Leaf Me Alone!

past their larm by a few years. Discover this and more as we answer the usual question, how do you sleep floating in the middle of the sea, You'll be utterly surprised. Joining me today is podcast host NERD expert and nap extraordinary Alexis Tauruss. Hello, I actually just woke up from a nap, so I am ready to learn about all the things. I'm a terrible, terrible sleeper, but now being I'm great as Yes, I had to take a nap yesterday while I was writing these notes, because

seeing these sleepy little animals is just like awesome. Nice. I take nap when I feel it's fun. I kind of feel the same way. Sometimes I'm not the best sleeper, but I can nap anytime. I could be a competitive napper. I think that would be a business that we should all get into for sure. Like I just it's just so nice because I never understood why I can't sleep when it's actually time to sleep, but just in the middle of the day, it's like, oh this chair is

you know, it's crazy. Well, maybe you will identify more with some of these animals who have sleeping patterns that are not you know, I would say, not like what we typically think a living thing should be. That sounded really insulting to the animals. It's not what I'm into say, But yeah, I got what you mean. You know. Um, But first, before we get into these napping animals, I want to talk about a very interesting well actually not,

I'm not gonna say anything. I just want you to look at this normal video guy picking up a leaf. I love how you're like, it's totally normal, it's totally don't worry about it. Just watch this video of a guy picking up a normal lead. I don't trust you know, I'm watching. I'm watching. Oh what wait wait, wait, wait, go back, wait, go back to do that again. Yes, that was exactly what I was going to say. I was like it hands and hands it hands. I'm going

to narrate what you're watching for listeners. So she's watching a video of a man picking up a dead leaf and as he picks it up, this dead leaf transforms into beautiful butterfly. But like it's magic. But this is like the like if people could see my screen right now, this is like the sixth time I have played this going No, it's a magic trick. It's a magician. Katie's a magician. She found magic tricks on the internet and that's what she's doing. She's mad, I'm being punked, is

what it is? Where the cameras besides the zoom camera upset? Well, this is this is a real no tricks, no, no Michael Bay camera magic. This is called Kalima inkis also known as the orange oak leaf or dead leaf butterfly. So so this is the perfect disguise to be able to take a nap in my opinion, because sometimes and you're trying to take a nap and people are like, oh, you gotta get up. Oh it's dinnertime. Oh you know,

you got it. You've got responsibilities and stuff. But if I could just like if I could camouflage is like a pile of clothes or dead leaf. It would be the perfect disguise to be able to take a nap, and these butterflies have absolutely mastered it. So you can see the pictures of these butterflies, they look just exactly like a dead leaf. The not just the coloration, it is detail, the rip. Like you know how leaves have

ribbing through them. It has that as well. But when they open up their their wings, it's actually quite colorful. They do look like a colorful butterfly. They have a band of black, orange, ish yellow and blue, and it is this amazing example of cryptic mimicry or camouflage, where the butterfly imitates a dead leaf to evade predation. So the orange oak leaf butterfly is found in Southeast Asia and they are it's actually goes beyond just this one

disguise of a dead leaf. So like where they live, there's actually a wet seas in a dry season, so they will there are two different forms of the same species of butterfly and they will change their appearance depending on whether it's the wet season or dry season. So actually I'm looking at this picture right now and I'm like, are you sure this is the same butterfly. Well, it's not the same individual, and it is the same species.

So it's like they have depending on when they're born and when they develop into maturity, they will have a different look. So during the wet season they have a darker color. It's the it's kind of this like imagine a leaf that's been on the ground that's been wet and kind of is starting to decay, versus a freshly

dead leaf. So during the wet season, it looks like it's kind of a decaying leaf, and during the dry season, it's sort of a lighter color, it looks fresher, it looks just sort of like a freshly dead leaf that is maybe still hanging onto the tree or something, which is an incredible paying they're paying such incredible attention to detail these betterly. Yeah, like I just I can't stop staring at it. I can't believe you've already broken me. We've only gone one animal in so many to get through.

But yeah, I was gonna say, I was like, it's it's one thing to say that, like I always forget that type of pray mantis that also kind of looks like a leaf when it's um walking around and everything. Yeah, there's stick bugs bugs. They are also orchid mantises. Those are my favorite mantis, and you know, I don't like that sex, so that's safe. But yeah, I love the

fact that they change. I mean, obviously, you know, they changed with their surroundings, but I also love the fact that their attention to detail of like specific seasons is in just insane, especially the wet season one, because it definitely looks like something you would walk across like any forest. You're like, oh wow, these leaves are everywhere, and then they start flying You're like, wait what, Yeah, it's it's

very interesting. And they also have another trick up their sleeve during the wet season, which is in addition to looking like this damp, decaying leaf, they also have a couple of iye spots on their wings, and so if they can't trick the predator into thinking that they're dead leaf, they can actually open up their wings and the light shines through the wings and then these i spots illuminate, and so it's in hopes of tricking the predator that it's a much bigger insect. And so they just they

thought of everything. These butterflies. I need to learn the tricks. Just tell me, tell me how to do that. If I can just like disappear like hobbit, cloak myself into something when someone's bothering me, and then if it doesn't work, I just become this bigger version of myself that oh,

I'm sorry, and I'm like, yeah, that's right. It's like, yeah, I want a cloak that makes me look like a pile of dirty laundryes so I can nap and then if someone's like, hey, I see you under that, you like pull a tab and then the dirty laundry turns into a monster and then you can just keep napping. Pay sorry, And I'm like, that's right, I'm going back to it. I want it. I want it so bad. And they actually they do they change their camouflage based

on their activity level. So during the dry season, they're actually less active and so they don't typically have those fake out ice spots because they're they're just clinging to the tree, basically resting most of the time, looking like a dead leaf, and that works out during the wet season when they have to fly around more, that's when they bring out the extra Not only do they look

like a wet, decaying leaf. But then it's like if they have to move around and a predator is like, hey, wait a minute, leaves don't walk, and then it's like, ah, but I've got these extra eyes. Look at baby. Oh man, that's crazy just thinking about that, because I can't even imagine if you're like, oh, like, especially if someone who's like I'm gonna collect this leaf or while I'm visiting, and then it just like flaps off and I'm just like, I can't touch anything. I can't touch anything. It's just

not happening. That's why that video is so interesting, and I'll definitely provide a link to it in the show notes. But it's it just looks like a guy picking up a dead leaf and then it the leaf unfolds and starts flying away and it's colorful, and then it and then it flaps a few times, folds back up, falls back out onto the ground and it's a leaf again. I can't, I can't stop. I can't stop. I keep hitting the play button. I know we have to move

on at some point, but I can't. I can't. I just so sometimes instead of hiding while sleeping, you've actually got a flex and to demonstrate this, I want to talk about the malachite sunbird. So malachite sunbirds are small nectar drinking birds found in Ethiopia and South Africa. They actually look very similar to hummingbirds, but they don't hover and feed like hummingbirds do. They will perch and eat on flowers with those long beaks. So yeah, they're they're

quite pretty. The males are bright eardescent green with a long hooked beak, and females are sort of a lighter yellow and brownish color. But yeah, they're they're these these pretty little birds who grow around sip and nectar. Quite cute. But male malkite sunbirds when they are sleeping they will flaunt their pectoral fathers while sleeping toward off predators. No, sorry, I just think of this like like okay, I'm going to bed, and then like just being angry and like

I don't know what do you want? And you're like, whoa hey, whoa hey, hey, we're good hair even like you even flower snoring. I love that. That's so cute. But so it's not actually so that they look buff and muscular, although I do like that idea. It is to make it look like they have giant yellow eyes on their chest. The feathers under their bright green outer feathers are yellow and they can puff them up, and it looks like they have these big eyes on their chest.

My eyes are down here, Hey, the opposite down Such a male thing to just kidding, but yeah, but but then it makes again like those eye spots that many animals use. It makes it look like, oh, you're a bigger animal, because look, your eyes are as broad as your chest and they're huge and yellow and open. So I don't want to mess with you, but it is. It is pretty cute, like just these little bro birds like,

come at me, bro, I love it. That's what I'm gonna see every time now, and just put a little bubble of and me like, come at me, bro, cave me, at me, bro, check out my check out my feather my feathers. I also just love, like I know that we're talking more about the sleep, but I really love the beak like shape and and everything. And it looks like there's something extra at least on the picture that I'm seeing. It's probably little tongues. Yeah, I was gonna

say that's so it's just so fascinating too. Because they have these they have these long tongues that they used to sip the nectar much like the birds flicks out yeah and yeah yeah. It's it's a done pokeo sticking out. And you can see in that that photo that he's like actually puffing out those yellow feathers. It's like they

look like the side view mirrors on cars. That's thinking, I didn't want to be rude and be like you kind of look like kind of look like a car right now, or like even when cars when they change their headlights and stuff like sometimes like oh I'm gonna be different. I'm gonna have these bright blue like blinding and you're like, okay, there's definitely a car there. I get it. So that's what kind of it reminds me of, like hey, hey, hey, back up, I'm doing something. You know.

This bird is like this bird is like objects in my feathers are swoller than they appear that shirt. So another little cutie that likes to consider it's safety and has to while it's sleeping is the sea Auto. I have been waiting for you to bring this up. This is my napping animal, the otter. I love it. They are an inspiration to nappers worldwide. The sea otter they are just there. They're the perfect animal. They're so cute.

But you know they do live in primarily in the water, So how do they nap without floating just drifting away off in to you know, too unknown uncharted waters. And they have a few techniques. Among them are holding each other, holding their hands, and anchoring themselves down with kelp. So every everything they do to try to keep from drifting away is just the cutest thing you've ever seen. So this is, this is why Katie's the best because the

fact that I didn't know about the kelp thing. I knew about the holy hands thing because I mean they like when I used to teach preschool and I used to teach my kids, I'm like, okay, remember how much we love see otters and how they keep track of their friends. How do we do that? Hold hands? Yes, good job, And like you know, you see the little line of kids all holding hands when we're walking somewhere, So that usually always worked. But the kelp thing, oh yes,

oh I have new things now. Yes, it is so. Yeah, the holding hands is a very cute. And mothers will hold their baby seeing honors on their tummies to keep them from drifting away, and they'll actually carry them everywhere, just like holding them on their tummies swimming around. It takes an extraordinary amount of energy, but you know, they do love their little babies and moms protect them moms.

But then there are times when they that's not enough, So when the mother has to go and hunt and leave the baby, she will wrap the pup in seaweed and kelp so that the pup stays anchored to one place, so basically tying the pup like a balloon and just leaving it there. And the thing is that otter pups are naturally extremely buoyant there they are super super fluffy, and they are we'll just float like corks. There's no

they can't. It's almost impossible for them to drown when when everything's going as it should because they are just so buoyant. So they can just tie them in the seaweed and leave them there and then come back. I love that. I think that's so cute. And you're like, all right, so I'm gonna put you in this little kelp basket. Don't go anywhere exactly exactly, And sometimes entire groups of sea otters will wrap themselves up and kelp.

Like if if the sea is really turbulent, like you've got a lot of waves, they will all to kind of keep sticking together in one place. They wrap themselves up in sea help, and it is super cute. They will grab a bunch of kelp and then just kind of start rolling around until they're all nice and secure, and then they it's like they've got their little kelp

seat belts on and seek help. When you see like a bunch of sea help floating on the surface, often it's attack like it goes all the way down to the sea floor where it's like attached to the floor by by rocks and stuff, so it's not like the kelp itself is probably not going anywhere. It is very cute. It's like this raft made out of otters and kelp, and actually groups of otters are called rafts. Yes, oh

my god, I love that. Remember water parks from before the bad times when we're for the badness um and those like the wave pools where like everyone gets in the wave generating and they're all just kind of like bobbing up and down. That's what these otters look like when they're in these wavy waters and they're all attached to the kelp and it's the wave and you can just imagine and go like, whoa, I can just imagine that it comes another one. But it looks fun. It

looks fun. I don't know if they find it fun, but it does look fun. And we're all like, oh, cute what they are. But they're like holding hands and and ensconced and the kelp and it does look a little bit fun to me, it does. I hope, I hope they do have fun, really funny. It's like sur we must survive. I like the I like the idea that the parents are like taking it really seriously, like now, this is how we survive. And because they do, they

do teach their their young like lessons and stuffing. It's like, now, this is how we survive, so we don't drift off and get eaten by sharks. And the babies are like food and they're like, no, be serious, you could die. I got that. That makes sense. Also, uh, sea otters who live near humans have figured out innovative ways to

keep their babies safe. So see otters in Monterey Bay will use boats to stow their pups while they go hunt so they'll just like swim their little pup over to a boat, like, uh, just push it up onto like a boat step or part of the boat. You see the little the little otter pup playing with a piece of rope and the mom goes off. It's like, all right, you stay here here, I will be right back. I will be back with groceries, which is just fish

and shellfish. Oh my gosh, that's so funny. Well, I know what I'm gonna be looking up on my late night YouTube, like binging or like diving into no pun intended thereto. I think this was the I think this was the point. Like I was at my like twelfth video watching just little otters floating and napping in the ocean. It's nap time for Katie. Nope, it's gonna be like, hey, Alexis, what did you do at four am? Watching out videos? I blame Katie. Oh boy, why do we rock babies

to sleep? Well, it's simple. Babies have a serious case of fomo fear of missing out on survival. Babies know that being carried by their caretaker is the safest place to be, whereas being left on the ground somewhere could spill disaster forgotten by their parents, so they'll sound the alarm until they're picked back up. Rocking a baby simulates the feeling of moving and being carried, reassuring them that

their parents are nearby. This is a trait found not only in human babies, but many mammalian species that rely on parental care in their early years and want to make sure that they don't wind up being a snack while getting their forty winks. When we return, we'll talk about some animals who don't even need forty weeks, maybe five weeks four, Well, we'll find out. Imagine you're trying to sleep with a six foot long neck which is

almost two meters, with legs just as long. You have a heart the size of a two year old child, and lungs that sucking twelve gallons or lids of air, and there are monsters out there who want to get a bite out of your big, gangly body. You're a giraffe, and I'm sorry, but life is tough for you, especially when it comes to sleep. So now we've talked about some innovative ways that animals catch a nap, and now I want to talk about the some of the lightest

sleepers in the animal kingdom. Now, you mentioned that sometimes you nap more than you sleep at night, and I think you will really relate to the animals were about to talk about. So giraffes are I bet you know what a giraffe is, But tell me about Katie because I want to. It's like a really long horse. So giraffes are very light sleepers and they get away with very little sleep. So they often rest where they kind of like sit on there, they fold their legs under them.

Sometimes they will like rest like that, but they're sort of half awake. They'll munch on low hanging leaves while seated, but they rarely get that like the serious serious sleep, like going into rim sleep, the rapid eye movement sleep. So when they do sleep, how do you like when you imagine a giraffe sleeping, It's it's hard to picture, right because it's like where do they stick? Where do they stick there? And where does the how does that? Yeah?

I always as a kid, I always wondered that, and I used to like bug my mom all the time. I'm like, Mom, how did you drafts sleep? And She's like, you know what, I actually don't know? Yeah, Like where did they because they got these long necks, they had these long legs. Where do they like you know, like plankt that way? Like my dog likes to sleep with all his legs out split out. Yeah, and I'd like to sleep like that too. I like to sprawl if

I know I have the bed to myself. So it's just like wherever there's room, my limbs will be there in some way shape or reform. I actually sleep more draft style, which is like nodding yourself up into a little ball. So giraffes will sleep by curling their necks backward with their head resting on their butt. It's just that this is like because like when I sleep, I have to like I curl into like fetal position and I tucked my head under it and like pull my

shirt up over my face full brow. Yeah. No, I'm like, it's like the only way I can sleep is like basically becoming this I don't know, snail unit I feel. So I totally relate to these drafts. But yeah, it is. It's super funny to see just this giraffe with its head on its ass, just like head on a time to sleep. Yeah, It's like you know when you have a built in pillar. You're like, all right, I got a nice but I'm just gonna, you know, just get nice and compete. Yeah, sometimes I wish I could rest

my head on my but I don't know. I I completely agree and I think that which we'll get. I'll get to that next picture. But it's really cute when like baby or young giraffes do it, But when you see an adult, I'm like, I have concerns. Are you okay? Do you need to see a chiropractice that looks really uncomfortable? Like absolutely, yeah, it's like you're gonna wake up with a cramp for sure. I mean at least like with your with like with your tactic just like burrowing, like

you know, turtling into your own like bedtime. Sure, I get that that makes sense, But like this like a full on like even owl. Sometimes I'm like, it's like doing yoga while sleeping and that's awful. It just sounds and probably looks awful. But like if you're comfy, I like I won't sleep, like you know, we don't sleep shame here, Like if you're comfy and that's how you

want to sleep, like do you you know? But at the same time, I also like, well, maybe that's why they only sleep like this for about five minutes and it's comfortable. Yeah, so they do not sleep that much, and of the time that they do spend sleeping, it's very rarely in this like fully RESTful weird positions. So in total, adult giraffes only sleep about four and a half hours a day. Me, me, me, it's not healthy.

It's not it's not healthy. All that's me In college when I started to get when I started to get sleep paralysis because I was so sleep deprived. Now just like kind of have this really like weird sleep disorders. Because I was like, huh, yeah, sleep doesn't exist in college. I don't care. It's either you're not doing any work and you're sleeping all the time, or you're not sleeping at all and getting at least you think you're getting

your work done. That's so bad for me that I was in an English class and I guess I had perfected the whole like sleeping while my eyes were open and still seeming conscious. So I wanted to perfect that so hard. We were talking about some like, oh we're talking about I think it was like it was Candide, I think or some like old some old ass book and there's like a part of it where like this woman gets her butt cut off for something. It's a

weird book. It's a super weird so it makes sense or history, like I get it, but according and like after the class, a couple of students came up to me and they're like, like, you're so funny. I'm like, what are you talking about? Uh? And they said, well, the thing you said about, like like when when we're talking about this scene in the book and you're like,

You're like, does get stitches? It's like what I said that? No, I didn't like and I was like, apparently asleep, But I said because I have no memory of saying that. It was so weird, I guess a secondhand embarrassment. And then also, can we talk about what like iconic line that is like good for you? But at the same time, I'm like English class in front of like a professor because it's like a small it was like a section.

It was like in front of a professor, and I was just like what I was just like, I had no memory of it. I would never say that while conscious, especially like an English class. But it was so embarrassing. Anyways, back to Graffs. I love that segment. It was beautiful. Yeah. So they only sleep about four and a half hours a day. Most of the time they sleep standing up, with only about twelve minutes of that time in a

recumbent face on but sleep position. Yeah, I mean, again, I don't blame them, because, my goodness, I don't think I could be able to get more than like an hour or two of sleep if I was in this position. It would just be It just sounds awful. But I mean I also understand what you were saying earlier, like how were they supposed to sleep comfortably, like actually comfortably?

You know, because they have these ridiculous like their body portions, they have all these things like what do much much like you, alexis their sleep cycle is broken up into naps and fragmented sleep. So it's, you know, apparently that's what it is. Hey, as long as you're getting some sort of sleep, you know, because again, as Katie has already talked about, not having sleep is awful, like the

like the delusions they they're Oh, it's bad. I also hate it when like you haven't slept and then when you do finally not off to sleep, and you think that you're getting ready to go somewhere, and then that I hate that. I've had a chain like that where it's like I have that thing where you're sleeping that you're getting ready and you're like, oh, but I've woken up now and now I'm getting ready, but then you're

still asleep. Yeah, it's awful. It was one where like I was sleeping and I thought I got into the shower and like was like getting dressed, and I woke up and I was already dressed and like eating breakfast, and then I woke up again and it was definitely still in bed and I was an hour late, and I was like breaking out. It's like trying to like when you're trying to run in your dream that you're

not going anywhere. Yeah, I hate it. It makes me feel like maybe we're all reincarnated from animals that got in the Librea tar pits, and it's just like everything I'm living out this this wouly mammoth's nightmare of getting stuck in the Librea tar pits in my sleep. Oh God, just to add that to the next nightmare of fuel, just add it at it's actually probably what it is is that when you're sleeping your body is actually like

sort of temporarily paralyzed. Yeah, you're the ponds, which is part of your brain, stops sending signals to the rest of your body. So in your dream sometimes if you have some disrupted sleep where you start to get inputs from your brain that normally you wouldn't get. And so you're trying to run in your dream, but then you're getting some feedback from your body of like, but my body is not moving. You're sleeping, Like what are you

talking about? So it's like so then you get this like weird thing of like I'm trying to run in my dream, but I'm moving really slowly, and yeah, that's very Yeah, it's very interesting what happens. Like when our sleep gets kind of disrupted, something goes around. It's the same thing with sleep paralysis, like when you wake up and you can't move. I always something that felt back.

Had a roommate that had that, and it was just rough because like sometimes like if I was studying late, I could you know, She'll mean she can't tap me or do anything, but I would hear her like trying to like because obviously she can't speak either. So she's like trying, and I can hear her struggling, and I'm like, I don't know what to do, you know, But I also know that it's probably ten times worse if you're going through it then being like a person that's next

to someone going through it and was well. I mean, so I've had sleep paralysis occasionally. It's usually only when I'm like really sleep deprived, and for whatever reason, the type of sleep paralysis I get, I don't get afraid when i'm having it, which is weird because I do get I do get like panic sort of sleep. I have like panic attacks that I wake up from when I'm talking, which is sort of awful. I like your heart is beating and you're like, oh, I'm dying, and

then you wake up and you're like, oh, I'm fine. Yeah. One time when I had one of those, I thought I literally, like my sleep brain literally thought that I spat my heart out through my mouth and it came out of my mouth. I was like, oh no, my heart fell out of my mouth. And I woke up, and then there's that time of confusion where you're like, wait, no, that's not that's not right. You can't do that that's

all possible, that's not possible. Yeah, I've totally had that. Yeah, I would rather take no, I would rather take sleeping on my ass than than that, for sure. Head on, but head on. But that's maybe Maybe giraffes know what they're doing, maybe like yoga sleeping apparently. But this this next one that we're gonna be talking about, which I have been, like, I'm not obsessed, but it's always been a thing that I've like, even from when I was a child, I was always like, how how do wale sleep?

How do they do do they sleep? Just like how when they're swimming do they like I don't know, like belly up? Like how? Like how do you how? How? And then when someone finally show me how they did it, I could not stop talking about it. I wanted to know more. I wanted to try it when I was

like eight years old. Obviously it doesn't work that way because I don't have guilt, Like it was just like whole whales don't have guilts, you know what I mean, Like like the fact that they can they can breathe underwater, but like so they can hold their breath for like, Yeah, I was so mad. I was like I just want to try this thing. Tell me I want to do it, so you will drown. Don't do it, kids, don't do it. Don't don't be Like Alexis learned from her childhood mistakes.

Seven year old Alexis didn't know what she was talking about. She just thought it was cool and really wanted to do it. Don't don't do it. It It was awful. Whales. Whales are actually so whales have to breathe by surfacing, but they can hold their breath just ridiculous amounts of time underwater. So yeah, it's it's crazy. I know I want whale powers, just wants please. But yeah, Alexis, so have you thought so? Sperm whales they're big, They're they're huge, huge, huge,

huge animals. I don't understand when you think about them sleeping, it's hard to fathom. And they're one of the world's least sleep dependent animals and they only spend seven percent of their days sleeping in total, according to research, So that's just under two hours a day. Oh, I can't be a functional person. It re probably slept for two hours. Well you wouldn't, you'd be you'd be a functional whale. I mean that is true. That is very very true.

Doesn't see this is why seven year old Alexis is obsessed because she knew. She was like, Oh, when I become an adult, if this is possible to be functional on two hours to sleep, I would get so much done. It didn't seem like when I was a kid, it did seem really unfair to me that so much time was taken by sleep. It's like, but you're not doing anything anything. I mean, like, why do we have to sleep? That seems like doctors should fix that. I want to figure out a way to like just like give me

eight hours of sleep in a liquid or something. I mean when I was then, when I was an adult. Now that I'm an adult, it's like, I do not want caffeine. I want to sleep. Sleep is great, yes, but so when sperm whales do sleep, it is so bizarre they actually sleep. It's I love I love whales. I love the ocean. This kind of creeps me out a little bit. It's weird. It's like swepping in the deep.

If you could sweep swimming in the deep ocean, just be like, oh, it's so beautifulful, And then do you see a group of whales sleeping vertically so floating in the water in a way that is they look like they look like a bunch of whales about to be abducted by alien. Yeah, just like they yeah, like they're about their like doing a sayance. It's true, it's like watching videos of this is the craziest thing I've ever seen,

at least to me, I think it is. There's probably the sea is just so serious and beautiful that I want to know more all the time. But like it, yes, it's so crazy. It always reminds me of I mean, obviously a lot of people have seen Finding Email, but if they haven't, they probably see some sort of documentary about like bombs in the water, being hung by the like those chains or like just sitting there. Yeah, like

it's just it's nuts. It's just I mean, this is definitely a mind you also don't want to set off, just in case. But it was just always just really cool how they were just able to just kind of bob there and they're like their school bus size. They're the size of school buses standing up from tail to to knows like, like it's just it looks like it's

just bizarre. It's just bizarre, and they are asleep they're napping, so they'll often only nap ten to fifteen minutes at a time, although sometimes photographers document them napping for up to an hour, which means they probably have almost gotten all the sleep they need and they're all right, I'm good, all right, let's like, you know, swim for like a

day and a half. Here we go. But discovering that the whales sleep vertically like this and just kind of float and bob is actually pretty significant because it was thought that they only engaged in what is called uni hemispheric sleep, which sounds really like crazy, but it's just a fancy way of saying only sleeping with half of their brain. So you sleep with half of your brain and half of your brain is awake, and so this

is actually something a lot of animals do. So many cetaceans, which are whales and dolphins as well as migratory birds, engage in una hemispheric sleep, being half asleep, so that they can travel long distances while still getting sleep. So basically, one half of your brain is awake and the other half is asleep. Yeah. I think the only way I was able to do that it was road tripping from

California to Pennsylvania. I was like, I feel like I'm half asleep, but I'm definitely awake, because you definitely shouldn't be driving if you're half asleep. Also pull over, just letting you know. But like, that's how I felt driving from California to Pennsylvania. Well, when I was in college and I learned I learned about uni hemispheric sleep, I was like, could I do this? So I would close one like literally, this is like dumb, dumb Katie trying

to get sleep in college. Like I would close one eye and convince myself like, yeah, I've got half my brain awake and half my brain asleep, but none of my brain was awake. It was all asleep. Oh my god, that's out. Yeah, that sounds like a tactic that I would dry Like, okay, I'm in my edit ba, how can I edit this video while also sleeping at the same right right, Just close one eye, get that half of your brain arrest, like one half like snoring and

the other one's like, hey, what's up? What you Okay? Yeah, I'm fine. But with these with these sperm whales, because they sleep like this, sleep vertically, and they've actually also been observed staying asleep while a boat approaches and the boat bumps into them, and then they finally well, they woke up once the boat actually physically bumped into them. Fortunately it wasn't like an incident where the boat hurt them or anything, but they but you know, that is

a big concern with whales. Often they do get injured by boats. But this is a case of sort of just attle bit of although to be fair, I would not want to wake up by having a boat smack into your life. Yeah, that sounds awful. The fact that they didn't move until the boat was like right over them means that they are potentially getting deeper sleep, which we didn't think that they got. Like we thought it was just like, oh, they're always sleeping with half their brains.

But maybe they are getting deep r e m sleep and in these weird positions. For me to be jealous about whales awesome, But it's still it's you guys have

to look at pictures or videos of this. It's just there's something that is both it's a it's all inspiring in the sense that it's like you think about how huge these animals are, and then it's it's a bizarre position to see them in just like floating vertically, like they're a bunch of like whale zombies, and it's it's something that feels it's like it fills me with dread

but also curiosity joy. That's good too. Yeah. No, it's like I don't know, like I I love it, and it's it scares me in a way that I love it. Does that make sense? I know, That's exactly how I describe it. It's like one of those things where like this is quite disturbing in a way of like how why, But at the same time, I'm like, this is the coolest thing, Like I just it's like it's like looking over like looking down the Grand Canyon, where yeah, that's

like scary, but also I love it. Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly how I would describe it. It's so cool, so cool. But yeah, so they beat the giraffe for being the lightest known sleeper because like, giraffe sleep I think eight to nine of the day and whales sleep seven percent of the day, And in order to be a sperm whale, we would have to sleep by taking only about six fifteen minute naps a day, which yeah, that's not no, Okay, that that might be a problem because if I'm only yeah,

I can't can't do that. Can't imagine trying to get through a work day. Minutes these poor whales trying to get through their work day doing whale business, whale business, you know, like what meeting, you know, fifteen minutes up, everybody naptime, just like do their thing and then someone wakes up, Greg, Greg continue, all right, right, such a pain in my blowhole? Yeah, no, for real, I can't

I can't do it. No way, still cool. I can't do I can't do these TPS reports and it's just papers floating down to their email must be just loaded up weeks Like I gotta answer phones all day and it's just a phone floating in the ocean, just hanging out and just hear it like you can't ring, but you can see it shaking and making bubbles. All these not all these smales and it's just fish little letters tied to them. I love it, or just like a little a little shell poach. Like I can't even answer this,

it's so tiny. How am I supposed to What am I supposed to do? Here? God? Sounds awful? Uh? How much sleep do you need? Generally? Speaking adult needs seven to nine hours of sleep, but there's no exact number we should all be aiming for because, weirdly enough, different people require different amounts of sleep. While it can be determined by environmental factors such as the quality of sleep you're getting, you could also have a different internal clock

from others. Human sleep at night and are active during the day generally speaking, or diurnal, and we obey circadian rhythms using changes in light and dark and timing to guide us when we need to sleep. Sleep wake Homeostasis can also be a factor where your body detects how long it has been awake and asleep and tries to regulate your habits accordingly. But the settings on our internal circadian clocks in our sleepway homeostasis sensitivity can vary due

to your genes. It also varies due to age, which is partially why teenagers are such night owls. Speaking of night owls, when we return, we're going to take a look at some night owl youngsters who are literally owls. How do you sleep on your side, on your back, curled up in a little ball? How about on your stomach? Do you toss and turn all night? All of these things are normal, and you move a lot during your sleep so your body doesn't get stiff in one position.

But here's a quick sleep tip. If you're lying awake staring up at the ceiling, don't count sheep. If you can't fall asleep within ten to fifteen minutes, get out of bed and do something relaxing like reading, meditation or listening to soothing music until you feel sleepy again. You don't want to train your body that your bed is a place of restlessness, or you'll get in the habit of lying on your side awake, or if you want, you could be a real night owl and just plank

your way to a good night's sleep as well. Now discuss. So there is an image that keeps going viral. I think it first went viral and like twenty eighteen, then it went viral in nineteen and now it's gone viral again. And it is a baby owl sleeping face down. The mood right there for mood, Yeah, this is the song of the year. Is the baby owl sleeping face down? And so the current description I've seen there's a lot

of speculation about this image. So the current description is that baby owl sleep face down because their heads are too heavy for them to tap up while sleeping. And I so I've never this is what's interesting to me because I've never really seen an owl sleep in this particular position. So I was like, I wanted to do some research, like is it true, like are we looking at a dead owl? Yeah? Is it like a drunk, underaged owl for needs to be who's like comes home

late from the parties. Somebody calls owl and uber, so we called the hooper hooper. Yeah, I'll take it. But the so the good news is that from what I can tell, and this is my this is just my opinion, I'm not I'm not like an owl c s I I al c s I um AlSi uh special Owl Unit. We gotta take we gotta take down like all of the problematic shows about like you know c s I and place them with Alissa. I'm fine, let's do it. Let's do it like owl investigations. I'll get on it. So,

so the good news is it's probably not dead. I think it looks it looks alive to me because okay, I'll hallucinate. I will let you know. So this is a baby snowy owl and snowy owl chicks nest on the ground. So I've seen people saying like, well, why would it be sleeping on the ground, Like, wouldn't it be in a tree. It's like, no, no, this is normal behavior for a baby snowy owl. So they live in the tundra in the Arctic region. Their mothers scrape out a nest or use an abandoned nest on the

ground to lay her eggs. So they don't really do twigs or any They don't collect things and make a nest. The only time you'll find them in a constructed nest with like materials is when they've basically rented out a nest from like another bird, rented as they're squatting there. Yeah. Right, But they will typically just it's called a scrape where they they just scrape out an area for the nest and they will lay their eggs and she will protect

this nest very fiercely. They it's actually quite dangerous to go up to a snowy owl who is nesting because they will attack you fiercely. I'm sorry. I wouldn't even close to an owl off it wasn't nothing. Yeah, you know, pedwig would peck out. Yeah. I just think it's funny when people are like, oh, I wanted owls a pet. I'm like, you know, don't you do not know? Don't do that? Yeah, well, actually I have something to say

about that later, to about like owl pets. But yeah, so snowy owl chicks do appear to sleep laying on their tummies, so they can't do it. I can't do it. So I haven't seen them laying quite as drunkenly as this owl. I mean, looks like he just ate though or something. Because there's a mouse. There's a there's a mouse there, and so like that. There are a few clues that I think means this owl is fine. First of all, this seems to be in an enclosure, probably at a zoo or rescue, and there is a fresh

dead mouse in the corner. Um, it's unlikely that if it was like a dead owl, that they would just keep putting mice in there. Yeah. One. And I just feel like I'd be weird if they took a picture of it, yeah, like like yeah, like, because this looks like this doesn't look like someone's home. This looks like, yeah, like an organization. Um, you know, I don't absolutely know, so if someone has like the deats on this this is like an underground like like fight club, a club.

Damn me, I will keep you anonymous, but yeah, but yeah, so and also if you look closely, it looks like it's face is in the dirt, but that is not true. Actually you can see it's the feathers around its eyes are darker and son a little eye and the beak which is also dark. So it's actually sleeping chin chin. It doesn't have a chin, but you know, so to speak, so to speak, sleeping on its chin. So so that is and that is the position that snowy owl chicks

in the wild do. I don't necessarily see their feet split out like that, but I said, they also just didn't eat like a bunch of my skill or whatever. Exactly exactly, it's got it's got the it's got the mouse sweats. It's trying to sleep. But yeah, so it's uh so, yeah, that is pretty consistent with how baby snowy owl chicks sleep in the wild. It's also that this photo is taken from the butt sides, Yeah, especially awkward taken from the rear. Couldn't even get an attractive

side of it. Come on, caretaker person, get it together. It's good side although it's it's butt is cute, it's got a very I think it's cute, but I bet you the owl probably didn't appreciate it. It's like, come on, delete it, how dare you? But yeah, I do have some pictures here of baby snowy owls in the wild sleeping on their tummies, so you can see that they're kind of sleeping like from the front. You see there in the same position with their little heads sort of

level with the ground, sleeping on their chins. Yeah, I love I love the second picture because it reminds me my brothers, who definitely sleep on their bellies quite a bit, especially when they were little, and they used to be so cranky and I would like take pictures, so I always thought it was weird. They're just like you know, you know, or like like that, and um and oh man, it was just really funny. Like I could just see it in their face of just like cranky, leave us alone,

and I'm like, what's wrong. I think you guys were short. Yeah, that's what it sounded like. Anytime when they were just like yelling at me, I was like, I just think you're cutey little owlets. Thank you. Also, owl chicks are called owlets, which is cute. It's so cute it But this is the case for other species of owls as well, where the owlets will sleep on their tummies. So even baby owls who live in trees, such as the barred owl, and they will cling onto the branch with their talents

and sleep on their stomachs. Oh my god. So adults sleep upright, and they also rely on those sharp talents to lock into place to keep them secure to the branch. But the baby is just kind of like very plank it, You know, these these darn kids and their planking every time. Now it's happening in the wild. Now, just have you spoken to your outlet about flanking and how much it's becoming a problem. They're never going to own a house

this way, oh my god. Now the second, the second part of this viral image is the claim that it's because their heads are too heavy. And I trust me, I dug into this, and I'm not I'm not like an owl expert, so I don't really know this offhand, and I tried to read up on it, and so if you are an owl expert, please get at me with this. But from what I could tell it. This could be the case. But it's not so much that

their heads are too heavy. It's just that their neck muscles aren't really developed yet, much like the rest of their bodies, which are young and weak and sleepy, little baby bodies. They can't fly yet, you know, they'res. You know, it's like, so their muscles haven't really developed yet, so that you know, they want to lie on their tummies. Um, But I've also seen pictures of adult owls lying on their tummy, so it's not like adults never do it.

So this is western burrowing owl's found in North America. It's a little brown owl and it they burrow into the dirt a desert area. Yeah, and this one is lying on its tummy in the dirt, legs splayed out. It's well, it's clearly it's fully alert, like its eyes are open. It's like it's posing, you know, doing a sex it's doing a sexy Instagram. It's doing it's gram and this root is Instagram and you know what it's, buddy,

get it. It's a little it's a little it's a little fluffy tushy sticking out a little feet splayed out, just stretching, but yeah, this, it is. This, it's very cute. I don't necessarily know that it sleeps in this position, but it's definitely like, excuse me, yeah, it's well, it's stretching out, it's having a good times out. Buns out, you know, just suns out, buns exactly, let it out, buddy. And then this there's another picture of a pet owl

sleeping on some astro turf. So this looks like it might be a Saharan little owl also also known as Athena noctura. It is a small owl species and it is just kind of like bread loafing where it's wine ran on it's tummy. And here's where I am a buzz kill. As as I loved, I love to be a buzz kill. I just love the room, your your buzzing high on these cute animal vibes, and just like here I am to kill your bus. I just I'm

not a big fan of keeping owls as pets. I you know, I mean, like if I could have an owl as a pet with like no like not worrying about the ethics of it and no like in the owl was like loved it and could talk and we were all magical i'd be great. I understand why people want them as pets because they are so cute, they're so wonderful, but honestly, they just like they don't really

make great pets. They and it's like even if they like obviously big owls will they are raptors, they are prey, they'll they'll they'll up they are they are literally yes, yes, exactly, they are literally dinosaurs. And but even the little ones who can't like seriously hurt you, it's just not it's not fair to them in my opinion. You know, it's so most species are not very social outside of family units, and they're super active. They're birds of prey. They love

flying and hunting. So if you like owned one, you would basically need to let you know, let them fly in a huge area, which I imagine most of the people owning them as pets. It's like, you know, you keep them in your home house. Yeah, that's just not you know, there are so many, there's so many other animals, you know, Like, am I like super angry at everyone

who has one as a pet. No, I mean I understand I get it, like they're they're cute, but in my opinion, because there are so many other animals that make much better pets, like kiddies and doggies. Like, if you want an owl as a pet, just get a cat. They they're the same basic animals, they're the same thing, and cats are much more well adapted to being our pets.

They they Yeah, no, I'm I'm with you on this one, because as much as I love watching watching the cute videos on YouTube of them in the wild, or even people who do have them as pets, it's it's actually really funny to watch some of the people who do, at least not all of them. Some of them for sure will be like I know that you guys love watching videos of my owl. They are not pets. Like if you don't know anything about birds, especially owls, like don't don't have one, don't go out and catch one.

It's not going to work. They're not it's a it's illegal to do that. But I mean, most of the people that I've watched are people that have other birds, and they're either part of some sort of like a conversation um conservation, thank you, I can word again, sleep four hours part of the conservation conversation, you get it. But like the fact that they're they either work with these birds for some odd reason, or they're doing something they're either a researcher or or it was an injured

owl that like maybe like the rehabilitating it. Yeah, and they're going to give them to or either put them back into the wild or give them to a place that they that they can continue on. Like most of the people I usually watch for is for uh, science based only, you know, or again rehab a rehabilitation in some way, shape and form. But they always say every single time, they're like, do not have these as pets. They are not the ones that you would like to

like domesticate. Like, it's just not it's just not a thing. If you want one, get get a dog, get a cat, you know, or something of that nature. Yeah, why don't we conclude food with a very calming subject about one of the I think people perceive these as one of the laziest animals, and I can't say they're necessarily wrong, but it is the snail. So land snails are snails? Are Interestingly you you mentioned like to me one of your favorite animals are OCTOPI yeah, I was like octopy

question marks, and like, is that the correct term? It's actually os. I think it's actually it's actually octopuses, but honestly, whatever, Like I get the idea when someone says octopi, I think technically the it should be it should be octopuses. But I understand what you're saying, So why doesn't I know? But I always feel back, So that's why I go, octopuses, octopi? Octopus? What? How? What is it called? How do you? How do you

do the thing? Octopus? Sex? Yeah, you get it? Multiple octopus, Like, yes, I do. I've always found them very fascinating. One because I'm always like, Okay, I'm not gonna get too deep into it, so you don't have to put this in the podcast. But like I'm always just like I don't think that their actual sea creatures. I think they're aliens and they're not from here and they're hanging out in our oceans to learn. But that's like a whole different

thing that we can get into another time. But like, I just think that it's really cool of how intelligent they are, how flexible, how they're able to think through puzzles and all it, like it's all it's so cool. It's so freaking cool. Especially did you know that did you know that they are related to snails. No, hell, people work, Yeah, they are. Snails and octopuses are both mollusks. Uh, snails are terrestrial or at least land snails are terrestrial

gastropods and octopuses are cephalopods. That makes sense, right, all right? I got that. Yeah, I got you, I got you. But you know they're both. They're both squished animals. Yeah they are. They are related distant, of course, but yeah, it is. It is one of those things where it's like, yeah, actually, snails and octopuses they're they're coins. Everybody about that. Now, I'm just gonna be at a party and be like, did you don't reme we're distant cousins octopuses and snails.

Let me get into it more. So, snails can are just like very excellent nappers if you kind of fudge with the definition of napping. So, land snails can be dormant for long periods of time through hibernation or estivation. So estivation sounds like a fancy, fancy word. It's just hibernation, but during the summer months, like during dry hot so instead of during like cold during summer during hot and dry spells, so I wish. I wish I could sleep

when it's hot. No, I had you know, I live in l A. And I had a year where or I had a summer where I did not have air conditioning, super hot, and like basically what I would do to sleep at night was like get up every half hour and then just like step into the shower with my pajamas on and like get cold water and meal and squish back into bed. Oh my god, it's just it's so hot. Yeah, that's that's but that's sort of a similar strategy that these snails do. Is they they need,

they really need moisture to survive. So if they are going into a real hot and dry spell, they will seal off their shells with mucus to retain some of that moisture. So basically they close the little doors to their shells, seal them off with mucus, and they are closed for business. Imagine a little like we are clothes sign. I want someone to draw that. That's so cute. First day summer. All right, Well, my guys, that's how I feel. That's I wish I wish we could just like to

get through this this time, the pandemic times. I know we can't like there's a lot of important work to be done right now. But it's also part to me that's just like I just want to close down shut shell closed for business, and we can't do that. We've got it. We've got to remain part of our human fabric of society, you know. But there's part of me. There's part of me that wants to snail it up. It sounds like right now, oh man, I need to

get myself some Nope, never mind. But they can hibernate or estivate for many hours, days, months, and allegedly years. There is a case of a snail called the Ermina desertorum, which is a species of Egyptian land snail, which was collected in eighteen forty six, and they thought the snail was dead and they glued it to an index card as a specimen and kept it in a museum, and three years later they revived it, so they know, I think they noticed some like movement in it and then

they put water on it. So this was documented by science writer Grant Alan, who was like this old timey Canadian dude, and I'm sure he had like but you know, it's but like I I can only imagine him having like a stuffy British accent, So that's how I'm going to read it. But he was Canadian, so uh, this is what he wrote. The museum authorities accordingly ordered off

Frond a warm bath. Who shall say hereafter that science is unfeeling, upon which the grateful snail, waking up at the touch of the familiar moisture, put his head cautiously out of his shell, walked up. How does snails walk? Walked up to the top of the basin and began to take a cursory survey of British institutions with his four eye bearing tentacles. So strange. A recovery from a long torpid condition only quoted by that of the seven sleepers of his spee, just deserved an exceptional amount of

scientific recognition. Oh no, I can totally see it too. That's the worst. Par He's like, I'm writing this and it's going to be a fun time. Snail has awoken from its door. Par I must document this incredible. All I hear is Nigel Thornberry just being so excited that it's happening, and he's just like it all out. I love the wild Thornberry's as a kid. That was a huge influence in my life. And it's redheaded little girl crazy about animals. John could talk to animals kind of

kind of crazy, super super dorky. Yes, yes, thank you, but no, that's exactly what that reminded me of. Just Nigel's just going off and I just think I was just looking up the article too, and I'm like, oh, I know again adding to my late night reading material. Because this happened in eighteen forty six, it doesn't make me like skeptical because like they are all sorts of like weird hoaxes back then, or they're like we found a dead angel and it's just like this fake skeleton.

But like so it's like it's hard to know, like did this actually happen? Was it an old timey hoax? Was it like some old timey intern playing a prank on these stuffy you know, really funny But yeah, so I I don't really know. I do think in theory it's possible because snails can hibernate many months and they slow down their metabolism. It's it's different from just sleeping.

They actually their physiology slows down so that they go into the state of like suspended animation, so they if they can like seal themselves into a tomb of their own mucus. I mean, I guess it is theoretically possible for us to last a few years like that, but I don't know. I still feel like it could have been a prank by like Ezekiel the intern. I really

wanted to be that. I know that it would be really great or not like really great to be like kind of sad, like, oh it wasn't real, But I would also just be like applauded vikil he came up with something real good. I have deployed the most the most ingenious of Shenanigan. I love it. Yeah, that's exactly how I would want it to play out, and be like someone needs to give him a statue, please and thank you most to Shenanigans. I want it or at least make it to at least make a movie about it.

I just all I want it engaged in such Tom Floury that I am informing you my YouTube. Yes please and thanks Tis, but a bit of Tom Floury, my brother. But that is that is it for our talks about us. And now I think I'm gonna take a nap. I was actually going to go back right to it. Yeah, just get back into it, you know, like sometimes you gotta learn by doing. I'm gonna just I'm gonna be like the I'm just gonna be like the sperm whale and just take a nap every fifteen minutes. And it's

that time, Katie, I gotta call. Yeah, I'm gonna be like the giraffe and put my head on that. But I want it. Well, thank you so much for joining me. Do you have anything to plug? Just my social media's a torres eight nine zero. That's a t O R R e s eight nine zero. I'm just you know again, I'm probably gonna be talking about animals for the next month and a half now because I'm gonna be looking up all this research and bugging Katie and be like

going to be so many you don't even understand. Um. But like, at the same time, there will be some other projects I can't talk about right at this moment, but there will be things happening sooner hopefully rather than later. We'll see um. But at the same time, just keep track of me there. Like I said, I will just be sharing all of the things, especially auto videos maybe not technically animal but animal crossing videos. Hopefully so much.

Friend coach is happening. You got to come to my aland yes, yes, yes, yeah, especially because like I'm on the I'm gonna be sad because I'm on the Southern Hemisphere, so I will be able to join the summer swimming, but I will be visiting people to do the summer coun to my island. We will swim together. But yeah, definitely doing that kind of stuff. Hopefully going to be, like I said, doing some crazy things in the next

month's to come. But yeah, that's pretty much at eight to eight nine zer, I'll follow me, hang out with me, maybe play some animal crossing with me because it's my first time playing, so it will be awesome. Yeah, So thank you guys so much for listening. Uh, if you are enjoying the show and you want to leave a rating, download subscribe that really helps a lot. Like it may seem like I'm is clicking buttons, I'm just clicking stars. It really really helps. And I read each and every review.

It warms my heart to hear from you guys. Thank you, thank you so much, and I hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there. I am so I'm just like honored that people are still listening to the podcast through all this craziness, and I uh just thank you guys so much. You can find us on Instagram at Creature Feature Pod, on Twitter at Creature Feet Pod. That's f e a T not f e e T. That

is something very different. And you can find me at Katie Golden and I just you know, if you're just curious about my Katie thoughts, not really related to the podcast, just you know, Katie thoughts. And as always, I am pro bird Rights where I fight for the rights of birds on Twitter. Hohoda thunk it. And thanks to the Space Cossacks for their super awesome song x Alumina. Creature

Feature is a production of I Heart Radio. To listen to more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the I Heart Radio ap Apple podcast, or wherever you get your favorite shows. See you next Wednesday.