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Extreme Animal Foodies: Incredible Adaptations for Eating in the Wild · Wildly Curious

• 0:43
  Laura: Hello and welcome to For The Love of Nature, a podcast where we tell you everything you need to know about nature and probably more than you wanted to know.
• 0:50
  Laura: I'm Laura.
• 0:51
  Laura: And
• 0:51
  Katy: I'm Katie.
• 0:52
  Katy: And today we're gonna be talking about animals and how they have some incredible adaptations for eating.
• 0:57
  Katy: And we're back season what?
• 1:01
  Katy: Seven.
• 1:01
  Katy: Good Lord.
• 1:02
  Katy: Yes.
• 1:02
  Katy: Season
• 1:03
  Laura: seven.
• 1:03
  Laura: This is, so it's been two full years.
• 1:05
  Laura: This is the start of the third.
• 1:08
  Laura: This
• 1:08
  Katy: is ridiculous.
• 1:10
  Katy: in the best way.
• 1:12
  Katy: It is, but it's also, I know we've talked about this before, like you and I ver are both very much so hurry up, pick new hobbies, hobby jumpers for sure.
• 1:20
  Katy: Yeah.
• 1:20
  Katy: Hobby jumping.
• 1:21
  Katy: Yeah.
• 1:21
  Katy: And, and here we are, start of year three, which is ridiculous.
• 1:24
  Katy: It
• 1:25
  Laura: really is because of the novelty of these episodes.
• 1:27
  Laura: It is.
• 1:28
  Laura: No, they're not.
• 1:28
  Laura: They're different enough that it's holding my attention.
• 1:31
  Laura: Yes, absolutely.
• 1:32
  Laura: Absolutely.
• 1:32
  Laura: Because yeah, at this point I normally would be feeling like I have to continue the hobby because I'm not a quitter, but at the same time, dreading every time you record, that's, that would be what it was.
• 1:44
  Laura: If it was any other hobby.
• 1:44
  Laura: Yeah,
• 1:45
  Katy: no, exactly.
• 1:45
  Katy: Like the guilt, the internal guilt of, yeah, hey, I need to do this.
• 1:49
  Katy: But yeah, nothing nothing.
• 1:51
  Katy: Here we are Here we.
• 1:53
  Katy: Start, start of year three.
• 1:56
  Katy: This is, yeah.
• 1:56
  Katy: Again, ridiculous, but we're happy to be here.
• 1:58
  Katy: Ridiculous.
• 1:59
  Katy: In a good way.
• 1:59
  Katy: Just cuz we're shocked that we're still doing this.
• 2:02
  Laura: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:02
  Laura: Yeah, so like Katie said, we're gonna start things off lightheartedly, lighthearted science.
• 2:07
  Laura: So not too heavy just talking about some animals and some of their weird adaptations for eating.
• 2:12
  Laura: Cuz you know, Katie and I both love animals and we both love food.
• 2:18
  Laura: Food
• 2:18
  Katy: I was just talking, and I think we talked about this on the podcast before, how I, my like worst food experience was definitely by far eating an earthworm.
• 2:26
  Katy: And I just told that story the other day at work and they all, I just got like blank stares.
• 2:31
  Katy: I mean, nobody was shocked.
• 2:33
  Katy: Yeah.
• 2:33
  Katy: I mean, so that, but still everyone's just like, what?
• 2:35
  Katy: I was like cat, it's like the sack and it's so disgusting, but the sacks just don't bite down when you eat earthworms.
• 2:42
  Katy: Folks, my alert.
• 2:45
  Katy: so gross.
• 2:46
  Katy: But some of my, well, I think, well, at least one of my animals for sure, like to eat'em.
• 2:52
  Katy: The other one just maybe by mistake, but, all righty.
• 2:56
  Katy: Did you wanna go first or,
• 3:00
  Laura: yeah, sure.
• 3:00
  Laura: Katie, I'll start So I'm gonna start with woodpeckers.
• 3:05
  Laura: Oh, that's a good one.
• 3:07
  Laura: Yeah I was like, what animal should I talk about?
• 3:09
  Laura: So, of course I'm googling for ideas and then woodpecker showed up.
• 3:11
  Laura: I'm like, oh yes, cuz I talk about actually these at work.
• 3:14
  Laura: Way more often than most people probably do.
• 3:17
  Laura: Yeah.
• 3:17
  Laura: Because we've got so many species of woodpeckers and the woods around work, and we talk about'em a lot.
• 3:22
  Laura: So I learned some new things I had That's always, always my own.
• 3:26
  Laura: Yeah.
• 3:26
  Laura: Oh, for sure.
• 3:27
  Laura: I thought I knew everything about woodpeckers and I, so I thought this would be easy.
• 3:30
  Katy: That's pretty, and then that's pretty
• 3:32
  Laura: lofty that Yeah, that's true.
• 3:34
  Laura: That's true.
• 3:34
  Laura: But I, well, at least I thought I had a pretty good idea about woodpeckers, but turns out everything I knew about them or almost everything was a.
• 3:43
  Laura: Woo.
• 3:44
  Katy: Yeah.
• 3:45
  Katy: So you've just been telling the masses lies.
• 3:47
  Laura: Yeah.
• 3:48
  Laura: I didn't know that everything was debunked last summer.
• 3:51
  Laura: So man, people straight from science's, mouth let me tell you about woodpeckers.
• 3:56
  Laura: So what is a woodpecker?
• 3:58
  Laura: There are 239 species of woodpeckers in the world, 23 of which live in the United States.
• 4:03
  Laura: And around me, I think that there's.
• 4:05
  Laura: Five or six.
• 4:06
  Laura: So they're insanely specialized birds.
• 4:10
  Laura: They have a million adaptations.
• 4:12
  Laura: I'm only gonna be talking about the ones that help them to eat and they've got more than one.
• 4:16
  Laura: But just
• 4:17
  Katy: more than one that helps'em eat?
• 4:19
  Katy: Yes.
• 4:20
  Katy: Okay.
• 4:20
  Laura: Okay.
• 4:20
  Laura: So, you know, woodpecker getting the name for pecking on wood obs they're doing this to eat and for territory and some other things, but just to real quick, put things in perspective.
• 4:31
  Laura: So they have to be adapted to be able to do this.
• 4:34
  Laura: They peck 100 to 300 times per minute or up to 20 times per second which is just crazy.
• 4:44
  Laura: Their head is going towards that tree at 23 feet per second and when their beak hits that tree, Katie, their head experiences 1200 Gs.
• 4:59
  Laura: What which is 14 times more than a human head could.
• 5:05
  Katy: How, how good, how did good did you fact check yourself here?
• 5:08
  Katy: Uh,
• 5:08
  Laura: I, I, mult, multiple sources, man.
• 5:12
  Laura: Yeah.
• 5:12
  Laura: And they do this 12,000 times per day.
• 5:16
  Laura: on average.
• 5:16
  Laura: I mean, I'm sure that's a guesstimate.
• 5:18
  Laura: I
• 5:18
  Katy: was gonna say, cause can you imagine I mean, I know scientists Yeah, but only like you figure out how fast they go and then you have to be the scientist that follows'em around and then time, each time they're like, you know what I mean?
• 5:30
  Katy: And then just calculate it.
• 5:32
  Katy: Calculate it, every.
• 5:33
  Katy: Man.
• 5:34
  Katy: Definitely an intern's job.
• 5:35
  Katy: Totally an intern job.
• 5:36
  Katy: Definitely
• 5:36
  Laura: an intern.
• 5:37
  Laura: So anyway, what's all that pecking for?
• 5:39
  Laura: Well, a lot of it is for food.
• 5:41
  Laura: So their diet, because this is all about eating, so what are they eating?
• 5:44
  Laura: Well, it kind of depends on the woodpecker.
• 5:45
  Laura: But most are insect and seed eaters.
• 5:48
  Laura: Some drink nectar.
• 5:50
  Laura: So the adaptations that they have to do it here are a few.
• 5:55
  Laura: First of all, they're beaks.
• 5:56
  Laura: So like all birds, you can tell what they eat by the way that their beak.
• 6:00
  Laura: So you know, all of you out there, you know, Pelican eats fish cuz it's got a scooping beak and you know that a hummingbird can drink nectar cuz it's got a little tiny pointy beak for getting in flowers.
• 6:10
  Laura: Well, the woodpecker have chisel like beaks for being able to peck.
• 6:14
  Laura: But some cool things about them, and that's unique to Woodpecker, is that they can independently move the upper and lower beak.
• 6:23
  Laura: and that is so that when they peck into the tree to get the insects, their beak doesn't get stuck.
• 6:28
  Laura: which I don't know why I've never thought about that
• 6:31
  Katy: They just, I've never thought stuck.
• 6:32
  Katy: Yeah, like a
• 6:33
  Laura: little dark too.
• 6:34
  Laura: Yeah.
• 6:34
  Laura: Right.
• 6:35
  Laura: So they have like a slow mo video of this online you can look up, but when they stick their beak in, they twist it open to pull it out.
• 6:43
  Laura: They just get enough wiggle room to be.
• 6:45
  Laura: Pull out.
• 6:46
  Katy: Um, so insert so many jokes here.
• 6:49
  Katy: Continue.
• 6:49
  Katy: Yeah, yeah,
• 6:49
  Laura: yeah.
• 6:50
  Laura: Insert twist, pull out So this is a maybe, but I did wanna mention this.
• 6:55
  Laura: There's a, there's ongoing research on woodpecker beaks, possibly the golden fronted woodpecker, has an upper beak that's slightly longer than the lower beak.
• 7:07
  Laura: Okay.
• 7:07
  Laura: Which theoretically could divert the force, those g-force up and over the.
• 7:13
  Laura: What, and then, then the beak itself is made of several parts, the outside's keratin, which is like your fingernails.
• 7:21
  Laura: And they're actually made out of little plates like fingernails that overlap a little bit so they could indent a little when they hit.
• 7:29
  Laura: Underneath it, that's bone.
• 7:30
  Laura: So although the top beak is longer, the bottom beaks bone inside is longer.
• 7:37
  Katy: So So what It has like a, yeah, it has like a recoil, like the top one has more recoil.
• 7:41
  Katy: Yeah, whatever.
• 7:42
  Laura: Whatever doesn't get deflected over the top, then hits the longer bone on the bottom and then is diverted down.
• 7:48
  Katy: How the heck do you test that?
• 7:51
  Laura: Right?
• 7:51
  Laura: So that's that's where at this, it's a pretty recent study.
• 7:54
  Laura: But from the other information that you're gonna hear in a second, not sure if it's actually diverting those forces.
• 8:01
  Laura: Yes.
• 8:02
  Laura: It's for sure they had an x-ray.
• 8:03
  Laura: The beak is like that.
• 8:04
  Laura: Yes.
• 8:04
  Laura: Why?
• 8:05
  Laura: Yes.
• 8:05
  Laura: We're not sure.
• 8:06
  Laura: That's what they're guessing though.
• 8:08
  Laura: But they do have a special head, for all that pecking to be able to get the stuff that they're eating.
• 8:13
  Laura: their head is stiffer and actually like the skull itself, the bone is stiffer because it's made out of different minerals than a lot of other birds skulls, but it's still really thin, so it's, you know, can still fly and it has less fluid around its little tiny brain.
• 8:28
  Katy: It
• 8:29
  Laura: has less fluid.
• 8:30
  Laura: Yeah.
• 8:31
  Laura: So because they don't want it to slosh.
• 8:34
  Laura: Okay, so the only reason why these tiny little guys aren't getting concussions everywhere they.
• 8:38
  Laura: Mostly is because of the less fluid thing around the brain.
• 8:42
  Laura: Their brain can't go anywhere like our
• 8:44
  Katy: brain.
• 8:45
  Katy: We get to think that that has to sloshes.
• 8:47
  Katy: Yeah, but you would still think that that has to
• 8:48
  Laura: hurt.
• 8:49
  Laura: Yeah.
• 8:50
  Laura: Yeah.
• 8:50
  Laura: Okay.
• 8:51
  Laura: So regardless, here's where I've been lied to you my whole life and where I've been telling all the kids up until this week, is that woodpecker have shop shock absorbing.
• 9:01
  Laura: Heads.
• 9:02
  Katy: Well yeah, cuz that's what we were all, yeah, that's, I think that's whenever we were all, well I wouldn't wanna say kids, but that's, that
• 9:07
  Laura: is what we are talking.
• 9:07
  Laura: I think that's always been the theory.
• 9:08
  Laura: Yeah.
• 9:09
  Laura: Because of, there's a lot of adaptations that it has that looks like that that's what it would do.
• 9:14
  Laura: But boom debunked last summer.
• 9:16
  Laura: So this other guy was like, there's no way that that happens.
• 9:19
  Laura: If they had a shock absorbing head, then they would have to be pecking harder and longer because you don't have a shock absorbing hammer.
• 9:26
  Laura: Yeah.
• 9:26
  Laura: That would require you to do more work.
• 9:28
  Laura: Yeah.
• 9:28
  Laura: And the bird doesn't wanna do more work cuz that's more.
• 9:31
  Laura: So he was like, I'm going to make sure that's true, but I don't think that it does.
• 9:37
  Laura: So there's all, he took all these videos of captive woodpecker and he can't see the brain moving inside.
• 9:44
  Laura: Okay.
• 9:45
  Laura: But if it's a shock absorbing head, then the beak and the brain would be moving at different times.
• 9:51
  Laura: Yeah, because that brain would be delayed.
• 9:53
  Laura: Yeah.
• 9:54
  Laura: You can't see the brain, but you can see the eyeball and the eyeball is directly next to the brain in a wood.
• 9:59
  Laura: So the eyeball then theoretically will be moving.
• 10:03
  Laura: In no woodpecker did that happen?
• 10:06
  Laura: so therefore probably not a shock absorbing head.
• 10:09
  Laura: They're just taking that full 1200 Gs
• 10:12
  Katy: So maybe they really are just like dumb birds.
• 10:15
  Katy: They're just like, gotta get the worms.
• 10:16
  Katy: Gotta get the worms.
• 10:17
  Katy: Yeah.
• 10:18
  Laura: So a no fluid around the brain, that helps.
• 10:22
  Laura: But also Heath thinks that the main reason why that they're not getting the concussions is the fact that their brains are 700 times smaller than ours.
• 10:30
  Laura: And something that's tiny can be.
• 10:32
  Laura: Much harder than something big He used the example of a fly hitting a window.
• 10:38
  Laura: Sure.
• 10:38
  Laura: Would absolutely kill us.
• 10:39
  Laura: Yeah.
• 10:39
  Laura: But the fly is like whatever, and keeps flying Yeah.
• 10:42
  Laura: So the woodpecker would've, they did like a computer model and it would have to be hitting at least twice as hard on wood,
• 10:49
  Katy: which is ridiculous.
• 10:50
  Katy: And it would ha okay, it's not hitting 12 Gs or whatever.
• 10:53
  Katy: That's not hard.
• 10:54
  Laura: Right.
• 10:54
  Laura: You know what I mean?
• 10:55
  Laura: Not hard enough on wood.
• 10:56
  Laura: Yeah.
• 10:57
  Laura: The caveat there is if once they start, you know, I have definitely heard them hitting metal and that is enough to give them a concussion.
• 11:03
  Laura: Interesting.
• 11:04
  Laura: They've also found like dead woodpeckers that they've done necropsies on Uhhuh and they've got a lot of proteins in their brains, which happens to humans when we get concussions.
• 11:13
  Laura: Yep.
• 11:13
  Laura: Yep.
• 11:15
  Laura: If it's the same with birds, then actually all woodpecker.
• 11:17
  Laura: They all are, yeah.
• 11:19
  Laura: They're just dealing with it and probably die before it ever becomes a problem.
• 11:22
  Laura: Interesting.
• 11:23
  Laura: So it's just a bunch of brain damaged and woodpeckers out there, which is kind of sad.
• 11:26
  Laura: But, I just couldn't believe it.
• 11:28
  Laura: I was like, what?
• 11:29
  Laura: Their head's not shotgun.
• 11:30
  Laura: Something I've been lied to.
• 11:31
  Laura: They have, well they have like a.
• 11:32
  Laura: Spongy, it looked like a spongy bone.
• 11:35
  Laura: There's all this other stuff.
• 11:36
  Laura: Yeah, so no, so they've got the specialized head, they've got a specialized chisel beak.
• 11:42
  Laura: They have a, an extremely thick inner eyelid so that their eye doesn't pop out of their head on impact.
• 11:53
  Katy: Get bill's eye again, like every dime.
• 11:56
  Katy: Gosh dang
• 11:56
  Laura: it.
• 11:57
  Laura: Not again.
• 11:58
  Laura: So they got an extra thick eyelid.
• 11:59
  Laura: They have strong neck muscles to
• 12:00
  Katy: be able to do that.
• 12:01
  Katy: An extra thick eyelid.
• 12:03
  Laura: Well, I'm sure cuz they probably have to, you know, they have to shoot the eyeball, but they probably have to keep their eyes open to be able to see, so they have that extra eyelid, like that third one that a lot of animals do.
• 12:14
  Laura: Yeah, it just happens to be extra.
• 12:16
  Laura: It's like welding goggles, just.
• 12:19
  Laura: To keep the eyeball inside.
• 12:22
  Katy: Um, poor board bikes.
• 12:24
  Laura: Yeah.
• 12:24
  Laura: They have really strong neck muscles.
• 12:26
  Laura: And then last but not least is the tongue, which is actually why I did this animal.
• 12:30
  Laura: Because I think the tongue alone is the coolest part of the adaptation for eating.
• 12:35
  Laura: So all of the rest was so that it could peck into the tree to get the food.
• 12:39
  Laura: The tongue is how it's actually getting it.
• 12:42
  Laura: The woodpecker tongues are super long.
• 12:45
  Laura: Okay.
• 12:46
  Laura: Like
• 12:47
  Katy: At work I was, it's it's uncomfortably long compared to their body.
• 12:50
  Laura: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 12:50
  Laura: Like Jean and Simmons's has nothing on a woodpecker.
• 12:53
  Laura: Okay.
• 12:54
  Laura: At work I always tell the kids to stick'em out as far as they can and then I'm like, too bad.
• 12:58
  Laura: Woodpecker can do it further.
• 12:59
  Laura: Yeah.
• 13:00
  Laura: And so just like other, Their tongue is attached to a hyoid bone in us.
• 13:06
  Laura: If you pinch your throat, you can kind of feel that hard.
• 13:08
  Laura: Hyoid bone like halfway down your neck, that's what your tongue's attached to.
• 13:12
  Laura: In a woodpecker, the same thing, but that bone is up in their right nostril, okay?
• 13:20
  Laura: Or right above their right nostril.
• 13:23
  Laura: Then the tongue goes.
• 13:25
  Laura: And over their head splits into a V around the back of the head.
• 13:29
  Laura: Mm-hmm.
• 13:30
  Laura: and then joins back once again when it hits the mouth to then go out.
• 13:34
  Laura: Okay.
• 13:34
  Laura: Again, just again like excessive.
• 13:37
  Katy: Yeah.
• 13:38
  Laura: Really.
• 13:39
  Laura: But again, you would think that this could then cushion the head.
• 13:43
  Laura: That's not what it's doing though.
• 13:44
  Laura: It's just storage.
• 13:45
  Laura: It just needs extra storage for that insanely long tongue.
• 13:48
  Laura: It has to start somewhere.
• 13:49
  Laura: So rather than coming up and making loops around the throat, it's just like, screw up.
• 13:53
  Laura: We'll start from around.
• 13:54
  Laura: We'll start up around the nose, come back around the
• 13:56
  Katy: head and then just, but Okay.
• 13:58
  Katy: But from like an evolution, adaptation perspective, like what the heck?
• 14:02
  Laura: You know what I mean?
• 14:03
  Laura: I think it be, seems like it would be much more likely for that bone to migrate down, down than up around the back of the skull to the.
• 14:11
  Katy: Okay.
• 14:12
  Katy: Yeah.
• 14:12
  Katy: That just isn't, yeah, that seems weird to me.
• 14:14
  Katy: It had to have slowly moved up.
• 14:16
  Katy: I don't know, maybe one sneezed too hard one day or it just hit it's head a little too hard and it like jostled.
• 14:23
  Katy: That's all the jarring.
• 14:23
  Katy: Yeah.
• 14:23
  Katy: Just jostled the wrong way.
• 14:25
  Katy: And that's how it got its tongue up and around its head.
• 14:28
  Katy: Yeah.
• 14:28
  Katy: Just oopsy.
• 14:29
  Katy: Whoops.
• 14:29
  Katy: Up Oops.
• 14:31
  Laura: So when their muscles contract the tongue, tongue sticks out.
• 14:34
  Laura: When the muscles relax, the tongue goes back in, and that tongue can be up to a third.
• 14:37
  Laura: The length of that little bird's.
• 14:39
  Laura: Um, with the longest one being the, in, at least in North America is the flicker.
• 14:46
  Laura: It's got a tongue that sticks two inches past its peak, which is pretty long for a bird that's not, you know, right.
• 14:50
  Laura: Yeah.
• 14:51
  Laura: And all that.
• 14:53
  Laura: Why does it even need that tongue is because of its feeding habits.
• 14:56
  Laura: So, remember I said that it can either eat insects, or, seeds sometimes, or nec.
• 15:02
  Laura: So depending on what it's eating, the tongue has a different end or is a little bit different.
• 15:08
  Laura: So the flicker tongue is very much like an ant eater because they specialize in eating ants so they're long and smooth and extra sticky.
• 15:15
  Laura: So they got the longest one cuz they need to stick their tongue down those little anthills like a noodle and just slurp it around.
• 15:53
  Laura: And then, A, something like the Pied or affiliated, has barbs on the end of their tongue.
• 16:00
  Laura: Yeah, that one I knew.
• 16:01
  Laura: So it's not very long.
• 16:02
  Laura: Yeah.
• 16:02
  Laura: It just needs to stick it in a crack of the bark spear, some beetle larva and slurp'em up.
• 16:08
  Laura: And then this yellow belly sap sucker, which doesn't even sound like a real bird.
• 16:12
  Laura: They're drinking nec.
• 16:13
  Laura: So their tongue actually has like tiny little bristles all along the bottom.
• 16:18
  Laura: So it, uses like capillary action and just kind of like sucks up the nectar on their tongue.
• 16:23
  Laura: So, depends, the tongue depends on the diet, but it all comes down to the fact that they're eating some really specialized stuff and they're completely adapted to eat
• 16:32
  Katy: that.
• 16:33
  Katy: My money for the ivory build woodpecker, if it is still around would have to be like a mean You got some adaptations for survival, man.
• 16:39
  Katy: Yeah, right.
• 16:40
  Katy: Like how can go seek skills?
• 16:41
  Katy: One, two, two?
• 16:44
  Katy: They would ha it would have to, I would assume it would be more like affiliated because I mean, one, everybody mistakes.
• 16:50
  Katy: Oh yeah.
• 16:50
  Katy: Ivory bill for affiliated, for those of you who don't know ivory bill woodpeckers have may or may not be completely extinct.
• 17:00
  Katy: but very recently, um, once they finally declared that it was officially extinct, people have been saying that they're spotting'em.
• 17:07
  Katy: And I mean, and it's not just you know, Joe Schmo out there birding.
• 17:10
  Katy: Cuz now once, as soon as they officially announced that they're extinct, like birders want nuts, and they're like, no, no they are not.
• 17:17
  Katy: And so everybody went out and, tried to start looking for it and stuff and so it's, it.
• 17:23
  Katy: Very, very, very similar to Affiliated Woodpecker, which they are.
• 17:26
  Katy: Oh yeah, they look so similar birds.
• 17:28
  Katy: Yeah, they're huge birds too.
• 17:29
  Katy: Well, I mean huge birds for woodpecker.
• 17:31
  Katy: So anyway, so my guess would be I and I, bill Woodpecker are in like southeastern like tech.
• 17:38
  Katy: Like I don't even think they're in it.
• 17:39
  Katy: Texas, quite maybe in some of the swamps there used to be Arkansas, Louisiana, all the way over to Florida.
• 17:44
  Katy: And I think most of the more recent sightings have been, uh, Arkansas and then Florida.
• 17:50
  Laura: Just like remote areas probably.
• 17:51
  Laura: And yeah,
• 17:52
  Katy: very, very remote areas.
• 17:53
  Katy: Yeah, so my money would be on something more like affiliated.
• 17:56
  Laura: Yeah, probably they're eating the larva of the trees
• 17:59
  Katy: and hide, go seek
• 18:01
  Laura: Just, they, just, too many of them got concussions.
• 18:05
  Laura: That's what it ended up happening.
• 18:06
  Laura: Right.
• 18:08
  Laura: Goodness.
• 18:08
  Laura: So yeah, that's the woodpecker.
• 18:09
  Laura: I love'em.
• 18:10
  Laura: And now I'm gonna tell kids the right facts.
• 18:12
  Laura: Now I bet.
• 18:13
  Katy: Um, sorry, kids, if you've heard me give this talk before, it's gonna be a completely new talk because everything I said was wrong.
• 18:20
  Laura: The tongue, it's accurate, but the reasons for it, none of it has to do with shock.
• 18:23
  Laura: None of it absorbing.
• 18:24
  Laura: Yeah, it's all a lie.
• 18:26
  Katy: Oh, it's Laura.
• 18:28
  Katy: Liar, liar to children.
• 18:32
  Katy: All right, so the first animal that I'm gonna talk about in their unique adaptations, Again, this shouldn't be surprising, but I'm gonna talk about a platypus.
• 18:41
  Katy: Yay.
• 18:41
  Katy: I think we've talked about a platypus before, but I don't remember what it was.
• 18:45
  Katy: I,
• 18:46
  Laura: it was me, someone, it was you fighting,
• 18:48
  Katy: right?
• 18:49
  Katy: It was something Oh, okay, okay, okay.
• 18:50
  Katy: Yeah.
• 18:50
  Katy: With its, spurs and the stuff.
• 18:52
  Katy: Spurs, yeah.
• 18:53
  Katy: All right.
• 18:53
  Katy: So we've already, that was what it was.
• 18:54
  Katy: That's what it was.
• 18:55
  Katy: The better one.
• 18:55
  Katy: Yeah.
• 18:56
  Katy: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:56
  Katy: All right.
• 18:57
  Katy: So, the platypus is a strange animal.
• 18:59
  Katy: Morphologic is speaking, of course, it's.
• 19:04
  Katy: I think I was reading a story like when they first found it, and they described it as like they, they really didn't know.
• 19:11
  Katy: And so they cut, they caught one.
• 19:12
  Katy: They sent it back to, to, England to be like, what the heck is this?
• 19:17
  Katy: Because they didn't know what the, I mean, it would, was it a bird?
• 19:19
  Katy: Is it a ma?
• 19:20
  Katy: Yeah.
• 19:20
  Katy: I don't know.
• 19:21
  Katy: A fish.
• 19:21
  Katy: Yeah, it.
• 19:22
  Katy: Don't know what this is.
• 19:23
  Katy: So they're only found in Eastern Australia and they are a semi-aquatic mammal that is known for its duck like bill, which is what we're gonna dive into later.
• 19:32
  Katy: Get it.
• 19:34
  Katy: Uh, they're we feet.
• 19:35
  Katy: And the fact that it is only one of the two only mammals in the world that lay eggs, when they do lay eggs, it's generally between one one to three eggs.
• 19:43
  Katy: So in terms of size, the adult platypus can grow up to about 20 inches in length and weigh.
• 19:49
  Katy: Four and a half pounds.
• 19:51
  Katy: Their web feet can help them be quick swimming, and they can go as fast, upwards of one meter per second at a top speed, which is about 2.2 miles an hour.
• 20:00
  Katy: That's pretty good.
• 20:01
  Katy: Well, I mean, if you get close enough to where one, I mean, the best thing you could do is like briskly walk away.
• 20:09
  Katy: Yeah.
• 20:09
  Katy: Because 2.2 miles an hour for us.
• 20:12
  Katy: That's true.
• 20:13
  Katy: It's not that fast for them.
• 20:14
  Katy: I'm sure that it's like a squirrel.
• 20:16
  Katy: They think they're going really?
• 20:18
  Laura: Why I always think about platypus as being otter sized.
• 20:21
  Laura: And they're not.
• 20:21
  Laura: No,
• 20:22
  Katy: they're, they're so much smaller.
• 20:23
  Katy: They're small.
• 20:23
  Katy: They are very small.
• 20:24
  Katy: Again, that's, I'm not bragging or anything, but I have seen one in the wild and I was the only one of the class to see it besides the professor who was like, Hey, look, Platypus, and I had.
• 20:33
  Katy: Already happened to be looking out the window.
• 20:36
  Katy: Yeah, right at the same, so I got super, super lucky anyway.
• 20:39
  Katy: For the most part, they are found in fresh water streams, creeks, and rivers, as well as in swamps, lakes, lagoons, where they spend most of their time in the water hunting for food.
• 20:47
  Katy: They will occasionally venture into brackish water, but it is very rare.
• 20:52
  Katy: So one of the most fascinating and little known facts about the Platy PU is its ability to detect electric fields.
• 20:58
  Katy: It has sensitive receptors and its bill.
• 21:01
  Katy: So it's not, you know, bill's just not because it got confused and wanted to be a duck.
• 21:05
  Katy: It allows it to locate and capture its prey even in complete darkness.
• 21:11
  Katy: One, they're nocturnal.
• 21:12
  Katy: They're mainly nocturnal.
• 21:13
  Katy: So that's one.
• 21:14
  Katy: Yeah.
• 21:14
  Katy: But not only this, but platypus, when they go into the water, they close their eyes, nose and ears when they swim.
• 21:20
  Katy: That seems
• 21:21
  Laura: ridiculous.
• 21:21
  Laura: Why would we not have the dictating membrane thing?
• 21:24
  Katy: Because that's what they choose to do.
• 21:26
  Katy: Um, So, um, and so, I mean, which is kind of like how my sister swims.
• 21:33
  Katy: That's how she always was as a kid.
• 21:35
  Katy: Yeah.
• 21:35
  Katy: She like closes her nose like eyes.
• 21:37
  Katy: Yeah.
• 21:37
  Katy: See some weirdos.
• 21:39
  Laura: I'm just a platypus.
• 21:40
  Laura: Don't
• 21:40
  Katy: judge me.
• 21:40
  Katy: I mean, to be fair, e evolution speaking, if a platypus is going to do that, it would have to.
• 21:47
  Katy: have some sort of adaptation.
• 21:48
  Katy: Well, right.
• 21:48
  Katy: It's just
• 21:49
  Laura: wandering around.
• 21:49
  Laura: A little blind guy in the water just hoping to find
• 21:52
  fish.
• 21:53
  Katy: Yeah.
• 21:53
  Katy: So, but whatever it's eating.
• 21:54
  Katy: But to be fair, if you're going to be hunting in the water at night, everything's black anyway, so I guess you might as well.
• 22:00
  Katy: So what's the point?
• 22:00
  Katy: Yeah.
• 22:00
  Katy: Close your eyes and hope.
• 22:02
  Katy: Your other senses kick in, I guess.
• 22:04
  Katy: But they mostly hunt small aquatic animals such as crustaceans and fish, which gener, which do generate a weak electric fields as they move through the water.
• 22:14
  Katy: So how do they actually do this?
• 22:16
  Katy: So this unique adaptation allows a Plata push to locate its prey with incredible accuracy, even in the marquiest pitch.
• 22:23
  Katy: Blackwaters does not matter.
• 22:25
  Katy: One, I mean, again, they have their eyes closed, so none of it, it's like a shark,
• 22:28
  Laura: right?
• 22:28
  Laura: Don't shark have this.
• 22:30
  Katy: with the electric?
• 22:31
  Katy: Yeah.
• 22:31
  Katy: To, to some extent.
• 22:32
  Katy: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Katy: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:33
  Katy: Okay.
• 22:33
  Katy: No, they definitely do, but not, I don't, I don't think it's the same.
• 22:36
  Katy: I don't think it's the same setup.
• 22:38
  Katy: Okay.
• 22:39
  Katy: I'll have to, I'll have to look.
• 22:40
  Katy: But scientists believe that the Platy Post is able to detect electric fields as weak as five microvolts, which is about a million times weaker than the electric fields that we can detect with our fingers.
• 22:54
  Katy: Wait,
• 22:54
  Laura: sorry, say that number one more time for me.
• 22:56
  Katy: Five Microvolts, which is about a million times weaker than an electric.
• 23:00
  Katy: Yeah, than what we could feel a hum.
• 23:03
  Katy: Like I guess.
• 23:03
  Katy: Like a hum.
• 23:04
  Katy: Oh gosh.
• 23:04
  Katy: Yeah.
• 23:05
  Katy: So how does it do it?
• 23:06
  Katy: The bill, which is a super sensory organ, is made up of three distinctly different receptor cells that help the platter post detect movements and subtle electric fuels produced by its prey.
• 23:17
  Katy: It has 60,000.
• 23:19
  Katy: Push rod mechanical receptors on the bill that detect changes in pressure and motion, while an additional 40,000 of two different types of electro recep receptors track the electrical signals produced by the muscular contractions of small prey.
• 23:36
  Katy: In comparison, a human adult has anywhere from two to 4,000 taste buds on our tongue, and so they have over a hundred thousand on their tiny little.
• 23:46
  Katy: Of receptors and
• 23:47
  Laura: You know already how sensitive like our fingers are, like the sensitive part of our entire body.
• 23:52
  Laura: Okay.
• 23:52
  Laura: Yeah.
• 23:53
  Laura: And already it's a million times stronger than the most sensitive part of our body.
• 23:57
  Laura: Yep.
• 23:57
  Laura: Yeah.
• 23:58
  Laura: And then do you think that it, if their bills are that sensitive with not just electric, mechanical receptors being any touch at all?
• 24:05
  Laura: Yeah.
• 24:05
  Laura: Like do, how is it not painful for them to just exist?
• 24:09
  Laura: If they bump their beak at all?
• 24:12
  Laura: are they just like if they
• 24:13
  Katy: just go, I mean, not necessarily though, cuz I mean, you, you figure.
• 24:16
  Katy: Like with like our tongue, you know what I mean?
• 24:19
  Katy: Like it, yeah.
• 24:20
  Katy: You know what I mean?
• 24:20
  Katy: It's not, I don't wanna say it's desensitized, but it's used to Yeah.
• 24:24
  Katy: Taking a certain amount of stimuli all the time anyway.
• 24:29
  Katy: You know what I mean?
• 24:29
  Katy: Yeah.
• 24:30
  Katy: Like it's used to it.
• 24:31
  Katy: And so I think to some extent it's just, it's just got used to it.
• 24:35
  Katy: So they will, the platypus, as they're hunting, they will use like, kind of like a side to side motion of its head.
• 24:42
  Katy: And it gauges the direction and distance of its next meal by collecting, combining the flows of the sensory information.
• 24:49
  Katy: So as it's going, it's moving its head side to side, it's collecting all this information, it's making a little map in its head, basic basically beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, and it, and just Well, and it goes side to side, left to right.
• 25:02
  Katy: Yeah.
• 25:02
  Katy: Because the receptors on the platypuses bill are striped from front to back, so they're all lined up in a row.
• 25:09
  Katy: So, and it's one line.
• 25:12
  Katy: Uh, electro receptors, one line of mechanical receptors, one line of electro, one line of mechanical.
• 25:16
  Katy: Wow.
• 25:16
  Katy: And so it, like they alternate.
• 25:18
  Katy: And so it's like their receptors lines are perpendicular to the way it's.
• 25:25
  Katy: Moving its head.
• 25:26
  Katy: So it's getting
• 25:27
  Laura: Its insane.
• 25:27
  Katy: Precision feedback.
• 25:29
  Katy: Yes.
• 25:29
  Katy: Yes.
• 25:29
  Katy: So it, because it's crossing, they're making like crosshairs every time they're feeding it.
• 25:33
  Katy: That's crazy.
• 25:33
  Katy: And what's also cool is this stripe pattern, this back and forth stripe pattern is also matches what's like a semis stripe pattern in their brain as well of like receptors.
• 25:44
  Katy: Yeah.
• 25:44
  Katy: Whoa.
• 25:45
  Katy: Yeah.
• 25:45
  Katy: So it all just literally, Buto.
• 25:48
  Katy: Gosh.
• 25:49
  Katy: Yep.
• 25:49
  Katy: And so these findings all came from a researcher fairly recently called J, or his name is Jack Pedigree.
• 25:56
  Katy: He's an Australian neuroscientist who I believe passed away in 2019.
• 26:00
  Katy: But he proposed that the sensory cortex, there are neurons that sit now, this is talking about the brain.
• 26:07
  Katy: There are neurons that sit on the border of the sh like the stripes in.
• 26:13
  Katy: Wait, hold on.
• 26:14
  Katy: Yeah.
• 26:14
  Katy: In their brain, so talking about their brain, he said that the neurons don't respond to any particular form of sensory information, but rather they are connected to both the electrical receptor and the mechanical receptor neighbors, which is what he called the bimodal neurons.
• 26:31
  Katy: So some bimodal neurons get excited when the electrical and mechanical inputs are close together in time.
• 26:38
  Katy: Some get excited when the input inputs are far apart in time.
• 26:43
  Katy: and they exist this way on a spectrum.
• 26:45
  Katy: So let me put that into me terms.
• 26:49
  Katy: Cause I had to read that like four times when I first was reading it.
• 26:52
  Katy: So what does it mean?
• 26:52
  Katy: All right, so say a fish is relatively far away from a platypus.
• 26:56
  Katy: The electric current that that fish is giving off from as it's moving is from the muscles of its flapping.
• 27:05
  Katy: which can travel at a faster frequency than the mechanical distribute dis disruption, sorry, disruption of the water.
• 27:12
  Katy: So the time between the two inputs that the platypus is getting would be a longer one if it's farther away.
• 27:18
  Katy: Yeah.
• 27:18
  Katy: As the fish swims closer, the signals would obviously get closer and closer together in time.
• 27:24
  Katy: And so, Does that make sense?
• 27:25
  Katy: Like as a, yeah.
• 27:26
  Katy: Yeah.
• 27:27
  Katy: Okay.
• 27:27
  Katy: So if pedigree's, bimodal neurons do exist within the platypus hand, which he has str very strong evidence that it does, the platypus would be able to judge then the distance of its prey based on the time differences between the two signals.
• 27:43
  Katy: And so it's able to estimate how far away it is because of like the length of time.
• 27:50
  Katy: Like it's, they're smart enough to be like, Oh, I can tell how far away it is because of how quick those sensors are coming in.
• 27:59
  Laura: What's so interesting is that this is, from my understanding, I was watching a YouTube video once from this really awesome guy and he was showing how eyes work and our eyes work very similar in the fact that there are levels.
• 28:13
  Laura: Where neurons are firing off and like combinations make this neuron fire and combinations make this.
• 28:18
  Laura: So we are doing that with our eyes.
• 28:21
  Laura: Since they're not using their eyes, they're doing the exact same mechanics but with their boots in
• 28:25
  Katy: place of eyes.
• 28:26
  Katy: Yes.
• 28:27
  Katy: Good.
• 28:27
  Katy: They don't need'em anyway cuz they're in pitch Blackwater at night.
• 28:29
  Katy: No, it's just really
• 28:30
  Laura: cool that it's like they're literally seeing they're, they're
• 28:33
  Katy: with their It's the, the same pathway.
• 28:34
  Katy: Yeah, it's the same pathway.
• 28:36
  Katy: And there are, like you were just saying about humans and there are different sensory symptom.
• 28:39
  Katy: Sensory systems across several different species that would exhibit this sort of same system, but it just happens to be that POTUS or.
• 28:51
  Katy: incredibly accurate for how tiny they are.
• 28:53
  Katy: Yeah.
• 28:54
  Katy: So besides that, in addition to hunting, the platypus also uses its ability to detect electric fields for other activities such as communication and navigation.
• 29:02
  Katy: For example, Platypus is used their electric sense to communicate with each other and detect the presence of other platypuses in the area.
• 29:10
  Katy: So based upon the size, like it can tell size, it can tell distance and all that stuff.
• 29:14
  Katy: And I guess it just, again, kinda like a back can pick up.
• 29:18
  Katy: the size, location, how far away it is and things like that, and kind of make a mental picture of what it is that's coming closest to it.
• 29:24
  Katy: If
• 29:24
  Laura: they're a predator, why don't they have teeth is, I guess because they need space for those neurons.
• 29:30
  Laura: So it's a beak.
• 29:31
  Katy: I mean, I, you figure though that the, where they live, there's much, much bigger animals and so the niche that they're filling, yeah, they wouldn't, if they did have teeth, if they were a bigger carni, Or if they were needed to be a carnivore, they'd probably be a little bit bigger over time.
• 29:50
  Katy: And there's already all those niches that are filled in Australia.
• 29:53
  Katy: And so they do fill a very particular niche and they, I don't wanna say they dominate it, but I mean, yeah.
• 30:00
  Laura: Yeah.
• 30:00
  Laura: It's either that or maybe, yeah.
• 30:01
  Laura: They just need the surface area.
• 30:02
  Laura: Like they couldn't do the same thing with teeth.
• 30:04
  Laura: They need the beak for the surface area, for the neurons.
• 30:07
  Laura: They wouldn't be as efficient hunters if they
• 30:10
  Katy: Yeah, that's, and I mean, I mean, why you.
• 30:13
  Katy: Waste your energy, time building teeth, you know, adapting teeth, you know what I mean?
• 30:18
  Katy: If it's eat, it's eating, it's getting what it needs, you know what I mean?
• 30:20
  Katy: It's gonna put all that into the, the sensory system.
• 30:23
  Katy: So anyway, so the Platapus is really a crazy and unique animal.
• 30:27
  Katy: I mean, besides everything else that makes it interesting and unique, um, the b whole bill thing is just, is just crazy.
• 30:34
  Katy: So, yeah.
• 30:35
  Katy: Yeah.
• 30:36
  Katy: So that's a platy.
• 30:37
  Katy: Fascinating.
• 30:39
  Laura: Okay.
• 30:39
  Laura: My last one also feel like I've heard of this animal, but know nothing about it.
• 30:44
  Laura: They're, again, another animal that has some really cool adaptations that I'm not gonna cover today.
• 30:49
  Laura: We should probably cover in a future episode.
• 30:52
  Laura: I'm just gonna do their eating ones and it's the hagfish.
• 30:56
  Laura: There are 76 species of them.
• 30:58
  Laura: They all live in cold water.
• 30:59
  Laura: Oh, they look
• 31:00
  Katy: like eels.
• 31:00
  Katy: Why that?
• 31:02
  Laura: Oh, I don't know.
• 31:03
  Laura: I you right.
• 31:04
  Laura: I, I don't know.
• 31:05
  Laura: They look like eels, but they're not, they're a species of jawless fish, which is, you know, they're cousins of lamp rays,
• 31:11
  Katy: so now they're disgusting animal
• 31:15
  Laura: They, have a skull but no vertebra, so they're not true vertebrates.
• 31:20
  Laura: They're like an in between animal.
• 31:22
  Laura: They don't really count as any, they're like a proto vertebrate or something like that.
• 31:26
  Laura: They have no true eyes.
• 31:28
  Laura: They're up to a meter.
• 31:30
  Laura: and they just look gross.
• 31:32
  Laura: Dude, if you look
• 31:33
  Katy: a picture, no, they really do.
• 31:34
  Laura: They have loose, skinless skin.
• 31:37
  Laura: Okay.
• 31:38
  Laura: They just, they look pretty phallic.
• 31:41
  Laura: They just, and they're pink to blue, gray in color, just fleshy.
• 31:46
  Laura: It's nasty.
• 31:47
  Katy: It is.
• 31:48
  Katy: No, that's what I'm saying.
• 31:48
  Katy: Like they're one of the worst off animals.
• 31:51
  Katy: So,
• 31:52
  Laura: What do they eat?
• 31:53
  Laura: Because again, their diet always, you know, adaptations are made for that diet, so they eat some fish and crusts and worms, so they're a little bit carnivorous, but mostly they're opportunistic.
• 32:05
  Laura: Sca, veng.
• 32:07
  Laura: Meaning dead stuff.
• 32:08
  Laura: Manna from heaven that falls to
• 32:10
  Katy: the ocean.
• 32:10
  Katy: E Exactly.
• 32:11
  Katy: That's what I say.
• 32:11
  Katy: When you're that gross looking, you just take what you can get.
• 32:15
  Laura: um, they can eat several times their own weight.
• 32:19
  Laura: Uh, jealous.
• 32:20
  Laura: Ugh.
• 32:20
  Laura: And uh, things don't have to be dead for them to start on, which is awful.
• 32:28
  Katy: I remember that.
• 32:28
  Katy: Cuz isn't la aren't lamp prs the same way?
• 32:31
  Laura: I think lamp PR though are like almost more paras.
• 32:34
  Laura: Okay.
• 32:34
  Laura: So true.
• 32:35
  Laura: I think the difference, so the La Lampry, I'm pretty sure latch on like a tourist site do and feed from the
• 32:40
  Katy: outside, which is so disgusting.
• 32:41
  Katy: Hagfish are
• 32:42
  Laura: worse.
• 32:43
  Laura: Okay?
• 32:44
  Laura: Oh no.
• 32:44
  Laura: Listen to this quote.
• 32:45
  Laura: First of all, God bless the scientist that said this.
• 32:50
  Laura: This is from Science Magazine people.
• 32:53
  Laura: Quote, when they come across a dead fish, they snuggle their sinewy bodies into its cavities and stay there writhing blissfully, end quote, because they eat things from the inside out.
• 33:08
  Laura: That's so disgusting.
• 33:09
  Laura: So they're not just holding onto the outside, they burrow in and eat it all and they're snuggling their, I just, the whole thing.
• 33:18
  Laura: It's too good.
• 33:19
  Laura: So how are they adapted to.
• 33:22
  Laura: First of all, they're nightmare tongues.
• 33:25
  Laura: Ugh.
• 33:25
  Laura: Again, listeners, you're just gonna have to google a picture cuz I'm never gonna be able to paint this picture as horrifically as it is.
• 33:31
  Laura: It is, yeah.
• 33:32
  Laura: They have like a rasping tongue actually kind of like mollusks, like snails and slugs a little bit different.
• 33:39
  Laura: So they have two tooth like RAs.
• 33:43
  Laura: on top of their, basically a tongue.
• 33:47
  Laura: They like invert, no evert, invert their mouth, whatever turning inside out.
• 33:53
  Laura: Is it out and on.
• 33:55
  Laura: It are like two lines of li basically teeth that they lick and like fast and hard enough to tear flesh.
• 34:04
  Katy: So first you have the woodpecker with the excellent long tongue.
• 34:09
  Katy: I don't right?
• 34:10
  Laura: I'm so sorry everyone.
• 34:10
  Laura: I don't know what it is with me and tongue.
• 34:12
  Laura: I'm just fascinated.
• 34:16
  Katy: the killer tongues over here now.
• 34:17
  Laura: Yeah.
• 34:18
  Laura: When they pulled back on the tongue.
• 34:21
  Laura: It gets so much worse cuz it's not that they're just licking off the flesh when they come back, when they pull it back in, it pinches together and that's what rips and
• 34:30
  Katy: tears Ah, that's so gross.
• 34:33
  Laura: Yeah.
• 34:34
  Laura: And to get extra leverage cuz they're in the water and it's not like they can hold on to anything they hold onto themselves because they tie themselves in knots to give themselves an extra purchase to rip faster.
• 34:47
  Laura: What So
• 34:49
  Katy: they, they're doing such a fantastic job of licking.
• 34:54
  Katy: They need to hold, they need to hold on about it.
• 34:57
  Katy: They need to hold on, brace yourselves.
• 34:59
  Laura: They lick a hole into the cavity of the living or dead creature.
• 35:04
  Laura: Oh, that they're getting inside of you.
• 35:06
  Laura: It's
• 35:06
  Katy: gotta be like, a partially dead creature.
• 35:10
  Katy: You know what I mean?
• 35:11
  Katy: It can't, it's not com dead.
• 35:12
  Katy: Yeah.
• 35:12
  Katy: Yeah.
• 35:12
  Laura: Completely alive.
• 35:13
  Laura: Split up with this.
• 35:14
  Katy: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 35:15
  Katy: The intense licking.
• 35:18
  Laura: It's not consensual by any means.
• 35:20
  Laura: Not at
• 35:20
  Katy: all.
• 35:21
  Katy: God.
• 35:22
  Katy: So gross.
• 35:23
  Laura: So then now we get to the skin.
• 35:25
  Laura: Okay.
• 35:26
  Laura: So they're loose skin that I mentioned before.
• 35:30
  Laura: helps them to wriggle into spaces less than half their.
• 35:34
  Laura: So, okay, so they can wriggle on in there and they, they just keep getting gross because there's not, there's, they've got so much essentially wiggle room in their skin, the blood under the skin.
• 35:46
  Laura: So they've got like basically a fluid filled.
• 35:50
  Laura: Pouch around their muscles, you know, it's like substance and then just blood and then skin.
• 35:55
  Laura: That's so gross when they wedged themselves in a hole, huh?
• 35:59
  Laura: The blood all gets squeezed like a toothpaste tube to the end of their tails.
• 36:04
  Laura: So scientists said that you can, when you see them, sometimes their tails will be really engorged as they're squeezing through, but it doesn't pop.
• 36:12
  Laura: I don't know why.
• 36:12
  Laura: I guess it just
• 36:13
  Katy: redistributes, but, well, yeah, because I guess it, it's almost like one of those things like, it'll all pull to the back and then as it goes inside it, then there's, yeah, like all the blood thing goes, tubes that you.
• 36:24
  Katy: Yeah.
• 36:24
  Katy: Like yeah.
• 36:26
  Katy: the squeezy tubes
• 36:26
  Laura: things.
• 36:27
  Laura: Yeah.
• 36:27
  Laura: Yeah.
• 36:28
  Laura: The skin also has it's loose for other reasons, like avoiding predators and stuff, but that's how it helps it to eat it by getting inside of the stuff it's
• 36:34
  eating.
• 36:35
  Katy: Gotta be slick if you're gonna go that deep inside something literally
• 36:39
  Laura: um, because it is very slick and slippery.
• 36:41
  Laura: It's actually the thing I'm not gonna talk about today, but I want to so badly is it's, mucus that it can produce another day.
• 36:49
  Laura: Their skin is also nutrient absorbing, which is very useful.
• 36:53
  Laura: So once they once they're inside, so the, the reason they're going inside is because they've got no defense.
• 36:58
  Laura: They have very little defenses.
• 37:00
  Laura: So they'll just hang out, hang out inside the corpse to protect themselves from stuff that else is coming to eat it.
• 37:06
  Laura: So they hang out in there.
• 37:07
  Laura: Once they've eaten more than their body weight, there's still stuff left, so they're not gonna waste it.
• 37:12
  Laura: So their skin just lets nutrients through.
• 37:15
  Laura: So when they can't eat anymore, they just absorb it.
• 37:18
  Laura: The salt concentration of their tissues is the same as the surrounding water.
• 37:21
  Laura: So dissolved nutrients can flow through the skin, but it's very selective.
• 37:26
  Laura: It will only let nutrients in.
• 37:27
  Laura: It's not letting anything like they've done some tests with radio radioactive substances.
• 37:31
  Laura: You can see that that's pretty cool.
• 37:32
  Laura: Skin is like you can come through, not you like bounce.
• 37:36
  Laura: Interesting.
• 37:38
  Laura: And then lastly, these guys, because they are opportunistic scavengers and there actually isn't as much stuff falling to the ocean floor as one would think they're able to go months without eating.
• 37:49
  Laura: That's what I was gonna
• 37:50
  Katy: say.
• 37:50
  Katy: These carcasses are so rare.
• 37:51
  Katy: That's what I was gonna say.
• 37:52
  Katy: Like I, I did know that, that I know they, because they would have to gorge so much.
• 37:57
  Katy: you know what I mean?
• 37:57
  Katy: Like, there has has to be a timeframe of just like, babe, we don't need to eat.
• 38:01
  Katy: Now's
• 38:02
  Laura: like it's feas or famine baby.
• 38:03
  Laura: Yeah.
• 38:04
  Laura: And yeah.
• 38:04
  Laura: So, if you need a little nightmare fuel listener, just google hagfish feeding and it's so gross.
• 38:11
  Laura: That'll do it.
• 38:11
  Laura: Yeah.
• 38:12
  Laura: Yeah.
• 38:12
  Laura: That'll, that'll, that'll give you the nightmares
• 38:15
  Katy: or a, or a la or a lamprey mouth.
• 38:17
  Katy: Or a lamprey mouth.
• 38:18
  Katy: Yeah.
• 38:18
  Katy: Yeah.
• 38:19
  Katy: Just, I mean,
• 38:19
  Laura: they're, they're pretty disgusting, but in a really like train wreck way, like you just, look at'em and learn more about'em.
• 38:27
  Laura: Ugh,
• 38:27
  Katy: it's pretty cool.
• 38:28
  Katy: No, thanks I'm glad that's you.
• 38:31
  Katy: Did that one.
• 38:31
  Katy: That's, that's the ha of fish.
• 38:33
  Katy: Gross.
• 38:34
  Katy: All right, well, my second one, you actually already briefly mentioned in your first one.
• 38:38
  Katy: I'm gonna do the, the pelican.
• 38:40
  Katy: Oh, what are the chances?
• 38:42
  Katy: Right.
• 38:42
  Katy: Well, good.
• 38:43
  Katy: I mean, it's a good where are Yeah, it's bird though too.
• 38:45
  Katy: And, and to be fair, like your default is always going to be big cats or bears.
• 38:50
  Katy: My default always seems to be birds or anything from Australia.
• 38:53
  Katy: Australia.
• 38:53
  Katy: So I mean, yeah, bound to happen here.
• 38:56
  Katy: All right, so pelicans, they are large water birds that are found in warm and tropical.
• 39:01
  Katy: All over the world, there are eight different species of pelicans.
• 39:05
  Katy: They are known for their large bill, of course, and the distinctive throat pouch, which is used for catching prey.
• 39:11
  Katy: But before we get into the details of like their hunting and everything like that, I do wanna give a shout out to a pelican's epic feather do like their hairdo.
• 39:20
  Katy: If you've never seen a pelican, it almost looks like they have like hair feathers.
• 39:28
  Katy: Just look up, look up, like pelican, hairdos.
• 39:31
  Katy: Cause some pelicans have some epic.
• 39:33
  Katy: Epic, yeah.
• 39:34
  Katy: Hairdos or feather dues.
• 39:36
  Katy: So pelicans, they are quite, they're quite large.
• 39:39
  Katy: And if you've ever seen like a group of pelicans flying because they are like, They're not like an albatross is huge, but they're like, wings are heed.
• 39:47
  Katy: Like Yeah, but like pelicans are just like big birds.
• 39:50
  Katy: They look like tiny planes flying.
• 39:51
  Katy: No, they do.
• 39:52
  Katy: They're, they are pretty dang big.
• 39:54
  Katy: Their wingspan can reach up to about nine feet, making them one of the largest flying birds in the world.
• 40:00
  Katy: Yep.
• 40:01
  Katy: They breed in colonies and the male pelican will build a nest out of sticks and debris and then present the nest to the female.
• 40:08
  Katy: Alright.
• 40:09
  Katy: Hey, go.
• 40:09
  Katy: I mean, which makes sense because have a nice place for your woman.
• 40:13
  Katy: I get it.
• 40:14
  Katy: After mating, the female will lay one to three eggs and both parents will take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the chicks.
• 40:21
  Katy: And.
• 40:22
  Katy: That's that.
• 40:23
  Katy: All right, so let's go back to their throat pouch.
• 40:26
  Laura: Yeah.
• 40:26
  Laura: I feel like, uh, there's like videos all over the internet of Pelicans just
• 40:29
  Katy: trying to eat everything.
• 40:30
  Katy: Of everything.
• 40:31
  Katy: Yeah.
• 40:31
  Katy: Which is, I mean, if you haven't seen pelicans, eat stuff yet, just, just YouTube.
• 40:35
  Katy: It's just, yeah.
• 40:36
  Katy: Like Laura said, just all kinds of weird things that.
• 40:39
  Katy: again, it's a bird.
• 40:40
  Katy: They're not, if it fits, I'll eat it.
• 40:42
  Katy: Yeah, they're not birds just aren't always the most intelligent creatures out there.
• 40:47
  Katy: So they're found in many different habitats, including mostly the times you'll see'em in coastal areas, freshwater, large freshwater lakes, and sometimes rivers.
• 40:55
  Katy: They are also found in many different countries, including the us, Mexico, south America, Africa, and Australia.
• 41:01
  Katy: Now I did, I will say, one disclaimer, I came across.
• 41:05
  Katy: Sources out there that claim that pelicans cannot be found in South America, which is completely false cuz there's an entire species called the Peruvian Pelican.
• 41:13
  Katy: So yeah.
• 41:14
  Katy: What?
• 41:14
  Katy: But I'm talking like several, several sources that said that they can't be found in South America.
• 41:19
  Katy: So weird.
• 41:21
  Katy: But, so if anywhere, if you're traveling to any one of those areas, you know, they're not found in anywhere really cool.
• 41:27
  Katy: They typically will send like stay.
• 41:30
  Katy: Tropic area and then just a little bit farther north, you'll be able to see pelicans of your coastal areas for the most part.
• 41:36
  Katy: Or like the gray lakes.
• 41:37
  Katy: So like the larger lakes.
• 41:38
  Katy: Yeah.
• 41:39
  Katy: All right, so the hunting techniques and their adaptation they have developed for the eating is their most distinct characteristic, and that's that throat pouch, a k a, the goer pouch, which they use to catch fish.
• 41:51
  Katy: Now there are several birds which have that glr pouch, and they have adapted that skin pouch for whatever they need.
• 41:58
  Katy: Some blow it up like a balloon.
• 42:00
  Katy: Some use it to look beautiful, to retract a mate.
• 42:02
  Katy: Some use it to hold food.
• 42:04
  Katy: Babies just transporting it back to the nest, and some even use it as like an air.
• 42:08
  Katy: Okay.
• 42:09
  Katy: So a pelican, most of the time, out of all those ones that I listed, they'll mostly use it to catch fish.
• 42:14
  Katy: And then a few of the species will actively use it to attract mate or attract mates.
• 42:20
  Katy: There's one, I believe it was in California, that like cha like drastically changes the color of its skin from like yellow to red.
• 42:27
  Katy: So it's like a complete change.
• 42:29
  Katy: Yeah.
• 42:29
  Katy: Depending on like breeding season or a non-reading season, the pouch is located under their bill and can expand a hold up to three gallons of.
• 42:37
  Katy: now in size comparison, that would be like us carrying around a gallon of milk in our mouth.
• 42:45
  Katy: So, which is a, a don't try it.
• 42:47
  Katy: People don't try it.
• 42:48
  Katy: Don't try it.
• 42:48
  Katy: But that is a lot.
• 42:49
  Katy: When a pelican spots a fish, it'll dive into the water.
• 42:52
  Katy: Open up its bottom.
• 42:54
  Katy: Bill scoop up the fish and the.
• 42:57
  Katy: And then the water drains out through the sides of the building.
• 43:00
  Katy: Like tilt its head down a little bit, spits out all the wall.
• 43:03
  Katy: It doesn't spit, it just lets it drain all out, like contracts.
• 43:07
  Katy: It, it just kinda like drool
• 43:09
  Laura: it.
• 43:09
  Laura: I just, I've done it.
• 43:10
  Laura: Like I, I've definitely seen kids do that before you just Right.
• 43:14
  Katy: Yeah.
• 43:14
  Katy: Straight it through your teeth.
• 43:15
  Katy: Right.
• 43:16
  Katy: And that's basically what a, pelican does.
• 43:18
  Katy: It drains the water out through the size of the bill.
• 43:20
  Katy: Leaving Omar was doing it just today with grape.
• 43:22
  Katy: Ex, exactly.
• 43:24
  Katy: All they have left in there is the fish that are trapped in the pouch and that's it.
• 43:29
  Katy: And they just eat it.
• 43:30
  Katy: So it's kind of like reverse.
• 43:33
  Katy: Reverse Jenga.
• 43:35
  Laura: Go with fish or like, they've just been like, screw precision, man.
• 43:38
  Laura: I just gotta get the generic area of water.
• 43:41
  Laura: Close
• 43:41
  Katy: enough.
• 43:42
  Katy: Yeah, the fish do close enough.
• 43:44
  Katy: Yeah.
• 43:44
  Katy: Every pe like
• 43:45
  Laura: fish are like trying to be like right on the money and pelicans are like,
• 43:48
  Katy: whatever.
• 43:49
  Katy: Yeah.
• 43:50
  Katy: call close enough.
• 43:52
  Katy: Um, so every pelican will hunt and use that pouch differently.
• 43:57
  Katy: Some like the brown pelican will dive, like, dive into the water or dive most of the way into the water and scoop while others like, can you imagine the
• 44:03
  Laura: re.
• 44:04
  Laura: Like, huh.
• 44:07
  Laura: Uh,
• 44:07
  Katy: water's freaking heavy.
• 44:08
  Katy: No, it is three gallons worth of it.
• 44:10
  Katy: Yeah.
• 44:11
  Katy: Again, that three pounds a gallon, 24 pounds.
• 44:13
  Katy: I mean, again, that would be like us carrying around.
• 44:15
  Katy: I mean, imagine having that our cheeks could expand to hold a gallon of water, which is the
• 44:20
  Laura: force like even of dragging your closed hand through the water, like much less.
• 44:25
  Laura: Carrying it.
• 44:25
  Katy: Yeah, like a A bag.
• 44:27
  Katy: A bag.
• 44:28
  Katy: An IKEA bag.
• 44:29
  Katy: Cuz that's, that's pretty big.
• 44:30
  Katy: You know what I mean?
• 44:31
  Katy: The Ikea, like shopping bags.
• 44:33
  Katy: Yeah.
• 44:33
  Katy: That's essentially what it is.
• 44:34
  Laura: Just diving it, like just scoop water as fast as you can with one of those.
• 44:38
  Laura: That would be so heavy.
• 44:39
  Laura: It
• 44:39
  Katy: would be heavy.
• 44:40
  Katy: Yeah.
• 44:41
  Katy: So Brown Cal Pelicans, they mostly dive and scoop while other ones like the American White Pelican, they will just kind of like float and then just, So there's like, it seems more efficient.
• 44:52
  Katy: Yeah.
• 44:52
  Katy: And so there's like, I guess brown pelicans are like, let's do this.
• 44:55
  Katy: And just like head dive.
• 44:57
  Katy: Yeah.
• 44:58
  Katy: Straight in junkies of, of pelicans, and American white pelicans are like, you know what, let's just take the calmer route.
• 45:04
  Katy: Let's just kind of float.
• 45:07
  Katy: They'll eventually come to me.
• 45:09
  Katy: We're good.
• 45:10
  Katy: Now while the pelicans, they have the pouch adaptation for catching, uh, it would be a useless tool if it can't do the job.
• 45:19
  Katy: Like, I mean yeah, I can see, but Well, might they get a hole in
• 45:21
  Laura: it?
• 45:22
  Laura: I guess how It depends on how substantial of a hole.
• 45:24
  Laura: Yeah.
• 45:24
  Katy: I mean, this is it's
• 45:26
  Laura: like a leaky balloon.
• 45:28
  Katy: Just a tiny little, so if they had just that scoop but they couldn't catch the fish, it'd be pretty useless.
• 45:34
  Katy: Right.
• 45:35
  Katy: So Pelicans, they are known for their cooperative hunting techniques where a group of pelicans work together to herd the fish under like a tight fish ball, kind of like what the dolphins are, the things do, and then they take time turns going down and scooping up.
• 45:50
  Katy: And so they heard all the fish together, like chase, whether they go under the water and.
• 45:55
  Katy: I don't scare them into a ball.
• 45:56
  Katy: Kind of hurt'em into a ball and then they take turns scooping.
• 45:59
  Katy: So that'll get enough.
• 46:01
  Katy: Um, so anyway, so those, that's the pelican.
• 46:05
  Katy: All righty guys.
• 46:07
  Katy: Well, uh, that is all about.
• 46:10
  Katy: The animals and the insane, adaptations that they have gained from eating.
• 46:14
  Katy: Make sure that you, follow us on Twitter and support us on Patreon
• 46:19
  Laura: and join us next week, you know, new season.
• 46:21
  Laura: We've got plenty more exciting stuff to do now that you know more than you wanted to know.
• 46:26
  Laura: Your curiosity should be peaked and hopefully you care just a little bit more.
• 46:31
  Laura: Talk to y'all next week.
• 46:32
  Laura: Bye.