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Transcript

CSI: Critter Scene Investigation · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is David B.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Williams in the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
• 0:10
  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
• 0:12
  human and natural world
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 0:17
  Today's episode highlights a recent adventure away from the PNW
• 0:21
  and down into the
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sonoran Desert.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
• 0:29
  You'll also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
• 0:32
  previous four years of newsletters,
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 16 of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: CSI,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Critter Scene Investigation,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: March 2025.
• 0:49
  We ventured down to Arizona last week to attend the amazing
• 0:52
  Tucson Festival of Books,
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  SPEAKER_00: 130,000 participants and 320 authors.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a book dork's idea of heaven.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: While down in the desert,
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  SPEAKER_00: we saw two curious natural history scenes,
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  SPEAKER_00: both worthy of closer investigation and consideration.
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  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately,
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  both also centered on dead animals my wife and I found on a
• 1:14
  morning walk on a road.
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  SPEAKER_00: The first was a tarantula.
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  SPEAKER_00: I assumed the spider had ventured out in search of food,
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  SPEAKER_00: perhaps triggered by the rain that had fallen in the night.
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  Since the body was not flat,
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  the spider didn't appear to have died from being hit by a car.
• 1:30
  When I picked the body up to move it off the road,
• 1:32
  it stuck slightly,
• 1:34
  like chewing gum.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps someone had stepped on the spider.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: People seemed to have a warped propensity to do this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe a bird,
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  SPEAKER_00: such as a crow,
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  had killed the spider by aggressive pecking and then been
• 1:45
  driven away by the
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: arrival of a car.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: I also know that bikers regularly ride this stretch.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Did one run over the spider and leave minimal marks?
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  SPEAKER_00: If a bike rider did that,
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  SPEAKER_00: it was certainly the act of a jerk,
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  as they would have had to swerve nearly off the road to kill
• 2:00
  the tarantula.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: What did the spider do to deserve such a fate?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Although I didn't solve the mystery about the death of the tarantula,
• 2:08
  I hope it's okay if I share a few natural history tidbits about
• 2:11
  these fine arachnids.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tarantulas are not aggressive,
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  SPEAKER_00: nor is their venom deadly,
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  SPEAKER_00: though they do have big fangs,
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  SPEAKER_00: which they use on small animals.
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  When confronted by a larger predator,
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  in contrast,
• 2:24
  tarantulas rub their legs together.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: This action generates a cloud of irritating or urticating hairs,
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  SPEAKER_00: especially painful to the eyes and nose of mammals such as coyotes,
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  SPEAKER_00: skunks,
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  SPEAKER_00: and inquisitive humans.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: As a word lover,
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  SPEAKER_00: one of my favorite stories involves tarantulas,
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  though technically in reference to the related wolf spider
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  Lycosa tarantula.
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  SPEAKER_00: Between the 15th and 17th century,
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  an epidemic known as Tarantism spread in southern Italy around
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  the seaport of Taranto.
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  SPEAKER_00: The unfortunate people suffered from grotesque and unnatural gestures and
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: extravagant postures,
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  SPEAKER_00: ultimately resulting in death.
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  SPEAKER_00: The cause?
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  SPEAKER_00: A spider bite.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: The cure?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: A frenzied, music-induced dance.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: The Tarantella would sweat out the toxins.
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  SPEAKER_00: Needless to say,
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  SPEAKER_00: there was little truth to the claims,
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  but New World tarantulas and the family Therapsidae are named
• 3:20
  for the port town of
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  SPEAKER_00: dancing days of yore.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: The second CSI was more confusing.
• 3:26
  About 15 minutes after seeing the tarantula,
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  we encountered a very flat,
• 3:30
  desert spiny lizard.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: About two feet away was the tail,
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  SPEAKER_00: intact and unaffected by the brute force that had 2D'd the body.
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  SPEAKER_00: The way the body was flattened,
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  it seemed clear to me that the car that crushed the body would
• 3:45
  not have missed the tail.
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  How then did the tail end up whole and free from its previous
• 3:50
  lifelong partner?
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  SPEAKER_00: Like many other lizards,
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  SPEAKER_00: the desert spiny has the rather handy,
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  SPEAKER_00: or is it taily,
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  SPEAKER_00: ability to shed their tail.
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  Known as caudal autonomy,
• 4:02
  tail dropping is a slick evolutionary adaptation to escape predators.
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  SPEAKER_00: When a predator grabs the trail,
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  the lizard can voluntarily drop or autonomize the tail between vertebrae.
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  Far better to let a predator pull off your tail than to become
• 4:17
  a full-body meal.
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  My initial thought was that the lizard could have sensed the
• 4:22
  car and shed her tail,
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  SPEAKER_00: perhaps hoping to distract the oncoming car,
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  SPEAKER_00: assuming that the lizard thought the car was a predator.
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  I really have no idea what lizards think,
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  but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
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  SPEAKER_00: When I reached out to Bill Bateman,
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: an expert on caudal autonomy,
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  SPEAKER_00: he proposed a different solution.
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  SPEAKER_00: I wonder in this case,
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  SPEAKER_00: though,
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  if the tail was shed as the car hit the lizard and then moved
• 4:47
  away from the lizard.
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  Tails can keep moving for some time after autonomy,
• 4:51
  and it may have bounced away.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly, it's not a good defense against cars."
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  SPEAKER_00: These two road kills exemplify a story found worldwide.
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  SPEAKER_00: Vehicles kill millions upon millions of animals every year,
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  SPEAKER_00: ranging in size from insects to bears.
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  Road kills are a sobering example of the outsized influence
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  humans have on our
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  SPEAKER_00: fellow planetary residents.
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  SPEAKER_00: As a 2024 California report summarized,
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  road kills are under-recognized and under-reported and another
• 5:24
  factor in the
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: ongoing population decline of many species.
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  SPEAKER_00: After studying the bodies of the tarantula and lizard,
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  I tried to gently pry them off the pavement and move them off
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  the road and out of
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  SPEAKER_00: the way of further desecration.
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  SPEAKER_00: I know that my action meant little,
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  but I felt that the gesture of respect was the least I could do
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  to honor the lives
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  SPEAKER_00: that had been taken.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of The Street Smart Naturalist,
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
• 5:56
  a weekly newsletter and podcast focused on the human and
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  natural world around Seattle,
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest,
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: and occasionally the desert.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more details about my books,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: walks and talks,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
• 6:14
  And don't forget to slow down,
• 6:15
  pay attention,
• 6:16
  and enjoy the world around you.