Fashion Beak

Welcome to Creature Feature, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, and today on the show, it's Fashion Beak or Week or whatever. We're slithering down the runway to talk about high animal fashion from hats to outer where does shabby chic? These animals are not born with it. They have meticulously crafted their fashionable attire from elements in

Maybe you don't fact check SpongeBob while.

You watch it, but I do, got your clipboard.

Everyone knows that it's funny when it's more accurate scientific accuracy. Yes, it is hilarious.

Actually, Stephen Hilmberg, the creator of the show, I think he was a marine biologist and he kind of made the very typical career move to go from being a marine biologist to a SpongeBob creator.

Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time.

There were some biologically accurate jokes in the show, but we're going to discuss why they didn't always get it right. Now, Maggie, you are a YouTube video essays. Your videos are typically on film, but one thing I love about your videos is your sense of fashion that goes with the theme of the episode. So I feel like you are a very good guest to have on this episode about animals who make their outfits work for the situation.

I can't wait what I say stall the preview of what we were going to be talking about today. Yeah, they had such a glee in my heart.

Yeah. Yes, So first we are going to talk about an animal that loves to wear a fashionable hat. So there are crabs called decorator crabs. You may have heard of them. They are not one species, but a whole variety of species who share one thing in common, a love for fashion. They will stick materials to their bodies for camouflage or to ward off predators. Today, we're going to focus on one type of decorator crabs, the sponge

Pick them up with their with their claws without ripping the fabric. You'd think he'd rip right through. I hope, I hope that's in your notes, Katie.

There's clause. I do actually have a letter on exactly how their clause works, so we will talk about that.

Yeah.

They they're called sponge crabs. There's a whole family of them called Dromedae. There are over thirty species of sponge crabs that live off of Australia's coastline alone, and many others distributed near coral reefs. So there are a lot of these guys. They're very diverse. Sea sponges are, of course living animals themselves. They move independently as larva in an early stage in their life cycle, but once they

So it's like me, in my future retirement, I will not.

Be moving, Gonna get one of those lazy boys of the future that you move around like a cross between a lazy boy and a segue with cup holders galore. Yes, but sea sponges typically don't move around, but as we'll discuss soon, there is exceptions. Sea sponges are actually really fascinating because they are unique in their cellular structure. Their cells can freely migrate throughout their bodies and transform to

What that's what?

Yeah, it works apparently.

Yeah.

So when a decorator crab tears off a piece of sponge and attaches it to its body, the sponge actually remains alive and can continue to grow and eat. And yes, sponges eat through many many mouths that they have, many of tiny mouths.

Suddenly sponge has got a lot scarier than that I picture that.

I mean, can you imagine in SpongeBob if all the holes in the SpongeBob just have little teeth? They don't. Actually, they don't actually have little human teeth, so don't worry about that, But they do have tons of mouths. So when a decorator crab tears off a piece of sponge and attaches it to their body, this sponge will actually grow around and will make a sort of customized bespoke little hat that perfectly molds over the crab's carapace.

Wow, why haven't we invented that yet?

Living clothing fabric that, yeah, grows around me. I agree. I would love to have living clothing that perfectly forms itself to my body. I mean, I guess that's kind of like what they do in the Last of Us, right, like like fungus that just grows around your body.

Oh yeah, yeah, that's pretty fashionable.

Is it? Is it scary or is it fashion?

Fashion can be very scary.

Our skin, our skin is kind of like that, right, Like we do have skin which is sort of like living clothing.

You know, the original clothing.

I think Maggie's trying to pull it off, which uh. And I don't mean pull it off as and make it work. I mean pull it off as in remove it from her body and it's stop stop that. But yes, yeah, just remove the skin, put it in the washer. That is what we call exfoliation folks. So yeah, they will carefully trim the sponge with their little claws, uh, put

Oh okay, so wait they have two appendages. Is this the only purpose for those legs?

Yes? Oh, they can't walk with them. They are the legs that have evolved specifically to hold their little sponge hats in place.

That's like if we had two hands growing out behind our ears to hold.

To hold in place. I'd love one that would hold my sunglasses and keep them from falling off my face when they bend over.

That's nice. Or one to hold up the umbrella for you.

Yes, an umbrella hand, this is what I've been saying. And then your two hands can do other stuff. But these crabs have it covered. They have specialized little back legs. They can't walk on them. All they do is hold that sponge in place. In fact, on the end of those legs are two little tweezer like pincers that they use to hold onto the sponge, just like the little tweezers hold on the sponge and keeps it on as

Wow. Do you think they have a little hat stand that they pop it on shed the maybe yeah, just.

Like honey, I'm put on the hat stand outer breakout of your entire exoskeleton. Yeah, but yeah, the sponge not only is super fashionable and it is Maggie, can you actually like tell the listener what you see in some of these photos, because I mean, I'm hoping people google pictures of these because they're so cute. But these look like they're from like a studio ghibli film of mister crabs wearing little hats. They are so cute.

They're like a furry bucket hats. All the rage of the nineties and forever in the ocean.

They're coming. Bucket hats are back.

They're back. They're back so back that I think they're about to be out pretty soon.

Yeah, get them quick, put them on and take it, rip them right back off. But yes, they have these beautiful little sponge bucket hats that they are peeking out from, and they're like these these crabs tend to be like fairly small, you know, like maybe the palm of your hand size, So there, it's very cute. They look like little ocean fairies. But yeah, this sponge will offer them

Paper, so that's not much better.

Yeah, glue was good, so is crans is good. There's a lot of things that felt like it should have been food. It wasn't, but we tried it wasn't. But yeah, I heard of like sponge cake. I have that memory of like, oh, sponge cake. Therefore I can eat a sponge. Didn't work so.

Earlier, I mean a young scientist.

Let's test the the the hypothesis. Can I eat sponge and answer? Maybe? So it's not known whether this is beneficial for the sponges, whether it helps the sponges feed or reproduce or disperse. So like, the nature of the symbiosis is unknown, but it is really interesting because this is a normally sessile animal, the sponge, that does not move around. And then in this case, with the help of these adorable little crabs, they are now mobile. They move around.

Like a car, like a car, ride on their new car. I get it.

Yeah they are, yes, I just I love these little guys. They're so cute. Some of the species are like kind of rotund, like they're very round and like they got little tiny faces. It's very very cute. Uh. Some species not only wear sponges, but the crab themselves are fuzzy and furry, such as the la mark droma beagle crab aka the fluffy crab who looks so cute and cuddly. I want to pet it. I don't think it'd want me to pat but I want to pet it.

It'd probably be terrified. Yeah, it's so fluffy. It looks you can't hardly tell what's the amoebo and what's the crab? Just little balls and it's so funy, poisonous one crab.

I would endure many pinches just to get a little bit of a pet in on this crab. Maybe, But yeah, what do you what do you think, Maggie, would you wear one of these beautiful sponge bucket hats.

I feel like i'd wear the crab wearing the hat. The crab is so cute. I feel like it's part of the part of the aesthetic.

We could really get a chain going. So you're wearing the crab wearing the hat, but you're in a car, and then the car is on a.

Boat, and the boat's on a whale.

Yeah, let's end it.

On a whale. That'd be cool. Do we not know that t rexes in their tiny arms wasn't to hold like a little tiny purse.

Yeah, no, that's a good point. I bet it was to hold a little clutch. Yeah, a little clutch.

Be the perfect Yeah, a little furry, mossy clutch.

I don't know that the hands are in the perfect position for clutch, holding clutch in one hand, apple TEENI in the other. I can see it.

Yeah, cigarette body ear.

What ear and holding it on its head in the hole is jammed in the in the ear hole. All right, Well, we're going to take a quick break while I try not to think about shoving a cigarette in my ear hole. And when I get back, we're going to talk about another aquatic fashionista called the coconut octopus. So we are back and there's another nautical fashion maven. This is the

I just learned recently that they it's like the layers of skin that give the different colors. Uh or yeah, I'm sure.

Articulate the Yeah, so there's awesome. So there are yes. The in there's both pigment coloration and there's structural coloration. And for octopuses, I think they often they can use both. So both like the structural coloration in the pigment coloration because like structural coloration, it's basically when you think of like a prism and the light hits it and it

Wow. Wow, do you think it's like a I dream of Genie situation. It's like inside there's like little.

It got a lounge. Yeah, they've got like a little little octopus a lazy boy that rolls around. Yeah, no, I mean it is. They They are very squishy animals, and so they can fit actually into quite tight spaces, so for them this is probably nice and space spacious. They will also carry around this little fortress that they find with them, so they not only will seal themselves inside, they will often carry it with them so that if they get scared, they can just like whoop right back inside.

Wow. Wow, this is blowing my mind, Katie.

I do wish sometimes I could do that where it's like, I don't know, what's something I don't like. If I had a mailbox that I was just wearing over myself, and then if I saw someone that I didn't like, I could just go inside the mailbox and nobody knows.

That sounds nice. It's like on airplanes, I wear one hat and a mask and eye covers and then a larger hat that goes right over it.

Oh that's bliss.

No one can see me.

As long as you can still breathe through all of that, that's bliss.

Just barely. That's all you need. You're in the air, there's a lot more you're surrounded by air.

You know how air works. The higher up you go, the more air that is.

It's a bit bit yeah, yeah, yeah, it just keeps.

Yeah, No, that's how do.

How do the octoput how do they keep the shell around them?

Like?

Is it the suction cups like pulling it in? Like how do they? Yeah, they use their carrier.

Yes, they they're very dexterous, and they have those little little suction cups that can kind of stick on to things, and so they can very nimbly like manipulate these shells and like close them in around themselves. And when you see like videos of them doing it, it's just they're basically like picking up the shells and then like a

Wow, wow, this is wild. Growing up, I had a coconut purse that was like, you know, I painted coconut with a little the whole time.

And you had a not to put inside hang out. Never questioned it, Never question my pet, my pokemon. These really are like pokemon. Uh just it's so cute, Like you see it in this little coconut. They do it with with shells as well, like shelfish shells, but the coconut is really the perfect shape for this because it

Oh it's a emperor's new clothes.

I like to think that it was a king octopus that got tricked by a wily octopus tailor. But yeah, so it is also sometimes like just carry the coconut with them and then like their legs are draped over the sides and then just kind of like walking like they're doing a Fred Flintstone cart. Do you see that, Maggie, I've shared that gift with you. Yeah.

I could not tell what was going on until you explained it, because yeah, it's just like his head sitting on top of the coconut and then running his legs around it.

Yes, it's like did you ever when you were a kid like sit inside a laundry basket like on carpet and then like like scoot the laundry basket around with your legs. Yes, yes, this is what this is doing, except with the coconut. I think we're all deep down just little octopuses. You want to slide around in coconuts.

On a coconut and then a coconut serve van slid.

Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's very cute, and it's something that with octopuses they have they are and there are a lot of mollusks that actually have shells, and octopuses do not have shells. They have traded their shells for greater squish ability, greater mobility. They can like fit into tight places. They're very quick and they can hunt better. But the trade off is that they're very squishy, so

I feel little, almost speechless. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't be ruining the planet.

I don't know a great idea. Actually, I've never thought of not ruining the planet.

It's just like, yeah, it just occurred to me.

Yeah, like wait, what if we didn't destroy all these beautiful, unique animals. But then again, I do really want a shirt that lasts for two days and then I have to throw it out because it's falling apart.

That's true, that is what I want, Katie.

All Right, So we're gonna take a quick break and when we get back, we're going to talk about another animal fashion expert. So, Maggie, what is your opinion on shabby chic or how to mess.

I am into it. I was much more into it when I was young. I think there was one time but I redid my room and she.

I was so old.

Now, yeah, young, I mean like six this So that was when I was really starting, yeah, get into fashion and decorating. I was, as you can imagine it as a six year old. I was very good at it.

Uh.

But yeah, it's a it's a very valid aesthetic.

It is. I remember for my like dress up games, I had no sort of inherent sense of things matching. I put every just putting everything on, like this skirt goes over this skirt which goes over pants. Uh, you know, like and then a two two over that, and of course multiple pairs of sunglasses, one on my face, one on my head. Uh. And then also a hat, so every just everything.

Yeah, a hat, stacker hat, put a hat, a hat under a large hat. No one ever told me it was only one hat is not communicated to me, have you seen that.

I'm trying to remember her name. There's this fashion designer who makes these like extremely expensive clothes that look very like very tattered and kind of look like clown clothes a little bit. Do you know what I'm talking about.

I'm picturing so many different things my in my mind.

Okay, I think it's called magnolia pearl.

Okay, oh yeah yeah, yah yeahah yeah. This is shabby chic.

Yeah, it's shabby chic. It's like and what I'm looking at is someone wearing like a torn dress over jeans, work boots. I think a cowboy hat. That's interesting. This is not so much my style. I've got to say, like, I feel like my clothes get my clothes get torn and dirty without me paying hundreds of dollars. Uh.

Yeah. Honestly, if you do like that this look, and you look it up and you like it, go to any goodwill, any state sale. You'll find something that you can work with.

If you just rolled around in a good will, I think you could achieve the exact same look. Like close your eyes and just do like a Tasmanian devil, spin in a in a good will and you will actually probably come out looking better in my opinion.

Yeah, First of glue on your body glues, that's right. When you roll around, it sticks.

That's right. Well, the reason I bring this up on an evolutionary biology podcast is that there is an animal, a very small animal who loves shabby chic and comes out looking, in my opinion, like a magnolia pearl look actually probably better. So this is the green lacewing larva. So green lace wings already sounds very fashionable, doesn't it.

Absolutely, I love green, I love lace, and I can warm up to wings.

I'm neutral about wings, but I could be convinced.

Yeah, the other stuff I'll take.

So they are a family of insects with a larval and adult form. The adult form looks actually kind of pretty pretty innocent as well. It's a small, green flying insect, no bigger than the tip of your finger. They are slender and green in color, with long, transparent wings that covers most of their bodies. And the wings are transparent, but they also have these intricate, visible, veined kind of structures on the wings, which is what gives them the name lace wing because like, if you kind of look

Nah, they look like they would be poisonous. I don't know, oh if they are or probably not, but that's the vibe gives off.

Yeah, they give the vibe of like this is an alien that's going to crawl inside your worm and get in your brain and control your brain kind of thing.

Absolutely, or like I'm radioactive.

Yes, you know, but they are actually not dangerous for people and they're good to have in your garden. They are very dangerous for aphids. Their nickname is aphid lion, and yeah, they are absolutely terrifying looking but they're actually quite shy, so they will do their best to dress themselves in whatever they can find in order to blend

Makes them such effective hunters? That they're carrying around their own bush pretty much?

Heiden, They're like solid snake in the cardboard box they have. This This outfit both protects them from predators, it camouflages them from predators, and it camouflages them from their prey. So it's really a triple threat and fashionables.

That's a quadruple threat.

And something unique about them is that because they will basically throw whatever they can find on themselves, they're all their outfits are unique to the individuals. So every outfit that they wear is a new and unique work of art. That this insect has created.

I gotta be honest, kiddy, I really don't like this. I don't like the way, but I think so far this is we went from very cute to disturbing in a way that I don't think I can. It's like it's like if I was wearing another set of skins, the vibes that's giving me.

I mean that's essentially leather, isn't it.

Yeah, which is why I don't wear them.

You know, I only wear human leather.

Yes, yes, when I get.

A sunburn, it's essentially human leather. So no, I mean it is interesting. They do kind of look like a trash pile, but that's intentional. And you can really see sort of like some of them just like it looks like they have like a white puffball on them, or like weird little squiggly plant fibers. One is just like covered in lichen. One has like orange plant fibers and some dead spiders and like it looks like an empty cocoon on it. Another one has a bunch of like

O will Pellet.

Yeah, does look like it might awesome doodoo feces on it. Yeah, and so they you know, I guess it's a little lavant guard. I understand it's a little avant guard for some people's tastes. But it look if this is an art, how is a Jackson Pollock art which basically looks like bird doodoo?

It does look like bird totally.

Looks like it looks like bird doodoo, like after birds ate some skittles. Oh my god, I like it. I'm not saying I don't like it. In fact, I like it because as it looks like bird dodo after a bird aids, since.

You're describing a beautiful scene. Absolutely it evokes.

It evokes rainbow bird poo poo. But yeah, so they have so many varieties of outfits, and I understand that this phase of their life is awkward, maybe not so cute. But we've all gone through that phase of fashion in our lives.

We've all tried shabby chic and realized that it just makes your house look kind of old a little bit, which is sometimes good but sometimes not what you're looking for.

Yeah, we've all, all of us have gone a little too far with boho, but like I have if I can be vulnerable. I did for a minute in college wear skirts over pants. Wow, yeah, I know, you're so cool. Yes, cool is what I want. My thinking was, it is like, well, I don't want, like what if someone can see my underpants when I'm wearing the skirt, so I need the pants under the skirt. But the skirt is good, so I should wear pants under the skirt.

They put that fear into you as a young feminine person. That's right, any moment, any show it, any moment.

Any moment, someone could see my SpongeBob underpants and we can't have that messing.

Yes, so it all costs.

So to metamorphosize into adults, they actually wrap themselves in a small, white egg shaped cocoon, and once they are ready, they will cut their way out of the cocoon, managing to slice open the top of it and emerge in this adorable and fashionable entrance. It's actually really cute because they make a very like, actually precise incision off the top. It looks like you took an exacto knife and just

That's a pokemon right there.

It is a Pokemon. Look at it, durable, it's a Pokemon in like an oval shaped poke ball. It's so cute.

It's like that top comes off like a Ukrainian egg, like.

Very yeah, or like a Faberge egg, like just like hinged right off. It's it's very cool. And even lace wing eggs have a bit of style, so they are laid so that they're attached to a leaf or a branch, but instead of being just laid directly on the surface, they are delicately balanced on top of a long, thin stock, so they actually look like these tiny, strange round flowers.

Yeah. I almost asked if the photo is upside down, because surely they're hagging.

No not yeah, no, they're just like they're just hanging out, well, hanging up, hanging up, and uh, it's very it's very strange and alien looking. This is actually to protect the eggs from ants who would happily consume the eggs of the lace wing, particularly because ants and aphids have a symbiotic relationship, so ants don't necessarily like lace wings eating their little uh domesticated aphid herd. But this is the technique that the lace wing has to protect them from being eaten by ants.

But yeah, very political, it is.

It is, you know, honestly, when you zoom in on nature, it gets very political. There's a lot of there's a lot of sort of you know, inside baseball going on negotiation negotiation forums. I've used all the political words I know. Uh yea, But yeah, if you see these in your garden, you should leave them be because the little hatchlings, those horror looking little things with a terrible sense of fashion, we'll eat aphids, white fly, and other small garden pests.

Yeah, I definitely remember these guys flying around my dad's garden. Uh yeah, they're very cute. But I had no idea they they have a whole idea. Seen their final form yeah.

They have a very awkward teenage phase.

Yes, it's not a day to tell me about I'll always be awkward mal.

All right, Well, before we go, we gotta play a game. Maggie. Do you want to play the Mystery Animal sound game.

I'm so excited. I've been practicing.

Just like listening to random animal sounds. Yeah. Yeah, call me part of my meditation, the soothing call of uh a whale, powler, monkey, howler monkey. So, last week's mystery animal's sound hint was this, Please chew with your mouth closed, Bruce. All right, Maggie, did you hear that? Yes?

I initially I thought it was like a panda eating bamboo until it made that other noise.

Uh.

Baby, I want to say, like cricket, a cricket, but it can't be a cricket. It can't be a cricket, and it almost sounded like a bird. But I guess I'll say cricket.

That's not right. Sorry, you lose, you get dunk in the tank. But yes, this is a young gray headed flying fox from a bat rescuer. So this one is from a bat rescuer on YouTube named Megabatty. This little baby bat is talking with her mouth full. She is squeaking angrily at something while chewing down on some fruit.

Okay, that all makes so much more sense. I love bats. If I could have a bad as a pet, I would.

Yeah, it's not recommended on account of the rabies and so on and other zoonotic diseases, but I agree. I feel like if I could get like one, sort of like free pass for a pet with like no negative consequences, no ethical concerns. Bat is definitely a top contender, especially a flying fox, because their faces are so cude. Oh they look they look like little I don't know. They have the faces of a cute little Chihuahua and then the body of an amazing weird flying animal.

So yeah, my cousins had a sugar squirrels.

Uh oh sugar letters.

Yeah yeah, and I was like that, but a little bit more goth.

A little more goth. Yeah yeah, No, I like the edge, I like the edginess. But yeah. So. Gray headed flying foxes are huge megabats found in Australia. They're actually the largest bat found on the continent. They have a wingspan of over three feet or around a meter, so you know, wing tip to wing tip they're pretty big. Uh. They eat fruit, but they will also eat nectar and pollen, and sometimes they're cute little faces get covered in yellow pollen dust. It's very cute. It's like they're trying to

Spread it out. So the entertainment for the evening, if you will.

So onto this week's mystery animal. Sound the hint. I hope it doesn't have a sore throat. That would be a doozy. Oh, Maggie, got any guesses?

Whoa? I mean, it sounds huge, so it'd be hilarious. If it's really small, it's the most set I wish. No, I'm jed I would be able to hear it coming. I got five times.

Oh my god, yeah, yeah, yeah, they love me. I don't love them back.

If I had a guess, I would say toad because I don't want to think it's a giant.

Interesting guess. Well, we will find out on the next episode of Creature Feature. If you think you know who is making that sound. You can write to me at Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com. You can also write to me with questions and I try to answer them either on the show in special listener questions episodes, or I'll just reply to you or try to telepathically answer your message. Let me know if that were.

Oh, I just got one.

Oh thanks, Uh it's like Katie, this is just a picture of a hamster butt exactly.

Yeah. It answered everything I.

Asked, Maggie. Thank you so much for joining me. Where did people find you?

Thank you so much for letting me come on and learn about Really, I got some fashion types I felt like, So this was good for me.

Thinking. I can tell you're rethinking the lace wing fashion fashion. It's warm, it's warming up to it.

Absolutely, I am. Right after this. I'm gonna buy a fuzzy bucket hat hopefully made out of a living other crew the Ship of the US.

Those were a thing, Yeah, the furry bucketing.

Yes, yeah, pink fuzzy. I had one with like clouds.

Oh.

I don't think I was ever actually cool enough to wear it because they were like so.

In yeah cool girls. Yeah No I I I didn't wear the pink fuzzy bucket hats myself, just just the skirts over jeans.

Oh yeah, that other cool.

Very cool.

It was very cool.

I I think Charlie's there on more at once, so obviously, oh yeah, I remember that.

Speaking of Charlene, I love her. And you can find me online on YouTube just at my name maganete Fish, and I guess on the other websites. Definitely, on Instagram, kind of on Twitter, I don't really. I love my cats. Look at my Twitter at this point.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's I'm saying, it's like a slow It's like a slow and magnificent train crash on Twitter.

Yeah, I'm cheering it along. I don't know if you've ever seen like a parade that starts like, uh, you know, just Domino.

Oh yeah, people falling over Yeah yeah, it's yeah, it's you know, I'll be in that parade just falling over the next person. But yeah, yeah. I actually just very very recently started a TikTok because apparently that's a whole that's a whole thing. So I'll be doing animal related content on TikTok. My TikTok is Katie Golden, just k a t I E G O L D I N and I'm I'm a little baby, I'm a widow baby