Creature Classic®: Planet's Haunted

question what are ghost dogs? A very import taste sequel to air Bud joining me today to gab about all things ghostly is corporeal being and host of the Small Beans Podcast Network show Rough Stuff Bridget Greeberg. Hey, it's me not a ghost. Yeah. I like that you're not a ghost because that I can always say that whenever I walk into her room. I just want people to be sure. No, it makes me happy. I'm like, oh, it's Bridget and she's not ghost. Hey what about that?

How about that? I like to make people feel comfortable around me. Yeah. Yeah. I like to assure people of my tangibility whenever possible, Like I'll just touch their face like see tangible, tangible, tangible. Yeah, no, you you never know in these days, and like you got to make sure, like, hey, don't throw me into a wall. I'm not gonna go through it, right right, Yeah, And it's like I'm not

gonna Bruce Willis yet in the sixth sense. You're not gonna like develop a relationship with me and then be like, oh, but I'm a ghost the whole time. Whoops, can't pay rent. No, I'm very right about Sorry only ghosts books. We call them boo books. Yeah, I don't have anything better than that. It seems like there's got to be something better. Podcast over we did it, We did it, We did that says that's the highest part we're gonna get. Are you scared of ghosts? Bridget Uh, I don't think I believe.

I don't think I believe in ghosts, is how I put it to say, no, because I'm a big brave girl. But it's hard not to believe in ghosts, like at four in the morning when like you're like woken up by a creek but generally not like an otherworldly person. Yeah. No,

I'm the same way. I You know, I'm very open minded about the universe, but I don't I don't believe in ghosts as sort of like what what we describe as a ghost, like you know, a spectral being that haunts the earth and floats around, you know what I mean, Like like maybe there's some weird secret of the universe, like supernatural, but some science thing that we haven't discovered, when its just some sort of like energy kind of thing, right, like time and time and space salt, like a space

ghost host discost coast space coast space space ghost. I love that showing as a kid. But yeah, uh yeah, no, but I don't really believe in the hauntings of specters. Um, but when it is the middle of the night and I wake up suddenly, I do believe in ghosts. Yeah. I even get sleep paralysis where I'm like, oh it's ghosts, Oh darn it. Yeah yeah. So yeah, generally, yeah, not not a person who would be like that, that's a ghost.

That's right, that's a ghost. But yeah, I think when I was when I was a kid, my my mom's side of the family lived in this like creaky wooden cabin in Vermont. There if there were ghosts anywhere, like they they were there. Vermont is super haunted, very haunted. Yeah, it's yeah, there's no internet and it's pitch black there. So if sure, if there's a ghost there, that makes sense. But yeah, maybe these animals could prove me wrong. Yeah.

I don't like dark, long hallways at night because that's you know, like it's it's like, look, I don't believe in ghosts, but just to be safe, I don't want to walk down a dark hallway at night. If a ghost was going to eat me, that would probably be it, right, that's like yeah. Also, it's unclear what ghosts do except for like generally mess with people. I thought that they could eat you. But maybe I'm wrong. I thought ghosts couldn't eat I'm going on Casper rules here. I thought

it was more of a like body takeover. I feel like I remember seeing him like someone was like puffing smoke out of a pipe and he was able to eat the smoke puffs like doughnuts or something. Maybe maybe, because because what is a ghost if not smoke? So speaking of Casper, though, you get a Casper. Let's talk about let's talk about the friendly little ghost that was discovered in the ocean. This is called the ghost octopus Casper octopus because it looks like Casper the Friendly Ghost.

It does. It's pretty cute. I never know going on this show. I'm like, I'm pretty sure something's going to creep me out. This guy, I like him. This show is se cute. Yeah, and then uh, thirty five percent M bad. I haven't. I haven't. Yeah, there's no. I haven't come across a lot of mediums. I either like super like the thing or I'm horrified by Yeah, he's on the good side. He's a good guy. I don't

know if I don't know if zoomers can relate. But Casper the Friendly Ghost, he was that ghost with the big head, and he was friendly and he would be add because he'd scare people. But then in the end he usually made friends. I think, yeah, he made friends with Christina Ricci famously. Yes, yes, I used to watch the old like what were they like h GM cartoons or something. Uh was like a hand of Barbara thing msg MS and b C. I don't know, uh the cartoons,

the old cartoons. And then yeah, he was he was a little cutie. There was one. I can't believe this didn't traumatize me. But Casper like made friends with a fox, a little baby fox, and the fox was like the only thing that wasn't scared of Casper, so they were like best friends. But then the fox gets it gets killed, It's murdered. The little baby Fox gets murdered by a hunter, and Casper goes to the baby Fox's grave and cries. And then in the end, the baby Fox's ghost comes

out of the grave and then their friends again. But what the I'm sorry, what the f though? What what a what a weird story for children's cartoon? I mean, I guess it has a happy ending, but at what cost? Right? Like the happy India is that the baby fox dies, but at least it's tortured spirit lives on with Casper. I guess a dead boy's ghost as well. And the and the Casper logic is that your ghost because you

have unfinished business. Well you know what that means, right, He and Casper, the baby Fox, ghost, and cap Sper teaming up to go hunt that hunter and drive to madness and possibly death. Yeah, like they're going to team up with a ghost of Bambi's mom too. I'm just gonna hunt hunter. You know what you did? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, I like that. I think there should be there should be a Disney movie that's just all the dead mom's ghosts coming back from Avenge. Yeah, ghost avengers, ghost avengers,

all the dead moms, but not the Avengers. They'd have to figure out a different name, right exactly. But we were going to talk about octopuses. Uh, so let's do that is that is that? Is? That? Is that right? Octopuses? It's not all his octopuses. It's not octopi actually, because something about the Latin whatever. Nobody's gonna judge you for saying octopi. But I think it is technically octopuses, which sounds get yeah, sounds get so few, you get so few chances to use the pie. I know it also

sounds cute I octopi, Yeah, setway octopi. But yes, it's octopus. Yeah. But the ghost octopus is a ghostly pale octopus that lives in the deep sea. It was discovered off the Hawaiian Archipelago, uh two point six miles or four point three kilometers under the sea. And this is a relatively new discovery. It was found in two sixteen. So here's what we know about the octopus, the ghost octopus, which

is not that much. It's a ghostly pale octopus. Like we said, it looks like Casper the friendly ghost with a big, big old head. Technically that's called the mantle

of the octopus. It is highly gelatinous and non muscular, which is interesting because that seems to indicate it probably has a slower metabolism and more of a floating on by kind of lifestyle, just letting the currents take it where it will, right, a big lebowski, Yeah, yeah, big lebowski Margarita Ville lifestyle for this deep sea ghost octopus. And while uh so, it has no pigment and it has very small black eyes which may be functional. So a lot of deep sea creatures have eyes, but they

are nonfunctional or they don't have eyes at all. Uh these guys seem to have eyes that are probably functional, although again we don't really know that much about them. There are octopuses who do frequent the deep ocean, but they often have fins or wing like protrusions from their mantle, like the dumbbo octopus. Have you ever seen the dumbo octopus? Oh? Yeah, they have that, Yeah, yes, yes, but this one doesn't,

which is a pretty unique discovery for octopus scientists. So it means that there is stuff we still don't know about like how octopus is adapt to the deep sea, Like this guy has a different strategy from the Dumbo octopus, So that's very interesting. And I'm guessing this guy doesn't change colors. I don't know. I don't know if they even know. Probably not though, because if it's totally lacking in pigment, I would assume it doesn't have chrome out of fours, which are the cells that are able to

change color. So probably not mhm. And why would they need to, Like if the changing of colors is usually for communication and for camouflage, but if everything's dark down there, you probably don't need it, right Well, yeah, I mean, well, because he's white, he probably stands out in the darkness. He's like a little flashlight down there. But you'd have

to have something reflecting off of the hail skin. I gets there is some bioluminescence down there, to be fair, So maybe bioluminescent animals could somewhat reflect off of the octopus, and like you could get some but I don't know. I mean, it seems that that must not be too much of an issue for it um, but it is really weird because it's not like a tiny micro organism that was newly discovered. It's it's like, you know, it's

a handful. It's about five inches long or twelve centimeters, so it's relatively it's not a large animal in the general since, but it's a large thing to have, uh, newly discovered, like just a little over four years ago. Um. And I think that's a testament to how unexplored the deep ocean is. I mean it's we've been trying. I've been exploring it a lot. No not, I'm not like

telling a scientists that they've been lazy. But I got to get down there, Get down there, stop screwing around with your weird math, and get down there and find us more octopuses. It's just so hard to map the entire ocean because it's so big and there's so much of it. But it's so thrilling to me that we're still discovering things the size of a small octopus down there. It's like there must be so many other things we haven't discovered yet. It's crazy. The deep ocean is a

wild but it's just full of aliens. I feel like no two fish are similar down there. Yeah, I feel like everything you come across. It's like, that's a strange being from another world. And uh, most of the time they look like skelet like monster skeletons. But I like this guy. He's just a good old He's just a big old blob. He's a little blob. He's Casper, the

friendly blob with eyes. For some reason, the eyes thing is so weird, Yeah, because a lot of deep sea animals just don't bother with eyes, but some of them do, and they use the eyes to detect bioluminescence and faint light coming from chemical reactions from the bioluminescence, and so yeah, it's it is. I think it's kind of nice because I think without the eyes it would be a lot of spookier, but with the eyes is really cute. It's a lot more tolerable looking. With the eyes, it looks

like it just hangs out at the bottom. Yeah. Yeah, it's at the bottom of the bottom. Yeah, just kind of blurps around down there. Deep sea just blows my mind every time I see something new from down there. Well, even outside of the deep sea, there are parts of the sea that are still really mysterious. Uh, even the open ocean or pelagic stone so this is the area that's really far from the shore, and it's not at

the bottom of the ocean. It's like sort of the center of the ocean, so far out to sea, but not deep down at the bottom of the sea. So just right in the sweet, gooey center of the ocean. And there are a lot of weird animals there too. There is something called the Cleopiday worm. I'm hoping I pronounced that right, but it is a marine worm that looks like a space ghost coast to coast, but bridget if you will click on that Twitter I think I've seen this. Yeah, it looks like a spaceship. Yeah, like

the worm itself looks like a spaceship. When I saw this, I thought it was c G I, like sci fi c G I. And but it's real. It's a real thing. It is a transparent worm that kind of looks like a robot or a machine. It's it's got all of these segments. It truly looks like some kind of weird futuristic invisible spaceship. It looks like just from its face. Also the way it moves very like in sync with the rest of its body, which is weird because it's a very long body, but it looks like just a

very long shrimp almost. I'm just saying because of the eyes, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, So they're actually poly keats, which are a highly diverse class of segmented marine worms. The infamous bobbit worm is actually a poly keat. I don't know if I had you on the show for that one. I usually do try to like horrify you, so I might have. But the bobbit worm is this ocean warm that hides under the sand and it pops out and it like grabs fishy big ja. Yeah. I didn't like

that at all. And they're sort of they're actually kind of pretty because they're those ones are not transparent. They are this like iridescent color. But so they're actually related to these other marine worms, which in my opinion, are far less horrifying than the bobbit worm. Um. But these h q p D are just they they're basically completely transparent.

They kind of almost look like they're long, So they're about six inches or fifteen centimeters long, according to Assistant Professor Biology Rebecca our Helm, who runs the Open Ocean Exploration Twitter account, all linked to her tweet that has that lovely video in it. So you know they're they're fairly long, but they about you know, six six inches half a foot. But they it's the it's that they look like an outline like they're so they're segmented worm.

They have these segments, they have bristles along their sides. They have these two eyes at front, very prominent and then antenna. But they it looks like a and a vector drying like an outline of a fish. Yeah, it looks like there's like some sort of shell to it. Yeah, it looks like it would be crunchy. I imagine it would be. Yeah. No, I mean like just because their worms, it doesn't mean they don't have a hard I think they have a somewhat firm body. I don't think they're

like earth worms where they're squishy. They're are bristle worms, marine bristle worms that can actually have a pretty hard uh outer carapist good good for them. There's hard bodied worms. Uh. I don't know how these ones are. They look more delicate to me than like a bob at worm. Yeah. I think just because well, now you said that it's six inches, which is like, I mean, it's not that's a big form if I saw six inch worm, I

freak out. But like that's still pretty small, So I feel like you gotta be you gotta be somewhat loose. I guess I don't know. I don't know what it's like to be a worm. Well imagine it's very hard. Maybe just try visualization exercises. Try to visualize what it's like to be a worm. I like that little movement that you did. Nobody can for this for this visual podcast, I I wiggled. I tried to wiggle. Yeah, she did a little like like shoulder wiggle, like I'm a little warm,

very very cool, very good acting. Unfortunately, no one will ever see it. But no, I just you know, that's it's just for us. But yeah, basically I could find barely any information on this. I'm sure there's some like research on them, but I couldn't find it with my terrible Google skills. But this tweet says they don't know what they eat, so that seems like a pretty basic uh a thing. Yeah, well yeah, that's like number one, what does something eat? After what does it look like?

When you kind of have to get a sense of what the animal is. But yeah, they guess that it's probably a predator because they have such large eyes, which seems to indicate it uses them to hunt for things. But still, who knows what does it eat? Does it eat you? Did they say how far down this thing lives because it looks like it's a deep sea creature? Just basically yeah, I know that's actually just because it's

at night. The they are the the pelagic zone is like I said, it's not at the bottom of the sea, like, not in the deep sea area. It's not at the surface of the sea either. It's like right kind of in the middle like that the gooey jelly center of the ocean. Okay, yeah, like the lukewarm area. Yeah, you're starting to get colder, You're starting to get a little pressure, your organs are starting to get a little squeezed. Yeah right, yeah, yeah,

this thing could get the bends. Yeah yeah, yeah, exactly, it's middle ocean, and so it's a vote counts more than the good for it, honestly good for its petting out. But what a weird looking thing. Yeah no, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no. Go spat using echo location is better than the batmobile. Goost beat. What would have killed the joker by now ghost bet goose butts goose bet goose, but so bridget talking about goes bat goes bad. I love

the falsetto thank you, thank you. I don't know if it counts as falsetto, though, I think my voice really is just that squeaky no you got up there, thank you. So ghost bats they are a real life bat that is, in my opinion, way creepier than vampire bats. So vampire bats tend to get all the attention and all the credit for being creepy being the monsters like Dracula turns into vampire bats. But vampire bats are kind of nerds, like they they sip at blood like they're drinking a

dacori or something. They're not going out causing all sorts of gore. They just kind of go like, I'm gonna go and and sip some blood on this this cow ankle and I just the way the way you're saying, and I pictured in like a martini glass. Yeah, this cow blood is strong. Oh my, I'm only going to be able to have two of these. Yeah. No, it's it's uh, it's they really don't They're not like vicious predators.

They just kind of like they're they're parasitic because they do drink blood from animals who would probably prefer them not to. But they don't generally kill the animals they drink blood from, so they're not really that scared turn them into vampires, which is I didn't say that, No, did I? No? I didn't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean until I see a cow wearing like a cape and or like being a real sexy cow, that's likely I won't believe it. But yeah, vampire bats don't even murder

their victims, whereas ghost bats love murder. Ghost bats live in Australia, which should tell you bay sically everything you need to know. Yeah, they're horrifying. That means they're they're killers, stone called killers. So what do ghost bats look like? I think they're cute, question mark. Some of the time. They you So your caption on the stock is I'll look at this cutie and I went down and I was like, maybe it's cute. But then the minute you said it was a killer, I was like, now I

see it in his eyes. Now it's a killer, and that's the only way I can see it. Now. You haven't even described how it kills. But the minute you said, I was like, no, this has Serial Killer five. I have a couple of photos I have shared in this which I will share with you, my dear audience, of a ghost God. The second photo is horrifying. Oh god, and now it's in like a contraption and it's got a boner. Yeah, we'll talk about uh. Yeah, so it's uh, there are three three bat picks on the the document.

One the bat is looking very innocent and cute, second one is opening its mouth to all of its frightening little teeth, and the third one is actually about under sedation. And I did that so you could see its wingspan. And only after I like put it in the dock, was like, oh, it's got a boner. That's so weird. Yeah, I got the caption and then once I did, it's the only thing I can look at now it's really weird. M hm. Uh. So what what do they? What do

they look like? They have really big ears, really tall ears. Uh. They've got a little snub nose that's like a leaf shaped nose and it points straight upwards. They are a kind of pallid white color mixed with some gray, and they are about four to five inches long or ten to twelve centimeter, along with a wingspan of about eight inches or twenty centimeters. And uh, it's like to me, it's like if you crossed a bunny with a possum

and then gave it bat wings. Mm hmm, possum. I guess it's also in the first photo where it's looking cute, it has like Steve Bishemy mouth. Uh. And it's like, now I'm kind of seeing it as like Steve Fishemy and is a bit of a boot Boushemy bad, isn't it? Definitely it's and now that it's a killer, it's definitely him and con Air, But like Boushemmy, it's like they're they're a little weird looking but also kind of cute. You know. Sure it has angles that work for it.

I think I think Boushemmy, He's he's charming, you know what I mean? Right, It's but that second picture that's what I see in my nightmares. I went from acute and charming to just pure nightmare fuel like Busheny Like like, uh so remember when I mentioned that these ghost bats

enjoy murder? Boy do they? So they are one of many predatory bats, but These guys are extra spooky as they are ambush predators, so they hang from trees like ghostly fruit, silently waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander close enough. They can hear prey up to sixty five ft away or twenty meters away. They will wait until they pick up movement like from a locust or a small mammal, a small reptile, even small birds, and then they will drop from their perch and snatch their prey from the

ground or even from mid air. They even prey on smaller bat species. They can detect echolocation of small bats and then zero in on them for the kill. Horrifying. It's like cannibal. Well, it's technically not their own species, so yeah, you know their brethren, right, it'd be like us, like eating some gorilla pie or something. This, uh, which is a horror horrifying thought. I feel like it would be very gamy. Is it This might be a question you do know? Is it fast? Because I feel like,

you know, you hear something so far away. I feel like this guy has just said dart. I don't know how fast they are. My guests would be like, you know, relatively fast, because they do sometimes drop from the tree like down onto their prey, so probably they get to they get that speed of like dropping from thee and then unflfurling their wings, so they kind of dive bombed

their prey sometimes. So yeah, I think, uh, maybe not like the fastest of all the bats or because they seem to rely on the element of surprise to get their prey, but probably faster than they you want them to be if you are a small mammal or a locust or have your reptile. Have you ever like I had to run in with a bat. I have never physically made contact with a bat, but there was a bat in my sixth grade camp dormitory room that freaked out all the girls and there. Yeah, yeah, they're they're

horrible token. I had had a run in with a batwall camping. I was like leaving the camp bathroom at night, uh, the campground bathroom and like walking back to my tent and I got like dive bombed by one. And it's like getting attacked by the biggest bug you've ever seen, like a big furry bug. It's horrified, it's startling. Yeah, yeah, and you don't know what it is. You think, like I thought it was the biggest bug in the world, like the world's ever seen, had flown into my head.

And then I found out it was a bat, and it got so much worse. Yeah. I actually read a story about a woman and we'll talk about this in a little bit who had a bit of a raby scare because she thought it was like a moth. Uh that like a huge moth that hit her face. But then she turned on the light and it was a bat. Horrible, a ghost bat. No, she'd be dead. These those teeth

are no joke. They are no joke. They actually so this might not be something that bird lovers really want to hear, But they love to eat budgies or as we know them in the US, parakeets. So those cute, little colorable, those cute, little colorful birds. I've had them as pets. Lots of people have had them as pets. They're adorable and sweet. These ghost bats love to eat them. Where where do they live? They live in like a tropical in Australia. This, Yeah, they yeah, they zero in

on the birds chattering in their roots. Like if you've ever had like a parakeet, you know, they make that cute little like, yeah, yeah, they're a loud and so the ghost bats will hone in on them and just like snatch them up and they eat them head first and discard the feet and wings like their pistachio shells. It's drying. I mean, I would imagine those are the

gross part of the parakeet. Oh, the head probably isn't great. Yeah, I don't know how because like I read this source and then saying they eat them head first, it's like what do they do with the beak? You know what I mean? Yeah, the head feels like it has some most bone, right, And I mean I guess the brains are meat. Brains is meat. It's true. Brains is meat. But in a bird that's that's a very little piece. He mean I mean no, but you're right, you're right,

physically small amount. Yeah, I got I got tiny brains. So uh it's it's I guess is that just like maybe it's a humane kill. I don't think they care. I don't think that's the intention. I think it's to kill it as quickly as possible so that they don't have a bird you know, yeah, because like what's the alternative eating them like cloaca first? No, because like I don't know, as as discussed, I don't think the head

would be where you really get the nutrients of the bird. Um, well, brains are pretty they do have like brains do have a lot of good nutrients in them. Technically speaking. Yeah, I mean I eat bird uh right, but you know my bird brains. I don't eat bird brain eat you know, I eat the body of the bird, right, well, they

do eat the body of the bird. They just like But yeah, I would think if I were this bat to get the most to be the most conscious about using because like what, you you chomp the head, then the body falls for some reason, I'm imagining this all happening mid air, because we're talking about birds probably hanging upside down with this poor poor dead burden there. You know. Yeah, it's probably a dive bomb because I just imagine then the body drops and then you've got to find you

gotta find it. It's a mess. It's not a clean kill. Yeah, I think that. Yeah, I wonder if it's sort of like a banana situation where they kind of like chew off the head and then kind of go from there, you know what I mean, you have to split the top of the banana to get run into the banana and maybe it wraps it in its wings, which is another thing I do not like about this bat. Oh the wings is the wings I don't I don't like that I can see through them. You don't like how

membranous they are? Yeah, yeah, that I can see, like like they look like spider webs. Pretty venous. Yeah, but yeah, see right through them and all the like tendons and stuff. And I don't like that. Well, you know, like everyone's at critic when it comes to see through venous wings, I guess. But in terms of like should we be scared of these ghost bats? Are they a threat to humans? And I would say, generally speaking, no, We're too big

for them to consider us prey. Uh. In fact, according to some sources I read, they are rather docile and hesitant to approach humans little alone attack them. Like all bats. That doesn't mean you should handle them. You should not just pick up a bat. Don't do it less in the hard way. This year, let's stay away from batspeople stay away from bats, of them their space. It's interesting because it rabies is not really problem in Australia, does

not actually naturally occur in other animals in Australia. That's shocking. But the Australian bat Lisa virus actually does exist, and so it's that the Lisa virus is similar to rabies, but it's technically different virus than rabies. Um, So, while I don't think that the ghost bats have rabies, they may carry Australian bat lisa virus. That sounds bad. Yeah, it's deadly. Only three cases of human infection have occurred since.

So I don't want people in Australia to panic, although I feel like people in Australia are probably pretty unflappable at this point. Like, yeah, I don't think they're a panicky people. No, I don't think, Well yeah, still don't. Still don't mess with the bats. It's rude to the bats. But also, you know, you don't want to be one

of the few you people who get Australian bat lice virus. So, like I read this this thing from an Australian zoo talking about how like their handlers for these bats need to get a vaccine for lice virus because like, while it's extremely unlikely they're gonna get it, why risk it us? So yeah, um, um, but also you can be afraid of this thing's giant boner. And the thing is I shared this picture with you because I had to. But I don't know. I don't know what the context is

for it. I don't know why this bat is understoodation. I don't know why it's got a big old morning would. I really don't know. I don't have any answers. I just thought you might want to see it. Yeah, I do like it's little helmet. I do think the anesthesia helmet is kind of yeah, it's because when also like usually when you get anesthesia, right like you get uh maybe like an injection of something like ivy or like if you're getting nitrous oxide, you get a little nose thing.

But animals too small, these they're too small for stuff like that. So basically they just put a big cone over their head that's like full of the the feel good sleep gas. And then it's like so funny to me to see various surgeries on tiny animals like I saw I think a goldfish surgery and they just had this like helmet of I guess anesthetic for the goldfish

and we're doing surgery on a goldfish. Is like what how is this And what is the point of doing surgery on a goldfish it's got three more days to live with anything, like even if those three more days, it's going to live its life to the fullest in those three days. I don't it really seems like a waste of money to do you want to you want to tell that goldfish that just because it's got a torn a c l that it can't compete in the

Olympics bridget athlete. I don't think goldfish have a seals. Actually, no, that's a that's in your knee. Yeah, I don't think they have knees. They have joints, but they don't have knees, so yeah, they have joints. That's it. I I what I like about this helmet is that it kind of looks like the catwoman helmet because it has like little it seems too from the angle have little uh like flaps for like a little space for its ears. Nice and I like that a lot. Yeah, Wait, there's a

catwoman helmet that has space for her ears. Well, the the catwoman um helmets the wrong term, but mask she's got yours as earsh If Batman's in space, does he have to have a space helmet that's got space for his ears, like a little ovens for his ears. I I would imagine he has designed alf I'm sorry, I

Lucius has designed some some cool like cowels space helmet. Hey, so, but it doesn't feel like I imagine like a NASA space helmet with like two bulbs room for his ear point ees and then it looks if if we know

anything about Batman, it's got ears. He has artists, could you guys, if anyone could do art of what you think of bat Man in a helmet would possibly look like if you agree with my version, which is Batman in his bat mask, but he's also in a NASA helmet, but it's got two little points, two little nuvens for his ears to fit in. I think it's also funny if he's in a space helmet but still wearing the

cowl too. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying, right, Like, so, I thought you were talking about designing a space helmet that looks like the cowl. No, no, because like if he's at the super space station, right, he's got to go in and out like he's doing a spacewalk punching space Joker. But then he's got to go back inside of the superhero a space station, and then what's he gonna do? Take off his entire secret identity helmet. No, because like he's got to take it off in front

of other superheroes while still protecting his identity. So he's got to have a mask under the helmet. So what is he gonna So it's more bizarre to have a space helmet shaped like a bat mask and you take it off and there's another bat mask underneath. I say he should wear the NASA bubble helmet with ear with ear space space for his ear ear accommodation, uh nodules.

That yeah, that makes sense because like also if the if the villain was inside the space station, he would have to take off the helmet, right And honestly, I don't trust the Flash either, he's a gossip. But you know, I mean, these bets, these real life bats, much cooler than Batman in my opinion, not just because the big boner, but they're willing to kill, right, Like if the Joker had an actual ghost bat, like a man bat, that's like bitten by a radioactive ghost bat, and the now

is like man bat Joker would be so screwed. He just like like the Joker would be like, I have devised a posson for you to save God, oh God, and he just like grab him and eat him face first. Ghost Bat doesn't hesitate. No, Ghost Bat doesn't. Ghost Bat doesn't have like a complex about his parents. Ghost Back just kills for the fun of killing. And ghost Bat is obviously played by Steve Busching, obviously perfect. We did it, so bridget ghost dogs. Yes, ghost dogs. I'm surprised that

ghost Dog isn't a movie. Actually, I'm gonna google it ghost to be a ghost dog movie. What's that? Well that I mean inherently means it's a movie about a dead dog, which is yeah, I mean there's a crime crime film, but I don't think it has actual ghost dogs in it, so it doesn't count. Mm hmm. I would like to see like a sequel to what's it called the one with Kiana Reeves where it's just a

Kiana Reeves killing people. John Wick john Wick, Like a sequel to john Wick where it's like John Wick Ghost Dog Protocol and it's the key little Beagles ghost coming back to life, sort of like when we talked about earlier with a caspar the ghost and then the little baby Fox comes back to life as a ghosts Beagle comes back as a ghost, but it has ghost guns and ghost powers and so it fights alongside John Wick on Wick and oh and it's crossover with Constantine because

like now John Wick is Constantine also played by Gary Reeves and fighting bad guys and demons. Yes, and also the ghost dog can then fulfill it's unfinished business at the end of the movie, and like they can have a nice cathartic night of like ghost Dog, you've fulfilled your unfinished business of vengeance, right, you have more unfinished business? Or let me get some poopy bags, will go outside.

But ghost dogs, they're real. They're real. But it is actually just a real animal, corporeal animal, and it refers to a secret society of canids living in the Amazon basin, So secret dogs. And I don't mean domesticated dogs or domesticated dogs that went back out into the wild. But this is a genuine wild canid species distinct from wolves and dogs, and they are the only member of the

genus Attila kindness. They are also known as short eared dogs, so they look very distinct from domesticated dogs and from wolves, so they have short, stubby ears and ash brown, short smooth fur. They don't really look like a dog to me. They actually look more like a faussa, which is that strange kind of philoforma carnivore endemic to Madagascar. I think we've talked about the fassa before on the show, but if you google fassa you'll see what I mean. It

is almost like how to describe these guys. It's like you took a mongoose and tried to run it on a dog operating system. Well, the first and second picture look very different to me. The first picture looks like it's a dog bear. M hm, dog Uh is how I describe that guy. But then when I see it on this from its profile on its side, for you, it's it's more ferret like, right, It's like a ferret fox. Yeah,

that one might be. It looks a little skinnier too, so that one might be like a younger one because in the bottom picture goes back to looking kind of like a dog bear again. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's like a mongoose dog and a bear fox. Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, they're lovely they're lovely beatle animals. I'm sure they would kill me, but I want cuddle. I mean, well, the thing is they are extremely elusive, so they'd probably sooner run away from you than kill you. They are

so secretive and shy. There is very little information known about them, especially for such a large animal. Usually we are pretty good at studying the larger animals, but these guys are very hysterious. We hardly even know their dietary habits. So from scat analysis, they seem to be omnivorous, eating meat and fruit. So scat analysis is you know they're going in there poop uh and and looking for stuff,

and they found some meat and fruit. And there are some recent video documentation from November that showed a ghost dog scavenging and armadilla carcass, which some people say maybe maybe that means that they're a scavenger, but we just we literally have so little footage of them and evidence. Who knows, like this could just be a one off behavior.

They could scavenge sometimes and hunt other times, like lots of animals who are hunters also scavenged, So it's like even the minimal amount of video footage we have of them doesn't really give us a whole picture of what these mystery dogs are up to. Huh, that's that's cool. I respect that. I like an elusive dog. I know they're off the grid. They're like the Jason Bourne of the animal world, just like spy dogs, off the grid,

eluding researchers, having a low profile. Yeah, I like that, just like off the grid in the Amazon, live in their lives, don't want to be found. Yeah. No, they're not interested in all not interesting. Look, I've seen what you did. I've seen what you've done to dogs in the above, and that's that's embarrassing. One look at the ship soon and it was like no, no, not for me, thanks, no, thank you, no no. I saw one dog in a

Halloween costume and they're like absolutely not. I saw a pug dressed as a weener dog like Chris is a as a hot dog and they're like, no, no thing, opt out. Yeah, you're not going to breed me. You can't tame this beast. I'm gonna just hide in the woods. That's very sweet, it's yeah. Another behavior they've been seen to do is they use the burrows of giant armadillas as their own, so they just kind of like find a burrow that another animal has dug, and they'll go

and seek refuge in that. They seem from the limited information that I found about them, they just seem very resourceful, secretive and clandestine. And yeah, that's that's like a Tom Sawyer of dogs. Like you, you built this fence for me? Mm hmm yeah, and i'll and I'll eat your carcass. Also, yeah, the very Tom Sawyer. Yeah. I didn't finish the book, but I assume that's how it ends. Tom Sawyer gets the kid to paint the fence and then he eats the kid head first. That's why that's where it seemed

like it was going. Yeah, but I know that I don't really have to lecture uh, my audience on wanting to say the rainforest. But if you guys want to lecture someone else on wanting to save the rainforest, I think that if you say, hey, there's secret puppies there, that might convince some people that that is a good that is a good sway. Especially this first picture where it looks like a bear dog. It is very cute. It's got big old pause, got big old pause, it's

got boop snoot. I do want to boop the snoop the obviously look disclaimer, I'm not going to boot the snoot. It's first of all, I literally could not find one of these dogs no matter how hard I tried. Probably and you know, obviously you don't want to boot the snoot of wild animal. But between you and me, Bridget, just you and me, nobody else, I really want to boot the snoot. It looks like it's got cold wet nos. It looks like a scot cold windos that could boop.

It is a happy dog. It's got a big fluffy tail, flashy tail. You give a little EGI little scratches around the neck when it's happy. Probably wags, probably wags, Probably does a little sniff sniffs, little sniff niffs. Can you shake? Can you shake? But very very trainable dogs. Yeah, I mean, I am getting as much as I respect how elusive

they've been. Um, I do want to find out more about these dogs because canines are quite intelligent, and I am curious about like what their what their social life is like, because it doesn't seem like they would follow the same rules that wolves would follow in terms of like pack structure, because their whole diet in their whole lifestyle is probably very different. So I'm really interested, but yeah, they they do not want me to know. It's also so interesting that there's a dog in a type of

dog I guess in the rainforest. It's hot. It's hot, and hume with there, and these guys look like they have a thick coat. Yeah, it's an interesting coat though, because it really doesn't look dog like, you know what I mean, Like it doesn't it's bear like or like

a panther even, you know what I mean. It's just surprising that we just know so little about them, Like do they have do they have like some like in the middle of the forest they have like some tree stump that they do like some kind of paw like pattern of paw presses and then like a tree opens up and there's this whole like underground civilization of like

super intelligent dogs or something. I also because like there are so many videos of dog and dog like creatures making friends with other animals, So I just wonder if they're like hanging out with that aunt eaters right, Like there's probably a zutopia down there, is what I'm saying. Because utopia, Yeah, I mean, you said they might not be pack animals. But it's like you say dog and you would think they have buddies, right, I don't know. They they could be pack animals. I think it would

be a little strange for something like the rainforest. But I don't know, Like I just I don't know, and I don't know if anyone knows. Because they're they're Jason Bourne. They leave no trace. Mystery dog. I like that. I like a dog with an edge. Dogs don't have enough edge, edgy dogs whatever, just a dog, I guess. Uh well, I think that I'll do it for our Haunting, our ghost Hunter part of the show. I do want it. Before we go, I had a couple of emails that

I thought were too good not to share. We talked about the Cicada brewed X, the mass hatching of cicadas with Mara Wilson. Uh well, I hope you don't mind this email then, which I mean, yeah, hit me, Hi, Katie. I experienced the Cicada brewed once during that time. Apparently Cicada ice cream came up with it. I never tried it, but it was a thing that some people liked. Hearing you talk about them reminded me of it. I love your podcast. It's so fun to listen to. Sincerely Natalie.

So yeah, in uh that it seems that cicada ice cream is a thing. Um, yeah, they're bugs, don't eat them. There's like a ice cream shop in Cicada, or an ice cream shop in Columbia, Missouri, which like they collected dead cicadas from their backyards and then boiled them and then covered them in brown sugar and basically candied the cicadas and then put them into the ice cream. And apparently like it was so popular it just like instantly

sold out. But then like the Department of Health and Human Services was like the food code doesn't directly address cicadas, but we advised against him. You can't serve bugs. You could serve bugs. I'm not sure about this. Like for me, the just putting candied to the kid is an ice cream. There's something about that that creeps me out. Um, I'm like, I'm less sort of grossed out by just like using bugs and cuisine when you're not trying to like just put them in an ice cream. For some reason, I

don't know. It's like when a bug is just randomly inserted into ice cream. I think of like, oh, bugs got into ice cream and that's bad. But if you're like a pro chef and you're like, here is a cricket taco I have lovingly crafted, Like, Okay, I see that, not necessarily saying I would eat it. You can't just cover things in sugar and chocolate and tell people to eat it. It's not fair. It's not fair. It's really not fair. It's cheating. But I got this other email

from someone who writes Hi, Katie. I was binge listening to podcast yesterday and during the brood x episode, you're talking about consuming bugs and how you would prefer that over cand asparagus. So I thought I would share with you an Instagram account that I follow, just to make a note to the listeners. I did say that that's more of an indictment of canadasparagus than it is an indication of my willingness to eat bugs. Um. But yeah,

that's how it sounded like to me. The email continues, Joseph, you and with Brooklyn Bugs makes Gore made dishes with bugs and insects that I thought you would find cool. The kimchi scorpions in deep fried cricket mac and cheese bites, looks awesome. Have a fabulous week, Kaylee, Thank you, Kaylee. Yeah, I looked at this instagram. It is what's the instagram? It is Brooklyn Bugs if you want to check it out all. But yeah, I gotta say these things do

genuinely look pretty good. I don't know if I would have the hutzpa to actually eat this stuff, Like I would love to say like, oh yeah, I would, no problem, Like I'll eat a bug like I wish I could say that. No. I mean, I think it's a good thing to start to work out, like start to eliminate the stigma of eating bugs, because I think they are a sustainable, perfectly fine and healthy source of protein. But God, cultural indoctrination is so strong it's hard. It is hard

to get over. Like some of these things, I'm like, I can't. I I would have a hard time. But some of them do look good, like the kimchi scorpion, which is what I think I'm looking at. M I could maybe do that. It's hard to wrap my head around, right, it looks. The weird thing is it looks appetizing a lot of them, But I don't I still don't know if I could get past the mental blockade of I'm eating an insect like it's and it's I totally admit that's like my fault. It's not, you know, but it's

sure it's your fault. But it's like, well, not my fault, but my own psychology. It's not that the food is objectively gross. It's that my own psychological barriers do not want me to eat bugs. The weird thing is ants, Like the idea of eating ants is not as gross to me. That does not bother me either, you know. And I wonder if it's because I remember as a kid I used to just eat ants out of curios.

I think it because they're small. They're small, and like textually there's not there's not like a big crunch factor, but there's also not there like a sprinkle, right, Yeah, they're like sprinkles, like you sprinkle some ants on my ice cream, you know. I mean, I'm not gonna notice that. Yeah, I I'd probably noticed it, to be honest, I might not appreciate it, but I might still eat the ice cream, is what I'm saying. But I've definitely eaten like ants.

I've definitely been at a picnic and have eaten an ant like right, that has been on my sandwich. Yeah. But like if people people who say they like the taste of insects, I trust them, and I trust that it probably tastes good. I don't know. I think it would take a lot of work for me to get over the cultural uh, the cultural norms that I've been taught since I was a kid of like don't don't, oh God, stop putting that in your mouth. Yeah, it

would definitely. I I wonder if I looked at this instagram and wasn't told it was bugs, if it would bother me like my thing. I think I would. I could eat it and like it, but you would have to tell me afterwards that it was bugs, right, right exactly.

I mean if you, for instance, like if you have cricket meal, right, because that you eliminate the shape of the cricket with that, you grind up crickets into a meal, and then you make like cricket meal cookies or something, and I eat that cookie, I'll pry enjoy it if I'm mid bite and then you're like, hey, that's made out of crickets, I'm no no longer going to enjoy it. It's all psychological. It's a high precent psychological. It's psychological. I I also have like this image of and maybe

I'm wrong. I'm a person who like the texture of food. Really, you can bother me. Oh yeah, absolutely, I totally understand. Yeah, super picky because of all, it's like a textual thing and it's got nothing to do with whether the food is bad or good or anything. It's just a I didn't eat mashed potatoes for years from my entire childhood because I didn't like the grainy texture of it. Yeah yeah, or potatoes at all. I didn't like the texture of

potatoes really interesting. Yeah yeah, I still eate potatoes, but any yeah, anything too mushy freaks me out. Uh yeah, So I think that's kind of the other block that I feel like a bug an insect would have like a deep crunch and then a really squishy inside. It depends on the to me by Timon and Puma of the Lion King. I don't know if that's accurate some of I mean, maybe not, but in my head, and I don't like that. Some of them for sure, like witchety bugs or witty grubs. Do you have like cicada

would probably be crunchy and then really gush. I don't really know if they'd have the gusher's effect. Maybe Okay, anyone who's eating bugs right into me and give me a full on analysis of the mouth feel of different bugs, please, Yeah, maybe that will help us get over our mental You know, shrimp are basically like marine bugs. But I actually don't shrimp freak me up sometimes. Yeah, exactly like I think shrimp. But if I think too much about what I'm eating,

I'll stop. I think this might be a you and me problem. I think maybe we're wed. I think I think calamari. I love calamari, but like the minute I'm reminded of what calamari is, I stop eating it right right right? Yeah? I well, yeah, I just like I feel bad when I eat octopus because I think they're like the puppies of the sea. Yeah, but it's there, it's yeah, no, no, I'm on the same page with you. But uh, but we we can talk. We might be about about every food we don't like. We'll do that

off Mike will spare you. Guys are a long conversation because I feel like we're just discovering this about each other and we're excited that, Like you hate food. I hate food too. Awesome, you're a weirdo. Yeah, me too. We do that, but like I don't like the mouth field, I also don't like the mouth field. This is great. Well, thank you so much for being on bridget Where can people find you? Yeah, thanks for having me. These are always so much fun. Um. You can find me on

Twitter at bridget tweets and sometimes I even do that sometimes. Uh. And then yeah, small beans, the small beans at work. I have podcasts on their rough Stu is one of is the main one. And then if you listen to the newest one coming out, We're a ou. It's like some exciting new projects on there, so check it out. All about the mouth field of crickets. It's about Yes, it's a mouth field podcast of bugs. Specifically. You can find us on the internet at Creature Feature Pod on Instagram,

at Creature feet Pot on Twitter. That's f e a T not fet that is something very different. You can email me with all your bug mouth field stories at Creature feature Pot at gmail dot com. Uh and as always, I am Katie Golden. I'll be on the internet, you know, just screwing around. Katie Golden on Twitter. UM also pro bird rights on the Internet where I allow birds to take control of my body and post whatever they want, because gosh darn it, it's time for birds to have

a voice. I think. Thank you so much for listening to the show. If you're enjoy wind the show and you leave a review, I am one hundred percent guaranteed to read it because I am egotistical and self centered and I will read every single review. So if you want me to read the words you write, and you write it in a podcast review, I'll read it. Even if it's like, Hey, Katie, could you pick up some milk next time to your grocery store. I've been trying to get you to do that for like two weeks now,

I'll still read it. Uh, And thank you so much for listening, And thanks to this Space Classics for their super awesome song Exo 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 podcast, or Hey guess what? Where? Have you listen to your favorite shows even if they're huh did whoo? Spooky Ghost