my god, wow, we're so different. We're like choosing our relationship, but you guys are so cute. Yeah, I feel like we try to separate ourselves, but really we're just like we just need friends.
Yeah, I mean, that's it is an interesting thing. So, like I looked into sort of research about the similarities between humans and animals in terms of friendship, and like, there's a bunch of neuroimaging studies. It's the neuroimaging studies that are done are animals don't really go that deep into friendships. A lot of them focus on different relationships like parental relationships, sexuality, long term like I guess you could call it romantic relationships, right, like animals that form
long term pair bonds. But in terms of neuroimaging about animals that have like friendships, particularly friendships with other species is not super well researched.
That's so funny. So they're doing MRIs being like this is a pan sexual bi romantic line.
But yeah, they know about all the animal pollicules, but not the you know, not the friendships. But yeah, the There is a review of neuroimaging studies called Neuroimaging of Human and non Human Animal Emotion and Affect in the context of social relationships.
That's a good like article headline, voice that was good.
Thank you, good, thank you. I've been practicing by talking to myself all the time while I read stuff. So they found that hormones such as oxytocin and vasopressin and neurotransmitters such as dopamine can modulate behavior in animals in terms of their sort of relationships with other animals, which is the same thing that happens in humans, right, So like these sorts of hormones neurotransmitters are very similar. Also,
they've found that hormones cattle hormones. Man, I wish I could just like I wish those you know how, like we have all sorts of cool hormones that can do cool stuff for us. Now, Like I want a cuddle hormone that I can inject into my body.
No, no, because then we would just we would just inject it and never make eye contact again.
I would probably I'd probably die because I wouldn't eat because I'd just be so cuddly all the time. But I have I'd die, so.
Yeah, so abuse it immediately.
Cuddles are my crack. In human and macaque studies of friendship, does seem to activate similar reward pathways, which is interesting. But yeah, it's it is not so heavily studied, but there are certainly a lot of examples of animal friendships
and animal friendships outside their own species. I think one of the reasons we're so fascinated by it or we love it so much is that it kind of goes beyond that idea that like there's an immediate purpose to it, right, Like if a goose is always hanging out with the tortoise, you're like, Okay, that doesn't seem like that's a particular evolutionary strategy, right, There's no immediate benefit that we can
see to that relationship, and yet they're doing it. So it does kind of make you question whether, like, okay, they is everything that animals do really just this like efficient sort of evolutionary strategy is survival instinct or in the same way that human beings have like taken our sort of evolutionary background and been able to do things like love and art and dance parties or whatever we do.
You know, it's it seems like with animals there might be that same room for flexibility in terms of taking Yeah, it started out as evolutionary instinct, but now like it turns into a goose and a tortoise hanging out for fun.
I feel like that's true with like any like humans with regards to like tribes and tribalism or whatever you want to call it, where we like band off into these units, whether it's for protection or love or whatever you want to call friendship, it is like mutually beneficial in some way. So I feel like friendship is this like vague term we use for protecting, Like it's it's symbiotic, it's protection, it's it's all sorts of things, and at
any given point that dynamic can change. What I'm saying is Homeward Bound was my favorite movie as a child, so I know a lot about this.
It's such a mood. I love Sassy so much. I think I modeled my personality after Sassy as an adult or like I'm gonna be a little bit deadpans sometimes give a little bit of attitude but really actually love everyone and worry about them constantly.
Yeah, that's a great role model. Honestly, she's.
Models.
Go.
We used to have sastfern to sase, yes, but uh yeah, I And it is interesting because yeah, we will. We'll talk about sort of the ways in which like this boast seems to be like kind of just like just for fun, just to have that connection, but also how that actually impacts the health and well being of animals. So uh now onto the fun part. We're just gonna get into some examples of these, like just these are not to be clear, these are not like known symbiotic
mutualistic relationships. These are just random animals who like form a friendship with another animal that is not their species, and so like these examples are from the PBS show Animal Odd Couples, which is adorable, and there's another show called Animal Odd Couples from the Real Wild Channel, also really super adorable. I'm probably not gonna name this episode Animal Odd Couples because it seems like everyone calls this stuff that, so I don't know.
Also, what an insult, you know what I mean? Like when we call people odd couples, we're like, you don't look like you belong together. Yeah, okay, you come from you're different classes, you're different maybe body types, and like I hate that.
Yeah, it's like Fraser and the other guy in Fraser Niles Niles. Okay, I don't know it's Fraser one and Fray brothers, so yeah, one of them. Let's just get into these examples. It's really really cute. I will say, though, the common denominator that you will notice is that these animals were raised in wildlife sanctuaries that host a very diverse variety of animals, saved from usually the pet trade, or from situations that where they can't be returned to the wild.
Like maybe they were like comedy, you know what I mean. We can't be returned to normal to the wild, and we don't know how to fend for ourselves in a real way. We definitely need someone else to provide for us. And then also we would never have met because without comedy, we would have been so segregated in our in our classes or whatever exactly.
It's like, look, you know, one of us might be a nerd, another one might be a jock. But if we can both bond over butt jokes, then hey.
We're Breakfast Club Club for Animals. This is that's the title.
That's the title. You did it. Thank you, Breakfast Club for animal We did it. We did it. So uh okay, here's this story. Anthony the Lion was being auctioned off as a cub because people are weird freaks and think that having a lion as a pet would be cool. Spoiler,
it's not. It's not cool at all. And so a lot of these lions are abandoned because people were like, oh, I thought this was just a big, cool kitten instead of like an actual lion that does not belong in my Uh you know, one story home or two story it doesn't really matter how many stories do you.
These animals will suck you up. Yes, yes, absolutely, leave them alone, even like I don't know, I feel bad. They're like coyotes and stuff on my street, Like, and I feel so bad. I would never go near them. Yeah, I would be like, hey, a professional, deal with it.
It's funny you mentioned coyotes. So so. Anthony the Lion was rescued by Keepers of the Wild and Animal Sanctuary in Arizona for exotic animals who are sold as pets and then either neglected or abandoned because most exotic pets are exotic because they don't make good pets. And then Riley the coyote was rescued as a puppy in Arizona, also sent to Keepers of the Wild and they were both about a month old when they met. So about this, you know, kind of like the same size, right, Anthony
was a little kitten. Riley met when he was like a puppy and so like, yeah, Anthony was like a little bigger, but they were a kitten a puppy. So they played together, they had fun.
I'm looking at pictures of them online. They look so cute.
They are adorable, and they despite the fact that Anthony grew to become a fully grown male lion and Riley is a coyote, which you know you've seen coyotes are. They're like they can be smaller than a dog, right, like they're they're.
Not that big, tiny and they're just like they're so the name Riley coyote.
Yeah, I know, it's got the wiley coyote, but it's a little test on it. I don't know why the lion's name is Anthony, but it's fine. That's okay.
I feel like lions deserve a grown ass man.
There, you know, Gerald the lion.
Yeah, yeah, er.
So they have remained friends over the years, and the line who's never hurt Riley even though like like it's just it's just so interesting to me when these like huge animals are so gentle with their tiny friends. And in a similar vein another case was a bullet. The Jack Russell terrier and a jaguar named jag are best friends. They also met when they were a little and to be careful, jaguar could crush a Jack Russell terrier's school like a Ferrero rochare candy, you know, just like.
I don't want to imagine that.
I'm sorry, but it is true. Jaguars have incredible jaw strength and so like the puppy and the kitten made friends when they're little at an animal rescue. The rescuers tried to separate them when they were getting bigger because they were worried for the Jack Russell terriers safety. But the one when they were like separated, they would cry and scream and they they put up like such a huge tantrum that they're just like, okay, fine, fine, you
guys can live together. And they grew to full size and they just get along great.
Like their their so cute. They are so so cute and you know, like the little one is always in charge.
Oh yeah, I mean it's a Jack Russell terrier. Those are terrifying little guys. They're the boss always. Yeah, they do have quite a an air of authority. And then the jaguars just like, okay, what are you saying, man?
Are their lifespans like similar?
You know, that's a good question. I would say probably, yes, uh.
Yeah, I think in captivity so sweet, they're gonna like live their lives out together.
In captivity, I think it's similar. In the wild they might be different. I would say probably in the wild, jaguars might have a shorter lifespan because stuff's tougher. But like in captivity, let's see jaguar twenty three years. Yeah, so yeah, twelve to fifteen years in the wild and then that's like double longer. Yeah, I'm crazy. I mean, for a jack Russell is a smaller dog, so that's it's going to be able to live that long too. Yeah, they could. They could be old men together have long beards.
That's so cute.
Play cribbage and that what is it a ball ball? Wait?
Isn't that Italian boche ball? Yeah?
But I'm not I'm not old. I'm young and spries, so I haven't. I don't play box sheeball yet. So another cute one is at an animal say Juary in Atlanta. There is literally a friendship between a tiger, a lion, and a.
Bear who that I saw.
Yeah, they all met when they were like a couple months old and they just bonded and they grew up together and they're always pelling around and it just it sounds like something where it's like, Okay, this feels like a setup, like someone's trying to make some viral video. But I looked into it. It looks legit, and it's at an animal sanctuary, not like a zoo kind of attraction thing where they're trying to They're not like put on display or anything. Also, an animal behavioral psychologist, a
Clive Wing like looked into it. From what I can tell, he just like hung around them a while and looked at what they were doing. He's like, yeah, it seems like they treat each other like brothers because they because they like argue and they fight, but then at the end of the day they're like licking each other's butts, so you know, brother stuff.
I have a couple things to say about this. I love their names. It's Leo the lion, Bleuw the bear, and share Colm the tiger. Very cute, love it so much, great job sanctuary. And then they were also like they trauma bonded because they were found in a drug dealer's house as like babies, and they were like malnourished and they were like parasites and stuff. Yeah, and so that's why they like they came through it together and they're like living their best life and it makes me happy.
It's it's really interesting because we kind of think of wild animals, especially big scary ones like lions, tigers, and bears, you know, literally oh my, as being not like that they couldn't be traumatized, right, but they absolutely can be. And the kind of same response that humans need when faced with trauma, which is friendship, you know, found family, that kind of thing, like these animals also will seek out.
And I think that's really interesting. It really speaks to that common need that most animals who reach a certain level of social and intelligence like they need companionship to get through that kind of experience.
I think, yeah, I think like all animals do, because I don't know, it definitely feels like.
Does an ant need it?
How much they need each other? They definitely need each other.
Do they need like I mean do they need cuddles.
But I think like we interpret cuddles as like a very specific thing. But I feel like ants probably have another way of like communing with each other, chemical or whatever. Yes, I feel like just because we don't understand doesn't mean it's not as comforting to them. You know, I do.
Love ants, and I know they know I also love bees, so I don't.
I feel bad. I keep seeing like bees that look dehydrated, and I'm like, stand up, are you okay?
I like a spoon feed a bee before it was difficult.
I have Oh my god, I tried to save a bee on a leaf and I tried to like pick it up and like whatever, and I was so delicate and I saved it twice from falling and then my dog knocked it out of my hand. That's like I can't do any animal care when I have the dogs, Like, yeah, like a cat or something. I try to leave food for the neighbor for the neighbor cats, and I'm trying to get them rescued and stuff, and then my dogs just ruin it. They just like stare off everything.
I love it when I'm trying to, like, I like find a cool spider and I'm just like observing it and my dog comes up. It's like, oh, what's this slurp? Eats it? I'm like no, yeah, come on, I was making friends with this spider. And my dog's like, cool, snack you got there, slurp just mine now, I know. Eat it. Another animal behavioralist talks about sort of the role of play because you in these like sort of animal friendships with these different species, you see a lot
of play. And animal behavioralist doctor Linda Sharp says that the act of play, like rolling on their backs, making themselves vulnerable, helps build the trust between animals. So it's really really important. A super drum. I always go for it.
I always think about like I always say that every animal is like a puppy, but they're different types of puppies. Yeah, Cows play. Like when you see them playing with like a big bouncy ball, I'm like, that's just a milk puppy.
You know.
Yeah, there's like they're all just different types of puppies because they all play and they all need like that companionship and stuff, and like once you view them outside of the circumstances that we put them in, then you'll have a lot more empathy to realize that they are like the line separating them from like our house pets, it's very thin.
Yeah, what about anema toade?
I'm sure they have really being weird things that they do. What's their version of a belly? I don't know.
I'm being a contrarian here, I'm being I'm doing like a jubilee thing, like who thinks that numa toads are puppies? And who thinks them.
The twenty people stand up? Yeah, I don't know. I just think I really love seeing different animals play because they often are in survival mode. And I think when people or animals get a chance to relax and like write, bond and play with each other, that means that they're safe and that makes me happy.
And I mean that's I think that's exactly right. And like an example of this is a very dramatic example is that sometimes play is observed between huskies and polar bears in Canada, which is wild, right, because a lot of times polar bears are so desperate right that they they really need every opportunity they can get to have food.
But in this like in these specific cases, it usually seems to be like polar bears that are doing pretty well for themselves in these areas where they run into these huskies and like, so they are well fed enough that they don't need to like eat the dogs or attack the dogs out of desperation because like I don't think they would normally want to do that anyways, because they know that dogs are going to defend themselves and they don't want to have to deal with that, so
instead they like play with each other. So it's like you see these like terear, Like, I'm legit afraid of polar bears. They scare me in the sense that, like I think they're cute. I love them. They're uh, they're fascinating. If I saw a polar bear in real life outside of an enclosure, I would poop, pee, and vomit like all at once.
Yeah, they're you don't freak with bears. Did you see that video recently of like this bear that was like it's got it had its head through like a little hole in a bridge that a car was driving over, and like it was I'm sorry, but it was clearly white people in the car because like the person taping was like, oh my god, I think it's stuck. I think we need to help, but it's stuck. And then like the guy was like, I don't think it's stuck. And then like the girl was like, no, maybe we
should slow down. And as soon as they stopped the car, the bear pulled itself out of the fucking hole and started. They got I think they got they were far enough away and they were still in the car, but like that point had gotten ow. She went in debt, do not do that, do not do that. But I'm I'm not, like I don't have like this phobia of bears because I'm like I'm not going to be near a farm, like that's just I can't let that happen. I can't let that happen.
I've seen like a mother bear in her cub from like a distance of about like I don't know, I want to say, fifty ish feet, and that's good for me, Like I'm happy with.
That's like that feels close, honestly. Yeah, I mean my yeah, my niece's grandfather got attacked by a bear. So he lives in this like house that's in this beautiful place in India that like it's like elephants come through their front yard and like monkeys and wild boar and INCREDI all sorts of things, and also like sometimes like large cats and bears, and like he was he kind of
used it as like a bed and breakfast sometimes. So I think there was like a couple staying with him and they went on he guided them on this hike and a bear, like I think it was like a mama bear popped up and he like tried to scare
it off, and it took one swipe at him. The lady's gotta like you know, got away, but he got swiped at on his thigh and it was just sliced, yeah, and then he had to hike back and then he couldn't go to like the town doctor because it's not like a surgery trauma, and he had they had to drive like up and downhills in India for an hour with his the upper part of his leg just fully sliced open. It's like I was like, and that was like, oh,
that's awful. I was like that is like the bear just like waving like a high five from the because like that that was if the bear decided to really freak him up, like you wouldn't find.
Him, like no, it'd be like it'd be like the slap chop, you know, it's just oh man, it's so horrifying, which.
I mean, he has like a giant scar from it, and he's fin like he he really does like respect nature and like yeah, yeah it in like a way, but like you can't. They're wild animal, dude, Like I'm saying, oh way.
Yeah, no, that's that's absolutely terrifying. I'm glad he made it out of that. Yeah, and yeah. But I would say that the raw power of the bear really speaks to how much these polar bears love these huskies, because they will play with these huskies and they're very gentle, like they'll roll over for them, they'll like kind of do these playful sort of baps and stuff. We're talking about polar bears the largest bear in the world, Like these are the largest bear on the planet.
I saw a picture of our polar bear like hugging a husky.
Yeah, gonna cry. I cannot emphasise enough. Under no circumstances, should you ever try to hug a polar bear.
Or really just let your dog, yeah, or have your.
Dog go up to a polar bear, the most likely thing that will happen is you will add to that polar bear's daily caloric intake, which is how helpful for the bear, but not really because then it's probably gonna get put down, so don't do that. But this is
also really really cute because this happens naturally, right. These are huskies that kind of are used for I would I think these are like sled huskies, so they're like out, they're in their element, and they happen to sort of be in the same area where these polar bears will come. And these specific group, this group of polar bears are pretty well fed, like they are doing quite well for themselves.
So in this very specific circumstance, the polar bears are doing well, the huskies are doing well, and they just like play together and cuddle. And so that same animal behaviorist I mentioned earlier, doctor Linda sharp So, is that she thinks that there's even an added component of the excitement of it. Being another species may add to a bit of like an element of like stress or danger or novelty that makes them even more excited about it.
And so there may actually be it's not just that they're ignoring that there are different species, but they're actually it enhances the experience because it's like this is fun, because this is really new. This is a different animal. The way that I think about it is my dog kind of doesn't care about like she gets irritated by other dogs. She doesn't really like them, and she doesn't really want to play with them. She was traumatized by
a dog though, so that's that's understandable. But like, I'm babysitting these cats and she's like so fascinated by them. She does like to chase them a little bit, not in an aggressive way, she but she's like she really wants to play with them. One of them gets it and like just stands still while she like runs towards him, and then she like goes up to him and like
circles them, and she's super happy about it. But the other two are like freak out, which she also loves because she's like, great, we're playing tag now, and the cats are like, oh god, oh god, so god, so cute.
It's I feel like dogs do that. They just like run up and then they stop really quickly. My dogs do that all the time. And my big boy does scare other dogs, but he's when he like is excited in that way, he's like not meaning any harm. He's
just too too hype. Yeah, I was gonna talk about did you see that bear and the dog that were like I think there was like a dog that was like missing and like Wyoming or Colorado or something, and then they found it like this hanging out with a bear and they were just like kind of hunting together.
But now, oh that's great, Ella.
I think it was I think it was a husky. I'm not sure if it was a husky, if it was like actually like a missing wolf or something, but it was something like that. It's like mostly where they were like.
A dog raised by humans rather than a human raised by dogs.
Owners found their missing husky hanging out with bears during a drone search here also.
So I love that so much. I mean, I'm glad that.
Yeah, it was like a bunch of bears and it was running through. It was like running through like playing with them.
That's so cute. It's just it is really interesting to me because like this the way that sometimes like animal sort of like especially carnivores. Right when carnivores get along with each other, it's like they've somehow. It's like, yeah, I'm just not gonna try to eat you like we're buds, like like they have some sense of like, yeah, it's not worth it to try to eat you game, recognize game.
This is so cute.
It's literally the three bears and a doggie. I love them so much. I love them so much. I mean, like, obviously not the ideal situation because this dog does not belong out in the wild.
But I'm also like if this if the owners got their dog back and I was like a bear, I'd be like, where the fuck did you take my dog?
Yeah?
Looking for my dog?
Right? Also, the dog is like I was friends with bears. We were like showing down on like live rabbits. Now I gotta eat kibble again. Seriously, No, okay, So one more before we move on is that, uh so rhina Those are often really sadly they are are orphaned because
of the poaching trade. And even though, like I feel like people don't think about the emotional state of rhinos because they seem so stoic and like they don't have any feelings because they have such a sort of like tank like like kind of a tank like appearance, but they're actually very sensitive animals, and baby rhinos do not
do well with social isolation. They can actually die if they're orphaned, not because they don't get enough food or anything, but they just don't really know how to eat, and they just get sick and they don't they really don't
do well because they're socially isolated. This is this is actually not so different from like human the adverse health outcomes that isolation has on human beings, like especially for more vulnerable people like older people, like like social connection in animals who are social uh can have a direct impact on health. So at rhino sanctuaries, they have recognized this, and so they pair orphaned baby rhinos with like sheep,
with grazing animals. It doesn't have to be sheep, but that seems to be a good one because like they've I think they tried doing it with dogs and then they found that the baby rhinos learned from the dogs to eat, so all they wanted to do was eat dog food, which isn't really good for a rhino, Like they need to learn how to graze. So then they started to introduce like grazing animals, so like a sheep, and then the rhino learns how to graze. But then
they also just like so cuddle with the sheep. It's so adorable, so fluffy.
I follow this wildlife trust that's very like famous. It's called Sheldric Trust on Instagram and it's located in I believe, Kenya, and they get or like elephants and rhinos and stuff and they have keepers who like live with them twenty four to seven. Yeah, and just like take care of them. And I always know they like bottlefeed the babies and they like they'd show like the rescue videos of like
how they found them, and it's just really beautiful. And they have like little rhinos and they put like little like coats on them. I think it helps their skin or something like that, like the little blankets or whatever. And it's just so cute to see them, like I don't know, taken in and taken care of and have that interaction. And the keepers are so dedicated, like they're that that animals like keeper for life.
Yeah, you know, that's really nice. I mean I think it is encouraging to watch those things because when we think about poaching, or we think about the pet trade or animal cruelty, we think like it really gives you a cynical view of people. But then on the flip side is the people that do these rescue efforts, who spend so much time and love and dedication to making
care of these animals. So I really think it is important to not get too cynical about it and to see like, yeah, actually humanity pulls through in a lot of situations, even if we also caused the problem, but different people, different people cause the problem, and then good people.
Other people, yeah, try to help.
Yeah.
I watched also this documentary I forget what it's called, but it's about this like bird rescue in India that is really like, I don't know, it shows how much
hard work. It's called All That Breeds, All That Breeds, and it's a twenty twenty two documentary Filching Out, and it's it's really it shows like all of the hard work and difficulty and like this graping together of coins just to like help save these birds that are like constantly being like hurt by the pollution in India and different other man made factors and like their place like flood. It's like they're constantly like in like awful conditions trying
to figure this out. But it does end hopeful, and it also I don't know, it's just a very realistic, I feel like view of what it means to actually do the work on the ground and like help your community and stuff and whether that be animals or people. And it's just really sweet.
I love that. I really love that. I think it's so sweet and I think, I mean, that's like another reason we love these stories so much, of like animals being friends with each other, because I think we feel that empathy towards animals, and it's gratifying to see that animals feel empathy towards each other as well, Like, especially when it doesn't necessarily make sense, right, like where what
I say makes sense. It's not like, you know, a sheep, Like being nice to a rhino doesn't directly benefit the sheep. It benefits the baby rhino. But like the sheep is just happy to be like, hey, man, like you're cool, let's graze together. And that's I think that's really lovely.
I know, it's just like all of the caretakers all over the world, including all the other animals that participate in that, it's so sweet.
Well, we're going to take a quick break, and when we get back, we're actually going to talk about symbiotic relationships that are more I guess, sort of scientifically documented and are more of a pattern and kind of it's interesting to me because I think that it is. I want to explore that line between like just pure evolutionary benefit and that emotional fulfillment that.
We've been talking about.
So we'll be right back, all right. So I know I said earlier that we're fascinated by like all these like animal friendships that just kind of pop up, right, like a goat and a horse and a deer and a dog, because it shows us how animals can form
bonds beyond like their mere evolutionary purpose. But I do want to talk about regular symbiosis as well, documented symbiosis that happens again and again and again between two species like they co evolve, because I want to show like how blurry those lines are right between like what like something that's like an evolutionary imperative and then the emotional connection that these animals could potentially have. And also it's
super cute. That's actually the main reason everything I just said is basically bs, I only want to tell you about this because it's really cute. So Randal's pistol shrimp belonged to my friend Randal But yeah, that's what they're called Randal's pistol shrimp. It's a species of shrimp native to tropical and subtropical shallow waters in the Pacific and Indian Ocean. They are beautiful little shrimp that look like candy canes. They kind of like have red and white stripes.
They grow a little over an inch and they have one teeny tiny claw and one giant claw. The big claw is like the big guns. It actually that is why it's called a pistol shrimp. It can snap it's
enlarged claw, forming a cavitation bubble in the water. The velocity of their snap is so high that it creates this very hot cavitation bubble that collapses, moves along a jet of water, and produces a high pressure pulse that not only creates this really like a powerful force full jet of water, but it also produces this really loud sound and pressure snap exactly so like Thanos could only hope that movie is like eight years old by this point.
I gotta I never actually watched it, but you know, the snap with the glove and these purple but hey whatever, so.
Gay by the way, I love LGBTQ representation in the film thanoses. Yeah, he wanted a bunch of gems and he was such a drama queen. Yes, seize one of us.
I remember he had like a chin that has like ridged for someone's pleasure. So I, oh, you know, it's like, what's that hin doing with all those ridges?
What that chin do?
What that chin do? Mister purple? Uh So the claw of this pistol shrimp is shaped with a plunger and socket designed so basically the plunger like you know, drives down into the socket displaces the water, but it's such a high velocity that it creates this incredible force. The sound is louder than a gun being fired. And over a very very tiny area, the cavitation bubble heats up
to four eight hundred degrees celsius. That doesn't mean that it can like actually burn you, right, because it is a very tiny area for a very brief moment that it gets up to this heat. But that is just an idea of like how powerful this is.
Yeah, one claw is doing all that work. That's crazy.
Yeah, because like I could make a joke about like hey, look at that tiny claw, but then that big claw. Wonder what that's doing. But yeah, it is actually just a stun pray so.
Uh, Randall's pistol shrimp stuns with new claw.
Actually, speaking of new claws, it can regrow its little claw, but if it loses its big claw, the bummer is that it just grows a little claw there, so then it loses.
That's like such a Twilight moment. Yeah, like the Twilight Zone moment. Uh, like were you vampire one? No, not the not the vampire one. I always mix those up and it's very funny. Yeah, but it's a Twilight Zone moment where it's like he has all the books in the world, but he dropped his reading glasses.
Yeah. Like, if he loses his big gun claw, then he's not really a pistol shrimp anymore. He's just Randall shrimp, which is kind of a much more lame name. Uh, no offense to Randall. I also have a friend named Randal, so come get your shrimp Randal. So it has formed a symbiotic mutualistic relationship with the Randal shrimp or pron gobi. So these are small tube like fish with orange stripes. They're just called like I think there are also other
species of this gobi that have different names. But the gobi has good eyesight on like the shrimp. The shrimp has really poor eye sight. The shrimp is really good at burrowing in the sand, which the gobi is not
really that good at. So the shrimp burrows and allows the goby to live with it, and the gobi eats the animals that the shrimp digs up while it's burrowing, and then like shares the scraps with the shrimp, and the shrimp can like close off the entrance to the burrow really quickly if there's like danger or at night to rest. And also the gobi will be like a watchdog.
It rests its tail thin on the shrimps antenna, and if it sees like a threat some kind of danger, it flicks its tail, alerting the shrimp, and so they both flee into the burrow. And researchers have found it only does this behavior with the shrimp, so it's not like, oh, this is sort of a thing that it does anyway. Yeah, it's like exactly, but it's also like it's not something it would just do on its own. And then the
shrimp has learned how to read that cue. It is specifically signaling to his little shrimp buddy, like, uh oh, there's there's danger out there, alerting the shrimp. The shrimp like communicates with the gobie by like touching him with its tentacles. We're not sure what he's saying, probably like what's up, dude, did you leave your socks? Like in the borough. It's it's cool, it's like all right, like I don't know what you do with socks because you're fish.
But so in your mind, these guys are roommates.
They are literally roommates, so they are literally cohabitating roommates, and so uh yeah, but yeah, it's like and it happens. There's a few different species in which this happens, uh, who also have this, like like of gob and pistol shrimp. So it's clearly a format that really works for these guys. And it's it's just kind of amazing because it's like, you know, clearly they're both benefiting from this, right they have. This is a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship. They have co evolved.
They've created a communication system. And if you look at like pictures of these little guys, they look so cool and chill, just hanging out and they're burrows together. But then you know, you wonder, like, all right, how much of that is just like instinct. They're not really thinking about it. They're just like you know, basically hanging out. And how much of it, like do they enjoy each other's presence and maybe get distressed if something happens to the other one.
I wonder if they're like partnered for life or if they just jump from shrimp to shrimp.
I think they tend to stick with uh with one like they form a pair. Yeah, And I think unless something like interferes because like it's a burrow right like that, they tend to stay in and hang out in. So I think like unless something disrupts it, right like if one of them like gets lost or gets killed, like then they might like switch off or find something else. But I think they kind of like it's a pretty stable, roomy situation.
If I was one of them, I would be like, you're not allowed to find a new partner if I die.
I don't want you to move on and I don't want you to be happy.
I don't want you to do that.
I will haunt you if you try, petty shrimp, if you try to find you peace Randall's petty shrimp. Yeah, all right, Well we're gonna take a quick break and then when we come back, we're gonna dive into a movie icon, a relationship, maybe one of the most famous animal friendships in movies, and how it's got so close to being accurate but it's not, so we hate it. We'll beer back. Remember Timan and Pumba.
I was gonna say, is it the lion?
It's the lion King? You gussed it. It's that irascable, those those irascable little guys, Niles and Frasier, Timone and Pumba, uh doing their doing their little friendship thing. Right. It's a mere cat and a warthog and their buddies, their friends, their pals. Uh there, I think, you know, like they're definitely like gay, coupled coated, but Disney's not brave enough to sort of, you know, commit to that because they
do adopt a child together. But you know, but yeah, they're roommates, right, They're just roommates who live together forever and adopt a child together. But right, but as roommates platonically riding on each other. So the thing is that this is not accurate to real life like meerkats, and wart hogs don't generally form friendships out in the wild and then adopt abandoned lion cubs. Right, so you suck Disney, sue me, but you got it wrong. The thing is
they were so close to getting it right. And that is because in real life, mongooses and wart hogs actually have a really cute relationship. Have you Have you seen this pull of.
Be I just was looking it up and that popped up.
It is cute, It is super super cute. So wart hogs, despite their reputation, actually prefer cleanliness and mongooses love to eat insects. So I think you probably see where I'm going with this. They're gonna sing a song and eat bugs under a rock and then take a shower together as roommates. Now, so in the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, common warthogs have formed a special bond with
banded mongooses. So banded mongooses are highly social. They're they're similar to meerkats in a lot of ways in terms of like they have this like social network, but like the warthogs have also formed a relationship with these mongooses. The warthogs will lie down and patiently wait for a pack of mongooses to swarm them. The mongoose is just like dog pile this warhog. And for a minute you're like, oh God, what's happening. Are they about to like attack
this warhog? But no, it's like puppies. It's like puppies, but they are on a mission to eat all of the ticks and parasites they find on the warthog. And the warthog seems to like deeply enjoy this. He rolls over, he like splays his legs out for them, lifts his arms, let them get like in all the nooks and crannies, and like it just like it seems like he's having a really good time. And the mongy's the mongooses are also like having a great time getting all those like
it must be really satisfying. It's like it's like sort of you know, like when you like pick a part of pomegranate or like pick sesame, so it's off of a bun.
It's like for me, every I've seen I've seen like like turtles and other things get like barnacles taken off of them, like I seen a lot of those videos. Yeah, yeah, it also is like weirdly addicting, like the Pimple popper videos. I can't baracles.
I can't deal with those. I can't. I can't.
I usually can't. And like, honestly, the couple of barnacle videos that I've seen, I'm like, they're stuck in my head and I don't want to see them again.
Them bar but you mean barnacles off of like turtles. That seems I feel like I could deal with barnacles and stuff, but for some reason, pimples are too juicy for me to deal with. I can't. I can't.
I can't know the barnacles are pretty bad too, It's pretty hard.
Out of morbid curiosity, I did like watch like one of those pimple videos. It was like, this is way too juicy. I can't. I can't deal with that.
I feel physically okay, Yeah, but that's but this also reminds me of pedicures. Yeah, this also reminds me of those pedicures where the fish eat off of your yeah sid skin or whatever. Yeah.
I feel like I've read something about how that doesn't actually do anything and the fish aren't necessarily having a good time. So I don't know if I would I don't know if i'd personally recommend it, but it probably feels wild as heck like i'd be I would be very curious to know what that feels like. I also would be curious to know what it feels like to have a pack of mongooses, like try to pick like
ticks all off of me. That seems either really it might either be really tickling and uncomfortable or just like very much like spot ay and stuff. I don't I don't know a lot of like spa day stuff. I feel kind of uncomfortable with people like fussing over me. But I feel like if it was a spa and by mongoose's I'd be into that.
Yeah, I uh think it's cute that this warthog is named Miss Piggy and the mongoose is just named mongo Like they really gave up wait they named there's like there's a conservation where they have like a warthog mongoose pair. Cute mongo The mongoose looks like Timone honestly.
Yeah, I mean they're striped. They were so close. Disney was so close to greatness. If they had like had if they had the courage right to just make them a gay couple, be accurate mongoose, and then they adopt uh, what's his name, Matthew Broderick, Simba, Simba, you know.
But then Simba goes back to his family and like leaves them, and it's like, don't forget your gay uncles.
Come on. I mean I think they were. I think they were like invited to come and they did and they were but right, and they had to.
Go hang out with lions.
They had a whole dance routine worked out to like distract the hyenas where like that they didn't even really have to communicate about. So clearly they practiced on it. And you want us to believe that they're just roommates, this is.
That has to be based on like what is it the which one was the Robin Williams Nathan Lane? Was that bird cage or yes? A couple?
Yes, yes, they were bird cage codes. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, you're completely right. You're completely right about that. I never made that connection. But yes, I wonder if they I don't know, I don't know if they tried to get Robin Williams for that. He already did the genie stuff, so maybe they thought that was too. I don't remember.
I thought a lot of the whole thing where like Disney screwed over it was, which is why there's like a whole thing about voiceover and how it's changed to celebrities rather than like voice actors. There's a documentary on YouTube that's really interesting about it.
Everything is Chris Pratt. Now like everyone, Yeah, Chris, I'm being voiced by christ.
Oh my god. Wait, he's a lot more talented than I thought. But it's But they also screwed Robin Williams over because he said he would do it if they didn't like sell like things of his character, and they like just were like fuck that, like they they and immediately yeah, it's fine, and then immediately turn around and monetized everything because he was also doing Ferngully at the same time. I think. But yeah, so that that is.
I don't think he wanted to work with Disney in the same way after that.
That's that's that's solid. Robin Williams seems like he was a real real one, a gem, truly a gem, and the gauntlet of comedy gloves that Thanos Where's I don't know. I shouldn't have done that. I regret it's so bad. So before we go, we got a play a little game called Guess who squawk and the Mystery Animal Sound Game. Every week I play a mystery animal sound and you the listener, and you the guests, try to guess who
is making that sound. It can be any animal and the world on the world, slightly above the world, you know, basically anything. If we find alien life, it could be that too, so keep that in mind. The hint for last time, mister animal sound was this. Uh. It was also whips. Oh god, oh no, I'm playing it too soon. Oh god, hang on, ignore that. It's fun. It's it's I mean, you don't have any more of that, but let me retake that. So I learned. I learned about this from my guest U Karajaimo.
Uh.
And it's a great sound. The hint is this Holy Raythans batman. And here is this man? All right? Do you hear the sort of croaking sound, not the not the myriad seagulls in the background croaking?
Interesting clue? Yeah, am I supposed to guess? Or yes, I forget it? Oh I guess. Okay, So there's seagulls. So it is by the ocean. And you said croaking. It did kind of like a little croaking honk. So it's some sort of what do frogs live by the ocean? M I don't m some sort of amp broaking hmmm. I want to say it's some sort of I feel like it's something in the ocean because I don't think it's like the birds.
It's me, Chris Pratt. I'm playing.
It's Chris Pratt.
It's Chris Pratt.
Okay, I guess. My guess is it's some sort of amphibious being by the ocean.
Interesting and amphibious being, you mean, Chris Pratt. So this is this is actually the sea robin. It is a family of fish found in tropical waters all over the world. It is about, you know, the size of an adult human's hand. It's got a face like.
God, you okay, the face. This thing looks weird as it looks like it has feet.
It feet, Yeah, yeah, so.
A fish with feet. This was like the evolution.
Yeah. So it's got these wing like fins that often have orange coloration. Thus it's named sea robin. When they're distressed, such as uh, being in a bucket or you know, I think in this video like it's sort of flopping around on the ground, which makes me sad for it. But they make this very angry little sound. It's like a little and yeah, they have feats. They have these three walking rays, like these fins on each of their
side that they used to walk along the seafloor. They actually have chema receptors on these fins that allow them to quote unquote taste things on the floor. Uh, to detect prey.
I do have a tongue on my feet. I'd give up. Yeah, I'm not doing that. That's now see you.
But I'm ahead of that because like I'm anticipating that's gonna happen next for us in evolution. So I just like the floor. I'm really sorry to do this to you, but I am sending you a link of this sea robin walking on the sea floor and it's why well, oh it's coming towards me. It's very funny. It's like dumb, dumb and scary. I don't like do you remember.
The toy story, like the Barbie thing.
Oh yeah, yeah, there's like the baby doll head.
Yeah, the baby the baby doll head was just like a dumb fish. Jar jar beats jar Jarbanks face. Yeah, it's like jar Jerbinks's first stage of evolution when he's a little less annoying. I was kind of right about it being an amphibian. I know you said it's a fish, but it's so I'm counting that.
I'll give you that, and your prize is this video of it walking around the seafloor, which will never leave your brain. You'll think about it in the dead of night.
Barnacles video in my head. Those memories are changing, they're shifting.
They're shifting now. Now now it's just Barnacles walking with a bunch of little week Oh god, oh god.
Okay, So end of podcast.
On this makes mister Anna's animals sound. The hint is this. It's creepy, it's crawley, it hails from Madagascar, and it does not like to be poked. All right, did you hear that?
I feel like some sort of like tarantula or bug like freaks me out.
Interesting. Well, you'll find out next time on a Creature feature where I will reveal who was squawking. If you think you know, write to me at Creature featurepot at gmail dot com. Do it eat Cowards. Sorry, I didn't mean that I love you guys working cowards. I didn't mean it. I love you. But you can also write to me your animal questions. Occasionally I will do a Listener Questions episode where I answer your animal questions. You
can send me pat photos. Hey, if you made your animal participate in Halloween, send big photos of that too, That's probably funny. And hey, Blavie, thank you so much for joining us today. You are so talented. Where can people find you?
Thank you so much? Your talented?
Please Pratt stop? Yeah, I'm Chris Pratt. I'm in this one.
Too, Mama Mia.
Okay, you can find me at Paula Viganalan p A L l A v I G and A L A N everywhere. I do run a show with my friends called Facial Recognition Comedy at the Comedy Store the third Friday of every month. You can also follow Facial Recognition Comedy. But yeah, the more you follow me and share my content, the more likely I am to be able to tour and sell tickets and eventually maybe buy a house with a yard for my dogs.
Do it, do it?
Do it?
Do it. We We're We're We're just We're just a couple of content creators looking at you the audience wishing that we had yards.
So we're we're content creators. We're not content creators.
That's beautiful, bus that's oh poetic. I'm gonna cry. Thank you guys for listening. If you're enjoying the show, if you leave a writing or review, it tangibly helps me. It tells the algorithm that people care. Even if you're like, if you leave a like five star review and then the comment you're like, eat my butt, that's fine too. Honestly I respect that because that still helps me. Also, you know, like I read all of them, and I really appreciate your feedback in kind comments. You need some
constructive feedback. I appreciate that too. And thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song x so Lumina. Creature features a production of iHeartRadio for more podcasts like the one you just heard or I don't know him, I lost it lost that lost that symptomce that slipped
right out of my mouth. If you're enjoying yep, Creature features of production of iHeart Radio for more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, or Hey Guess what why of you listen to your favorite shows. I'm not your mother. I can't tell you what to do other than don't hug a polar bear. You're a snack to that polar bear. But maybe do watch a video of a c robin skittering around on the ocean floor, just so you never sleep again. See you next one.
Adopt a husky.
Adopt bear. Yeah, I mean it's like a second degree, right, like the husky. Yeah, that's basically and then you hug the husky. So there you go, seven degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with polar bears and husky. See you next Wednesday. Bye Ny.