Creature FeatureKatie is hiding under her bed from the fireworks, so here's one of her favorite summer episodes: Top ways animals stay cool in the heat, your results may vary! From gular fluttering to a stinky cool down method, bee fans and mucus cocoons, there are all sorts of ways to stay chill in the summer heat!
Guests: Ella Hubber, Tom Lum, and Caroline Roper
Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/197ka55555R0ejpocBcPs4je_ZKXen1aDLbwqcwfw9rY/edit?usp=sharing
Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, and today on the show Top Ways to Stay Cool. It's a little warm out there, so here's some advice from animals on how to stay cool. From fluttering to fanning to self burial. These hot critters have some cool tips that you probably don't want to try at home. Discover this more as we answer the angel question what kind of potato has a secret surprise inside? Joining me today to beat the heat are the hosts of Let's Learn Everything, Tom, Caroline and Ello. Welcome.
Hello, Hello.
How are you guys doing where you're living? How what's the weather like?
It's kind of chilly where I'm at right now. Ray, Yeah, it's pretty miserable here.
It is scorching here. So you guys can both have a lovely time, is what I will say. I'm so happy for you guys. That's great. No, it is literatingly hot Europe in the US.
Europe is burning right now because of you know, global warming and stuff. So we've escaped in the UK s for now, for now, for now, no one will escape in the end, the.
Most ominous way to start an episode.
Wow, yeah, I'm I'm in Italy, So it's not great. Right now, we're due for a I guess it's called a reverse cyclone, which I suppose means that the air just stops moving, which sounds bad and apparently it is. So that's going to be interesting.
Here. It's going to be like forty degrees celsiu's plus I don't know if it's in paraheity.
Sorry, it's bad. Somewhere near near the hundreds, I think. Yeah, it's not good. It's not great. Time you're on on the East coast in the US. It's pretty pretty hot.
There and it gets muggy, which is the worst part.
Yeah, we're actually going to talk about why humidity sucks so hard, scientific reasons why humidity is the worst, because we're going to talk about how animals cool off. And you may or may not want to try some of these. You probably won't.
But I'm so burying myself in a.
Hole anyway, I was gonna say, this is one of our favorite things is being able to bring weird scientific facts to party small talk. And this is like, this is the best because anytime everyone's like, oh, in that weather, I can be like, well, have you tried.
That's not going to get annoying every time, because every time it's hot at a party, you're just like, well, if you tried wiggling your body alone, you will.
For some of the advice that you may gather from this podcast, I can't guarantee it will help with uh making new acquaintances, but you know you can try. So I'm going to talk a lot about evaporative cooling in this episode, so a brief explanation of how it works. When water evaporates, molecular bonds break, So this is a process that requires energy. So energy is actually sucked out of the surface where the water was and is released into the air or water vapor This is why when we sweat and we are outside and the sweat evaporates, we feel a little better. So sweating, actually, even though it's gross, helps cool us down. It provides a very important service to our bodies and not overheating.
That makes sense.
But some animals don't sweat, right.
That's right. Some animals don't sweat, and so they have to come up with other options. But sometimes they still use evaporative cooling. Just not through sweat. Oh yeah, and actually this is why humidity sucks so bad for us. Is bad when it's humid, you still sweat. You might think like, well, I get sweatier in humidity, and it's not true. You're not getting sweatier. It's just that your sweat is not evaporating. So there's so much water in the air already the water has reached a saturturation point and it's harder for new water to evaporate. So high humidity can actually be quite dangerous. So at lower temperatures, high humidity can overheat you faster because weat is no longer as effective at cooling you down. So that is why sort of the wet bulb temperature, where you're looking at how the temperature in human conditions actually affect the human body, is so important, and why being in a really humid environment can be actually quite dangerous in terms of.
So okay, that makes sense. Just so, wet bulb is the term for that, and it's what that means how it actually feels to humans.
Well, wet bulb.
Is the way you measure temperature in high humidity by measuring the evaporation sort of from like a wet cloth cover bulb, So it's measuring how it feels to you as a human versus what the actual temperature is.
Yet, so I want to say there's a lot there's always discourse online between Americans and British people around this time of year when it starts to get hot in the UK and they're like, that's not hot. You don't know what hot is because I live in Arizona or whatever. But it's really really huge.
Yeah yeah, kay.
It does rain all the time, it rains constantly. It's hot and wet, so I'm guessing the are wet ball temperature is very high and you can feel it. It's horrible.
Yeah.
I for one, I'm not really in favor of gatekeeping when people get heats, you know. I think it's just bad when the weather's really hot and people are suffering, and I don't know that it's really you know, because it's like, well, there are many factors too that affect whether you're suffering like you're I think also like the architecture in the UK of architecture in Arizona in terms of how the buildings are more designed to help you out in the winter not in the summer.
Exactly. So you also don't have we don't have air conditioning.
That's a huge thing, right, Like, because if you're in Arizona and you're like in air conditioning all the time, even if it's like one hundred and five outs outside, you're gonna be okay indoors, Whereas like if you cannot get relief from the heat and it's like only ninety seven degrees out, but you just can't get any relief, you can still get heat stroke.
Yeah, that makes wow perfect. I have literally I had known about the concept of like evaporation and sweat how that cools. I was like, yeah, I know that, and I was familiar with the concept of humility. I'd never put those two together to explain why it's so miserable when it's muggy. That makes perfect sense.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we just it's a you know, sweat is a wonderful, wonderful gift we have been given.
To be able to cool off. I would like what be referred to as a gift before it actually is.
So, as you guys noted earlier, some animals don't sweat like birds, So how do you birds cool down? Have you ever thought about it?
Oh? Uh?
Bird bath, burpath bird bath.
That is actually correct. One way that they cooled down is taking little bird baths, so dunking in water. Lots of animals do it, We do it, and it is a very good way to benefit both from being inside the water and like if the water temperature is lower than the temperature outside of the water, it can lower your body temperature. Or once you exit the water and that water evaporate, you will down.
It's like manual sweat sweat.
Store bought sweat for when you don't sweat enough. So, yeah, can you guys think about any other ways you think that birds might cool themselves off.
They've got really big wings, maybe they could use them like a fan.
They actually can just a life. Some birds will raise their wings up and as if they're about to fly, but they just kind of keep them stretched and it lets air flow in. And this is another thing that you'll see often is animals trying to increase sort of the contact with cool surfaces or the cool air with large amounts of surface area. Because if you have a large surface area with a lot of blood vessels running through it, and you make sure that that is all contacting the cool air, all of that blood flow will get cooled down. So the higher this amount of surface area and the amount of blood vessels that are close to the surface, the faster that blood will cool down.
So elephants airs and things like that, like that's why it is so big. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.
In fact, we're going to talk about elephants in some of their Oh, but that that is exactly the same mechanism that is used.
Wow.
There is also a way that they can use their beaks with the same principles. So some burn have large beaks like two cans and two cans take advantage of all that surface area, so they have blood flow through their beak, and they can actually increase the flow of blood going through their beaks and weather allowing war blood to cool down.
That's is that like it's not a conscious thing, right, That's it's like when our blood vessels expand in.
Yes, exactly, but it would be funny of like did you remember to flow blood? Right? It's like when you get really self conscious about blinking and breathing weight? Has this always been something I have to worry about?
I feel really dumb, but I feel like I thought that beaks were just like nails just like extra. Yeah, I didn't have any innovation or blood flow.
Parts of the beaks don't have blood flows. So that's not a that's not a dumb thing to think. It's just some parts of the beak have some blood flow in it, and then know there may be parts of the beak that don't have as much a blood flow or innervation.
I always thought of it like the same way like cats claws and dog's claws and things like that, you don't want to trim because there is some blood flow in that.
Yeah, no, it is. It is similar to that exactly. And so speaking of cats and dogs, birds can pant like it.
I bet that's so cute.
It's it is very cute. But they even have one more technique. So in addition to panting, they can do something called golar fluttering, which is looking at it is very cute and kind of funny. So like the bird's mouth will just be hanging open, and then you'll see its throat just kind of fluttering. Oh, just kind of rapidly inflating and deflating.
Oh my goodness, wait, is that one of the pictures that we've got?
Yeah, I have a owl, a little owl doing it. I think I also through a video.
I think I've seen birds do this and bit and thought, yes, that they were doing some kind of vocalization that I couldn't hear something.
The vocalization is I'm too hord.
Yeah, yeah, that's what they're communicating.
Yeah.
Yes, many bird species do this, from pelicans to owls. So golar just means throat related and fluttering is fluttering, So golar fluttering just means throat jiggling. I don't know why they didn't call it that.
Yeah, I agree.
So how does that actually help them cool down?
I mean, so it is the same mechanism as dog panting. So with dog panting, can you, like, given what we've learned about evaporative cooling, can you get how that helps a dog cool down?
Is it evaporating off their tongue faster?
Yeah, yes, So as they pant, the moisture in their mouths, their tongue in their throat come into contact with the air and can evaporate, and so they get this cool down effect. And it is the same thing that's happening with these birds with golar fluttering. The moisture in the throat is coming into contact with air. Kind of that is being pumped in like fluttering kind of bellows action. And this is actually much faster than the panting of a dog. Golar fluttering can get up to speeds of six hundred muscle movements per minute versus that of around two hundred when it comes to panting.
Whoa wow, So.
Don't skip throat day. But yeah, the difference between golar fluttering and panting is just in what muscles are used. Panting uses muscles in the thoractic cavity, whereas gol or fluttering uses upper throat muscles.
I'm interesting, just amazed at all of these adaptations for temperature, for keeping cool, which I feel like we all take for granted or as or think of it maybe as like a human thing, but like it's so clearly important to thermal regulation and stuff like that for these animals.
That's just it's just so cool to think that all these things have adapted for it must be very important.
Yes, yes, exactly. And I mean birds are like us. They are warm blooded, meaning that they are able to thermal regulate internally. It doesn't mean their blood is warmer than say a reptile, but you know, so they aren't they even though they are little dinosaurs, they are just like us in terms of being warm budding. So we've talked about evaporative cooling and how you can pant, you can do a little bird bath. What do you think you would do to really cool down when there's no water available?
Oh?
Oh ah? What else is available?
Is that airflow? Air?
Very good question? What might be available? Well, storks and vultures have come up with a very creative and a little bit gross to be horrified by.
This is like like blood or something.
No, not quite. It is more like poop and pea.
That's fine, Some poop and pea just.
You know themselves.
That's that's keeping it in the family perfect, not.
Like after after winning a big sports game dunking gatorade on someone else. So there, some species of stork and vultures will relieve themselves on their own legs, and that will allow the evaporative cooling effect of the running sort of poop pee combination to cool them down. It evaporates and lowers their body temperature.
Hey, I guess yeah, Well.
It's kind of like peeing in the pool to like warm yourself up, except in reverse. And of course I don't do that.
Yeah.
No, never, I don't want to the pool. Never. Never, I'm suddenly not going to admit to it.
Yeah, in vulture species, this poop actually doubles believe it or not as a cleansing agent.
I feel incorrect.
I mean, I believe you, Katie, but it doesn't feel right.
It doesn't feel right. But it has uric acid in it, which helps kill off bacteria on their legs. So after a long day of standing knee deep in carrying that uric acid can actually help clear off kill off some of that bacteria. So it is it's a triple threat. They get the satisfaction of relieving themselves, they can cool down, and they kill bacteria that may be on their legs. So what's not to love.
About this animal advice we're going to talk about in this episode. This is one that you definitely should not be following. Please no.
Though, Yeah, and on purel doubles.
Both There you go, I would have been really useful advice during the pandemic. Just I I cannot, I cannot get good conscience say that urine is actually hand sanitizer. It's not. Don't do that.
And also it sounds like in this situation it's just less gross than the stuff they're stepping in, So it's sort of like lesser of two evils almost. But and then also there is yeah, there.
Is this thing online that where people say, like urine is sterile. It's not, oh yeah, it's yeah, no, it's got So don't do anything. Don't don't drink that stuff if you were thinking about it.
None taking we see unless you're unless you're like an ancient European trying to make purple dot out of snails in urine, I don't really see what the use of getting urine on yourself is.
You know what, if that is your thing, then you do ye.
Sure, well, we are gonna take a quick break while I allow everyone to take an actual bathroom break so nobody feels tempted to pee on themselves. But when we come back. When we come back, we will talk about how some of the biggest and some of the smallest animals stay cool surprisingly in similar ways. Who so, both animals great and small must keep cool. So let's compare the cooling methods of one of the world's largest animals, the elephant, with one of the smallest, the be So one of you, I think maybe Carolina or Ella mentioned that they think that perhaps elephants use their ears.
Yeah, yeah, that was me, Caroline.
Yes, good job. I'm sorry for giving Ella any.
I'll take it for your audience who hasn't heard us before. Caroline and Caroline and I will basically sound like the same person for this episode, and that's fine.
It's I think especially hard for Americans because it's like, oh, British accents. I just assume you're very smart, and everyone is the same, maybe three to four actors.
That it's true.
I am Benedict Combatch, I knew it. So.
Yes, elephants do have those huge ears, and just like we talked about terms of surface area, those are great for cooling down. You have. It's perfect right, because you have a thin layer of skin. The blood vessels are close to the surface, so if you get airflow, it will help those blood vessels cool down and then you circulate that blood into the rest of your body. And of course, like the flapping of the years, they are able to do that wonderful ear flapping that we associate with elephants. Oh yeah, it helps them cool down.
This is really telling on the kind of nerd I am. But I was like, oh, it's like a like a heat sink and like a computer. It's like the radiator. Right, yes, you get you get the place where all the all the hot can go and then radiate out.
Different we're covering all our bases. NERD has a place here except for well no I won't I won't even gate keep but you know who you are. So but yeah, so they have this incredibly fast uh rate of blood flow from their ears into their body. In addition to that, they elephants are smart and they've got these wonderful trunks. So they will use these trunks to blast cool mud or water.
They're water cooling likes okay, yes, yes, just like a computer.
They are elephants exactly like a computer in this way. So yeah, they they like to hit themselves behind the ears and that will help them really cool down quite efficiently. They also will cover themselves in mud and take dust baths, uh and of course take regular baths, and that will help. And the dust and the mud baths are especially helpful because they actually will cover themselves in like a layer of mud, which helps protect them from the sun and it helps protect them from parasites. So it's so small, Yeah, and this is actually something that we can learn from them in terms of them using water behind their ears and cooling down their ears. As a human, you can take advantage of this same surface area method. So areas on your body where there are large blood vessels close to the surface of the skin will cool your whole body down more quickly. So you want to target areas like your neck, your hands and feet, your growing area, and under your arms. So putting some water, some ice or air full of there will help you cool down more efficiently. When you use ice, it's always a good idea to put something between the ice and your skin. You don't want, like if it's so cold it hurts, that's not good. Like you don't want to like injure yourself by by being too cold there. But yeah, if you're really hot and you target those areas your neck, hands, feet, growin area, and under the arms are really good places to help cool you down.
I just want to say I've never been more aware of different areas of my body sweating right now, I kind of like thinking about all of I'm like stuck to my chair and I'm thinking about it.
I mean, it is interesting because like for me, like I'm not gonna say which, but some of the areas that I listed do get very sweaty. And one of the reasons, like you may have a lot of sweat glands there, is that it is a great area for you too cool down.
That makes so much sense.
Yeah, and of course, uh, elephants also just fan their ears like big old giant fans and it's adorable. It's so cute. But what you may not have known is that honey bees actually use a similar method in terms of.
That wings fit.
Yes, they're wings. So honey bees are use social species, meaning that they have a hierarchical colony where members have breeding or non breeding roles, and their behavior is oft and around ensuring the success of the whole colony. So when it gets hot, the worker bees, which pretty much are all females, we'll do a few things that some of them will beat their wings like little fan units and just be like little living fans that help cool down the colony. Gosh, and when you have a bunch of them all like one bee doesn't seem like it could do much, but when you have a bunch of them, it actually generates a good amount of airflow.
Wow, so cool, so good.
They can kind of thing right as well, like they can warm up, uh and like hive by I don't think.
Yeah, they yes, by getting close and vibrating. In fact, there are some bees who are the often the prey of giant Asian hornets. Oh yeah, surround the hornets and vibrate and they actually cook the hornet alive. And that's but that's why I like it's people were freaking out about the giant murder hornets in North America because our bees don't have this defense mechanism because they didn't with the giant hornets. So the bees that co evolved with the hornets do actually have more defense mechanisms. But yeah, so they they can as they can sort of jiggle and vibrate to warm the colony up, warm each other up, or cook something alive. They can also fly their wings like very very rapidly and cool down.
Do you haven't like that? And do you have a number on the kind of beats per minute?
You know you'd think that would be something i'd have. I'm gonna say a lot.
Yeah, it makes me think cod perfect. Yeah, Like you know hummingbirds where they move so fast you can't see them.
Like yes, Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned hummingbirds because hummingbird flight and beef flight actually share some things in terms of how their really rapid wing movement creates these little air vortices that help give them lyft, and so they are kind of similar in the way that their wings give them lift in this very unique way where you know, you have slow fires where you have lift that you know kind of like how a plane where you have air sort of flowing under the wing. But yeah, bees and hummingbirds generate these like little little vortexes, vortices that generate this.
This is also interesting can because we had on a previous episode, I like very quickly dropped a fact that like, while bees aren't like amazing at thermoregulating themselves, that hives generally can stay at like a stable temperature. And I had to like it was like a quick rapid fact as part of like the bigger topic, and I never got to look into it, and so now I feel like I got to got to learn that, which is amazing.
Yeah. Yeah, so they it's really interesting how they kind of they do a bunch of things, like each each worker will kind of do different tasks depending on need. Some workers will actually kind of leave the colony just to make sure there's like fewer bodies in there so it doesn't warm up so much. Pretty much, It's like when you leave a summer party and you're just like, I can't warm in here. You could sort of reframe that as you being really altruistic, like I would stay, but I care about you all too. They also will send out, uh, some some of the workers will go out and be basically living water jugs. They drink and drink and drink, come back into the colony and they just sort of spray it everywhere. They let their sisters drink some of it, they'll recurgitate it for their sisters, and then they'll also spray it over the colony and then that helps cool things down. Then if you especially when you have the combination of the little the little fans and the water in the colony, then you have evaporative cooling again. And so it's you know, it's really amazing how they all kind of come together to create.
This so cool.
Just what I think I've learned everything about bees, like ten new cool things about them. Yeah, but I guess so most bees are solitary bees, so I guess that they don't have this system, they just have to hide in the shade.
Yeah, I mean they might use they might fan their wings as well to cool themselves down. I think of yes, definitely getting into cooler places. There are a lot of bee species that are like they still build like sort of rudimentary little burrows.
Yeah.
They yeah, because like there are there are a lot of native bee species. We're talking about honey bees, but native bee species that have very very different styles of living where they don't live in colonies and they live and reproduce on their own. They may live in loose sort of like there may be a bunch of them that live kind of in close quarters, but they're not use social. They don't actually work together. They just kind of live in similar areas and typically can get along all right, Okay, but yeah, it is It is very interesting. I think that once you have this use social system, you start to get really weird and complex behaviors because of that, the sort of the way that they give different tasks, and by give different tasks, often that either means through sort of pheromone signaling or you have just the maturation of the female. So from from hatching to death, Like a different aged female will do different behaviors. And that's one way to kind of like make sure that the tasks are kind of separated out the workers.
In this hot weather. I would like to remind everyone listening. But you can get for your for your gardens. You can get little solitary bee units with little holes in that they can come and stay in when.
They're yes, carpenter. Bees love that. They love it. Yes, And and you can also get like they're like these waterstones where you can just it just like is a small amount of water collected on it, but then that helps bees, it helps other insects like rehydrate. So there're lots of fun little things you can use in your garden to make it a nice place for for bees. Yeah, and uh, you know, I I I think it's a it is. I always love it when we kind of make an effort to create housing for bees and for a little insects. It's just so cute. It's like, uh, they couldn't be more different from us, but we're like, would you like a little.
My parents. I got one for my parents' garden, and I go and check on it when I see them, And you can see like all the different holes getting filled up like they block them over there. It's so cute.
I got I got one for my mom, and I don't know if I accidentally got a haunted one, but nobody wants to go in.
There because there's a ghosts.
Yeah, Victorian ghost bees in there. Well, we are going to take a quick break. Do you an exorcism for those Victorian ghost get that. We are going to talk about a somewhat equally ghulish topic, which is burying yourself to escape the heat. So one way to escape the heat is going underground. Lots of animals who live in climates where temperatures fluctuate wildly from being really cold at night to being really hot during the day will burrow, which helps them stay cool in the heat and warm when the temperatures drop. So that's why, I mean, one of the reasons we have so many burrowing animals, especially in in environments that either get really cold or really warm or both.
So like mia cats and those that makes so much sense. I'm merely caul about it.
Yeah, exactly. Some animals actually just skip the whole construction aspect of burrows, like Mirkess will have these really nicely constructed interlocking burrows, and some just are like e, I can't be bothered, and then they can't bury themselves.
Oh that is brilliant.
The Saharan sand vipers will undulate their bodies until they are buried under the sand, which not only cools them down but gives them an incredible hiding spot to lurk until an unlucky victim walks by. They leave just their eyes exposed. Their eyes are like covered by these horn like projections that keeps the sand from getting eyes and they wait and they just kind of rest there. They're nice and cool and unbothered, and then if prey walks by, they can just grab it.
Can I say this? You've shared with this? They are so funny looking. They're like little eyes, so like they look really cross eyed and weird, and their heads are so huge. I love them.
They're very doofy looking. I in general love snakes, and I understand that vipers can sometimes freak people out. But of the vipers, I feel like this one is one of the goofiest looking ones. So it's hard hard for me to be scared of it, especially since there is one that there's a video of one that buries itself in sprinkles. I shared that with you guys, so I will give you the next minute or two to just enjoy that.
God.
I have God.
I need that in my life immediately.
You guys all have the linkage.
So I guess if you just give them anything to bury themselves in, they will is the idea.
Sand, anything that shares sort of the general physical properties of sand, and they will bury themselves.
That's amazing.
I love watching them bury themselves. I was gonna say, you wiggle, isn't it.
With the sprinkles you can really see like how the undulating motion works, like how it's kind of Yeah, it looks so cool if you.
It's like when you're in a ball pit as a little kid and you kind of like scoot your way down to the bottom of the ball and they wait for some other kid walk by and then grab them. Yeah, that's what the sand viper does.
If you like these sand vipers, I'll say there is another. There's a sand burying snake called the Kenyan sandboa, which are really good beginner snake pets to have. I've always wanted one. They're super cute and if you hold them, they're very cute in your hand. They don't mind being handled. They they'll like put their press the little heads in between the gaps and your fingers because they're trying to bury themselves in the sand, so they're like wiggle through. It's super cute.
I think I think I saw one of those and the owner got them. You know, those like turtle sandboxes. Was that just an American thing or did everyone does? Everyone knowing? Yeah, like plastic turtle sand boxes. I had one as a kid. They were a big thing, and she got a mini one for her little sandbog And you just see this little sandburg go in and like bury itself inside the little turtle sand box. That's thepe cutest thing I've ever seen.
So sweet, Oh my goodness. I also love this is a different animal, but I love watching I don't know what species of spider is, but there's a spider species that like uses his little legs and will like scoop sand over its head and then it'll like lie really flat. I don't think it's for calling itself down. I think it is for camouflage, but like watching it do it, I'm just like so fascinated by it. You know, they're just like scoopoooop scoopy, and then they'll be like, oh, I'm not quite I'm not quite right, yew, and then they'll really flat.
I'm glad we're all pro snake here, because if someone was afraid of snakes and then saw this video of a snake hiding in sprinkles, they'd be like, now they're in my ice cream tune.
No, I loved it. The sixth Side sand Spider. That's a spider that kind of lowers itself into sand and kind of scoop sand over itself. Yeah.
Yeah, that one.
Cute, so fun. Probably not cute if you if you accidentally, like come upon it and you just see legs sticking out of the sand.
But you know what, cute, that's never gonna be. We live, I'm in England. That's not a situation I have to worry about.
You know.
That's fine.
I used to get scorpions in my room because I lived in southern California and we lived next to a canyon. So that was that was fun.
Toopping out that One't like that, No, no, no, no, no.
The real the real reason the Americans won the Revolutions. We just told the bish that we have scorpions and stuff like.
Okay, I don't want to do with that.
So now I want to talk about an animal that buries itself, but its process is far more complicated, kind of grosser and really interesting. So this thing looks like a snake, but it very much is not a snake. This is the West African lungfish. It is an eel like fish that is four hundred million years old in terms of its species. It pre dates the dinosaurs.
Holy, it hit a point in evolution and it was like, I'm perfect, I'm good.
Yeah, never change yourself.
Rather reason, there is no reason to evolve if you continue to sex. If you continue to sex, she is successfully reproduce, and there's no evolutionary pressures on you to change. There's no reason for you to change. That's why we have both species that are very new and species that are very old. Evolution only happens when there's some kind of pressure on you to evolve because whatever is whatever is happening for you, your environment's changed, or things are just not working for you, or there's sexual selection pressures. But for these guys, they're cool with it, they're fine, they're doing good. They are very strange looking to. Their fins are sort of modified in the in that they kind of look like just these long like spaghetti arms and legs.
I thought might be like a little whiskery things, but no, Yeah, that's what they look like.
The sins they use that.
Kind of what does not do anything.
Well, kind of help some flop around on land. I'll explain why they're on land.
There are a lungfish.
So they're a lungfish. They do have lungs. They can both use their gills to collect oxygen from the water and lungs to breathe air. It has to breathe actually every thirty minutes or so, otherwise the gills are more supplementary.
Yeah. Yeah, so this is African lung In evolution, lungfish are ones that they came out of the water, right, and then they evolved back into the water because they were like No, that's what I think we learned that one. That's like the evolutionary process.
I mean, why they have both.
Yeah, I think they probably yes, I'm trying to remember if this is the one, but I think this might be because they Yeah, so they developed lungs. They were able to breathe air, but they ended up really not making the full transition to being a terrestrial animal.
Like, yeah, I'm not about this land thing.
You know. An animal who even did that more are cetaceans, whales, dolphins. They were fully terrestrial, like uh, you know, walking on land and everything, full on legs, and then they're like, you know what, not for me, and then started to become more and more aquatic through many, many iterations of evolution until they completely ditched the lands.
Brings me so much joy.
At one point in their evolutionary history, they kind of looked like a weird little deer thing whoa quite a deer, but like this little thing that kind of had like deer like legs. It didn't have hooves, but yeah, they looked like weird little bambies. And then they just turned into a whale.
All I'm picturing now is like a weird little dead thing with human feet because like, as soon as you say it hooves, that's exactly like that's what my brain goes to, you know, horrifying.
Look up the evolutionary history of the whale, and for some of the stages in its evolutionary history, you're not too far off. There was a line version that looked like an otter mixed with an alligator. It's weird. It gets very strange. Yeah, So back to the African lungfish. They live in environments where water sources can dry up, which is bad if you're a fish. So they have evolved to be able to go up on land and bury themselves in mud. So during dry seasons they will burrow into the mud and of course they can breathe air, so they're okay in that sense, but they aren't really gonna do well if they dry out. They need, you know, they need to have this like protective layer of mucus. If they completely desiccate and dry out, they will die. So they bury themselves and then go into a state of estivations. So estivation is just like hibernation. It's just during warm and dry hot seasons during like the summer, versus during cold seasons like the winter. So they will actually cover themselves in mucus which dries into a cocoon and they will lower their metabolic rate and live off of their own muscle tissues. Now, usually when we are living off our own tissues, we kind of go off of fat stores. This is true of a lot of animals too, that hibernate or estivate. These actually eat consume their muscle tissue, and they can stay in the state of lowered metabolism inside their little mucous cocoon under the ground for around a year.
Oh so cool, yea, so freaking cool.
You know, I'm seeing why they stuck around for so long. They got and they got this sleep mode. That's amazing.
Wow. I mean, don't oh, I feel like when the summers get really hot, it's just like I want to be a little lungfish myself in mud.
I want to wake up and.
Myself in a cocoon of mucus and just like peace out.
You know, like not even when it's too hot, just like any minor inconvenience to my life. But like I just like go and hang out in a little muddy. Thank you, it's not too much.
I'm going in my mud.
That's so cool.
So actually, if you if you dig these guys up, which you shouldn't because it messes with them. So but but I mean, I guess unless you're gonna eat it. I actually don't know if people eat these. They don't seem very good like to eat.
But once you get past cocoon, it's actually pretty good.
Well, yeah, I've actually shared with you a clip of some people digging one of these up and it looks like a weird potato they find in the ground. How they actually peel it and then like this fish plops out.
It's encasing, it looks like paper.
I was like, it's really thick.
I was very shocked to I thought this was a hoax, and I had to do some serious research to sure.
Have you ever seen those videos on TikTok of people like pouring pepsi and mentoes into a hole and then pulling out a fish. Yeah, that's what it feels like. Yeah, obviously, but that's it feels like this.
Yes, I've seen those. Those are almost entirely hoaxes or like, uh yeah, like we're like some fish kind of like pops out of the ground. These are the only ones I know of that will actually do stuff.
It's like a fish.
It's so it's so as well, and it's so the area. That's so crazy.
Yeah. Yeah, that's why that cocoon is so important because it helps seal in their moisture. It actually also it's living tissue that can keep bacteria out and protect the lungs. Oh my ash. Once it becomes the rainy season, the rain will soak into the ground these the soil will become mud, the fish will rehydrate, and they just kind of like come out of the ground like nothing, no big deal, Like nothing happens.
Yeah, that's gonna be My question was like, hey, that's a good security, macha, but how are you going to get out? But it's like a built in like timer kind of a thing that like it detects. It is also like those those little capsules that have like a foam dinosaur in them and that you hydrate and then they they yeah.
Yeah, apparently most people do occasionally eat lungfish, but well people avoid it because they don't taste that good.
That's not basically what I thought. Something that makes a mucus cocoon doesn't inherently sound delicious. Yeah, but I could be wrong. I've been wrong before about like there are certain animals where it's like there's no way anyone touches this thing. But yeah, people eat it and they're like, yeah, it's delicious, like really maybe sure, Yeah, maybe I'm the one.
Maybe I'm the one.
With the weird I'm the weird one.
Yeah, but yeah, these I think these one win the prize for the most extreme method I'm avoiding, right, it's Yeah, it is just unexpected because the little satchel that that little mucus pouch that they're in, really it's like about the size and shape of a potat you know, it doesn't seem like a whole eel like fish should be in there. But he just peels it like it's an orange, and then the blong fish is it pops out very annoyed, very frustrating.
Yeah. I think it looks like he's peeling like a horn colp, Like that's what it looks like to me.
Yeah.
I think one of the things that fascinates you about this is just like the evolutionary steps to get to this point, Like, you know, it's not like one lungfish went down and suddenly buried and covered itself in mucus, Like what were the steps before this that ultimately led to this quite extreme adaptation. I think that's so interesting.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, if you think about it, I mean the behavior of a lot of mucus production probably was beneficial before they were able to make these cocoons, because the more mucus you create the more sort of protected you are against drying out. And so probably like over time, the fish that were able to produce more mucus, we're the ones that ended up surviving until you get to the point where, like they produce so much mucus that even when they get completely dried out, they're like okay, And so then you get to this this point, I mean this is they're not completely unique in being able to do something like this, right, Like, there are species of mollusks molluscs like land snails and slugs that can actually sort of coat themselves in a mucus to protect themselves even when sort of like dried out. Frogs I think also will sometimes bury themselves and cover themselves in a protective mucus layer. So mucus is used by a lot of animals. Is sort of just like you know, a suit of armor when it comes to drying out.
Always talk about mucus. Like the sweat thing before is now making me think about how much mucus I have in my throat and I can't stop thinking about it.
Yeah, so far as the tools I've brought to this party on how to cool yourself down are sweat piss and you can.
Yeah, I didn't say it was gonna be ready.
It's not.
Well, guys, Before we go, we do have to play a little game which play every week. It is called the Mystery Animal Sound Game. I Guess who's squawking? I play a mystery animal sound, and you, the listener, and you the guests, try to guess, Hey, who's making that sound? So last week's mystery animal sound hint was this Squeakers here doesn't like being handled. In fact, his own hands have turned into something else.
What whoa?
Oh?
You guys hear that?
Yeah, it sounds like it.
It's a really like grinding sound.
I would assume it's some kind of insect. That's very reminds you of like how crickets rubbed their legs together.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah it does. Yeah yeah, maybe it's claws. They're like nails against each other.
Interesting guesses.
So is that?
So?
Is that what you guys want to guess? Some kind of inner?
I'm going to guess an insect.
I'm also wondering about your Yeah, the clue it doesn't like to.
Be the clue.
Remind you the clue was squeakers here doesn't like being handled in fact, his own hands have turned into something else. You see.
That made me think of a mole or something. But I don't know. I can't picture how a mole with like big old dicky claws would make that noise.
I don't I'm picturing a little, a little, a little mousey friend that can maybe like grind its nails against each other, like the teeth.
I don't know. Like, oh, my brain also just went to teeth.
Yeah, fast, I'm sticking with an insect.
These are all very very good guesses, are wrong, but still guesses. This is the big brown bat. Yes, of course. It is congratulations to listener Auntie B who guessed correctly. Wow, this is the big brown bat. My hint. Of course, the hands and arms of bats have turned into beautiful effective wings.
Yeah.
The noise, yeah nice?
Okay, so yeah.
The big brown bat is one of the most common bats found in North America. They are insectivorous and echo locate to find their prey. That squeaking, clicking noise he's making while it could be used for echolocation in this case, it is a video of him being gently picked up by a bat rescuer who is annoying this bat quite a bit, so the bat is not happy. But yes, they generally are quite social when it comes to their own species. They live in colonies of hundreds of individuals at times. But yeah, they are really effective insect hunters. They can eat up to six hundred insects per hour. So thank a big brown bat for making sure we're not just completely covered.
Thank you, big Wow the lazy dog.
All right, are you guys ready for this week's mister amill sound? Let's do it all right? Here is the hint. Start your engines, fellows. This speedster is revving up, but running is not exactly what's on his mind this time.
Oh my gosh, that really does sound like an engine revinge.
Yeah, wow, it is. It is the ferrari, the well known species.
We're not guessing that one else.
Oh no, you can guess and if you guess correctly, I will just leave you out. And if you gits incorrectly, I'll just you'll be public.
It makes me feel like a like a big cat making like a sound like a high girl.
I know it doesn't fit the clue at all, but it does sound. It makes me think of like whale sounds, right, that's like low uh, vibration.
I think it sounds. I don't know. Now I'm after not understanding the last clue. I'm reading too much into the next one.
Could it be an ape of some sort which is going to be like swinging very quickly through branches rather than because like that sounds, I don't know.
I feel like you can also just be a bird, because birds make a lot of sounds.
Basically, we want to guess everything.
I would like to guess any is it?
Is it one of of is it some kind of animal? You guys are guessing, Yes, you are corrected. Congratulation for ruining my game.
You guess is that we got to split the prize strategy.
Well, if you out there think you know who is making that sound, you can write to me at Creature feature Pod at gmail dot com. You can also write to me your questions, which I periodically answer on Listener Questions episodes. Sometimes I'll email back even depends on how I'm feeling, but I do. I always appreciate your questions, and I tried to answer all of them. Guys, thank you so much for joining me today. Hey, why don't you tell the people where they can find you?
Well, we are Let's learn everything. The three of us together, we are. We are Let's learn everything. We learn everything. We have a science kind of podcast where we dive into interesting science y things. You can find us on all all podcast platforms. We're part of the Maximum Fun Network and we do a lot of animal related content. Oh yes, oh yes.
We actually did a topic on thermal biology which was similar but didn't overlap, I don't think at all, which was very interesting.
Did you talk about poop and did not?
I think we should have a meeting afterwards. Yeah, I think that. I think that's.
What the dialogue I once talked about domesticating the process of domesticating foxes. That's the kind of like big science experiments.
That uh huh so cute.
Yeah, I remember talking about trying to bring back the dodo a. Yeah, that was such a such a good pick a living bird.
This one was defeated by.
If you're also new, I think we just dropped a best of episodes, So if you want to give a little sampler platter into some of our topic one.
A little Moves Booge Moves Booge.
And also, if you only only listen to exclusively listen to podcasts with Katie on them well, very soon. I think depending on when this drops, you will also be able to listen to her on that podcast. Yeah, because we have a little guest episode. Yeah.
But also if you want to find out like our socials individually, if you want to do like our discord server, et cetera, we've got a website.
It's let's on everything dot com.
Yes it is. Yes, we've recently changed it's let's learn everything dot com so you can find all of the information.
Were great, Thanks, highly recommend, highly recommends.
Oh, thank you. It's all fine.
Thank you guys for coming on, and thank y'all out there for listening. If you're enjoying the show and you leave a rating and or review, I read all the reviews. I appreciate all the ratings. It truly does help. And you know, just thanks for listening. That's that's I enjoy it. I enjoy being able to talk about animals pooping on themselves with you. Thanks for the Space Classics for their super awesome song. Ex Alumina. Creature features a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the ones you us heard. This is the arheart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or you guess what really listen to your favorite shows? Could you understand that?
I'm yeah, sure, people don't know you do the whole podcast in one breath, which is really impressive.
That's right.
I'm just like, reading notes.
Feels good.
Yeah, But my basic point is you can listen to this podcast anywhere, and I will see you next Wednesday.
