National Park Hidden Gems

Welcome to Creature future production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, and today on the show, we're talking about some of the coolest animals you can find in US national parks. Our national parks are home to some of the most stunning species on the planet and are incredibly important reserves

Welcome, ohoy mate, We're at the comedy show.

You're the Comedy Shore. She shells seashells by the air at the Comedy Shore.

Taking a real hit. We're selling seashells now. You know, I barely know where a barely sell her.

Yeah, cattlefish, I barely know a fish. This is why you do stand up and I do sit down, Eddy, sit down. Pre recorded comedy.

We love it, We love all of it.

Uh yeah, so just for apropos of absolutely nothing. I really wanted to talk about the national parks in the the Gulf of Mexico, I mean the United States. The it is. They're like one of no joke, one of my favorite things about America. And you know they're in danger right now due to funding cuts.

Due to apex predators, the white Man.

Yes, yes, yeah, venture capitalists are going after our national parks. They are cutting staff for no apparent reason, just like n you know, you're all fired, which is very bad.

I saw such a heartbreaking post from a dad who was like, what do I tell my wife as she's crying and I don't have a job, And he like the way he wrote his whole post about it was really beautiful. He was like, yeah, yeah, it's heartbreaking.

And I yeah, I have a special place in my heart for park rangers. This really stings, it really sucks.

They's also like a key part of Indian culture. You will not ever go to a national park and not see an auntie in a sari with sneakers on. It is very important to our culture to visit national parks, national monuments, to be tourists in all of these areas, just at the gas station nearby, heating up some food that we packed ourselves, and like experiencing being American. Like that is that's what we think America is. We all buy a grill that we never use and we visit national parks.

I just don't think you're wrong. Who doesn't like who doesn't like national parks? This is the thing that gets me is I feel like everyone likes national parks. Like everyone wants to go to the Grand Canyon, everyone wants to go to Zion, to the Sequoias. It's everyone has like experience enjoying national parks. They are so in credible and amazing. And even if people are I know, like probably all my listeners care about them also because of

Yeah, this is like cartoon villain. Yeah, let's find like the things that people love the most you know, national parks flying right side up and let's take it away from them.

Yeah. By the way, if any of you out there are happen to know or are park rangers, either current or former, and you would like to talk about stuff on the podcast, send me an email at Creature Feature Pod at gmail dot com. I would love to talk to you. Or if you're if you're shy, like some of the animals we're about to talk about, you can write to me and I will share your stories for sure,

So the first one actors that like you see in everything, but you don't know their name, right, like those guys like that one guy the Radar exactly there is in Ghost, the Animal World.

He was in Ghost and he was in another movie that guy. You know, yeah, that guy. I know what you're talking that guy, that guy. Well, so this one is amazing. So this is the ringtail cat and this is found in Zion National Park. They're also found in Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Baja California, and Mexico and dry arid regions and Paulavia, I sent you, I sent you a image of one of these little little guys.

I got it. Also side note, my dog is partly crazy right now because the people just walk past the window and he sensed it in his crate. So he has a natural enemy of my apartment building and it's other dogs. But these do these creatures, do these beautiful cats have a natural enemy other than the president?

They they do. They actually can be preyed upon by mountain lions, by by large birds of prey raptors. So they are pretty. They can be pretty solitary and elusive and shy. But they are actually even though they're called ringtail cats, and they kind of look like a cat, they look like a mix between like a cat and maybe a mouse or a ferret with a long, fluffy black and white striped tail.

They're really beautiful.

They're so gorgeous.

They're gorgeous, and they look really sweet.

They actually have a pretty nice disposition. Apparently they look a little bit like, you know, the like in the Avatar the Last Airbender cartoon, the Little guy Momo kind of looks like that.

Actually, I still need to watch Avatar.

Wow.

Wow, its like on my list of like five no spoilers. Okay, that's on you if you speak for me. Okay, I'm still it only came out decades ago, but I'm I'm literally That's one of the things where I have this thing where I'm like, Okay, I feel like I lost parts of big American pop culture just because of my family or like what I experienced or whatever. So I have like a list of like things that I go that I'm like, Okay, I need this to relate to

If I have that, but yeah, I'm gonna use I'm going to use neurodivergence next time someone calls me out on not knowing the lyrics to a song. I'm just gonna be like, I'm neurodivergent.

I gotta I don't think. I don't think that's it. I think it's like the fact that I'm like I need to like write down things to relate to people or to understand pop culture moments, like I need to consume this as as research on the human subject, like I do.

I am. I am going to use it as an excuse. So I already use it as an excuse for parking bad because I did read a study about people with OCD not having as good spatial awareness. I do have OCD, and so it's sorry.

I mean, it's not cool, but it's like to learn about you.

It's very cool now. It wasn't cool when it was untreated, but now it's it's a it's doing good. It gives me a good excuse to like run into polls. But so, the the ringtail cat, the cat back to the cat actually not a cat, which you know, I could make a joke about that driving my OCD crazy, but that's not how it works. So the ringtail cats are not cats. They're actually related to raccoons. Kuwaitis kinkajews and they're in

They look like a little raccoon ish liketit. The hands, you gotta get the little hands like yeah, those rifle through trash, you know what I mean.

They do have very agile little hands. They they're actually their ankles can rotate one hundred and eighty degrees. What they can clime trees, they.

Can be They're like exorcist hands.

They're kind of exorcist hands. Yeah, so technically the exorcist doesn't isn't that three hundred and sixty degrees because.

It's all one hundred and eighty So it's not Although they could I.

Think that means that they could open doors. So don't get on you know, don't get on their bad.

Side, you know, honestly, it's our fault for inventing doors.

Well, it is our fault for inventing doors. I would want there to be a B and E with one of these little guys, one of these green tail cats, because they're super cute, steal all my stuff. They actually they have a little imask going on, but instead of it being a black I mask like with raccoons, it's a white ie mask and it's kind of converted.

The striping looks like raccoons. It does all making so much sense.

Yes, they're extremely cute. They weigh only around one to three pounds, that's only up to one and a half kilograms. Their tails are as long as their bodies, if not longer, so about a foot long or a little longer.

I know your audience is like, not the people I'm talking about, and I know this is to like educate people so that they value national parks. But I'm like part of me with how cute these guys are, and you're saying like they're more docile than other animals, I'm like, we need to gate keep these because people are just gonna go and mess with them, do you know what I mean. I'm like, fortunately said those things. I was like, let's protect them.

Yeah. Fortunately they're very shy and elusive, so they they're actually relatively understudied because they managed to be very solitary. But in terms of in terms of like people trying to turn them into pets, I don't think they're a big part of the pet trade right now. They might be a bit. I think they can sometimes be victims

No, I'm kidding.

These probably would love to drink some alcohol. They are omnivorous, so they will eat or drink about anything they can get their little pause on. But miners, gold miners, other ore miners. I don't really know mining history in the US except for gold mining because I lived in California and our school system was like you're learning about gold.

So they would just have like little hats with flashlights on them. Yes, okay, I'm so little.

Overalls where one of the straps is kind of falling off their shoulder and the little little you know, a little bit. It's very cute. It's extremely cute. There. Arboreal meaning they spend most of their time in trees. Uh, and they are very adept climbers. Like I mentioned before, they can climb trees really well. They can also climb vertical rock walls, and they know how to climb up a cactus without getting stuck with the thors. And they'll happily eat prickly pear fruits.

So they are amazing.

Yeah, they're they're very they're very efficient in these like are desert regions. If you're wondering what they sound like, what's the matter?

Under distress?

He's he's fine. He's like on a roof someone's roof and the person's like looking up at him and he's kind of barking.

So you know, he's the one who's like, where you're going, buddy, that's the that's.

The retail cago Like, where are you going? Buddy? Hey? Hey are you going?

I got just some gold again.

So yeah, because of what I told you about them having been sort of tamed by miners. They're also called miners cats, and again, I'm really cute. I must emphasize they are not cats, but yeah, they apparently had a somewhat tamable disposition when they were bribed. But again, they wouldn't make good pets in a domestic environment because they need a lot of space. They're not super social animals either, Like, they don't hang out with each other all that often.

I feel I was until you said that last part. I was like, I feel like in another life, I would have been one of these guys. And then you were like they each other and mate. I'm like, I'm not cleaning somebody else. I'm all alone most of the time. And then I just go clean somebody else. No, thank you.

I mean, yeah, I guess I'm I kind of like that idea, just like hanging out eating, eating random stuff and then getting your hair brushed by buddy.

It's like going to the salon for your Yeah, exactly.

I I'm one of I'm one of those freaks who enjoys going to get my haircut because of the because of the shampooing. Oh yeah. Yeah, I'm one of.

Those sometimes you need somebody else to do it.

I mean, it's it, it is. It's like, it's obviously I can shampoo my own hair.

But whoa, whoa, whoa.

But stand when I have to get my hair cut and they're like shampooing it. I'm like, you know, I didn't realize how much better other people are at shampooing hair.

The angles, it's the angles, and then they use more of their arm strength, right, you know, it's like a massage. It's weird.

It's like they're ripping off parts of my scalp, but in a good way and I like it.

Yeah.

So anyways, uh yeah, so they're uh, there have been. Because they're so secretive. It's a little bit hard to know too much about them because they they are elusive. But there have been some more recent studies that aim to learn more about them, including a collaboration between Oregon State University, the hoop Up Valley Tribe, Penn State, and

He's so cute.

He's so cute. Apparently it was pretty touch and go with him. He did survive, but they're like, yeah he has. He was covered in tortilla grease and poor.

Okay you you and me too, brother, Okay. Some days it's just like that, all right, and just.

You know, yeah, I mean it's it's very cute and it's a very sad, funny little story and it's it's it's good because it had a good ending because he did get rescued, but it is it does emphasize the importance that they keep their habitat because they just they they they like go on a tube, right, thinking it's gonna be a tree, and then it's full of tortilla grease, delicious, deadly tortilla grease.

I worry, but I want your perspective. But I worry about this so much. Like I've been seeing coyote coyotes or yeah, coyotes in my neighborhood more, and I feel like they're that urban sprawl thing where we're just like impeding on their environment, is like really messing them up, like and that's for sure for our pets. Like no, I'm so worried about it.

It's it's very concerning, yeah, for sure. Like one of the like coyotes are much more likely to go after your pets, your little dogs or cats when they are when they're when they don't have enough sort of ample resources in their own habitat, enough rabbits and other rodents to feed on, and then they'll come in and then people like really hate them. But they're just you know, they're just trying to they're just trying to live. They don't they don't.

Make it in the city like the rest of us Acholizin, you know.

They don't. I know that all one eating a beloved pet.

I saw one go after a cat. It didn't get it, but I was like, we gotta get these cats off the streets. And these coyotes, yeah, after their environment, Like what is going on?

If coyotes live around you or birds, it's probably a good idea to keep the kitties inside. I'm gonna say, hot, Yeah, kitties they will be you can entertain them with attention. They they will survive.

Also, like the you know how we're always like, oh, humans weren't meant to see the Internet, Like our brains aren't meant for this. I don't think the things that we've done to animals, like the animals' brains aren't meant to meet each other, you know, like like some of these creatures are not meant to interact ever, and they do, and they're like, do I eat this?

What is this? You know? Yeah? Crazy? No, absolutely, And I mean obviously it also increases chance of zoonotic diseases jumping from species to species. Yet it's very it's incredibly important to maintain and preserve the habitats of these animals both. I mean there's a lot of reasons. Number one, they are devastatingly cute. Look this little guy and the eyes all. I'll provide the pictures in the show, the little one that got stuck in the tortilla factory grease trap, Like he's so sad.

And makes his eyes look bigger. Yeah, boots picture where like they z into the eyes.

Sorry this out. Send it to your congress person and say, really, we're getting rid of National Park staff when these little guys are getting stuck in tortilla factories.

But it's the congress people will immediately try to make them pets. I'm just like so cynical.

I thought you were gonna say, like Corrolla de Ville style like that.

Too is going to walk around with these fringing boots on with these tails just.

Like just like a oh god, yeah, you know, well they're ghoules, but hey, there are still good people out there rescuing these these little ringtail cats from tortilla factories. So we're going to take a quick break and when we get back, we're going to talk about another fantastic animal that you can find in the national parks. So pull a b We're talking about big horn and thin horn sheep. Uh. These are one of the bigger animals that you can find in North American national parks, and

So majestic.

They are so majestic that they're they're like very iconic. The big horn sheep have the males have these incredible, like what do you think horns on their heads that are massive and heavy. So, uh, first I'll talk a little bit about the doll sheep. They are found in the Dnali National Park in the US. They're also found in Canada and Nali.

Yeah, keeping the name.

You know what, I have a very selfishly sentimental connection to the name Danali, which is this is this is super like when I was a little kid, there was an ice cream called Denali. I was like, why is it called Denali? Because it was super good? And then I like looked up it was like, oh, it's like named after these beautiful mountains, and it was just like and then so I would like imagine that I was

And from I know, you're not gonna eat McKinley ice cream. Ew, that's not disgusting. It tastes like cardboard.

Okay, it's like it's just got like little shriveled cherries in it and nonsense and whole peanuts with the shells on. It's discussed. Oh my god, Yeah, McKinley ice cream ice cream? No, yeah, no, So it's not in National Park. They're also found in Canada, Alaska, and they tend to be in the sort of more old regions, although big horn sheep also can survive in the cold, and they can have their coat can change from being very thin to being fluffy depending on seasonal changes.

I one thousand percent get why people would worship like a like a goat looking god, you know what I mean. They're so impressive, they're so majestic.

They look like they have seen the universe, you know what I mean. Then those weird little eyes of theirs.

And then it looks like their horns like have their like their intelligence stored in them.

You know, yes, they do have a little bit of the It almost kind of looks like the Twilight's from Star Wars, you know what I mean. I think that's what they're named, the ones with things that Ye Anyway.

That's probably where they got it from with these guys, because they were everywhere.

I think the bighorn sheep might be getting sued by Disney pretty soon here.

Uh, probably we've got to protect bighorn sheep from little litigationious Disney.

So bighorn sheep are related to sheep and goats and thank god, yeah this is I tossed in two animals or who have deceptive names, but this one, fortunately the name does fit. So a male's horns are roughly ten percent of their body weight, okay, and they weigh over three hundred pounds or about that's the whole sheet. Not that the horns aren't three hundred pounds yeah, yeah, that

That is crazy.

So it's like imagine like wearing a whole other your skeleton on your head.

This feels like a kim Kardashian level of uncomfortable outfit at the met gala. You know what I mean. Yeah, Like these guys are really putting everything into their horns. They don't care how uncomfortable it is to carry them. They're all about it.

I do actually like wearing a head piece that's an entire human skeleton would be kind of dope, like, especially if.

That would actually be more Lady Gaga I think, right anybody.

Especially if it's like modeled after your own skeleton. That's like a real like fierce memento moriy, like really owning it, like look what's inside, This is what's inside me, and I'm wearing it on my head. Anyways, youse also have horns, so use our female big horn sheep.

But they're sure that you were just getting into like an accent. Like youse also have hornsuse.

Guys, I'm just a mobster from Chicago. Uh No, they also have horns, but they're they're smaller and thinner. The reason males have the giant horns sexus. It's sexism for sure. It's literally sexual selection. The females are attracted to the big horns, and also they use them in contests with other males to fight for the right to mate, so they'll like, you know, bonk each other with the horns.

Or just human males should also hit each other in the head.

Yeah, you know what, like just run out each other and just massive head bonk uh and and we'll like flutter our little fans and like judge you uh I like that idea. So uh yeah, they're very They're adept climbers. They can scale relatively sheer cliff faces, allowing them to escape predator. They're very agile for being such big animals and so top heavy. They are surprisingly very very adept, very graystile climbers.

Are these like the ones that you see at like the Hoover Dam, just like scaling like the side of the or those like goats.

Those might be mountain goats, but let me check Hoover Dam.

I don't know if it's like the Hoover you know what I mean, like they.

Close a mountains, those are those are goat? I believe those are mountain goats or let me dam Hoover Yeah, I know, I like them. Uh, but yeah, mountain goats at the Hoover Dam. That's that might be what those are, but there might be but yeah, bighorn sheep are near the Hoover Dam. You might see them near there. They might scale it a little bit, but the ones that can really like get up a dam like get Like. Mountain goats are actually really cool. They're related to big

I think the impressive part is that they aren't scared, because I would be like, I would be the mountain goat that's like shaking up there. I'd be like, oh, you guys, But all of them are just like munching on food.

It helps to have a small brain. I think, like when you have a brain that's big enough to contemplate sort of physics, like you start to get worried. But then when you're when you have mountain goat brain and you're like, I see grass up there, do do do? Do do do, and then you just don't think about sort of the wid like it's like the wily kayote thing, like yeah, wiley coyote where It's like, if you don't look down and you don't realize you're supposed to fall,

So, oh my god, that's such a wonderful moral that coyote taught children.

Right, I used to. I tried the wily coyote thing. I thought if I like jumped off of like uh the like stairsteps and but didn't look down, maybe I would have her in mid air. But it didn't work. I try to find gravity, Oh boy. I also tried to hold an umbrella up and see if that would help me slow down, but it didn't do.

You know what, the most cartoonish thing I ever did. I was born in Texas and we.

Had already pretty cartoonish but go.

Pretty cartoonish, I know, but we had these like big fields up front, like I have just like the weirdest memory. I was literally like two probably, so it's like probably one of my first memories. And like me and my brother and the neighbor kids we would take like like flat cardboard boxes and hold them up above our heads to get make the wind pick us up yep, and like I would. I was the one who would fly

That's amazing. I would give anything to see a two year old just getting launched into the air by cardboard. I know that sounds you got some sick air, and that sounds amazing. So yeah, bighorn sheep teach us a lot about the importance of conservation. They almost died out completely in the nineteen hundreds due to over hunting and disease.

I also use bushy scrub as coverage. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa cooglar over here?

Meow? All right? Well side uh the yes angela Mrkin the former German chancellor uh merkele uh uh so yeah, so it shows how the there's a delicate balance, right, Like, so sometimes we use fire suppression tactics, right because hey, you don't want stuff to be on fire, But then when you do it too much, then you have overgrowth of scrub, and then that affects the population of these

I mean, I don't want no scrubs because a scrub is a guy, get no love for me. So I feel like those are predators, you know.

Yeah, there you go, there you go. So uh yeah, I mean it is. It's really important. Also, the thin horn sheep that I mentioned earlier also an indicator species because they live in colder climates, like in high altitudes. Climate change affects colder climates pretty significantly because you suddenly get these big shifts and vegetation. So the behavior and population changes in thin horn sheep are indicators of overall

It's also a thing where like you don't see the effects right away, so then people will blame like if there is an next administration, a next administration, rather than like realizing that cause and effect takes it like a minute. You know.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's it's it really frustrates me. It's it's very infuriating. But yeah, uh, you know, maybe we should take the a key a que a clue. Maybe we should take advice from the big horn sheep and just grow massive horns. On our head and start headbutting everyone. We're going to take a quick break, and when we get back, we're going to talk about a little critter who has a bioweapon. All right, So, uh, I don't want to cause the United States to try to do

It's me, Twist, it's me quick, tell the FBI ah on my phone.

Yeah, oh he's been fired. So you know the horn lizard also known as the horny toad, which is a pretty bad name. Yeah, they're not toads, so they're not.

The whole time, I thought they were two different First I thought they were two different things. No, and then so they named Okay, is it scientists naming these things because we have to do better? To do better?

I mean, I think scientists named them horned lizard to clarify it. But they used to be called horny toads because people didn't know the difference.

Okay, Well, I think we need to take the ornithologists that study birds. We need to take the people, and we need them to start naming the other animals because today we had so many misnomers and the horny bird people they like they'll name they'll be like the big breasted tint, you know what I mean, Like they'll just make a hornyird.

Yeah, but it.

Looks like that, you know what I mean. Like I mean, these.

Are these are literally horned lizards, so getting some hornybird people on it would probably be helpful. So horned lizards are found in Mexico and North America. They are a genus of lizards with about twenty one species, fifteen of which are found in the US, and are a common sight in Well. They're a little elusive, but they can be found in many national parks, such as Bryce Canyon, UH and Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park.

They are so scared. It's so scared of being cut.

Look at that liard, it's got too many angles.

Bring our parks back, please.

So horned lizards are spikey. They range from a grayish gravel color to a tan color depending on their habitat. They're really really cool looking. They're very They've got these wicked looking spikes. They kind of look like tiny dragons, but they're actually harmless. They don't have any venom. Their main defense is staying still and hoping nobody notices them, which is.

My favorite tack in the green room of a comedy clubs.

Exactly like whenever I go to a party and it's like like I know one person there and then they freaking abandon me. They're like, oh, come to this right and then I go there and then they're like, oh, I'm gonna go talk to this person. It's like you you brought me here. I am like your baby right now, you abandoned me.

Parties. Parties are meant to like bring someone to talk to one person.

Yes, that was my understanding. This is why I agreed to come. I was gonna be I was basically going to be like a little puppy and follow you around and have you introduced me to people.

This is why every party should have one dog. Okay, so that for people like us who just want to talk to the dog.

Yeah, yeah, oh is this your dog, I'm gonna I'm gonna form a connection with them because uh yeah. That My problem is not that I I'm actually I quite like people and I like meeting people. It is the thing of like when two people are talking, is when do I When do I approach and do I stand there, and when do I start laughing at what they're saying. I don't know if no one's ever taught me that.

Do you remember how we talked about neurodivergence earlier in I.

Don't see how this. I'm not sure. I don't I don't understand what point.

I also, also, this is a tip. I just started inserting myself into conversations and being like, hey, I'm just gonna be in this conversation now and then. Yeah, people are generally welcoming and if they're not, well, yeah, there's always roasting them.

Or you can take a page from the horned lizard's book and inflate your body to look big and scary despite only being about the size of an adult human's palm, so they will, yeah, just like, oh you won't talk to me, raw, no big ignore.

Oh my god, I would love to do that, Oh my god. Yeah amazing.

Also, if that fails, there are eight species of horned lizards who will have a special extra technique, and that is that they squirt blood out of their eye sockets.

Okay, when you said out of the eyes, I do squirt blood, but not out of there. So yeah, when I am disruped.

It sounds like it's still it still sounds pretty skilled. But yeah, they will block the blood flow in their head and then force it through ruptured vessels around their eyelids at high pressures, allowing them to allowing them to shoot jets of blood up to five feet or one and a half meters away.

I'm gonna say this, This might be a stretch, but I do think they're a little bit more anti social than you. Honestly, he knows, just a dad, but I think they're beating you on this.

I if I was able to shoot jets of blood out of my eyes, I might have never been forced to learn to be more gregarious, because, man, can you like every awkward social interaction you're just like, well, you know, it's like an Irish goodbye, but a lot more cleaning involved.

I like the idea of like, oh my god, Katie just spewed again.

Not again.

Kay, You're like, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it.

Yeah. It's a way to startle predators, and it has a nasty taste and smell that certain predators don't like. They these this is the.

Freak predators that like it.

Birds apparently don't care. Apparently, like wrap will they do? Birds are?

They're us like the scientists that name them there freaks.

They're a little freaks. They they don't really care. They they don't have a good sense of smell. So when the if they try to get spray a predatory bird with this business, they're just like, oh season like sauce. Yeah, sauce scha nice? Uh So yeah, they the horned lizards have a diet of harvester ants which are somewhat toxic. Uh And it's thought that possibly that diet might help

No, I thought you were gonna say, gleeking like with the saliva thing.

I've seen that. Yeah, there's a kid. I think I did both of it, and it was.

Oh my god, I've never heard of that before.

It was gross. I didn't like it or the kid that could like turn their eyelids inside out.

Oh yeah, there was that kid.

Oh yeah, a lot of Honestly, we don't talk.

Enough about body horror in elementary schools.

Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that I made me not want to go to school, like people squirting fluids out of their faces, like you know, I feel like that's not a conducive environment to learn about the American Civil War. So another aspect of the horned lizards is that they have scales that are highly not just the spiked ones, but they have these very tiny scales that form these micro channels that help wick moisture from

Oh my god, I mean they're squirting it out of their blood eyes. But like, yeah, that's very efficient.

Yeah, no, it's absolutely incredible. And again it.

Would save me at least three hours a day if I could.

We can research these guys figure out how not to pee. I mean again, like this is there. There's a concept which is that like with animals, because they are the products of millions of years of evolution, they contain a lot of information. And I obviously, if you've made it this far in the podcast, you just love animals, so you don't need another reason to want to protect them.

Or it also contains a lot of information, so that's why they listened.

That's true, so that they're trying to write down like, all right, which animals do we gotta gotta exploit? H No, But it's it's a it is a it's like there's a library of potential information. Right, So, like, if animals go extinct and or we lose them, or we aren't able to, you know, research them because we've laid off everyone who might be able to research them, we lose

I thought that's how we gave birth to Oh well, I'm gonna I'm gonna have to talk to Polavi after the show.

Oh no, but yeah, if we if we hadn't lost this animal, like, we might have been able to do more research onto things like ulcers, gastro esophageal reflux disease.

We lost.

It's super sad, It's really really sad. And so right now, horned lizard populations are declined due to suburban sprawl land development, the pet trade, invasive species of vegetation without they depend so much on our national parks, and like if we lose our national parks or if our national parks are just left to sort of be exploited, I don't know that the horned lizards would survive that, like honestly, so

But you know, souf we name the monsters after using them for semi gluten.

Yeah, also for also for anticoagulants, which are.

Oh yeah, also it's for the no I know you were listening just the selfish reasons, but for the non selfish reasons. It's like, why are we freaking up the world so bad? We're just one creature. Yeah, why do we have a right to completely destroy other animals?

It's yeah, no, I mean, I I agree, I think it's messed up, but it's uh yeah, so i I'm I'm just I'm I'm just upset about the the uh, park rangers being laid off because there's some of the coolest people out there. Honestly, like, park rangers are a

Been saved by a part I'm telling me not to do something really dumb.

Yeah, they have like like when like they they are the reasons that people can enjoy this mostly untouched nature in such an intimate, wonderful way. And so I'm again if you're if you are a former current park ranger or no one uh and you'd like to get in touch with me for to share your story. You can write to me a Creature feature pod at gmail dot com. I need their love, to have you on the on the show, or read your emails, whatever would work best for you. Guys. I just you know, man, I am

Yeah, I feel like that's but that's you like base level, you know.

Yeah, I'm gonna start out. I'm gonna start out with blood squirting out of my eyes and then we'll go from there.

We'll go from there. We'll see what we need to do. I do want to say like a positive thing. I really went through the five stages of grief about this gastric brooding frog you told me about it. I was like, this is horrific because I don't like thinking about extinct animals because it makes me so sad. But Australian scientists in twenty thirteen, according to Wikipedia, created a living embryo

So yeah, no, it's it's in you know, like if you have sort of like these samples, right, Like that's one of the things that's scary about like a sudden loss in funding is like where are you storing these like samples or these embryos and stuff like, well they're they're they have to be preserved and stored. And so if you suddenly like pull the plug on some research like things can just get destroyed.

To the point where you can, yeah, like where are we keeping the information?

Yeah? Absolutely so send a picture of that poor little uh tortilla sauce covered ringtail cat to your senator today. So before we go, let's play a little game to you know, you know, let's end on a positive note, which is that animals sound fun. We're gonna play a little game called guests Who's squawk in the Mystery Animal Sound game. Every week I play mystery animal sound and you the listener to you, the guests try to guess

Oh my god.

Yeah. Congratulations to Aaron Kay and Mary d. For guessing correctly. This is a male ostrich booming male ostriches.

Three boom boom like that like that TikTok guy three booms, I give that five booms. That guy the rizzler, What is it? I don't know.

I'm not on TikTok enough to know this, but I.

Barely I know it from like memes on other social medias.

But this is a male ostrich booming. Male Ostriches make this sound to stick out their territorial or to try to attract the ladies. And don't lie to me. Listening to this, you're a little bit interested, right like, oh yeah, that sounds like a hot and sexy ostrich. If the female is impressed, the male might have a chance to offer a mating dance where he flutters his beautiful fluffy feathers around like a burlesque dancer, and if she's impressed,

Just went to the Liver Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert and I got to feed giraffes and it was like a holistic experience for me. And then we saw them running. First of all, giraffes run like they're inslaw motion like the whole time, like it's not slowed down at all. They just like run like that. And then also I think they were like it looked like ostriches from Afar in the same little area as the giraffes, and it was really cool to see them like be in the same spot and like interact.

It was the long next squad. Yeah for long next, long next.

Squad, long neck hive.

Rise up, all right onto this week's mister animal sound. The hint is this, some people just have a prickly personality.

Okay, I think I know it from contact closed.

Yeah, anythink right, You're absolutely correct, but yes, the I will I will quack out the correct answer, but everyone will know POLIVI was right.

Yay.

You win the satisfaction of knowing that you are one with mother nature.

That's huge for me.

This is crazy.

I don't think I've ever gotten one of these riders, which really happy.

Yes, it's fantastic gifts. Absolutely correct. If you think you know who's making that sound, you can write to me at Creature feature pot at gmail dot com. Also, if you you are or no park rangers and you want to share your stories. Also get in touch with me there creature feature pot at gmail dot com. Uh POLIVI thank you so much for joining me the gate to joining me today. Where can people find you?

I'm at Paula Viganalan p A L l A v I g U n A l A n everywhere except this time just call it, which is cool.

Whoa you got in there? I wish I had just gotten Katie. I won Katie.

Pretty early, and then I just didn't use it for a year. But now I'm like, you think it a lot since it's fun and yeah, I run with my friends a show at the comedy store called DATS Recognition Comedy. I'm also like, I really need you guys to follow me on social media and like come to my shows because I am unemployed, okay, like many park rangers right now, and I am trying to tour and so I'm going to like Portland, I'm gonna go to SS I'm going to text it like I'm trying to tour. I have

Like take the most pathetic photo of your dogs as you can of them.

Looking I'm so sad a picture of me wet in afternoon tortilla.

A greetin a tortilla factory gets stuck in it.

I have the grease. I'm constantly around stuck.

In a grease tube and then get rescued and then start like be like, come to my comedy show. Otherwise I have to resort to licking tortilla grease out of a tube.

One hundred. That's already me right now, So I'm gonna post it.

Guy. If you want to save pull A B from a fate of being stuck in tortilla factory grease tubes, go to her shows. Check her out. Hell yeah, thank you guys so much for listening. If you're enjoying the show and you leave a rating your review that tangibly helps me. Thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song x so Lumina. Creature features a production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the iHeartRadio app Apple past I'll do that again.