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Animals Evolved to Eat Deadly Food · Be Amazed

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: In nature, food rarely comes easily.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some forms of prey out there have developed pretty terrifying defense techniques to avoid becoming dinner.
• 0:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: But apparently, nature's most hardcore animals just don't care.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: From creatures with an appetite for the poisonous and the spiky to some unexpected fans of all things bony and rocky, get ready for the animals that have evolved to eat deadly food.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turtles may be one of the ocean's cutest animals, but these reptiles feed on a surprisingly dangerous diet.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And no, I'm not talking about oceanic plastic.
• 0:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: The leatherback turtle found in the Atlantic Pacific and Indian oceans regularly eats stinging jellyfish.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: even occasionally including the box jellyfish, which possesses some of the most potent venom in the animal kingdom.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: The tentacles of the box jellyfish are covered in tiny toxin-filled cells called nematosis, and any poor fish that comes into contact with the deadly tentacles are usually instantly stunned, killed, and eventually eaten.
• 1:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: In humans, the box jelly sting causes excruciating pain on the point of contact, leading to a drop in blood pressure, difficulty breathing, and even heart attacks.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Leatherback turtles meanwhile have no such problem, thanks to their thick skin, particularly around their beaks, and an armored shell, these turtles are able to munch on jellyfish without having to worry about any flailing tentacles.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: To provide extra safety while dinner is on the way down, hundreds of small, spiny projections called papilai are lined all the way from the turtle's throat down to their gut.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe turtles aren't so cute after all.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: These thick, resilient semi-soft prongs help to grip the jellyfish and give the turtles a soft-a-guess and added cushion from any stings.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: All stings considered even the deadliest jellies end up as a pretty safe snack for leather back turtles.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Getting hungry yet?
• 2:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Luckily, we've got tons of episodes for you to sink your teeth into, so don't forget to follow my podcast and leave a five star rating for dessert.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, where were we?
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recently, a new species of the shipworm, Mollisk was discovered in the Philippines known by the locals as the Antingua, with a super weird trait.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Typically, shipworms, which usually grow between eight and eighteen inches, are known for knowing into wood found in water, which has caused sailors some serious trouble over the years.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Fistino III, these pesky mollus chewed through and sank at least two of Christopher Columbus's ships as they ventured for the Americas.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: But incredibly, the newly discovered species of shipworm munches through something even more indigestible than wood.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: There go to dish is limestone rock, which you can see in the cover image of this episode.
• 3:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, obviously, human-seeding rocks would be an awful idea, given rocks into gestibility and choking and laceration hazards as they slide down your throat.
• 3:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's worth noting that other animals are known to swallow rocks to aid with digestion.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some birds such as ostriches, swallow rocks, and store them in a part of their stomach called the gizzard.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: The muscular gizzard contracts grinding the rocks against their stomach contents to break down their meals, making up for their lack of teeth.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: But even these brave birds aren't capable of actually digesting rocks.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And even if they were able to break down limestone, for example, it's made up of calcium carbonate, a chemical compound that would likely cause stomach pains, nausea, and vomiting if ingested in large quantities.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But bizarrely, Antingua shipworms not only burrow into limestone,
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: They ingested too.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The mollusks have thousands of specially adapted flat teeth designed to help grind down the limestone into digestible chunks before eventually pooping it out as sand.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, nobody knows why the worms do this as they don't appear to gain any nutritional value from the limestone instead getting their nourishment from bacteria found in their gills.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever they're reasoning, if you have some ant and gauze over for dinner, forget key lime pie.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: These guys are hungry for limestone.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just let me know if you get a chance to ask them exactly why.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you enjoy food with a bit of crunch to it, you'd probably get along great with the bearded vulture.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: These birds found throughout Southern Europe, Africa and Western Asia have a diet that is seventy to ninety percent consisting of bones.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, bearded vultures crave bone, particularly the marrow inside due to its high fat content.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've learned to crack large bones by carrying them up a dizzy-five-hundred feet in the air before dropping them on the rocks below.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: The vultures then extract that hearty nutritional marrow from the bone shards.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's more, these vultures are even capable of swallowing bones whole to ensure they get their fix of marrow.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: While canines chew through the odd bit of cartilage here and there, bones are indigestable for pretty much every other animal.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Luckily, these ballsy birds have evolved stomach acid with a pH of an extremely corrosive zero point seven.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their sour stomachs not only help with dissolving bones, but also protect these birds and other vultures from harmful bacteria, like salmonella, that are found on rotting animal carcasses that vultures scavenge.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Impressive, but remember, they still have to swallow the bones in the first place.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a good reason no other animals regularly do this.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's the risk of choking or the threat of piercing internal organs with sharp edges, bone-eating sounds like a miserable meal.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not that bearded vultures care, their elastic throat is able to stretch to help swallow remains of all shapes and sizes.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: The inside wall of the throat is also thicker than those of other animals, preventing any piercing from sharp edges.
• 6:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: as they say in France, Bon appétit.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just vultures who have a taste for bones.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: In a bizarre, unexpected twist, it may surprise you to learn that despite usually being herbivores, giraffes also feed on carcasses, supplying their diet with calcium and phosphorus, to grow and strengthen their enormous skeleton.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: While these deceptively hardcore African mammals don't actually swallow bones, they chew and lick them,
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: using their saliva to dissolve all the nutrients they need.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure if that's less or more disturbing than just gobbling the bones up.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you thought bones were brutal, wait until you hear about your raps other favorite treat, the deadly occasion treat.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Over time this treat has developed a devilish defense in an attempt to restrain animals from grazing on them.
• 7:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: The razor sharp thorns of this terrifying tree can be four inches long and unless an animal is looking for a facial acupuncture, they're usually best to stay away.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, gerabs have a sticky solution.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Using their thick lips and long, flexible tongue, coated in gloopy protective saliva, the giraffe can remove most of the sharp thorns from a keshia branches before munching away at the twigs and leaves.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the battle doesn't stop there.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: The keshatri releases bitter tasting tannins when eaten, which can bind to digestive enzymes, affecting an animal's ability to gain nutrition from food, and proving toxic in large quantities.
• 8:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: In nineteen ninety three thousand envelopes died after heavily grazing on occasion trees in South Africa.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: So what about the giraffes?
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you remember I told you they were hardcore?
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their saliva contains tan and binding proteins, effectively neutralizing the tan and toxic effects.
• 8:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: The only problem is, all the saliva these massive mammals produce can lead to gallons of giraffe drool.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately though, drool isn't the only gross bodily fluid that provides a vital yet weird use for giraffes.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their urine has some even stranger functions.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Revolting as it may seem, male giraffes are willing to swallow a mouthful of a potential mates pee to determine whether she's fertile or not.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: According a non-fertile female giraffe with no chance of producing offspring would waste too much energy, so it's quicker to just swim a mouthful of pee to test for ovulation.
• 9:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: And they say Chivalry is dead.
• 9:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Giraffes aren't the only animals that can't get enough of the sharp stuff, be it urine or bones.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: The menacingly named Wulfield loves to munch on sea urchins.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you didn't know sea urchins are completely covered in protective spines, often laced with a venomous kick to prevent themselves from becoming someone's lunch.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: For Wulfield's roaming the waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, those spines don't scare them off.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're able to eat these spiky meals thanks in part to their large puffy lips which soften the blow of the spines allowing their powerful jaws to crunch through urchants tough outer layer to the meaty goodness inside.
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is all made easier thanks to their huge intimidating teeth which also line their throat for extra grip and crushing power.
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those bizarre throat teeth also provide an easy way to turn urchin spines, venomous or, otherwise, and a little more than a fine powder on the way down avoiding any nasty surprises when digesting them.
• 10:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, considering this creature eats spiky death spheres for fun, you'd better make sure no part of you ever ends up anywhere near a wolf-eels mouth.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you think of a tasty snack, I'm sure Newt's aren't near the top of your list.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: The North American garter snake on the other hand frequently feeds on nudes, especially when it comes to the rough skin kind variety.
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, not only does this amphibian sound unpleasant to eat, it's also an extremely dangerous snack.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: This noxious nude harbors a poison known as tetrodotoxin or TTX in the glands on its neck.
• 10:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just one rough-skinned nude can contain up to fifteen milligrams of the stuff, and it only takes one milligrams of the toxin to kill a human.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: TTX binds to membranes inside bodily cells called sodium channels, interfering with the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: This holds the ability to control nerve impulses to perform actions like contracting muscles.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: When consumed, even small amounts of TTX can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, and extreme paralysis.
• 11:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'd think that would be enough to put the gutsy garter snakes off, but you'd be wrong.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: So how are they able to enjoy this for bitten snack?
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, to combat these toxins, the shape of the snake's sodium channel has changed over time through evolution.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: This way, TTX does not bind to their sodium channels as easily, building up the snake's resistance to the toxin.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It would take around one hundred milligrams of TTX to be considered deadly for garter snakes, which is the equivalent of seven whole nudes in a row.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: So unless these slithering serpents overindulge on a rough-skinned, nute buffet, they'll be fine eating these toxic treats.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: But nudes aren't the only deadly snack that can take a snake's fancy.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some serpents have been seen eating, well, themselves.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you heard that right.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: As snakes are cold-blooded animals, they're not capable of controlling their body temperature through things like sweating or panting.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a snake looking to top up its tan can quickly overheat affecting the way a snake's brain functions and leading to confusion.
• 12:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, they occasionally become excessively hungry and mistake their own flicking tails for a prey animal.
• 12:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: If they don't cool down and come to their senses, snakes can actually eat themselves to death, either through blood loss, infection, or suffocation.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Snakes aren't the only animals to develop an appetite for deadly amphibians.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: The recali, otherwise called the water rat, is known for making a meal out of poisonous cane toads.
• 12:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: If a human were to chow down on one of these toads, the ingested poison, called bufotoxin, would initially cause vomiting and diarrhea, and within an hour the symptoms would intensify.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The heart may begin to beat irregularly, failing to pump blood around the body possibly proving fatal.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: As the conniving cane toad was only introduced to Australia in the last century, many native animals there haven't adapted to these poisonous powers either.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: For example, since the introduction of cane toads in the nineteen thirties, the population of yellow spotted monitored lizards, a predator of the cane toads, has dropped by ninety percent due to fatal feasting on the poisonous toads.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: But unlike these lizards, Australia's native Rekali water rats won't go down without a fight, or a feast.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: They've devised an ingenious method to snack on the devilish toads without the deadly side effects.
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm just warning you, this is about to get pretty hardcore.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: To feast, the water rats flip the tote over before slicing the chest open with their teeth.
• 14:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: They do this to target the least poisonous parts of the cane toads, removing and eating the heart and liver.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sort of like nature's version of Operation.
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: This way the water rats avoid ingesting too much bufotoxin, which is mostly found around the necklands and on the skin.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: That takes the saying, eat your heart out to the next level.
• 14:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not all the dangerous meals of nature look hazardous at first glance.
• 14:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take the burden palm tree.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: This floor of found in the depths of the Malaysian rainforest doesn't look too dangerous, and it doesn't look too different from a regular palm tree.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: But beware!
• 14:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The potent nectar of this tree's flowers is capable of intoxicating humans, though not quite in the same way as we've seen so far.
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The flowers of the Burton Palm naturally contain populations of yeast, and this yeast prevents the Palm's nectar, which ends up possessing a three point eight percent alcohol concentration, the same as a light beer.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: The pen-tailed tree shrew, a cute little mammal, has a love for this boozy nectar, and despite only weighing a few pounds, these little guys drink the equivalent adjusted for their tiny body weight of ten glasses of wine per night.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: If a human were to consume as much alcohol as the pen-tailed shrew every night, it would quickly cause liver disease, heart failure, and alcohol poisoning.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Possibly, even death.
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The screws are unperturbed, however, and seek out the pungent yeasty nectar due to its high sugar levels.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You'd think the boozy behavior of pentaled tree screws may lead to them stumbling around the jungle, or wishfully texting their crush.
• 15:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, the small screws show no ill effects from ingesting the alcoholic nectar, not even appearing to get drunk.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: So, what's their secret?
• 16:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's down to the screws ability to effectively modify alcohol toxins into less toxic substances.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: The tree shrew converts much of the alcohol they ingest into a non-intoxicating byproduct of alcohol called ethyl-glucaroneid or ETG, which ends up in there for her.
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turns out they're much more effective at this than other mammals like us.
• 16:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: As such, the hairs of the pen-tailed tree shrew contain thirty times the amount of ETG that would be present in a human who drank alcohol excessively.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And here we were thinking, us humans had the monopoly on drinking booze.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The boozey pen-tailed tree shrew.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now that's a real party animal.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: How do you like your eggs in the morning?
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: With a kiss?
• 16:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Boyled scrambled?
• 16:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Probably not swallowed whole.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, unless you're an egg-eating snake,
• 16:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, these toothless reptiles feed exclusively on eggs, swallowing their meals whole even when the egg is four to five times wider than the snake's mouth.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: The snake's jaws are not fused together like ours instead being connected by an elastic ligament, allowing their mouth to open one hundred fifty degrees.
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's then a slow process of forcing their stretchy body over the egg.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: While this process is going on, snakes use a movable opening in their mouth called a glottis to breathe, which can be maneuvered around to enable airflow despite the huge mouthful.
• 17:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: After the meal has been successfully swallowed, egg eating snakes rely on strong muscles and bony protrusions in their spine, which puncture and crush the egg shell, releasing the contents for digestion.
• 17:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Man, I'm struggling to breathe just thinking about it.
• 17:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Similar to snakes, frogs also swallow their food whole, but rather than eggs they usually favor insects and other small prey.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most frogs have no teeth either, but rather than widening their jaws, they strangely use their eyes to help swallow food.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: When the prey is in the frog's mouth, their eyes retract, providing additional force to guide the unfortunate victim down the frog's throat.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks to the fact that frogs can breathe through their skin, choking is rarely an issue, so a big meal is always on the cards.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in the case that a frog does fully swallow something too big, or something that proves poisonous or troublesome, the amphibians have developed an unbelievable response.
• 18:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Forget vomiting, frogs, and toads for that matter, eject their whole stomach.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their front feet wipe away the unwanted prey before they swallow their stomach back up again, and all because they don't have the ability to vomit in a conventional sense.
• 18:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've never considered it before, but man.
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Am I glad we humans can throw up and not have to go through what frogs do?
• 18:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's not just reptiles and amphibians with the unique tools to handle their big big appetites.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: The black swallower fish is found at depths of over two point five miles in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 19:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And is the true king of all you can eat buffas.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Food is so scarce in the deep sea that when the black swallower eats, it has to feast.
• 19:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: With large flexible jaws, it swallows large fish hole into a stomach so stretchy that it can ingest food twice its own size, and ten times its way.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Even still, its eyes can sometimes be larger than its belly, and that's saying something.
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Occasionally, determine prey can bite or pierce holes through the black swallower's stretchy yet then stomach, killing the greedy fish in the process.
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: What's more if they eat a meal too large, the fish inside the stomach can decompose before the swallower has had time to digest it.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The gas released from the decomposition can force the black swallower to float up to the ocean's surface where it dies due to the severe changes in pressure upon its body.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes it really does seem like evolution, or God, whatever floats your boat, only half planned out the bodies of some of the creatures on earth, and even lower depths than where the black swallower benches, live giant tube worms.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: These creatures somehow survive a long hydrothermal vents, eight thousand feet below the Pacific Ocean's surface.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: These vents spurred out sea water heated by hot magma, the released fluid reaching a spicy seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
• 20:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fortunately, for the giant two worms, the near-freezing seawater and the deep ocean quickly cools the temperature of the fluid ejected from the hydrothermal vent before it can damage them.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's one thing to not get burnt, but what exactly can something eat at such depths?
• 20:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, giant two worms have no mouth and don't technically eat it all.
• 20:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Instead, they have what's called a trophosome, an organ filled with bacteria which provide them with energy through a truly bizarre means.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: The hydrothermal vents around which the worms live emit a high concentration of hydrogen sulfide.
• 21:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: This gas is toxic to most animals, including humans.
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Exposure even to low levels of hydrogen sulfide will burn your eyes, and if breathe in can cause headaches, memory loss, and severe nausea.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Luckily for the two worms, the bacteria inside their trophosomes use the hydrogen sulfide as an energy source through a process called chemosynthesis.
• 21:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: This typically converts hydrogen sulfide, water, and carbon dioxide into glucose, which the tube worm then feeds off.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: With such a gassy diet, maybe it's best that there are eight thousand feet below the surface.
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: With their lovable looks, you'd never expect that koalas indulge a deadly diet.
• 21:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's true, and it all comes down to eucalyptus.
• 21:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: For most animals, feasting on the leaves of the eucalyptus tree isn't a risk worth taking.
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: The leaves of the plant contain eucalyptal, a substance that in its pure form is deadly to humans and doses as small as three point five milliliters.
• 22:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Considering that koalas get through about five hundred grams of these leaves per day, you'd hope that they've evolved to ingest the toxic leaves.
• 22:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And technically, they have
• 22:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: but it's a little more complicated and frankly bizarre than that.
• 22:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Koala's possess an unusually large presence of detoxifying enzymes, useful gut bacteria, and a very well-adapted digestive system, allowing them to break down and flush out eucalyptal toxins that would normally be deadly to other animals.
• 22:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: However, in a head scratching twist, Baby Koala's aren't actually born with this ability to safely digest, you collect this, despite it being almost all they eat.
• 22:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Before the Baby Koala can feast on you collectus leaves, they need to feed on pap.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds fine, but wait.
• 23:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Pap is actually poop from Mommy Koala, but not annual poop.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is a mustier form of excrement, which is vital to the Joey's development, containing the crucial gut bacteria required for safely digesting Eucalyptus.
• 23:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: And you thought human baby food was gross.
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's the desert's scalding heat, or the lack of food and water, only the strongest animals survive.
• 23:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Just take the camel.
• 23:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not only are these stubborn guys able to withstand the ferocious rays of the desert's sun, they've evolved to find food where there doesn't seem to be any.
• 23:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's food there, as long as you, like a camel, are happy eating viciously spiky cacti.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The threat of having six inch thorns piercing around your face is enough to put most animals off messing with these succulents, but camels are perfectly suited to tackle such a prickly plant.
• 24:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their mouths are full of cone-shaped hoppily, somewhat like those found in leatherback turtles.
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: For camels, the resilient flexible hoppily prevent most of the cacti spines from piercing the more tender parts of their mouth.
• 24:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: While eating chunks of cacti, camels orient them at the side of their mouth, rather than trying to swallow them straight down, making the sharp spines much more manageable.
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Still, it's a lot of work, and if an opportunity for an easier meal comes along, the camel will take full advantage of it.
• 24:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, though, not all animals have evolved such ingenious cactus-eating techniques.
• 24:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take cats, for example, despite having no good reason for trying,
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: countless cats have been witnessed by their owners nibbling on cacti.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you ever happen to see your little feline friends sampling a cactus, don't be too alarmed.
• 25:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're most likely bored, testing out new textures for fun.
• 25:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: But to be safe, try to make sure your cat has plenty of sources of mental stimulation available, and keep your cacti out of reach just to make sure your cute kitty with camel-like aspirations doesn't get a spiky, meow fool.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Which of these animals deadly diets shocked you the most?
• 25:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I confess that the whole pap story made me lose my appetite.
• 25:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening, see you next time.