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to Creature Feature, production of iHeartRadio.

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I'm your host of many parasites,

0:47

Katie Golden. I studied psychology and

0:49

evolutionary biology and I really love

0:51

birds. I just can't get enough

0:53

of them, dang birds. Today on

0:55

the show, winter is coming. Remember

0:57

that from the Dragon Show? Well,

0:59

we won't be talking about the

1:01

Dragon Show, but we will be

1:03

talking about how animals prepare for

1:05

the winter. From hibernation to magical

1:07

wardrobe changes to cryogenic freezing, discover

1:09

this and more as we answer

1:11

the age old question, when, if

1:13

ever, is the right time to breathe through

1:16

your butt. What

1:22

is hibernation? How do you distinguish

1:24

hibernation from a really, really long nap?

1:26

While there are definitely some distinctive

1:28

features of hibernation, like many behaviors in

1:30

evolutionary biology, it's hard to get

1:33

away with one easy definition. But one

1:35

thing's for sure, hibernation isn't just

1:37

an extreme nap, it's more akin to

1:39

stasis, like something you'd come up

1:41

with in a science fiction setting. There

1:43

are many ways that animals cope

1:45

with the winter, and we'll discuss some

1:48

of the wildest winter adaptations. so

1:50

let's start with this most famous method

1:52

reveal the weird and sci -fi

1:54

details beyond our childhood image

1:56

of a really sleepy in a

1:58

nightcap. Joining me today to... Prepare

2:00

for winter as comedian, writer, and

2:02

co-host of the Bechtel cast, Caitlin

2:04

Durante. Hello, I'm also a sleepy

2:06

bear. We're here in our pajamas.

2:09

I'll talk in, you know, old-timey

2:11

beds. Very cozy. Very cozy. Yes.

2:13

Yeah. So listen to this when

2:15

you're driving and just let yourself

2:17

drift off. Yes, very safe. How

2:19

much do you know about hibernation?

2:21

You know what? Not a ton.

2:23

My personal favorite bear is of

2:25

course, Paddington. And I do not

2:27

believe that Paddington hibernates in any

2:30

of the movies. Right. I don't

2:32

remember him ever doing that. Or

2:34

in the books, in the novels,

2:36

the series. Perhaps Peruvian bears do

2:38

not hibernate. Well, they wouldn't need

2:40

to for the winter. That would

2:42

make sense because a tropical-ish environment.

2:44

Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, there hasn't

2:46

been a lot of hibernation visibility

2:48

on screen, at least that I've

2:51

seen. That's right. And I only

2:53

ever learned things if I see

2:55

them in movies. Right. And that's

2:57

with the Bechtel cast. You guys

2:59

talk about movies and sort of

3:01

from the perspective of like, hey.

3:03

Are there women in movies? Yeah,

3:05

we should find that out. Usually

3:07

not. Yeah, sometimes, you know, it's

3:10

just like, whoa, we forgot to

3:12

put women in here. Uh-oh. And

3:14

then you put them in and

3:16

then they just spend the whole

3:18

time talking about boys. Yes. Yeah,

3:20

I think that hibernation is one

3:22

of those things that We learn

3:24

about briefly in school and it's

3:26

just like, oh, bear school to

3:28

sleep for the winter. And then

3:31

there's not much else to learn

3:33

about it. That's truly all I

3:35

know. Maybe the education system is

3:37

better now. I think that maybe

3:39

children are smarter than we ever

3:41

used to be. But yeah, let's

3:43

get into some of the details

3:45

about it that I think are

3:47

really bizarre. And it's one of

3:49

these things that everybody kind of

3:52

knows about hibernation. But when you

3:54

actually look at the scientific facts

3:56

behind it, it gets a lot

3:58

weirder than you expect. So hibernation

4:01

occurs during the winter. In summer,

4:03

there there a summer a summer

4:05

form of hibernation called occurs

4:08

in mammals. For occurs in mammals.

4:10

For reptiles and amphibians, it's

4:12

called a similar a similar

4:14

thing, but it's not called

4:17

hibernation. The only exception

4:19

is the common an which is

4:21

a nocturnal bird species in the

4:23

family of night jars. And it it goes a

4:25

a state of torpor for weeks

4:27

or months at a time. And

4:29

this is, I think, the... the

4:31

only bird species that's known to

4:33

do this. do this. Of the the mammals

4:35

that do hibernation, squirrels, squirrels, chipmunks, bats,

4:37

skunks, hedgehogs, and dwarf lemurs are lemurs

4:39

are among them. fat-tailed and fat -tailed

4:41

lemurs are actually the of the

4:43

only primates known to hibernate. And they can

4:45

they can go up to 10

4:47

minutes without breathing when they're hibernating.

4:49

What? Yeah, yeah, so this is where we get into

4:52

is where we get into some

4:54

of the things about hibernation that

4:56

makes it really clear it's not

4:58

just sleeping, it's not just a

5:00

nap. just a nap. So to To prepare for

5:02

hibernation, the body temperature

5:04

drastically drops and a brain activity greatly

5:06

decreases to a coma -like

5:08

state, and the metabolism slows so

5:11

that you can basically be

5:13

in this coma state without

5:15

dying of starvation. And the the

5:17

heart rate can drop drastically.

5:19

grisly bear's heart goes heart goes from

5:21

about 84 beats per minute

5:24

to 19 beats per minute,

5:26

which is pretty crazy. of how

5:28

this works is mechanism of how

5:30

this works is really interesting

5:32

for a bear. So the

5:34

heart isn't damaged, which you

5:37

would think So like if a a

5:39

heart. beat beat slows too much

5:41

a like a human, you're

5:43

gonna really damage the heart, heart

5:45

could be fatal be the

5:47

blood builds up in the

5:49

left ventricle, and then that

5:51

can cause the ventricle to

5:53

expand and become damaged. become yeah,

5:55

that's no good. yeah that's no good.

5:57

You know you don't your heart to

5:59

be like an overly full water

6:01

balloon, essentially. I mean, when we learn

6:04

about, mean, speaking of wintertime, the

6:06

Grinch, when his heart grows three sizes

6:08

that day, he would die. He

6:10

would die. That would be very bad

6:12

for him. Well, unless, I don't

6:14

know what species the Grinch is, but

6:17

maybe there's something about his heart

6:19

that. I don't know. I think he

6:21

would most certainly suffer an aortic

6:23

dissection from that. Like, there's no, you

6:25

know. Let's,

6:28

let's fix Grinch to be

6:31

so that the Grinch dies and everyone is

6:33

sad So

6:36

the bear well maybe the

6:38

Grinch has some special heart

6:40

physiology like bear right so

6:42

so the bears left ventricle

6:44

stiffens so as the blood

6:46

pools in it from not

6:48

beating as much it doesn't

6:50

damage the muscle and the

6:52

heartbeat is significantly weakened so

6:54

that that stiffer heart muscle

6:56

won't be damaged by the

6:58

left H or so, okay, the

7:00

left atrium pumps blood into the

7:03

left ventricle. And so if

7:05

the left atrium is like really

7:07

pumping hard blood into a stiff

7:09

surface of the left atrium, it's

7:11

like taking a water balloon full

7:13

of blood and like smashing it

7:15

against a brick wall. It's

7:17

kind of like explode. Something I

7:19

do every Thursday. Well, it is

7:22

cathartic. But

7:24

instead of smashing, if you kind of just

7:26

like gently press it against the wall and

7:28

there's like a little opening. where the

7:30

blood can squish out. Like, then,

7:32

you know, you you got a

7:34

functioning heart. Yeah. That's what I'm

7:36

saying. So that's impressive, but a

7:39

chipmunks heart rate slows from 200

7:41

beats per minute to only about

7:43

five. What? Which is it? that

7:45

decrease is wild. Yeah, and it

7:47

really - it's almost like

7:49

they're in the state

7:51

of almost death, like almost

7:53

stasis. That's like one

7:55

beat for every 10 seconds,

7:57

roughly? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. it's

8:00

It's, I I mean, if

8:02

we got anywhere near that,

8:04

you'd be dead. It's just,

8:06

you survive survive that that

8:08

kind of slow heartbeat, but

8:10

it is incredible that their

8:12

basic, and like, one thing is One thing

8:14

is up you wake up a

8:16

hibernating animal like a squirrel. squirrel, The effort,

8:18

it takes them a long

8:20

time to wake up. They can't

8:22

just instantly awake, right? Because their body has

8:24

to essentially come back to life.

8:27

Come back online. Yeah, from this state of

8:29

of stasis. kind of like that

8:31

scene scene in Austin Powers, Like he gets

8:33

frozen and they unfreeze And then

8:35

he goes through all of this

8:37

all you know, like, you know, hilarious process process

8:39

and Austin Powers. Austin yes, and- yes. Yes,

8:41

yes, you know, know, and it's really

8:43

funny because we get to see

8:46

his butt. to see his I mean, that's comedy at

8:48

its highest form go to years of you

8:50

have to go to years of

8:52

comedy school to reach that level rate

8:54

also the breathing rate also drops

8:56

dramatically as there's less of a

8:59

demand for oxygen because your heart

9:01

rate is takes a while to wake up from. said

9:03

it takes a while to wake

9:05

up from and in fact if

9:07

they're wicking prematurely for some reason

9:09

that can be really disastrous because

9:11

that takes so much energy to

9:13

wake up from the whole point

9:15

of hibernation or or the point is

9:17

is to preserve of your energy stores

9:19

throughout the winter because

9:21

the food supply drops. So you're

9:23

inducing the state of near the state of

9:25

near not you're not consuming So you you

9:27

can survive. so if you if up,

9:29

use all this energy to wake

9:31

up, you're kinda screwed. So really important

9:33

to set your alarm clock, clock, little

9:35

tiny chipmunk alarm clock, right? clock, chipmunk like

9:37

Otherwise. It's like when your phone is on your phone,

9:40

is you still need to call your

9:42

need to call your Right. And it's like, And

9:44

it's I call this Lyft, it's gonna

9:46

make my phone die and then

9:48

I won't actually be able to take

9:50

the ride. It's just like that. to

9:52

take know what? That's what I'm saying.

9:54

like are exactly like... like that. are exactly

9:56

like that. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't put it

9:58

more precisely like that. welcome.

10:00

Chimps are lifts. That would be

10:03

cool though, just like you call

10:05

lift. A giant lift? Like a

10:07

giant chip monk. Yeah. It's like

10:10

the cat bus thing, my neighbor

10:12

Totero. Yeah, and then you can

10:14

just like put all your belongings

10:17

in his little cheeks. Cute. Why

10:19

isn't that a thing? Well, because

10:21

it would probably kill us. I

10:24

guess. So some scientists are hibernation

10:26

purists and don't really think bears

10:29

qualify as true hibernators because their

10:31

body temperature doesn't drop that much

10:33

and it's not too hard for

10:36

the bears to wake up. But

10:38

you know, it's kind of, whatever

10:40

your opinion is, if you're in

10:43

science, different science, like some people

10:45

are like, well, you know, it's

10:47

close enough to hibernation. Hibernation is

10:50

a spectrum and we need to

10:52

respect that. It is actually literally

10:54

described as a spectrum. So yeah,

10:57

you're exactly right. Animals who are

10:59

hibernating don't typically eat, although some

11:01

do require little food stores, so

11:04

they'll wake up briefly from hibernation,

11:06

nibble on their little snack, and

11:08

then go back into hibernation. They

11:11

also don't poop or pee. And

11:13

they don't produce fecal matter because

11:15

their whole digestive system is slowed

11:18

to a crawl, if not shut

11:20

down entirely. And they do produce

11:22

urea, which is like the main

11:25

ingredient in urine, but the body

11:27

is able to break it down

11:29

and recycle it, like bears break

11:32

down urea into amino acids and

11:34

recycle it. Okay. Yeah, so they're

11:36

not just like full of pea.

11:39

Although I'm sure. Pissing themselves and

11:41

they're pissing the bed. Right, exactly.

11:43

You put up bears like paw

11:46

and hot water. Yeah, yeah. And

11:48

we go, oh no, Timmy peed

11:50

himself. I'm so angry. So how

11:53

do animals know when to go

11:55

into hibernation? Is it based on

11:57

like the, like they know it's

12:00

Academy Award season coming up or

12:02

like, you know, what? sort of

12:05

the thing like the... Well, I

12:07

mean, when Paddington II didn't get

12:09

nominated, or did get nominated, but

12:12

didn't win, he's like, well, I

12:14

gotta go into hibernation now just

12:16

to cope with this snub, is

12:19

my guess. I mean, yeah, you

12:21

know, if you don't, if weather's

12:23

not a reason to go on

12:26

hibernation, trying to cope with an

12:28

Oscar snub, surely is. Yeah, so

12:30

in 2015 researchers discovered calendar cells

12:33

inside animals who undergo physiological changes

12:35

during winter, such as hibernation, and

12:37

these cells are located inside a

12:40

structure within the pituitary gland called

12:42

the Pars to Berylus. The cells

12:44

change what proteins they produce during

12:47

the year in response to the

12:49

amount of daylight. Actually, humans have

12:51

a similar structure as the par's

12:54

too barely, to the par's to

12:56

barrel-less. Yeah, that sounds exactly right

12:58

to me. Par too barrel-less, which

13:01

indicates that we may also have

13:03

some sort of internal calendar. And

13:05

research, even though we don't hibernate,

13:08

obviously. Speak for yourself. Yes, so

13:10

your heart essentially stops and you

13:12

stop pooping and peeing and yeah.

13:15

Yeah, every winter. Wow, that's pretty.

13:17

I'm a marvel. Wow. Or you're

13:19

not getting enough fiber. I'm just

13:22

constantly constipated. Yeah, so it's, you

13:24

know, just call hibernation and it

13:26

doesn't seem so bad. So there

13:29

is a potential area of research

13:31

suggesting that our immunity may change

13:33

depending on the season, which means

13:36

like maybe our immune system is

13:38

giving us more protection based on

13:41

like when we will most need

13:43

it, and then that could potentially

13:45

be regulated by this PARS to

13:48

barrel us. Got it, nailed it.

13:50

So many animals who hibernate will

13:52

prepare a den and insulate it

13:55

with fur, dirt, vegetation, other cozy

13:57

things. Some animals will bulk up

13:59

before. eating massive amounts of

14:01

food. This is often like large omnivores

14:04

or carnivores like bears while others will

14:06

store food in their dens meaning they'll

14:08

wake up occasionally to eat. This is

14:10

often the the tiniest hibernators like mice

14:12

and chipmunks because they're little Tiny bodies

14:14

can't store enough fat and their metabolism

14:16

can't slow down enough to keep them

14:18

alive throughout the entire winter They need

14:20

they need their snacks and yeah fact

14:22

chipmunks will really they'll like steal from

14:25

each other. They'll fight over food stores.

14:27

It gets quite quite nasty There should

14:29

be a movie about this. Yeah like

14:31

oh like a gritty reboot of Alvin

14:33

and the chipmunks like this squeak wool

14:35

where it's just like it's like the

14:37

Irishman. Yeah like like like I hear

14:39

you know where my nuts are You

14:41

do know, you do know, you will

14:43

have to die. But it's all in

14:45

the squeaky chipmunk voices, I'm like, I'm

14:48

gonna kill you, mother, quan! It's like,

14:50

oh my God, it's Alvin's head! In

14:52

her bed! Oh no! But actually, some

14:54

of the best hibernators are... guess what?

14:56

I bet you won't guess. This is

14:58

where I'm... Which species? Yeah. Oh my

15:00

goodness. Some of the best. Oh, raccoons.

15:02

That's a good guess, but it's wrong.

15:04

Yeah. I know it was. I love

15:06

to do this, just spring a question

15:09

on my guest because it makes me

15:11

feel so smugly superior. Because I have

15:13

all the answers written down. So some

15:15

of the best hibernators are bats, which

15:17

is surprising, right? So big brown bats

15:19

in the wild can hibernate for around

15:21

60 days, but in captivity, one of

15:23

these guys broke the record at 344

15:25

days. That's almost an entire year. That's

15:27

almost an entire year. This is actually

15:30

a little sad. It was kept in

15:32

a refrigerator in a lab environment to

15:34

see how long it would hibernate, and

15:36

it eventually died of starvation. Cool, scientists

15:38

like once. like got to 340 four

15:40

days you couldn't just be like all

15:42

right buddy that's long enough like wake

15:44

up let's get you some tater tots

15:46

that's horrible I know but science is

15:48

evil no I'm kidding sometimes it's sometimes

15:51

a little gruesome yeah so the for

15:53

a lot about species the heart rate

15:55

can go from a thousand beats per

15:57

minute when they're actively flying to only

15:59

about 25 And some species of bats

16:01

only need to take a breath every

16:03

45 minutes or even up to two

16:05

hours during hibernation. Wild. That's, it's, they're

16:07

like almost dead. You wouldn't be, you

16:09

would think here's a dead bat, but

16:12

it's not. The North American red bat

16:14

can lower its body temperature to freezing

16:16

point and can even survive its body

16:18

tissues freezing due in part to its

16:20

thick fur extremely low heart rate and

16:22

its high red blood cell count, which

16:24

is... Really crazy. I think one of

16:26

the only mammals I know of that

16:28

can really just kind of shake off

16:30

having tissue frozen like that without getting

16:32

frostbite. Right. Yeah, I certainly can. If

16:35

I go outside and it's lower than

16:37

50 degrees. forget about it. The first

16:39

thing that happens to me when it

16:41

gets cold is my nose just starts

16:43

running like a faucet, just streams and

16:45

streams of like fluid and snow. I

16:47

used to live on the East Coast

16:49

and then it'd be great, you know,

16:51

you go out and it's snowing, it's

16:53

beautiful and it's like, oh I got

16:56

to take a photo of me in

16:58

the snow and turn the camera around

17:00

I'm just, just streaming, every hole in

17:02

my face streaming with fluid with fluid,

17:04

yeah. Yeah. And then like you like

17:06

you like, crying because like the wind

17:08

is like your eyeballs freeze over does

17:10

that happen to anyone else because it

17:12

did to me oh jeez but yeah

17:14

I mean yeah I cannot withstand any

17:17

amount of cold yeah so good for

17:19

those bats yeah they've really I'm just

17:21

so it's kind of shocking to me

17:23

that bats I don't even really you

17:25

don't think of the traditional winter animal,

17:27

but they're really good. They're really good

17:29

hibernators. So proud. So, why don't humans

17:31

hibernate? The most obvious reason is that

17:33

our ancestors didn't originally evolve in the

17:35

frigid tundra, so primates don't generally need

17:38

to hibernate. But it's not unheard of

17:40

for a primate to hibernate. Like I

17:42

mentioned before, one of the only types

17:44

of primates who truly hibernates are dwarf

17:46

lemur species in Madagascar. The only other

17:48

primate known to hibernate is the Pygmy

17:50

Slo Lorus, a tiny primate from Southeast

17:52

Asia, who can interstates of torpor for

17:54

up to 63 hours at a time.

17:56

But these regions in Madagascar and Southeast

17:59

Asia only dropped to about 40 degrees

18:01

in the winter, certainly not as cold

18:03

as the frigid areas where animals generally

18:05

hibernate. So why do these small primitive

18:07

primates do it? It's speculated that hibernation

18:09

for small animals not only protects them

18:11

from the colder, harsher climate during the

18:13

winter, but to stay hidden away from

18:15

predators who may be seeking to pack

18:17

on extra calories. This may be another

18:19

reason why humans don't need a hibernate.

18:22

While we certainly have needed to fear

18:24

some predators in our evolutionary history, our

18:26

line of primates are larger, with more

18:28

ways to defend ourselves than to bundle

18:30

up and hide away. and when we

18:32

started to migrate into colder regions, we

18:34

already had our big nerdy human brains

18:36

to figure out other ways to adapt

18:38

to the cold. But maybe in the

18:40

future, humans will need to hibernate, like

18:43

when we start to become space explorers.

18:45

NASA is teaming up with Professor of

18:47

Pharmacology and anesthesiologist Dr. Rob Hining to

18:49

explore ways to induce hibernation in humans.

18:51

After all, animals can hibernate without losing

18:53

too much muscle tone due to how

18:55

they slow their metabolism down. This would

18:57

be of great use to space station

18:59

dwellers who often must compensate for their

19:01

weightlessness with exercises, which still doesn't make

19:04

up for their loss in muscle tone

19:06

and bone mass. So figuring out how

19:08

to copy the animal's

19:10

technique for hibernating would

19:12

be great for

19:14

astronauts or hear me

19:16

out alternative idea

19:18

bears in space. Bears

19:20

in space. When

19:22

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19:25

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19:27

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19:29

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tech stuff. I've

21:24

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holiday spirit by

21:28

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22:10

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22:24

Imagine it's the dead of winter, and

22:26

you're snugly tucked in a remote

22:28

cottage that your pee -paw left you.

22:30

It's a quaint old home all snowed

22:32

in, but you've got hot cocoa

22:34

and cans of your favorite type of

22:36

beans, so you're all set for

22:38

winter. You're in your little fur -lined

22:40

bed all cozy and comfortable. You think

22:43

back to your time with the

22:45

local villagers who warned you to be

22:47

quiet when you go home to

22:49

your pee -paw's old cottage for a

22:51

terrifying invisible beast these snow -covered hills. and

22:54

kills anything that dares breathe too

22:56

loudly. You chuckle to yourself. These

22:58

villagers are probably bored and have

23:00

a bit of cabin fever to

23:02

invent such a ridiculous monster. But

23:04

as you're drifting off to sleep,

23:07

you hear a weird sound, a

23:09

soft crunching, like the snow

23:11

over your roof is being gently

23:13

pressed upon. Santa's reindeer, perhaps? Then

23:15

you hear a muffled sound as

23:17

if someone's making snow angels on

23:20

the roof. You start to get

23:22

a little nervous and think back

23:24

to what the villagers said.

23:26

You hold your breath, trying

23:28

not to make a sound.

23:30

You hear a scraping and

23:32

what sounds like a huge

23:34

vacuum sucking up snow. Then

23:36

silence. Just the soft pattering

23:38

of snowfall. It's been several

23:40

minutes, so finally you exhale.

23:42

That's when suddenly BOOM whole

23:44

house shakes, and then again

23:46

BOOM BOOM until finally CRASH.

23:48

A huge face instead of

23:50

jaws crashes through the ceiling.

23:52

You've just been victim of

23:54

one of the cutest arctic

23:56

adapters, the arctic fox. Aww.

23:58

Awwww, tell fine. Ha. So

24:00

for humans, humans, of course, are

24:02

no threat. They're about 18 to

24:04

25 inches long, not including

24:06

the tail, and about

24:08

seven to 17 pounds. little little And

24:10

like you probably guessed it, guessed it, it

24:12

lives in the Arctic. They live

24:14

They live in snow and snow

24:16

tunnels and they can survive temperatures

24:19

as low as as 58 degrees

24:21

Fahrenheit. That is chilly.

24:23

cold. Yep, their coats change

24:25

from being tan and brown

24:27

in the summer summer fluffy

24:29

white in the winter. And the coats

24:31

help them them keep warm and

24:33

camouflaged both in terms of

24:35

hunting and from being hunted because

24:37

they too have predators. So

24:40

their huge fluffy tail is used

24:42

to wrap themselves up like a

24:44

blanket, It's very very cute. omnivores omnivores and

24:46

eat berries and scraps that they

24:48

find, they're very opportunistic they have to they

24:51

have to be, they live in

24:53

such a hostile environment. They'll even

24:55

store bird eggs in their dens

24:57

as snacks for later. for

24:59

later. So food can be very... scarce

25:01

in the the and they will and they

25:04

after polar bears and eat their

25:06

leftovers bears and they can travel up

25:08

to 60 miles a day in

25:10

search for food which miles a day

25:12

don't think I've ever walked even I

25:15

don't think than two miles for food.

25:17

more than two miles for food. I mean, mean is, yeah,

25:19

that is quite a is quite a distance.

25:21

Are polar bears one of their

25:23

or no? Okay, so they have to worry about polar bears.

25:25

They to to about polar bears worry

25:27

about have to worry about anything

25:29

even like red foxes will

25:31

hunt them Yeah, Yeah, they're, you know,

25:34

know Not the they're not the

25:36

big big on on the block I

25:38

would say But yeah, as long as as long

25:40

as they give the bears their

25:42

space and the polar bears like

25:44

bigger bigger kills, then eat The just eat the

25:46

leftovers the it So when winter intensifies there

25:48

there are no scraps to scavenge

25:50

they have to become killers themselves

25:53

So their big ears have have such

25:55

sensitive hearing that they can

25:57

listen for tiny rodents, mainly mainly

25:59

lemmings, the snow and find their

26:02

exact location. So once a rodent is

26:04

located, they can dig into the snow

26:06

or even more excitingly, they like to

26:08

spring up and then dive into the

26:11

snow. I've seen videos. It's very cute.

26:13

You want to look at one right

26:15

now? Yes. It's really funny because they

26:18

hop right up and then just face

26:20

plant right into the snow. But then

26:22

do a little, before that they do

26:24

a little like toe touch? Yeah, they're

26:27

doing a little digging. because they found

26:29

their location. And the snow can be

26:31

really hard and icy. So they're trying

26:34

to break through down into the burrow.

26:36

So they do big hop. Oh, that

26:38

was a good one. If the snow's

26:41

too soft, they can get kind of

26:43

stuck and they kick their little legs

26:45

in the air. And if it's too

26:47

hard, they'll just like bounce off of

26:50

it. So they have to get pretty

26:52

good at determining like where's the best

26:54

place to dive in. Otherwise it gets

26:57

really embarrassing their butts just right in

26:59

the air and they're flailing around. Oh,

27:01

that was a face plant. But when

27:04

they get it, when they get it

27:06

right, they can snatch a little limbing

27:08

right out of its bed. Also I

27:10

had no idea that lemmings were real

27:13

things until just now. I thought they

27:15

were just that little computer game. No,

27:17

they're real. Although they don't all run

27:20

off of a cliff at the same

27:22

time, that's a myth. Perpetrated by the

27:24

evil documentarian industry. So yeah, it looks

27:27

like ritualistic face planting. It's extremely cute.

27:29

And they can smell lemming popsicles two

27:31

feet under the snow. Wow. So what's

27:33

I think is interesting is people usually

27:36

see the Arctic Fox when they're completely

27:38

fluffy in their white winter coat, but

27:40

they don't see them between seasons as

27:43

much. And it's very funny. Yeah, I

27:45

don't know what that looks like. So

27:47

let me show you. Here's the Fox.

27:50

with the spotty patches of his coat

27:52

growing in. Uh-huh. Looks a little scragly.

27:54

Yeah. Oh, but still cute. Still very

27:56

patchy. Yeah. And then here here is

27:59

a. the coat. the coat.

28:01

So this would be like

28:03

this would be like springtime? Yes, yes.

28:05

This This is shot in It

28:08

kind of looks like, of what would

28:10

you say it looks like? you say

28:12

it looks good grief. grief. It

28:14

does look like good grief,

28:16

good grief. It's on a butt. It's just

28:18

I'm trying to think of

28:20

to think of like what, like, Nicholson Jack

28:22

Nicholson as he's like getting, as there

28:25

in age. up there looking a

28:27

bit haggard. looking a Bits

28:29

are falling off of bits are

28:31

falling off of them. of chunks.

28:33

of in sort of chunks. Yeah. I

28:35

see that. I do see

28:37

that. that. But still cute in

28:40

some sort of ineffable way. Of

28:42

course. So other animals other

28:44

animals coats their coats

28:46

during the winter as

28:48

well including snowshoe hairs, stotes,

28:50

puree caribou, and the the

28:52

snowy owl thing that's thing

28:55

that's interesting is kind of

28:57

like do do you think like, do

28:59

do they do this Like it it

29:01

seems magical that they know

29:03

every winter just to change their

29:05

coat change one thing is that

29:07

the the itself isn't changing color

29:09

like once it's already grown grown.

29:11

Because hair for like once it's already already grown

29:13

it's not that part of it

29:15

is not really alive anymore. So

29:17

it's the the hair follicles

29:19

themselves that are changing at

29:22

that level. So they have to

29:24

grow a totally new coat.

29:26

So similar to animals

29:28

that undergo hibernation they have a

29:30

body clock that triggers hormonal

29:33

changes that causes the change

29:35

in growth of white coats

29:37

from the follicular level And so

29:39

that's why between seasons see

29:41

the kind of of Nicholson -esque patchy

29:44

with the weird little tufts of the weird little

29:46

in or of white hair growing in

29:48

or and then like in the

29:50

it so shed it so it all

29:52

comes out in these big tufts. I

29:54

think think it's to me really

29:56

cute yeah like like they look like

29:59

they ran through it chicken coop, but

30:01

then they got sticky and then all

30:03

covered in feathers. That's a great description.

30:05

But there is an animal that also

30:08

has a coat change. I don't think

30:10

you'd ever guess what it is and

30:12

the method that it does it is

30:15

really crazy. So beluga whales actually molt

30:17

their skin every summer. And their skin

30:19

over time will become a little more

30:21

yellow and a little more marred and

30:24

that's not good for wanting to blend

30:26

in with the ice, especially in the

30:28

winter as you know they're surrounded by

30:31

these icy icebergs. and they actually do

30:33

molt and they in order to get

30:35

that old layer of skin to come

30:38

off they have a spa day or

30:40

multiple spa days treat yourself treat yourself

30:42

self-care belugas know about self-care I could

30:44

take a lesson from a beluga whale.

30:47

We really all could. They're great. We

30:49

talked about the amount of previous episode.

30:51

They are one of the only whales

30:54

who can actually swivel their heads freely.

30:56

Oh. Which means that they can communicate

30:58

by looking at each other and using

31:01

expressions more than other whales. Wow. Yeah,

31:03

so I just I look because that

31:05

now I'm imagining them like kind of

31:07

filing down their back and just like

31:10

throwing their head back and looking really

31:12

content which it's like an herbal essence

31:14

commercial. Oh my god, they would be

31:17

so good in an herbal essence commercial

31:19

like you know, just like Yeah, tell

31:21

me about it. Yeah, so they will

31:24

rub their bodies on gravel or river

31:26

sand to help exfoliate the outer layer

31:28

of skin. And this reveals that icy

31:30

white skin underneath that will blend in

31:33

better with their surroundings. And yeah, I

31:35

just, I want to, I would love

31:37

to join Belugas on a spa day.

31:40

Now, I don't, my objective wouldn't be

31:42

to look more icy white than I

31:44

are. all my blue veins all

31:47

my blue veins

31:49

popping out everywhere. I mean,

31:51

it's just I mean,

31:53

just being exfoliated know, I

31:56

nice, you know?

31:58

I do an apricot

32:00

scrub on my

32:03

face sometimes. then, Oh you

32:05

know, you you know,

32:07

you And leave the

32:10

shower feeling refreshed and

32:12

rejuvenated, it. There get

32:14

it. There are certain

32:17

skin exfoliating products

32:19

that advertise that you'll

32:21

see the like piled up

32:23

layers of skin to

32:26

slow off your body

32:28

and and it's... That's an

32:30

level, that is a dedication to

32:32

the to the I feel like

32:34

belugas would really appreciate. belugas would if

32:36

you can't see your skin if

32:39

of coming up and clumps, kind

32:41

really exfoliation? Yeah, like is it really exfoliation?

32:43

Yeah, right? Yeah, I don't know. Extreme, extreme body. Yeah, I

32:45

went to went to a spa

32:47

where they where that treatment they just really

32:49

they just really scrub you

32:51

down until you're raw like get

32:53

all the dead skin off. I

32:56

was like, you know what? My

32:58

dead skin skin around a little

33:00

while longer, that's while longer, I'm

33:02

okay with some of it with some

33:04

know day. Yeah, you know leave when

33:06

it wants to leave. leave when it wants

33:08

to leave, right. Throughout

33:12

history, we've had to figure

33:14

out how to adapt to adapt

33:16

of winter and in some

33:18

cases in some against the snow,

33:20

but that the snow. winter blanket

33:22

presents another problem, snow another Snow

33:24

blindness, also known as also known

33:26

as is damaged to the

33:28

eyes caused by UV rays

33:31

from the rays sort of like

33:33

an of sunburn. sunburn. Oof! It's painful

33:35

and it can cause temporary

33:37

loss and vision. loss in sunlight

33:39

reflects off snow, any person

33:41

of UV radiation UV reflected back. is

33:43

a That's a nifty reminder to

33:45

always wear a and sunglasses even

33:47

in the winter. But

33:49

how did we cope with snow

33:51

blindness before we had sunglasses, like

33:53

in prehistoric times? how did short answer,

33:56

we actually did have sunglasses. before Prehistoric

33:58

people who lived in the Arctic

34:00

Circle invented snow goggles over 4

34:02

,000 years ago. These goggles were

34:04

carved from bone antlers or

34:06

walrus ivory. Later they could be

34:08

carved from driftwood. They were

34:10

carved to fit the wearer's eyes

34:12

with a thin long horizontal

34:14

slit to see out of. This

34:16

slit allowed the wearer to

34:18

see while minimizing the amount of

34:20

reflected UV light from entering

34:22

the eye. Sometimes black slit was

34:24

rubbed inside the goggles to

34:26

cut down on glare. In some

34:28

ways these goggles remain superior

34:30

to modern goggles as they don't

34:32

ice over in harsh conditions.

34:34

That's why these goggles, the first

34:36

ever sunglasses, remained a vital

34:38

piece of equipment for people of

34:40

the Arctic Circle for thousands

34:42

of years. And though they weren't

34:44

necessarily designed to be fashionable,

34:46

they look pretty dang cool too.

34:48

Speaking of cool, when we

34:50

return we'll talk about how some

34:52

animals survive being turned into

34:54

living popsicles. This

34:58

is Jonathan Strickland from Tech Stuff. I've

35:00

been getting into the holiday spirit by

35:02

listening to a lot, hours

35:40

without needing to put it

35:42

back on the cradle to

35:44

recharge it. Sonos has great

35:46

gifts for everyone on your

35:48

list. Visit sonos.com/tech stuff to

35:50

wrap up your holiday shopping.

35:52

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37:09

When jackfrost at your toes, sometimes

37:11

he bites off a whole chunk!

37:13

Frostbite is is damaged to the

37:15

tissues, usually on extremities such as

37:17

fingers, toes, and noses, as

37:19

a result of being exposed to

37:21

extreme low temperatures. While While may may

37:23

not seem like a great coping

37:25

strategy, the fact that your

37:28

extremities suffer frostbite first first is caused

37:30

in part by your body's

37:32

last ditch effort to save itself

37:34

in freezing temperatures. The blood vessels throughout

37:36

the body narrow, which is

37:38

called - restriction. This This prevents

37:40

heat from escaping out extremities, keeping it

37:42

inside it the more vital parts

37:44

of your body such as your

37:47

brain, guts, and chest. brain, Normally,

37:49

this only results in cold, maybe

37:51

slightly painful maybe and toes, but

37:53

if you don't warm up

37:55

soon, the process of the will

37:57

begin. frostbite will begin. First comes frost where the

38:00

The extremities start to lose to go

38:02

unnaturally pale. pale. Blood flow to

38:04

the outer parts of your body

38:06

is reduced to the point where

38:08

the tissues will start to become

38:10

damaged if not warmed up soon

38:12

enough. up soon enough. can even result in

38:14

a sunburn a injury due to

38:16

the surface of the skin being

38:18

frozen off. frozen off. is not as

38:20

concerning as frost as frost bite. If you

38:22

don't warm your fingers in tozen

38:24

time, time, your tissues will fall

38:26

below below point ice crystals start to

38:28

form in the cells. cells. Ice crystals, biologically

38:30

speaking, are taking time bombs for cells,

38:32

either destroying them during the freezing process

38:34

itself or causing the cells to rupture

38:37

when they start to thaw. thaw. This

38:39

is why frostbite must be treated

38:41

carefully and not warmed up too fast,

38:43

or the damage will be even

38:45

more severe. Frostbite can range

38:47

in superficial damage and blisters to

38:49

the skin to the loss of

38:51

entire digits or body parts if

38:53

muscle and other tissues are affected.

38:55

are affected. aren't really built to endure

38:57

to frozen, but some animals cope

38:59

with cope with surprisingly well.

39:02

well. So I know that we I know

39:04

that we have a lot of

39:06

hopes that Walt Disney's frozen

39:08

head could be brought back to

39:10

life. you If you thought, of course

39:12

Walt Disney's head wasn't frozen,

39:14

don't don't sue us. one of the

39:16

problems with cryogenics in humans is

39:18

and freeze a body, freeze a body, but...

39:21

Unthawing it is really really difficult to

39:23

do without those ice crystals just

39:25

like rupturing the cells the to

39:27

the nature that the cells will

39:29

contain liquid and then if the

39:31

liquid and then if changes that can just

39:33

burst open that cell. burst open the cell. But

39:35

you know know we're not the only

39:38

animals on on some animals actually

39:40

manage this fabulously well. So

39:42

well. So wood frogs actually talked

39:44

about on the show in

39:46

our show in our Eat Pray Die episode.

39:48

But I think they another another

39:50

mention they can remain frozen at zero

39:52

degrees Fahrenheit for up

39:54

to up months. Yeah, they're found found

39:57

all over North America,

39:59

including in boreal forests, they're this

40:01

little brown frog, they're very unassuming

40:03

looking, they don't look like some

40:06

kind of science fiction, Star Wars,

40:08

blue, you know, baby yota thing.

40:10

And they go through a process

40:12

of partially freezing, then rethawing over

40:15

and over again, until the glucose

40:17

levels in their cells rise to

40:19

an abnormal degree. And glucose, which

40:21

is also, you know, sugars, can

40:24

actually act as an antifreeze. Now

40:26

that doesn't mean you can eat

40:28

a bunch of sugar and then

40:31

survive being frozen, but these frogs,

40:33

by introducing the high glucose levels

40:35

inside each of their cells, will

40:37

protect the cells from the freezing

40:40

process, keeping water inside the cells,

40:42

which keeps them alive and in

40:44

suspended animation. So like the the

40:46

wood frogs become so frozen they're

40:49

like literally like a rock you

40:51

could throw it against a brick

40:53

wall and they'd shatter. Something I

40:56

do every Friday. Yeah you know

40:58

that Thursdays are my blood. Thursdays

41:00

are the blood balloon against a

41:02

brick wall. Friday is smashing frozen

41:05

frogs against it. I mean it

41:07

is like we all need ways.

41:09

Frogs. Frogs. It's right here. Right

41:11

now. Right now. I play the

41:14

clarinet so I don't know if

41:16

you bring any instruments to this.

41:18

I sort of play the ukulele

41:21

badly. Okay. I mean, I haven't

41:23

played clarinet in like 20 years,

41:25

so I don't remember it. I

41:27

think we have a band. I

41:30

think that's band. That's band. We

41:32

did it. Yes. Yes. Smashing Frogs,

41:34

the band. We did it. Clarinet

41:36

and ukulele. Neither very good. But

41:39

it is band now. So there's

41:41

another contender for the best animal

41:43

at enduring popsicle-ness, which is the

41:46

Siberian salamander. So this is found

41:48

in, well, Siberia, and Northeast Asia

41:50

in wet woods, so that's like

41:52

wooded areas where you have ponds

41:55

and such. So they can survive

41:57

being frozen at negative 22 degrees

41:59

Fahrenheit. but for shorter

42:01

periods of time. So that's a

42:03

colder temperature than the wood frogs,

42:05

but they can't last quite as

42:08

long. They can last up to

42:10

45 days, but they also have

42:12

a lower survival rate. So they're

42:14

sort of the more risk takers.

42:16

So is the idea that like

42:18

ponds that they live in will

42:20

like freeze over and then they'll,

42:22

but they'll survive like within the

42:24

frozen. Yeah. Being frozen in the

42:26

permafrost, yeah. Got it. Yeah, so

42:28

though there are stories of these

42:30

salamanders surviving being frozen in permafrost

42:32

for years and waking up, like

42:34

those haven't really been confirmed, scientifically

42:36

it kind of seems unlikely given

42:39

that laboratory research shows they can

42:41

only survive like 45 days. Yeah.

42:43

But I guess it's. technically possible.

42:45

I just don't, I'm pretty doubtful,

42:47

but like they're like... Let's put

42:49

a Siberian find out. Right, let's

42:51

put a bunch of Siberian salamanders

42:53

like in the snow and see

42:55

how they do. Yeah. And sit

42:57

there for, you know... Several years.

42:59

Several years. Yes. Can't wait. I

43:01

mean, if we have enough water

43:03

balloons full of blood and enough

43:05

frozen frogs and our beluga friends,

43:08

then you know, we'll be fine.

43:10

We'll be set. Yeah. So now

43:12

I want to talk about painted

43:14

turtles. So these are pretty red

43:16

and yellow strict turtles that are

43:18

found in North America and they

43:20

live on land and in freshwater

43:22

aquatic environments. And painted turtles don't

43:24

hibernate. They roommate because they're reptiles.

43:26

And I am a really pedantic

43:28

person. So they breathe through their

43:30

asses during winter to survive. Tell

43:32

me more. This is my favorite

43:34

part. When their ponds freeze over,

43:36

they can't rise to the surface

43:39

to take a breath, which seems

43:41

like a pretty bad problem to

43:43

have when you need to breathe,

43:45

because they're not fish. So since

43:47

they can't breathe using their lungs,

43:49

they'll use their little butt holes.

43:51

actually a turtle's butt hole is

43:53

a a a cloaca

43:55

cloaca is the

43:57

all of of reptiles,

43:59

birds, amphibians, and

44:01

sharks also also

44:03

monotremes such as platypus.

44:05

all have cloaca.

44:07

The The cloaca

44:10

is the hole

44:12

that can do

44:14

everything, so it it

44:16

can It can excrete

44:18

and urine. It can

44:20

reproduce. it It the

44:22

the reproductive organs. It

44:24

can lay eggs. just,

44:26

it's like a triple threat. Yes, yes.

44:28

For threat. things that bodies do.

44:30

It's things that bodies

44:32

do. It's the yes.

44:34

So the blood vessels around blood

44:36

vessels around the

44:38

cloaca are able to

44:41

extract oxygen from

44:43

water molecules. So they engage

44:45

engage in cloaca. of

44:47

respiration, which is butt and their

44:49

and is second second oxygen

44:51

from the water. like butt gills.

44:53

Wow. Yeah. Incredible. That's my

44:55

favorite That's my so thing so far

44:57

in I've learned today. Yes. If we could just breathe

44:59

we could just breathe with our

45:02

butts a little bit. You

45:04

know? so would be so much

45:06

easier. your Yeah. Because your butt

45:08

is usually submerged. So if you can

45:10

So if you can extract the

45:12

oxygen Right. Right. your butt hole. You

45:14

know they used to try to

45:16

save people who were drowning

45:18

victims by blowing smoke into their

45:20

butthole. that's that's Is that true? Yes.

45:22

And it's, I mean, it's true in

45:24

that it happened. It's not

45:26

true in that it true in that it

45:28

worked. But yeah, so that's where I where, I

45:30

think that's where the saying blowing

45:32

smoke up my ass comes from,

45:34

because, yeah, it's like it like it

45:36

doesn't actually do anything, but

45:38

it's acting as if you're helping.

45:40

helping. So yeah, and and it thought that

45:43

this would revive someone suffering

45:45

from drowning. And I guess

45:47

the only way it would work

45:49

is just the surprise of someone

45:51

blowing smoke up your butt might

45:53

smoke up of butt might you back, but

45:55

I don't think don't actual. there was

45:57

would that even... How would that even

45:59

work? They would have like

46:01

a special butt pipe I think

46:04

that they stuck in the butt

46:06

and then blow smoke up the

46:08

butt? Okay. I don't know why

46:11

they thought that would work. I...

46:13

What era are we talking about

46:15

here? Is this like 1900s? 1800s

46:17

to early 1800s I think? Yeah,

46:20

yeah. Yeah, we don't know anything

46:22

back then about signs and bodies.

46:24

No, no, no, we were... we

46:26

thought we could just go in

46:29

to a human body and toss

46:31

things around and see what happened.

46:33

Those were the days of like,

46:36

yeah, you have like seven types

46:38

of bile in your body and

46:40

nothing else. Right, right. Let's put

46:42

slugs in your eyes. Just, you

46:45

know, see what happens. I don't

46:47

know. I'm trying. I am a

46:49

I'm a medical doctor in 1750

46:51

and I don't know. No one

46:54

knows. No. No. Let's let's breathe

46:56

through our butts and just smash

46:58

some frozen frogs and maybe that'll

47:01

cure your consumption. I don't know.

47:03

I am trying my best. I

47:05

am trying my best. Yeah. Good

47:07

name. Thank you. Now I want

47:10

to talk about something pretty cute

47:12

and it is so like if

47:14

you don't have the special trick

47:16

of breathing through your butt or

47:19

being able to be frozen solid

47:21

what do you do and how

47:23

do you evolve in a short

47:26

period of time to survive just

47:28

It's freezing cold temperatures, so I

47:30

want to talk about wild yakut

47:32

horses. They are found in Yakusha,

47:35

in Siberia, and they can survive

47:37

temperatures as low as negative 94

47:39

degrees Fahrenheit. Wow. Which is fairly

47:42

cold. I would say so. A

47:44

little chilly. So these are horses

47:46

that are 13 hands. Now I'm

47:48

not a horse girl. I don't

47:51

know what hands are or what

47:53

that means like if they have

47:55

13 hands what's going on.

47:57

So looked it

48:00

up. apparently hand

48:02

is four inches. and

48:05

you measure it at the horse's

48:07

highest point of the withers. Oh,

48:09

the horse withers. The horse withers.

48:12

Of course. Now I didn't know

48:14

what withers were, so I looked

48:16

that up too. And apparently the

48:18

withers is the ridge between the

48:20

shoulder blades of the horse. Okay.

48:23

So you put your hands on the withers.

48:26

You have to have four -inch hands,

48:28

I guess. You put your hands withers.

48:30

I think my hands are exactly

48:32

four inches. Oh, be great at measuring

48:34

horses then. I would, a new

48:36

career for me. Add

48:38

someone with exactly four -inch

48:40

hands to measure horses. So

48:44

I guess that's at,

48:46

It is four feet tall at the highest

48:48

point between the shoulders is what 13 hands

48:50

means. I see, okay. You know, look, come

48:52

over here, horse people. I just wanna talk

48:54

to you for a second. Why? Why

48:57

a hand? measure it that way?

48:59

Cause I think hands are only

49:01

ever used to measure specifically horses.

49:03

don't think any other, I mean,

49:05

slide into my mentions, I might

49:08

be wrong about this, but. Do

49:10

horses not like a tape measure?

49:12

Do they get angry at a

49:14

tape measure? Is this why hands

49:16

are necessary? just desperate for human

49:18

contact. see, they They just want.

49:20

It's too informal to measure. they

49:22

of the hands. They want to

49:25

be evangelicals. Exactly. Most of. Most

49:27

important fact about these Yakut horses

49:29

is that they are super

49:31

super super duper fluffy. They are

49:33

so fluffy, they are the

49:35

fluffiest horses you will see. I've

49:37

never seen a fluffy horse.

49:39

Well, good news. Have you got

49:41

pictures? I do. They're so

49:43

poofy. They look like if you,

49:46

I guess if you put a horse,

49:48

a long haired horse in the dryer

49:50

just like it came out and it

49:52

was just a poof ball. You know,

49:54

like in the cartoons where something that's

49:56

not supposed to be put in a

49:58

dryer comes out of a dryer. and it's

50:00

just a little a little poof ball. Yeah. Yeah. just

50:02

like this. this. so fluffy. I just I

50:05

just want to dive my face

50:07

right in there. I'll put my put

50:09

my hands on this horse. I

50:11

bet your hands would disappear into the

50:13

how do you know how how many

50:15

hands this horse is? You can't see

50:17

your hands. Oh my my goodness. They

50:19

are very, very cute. the They have

50:22

the thickest coat of any horse

50:24

of chunky and of chunky and compact good

50:26

because you is good like we don't want

50:28

to, like we talked about with

50:30

the more the more compact you are

50:32

in the cold, of of the

50:34

better because your blood doesn't have to work

50:36

so hard to pump out. to your

50:38

extremities. your They have slow metabolic

50:41

rates relative to other horses, to and

50:43

they can dig in the snow

50:45

for food, for food, like dig dig, dig,

50:47

find some vegetation under under all that snow.

50:49

they And they actually didn't evolve

50:51

from native species of horses in

50:53

the area. Instead, these were horses

50:55

that were brought to the area

50:58

by the by people 800 years ago

51:00

around the 13th century, and And they're

51:02

an example of rapid evolutionary adaptation. brought

51:05

on by human interaction so

51:07

we brought brought... We brought horses who

51:09

are not adapted to this

51:11

cold weather over 800 years ago

51:13

years ago, over that period of

51:15

time, they developed these adaptations

51:17

like being really, really fluffy,

51:19

being being and having having that

51:22

slower metabolic rate. And they

51:24

even have anti -freezing properties of

51:26

glucose in the blood, like like

51:28

the the wood frogs. You can't

51:30

you can't freeze, you can't

51:32

turn it into a horse

51:34

sickle, like that won't work. work.

51:36

It does help prevent frostbite. So

51:39

what would have happened have

51:41

on what I know about

51:43

evolution, about I am not an

51:45

expert I any means, but I did

51:47

take a few, you know, anthropology

51:49

classes you know, in college. classes

51:51

in college. So, um, yes,

51:54

brag. So they would have brought these horses

51:56

brought these horses over, and

51:58

I'm guessing most of them. have

52:00

died, but the ones that happen

52:02

to be maybe fluffier or like

52:04

carry the jeans of fluffiness would

52:06

have survived and then they would

52:08

mate with each other and then

52:10

keep perpetuating that trait that enabled

52:12

them to survive. Exactly. Thus, the

52:14

fluffiest horses we've ever seen. Yeah,

52:16

and I don't know this for

52:18

a fact, but it is possible

52:21

that we even helped along because

52:23

humans are great, well, depending on

52:25

how you define the word great,

52:27

we're great at selective breeding and

52:29

creating ridiculous features and animals, but

52:31

in this case, because the horses

52:33

were... very crucial to our survival

52:35

as humans, there's a good chance

52:37

that we, maybe people saw, okay,

52:39

we kind of, or like we

52:41

saw horses that were doing really

52:43

well and we're like, okay, we

52:45

got to get this, this one

52:47

breeding a lot of baby horses

52:49

because they've survived and they're doing

52:51

really well. You know, I think

52:53

we could have, it's well within.

52:55

are abilities to have done that

52:57

at that time. So, you know,

52:59

it was probably a mixture of,

53:01

I would say it's mostly the

53:03

environmental pressures, but then maybe they

53:05

were assisted in their survival by

53:07

humans, and then that's how they

53:09

evolved so quickly without just immediately

53:11

all tying up. Actually, comparisons of

53:13

the Yakut horses to Mammoth Genome

53:16

found similarities in metabolism, hair growth,

53:18

and body proportions, which is an

53:20

example of convergent evolution. So, Convergent

53:22

evolution is when you have very

53:24

similar traits, but they have all

53:26

that different points in evolutionary history

53:28

and they're like in different species

53:30

or in the same species, but

53:32

at different times. So one of

53:34

the important things about yakoot horses

53:36

is that they are mostly wild

53:38

horses, so they don't, they aren't

53:40

kept in pens all year round,

53:42

they're not kept at a corral,

53:44

they're allowed to roam wild. and

53:46

yacoot horse breeders have a really

53:48

tough job because the horses get

53:50

to go live free and wild

53:52

for much of the time and

53:54

the horse breeders have to convince

53:56

them to come back to get

53:58

fed and get medical. and

54:01

to help them in their breeding.

54:03

And so they'll drive out for

54:05

miles and miles to search for

54:07

these horses. And then once they

54:09

get there, they'll call them. They

54:11

really have to convince them to

54:14

come in because it's these big,

54:16

these herds of horses. You can't

54:18

just like last. So all the

54:20

horses and have them come in.

54:22

You have to kind of, it's

54:25

got to be a cooperative effort

54:27

like, hey, we got hey. Hey,

54:29

remember me? Remember, hey, hey, hey,

54:31

hey, oh, this is good pomery.

54:33

Yes, and so they also will

54:35

like call them out like be

54:38

like, hey, come on, Fred the

54:40

horse, probably not named Fred, but

54:42

you know, you know, I think

54:44

there's definitely a Fred in the

54:46

group. Yeah. Clearly I'm not good

54:49

at measuring nor naming horses. I

54:51

mean I named a bear Timmy

54:53

earlier in this episode. That's a

54:55

good bear name though. Tell yourself

54:57

short on that. So this habit

54:59

of living animals roam free and

55:02

then calling them back in over

55:04

long distances is actually also done

55:06

in Norway and Sweden and has

55:08

been done since the Middle Ages

55:10

and there is this practice called

55:13

cooning. which is the term for

55:15

a herding call to let livestock

55:17

know it's time to come home.

55:19

So it is a specific type

55:21

of song or call that has

55:23

similar mechanics to yodeling so that

55:26

it can bounce off of the

55:28

hills and really ring for long

55:30

distances so that livestock can hear

55:32

it even when they're far off

55:34

into the mountains. And typically it's

55:37

a tradition carried on by women

55:39

because historically they were tasked with

55:41

tending to flocks and herds, although

55:43

men do also carry on the

55:45

tradition. And each herder or shepherd

55:47

would have their own unique call

55:50

for their livestock. And this, so

55:52

I have a clip from a

55:54

very talented cooling singer. Her name's

55:56

Joanna. she's calling her cows. I'll

55:58

provide a link to the full

56:01

video and the show notes. I

56:03

really recommend looking at it. It's

56:05

really hauntingly beautiful, but I'll just

56:07

play a really short clip so

56:09

you get an idea of what

56:11

it sounds like. And

56:24

in this clip you can see

56:27

the little cow just like they're

56:29

ambling on over like okay I'm

56:31

going. I recognize that. So is

56:33

the idea that all of the

56:35

the animals that get herded by

56:37

the particular herders like recognize the

56:39

sound of like their specific I

56:42

think so, yeah, I think so.

56:44

And I think they'll probably recognize

56:46

the voice of their herder and

56:48

they'll recognize the specific call they

56:50

know to come home because then

56:52

they get fed and they get

56:54

in warm place. Yeah, I really

56:56

love this, the practice of letting

56:59

these animals just wander around, frolic

57:01

around and play and occasionally get

57:03

eaten by predators, but you know,

57:05

sure. And then you're just like,

57:07

all right, come home and they're

57:09

like, sure. Wow, that's how, man,

57:11

that's how farming should be done

57:14

here, too. Just let the, let

57:16

the, let the pigs just run

57:18

around the city, do their thing.

57:20

I've seen Babe Pig in the

57:22

city, that's how it should be.

57:24

Exactly the, the renowned documentary big

57:26

pig in the city. I love,

57:29

I love the George Miller famous

57:31

documentarian. I loved both of those

57:33

movies when I was a kid.

57:35

I was always horrified at it.

57:37

Everyone's just like, yeah, you'll be

57:39

baking someday. And he's like, what?

57:41

And he's like, calm down. It's

57:44

the way of things here. So

57:46

I wanted to do an update

57:48

to crowboarding. So a little while

57:50

ago, we did an episode on

57:52

play. And I talked about crow

57:54

boarding where there's this video of

57:56

a crow picking up a metal

57:58

lid to like a jar. a

58:01

snowy roof, sits on the lid

58:03

and slides down and does this

58:05

a few times. And of course,

58:07

okay, so this is just one

58:09

example, you know, maybe this was

58:11

just some fluke, you know, malfunctioning

58:13

crow or something. But actually I

58:16

found online that there were, there

58:18

have been more sightings of crows

58:20

and ravens. sliding down snow-covered roofs

58:22

just to fly back and repeat

58:24

it over and over again. So

58:26

this is an observed behavior that

58:28

ravens and crows do. And they're

58:31

just doing it for fun? We

58:33

don't know why they're doing it,

58:35

but there seems to be no

58:37

purpose. And one of the definitions

58:39

of play is that it's a

58:41

repetitive action that has no purpose.

58:43

Right. And then like logically you

58:45

would conclude that it is just

58:48

for fun or for some. some

58:50

pleasurable reason. And then there's another

58:52

report that birds would fly to

58:54

a snow-covered stump and then they

58:56

would slide down the slope on

58:58

their backs and sometimes they would

59:00

hold sticks as they would slide

59:03

down. Just like skiers do with

59:05

their, whatever those things are called.

59:07

There's ski poles. Yeah, sometimes they

59:09

seem to do it for attention,

59:11

like they'll slide down a steep

59:13

incline and then seem to try

59:15

to attract mates by showing them

59:18

how cool they are at crowboarding.

59:20

And sometimes they do it because

59:22

there's this lodge that's been in

59:24

their family for generations and this

59:26

rich kid comes and it's like,

59:28

I'm gonna buy your lodge and

59:30

then you won't be allowed back

59:32

in it. And the crows are

59:35

like, we'll see about that. And

59:37

then they raise them down Death

59:39

Mountain. Just like the plot of,

59:41

oh my God, what movie is

59:43

that? Crap, it's that, it's a

59:45

John Cusack movie, I think. Yes,

59:47

the famous movie is not running.

59:50

Better off dead? Let's see, John,

59:52

his name is John Cusack. They

59:54

parody that plot in an episode.

59:56

to South Park. Okay. Is a

59:58

1985 American teen black comedy film

1:00:00

starring John Cusack? Do I know

1:00:02

film or do I know film?

1:00:05

I do have a master's of

1:00:07

green screen writing. I hate to

1:00:09

bring it up. In the town

1:00:11

of Greendale, Northern California, high school

1:00:13

student, blah, blah, blah. Am I

1:00:15

totally wrong about this? Oh no,

1:00:17

no, no. They try to ski

1:00:20

the K-12, the highest peak in

1:00:22

towns in hopes of getting, winning

1:00:24

back Beth's love. Oh right, there's

1:00:26

a race and whoever wins the

1:00:28

race gets to get the woman

1:00:30

as a reward because women are

1:00:32

prizes. Yeah. I actually was weird.

1:00:34

I went to this arcade and

1:00:37

there was this big vending machine

1:00:39

and then there were just a

1:00:41

bunch of ladies in there. I

1:00:43

was like trying to try to

1:00:45

like get them and they're like,

1:00:47

please let us out of this

1:00:49

giant claw machine. We're actually stuck

1:00:52

in here because we tried to

1:00:54

get the bears out by reaching

1:00:56

our hands and we got sucked

1:00:58

in, but I think that was

1:01:00

just to add to the charm

1:01:02

of the machine. Sure, sure, sure,

1:01:04

sure. Okay,

1:01:07

so back to the crows who are

1:01:09

sledding for fun. Now, wait, you suggested

1:01:11

that maybe it's like, could be sort

1:01:13

of like the winter sports version of

1:01:16

like the dances that birds do for

1:01:18

like mating dances? Because they need a

1:01:20

training montage to get better at sledding.

1:01:23

It's just this little crow like lifting

1:01:25

sticks with its feet. I would watch

1:01:27

that training montage. I would watch a

1:01:30

whole movie trilogy about crows snowboarding and

1:01:32

winning the crow girls as prizes and

1:01:34

winning the lodges as prizes. Sometimes the

1:01:36

crow girl wins skis as a prize.

1:01:39

Sometimes the crow girl wins skis as

1:01:41

a prize. Sometimes the crow girl gets

1:01:43

to ski. So yes, yes, not a

1:01:46

lot. The crow girls skis sometimes and

1:01:48

sometimes the lodge skis. wins the prize

1:01:50

of the year. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,

1:01:53

yeah. Yeah, you just mix it all

1:01:55

up. Crows are in it. I think

1:01:57

we could, we could get at this,

1:01:59

script. We need this franchise. And then

1:02:02

we also need the Chipmunks as mafia

1:02:04

stories. Right, right, right. Oh, and we

1:02:06

could have a crossover, like, like, this

1:02:09

could be sort of the crowboarding universe.

1:02:11

Right. That we need like an animal

1:02:13

cinematic cinematic. Yes, yes, the crowboarding cinematic

1:02:15

universe. You've got the chipmunks who are

1:02:18

like killing each other for acorns. You

1:02:20

got the crows trying to win ski

1:02:22

contests. You got beluga, like a sort

1:02:25

of bridesmaids movie, but with belugas going

1:02:27

out and getting a spa day. But

1:02:29

everything goes horribly wrong, but then at

1:02:32

the end they found out the belugas

1:02:34

were the friends you made along the

1:02:36

way. Exactly. Yeah, there's a lot of

1:02:38

content here. There's a lot of mineable

1:02:41

content. Guys, movie people, mineable content. Yeah,

1:02:43

exact boarding universe. Right. We need like

1:02:45

an animal cinematic universe. Yes, yes, the

1:02:48

crowboarding cinematic universe. We've got the shipmunks

1:02:50

who are like killing each other for

1:02:52

acorns. You got the crows trying to...

1:02:54

We'll do. Yes. What would we call

1:02:57

it? Oh, there's got to be a

1:02:59

pun or something. I mean, crowboarding is

1:03:01

the pun, but we need an extra

1:03:04

one just to send it over the

1:03:06

top. Why is this so hard for

1:03:08

me? I've taken improv classes. Corvus. Not

1:03:11

me, Corvus. Wait, what is Corvus? That's

1:03:13

the family of the cars. Oh, I

1:03:15

see. That might. That's sort of a

1:03:17

precedential slogan. Yeah, maybe it's a little

1:03:20

too, it's maybe too highbrow for the

1:03:22

audience. We'll figure it out. Or if

1:03:24

you have crowboarding, we'll have a raven

1:03:27

good time. There we are. There it

1:03:29

is. There it is. There it is.

1:03:31

Send it to print. Dreamworks. Drop that

1:03:34

up. Yep. you so

1:03:36

much for joining me

1:03:38

for Thanks for having

1:03:40

me. I've had

1:03:43

a blast. Yeah, this

1:03:45

is really fun. had

1:03:47

a blast. Yeah, this is really fun.

1:03:50

Or a time. Oh, and there

1:03:52

Oh, goes there goes

1:03:54

my audience. They're

1:03:56

all gone now gone now,

1:03:59

about that, you

1:04:01

guys. that, you guys. you

1:04:03

have anything to plug?

1:04:06

to Oh, sure. Oh, sure.

1:04:08

You can listen to

1:04:10

my podcast right

1:04:13

here on the network. Yeah,

1:04:15

I I do see

1:04:17

you guys around

1:04:19

a lot. Yeah, we

1:04:22

are. are. It is called the

1:04:24

called The Bechdel Cast

1:04:26

and we movies through a

1:04:29

feminist lens. How dare you? I know. dare

1:04:31

you I? And you can follow me, you dare I that

1:04:33

out at you can follow me you

1:04:35

can check that out at Dectocast on

1:04:37

Twitter and Instagram and then you

1:04:39

can follow me on this place as

1:04:41

well at Caitlin Durante. You

1:04:43

can You can find us on, on

1:04:45

side, inside the internet, creature

1:04:48

feature pod.com creature feature pod on Instagram, Creature

1:04:50

Feet Pod on Twitter, Twitter -A -T,

1:04:52

not F -E -E -T, that's something

1:04:54

very, very different. different. And I I

1:04:56

have been Golden and you and you

1:04:58

can find me on Twitter, and

1:05:00

you can also find me

1:05:02

on Twitter also find me on where I

1:05:04

ensure that where I ensure that day

1:05:06

take the rains to this planet

1:05:08

planet and it in the right

1:05:10

direction. in the more direction. A more

1:05:12

birdy I love it. it. Thanks

1:05:14

to Space Cossacks for their super groovy

1:05:17

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