Listener Q's: Stay Away from the Bear Buffet

questions all about animals and evolutionary biology. Hey, Katie saw this on TikTok and thought, if there's an answer, you'd be the one to know. Well, thank you Bush. Some people were saying turtles go in the red circle, and okay, guys, I'm gonna explain this. There's a visual that goes along with it. But let me read the email first and then you'll understand Once I explained the visual. Some people were saying turtles go in the red circle and tortoise

goes on the end. But I think turtles are only wet because they're in water. Then I wondered if that's true for frogs too. I'm thinking there's no definitive answer that has all three criteria. But I thought you'd think it's fun. This is from Robert. So this is a grid with the axes of legs, house, and slime. So basically you can have from zero to one house. I guess you can have a half house. I don't know how that works, maybe a half halfway house, I don't know.

For slime, it goes from no, probably not, maybe probably yes, and legs from zero to four in units of one leg. So yeah, it's a grid. And so the person who made this grid put snake with zero legs, no slime and no house. Slug has slime, no house, zero legs. Snail has one house, slime and no legs. Frogs have four legs, slime and no Lizards have four legs, no slime and no house. Turtles have four legs, a house

and no slime. I hope you get the idea. So the question is essentially, what has four legs, a house and is slimy? So let me give some possible answers. So, yeah, let's talk about this idea that turtles are they slimy? And I agree with you that in general I would not say turtles are slimy just because they're wet like in the water. But let us talk about actual slime found on turtles. Some turtles can be slimy, such as fresh water turtles, who often accumulate large amounts of algae

that grows on their skin and shell. So any species who lives in fresh water, particularly more stagnant water like ponds, can get algae growth on their bodies. It's often harmless, but too much algae can get into crevices in their shells and risk infections or block them from receiving sunlight that they need to synthesize vitamins. So this algae is very interesting looking on these turtles, but it also makes for a very slimy turtle. If you've ever felt algae,

you know what I'm talking about. It's slippery, it's slimy. Let's also discuss the idea of frogs. Are they slimy just because they're white? Well? No, Actually, frogs do produce mucus. Toads also produce some mucus, but they are tend to be a little more dry, be able to tolerate dry terrestrial life a bit better. But yeah, frogs do produce

mucus on their skin. In fact, sometimes there are frogs or even toads who will burrow down and when it gets really dry, they will excrete mucus to cover themselves in order to help in their hibernation. And so you could say that's something that has a home because it's made a burrow is slimy because it's basically created a protective coating of mucus and has four legs, so that I would think would fit in that circle. But even if it's not in this burrow situation, there's lots of

frogs that have homes. So there are tropical frogs that live in bromeliad plants. These are plants that actually are like kind of parasites to trees. They don't usually hurt the trees too much, but they grow attached to the tree and they form these little cups, these little basins that water can collect in, kind of like a wall sconce but it's a plant and rainwater collects in these and little frogs make their homes in them, and it's

very very cute. So yeah, I do suspect though that the creator of this grid would have it seems like they are counting a home as something that is like attached to the animal, because all the examples of it are like turtle, snail. So let's try to be even more strict and talk about a slimy animal that has a home that it actually is actually like attached to its body like the turtle. So I would propose, and this is going to sound a little strange, but hanging

with me, Stay with me, the pangolin. So this is a mammal that lives in Africa and Asia with those really lovely scales that look like a dragon. These are keratin enforced armored scales that it can roll itself up in. So I definitely think that counts as a house. And you might be saying, like, Katie, what are you talking about. Penguins are mammals, they aren't slimy. So actually they produce an extremely slimy and sticky saliva which coats this really

long tongue that they have. Their tongues can sometimes be over a foot long, which they stick in ant hills or termite mounds, and it essentially works like this really slimy, sticky piece of fly paper and all the ants will stick to the panglung tongue, so it can just kind of slurp it back in like a nerds rope. Unfortunately, I do have another candidate, but I don't think it fits on the grid, but I'm gonna tell you about it. Anyways.

The grid only goes up to four legs. If you extend it to six legs, I could introduce the cattisfly larva. So these are the juvenile forms of cattisflies and they live in freshwater aquatic environments. They build themselves these really interesting little homes. They build a case around themselves, attaching it to this kind of sticky, gooey silk, and the cases are made from whatever they found in their environment, like bits of gravel or aquatic plants, as a form

of camouflage to avoid predation. And in species of carnivorous cattisfly larva such as Polycinchopodidae, they actually use their cases to sneak up on prey. And it's really really cool. And I would argue they either they probably belong somewhere in the quadrant of like they have six legs, they have a home, and they're maybe slimy. They're not absolutely always slimy. And if we just want to keep adding in legs because who doesn't, we could introduce the nautilus.

This is a family of mollusks with many, many, many legs and a shell. They are cephalopods. They're related to squid and octopuses, though they are far more ancient. So they have all sorts of tentacles, and the number of tentacles varies depending on the species, the age, the sex. They can have up to like a hundred of these tentacles. Many are small, they're not really visible outside the shell, though they do tend to have around forty visible tentacles

that they use for movement and capturing prey. And this is acephalopod that has a sh shell, so I would count that as it's home, and I would say that they're relatively slimy. In fact, the ancestors of squid and octopuses used to have shells before ditching them in favor of greater maneuverability. But whatever added protection the cell the shells had was not enough to make up for the hindrance of prey hiding in little nooks or the power

of other predators. So a squishy, but more maneuverable body that we see in squid and in octopuses turned out to be more beneficial to them than having this giant shell, even though it was really cool. But the nautilus still has that shell and it still finds it beneficial. So just different strokes for different folks. Except the folks are cephalopods and I love them. I love octopuses. I love all cephalopods, but especially octopuses. They're so cute and squishy.

All right, on to the next listener question. Hi, Katie. My black cat was raised as a single kitten, and I believe because of that, he never really learned how to properly mew. Instead, he squeaks or chirps, just like a bird. But recently I've seen many posts online about how other people's black cats don't yell either. Is this actually a more common occurrence with black cats or just a coincidence. I thought, with Halloween just around the corner, it would be fun to do an episode all about

black kitties. You could talk about how they came to be unlucky, and maybe even bring up how black panthers are really leopards and jack or jaguars I can't recall which, And please mention how wonderful black kitties really are attached is a picture of my boy Ajax. Thanks so much for all the work you do on the wonderful podcast. Thank you. And this is from Melissa. And also she included this wonderful photo of her kitty Ajax in a

plush coffin that says lazy bones on it. That's incredible the best cat bet I think think I've ever seen. So this is a fascinating question, Melissa. I also love the photo of your little kiddie resting in his very spooky coffin. So it is not at all a bad theory. Coat color can be tied to genetic variances and cats. So for an example, probably a famous one is that white cats with blue eyes are much more prone to

deafness than the general cat population. Not blindness, I know, it's like an eye color thing with the blue eyes, but really actually deafness. So this is due to a deficiency that causes an organ within the cochlea to degenerate. It is actually incredible how strong this association is. Around eighty percent of blue eyed white cats heard deaf. It just made me think of you, blue eyed I play my blue eyed white cat. Sorry, okay, moving on, So about eighty percent of blue eyed white cats are deaf.

If only one eye is blue, there's a better chance that the ear corresponding to the non blue eye will be functional, and the ear corresponding to the blue eye is the one that will have that deficiency. Very very weird, you know. This is probably due to the fact that the genetic mutation that gives these cats their blue eyes and their white fur somehow also helps control for the development of this organ in the cochlea and that kind of tissue, and maybe it makes it more weak and

so it degenerates over time. So that being said, I don't actually know of any research to indicate that black cats are less vocal. In general, cats vary in how much they meow pretty much based on their personality, the environment they grew up in, male, female, a lot of factors. So they can maiw very little, they can mow a lot. I am currently babysitting three cats, and they are all very different in terms of how vocal they are. One barely meals, one meals like all the time, one only

meals like in weird hours of the night. Anyways, they're all unique, and there are a few factors though that can kind of push your cat in certain directions in terms of how vocal it is. So, for example, if your cat is neutered, male neutered cats will make less noise than non neutered cats and they will have higher pitched meals, So basically he'll be less annoying if he's neutered.

So get your cats neutered. It is possible. I'm not saying that there's no way that there's an association between vocality and for color and black cats, but I don't know that it's well documented. But here's maybe some speculation of why this could occur if it really is a pattern. So it's possible that more black cats get passed through

the shelter system because they're seen as less desirable. Sadly, So, say you have a litter of kittens and someone's giving it out to people in the neighborhood or putting them on sale on Craigslist, and there's a black kitten there. Unfortunately, that black kitten is less likely to be selected, either because of superstition or esthetic reasons, which is really sad.

Black cats are just normal cats, sweet little kitties. But if they do go through the shelter system more, it's more likely that they would get neutered, and so maybe that makes them a little more quiet. I don't have any evidence for this. This is just a theory in terms of how this could potentially happen. There's also a possibility that your cat was separated from his mother early, meaning that he didn't have time to learn how to

do cat stuff like nowing. Like you said in your email, you suspect that the lack of other cats around made it harder for him to learn, and I think that's absolutely probably the main reason that your cat is more quiet. Yeah, I mean I think that if there is a pattern of black cats mewing, I really don't know of any

sort of genetic reasons that would be. It seems much more likely that this would be a cultural thing, like our own sort of human preferences or these superstitions we have about black cats affecting how we treat them or where they end up right in the shelter system, and not having some effect on their pattern of behavior. So, but regardless, it sounds like Ajax has a fantastic life. I don't want you to worry that because he's more quiet,

that somehow he's less happy or he wasn't raised. Well, no, Like, I think that a quiet cat there's nothing wrong with that, unless it's like a sudden shift in behavior. Like if this is just how he is. He likes to be kind of quiet to do his cute little chirps, that's totally fine. He sounds and looks like a very very happy cat. I'm sure he has a fantastic life. And he's also very spooky and scary and has a scary coffin, and I love that. I do think it's a great

idea to talk about our superstitions about black cats. There is an episode if you want to check it out. It's called Superstition. I published that back in October twenty nineteen. Maybe I'll drag that back up and do like a rebroadcast of it, but it's been a while, so yeah, maybe I will in the future talk more about our weird human beliefs when it comes to black cats. And also, yeah,

you're your note is absolutely right. So black panthers are melanistic variations of both leopards who are found in Africa or jaguars found in South America, So two different species leopards and jaguars, but black panthers are not their own distinct species. Black panthers are just either a melanistic leopard or a melanistic jaguar. You can even spot the rosette pattern through their fur, so they're not entirely black. These

are cats who are genuinely bad luck. Not because they're black cats, not because they're cats, but because they are large wildcats and they can use their incredible jaw strength to crush your skull, particularly jaguars, although honestly, I don't think jaguars or leopards tend to bother humans much. But if you're like a a deer or a gazelle, you're in trouble if you spot one of these cats. Next listener question, Hi, Katie, I want to feed the crows

and any other corvids who want to join them. I've been putting out peanuts, but is there something like a complete feed for them? Or should I add more variety to the peanuts or should I just leave it at peanuts. I've seen cracked corn recommended. Is that better than whole corn? What about poultry feeds? I can get whatever is best, although I also want them to like it. I enjoy them for their own sake. But since they also helped deter hawks from stalking my chickens and ducks. I'm willing

to invest in them. I just don't want to be the Corvid equivalent to the well meaning folks inadvertently giving waterfowl angel wing from malnutrition. Let me say that sentence again, because it's a mouthful. I don't want to be the Corvid equivalent to the well meaning folks inadvertently giving waterfowl angel wing from malnutrition. Also, you're in my head. When I listen to the groom Pod and Susie say I'm

your host, my brain adds of many parasites. I'm so happy that my words have become a parasite in your brain. And then Kelly says, give Cookie a treat from me. Thanks Kelly, Hey, Kelly, thank you so much for your question. Cookie has received a treat in your honor. She's not in the room right now, but I can guarantee it she's received a treat. And I said, hey, Cookie, you better give your things to Kelly for this one. Otherwise you wouldn't be getting this tree. All right, let's talk

about it. So the angel wings syndrome Kelly is referring to is the deformation of wings and ducts, and in geese where the wing joint bends upwards, making some of the feathers permanently stuck in an airplane position. Basically, it looks like there's just a couple of feathers that are sticking up like this, but they are main feathers, so they're quite large, so it looks kind of like their little airplanes. It would be cute if it wasn't so sad.

It is a possible complication of malnutrition and vitamin deficiency. So there is a theory that people feeding them excessive amounts of bread could cause it. I don't think it is proven that that's the case, but I think that's a pretty good explanation for it. It may at the very least be a contributing factor to this disease. So Susie or Kelly is concerned that this may be the case when feeding crows, But let's talk about it, because I don't think it's quite as dangerous or as a

sort of perilous situation as you think. So feeding crows is really okay. Obviously you don't want to feed them bread, which it doesn't sound like you're doing. Kelly and my main advice for feeding crows is just to do it in moderation. You should be essentially offering them treats supplements, not making up the main part of their diets, so that they can continue to keep up their normal hunting and scavenging practices so they don't become too dependent on you.

But with that caveat, although out of the way, there are certainly treats you can feed them and that they would love and that are nutritious. It sounds like you're really already doing that. Peanuts and corn are great treats for crows. The difference between cracked corn and whole corn, I don't think there's anything in terms of what would

be better for the crow. Cracked corn is easier to digest, but that doesn't mean it's better than whole corn, because if something takes a bit longer to digest, that might be good for their metabolism. So I don't know. I don't think there's any nutritional really difference between the two. The only advantage that whole corn has is that it might last longer outside right like, it might spoil less quickly because it's not cut in half and sort of mashed up into little pieces, like if it's sort of

moist out or something, it will spoil less quickly. So maybe the whole corn would be better, but I really can't say. You could also put out different types of nuts and see what they like best. I have read that they really love pet food and eggs, but then you might be encouraging other scavengers to come to your yard, ones that would be less beneficial to your ducks and your chickens. So maybe stay away from the more meat

based things or the like. Don't put out cat food, don't put out eggs, because you're gonna get a lot of different scavengers and omnivores. Yeah, you're You're really unlikely to hurt the crows with whatever food you give them, as long as it's not in too great of a quantity, and like I said, just you don't want them to grow too dependent on you. You also, like, uh, giving them treats. There's really no harm in that. You're feeding them a lot of food, and you kind of cause

shifts in their population, like make them more successful. That's you know, not necessarily great because you there's other birds that live there, and you don't want to like kind of tip the scales too much in the crow's favor. As much as I love crows, right, it's always good to have a balance there. But it really, I really don't think that you have to worry about that. If you're just putting out some treats for them, that's totally fine.

And you know, honestly, like you may develop some friendship with these crows, like they may start giving you little presents like little sticks or bottle caps. Who knows so they I'm sure they appreciate your efforts in their own little crow ways. All right, Hey, I loved the recent Crocodilian episode. I myself am from Florida and still live there, and unlike Bridget she was my guest on the episode, I grew up right by a huge stretch of river

and swamp, unlike the really industrial city of Miami. I'm sure you can still spot gaters there, and it's a quick cop to the Everglades. But I think it's a little funny comparatively how ubiquitous gaters are in my little part of Florida. I can even see a gat on the daily if I want to, as there's a juvenile

that lives in my neighborhood's little pond. I only ever get to see his snout and the eyes above the water, and there's way too much duckweed to actually see into the pond and judge his But based on how big his head is, he's probably three to four feet. Yeah, that's not bad. They are seriously everywhere in this state, to the point where the Little Florida Welcome Centers have live baby gators. We've got so many dang gators. Well,

I hope those baby gators are being paid to be there. Anyways, back to the listener question, I don't think questions are super necessary because I just want to let you know how ridiculously gator filled Florida can be, and not having gator safety on the school curriculum does kind of make sense. But all this gator talk does have me wondering whether there's any other big predators in America that are not

only so ubiquitous but also easy to spot. I feel like bears and cougars are fairly elusive, After all, we have those here in Florida as well. I've only seen them in captivity or as roadkill, while gators will just be chilling out at any old place. I imagine part of The difference might also be that getter simply need to conserve their energy so much more as reptiles, so they're much less flighty and less a potential risk gets

really close or messes with their babies. Anyway, if you ever do visit Florida for any reason in the future, the whole Tampa Bay area is great for spotting cute aquatic creatures, be it gators in the rivers or dolphins and sharks in the ocean. The clear Water Aquarium in Florida Aquarium are both lovely for similar experiences, but with added AC. Thanks for all you do, Tommy. Thank you so much for your email. Tommy, Yeah, I AC is

always welcome. I'm sure in Florida, living near so many gators must be so amazing and so cool, a little menacing. Maybe you are usually safe as long as you keep your distance and you don't go wading into their waters, and also keep your tiny edible little dogs on a leash. I'm speaking in general, not directly to Tommy, but yeah, it must be really thrilling to see them in the FLEs and outside of an enclosure, just chilling and thinking

gator thoughts. I can't say I ever have seen a gator that is just living its life outside of an enclosure. So about there being other big predators that just hang out, I mean, one reason obviously that gators are so ubiquitous in this area is that human settlements, cities, towns, neighborhoods are basically right where the gator's natural habitat is. And the gators, Yeah, like you said, probably them being reptiles is part of it, right, Like they a lot of

their lifestyle is not moving around. It is sitting, basking, waiting quietly in sort of covertly for prey to come by. So they're a lot less mobile, they don't roam around as much, and so yeah, if they are relatively unbothered by people, it's going to be a lot easier to spot them. So in terms of other large predators, as you've guessed correctly, yeah, we don't have too many large

predators who are willing to rub elbows with humans. Some of our largest predator species in the US are bears, mountain lions, wolves, bobcats, and coyotes, all of whom are pretty shy. I mean, coyotes are pretty bold, but they're smaller and they are more elusive. They move around a lot, right, They're so different from gators because they move around, they

hunt in packs. They're very like active hunters. But they are bold in the sense that they will come into human neighborhoods, which again, like the human neighborhoods are in their habitats, it's not really their fault, and they come

in and sometimes they steal people's chickens or pets. But there is I think an interesting story that it could be something of an answer to your question and is also a really important story, which is that one of the largest predators in North America, polar bears, in fact, the largest predator or in North America, are becoming less shy.

They are coming into towns more often due to climate change and less available prey because they really don't necessarily want to come into these human towns, but they are. As ice flows are more brittle, there's less of this region, they will be able to find less of their natural prey, like seals, so they come into town. They particularly like this town called Kaktovic because of a spot where whale

carcasses are left after being hunted by the locals. So this is a special case in which the people of the area are allowed to hunt whales because it is how they have traditionally survived for many, many many years. So this is not the type of whaling that is like commercial whaling. This is just an ancient practice that is legal in this area. So the locals are not doing anything wrong. So the area where the remains of the carcasses are left has become a hot spot for

polar bears. It makes sense, right, people will hunt the whales, they'll leave what is left of the carcass in this area, and so the polar bears will come and scavenge from these carcasses, and that would pretty much be fine, right, because the locals are pretty well versed in how to avoid the polar bears, they definitely give them their space.

But it is new, right, the locals said that this has not been the case, you know, in the past historically, like polar bears were not so numerous at these carcass sites because the polar bears probably had a preference to still stay away from this human area and hunt in

their own territory. But now the climate change has driven them further into this town, and so now these dump sites have so many of these polar bears, And a problem that's happening is tourists are really interested in seeing the bears, and that's not a great thing because, first of all, it's better to just leave these polar bears alone, right, They have it tough enough. But also, polar bears are massive,

gosh darn bears. They're so like polar bears genuinely frighten me in a way that almost no other predator does. They are so they're such a determination, right, they live in such a harsh environment, and they have such a determination to eat food because they need to, and to them, we look like food unless they learn to avoid us because they've had bad encounters with people. But like, look, these are bears that usually have not seen like a

great meal in a while. If you're a tourist and you're going into this area, which is basically bear buffet, that doesn't seem like a good idea. I don't know, it doesn't sound like anyone's been killed yet, but guys, stay away from the bear buffet. That's my advice as a professional person who likes to stay alive and not be eaten in one of the most horrific ways possible. Anyways,

So that would be my answer. I would say that polar bears are becoming more bold seen more about town in these areas, but it's not necessarily a good thing. I think that, like in Florida, correct me if I'm wrong, that there's a bit of a piece maybe between the gators and the people. Maybe not peace, but you know, just there's a bit of an equilibrium. The fact that the bears are coming into town's is not good. This is a sign that their habitat is not healthy. So

it's unfortunate. But hopefully, you know, we can figure out a way to stop stop the the ice from completely melting, because otherwise we're gonna have to just I think give Alaska to the bears. Guys. It's only fair, all right. Well, guys, thank you so much for writing to me with your questions. If you were listening to this and you're like, I have a burning question about animals, you should write to me at Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com any of

your burning evolutionary biology questions. If you have a burning somewhere like a rash, just go to a doctor. That's I can't help you with that. Thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song Exolumina Creature features a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit they are heart Radio app Apple Podcasts or thank us. What why of you listen to your favorite shows. I'm not your mother. I can't tell you what to do, but I do care enough about you

to say, stay away from the bear buffet. See you next Wednesday.