Secretly Incredibly Fascinating - FEED DROP: "Creature Feature: Naturally Barbie!"

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Did you know Katie Goldin has her very own podcast? We're bringing you a recent 'Creature Feature' episode about the most pink animals in the world, featuring guest Alex Schmidt.NOTE FOR SIF SUPPORTERS: there's a fresh new bonus show in your bonus audio feed. Head over there to enjoy it. (And if you're not yet a SIF supporter, visit maximumfun.org/join to get that bonus show and so much more.)Creature Feature: "Naturally Barbie!", with guest Alex SchmidtIn honor of the Barbie movie, today's theme is: PIIIINK! All the fabulous fuchsias, the prettiest pinks, found in nature! Pink is sometimes maligned as an "frivolous" color, but as we'll find out, nature takes its pink VERY seriously.  From camouflage, to ambushes, river battles and poison, we're taking a look at the dark side of pink.Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ia-zz-wpJEKqlOpee3AWWcynJI8Az95_wUOYd6p8imU/edit?usp=sharing

Hey, this is Alex with a super fast programming note, because this is an extra fun week for the show. Every Monday, we release two things, a main show and a bonus show. You listening to this audio file right now, this is the main show. And this week's main show is a special feature of Creature Feature. Creature Feature, the wonderful podcast made by my co-host Katie Golden. She invited me on a really fun one recently about pink animals. And so we had an amazing time taping it, and I thought it would be fun to give you an extra push to check out that show and get into it, because you're going

to love it if you don't already. We also release a new bonus show every Monday, and we have a new one of those for the people who support this show, who back this show, who make the entire thing possible. So if you already support this podcast, thank you again so much, and you've got a new bonus show waiting for you. It's an extra amazing one. If you have not supported this show before, please consider going to MaximumFun.org slash join. When you sign up there, you get a humongous treasure trove of audio and poster art and all sorts of other little features from us and from the entire Maximum Fun set of shows, which are artist-owned and part of an employee-owned co-op network, which is a truly unique business model in all of podcasting and simply the best way to do this kind of thing.

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the amazing podcast by my wonderful co-host and friend and buddy, Katie Golden. 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, pink! All the fabulous fuchsias, the prettiest pink found in nature. Pink is sometimes maligned as a frivolous color, but as we'll find out, nature takes its pink very seriously. From camouflage to ambushes, river battles, and poison, we're taking a look at the dark side of pink. Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question,

should you stop to smell the flowers or stop before smelling the flowers? Joining me today is friend of the show, my friend, host of the podcast that, hey, I am also on, co-hosts one might say, of secretly incredibly fascinating, secretly incredibly Alex Schmidt. Welcome! I think the color pink would be a good topic and it's great to find out about it through animals right now. That's so exciting. Yes. And always great to be here. Thank you. Yes. Well, we should do like a secretly incredibly fascinating on the color pink, maybe. Yeah. There's that thing I've

heard from the internet that it was once considered a boy's color before it was considered a girl's color, which is neat. And beyond that, I don't really know much about it. Yeah, we should do it. I'm going to keep like just ambushing you with pitches for the show on live air continually. Make you feel should do it. I'm going to keep like just ambushing you with pitches for the show on live air continually. Make you feel awkward about it.

You should. Here's what you do. When we look at each other on Zoom, you get a bunch of like lamps set up. Right. And then the bulbs are pink tinted and you have like pink gels, you know, and you just gradually increase the pinkness of the room. Yes. To incept me into saying, oh, a pink topic. Pinkception.

It's another Christopher Nolan movie. Yeah. So this week, in honor of the Barbie movie, we are talking about the color pink. Now, I don't think either of us have seen the Barbie movie yet. I'm actually supposed to see it tonight. So I am very excited. Nice. So I'm going supposed to see it tonight, so I am very excited. Nice. So I'm going into- I haven't seen that, and I also haven't seen Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer, nice. There we go. There we go, like a pink mushroom cloud from a horrible nuke. No, I've also not seen Oppenheimer. I'm planning actually to turn this into a bit of a Barbenheimer. Not this episode, but next episode, I will talk about explosive animals. So get ready for that. But yes, so there will be no Barbie movie spoilers in this simply because I cannot,

because I do not know any spoilers. We're just talking about how pink is an underrated color in the animal kingdom. Yeah, I don't know of a lot of pink animals, I guess. I guess a flamingo jumps to mind. Yeah. That's about it. Who we're not talking about because that one's too obvious. So we are talking about animals that I'm hoping, well, you may have heard of a few of these, but I'm hoping some of them are at least new to you. So first, Alex, did you know there is a tiny pink polka dotted horse that lives under the sea? No, that should that should have been the third movie in the triple feature.

There we go. You know. Yes. So there is a teeny tiny polka dot pink polka dot teeny weeny seahorse called the pygmy seahorse. And just look at this thing. So cute. It has like a baby horse face, if that makes sense, which is extra cute. Very into it.

It looks like the My Little Pony version of a seahorse. It's very, very cute. Very into it. It looks like the My Little Pony version of a seahorse. It's very, very cute. It is found in Southeast Asia in the Coral Triangle area. And there are actually a few species of pygmy seahorses, all very tiny, all very cute. And some of them are pink. And they are about half an inch to an inch long or about 15 to 25 millimeters. Because they're so tiny and snackable, they like to mimic the color and texture of the coral that they hide in. So when you look at a thing of coral, you may not be able to see these little guys, but they're in there, hidden away secretly. Even just the location, the coral triangle is cute.

I've never heard of that. Great. It sounds made up. And it contains literally My Little Pony. Great. Yeah. Really good. It sounds like a made up cartoon city for a little cartoon, My Little Seahorse.

And yeah, but they are so so cute they're very pink they have these pink bulbous polka dots so when i say polka dots they're actually three-dimensional polka dots because they're kind of bulbous which helps them fit in with this uh this coral that is very it's very very bulbous, it's pink. But interestingly, some of these species of pygmy seahorses actually will change their color based on the coral that they live on. So a young pygmy seahorse will settle on some coral. It will sense the color of the coral. And over a few days, they will alter their color and their texture to match the coral. So this means that the same species can come in a range of colors from red to orange to yellow to pink. So, oh man, there's a whole rainbow of them.

Rainbow! Forget a triple feature. I just want to see this movie instead of either of the famous ones, right? Like, come on. Even the three-dimensional polka dots look like the candy dots. Yes. Which I've mostly had in movie theaters. They look like thumb drops.

Great. Yeah, they're so cute. Yeah. So there are actually specialized pigment cells on their skin called chromatophores that allow them to change color. And it's not like an instant change. You know, have you seen maybe octopus or cuttlefish be able to very quickly change their color? These are not that quick. It takes a few days for it to change color.

But still, it's really, really interesting. And those bumpy little like candy dot looking things are actually called tubercules, which sounds less appealing than candy dots. But yeah, they are fleshy projections that grow on their skin. And when you look at coral and you try to find these little guys, if you're not zoomed in on it, it is very difficult. They're very good at camouflage. on it it is very difficult they are very good at camouflage good for them i expect nothing less from my favorite tiny seahorses and if people don't know i'm mostly repulsed by most sea creatures and i like this one you know what i mean this is a very cute sea creature i found the friendliest looking sea creature that i could uh for you alex i appreciate it yeah speaking yeah of friendly creature creatures friendly creatures spiders i like spiders i think they're cute um most people well i don't know i guess i don't know how many people don't think they're cute i would assume most but maybe maybe the world's turning around on spiders maybe Maybe we've got a spider revolution.

But I want to talk about a spider who is so fashionable, very Barbie, very pink, and likes to match its outfit with flowers. Oh, fantastic. That, okay. Yeah, humans can't be the only ones. No. Makes sense. Look, humans love flowers, but so do so many other animals. And they also like to match their fashion with flowers. So Tomycist onustus is a spider also known as a crab spider or flower crab spider found in Eurasia.

It's pretty small. It's only about 7 to 11 millimeters, which is under half an inch big. So if you're scared of spiders, this is a little one. Not too menacing. I have a creative note for this species, which is flower crab spider, much stronger name than crab spider. Just switch to that. Sorry, you kind of broke up. Switch to what? It's like dropping the the off of Facebook. Just switch to flower crab spider don't don't leave that crab spider branding laying around as an option

flower crab is a hundred times nicer and more marketable that's my note uh in this like silicon valley cafe or whatever i'm justin timberlake in the movie The Social Network now. Yes. Add the flower instead of drop the the. Flower crab spider. Yeah. Thank you for marketing this. This is kind of the most important part of this spiders. I think spiders do just need more marketing and fewer people would be afraid of them. So flower crab spiders.

Crab spider sounds like just a hundred stabby points. Yeah. But flower crab spider. It sounds like just a hundred stabby points on an animal. But flower crab spider, it sounds like a lady with an orchid in her hair, you know? Way better. You know, it's funny because like crab spiders are actually typically very pretty, very beautiful. There's, and I don't know, I find them quite appealing. They're not nearly as menacing as you would think that they are. So yeah, they are found in Eurasia. They actually live in a symbiotic relationship with flowers. So they

will feed on insects that can harm the flower. They also benefit from the flower because the flower attracts insects and this spider crab, sorry, this crab spider can actually eat those insects. And if they can't find any insects to eat, they can sip on the nectar of the flower. So they benefit the flower by protecting it. And the flower benefits them by providing them with food. And just like the pygmy seahorse that we talked about earlier, they can detect the color of the flower that they've chosen as their home. And over the course of a few days, they can actually change their color to match the flower. So it is amazing.

So this also means that this species can come in a variety of different colors from pink to yellow to kind of orange colors to sort of purple colors. But yeah, a lot of them are pink because there are a lot of pink flowers. And that's so Barbie to me. Like not just being pink, but making the active choice of pink and selecting it and making it your thing. That's very, very Barbie.

Good job. Yeah, it's very Barbie. Very Barbie. Having not seen the Barbie movie, I assume the conclusion is that we should all be wearing pink. And I think that is what Greta Gerwig is probably aiming for. That pink is a great color that we should all choose to wear. Yeah, she's taken a side in the, I don't know, Pantone Wars or paint store decisions.

I don't know where these color fights are happening, but I'm in favor of her taking a stand. Very brave. Just full-on fist fights in the paint aisle of Lowe's. Yeah. So not only can they change the pigmentation and structure of their cells to change their color in a way that is visible to humans, they can also change the ultraviolet light that they reflect to

match their flower. Thus, they are actually camouflaged for birds and other insects that see UV light. So they have completely matched their flower both in the visible spectrum for humans and the UV spectrum for birds and and other insects and this is very important because they don't want to get eaten by birds and they want to eat insects so being invisible to birds and insects provides them both with protection and the ability to ambush an unsuspecting bug who comes to a flower thinking it's going to get a nice snack, but then becomes a snack. Whoa. Yeah.

Okay. So it does have the powers of the movie character, the Predator. Yes. Which has always needed a Barbie extension, we have all felt. We've all known this. Why fight alien when you can fight or team up with Barbie? And I think we finally achieved it here. Gosh, a pink Pred predator would look so fly. I love that.

I really love that for him. Yeah. Her. I'm not sure. I guess them. I don't I don't want to the predator. It's never explicitly said what gender the predator is. But yes, I love that for the predator.

Great. The predator is a spectrum. We all know this. Oh, man, a pink predator would be just so boss. I love that. So we're going to take a quick break and when we return, we are

going to talk about an animal who is pink. Seems like it comes straight from a Lisa Frank notebook, but it's incredibly metal. We'll be right back. So we are back. And do you remember Lisa Frank and all of those colorful notebooks back in, I want to say the nineties was when that was the main, the main era of Lisa Frank.

Of course, the artist who made those beautiful rainbow colored notebooks with really bright colors, lots of cute animals, rainbows, pandas, puppies, and dolphins, and horses. Yeah, I didn't possess them, but I had classmates who did, and you can't miss them. If anyone in your class has one, you'll notice.

Yeah. And yeah, I was happy for them. I think I knew some guys who were like, oh, that's girly. But like, it was just fine. It was cool. Yeah. It was just colorful animals. Very lively.

I don't understand how colorful animals is girly. But, you know, sure. Fine. I'm happy to claim that. I'm happy to claim all the colorful animals and keep them for myself. It's a big win for girls. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

Like only girls like ponies and dolphins. and keep them for myself. It's a big win for girls. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, exactly. Only girls like ponies and dolphins. Like, dude, we get horses and dolphins? Wow. All right, fine. Leaving it on the table. We'll take them. Ice cream is for girls.

Okay, thank you. We'll also take cake. Sounds good. We'll take cookies. Thank you very much. Yeah, so there is actually, reality a pink dolphin and not just one pink dolphin but a whole species of pink dolphins wow okay oh yeah i'm seeing the picture here wow yep it's just pink yeah cool yeah turns out that lisa frank is not making up pink dolphins. Pink dolphins exist. These are the Amazon River dolphins found, of course.

Can you guess where? Amazon River dolphins. Let's say the Amazon River. Alex, you're so smart. Yes, they are found in the Amazon River. They grow to become pink as they mature into adults. Males are pinker than females. Take that status quo.

The idea that pink is a girl color and not a boy color. Dolphins do not see it that way. Pink is very much more of a... I mean, females do get a little pink on them, but males are far more pink. I know we were joking about where is it located with the Amazon River, but I still kind of wanted to say Miami. This has Miami energy to me. It's in the water. It's bold.

It's just out there being itself. It feels like the opposite of camouflage somehow. It's great. Yeah. It has real speedboat energy, you know? It's bold. It's just out there being itself. It feels like the opposite of camouflage somehow. Yeah. It's great. Yeah. No, it is. It has real speedboat energy, you know? It's good. It does definitely look like an inflatable pool toy, but it's a, you know, it's not a

friendly inflatable pool toy because the reason that they're pink is actually very metal as their skin is worn down. So they actually start out gray when they're babies, when they're juveniles, they're gray. is actually very metal. As their skin is worn down, so they actually start out gray. When they're babies, when they're juveniles, they're gray. But as they get a number of abrasions through kind of knocking around, roughhousing, even fighting with each other, these abrasions form the scar tissue.

So they form the scar tissue very easily, which turns pink and so this is the reason that males tend to be pinker than females is that males are more aggressive they roughhouse they fight more often and so they have built up this layer of battle pink pink yeah perfect now we have the the competitor of the spider crab predator i couldn't even say its name i'm so terrified it can battle the the battle pink dolphin battle pink yeah i thought this i i don't know if i'm exactly right about this but i thought that pink was considered a boy's color at some point because pink was considered just the younger version of red and red was a manly color because red is blood

and blood is in war and war is for boys yeah it does make as much sense as any cultural belief about gender and colors of the spectrum because all the colors are for everybody it's sort of like lisa frank fundamentally it's for everybody and so sure that makes sense victorians who i believe picked that sounds like you're trying to turn our kids into dolphins that's true that's just straight up true that's my main issue issue and my main goal. Dolphin agenda. Offenda agenda. Yeah. So actually male dolphins. I'm doing it on porpoise. Anyway, go on.

Go on. So one of the theories is that really pink male dolphins are attractive to females because it shows that they are battle tested, which, you know, it's like this is being pink is like being sort of a scarred up Viking in the dolphin world. So, you know, gosh, now I'm thinking of pink Vikings and I love that, too. Yeah, that would have been good. Why not? Why not? Just like, can you imagine a pink pink beard with all the little like braids in it?

Pink helmet. I know they didn't wear the little horned helmets, but can you imagine a pink one? That'd be fun. In the sitcom, they had a bunch of white gear and then one red sock got into the laundry. There you go. And they're like, I can't believe we have to sack a monastery

looking like this. We feel so silly. But then it becomes the most feared color in the whole nordic seas yeah they they learn from one of their victims don't worry you're still cool and they have a heartwarming moment but also it's a viking raid on a monastery that's just history for you that's exactly this is true history and yes so the so pink dolphins are basically the battle scarred vikings of the dolphin world so another pink south american

animal is the roseate spoonbill bird found in the southern parts of north america as well as in south america it is beautiful i actually think it is in some ways more gloriously pink than the flamingo. It is a just fantastic looking bird. It is. Last time I was at a zoo, they had a lot of flamingos and they are paler than you think in your imagination and in your mental picture. Flamingos are sort of a pastel almost, and the spoonbill is really bold. It's got the Lisa Frank look going on. They live in both fresh and salt water in coastal regions, and like the flamingo, their pink coloration is from their diet,

which is high in carotenoids. So these are found in abundance in crustaceans, insects, plants, and mollusks. The spoonbill will also feed on frogs, fish, and newts. So it'll pretty much eat anything it can get in a spoonbill that is small enough and slurpable enough. Yeah, that seems technically difficult, like trying to pick up a frog with a spoon. I know it's different, but also in my head it's not. So, wow, very impressive. But imagine if the spoon was tongs, like sort of a salad.

You know, like those salad tossers, it's like a spoon. I guess there's also a fork on it and they're sort of tongs. So now you're cooking. Okay, it's a tongbill. Great. Yeah, a tongbill. It should be called the tongue bill. Come on, guys.

But yeah, it's called the spoon bill because of its long spoon shaped bill. Its body shape overall looks kind of like a heron, except for this flat, long spoon like bill. Its neck is a little thicker than a heron, perhaps. And of course, it has has beautiful bright pink feathers. And they use that spoonbill by kind of swishing it side to side in the water, catching and filtering prey through that spatula-like structure. And just, they look absolutely fabulous doing it. Yeah, the other day I saw a heron take off you know and it's like beholding an angel i would

really like to see a spoonbill take off now that would be great an angel with a big i'll probably go look it up an angel with tongs for a face honestly still more majestic and ethereal than the biblical description of angle angels being just eyeballs and wings, eyeballs and wings. Yeah, no tongs, no pink. Come on. Come on, Bible. Let's punch this up. I had notes for the flower crab spider and I have notes for, I guess, Revelation is where they do a lot of the angel descriptions. Anyway, there we go. If a biblical angel came to me with its hundreds of eyes and wings and stuff and said, be not afraid, I'd still be afraid. Whereas if an angel came to me with its hundreds of eyes and wings and stuff and said be not afraid i'd still be afraid whereas if an angel came to me and it had a big old spoon for a bill and was like be not afraid i'd be like no dude i'm not afraid you're great

just a just a little note just a little like you know constructive critique for the Bible. Like pressing the button on some kind of home security system and then realizing this will still be a difficult call. I don't know how to explain this to the home security people. Well, we are going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we are going to talk about a beautiful Barbie with legs for literally days so alex what if we took a millipede and made it fashion huh what if what if what if we do it let's do it so uh there is a millipede that is very real and very much exists called the Shocking Pink Dragon Millipede, also known as Desmoxides purposia.

It's actually pretty new on the books. It was first documented in 2007. That doesn't mean it's when it was discovered. It's the first time it's sort of been documented in modern biology. I'm seeing a picture of this. That's astounding. Yes. It's a very visible insect.

It's very visible. It's very, very pink. Extremely pink, one might say. Shockingly pink. Yeah. It's like if we discovered barbie last year and that's what's the movie's about like it's an indiana jones style picture about can you believe we found an entire pink dream house like i think we would have found this sooner but okay sure i like the idea that this is a primordial barbie like barbie goes through stages of evolution to reach barbie hood and

this is just this looks like the primordial billion year old barbie uh and it's both horrifying and very fashionable yeah like like the first barbie dream boat grows wheels to walk on land as a dream car you know it's some kind of weird cronenberg evolution i like it yeah this is this is like if cronenberg directed the barbie movie which honestly that might be good that might be real good so this beautiful they should have titled the barbie movie crimes from the future that would make sense that would be a fun different title for fashion crimes from the future so this shocking pink dragon millipede and i'm not adding i'm not the one adding in the shocking pink that is in its name shocking pink dragon millipede uh it lives in the utah and i province in thailand. It's found in forests just kind of lurking among the leaf litter floor. Apparently they emerge in the rain like some kind of glorious fashion show that happens,

except that it's a little bit creepy. I'm into that. I have oddly begun reading about fancy French fashion shows by top designers, and there tends to be some really elaborate staging that you would never know about without reading about it. So this makes sense. Yeah. Some kind of waterfall effects in the end of theming. Yeah. Into it.

Well, fashion week, call me when your fashion show has a bunch of leaf litter and your models like crawl out of the leaf litter with so many legs, then I'll pay attention. So this millipede is not just beautifully fashionable with over 50 long slender pink legs. It is also covered in menacing pink spikes. It's punk. It's pink. It's pink legs. It is also covered in menacing pink spikes. It's punk.

It's pink. It's pink punk. It's truly, it's cartoon colored. Like it's brighter than the spoonbill. I feel like we've increased the saturation of the pink as we've spoken, which is great. As I looked at our various photos of animals, it just keeps getting more Barbie. It keeps getting more Barbie. It keeps getting more Angeline. People know that LA reference.

Yeah. I'm at the Angeline. I'm at the Barbie show. I'm at the hot topic Angeline Barbie show combination. And then you need special protective sunglasses like the Oppenheimer characters to look at it. It's too pink. It's too bright. You may also want some Oppenheimer protection from this because not only is it fabulous, it is very dangerous to eat. It is toxic. So it produces a toxic hydrogen cyanide compound in a series of glands, which are very, very toxic when eaten.

And so this pink coloration is not just so it can show up to a Barbie premiere looking the best. It is so other animals won't eat it because they look at that and that is a back off pink. This is a I am toxic. You don't want any of this pink. I mean, it's the pink that Britney Spears was serving in her toxic music video. Oh, right. Yes. Yeah, it's almost exactly that outfit and maybe texture as I look at it.

It really, wow, this is just a Britney Spears bug. That's good. Yeah, it really is pink punk. And I love her for this, this millipede. She is, as the kids say, serving it. I think that's what the kids say. I think they say serving. I think they say they might still say fire. Sure, yeah. Yeah. But don't serve this bug at dinner. Oh, no.

No, because you'll get very sick. So, yeah, actually, apparently, they kind of smell like almonds, which, again, like, she's pink and she's got almond perfume and she's covered in spikes. But the almond perfume is deadly because cyanide has a slight sweet almondy smell. It's kind of a bit. It's definitely bitter tasting. You don't want to eat it. But yeah, apparently it kind of smells a little bit like almonds.

And so, yeah, it is when you have a warning coloration that is also known as aposematism. So maybe we've got Barbie all wrong. Maybe the pink coloration is telling you don't eat the Barbie. It's full of cyanide. Warning. Do not play. Warning. Warning.

I have heard that Mattel is incredibly litigious so just for the record barbies do not contain cyanide they are safe to play with and maybe eat no don't eat them i take that back don't eat them just a lot of pink lawyers are going to descend on both our locations that's how it goes just everyone is from everyone is l from legally blonde covered in pink just absolutely bankrupting me uh to the point of ruin but but in pink with pink so it's fine wow yeah she would either extremely work for them or be some kind of opposing force who's there like like i feel like l would work for the firm opposing mattel and then there's some kind of villain speech in the middle of the movie where mattel says we're not so different you and i and you see like oh that's kind of true they both wear pink that's true we're both wearing pink

mattel is also like german or blofeld for some reason but i'm into it cool yeah i feel like l from legally blonde would note the slight difference in shades of pink that they're wearing to prove that they are actually different uh but yes you're right she would definitely be oh damn you woods damn you and then she's holding swatches and you just can't disagree she's right she's right she's got the swatches reese reese witherspoon take that german mattel reese witherspoon you want to get in back into the movie game i mean she's all right she's still back in the movie game she's never left the movie game but i'm saying call us you want to be in another another one of those legally blonde movies we got the script all ready for you yeah i just thought of like between taping this and release oh what reese wither spoon bill oh

and i have gotten to see her take off she is nailing it proud of you reese good job all righty well before we go alex we gotta play a little game you you like games alex you like games yes yes this is the best game in podcasting here we go this game is called guess who's squawking the mystery animal sound game every week we play a mystery animal sound. And you, the listener, and you, the guest, try to guess who is making that sound. It can be any animal in the wild, in the entire wild, in the oceans, in the world, in the

sky, on the land, in the trees, in the mountains, anywhere. What do you want from me? Let's bring back wilds. In the entire wild. So I always provide a hint because I am so, so nice. Last week's mystery animal

sound hint was this. Start your engines, fellas. This speedster is revving up, but running is not exactly what's on his mind. Alex. Alex, did you hear that beautiful sound? I did. And from the hint, I feel like no legs.

So sorry, shocking pic millipede. It's not you. You're out. Is it some kind of, I'm imagining those elephant seals with the big things on their faces that help them make noise. Is it one of those? The big proboscises. That's a good guess. Yeah. It's wrong, but it's a good guess.

Thank you. I got that feeling. That's okay. I got that feeling. That's okay. So I feel like perhaps I have misled you with my clue because not only does it have legs, it has some of the most impressive legs in the animal kingdom because this is the booming call of a male ostrich who is very turned on. Congratulations to Auntie Bee and Joey B, who both guessed correctly. Cool.

Wow. This is specifically the call of the male ostrich. Females do not make this call. And he is doing it because he sees a lady he is trying to impress. So ostriches are incredibly impressive runners. Yes. So ostriches are incredibly impressive runners. They may be flightless, but it can go over 40 miles per hour, which is around 70 kilometers per hour.

They are the fastest terrestrial bird. So males will offer this booming call to attract females. But that's not it. Their mating ritual is fascinating and intricate and very silly. Oh, okay. I'll bet. They're already 99% silly looking as it is, so

the mating has got to be funnier. So the male will make this like, woo, woo, woo call until he has attracted the attention of a female. But that's not good enough for her. She wants to test his mettle. And so she will lead him on a ceremonial chase where she runs away from him and he chases her. where she runs away from him and he chases her.

Now, he's not actually chasing her in an aggressive manner, and she's still in control of the situation, even though it might look like she's running away from him and he's chasing her. It is more of a ritual. And she will see if he can keep up with her to make sure he has good stamina and is a fit prime male. So she will slow down and maybe she's interested, maybe she's not. But to try to really seal the deal,

the male will unfold his wings and perform a sexy dance for her. He'll get on his knees, which his knees are kind of actually his ankles, like what we look at, and it seems like backwards knees are ankles and its knees are like further up. But he will get down, lift his wings up, and kind of flap them consecutively,

like doing a little bit of the wave. And he will roll his head and his neck around and around it's a very impressive dance yeah it sounds like it this is great and it is it's it's funny because it is very clearly a sensual dance i feel like sometimes when you see a mating dance from an animal you're like that doesn't seem sexy this one is like yeah he's trying to do a sexy dance for sure. It sounds like the dances that a lot of human guys do when they're just trying stuff. Yeah. You know, it's like, what if I get down like this and wiggle like this?

You just see him try it on the floor at a wedding or something. And they're like, look, we're all getting creative. We're all experimenting. And I'm into it. Great. I'm doing the ostrich. Yeah. It's a little funny, especially because they have such glorious fan-like feathers.

It looks a little bit burlesque, to be honest, which is great. And he'll also do these cute little trots to impress the female where he's holding his little wings out. Well, big wings, really, and and fluttering his feathers and does this like cute little like tippy tap trot. It is the most dainty looking thing. And it's incredibly cute. If the female is impressed, she'll actually sort of flutter her wings in a seductive fashion and then they will mate so it is quite a charming and cute mating ritual that these do uh it's i would definitely look up a video of ostrich mating ritual it's it's very good i like that the female

part is to my human mind so much more normal normal. Yeah. Like one wing flutter. Yeah. That makes total sense. That's how I assume all birds express attraction. And then the guy is like, step seven is I waggle my wings in a different angle. It's just really wild and weird. Great. It's like just doing the worm.

It's doing the robot. Yeah. Like wiggling, gyratingyrating everything working up a sweat out of breath and the female just kind of gives the equivalent of like thumbs up good job yeah yeah like good job doing 17 different ostrich fortnight dances that are also sexual. I will briefly assent. Good. Oh, man. Such a tryhard.

Poor tryhard ostrich. Well, Alex, on to this week's Mystery Animal Sound. The hint is this. Don't get too cocky. You may have to think further back to get this one right. Yeah, okay. So, Alex, can you guess who is making that sound? That was, I appreciate your hint because it sounds like a rooster.

But from your hint, think farther back. Well, and people have encouraged us to do a SIF about chickens. I don't mean to keep bringing up SIF, but you should definitely do chickens. Oh, yeah. Please don't bring up our other podcast that we're on, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. It sure would be a shame if people checked out our other podcast called Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. So I'm going to say some sort of is my guess.

Alex, you're absolutely correct, but I am going to bleep you out. People will know that you were correct, but they won't know what you said. So you get all of the smugness without the spoiler. Oh, sick. This is the best of all worlds for me.

And you folks get to keep playing. Play on. And you get to keep playing. Play on. And you get to keep guessing. If you want to guess, you can send me an email at creaturefeaturepod at gmail.com. I will reward the three fastest gissers with the best reward of all time. I say your name on the podcast. And I'll be like, good job. Isn't that worth more than money?

You know, a moment of me saying like good job thumbs up um but yes uh please do send me your guesses and of course if you have animal related questions you can always send them to me at creaturefeaturepod at gmail.com as well I will occasionally do listener questions episodes. And if you write me a question, I might read it on the show. And if you're lucky, even answer it. Alex, thank you so much for coming on today. I wonder where people can find you. It's always the best. And I don't know if we've mentioned Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, which is a podcast that I'm thrilled Katie Golden co-hosts with me every week.

I do. And it's just a blast. If you search Secretly in your podcast app, it comes up. It's the red one. Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. It's just the best time. It's a podcast that I am on, and I guess Alex too. But it's really good, and you should check it out.

And we talk about things. And the best part is I don't do the research. But it's really good and you should check it out and we talk about things. And the best part is I don't do the research. I sit back and let Alex do all the work. But I'm there and I say things. And you know so much from, among other things, making this show. It's just been such a rich experience to get to make it with you every week. It's been a blast. And Katie was on the first ever taping, which became the second episode

about cattle. She's there from early on too. That's right. I was in on the ground floor of the Sith Empire. It was a worthwhile investment. But yes, do check that out. Enjoy the Bobby movie. I'm going to see it.

See if this episode is even relevant. And then next week, if all goes to plan... Did you pronounce Barbie like the Australian slang Barbie? Like the Bobby. For me, it's sort of a New York. I like it. Like Babra. Babra

Strysan kind of thing. But it could also be Australian. I see where you're going with that. Oh. But yes, next week we'll do one in honor of Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer? Oppenheimer. You know, that one will certainly be lighthearted and fun. But yeah, I'll figure out some connections between

animals and explosions that are bad. I'll bet they'll all be more positive than the atomic bomb. So that's going to be a fun episode. It's going to be good. I can almost guarantee that they will be less depressing than the atomic bomb.

Almost guarantee it. So I will catch you next week. Thank you guys so much for listening. If you're enjoying the show and you leave a rating or review, I read every single rating. Wait. I read reviews, and I appreciate ratings, and they really do help out the podcast.

Thanks to the Space Classics for their super awesome song, Exolumina. Creature Feature is a production of the iHeartRadio Network. If you want to listen to more podcasts like the one you just heard, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or GSM. Wherever you listen to your favorite show. I don't care. I don't judge. Enjoy the movies.

Enjoy the Barbie movie. And see you next Wednesday!