CF Swiss Cheese Trees

of wood. From hidden delicacies within rotting logs to nutty drama to the story of a parasites parasite, we're looking at what happens when the giving tree gives you nausea. Discover this more as we answer the age old question would you eat living tree noodles? Joining me today on this Woody Journey is co host of the Ethnically Ambiguous podcast, writer, director and friend of the show, Sharene Lanny Yunas. Welcome at me tree, Thanks for having me. Is that your

impression of a tree getting eaten alive? Yeah? That's that you say that. Yeah, they imagine it kind of like high pitched and kind of alarming, and oh it's like, oh, it's like the voice in a Who Framed Roger Rabbit when he gets like flattened or whatever. Oh yeah, we're like they put the little shoe in the acid. That was a children's movie. Yeah, that's we Obviously it scarred me.

I'm still thinking about it when I'm two. So yeah, yeah, so we are talking about the the horrible desecration of wood. To be fair, not all of these animals harm trees, but they do very strange things to the trees. And so I am serious when I say that if you have triple phobia, this may not be the episode for you. There are and certainly, like I, I do include some images in the show notes, and I would definitely warn

you not to look at those. Um But yeah, I I think that it is really interesting that you look at a tree and you think of sort of the normal way that it supports life, like maybe a bird's nest and its branches, and like little caterpillars munching on its leaves. But some really weird stuff can happen, like inside of wood, which uh, you know is not a phrase I would have thought I would say this morning, but here I am saying it. Yeah. I love trees.

I love everything they do. Hot take hot take trees. Go look at one. They are giving you life and you should go hug it um. But yeah, I didn't know what this show is going to be about this morning. Disclosure. I just kind of woke up like maybe twenty minutes ago. But I'm really happy to be here today and I love that I'm starting my day with this because definitely woke me up. I don't think I have it's called tripophobia, right the p I don't think I have it, but

I don't enjoy looking at stuff like that. So I'm if you if you have it, or like, if you don't like that stuff and you're still listening, this is I'm for you, you know what I mean, Like, I get you. I'll be here as your what's it called?

You know you're representative your holes? Good exactly because I think it's gnarly and even now looking at some of the photos, I my stomach is like nope, but uh but yeah, I think trees are fascinating and I'm actually kind of interested to know stuff that I don't know about them, so I'm kind of excited. Yeah. I I knocked on Cheren's window this morning, waking her up, and it's like, you want to talk about tree holes with me? And I was like, okay, why are you here? I

thought you were in Italy. I flew all the way back to the US. Just awake Sharin up. So we can talk about tree holes. And the first thing I want to talk about is something that even like, when I saw a photo of this, I did not believe it at first. I thought it was some kind of photoshop, you know, some kind of or manipulation, some kind of internet um hoax. But no, this is very real. Imagine being able to crack open an old rotting log and inside are just these long, giant gray worms that look

like they're these organs inside the tree. One might find it horrifying, but indeed these things are actually a delicacy, as if you were cracking open a giant oyster. So nothing to be afraid of. They are apparently actually delicious. Where do they grow so? Or where are these things? So? These are called the to maia look woodworms of the Philippines.

They really look bizarre, like this tree has been invaded by wormy aliens or like started to grow veins or something that it looked to me like yeah yeah, because when you split it open, it's like this big log and you can see these holes kind of in it, but also like in these holes like coming out like these these sort of gray ropes, slimy ropes, so it looks like it it has been invaded by some kind

of worm. Actually these are not worms at all. They're in fact a type of seafood, so which doesn't seem the most likely place to find seawood inside of rotting tree. Um. But yeah, that's interesting. I mean, yeah, it looks pretty gnarly. It's like definitely looks like it's been sewn together or something. There's like these threads back and forth. But if if this happened to me, if I was cutting something open and that I opened it up to see that I

would never recover. I traumatize. I would think that like the tree was half it was like a dryad or something halfway between sort of morphing from a human into a tree. But it's like intestines are still there or something. So yeah, oh god, yeah, I would also be horrified if I did not know what I was dealing with. But if you do know what you're dealing with, you may feel excited because this is actually culinary delicacy in the Philippines. And like I said, this is actually type

of seafood because the woodworm is not a worm. It actually belongs to a family of clams known as shipworms. So these are clams. Can you believe it? No, I really can't. I don't know how that do the trees grow next to the should at least or not really at all. Yeah, So these are mangroves and they actually will grow in saltwater intertidal zones. So mangroves are one

of the only trees that can actually tolerate saltwater. And since they grow submerged in the saltwater, a lot of their branches and stuff gets soft or rotted, and it is the perfect place for these woodworms or shipworms to find a home. So these are sometimes called the termites of the sea for their wood boring habits. They have long, tubular worm like bodies and can grow up to a

meter or a little over three feet long. And yeah, but despite looking like some kind of giant like spaghetti, they are in fact a clam and do have all the anatomical features of a bivalve mollusk, just sort of great modified to this new purpose. So like all bivalves, they have an input and an output siphon. They use to basically filter the sea water and get their oxygen

supply with internal gills. And they have a shell, but the shell, instead of nicely closing like a clam, is actually broken apart on one end and the other, so they have a little fragment of shell on sort of

the butt end and on the head end. So the on the butt end they have those siphons, and they have a little shell fragment that can actually cover up those siphons and close up the hole that they've board into the wood for protection from a predator that might want to pull them out and eat them like a spaghetti as as do humans. So on the other end is actually the part that bores through the wood. It has the mouth, It has the foot of the clam,

which the all clams have a foot. It's this fleshy part that it can use to dig in the sand, but in this case it's digging in soft wood. And it also has another piece of its shell up there that is wrapped around this part of its head kind of like a drill, and it can use this to rasp at the wood and bore its way into the wood. Uh. And so you have basically a long noodle with like a drill on one end and breathing tubes on the other, which is it's so bizarre to me that somehow a

clam has found itself in this situation. Yeah, that is very fascinating. Yeah, because you're right, it has been greatly modified in ways, like I wasn't even expecting it to have a shell on either end or or all that stuff. That's so fascinating to me. Have you ever read a

ginge too? The um it's like this horror manga artists, there's this there's this famous one that is like a sort of or I should say infamous on the internet where it's this thing where people find all of these people shaped holes in a cliff side and then they're just like kind of drawn to going in the hole.

But for some reason, like on the other end of the horror, on the other end of the whole miles away, like the there was like an earthquake that caused the person shape of the hole to turn into like this narrow things, so when they come out on the other side, they're all warm ified and it's just a it's a very I would only recommend this comic to people who have a high tolerance for sort of bizarre body horror stuff,

but it it is. It's definitely one of the most infamous horror mangas out there because of that very weird visual. But it does make me think of whatever solution has done, if these clams, turning them from this nice little, you know, like a little neat and tidy animal into this weird, weird worm. But it really works for it. Yeah, I mean that image just really kind of healthy. It makes more sense when you put it that way, like evolutionarily,

like what must have happened. But now body horror stuff is not for me, not your jam, not my jam. But but that does sound just like from my my image of my head is very funny imagining that manga just like it is. It is funny your bread looking hoole bread man looking hole. Then it becomes it probably isn't, but in my head it's like it is man bread,

Oh it is. It's it's funny. It's both funny and it's funny horror like there's a certain humor to it, and I think that's what makes it work so well, is that there's like it's a surrealism plus horror plus a good amount of humor. Um so good. Yeah, but it has some balance. It is balance stuff. I I personally do like it, but I'm also I look at these kinds of things like these worms and stuff, it's like, hey, that's neat instead of like, oh no, that's that's not good.

There's worms in that wood. Um, so like kind of how like blue cheese is rotting? Like is this this wood is rotting? Right? Yes, yes, it's because that it's They like the rotting wood because it's soft and it lets them eat the wood. And they actually have bacterious symbiotic bacteria inside of the woodworm clam that helps them digest that would and turn it into usable nutrients for

the clam. So it's similar to how termites work. Termites also have a symbiotic bacteria gut bacteria that helps them digest woods, so it's the same thing with this clam. And yeah, rotting wood is the reason it's rotting is because things like bacteria, area and microorganisms are eating it breaking it down. So it makes a lot of sense

for these these clams to go into rotting wood. Not only is it softer, easier for them to bore through, it's also the preferred meal of something like a bacteria, And the problem with trying to eat live wood, even though there are animals that do eat living wood, is that the plant will have defenses against it, maybe sap. It will be more sort of a harder exterior, harder

to drill into. So rotting wood is often the meal of choice for the lazy animal it doesn't want to have to deal with the natural defenses that a living tree will have. But it's so funny just think of these animals. It's just like, I'm gonna phone it in today. Just yeah, that's interesting. I mean, it kind of makes me fascinated, like how these trees are still growing and a lives because it's they're they're growing next to like the sea or like salt water. They're rotting. Things are

eating them. Well, what's like they I thought in my head for for the treat to survive, there has to be some kind of symbiotic relationship. But is there not really at all? I mean, I think if you think of it more like the treat to wore or something

that eats the carcass of something else. So like we have a lot of scavengers that will eat the carcasses of animals, like a vulture may eat the carcass of an animal um, but that doesn't mean it's actually going to hurt that animal's population, because it's only eating the the dead animals. It's a scavenger um or like crabs and um. You know, the these these things at the bottom of the ocean that eat dead whales. They're not actually killing off the whales. They're just eating the whales

that naturally die. And so things like things happen to trees that causes them to fall over, branches to fall off, and then when that happens, um, then you'll have these these detritivores come and eat these the dead parts of

the tree. And it's actually a good process in general, especially on the forest floor, because then you will take something like a dead chunk of tree and turn like these bacteria and microorganisms will actually turn it into a fertile sort of soil with a lot of nutrients, and then other animals can come in and eat those things.

So it's actually very good service that when animals eat something that's dead and rotting, and really the main threat to these mangroves are as usual humans, Like if we go into these regions and like um for instance, typically the eating of these woodworms is not an issue when it's done sort of like occasionally with tourism and people maybe seeking this out as like a tourist experience. That does make it a little more iffy in terms of

whether that could remain sustainable. But yeah, they I do not think that the woodworms really hurt the living trees. They just feed off of the rotting wood. Now, if you're a boat, maybe you would have to worry about them because they might eat through your boat, or at least that's sort of these these legends of these shipworms um eating through these boats. I don't know how much damaged they could actually have done to some of these like big wooden boats in the past, but they were

definitely seen as a menace for for these boats. Yeah, like the termites the yes, exactly, but you can you know, I'm glad you clarified. Yeah, that's true. That's yeah. I don't know. I don't think anyone needs termites um, but I'm glad you clarified that because in my head, to be honest, maybe this is silly, but I was imagining that all the trees are rotten, right, Like I didn't I didn't know there were like a live versions of this true, which is my own ignorance. Uh, but I'm

glad you clarified. Does that just make yeah, okay, thank you? Yes, But uh so it is a sustainable system as long as there's not too much interference that goes on. Um. But yeah, it's uh, as long as like people don't over overhunt these things or sort of tried to, you know, basically create farms for it, which would be using up sort of mangrove wood and generally disrupting the ecosystem. They are.

They are edible apparently. Um. They can be either eating raw sort of like an oyster, or they can be cooked. They are typically seasoned with coconut vinegar, lime juice, Chilian salt, and it apparently has a sort of creamy, salty oystery taste to it. It doesn't. I'm not a musclely oyster person neither am I Actually I'm not exactly sure why this happens, But every time I've tried to eat like

muscles like, I've gotten a stomach ache. I threw up once, So I don't know if that was just a coincidence or if I should maybe avoid those. So personally, I might avoid these just because I don't have a great track record with shellfish. But it definitely sounds like it sounds kind of good, like, it sounds like the sounds like if you like oysters, and yeah, you would like it for sure. Yeah it's just I think so, but yeah, yeah, if you're a fan of shellfish, you would probably like this.

Um uh, because it isn't shellfish, right, shellfish noodles, shellfish noodles, tree noodles. Yeah, so, Sharine, I'm sorry to subject you to more tree horror of what happens to to tree. Um, but this one might be my my least favorite photo that I've seen some far. They're like in this document. Yeah, I know, I do not like this one. I do not like it. Would it be would you be okay with describing what you're seeing or would you like me to give Yeah? Sure, Katie, really just really asking a

lot right now? Okay, it's a tree. It's a big part in the tree, and um, there are all these circular orange looking balls embedded in the tree. But like everywhere that the holes are everywhere, there's more whole balls than there are tree bark that I can see. It's just like covered in these holes, and there's a bird looking thing. It's a bird on the tree, on the tree, and it's eating these balls out of the tree. Um. And honestly, knowing that or balls is less nauseating than

like if they were worms coming out of it. It's not like it's like a weird squeezy toy with like stuff coming out, if that makes sense, right. Yeah, I don't know if that was a good explanation, but there. I've never seen anything like this, and I hope to never see anything like this again. Um. Yeah, Well, because you you do live in California, there is a chance you might see this. It also looks like I'm moving. Well, don't move to Oregon, the southwestern United States or South America.

Don't move near oak forests. This is where you would find it. Um. So what you know, I love forest, I love Oregon. Also, do you know I'm allergic. I'm allergic to oak. So well, this is a deadly tree for me. Not deadly. I probably just get a rash. But you'd get a rash on your body and on your mind if you saw one of these, because this is an oak tree and what you're seeing, those orange balls are actually acorns. Oh oh, they do look like that.

They have little acorn top, yes, and it's like a tree that has been Swiss cheese ified, and in every little hole is an individual acorn, which like when you see it's like, well, how does this happen? Like are the acorns going rogue and attacking their own kind? Is it like a squirrel mafia and they're getting into acorn gunfights? The key is that bird you see perched on the tree. So humans aren't the only ones who can find a

nice meal stored in trees. Uh. Even though typically we think of squirrels when we think of storing acorns, there are other animals that enjoy a nice acorn uh. The acorn woodpecker uh is a really interesting type of woodpeckers. So woodpeckers of course peckwood. It's in in the day name. And usually they will drill out holes in wood for things like finding larva inside the tree, so they'll find a grub and pull it out. They can even drill a hole for their nest inside a tree. Sometimes they'll

drink sap out of a tree. But the acorn woodpeckers takes it to another level where they will drill out holes as little cobby holes for acorns that they store to eat later. So well, a quick physical description of this acorn woodpecker. It looks like your standard woodpecker. It's a medium, So I thought that was woodpecker, but I wasn't. I didn't want to go on the record being like that's a woodpecker and you're like no, yeah, yeah. I

would have punished you for guessing. Yeah, you're not allowed, because I feel pretty silly now because they're so obviously acorns, you know what I mean, And I would just describe it that was like orange. I don't think you should feel silly because that's just not a place you expect acorns to be in, right, It's like like sure, if they were on the ground, you'd be like, yeah, that's an acorn. But they're embedded in a tree, so you're not gonna necessarily first jump to acorn. Yeah no, thank

you for making me not feel less dumb. But but it's so interesting like this the habit, or about the habit, the fact that this bird is making these cobbies for like the self control of this bird has not just like gorge and all these savings, Like what how does it guarantee that other birds like it won't. It's it's share. Yeah. I just think it's very fascinating, fascinating. Their behavior is so interesting. They're so meticulous and they take a lot

of steps to ensure that these acorns are safe. They'll even so as the acorns dry out, because they save these acorns for a while they're preparing for the winter where there's less food sources available. It's very similar to what squirrels do, and they know, well they don't maybe consciously no, but as time goes on, acorns will actually dry out and shrink. They'll constrict as the moisture leaves

the acorn. Even though there's the inside the shell and the acorn, there's still that meat of the acorn that is a great food source. But as the acorn gets smaller, uh, it's in danger of falling out of these holes. So the woodpecker actually takes it out of the larger hole and puts it in a smaller hole so it's less

likely to followut. So it's constantly rearranging these acorns, making sure they're all snugly fit, and they're like they're like some kind of neurotic acorn librarian constantly reshuffling these acorns, putting in new acorns. Uh. And and you're absolutely right that, like it is tricky to make sure other birds don't come in and steal their acorns. So some of these woodpeckers in some regions have developed a strategy of teamwork, making the dream work. Uh. So they will form um

what are called breeding collectives. So these are basically families that are staying together protecting their what is called a granary tree, so it's like where they're storing their acorns. And these these breeding collectives typically are something where you have um high related nous. So you'll have maybe three females who are all sisters, and then maybe they meet a group of seven males who are brothers. They're not related to the females, so you get that good genetic diversity.

And but then they're like, hey, look at look at these hunky brothers. Come and mate with us, like this group of sisters. It's it's a it would definitely be like a TLC show if if these birds got a TLC deal. Um, that is so fascinating. Honestly, I kind of love these birds, like i I'm imagining them neurotically, like just rearranging these acorns like a puzzle or something,

you know what I mean, just like trying whatever. Um, the idea of an erotic bird makes me feel at peace knowing that there are other animals that are neurotic and not just um someone, So it's pretty we go ahead, go ahead. As someone with O c D. I do I do appreciate these birds? Yes, yes, I I too, exactly in the same way. I'm like, wow, this is it.

I feel see thank you a corn Worth picker. But yeah, it's it's funny, like I don't feel it's grossed out by this tree, knowing that it's just these cubbies for this food. Um, it's pretty adorable, to be honest. Not the tree itself, I will not say this adorable, but the act. Yeah, what what does what does wood picker is doing is pretty freaking cute. It's a it's a pantry, not not some kind of tree that's grown with horrible

acorn eyeballs. Exactly exactly. Also, I want to the more we talked about acorns, like I want to try an acorn. Are acorns edible too? They are? But it requires preparations.

So this is something that was done actually by the people who first lived here before Europeans came and colonized, which basically you have to because two acorns have um, they're toxic if you just eat the bra But you can make basically acorn meal and you can boil I think you boil out the more um acidic toxins out of the acorn, and then you can grind them up into an acorn meal. And this was actually used um as sort of a staple food often in a lot

of civilizations in early America. M M, that sounds tasty. I want to try some acorn meal. I mean completely serious. Just make sure it's cooked. Don't go and eat raw acorns, because you'll get a stomach ache. You know. I'm glad you said that, because you never know if I was a hike one day and be like, oh, that was the time to try this acorn um. No, I I've enjoyed this segment. I thank you. I'm glad I know

about this now. Well, you know, you probably if you did try to eat when you learn pretty quick that it's not something you can just eat raw like that. UM. They actually have a very better taste. It's well when you crack it. You can crack open. If you find an acorn on the ground, you can definitely explore inside the acorn. You can crack it open. You'll find the meat. If you're lucky, you'll find a grub actually inside. Sometimes an acorn will have a little hole and a grub

will come in and eat that meat. Um. Which for a woodpecker, if some of their acorns get eaten by grubs, that's fine, they just eat the grubs. Um. For a human, arguably, it's still fine. You can just eat that grub. But uh,

the meat is actually very bit it's soft. And I know this because my grandparents used to live in Ohi, California, where there's a ton of oak trees in their backyard which is covered absolutely covered in oak trees and um acorns, and I would collect a bunch as a kid, and of course I was curious, and of course I had to try eating one. And I tried it. It was terrible tasting. So you definitely need to prepare these the acorn before you actually eat it. Okay, okay, I'll keep

that in mind. Also, glad you're not dead, you acorn. Yeah, it's a surprise to me as well. There are so many things that look back on and I'm just like, how am I still here? But I'm glad that in my opinion, as I was scrolling through this document in the beginning, that what I thought was the worst image is now not so bad because of this cubby woodpecker deal. So I appreciate that. Thank you. I'm I'm glad. Sometimes knowledge is all, It's all it takes to turn a

nightmare into an adorable woodland story. However, there is still some some drama with these woodpeckers because they form these like cohesive units, these family units. Off in the offspring will stay and help with rear the chicks and stuff. You have this group of woodpeckers and they're able to defend that granary pretty well. But what happens when one of the woodpeckers dies or this woodpecker group destabilizes is you start to get a bunch of interlopers who rush in.

There can be something like other species of birds like scrub jays come flock over to try to steal as many acorns as they can while that group of woodpeckers is in disarray. But you also have uh members of the same species, other acorn woodpeckers who come in either to spectate. So there are these woodpeckers who are not necessarily ready to try to find a nest site, but they still just come to kind of be looky lose,

which is really interesting. They will fly for many miles just to see, like, hey, is what's going on here? And they watch like they're watching a TV show, like a drama. Um. But in addition to them, there are these warrior warrior woodpeckers who have come to actually try to fight for a vacant breeding spot in this group.

So it is quite quite a drama, and it's just so funny to imagine all these birds are you and you have these thieves from another species trying to steal the acorn, and then other acorn woodpeckers fighting and bickering over who gets to take the empty nest spot, and then these other woodpeckers just sitting on the sidelines eating a little like tiny tub of popcorn or something going like you know, like huh, I never knew ryl like had quite the strong clause. Just that is so freaking fascinating.

I that is just like the acorn wars or honestly, don't tell anyone about this idea, but I think this is a great Pixar movie. Right, Let's work on this Pixar movie. Absolutely right. I've generated so much free content for Pixar. I'm shocked I have not received a check in the mail from them, honestly. But yeah, I mean it is begging to be a movie. Yeah, there's like

so many frack factions, fractions. There's so there's so many factions of like these birds and these like motivations, and like the fact that they all have their own personalities, whether it's like the spectator or like with the people that want to become the people the birds that want to become warriors. I just think it's what an interesting

little species species. Yeah, it's I mean it makes me feel like where when humans watch trash TV, because I mean everybody loves a little bit of trash TV, myself included, whether it's rubber necking that's what they call it when you're like even on the freeway. Yeah, yeah, exactly, whether you love to watch a soap opera or reality TV. At least it's not just us. It's also woodpeckers m not so different. They're just like us, Like the Star magazine.

So I'm gonna talk about I mean, we just talked about woodpecker drama, but this is this is like some drama layered upon drama, like some kind of drama sandwich or drama like parfait. It's it's layers and layers here, and it is what happens when a parasite is itself

victimized by another parasite. So there is something called a goal wasp, and these are wasps that they may not actually look like a wasp to us, because when when we think of a wasp, we think of the black and yellow sort of you know, menacing looking stinging things. But these are actually kind of chunky. They're black with these red legs, so they don't really look like a wasp um and they're not really threatening. They don't believe

they really sting um. And the only case in which you should be afraid of these wasps are if you are an oak tree, a maple tree, a rose bush, or basically any kind of plant unlucky enough to make this gall wasp uh look you up and down and decide to be an unwelcome guest. Nice I am looking at the It's like a little chunky guy. You're right, yeah, chunky chunkster. Yeah. Interesting, I didn't know that that thing existed, said, I don't believe it stings humans, but it does. It

is a menace to plants and trees. Have you ever seen on an oak tree something that looks like this year ball like a growth tree or yeah, it's like maybe, yeah, I can imagine that. Yeah, I mean there's a photo there for you. It just based. It just looks sort of like a like a ball growing on branch and

like little yeah, and you were called galls. They're called galls, and you only find them like occasionally, and they're sort of bizarre because I remember seeing these as a kid growing up, of course with my weird interactions with oak trees, and like picking one and being like thinking it was like some kind of fruit, but when you open it up, what you're going to find it's actually some wasp larvae.

So the wasp, the gall wasp will lay their eggs inside the flesh of the plant and induce the plant to form a gall, which is usually it's kind of like a hollow plant pearl. You know how oysters will form a pearl from an irritation, like a little piece of sand or maybe a pair or a site and

form this protective coating around it. Plants seem to do the same thing, so it is a spherical growth that can happen on the branches, on the leaves, on the roots, even flower buds, and it's this like round kind of growth thing, or sometimes like if it's on a leaf, it's a little flatter, so it looks more like a like a doughnut or something, or a cheerio um. But uh, it's growing around this implanted egg or these implanted eggs

that the wasps leave. And how the wasp actually makes the plant create this growth is not entirely well understood. There's some theories that's maybe either a chemical or physical

trigger that like makes the plant react defensively. But this defense is actually working in the favor of the wasp larva because as this thing grows around little larva, it not only provides protection to the larva, but inside that ball is going to be some fleshy meat of the plant that the larva can feed on as it develops. So it basically tricks the plant or the tree to grow a crib for the larva, and the cribs walls are just lined with food and so it can happily

eat inside the skull be really safe and cozy. Uh inside this ball that you'll find on something like an oak tree. That is so fascinating. That is so fascinating. I mean for my first instinct, I'm sorry, but I was like, this is like the balls of the tree. But it's so much more than that. Yeah, what a what a weird I mean yeah, used the things trees do never see. Like, there's just so many things that people probably are not aware of. And honestly, the little

gall wasp, it's a pretty cute guy. If they're just trying to start a family. They are, they are. I find them cute. I think they're kind of like chunky and bumbly looking. Yeah, they're like fuzzy little guy. There's this little guys. Unfortunately, even though this plan is pretty good in terms of protecting the gall wasp larva, and then like once they metamorphosized into adults, they will bore a whole out of the gall and emerge well nourished

and safe. Sometimes the best plans go awry, and that is when your your parasitic Uh, your parasitic plans are interrupted by another parasite. So there is something called the crypt keeper wasp which has a creepy name. Uh, it doesn't look that creepy, but its behavior is definitely definitely sus Uh. So the crypt keeper wasp is found in the US, and it is an iridescent green and blue wasp that it doesn't look that menacing, and it's really not if you're a human. It's got these fuffy antenna

and they don't really typically sting people. Um, I mean, it's beautiful. It is genuinely maybe the prettiest insect I've seen in my life. It's so like, yeah, you're indescent and the color is just straight out of euphor you. Yeah, it's it's got it's definitely an aesthetic and it look it looks like a little insect fairy. It looks kind of dainty with these little funny antenna. It is not it is not by any means menacing, menacing or grotesque looking.

Their behavior though, it's not about what you look like on the outside, it's what's on the inside and inside these are creepy little fiends. So, uh, the crypt keeper wasp will find the galls of the gall wasp. Those those little cribs. Basically that the gall lops have tricked the plant into forming these cocoons made out of plant material, and they will bore a little hole in them and lay it's larva inside. So now you've got two larva inside this gall. You have the gall lost larva and

the crypt keeper wasp larva. And that's just the beginning of it, because it gets seriously weird. The crypt keeper larva bites down onto the gal lop larva and somehow mind controls it to start metamorphosizing into an adult ahead of schedule and start burrowing out of the gall early.

But what happens is, because it has hijacked at the gal wasps normal metamorphosis, it actually turns into this weird thing where it's like burrows a hole that's too small for it, so it can only squeeze its head out, and then it gets duck. And then what the crypt keeper lava does is starts eating the goal wasp from

the butt up to the head. So the head is protecting the crypt keeper larva by blocking this entrance that the crypt keeper has forced this goal wasp to make, and so it gets to eat the rest of its body it's like, you know the thing where like remember when Pooh Bear gets stuck in in that hole. It's like it's like if piglets started eating Pooh Bear from the butt up and just leaving his head as like a door. That is so unsettling. I take back everything

I said about this beautiful insect. That is so unsettling, that is so just left up. I cannot get over that. That's I mean, I know animals and insects do crazy things. I totally understand, but like that is demented. Mm hmm. It's like it's insidious. Yeah, it's mean. I just like to imagine you scolding this little wasp out now, just like like shaking your finger and it's like, stop being mean. You're being mean. Yeah it is, but it is objectively just a little bit mean and really really left up.

It's rude. It's rude. It's it's a very uh, it's a party foul, it's a it's an evil little guys. It's just brewing. It's like it's it's it's seed where it's not welcome, eating what's already there, and then just like making like I don't know, it's just it's all very strategic, manipulative, and like, I guess, is there another way for this creep crypt keeper wasp to spawn or is this like, like, is there a motivation for doing it this way versus another way? Yeah, so the motivation

is I mean, it's very machiavellian. It's it not only gets to have a free home, right, it deposits as larva somewhere where it's safe. The larva also gets extra nutrition. And by making the goal wasp chew its way out of the goal, uh, it increases the chance of the crypt keeper's survival because that it takes effort to board

its way out of this this goal. So crypt keepers who don't uh somehow they don't do that mind control and don't make the gal wasp drill its own drill the exit for it actually have a lower chance of survival. And when they are when they do metamorphosize and they are ready to to emerge, they just chew through the head and pop about the Yeah it's not it's snarly.

It's snarly. The mind control thing is is wild to me. Wait, so, like so in most cases they just leave the head there, Well, they leave the head there while they're still chilling out inside of the gall, like eating the eating the flesh of both the both the gall wasp and also the probably I think they also eat the inside of the gall so they're um, just just hanging having a good time, being a weird little freak. And then they they leave the head there while they're still inside, because that is

protect that's basically acting as a door. It's protecting them from other intruders. So yes, it's pretty you know, it's pretty insidious. That is mean and evil, and the gall laws was so cute and these be sad that it has these like predators that are technically part of the same little family but are mind controlling and eating them from them. But up they're just trying to do their thing. Like is really being that uh offensive or like in

this crypt keeper wasps way. Yeah, I mean I'm always with the underdog, yeah, even if the upper dog, upper dog, even if the other side is so beautiful, yeah, the upper dog. Yeah. I do think this would also make a good like kind of like a high school movie, you know, where you have the pretty popular upper dog wasp and then maybe the sort of maybe not as glitzy and shiny, but adorable in her own way wasp and then she just gets eaten by the uh by

the popular Tina Wasp. It's like our tim Burton. It's like our Timberton version of a Pixar movie. Like, yeah, to be kind of dark and weird. Um, but I think we can make it happen. Yeah. I would like to see like a high school team musical but they eat each other like like sort of cannibalize. You know, I wouldn't I that was I don't actually want to see that now that I'm thinking about it. I mean, but it is really fascinating. I had no idea that

animals or not. I guess they're insects, but like they mind controlling thing is still kind of tripping me out. It's yeah, yeah know, it's really bizarre, and I don't think they know exactly what they're how they're doing it. My guests, my my guests. That will probably have to put my foot in my mouth for later, but it I think it's probably some kind of chemical that the

the crypt keeper parasite. It's actually technically a parasitoid, not a parasite, because like a parasite will live off its host over long periods of time, whereas a parasitoid actually will devour its host eventually like kill it. So the but anyways, back to what I was saying is I bet what it's doing is like excreting some chemical that stimulates some kind of like hormone production inside the gall wasp, causing that premature development, which also causes it to prematurely

try to bore out of the gall. But because it's premature, it's unable to get all the way out. The whole size isn't quite right, and so it's like it sounds like there's it's it's just it's just so weird. Though to me, it blows my mind as well that something can like I mean, obviously each individual crypt keeper is not figuring this out on its own, but that evolution can have such a twisted, twisted pathway to create such a devious parasite. But we we see it happen over

and over again. Yeah, like to hijack another intersects like growth cycle or you know what I mean that is that is yeah, can't get over that as baffled, Well, I think, uh, I think we have thoroughly freaked out Sharine. But before we go, I do need to answer an important question, and that's guests Who's squawking? Every week we play the guests who squawking Mystery Animal sound game. I will play an animal sound and you guys out there, uh, we'll try to guess who is making that sound last

week's mystery animal sound. Uh. So, first let's find out the answer to last week's mysteries sound. The hint was this is what happens when you get a little too nosy with this group. Yeah, so sharene, do you have any guesses for who's squawking? That's there's a lot going on in that soundclip. I I don't even know. It sounded a little bit like a donkey. At times, it sounded a little bit like a bird that was getting squished. Yeah. I I have a feeling it's going to not be

as simple as as a donkey or as a a bird. Um. But squawking does make me feel like it has to be a bird. But it doesn't have to be a bird. That's why the game is called right. Yeah, no, it does not have to be a bird. It can be basically any any living animal on the planet, any living organism. Um. Yeah, so the donkey guest is very good you actually share that guest with my guest on the podcast last week. I think it's a really good guess. I will be honest, if I had to try to guess this, I don't

think I would get it. So um, but uh, this is actually a troop of proboscis monkeys. So oh, that's what it is. And I was a second guess. You should have You should have gone with that. You should have gone with that one. I know I was on the tip of your tongue. Congratulations to everyone who gets correctly in the through fastest were of course our resident champion antib and Saga E and China s. Good job, you guys, really impressive. So Proboscis monkeys are old world

monkeys found in Borneo. They have a really distinctive look. They have these pot bellies is sort of like flat, almost comb overlooking hairstyle of orange fur. They have these pink faces and for the males they have this really long, floppy nose. It do you know, like I think I've seen you were Like the image that you're conjuring up is bringing up an image that you remember, like Ziggy,

that old newspaper comic. Uh. Like there's also like the kilroy was here thing with that little character with the big like um big nose or like in Popeye cartoons. I think there's like another one. It looks like that like Carton. Yeah, like that cartoon, um big nose. Like that's like looks like if you kind of like had sort of a half half filled water balloon and like it's like squid words nose. I'm sorry I didn't reach for the obvious thing. It's a squid word nose. So, um,

this is the proboscis. Uh. It's called a proboscis. You can call it a nose. Um. So it's only in the males that they have the squid word nose. And it's because the females find it hot. They think it's really attractive. They're able to produce louder calls with this bigger roboscis uh, and so females really enjoy that. And yeah, they're they're highly vocal. They will make numerous vocalizations communicating with each other. So what you heard in this clip

was like a whole bunch of them. And so those weird like honking, grunting noises were probably coming from the males with their big floppy squidward noises. Interesting, that is very fascinating. Uh wow, another Pixar movie. I think, yeah, everything is a Pixtar movie. Um, then you forget that like movies are based on real life and not that like real life is her mind. I'm getting to two in my head here. I think maybe these these monkeys

were designed by someone out of cal arts. That makes sense. Yeah, So onto this week's mystery animal. Sound. Here is the hint. It's sounds like an adorable squeaking mouse, except it has way too many legs to be a mouse. Sharene who do you think it's squawking? Here? I do not know. It has to be has to have more than four legs. So I was thinking it's an insect potentially, or I mean, I can't be an octopus. I imagine octopus and everything else that have legs under the ocean maybe aren't audible.

Um maybe I'm wrong? Who knows? Um wow? I yeah, I kind of want to say it's like a cicada. Looking it's not a cicada. It's not that noise, but I kind of think it's like this, like a cricket, like and act or something. And if not, what kind of animal has more than four legs. I feel dumb. I feel like it's going to be so obvious. Well, these are very good guesses. I'll give you that, So don't feel dumb. Yeah, and it's either like an insect or like a starfish or but it's not a starfish.

I know it's not a starfish. But yeah, I'm gonna say it's like a weird insect thing that pops up in the springtime or something. You know. Well, that is a very good guess. Uh. I will reveal the answer to this week's gives hoo squawking on next creature feature next Wednesday. So sharing, thank you so much for joining me today and for enduring the weird, grizzly things that happened to these trees. Yeah, I I feel better than I did an hour ago. Um, I'm glad we got

through it. I feel like I learned a lot. You know, there's a lot of fascinating stuff that trees do that I had no idea about. So I appreciate you talking to me through them. Yeah, you learned a lot. You made some some new friends with these gossipy woodpeckers. Um, where can people find you? You can find me on the internet if you wish, I'm on Twitter at shiro hero six six six and on Instagram at shiro hero um. I just released another poetry book. If you guys want that,

just d n me. I'm doing bundles of both of them. I think I don't know if I'm still going on anyway, I'm i'm a I'm around just if you just look me up. You don't have to like it, but you do have to. Actually, I'm I'm laying down the law. You must lick her up. There will be consequences if you don't. Of course, if you think you know who's squawkings this week, or if you want to write to me a question, a comment, picture of your pet, you can write a Creature feature pot at gmail dot com.

I'm also on the internet at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram and Creature feed Pod on Twitter. That's f e A T, not f e ET. That is something very different. Thank you so much for listening. If you're enjoying the show and you leave a rating or review, I read all the reviews. I tape them up all over my walls, like I think from that movie The Shining or something. Anyways, I I do love reading the reviews, so I really appreciate it whenever someone takes the time to leave one.

And thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song excel Alumina. Creature features a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the I heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or Hey, guess what where have you listened to your favorite podcast, even if it's like inside a rotting log I don't judge you. See you next Wednesday.