Twists and Turns

Today on the show: dizzy apes, pirouetting spiders, and twisty birds. While these animals all have a different spin on spinning, they all share a love for the twirl. Discover this and more as we answer the age-old question: how do you get your lover back with the help of a bird? 

Guest: Bridgett Greenberg 

Footnotes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DR6X_VIhyUJV1li5AKl1776jxBCDqfd24UAOsvT68f8/edit?usp=sharing

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host
A Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology,
and today on the show, we're talking about twists and turns,
dizzy apes, purewetting spiders, and twisty birds. While these animals
all have a different spin on spinning, they all share

(00:28):
a love for the twirl. Discover this more as we
answer the agel question, how do you get your lover
back with the help of a bird? Joining me today
is teacup Ride enthusiast, friend of the show, producer host
of the podcast Rough Stuff and Shooting Threes, Bridget Greenberg. Welcome, Hi,

(00:49):
thanks for having bird. Yeah, I did just say that
you like the tea cup Ride, but I don't actually
know that. How do you feel about spinning? I'm I
got a solid stomach for ase. I like spinning. I'm
not a rollercoaster persona but if but if we're going
around in the circle real fast, I'm actually a big
fan of that. Really, I think that's fun. Yeah, I'm

(01:11):
shocked that I have the tolerance for that, but I do.
That's great. I don't not a spinning person. No, I
mean I like. So I'm very conflicted because I like
the feeling of being dizzy, but I don't like the
feeling of being nauseous, and usually those two charmed together.
So yeah, I could just be dizzy but not nauseous,

(01:33):
that would be great, But they come hand in hand
for me typically. You know, I'm curious because I haven't, like,
I haven't been to a Disney World or Universal in
a while. So last time I was on the tea cups,
I was I was probably in my early twenties, and
now that I've crossed the threshold into my thirties, I
don't I actually don't know right. Uh, you know a
lot of things that I used to enjoy have turned on,

(01:56):
and I can feel like that's one of them. I
recently we tried to roll down a hill and that
was like one of my favorites as a kid, was
rolling down a hill, and it took me a good
like fifteen minutes to recover, and like it wasn't I
didn't just like bounce back up and go back to it. Yeah,

(02:17):
on my knees for a while. Because when you're when
before you turn thirty, exactly through your body is made
out of rubber that he's like sort of self healing rubber.
And then the minute you turn thirty, suddenly you kind
of have the texture of like a plum or banana.
Things don't really yeah yeah, yeah, just soft and squashy

(02:40):
and bruised, like your shoulder just kind of slides off
of your body. I don't really know what happened, but
and it's not going back, no, no, and then it
just gets worse and worse, which you know, Hey, it's life,
isn't it nice. That's what's happened. That's that's what our
bodies were signed to do. Yes, but we are talking

(03:03):
about animals who like to spin around, and the first
animal or animals that we are talking about are primates.
There's research out of the University of Birmingham and the
University of Warwick. They looked through many, many videos of
primates spinning, including chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, and they found

(03:27):
that first of all, they often use something like a
vine or a rope to just really spin around as
fast as possible, and they are capable of spinning at
speed similar to human dancers or aerial silk artists. So
just a beautiful orangutans spinning in the air like a

(03:48):
sky dancer. Wow, this is this is that's adorable. Then
they're just doing this for funzis as far as we know,
that is the theory. That is the theory, because there's
not really any utility that the researchers could find with this. Also,

(04:08):
the spinning behavior made them dizzy and fall down off
of the rope or vines and and just like be
generally unstable, So it doesn't seem like there's any benefit
to it other than it makes them real dizzy and
they like that. I love thee of animals just having
fun being weirdos, just because you know, it's it's it's

(04:33):
tough out there of course in the woods. You just
think like everything they do is uh, you know, to survive,
and it's really nice to see them just having a
good time. I love those videos of like pandas just
like splashing around in baths. Yeah, just for fun and
being and being dumb idiots. Uh, speaking of turning, they
love they just like they're so roly poly. They will

(04:55):
fall out of a tree and then just start rolling down.
They just summer solid. Yeah, yeah, just and seem to
be having the time. Of their lives. And I like
this little he puts his feet up. He really gives
you a show. I love that we have these examples
of animals just doing recreational stuff because I think it's

(05:16):
really important in how we understand animals that they are
not like not everything is just done for brute efficiency
for you know, these evolutionary pressures or like. It doesn't
it doesn't always have to have some like utility or
purpose or like this will help you breed better or something.
It can sometimes just be fun. And it's it's the

(05:38):
same reason that humans like to have fun. Like we
have brains, we have a conscious experience, and then a
side effect of that is the desire to trigger the
parts of the brain that gives us little like happy feelings. Ah,
you know they deserve. They deserve to spit around as
fast as they want. I really like the idea of

(05:59):
them aerial silk dancers. Yes, that's very fun. Just a troop.
Let's get some silks out in the forest, have them
just make a routine cirk the slay, except that it's
like all gorillas. I would watch that, but only if
the gorillas started it and collectively own it. And there's

(06:22):
no humans involved, Like if it's just their thing, it's
just for them, it's it's there, it's their ballet, right exactly.
So one of the leaders of the study, doctor Marcus Pearlman, said, quote,
we experimented ourselves with spinning at these speeds, the speeds
the primates were going, and found it difficult to sustain

(06:43):
for as long as the great apes did in several cases.
So these apes totally beats, totally beat these nerds at
their ability to spin around. I would say if you
if I was a betting woman and you asked me
who could withstand more speed a group of scientists or apes,

(07:05):
I would put my I would put my money on
the apes. Yeah. I also I pretty much always put
money on apes whenever it's like physical comes down to it, right,
who could win an arm wrestling ape? Who could win
at eat banana? Ape? When at eatanas? Crushing crushing skulls? Apes?

(07:26):
Probably apes? Yeah? Apes? Every time? Uh yeah, no, they're
they're good to put money on it. I see here
they were doing it purposefully as if dancing and how beautiful. Yes. Yes,
So it's interesting because this spinning practice in an apes.

(07:48):
Of course, none of the currently living apes have we
descended from? These are all like cousins, either close cousins
or distant cousins, like chimpanzees were probably no closer cousins too,
whereas gorillas and Orai tans were a little further away
from But nevertheless, we are related to them, but we
did not descend from them. However, because we see this

(08:11):
behavior in present day apes, it's like the question is, hey,
maybe this was something that human ancestors also did. And
what's really interesting is that spinning is used in almost
every culture's dance practices as well as in religious, spiritual,
or meditative practices. Huh have you ever seen Sufi whirling

(08:38):
or I think sometimes called whirling dervishes? Oh yeah, yeah.
So it is a form of meditation practiced by certain
sects of Islam, such as the Sufi Dervishes and Mevlevi
order in Turkey. It is a religious ritual and similar

(08:59):
to other forms of meditation, it is meant to help
detach oneself from one's own ego. There's also religious music
that is meant to help the practitioners connect with God.
It's beautiful right to watch they wear these long outfits
and you know they're spinning around. It's but it's like
it is meant to be a form of meditation for
the practitioners. It's not just a performance for other people

(09:21):
to watch. It's like you're spinning around so much that
at a certain point you kind of start to feel
like this separation from your body and your ego. And
so it's so similar to so many forms of meditation
that is trying to achieve that same thing, regardless of
what religion it is. It's the same thing of like
you are sort of taking yourself out of your mind

(09:46):
and like having this detachment from your ego. Yeah, that
makes total sense to me. I mean that feeling of
being dizzy and then like throwing yourself on the floor
afterwards and kind of having like the world spin around. Yeah,
it is very like uh, I mean you you literally
feel a little out of your body. So it's it

(10:08):
definitely takes you out, like it is a very visceral
feel like it takes you out of like you're thinking
head in your travel, like just get the world back. Yeah. Yeah,
it's interesting because I I was looking for other examples
of people using spinning for meditation and I couldn't really
find any. But what I did find is people who

(10:31):
meditate and actually feel that out of body feeling report
feeling dizzy, So like dizziness can be something that you
can achieve through forms of meditation, or you can meditate
by making yourself kind of dizzy. And I just find
that really interesting that that kind of feeling of being

(10:55):
dizzy or off balance can be not an unpleasant thing
or even not like an exhilarating thing, but a form
of meditation. Yeah, I mean it is truly like out
of body. Yeah, I think of even like those float
tanks where you're kind of ye to not feel your
body and then coming to after that, it's like the

(11:18):
amount of information you're then taking in, Yeah, the censories
and like you feel and it's dark. I'm scared of
doing that because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be
visited by a demon, Like immediately, I'm gonna starting demons.
I am so scared. My boyfriend's a huge fan of them.
He's like a big meditator and a big fan and

(11:39):
has been trying to get me to do that. But
I can't even be in a steam room, like, yeah,
if I can't see in front of me, like I
need a hand on the door, like I need a
known escape plan. Yeah, uh yeah, I feel like I'd
just be like clutching the door the whole time. I also, like,
I have a very vivid imagination, and I do occasionally
get sleep paralysis, so it just seems like that is

(12:02):
a recipe for me to get totally haunted a tube
of nightmares. But yeah, I mean recreational spinning is found
everywhere in human culture, from being more like significant in
terms of like dancing or for religious ceremonies. Um, I

(12:22):
mean there's the horror, which you know, like and then
basically every culture. So the horror is like a Jewish
dance where you all hold hands and you you all
kind of like go around in a big circle. But
like there's also some like chairlifting element to it as well.
We don't know what that is, but it's fun. It's fun.
It's fun. But like there's I feel like there's a

(12:43):
version of that in almost every culture as well, like
being in a big circle and then spinning around, you know.
But also there's things like you mentioned playground spinners, like
the little not not like a mirror go around with
the horses, but the thing that you like, oh yeah,
that big disc. Yeah, the disc that spins around and
then children fly off and crack their heads open. But

(13:05):
it's really fun. It's very fun. That was my favorite. Uh,
that was one of my favorites on the playground. Yeah,
that one I was. It was fun to a point
for me, and then I would start to get scared. Um.
But but there are just so many amusement park rides
for adults as well that will spin you around. Um, Like,

(13:26):
there are now apparently roller coasters that also spin, so
like you're in a car and the car is like
spinning around as you're on the roller coaster, which seems
like a lot. I feel like I would just be
a barf sprinkler if I went on one of those.
But apparently that's a lot, especially yeah, especially after a
corn dog or two that. Yeah, it seems the churros

(13:49):
what get me. The churros in the spinning. But spinning
is fun, and I'm glad apes are enjoying it. Yeah,
because it's a very cute video. I am also glad
that the apes are having a good time. Yeah. Uh,
they deserve it if they fall hard out there in

(14:09):
the jungle, and uh like watching them spin it did.
I am concerned about that vine breaking. But I'm glad
that one held up. Yeah, I'm sure it'll they're tough,
They're they'll they'll bounce back, yeah they yeah. And if not,
you know, what a way to go out? What a
way to go out. I had a vine outside on

(14:30):
a tree outside of the house I grew up on
and I would swing off of it and it did
snap one day, U and h and that's all I
could think about. But then I saw him having a
good time, and you know, keep spinning. Yeah, just keep spinning.
That's It's such a good thing to live by. Unless
you get motion sickness like I do. Yeah, then you know,

(14:51):
spin a modest amount until you feel like yeah, and
then sit down and then stop. Yeah doesn't that one
doesn't fit on a T shirt as well though? Yeah? No, uh,
but you know your own limits. Spind your limits. Mind
you spin around, but mind your limits. There we go. Yeah, yeah,

(15:11):
all right, so we're gonna take a quick break. But
when we get back, we're going to talk about another
spinner who spins for a very different reason. So bridget
spinning isn't always fun in games. One of the fastest
spinning animals is actually a spider. Now, this might be

(15:34):
confusing because spiders also spin webs, but that's not what
I'm talking about. This is not about web spinning. This
is about actually just spinning around. Okay, So this is
called the flatty spider, which was also my nickname in
high school, uh spider. Flatty spiders also known as wall

(15:58):
crab spiders, which somehow that name's less endearing. I don't
know wall crabs. Crabs, yeah, and I don't mind crabs.
It's once you apply a modifier to the noun crab
that it starts to worry me. Yeah, crab is one
of those words you have to get in and get out.
You cannot right, right, it can't be a build up,

(16:18):
right And flatty flatty is such a cute name. Yeah, yeah, flatty.
So yeah. It is a family of over two hundred
and eighty species of flat splayed out spider. They range
in size from about five millimeters to twenty five millimeters
or about point two to one inches, so not huge,

(16:39):
but you know, if it was on your face you'd
be sad. I think maybe, yeah, no, that's yeah, big enough.
You notice them. Some of them I think are in
the small enough range where I'm like, hey, you're just
a little buddy, And then they get big enough where
it's like, you know, you should be paying rent if
you want to stay in my hartment. Yeah, yeah, you know,

(17:03):
big enough to cause me a harm. Yeah. I don't
know that that's literally true, but maybe psychology, yes, it
feels that way. So their legs are positioned all around
in three hundred and sixty degrees, giving them tactical leg
advantage and a sort of appearance that is a little

(17:24):
bit uh, starfish like and also maybe slightly upsetting. I
don't know. I think it's so when I look at
them from an aerial view, I am not super psyched
about the look. But then when I look at them
front on, they are really cute to me, Like you
just kind of look at their little face, like sure

(17:45):
when you can see and yeah, when you can see
the face, Um, I'm not bothered by it. Yeah, I
think I you know, I kind of realize it's uh,
I guess personhood is not the right, but like I
understand what spider hood I can see intit sol it

(18:07):
a little bit and then uh yeah the top view
and saying how long those legs aren't especially saying it move.
Um not great, Yeah, it does get does does kind
of give me the yick a little bit. That's that's
a very athletic way to move. Yeah, and it's like
a ballerina but with eight legs, with eight legs, very long, spindling. Yeah,

(18:33):
it becomes I'm not a person who like I don't.
I don't not surprisingly not an arachnophobe, but like, yeah,
I remember why people don't like spiders. Yeah, watching this
guy move, although, I mean I'm thinking of a ballerina
with eight legs and that is maybe a little scary,

(18:54):
but also imagine the baller moves they could do. Oh yeah, beautiful.
I mean, yes, this this is a very athletic spider. Yeah,
it moves beautifully. That being said, do I need a
spider to move beautifully? Yeah, it's confusing, it's sending mixed messages.

(19:15):
So yeah, they spin extremely quickly in order to pure
wet their way towards prey and kill them. They can
actually strike their prey in an eighth of a second
and spend three times, like three rotations within the blink
of an eye, which makes them the fastest spinning terrestrial
animal that is. Yeah, and it's like a pivot. Uh yeah,

(19:40):
it's it moves so pivot. Yeah yeah, and like it's
like a bay blade. Yeah, its whole body looks like
a weapon. Yeah yeah, I can't stop watching it because
it's like very admirative. Yeah yeah, um, but it's also terrifying. Yeah.

(20:03):
I mean, like, can you imagine just a bloodthirsty eight
legged ballerina that is so swift, so graceful you really
don't stand a chance and got like a two two
but the two two its legs. It's yeah, it's it's
quite something. So like they will seem to be minding

(20:24):
their own business with their backs turned towards their prey,
and then in a blink of an eye, they just
like spin around. You can barely see it, like when
it's the speed is normal speed, it's just it kind
of looks like they suddenly teleported to be like facing
their prey. And they will use the one leg closest
to the prey as an anchor point, which they pure

(20:46):
wet on gracefully. And they actually use a technique that
figure skaters and ballet dancers will use to spin faster
by tucking their legs in. So yeah, yeah, if you've
seen like a like a figure skater doing those mad
sick spins, or like even a ballet dancer, like when

(21:08):
they turn, they will like their leg might be out,
but then they'll like tuck it in to do their turn,
and yeah, they do the same thing. Yeah, that's a
they're gaining speed, they're doing less quickly. It's a very like, Yeah,
it's such a methodical movement. It doesn't seem like it
should work so well to catch prey. It seems like

(21:29):
it should slow them down. But they're very good at it.
It's a it's an incredible feat. Yeah, the idea of
a spider being so tactical does scare me. I think
also just like the idea of it feels like the
feels like it's safe right because it's back is turned
to you, and it's like, while you have some time

(21:50):
right to get away by the time it turns around
and spots you, But no you don't, because it's suddenly,
like suddenly, before you can even blank, it is facing you,
which I find like if I was facing down some
kind of human sized spider or predator and they go
from facing away and I'm like, maybe I could speak

(22:11):
sneak around this guy and then suddenly you blink and
then they are staring at you and their mouth is open,
and then that's good night for you. That's what it
wants you to do. That's exactly what it wants you
to think. Yeah, if I could move faster spinning, Um, yeah,
I feel like that would just be like a cool

(22:34):
way to move about the world, Like watch that would
be That's like it could be kind of cool, but
also kind of horrifying. Just seeing someone doing ballet spins
over to get somewhere to hustle. I think I would
be scared. And that's what it's all that. It's all
about intimidation walking down the street. Ballet is really about intimidation.

(22:57):
That's what I've always said. Yeah, they don't tell you that,
but have you have you seen a ballerina's thigh muscles
Like that could intimidating. Yeah, that as thick as like
a trunk. Yeah, and uh yeah they are fat. God. Yeah,
I keep watching this video over and over again. It's
kind of it's it's hypnotized. Yeah, to pivot like that

(23:19):
on eight legs is like it's a very impressive movement. Yeah.
I'll include a link to the video in the show notes.
But I do warn you. It appears that Bridget has
become completely mesmerized. So I think this might be some
kind of form of spider hypnotism, because maybe, yeah, they
they have me. They have spiders have me. I belong

(23:42):
to this, Bridget belongs to the spiders. Now I'm one
of the spiders. Now I'm gonna be working on this move.
I think I don't know what I'm gonna use it
for yet, but I'm gonna work on it. So we
have talked about animals who spin for fun or maybe meditation.

(24:06):
We don't really know what's going on in those apes minds,
like maybe they're spinning to feel a sense of metacognition.
We don't know, but they seem to have a blast.
We've talked about spiders who spin around like a ballerina
so they can devour unsuspecting prey. And now we are
going to talk about twisting and turning as a form

(24:27):
of defense. So the Eurasian ry neck, which is a
great name, is not the fastest twister and the animal Kingdom,
but it uses a methodical twisting and turning in one
of the most ingenious ways I've ever seen. So, Bridget,
are you checking out that video. It looks like I'm

(24:49):
looking at I'm looking at this video. This is a
funny little dude. Yeah, he's got a real bendy neck. Yeah,
and I can I can see how this works. It
kind of like I'm thinking of if whenever you thumb
wrestle someone and you kind of get stuff that kind
of like that's exactly diving and dodging. Yeah, it's like

(25:11):
a it's like a thumb trying to avoid another thumb.
My secret to successful thumb wrestling lotion. Oh you got
a grease up. I'm a slippery little devil. So this
is a relatively normal looking bird. It's a small bird,
about the size of like a medium sized hand. Uh.

(25:33):
It's brown, white and black in striations that kind of
helps it blend in with wood like bark. They are
actually in the woodpecker family, and they feed on insects
that live in rotting wood. And when they feel threatened,
they will do this cool trick with their necks and
their heads and they will like so they throw their

(25:55):
head back and then they start twisting and turning their
heads hissing, and it really it kind of looks like
a snake. So they are trying to impersonate the movements
and the sound of a snake. And yeah, that's not
at all what I thought they were doing. What did

(26:16):
you think they were doing? I thought they were just
trying to much like a thumb and thumb wrestling, just
avoid but also like you have wings, birds fly away. Yeah,
yeah it is. I mean I feel like it's also
super dramatic, like just it is. It kind of looks
also like a teenager who really doesn't want to do

(26:36):
something and is like not just rolling their eyes but
their whole head and neck and everything, or a baby
that like doesn't want whatever you're feeding is. Yeah, it's
just like turning away. Yeah, it looks like an avoidance move.
But what you said makes a lot more sense because
it seems like wings would be the ultimate avoidance move,

(26:58):
which this bird does have. Yes, but if they also learned,
then what are they going to do? What are they
gonna do? I also like that it's hair sticks up. Yeah,
it's got a little poof on top of its head
that you don't notice, and it seems to only come
up when it's it's writhing around. Yeah, it is. It's
a whole thing. It looks a little bit like a

(27:20):
mad inventor. Uh. And it actually it is such a
bizarre behavior. It's so interesting looking that humans have noticed
this since ancient times. So they have been used in
human cultures in hexes and witchcraft to cast spells on
other people. In fact, it's genus name, Jinks, is from

(27:42):
the Greek inks. I think I'm pronouncing that route rights,
I'm gonna give it to you. You simply don't know better. Uh.
The it is Inks was a mythical nymph who used
in chantants to cause Zeus to fall in love with Io,

(28:03):
who was immortal, and she was punished by Zeus's wife Harra,
who turned Inks into a bird, the rhineck. So yeah,
this bird is from ancient Greek mythology and based on
this myth, or maybe preceding this myth, which the myth
played into. The rhineck was used in ancient Greece as

(28:25):
a love charm. People would attach it to a wheel
and spin it around. Oh yeah, a little brutal, and
it was meant to help you secure your lover. Um,
I don't think it probably worked. It probably just pissed
off this little bird and made it dizzy, made its

(28:47):
tall look even more scruffy and Bernie Sanders like, yeah,
uh yeah, poor little bird, don't do that. It's already
spinning enough. It's already twisting and binding enough. But I
just like I can't conceive of it someone spinning a
bird around and you're like, hey, what are you doing?

(29:07):
It's like I want to make sure, you know, like
my girlfriend comes back to me. Yeah, it doesn't. I
get In ancient Greece times I had different rituals, but
even that one feels like a stretch. Yeah, you got
it in a lot of work. Are you gonna capture
a bird? You gotta make it dance. You've got to

(29:29):
remember that they were probably constantly high off of like
volcanic fumes, is the idea, Yeah, this is a Yeah,
the whole of the whole place was just a gas leak,
which which makes that make more sense. Uh. It's also
like there are so many other things that happen in
day to day life that you can be that I

(29:50):
that I would attach to romance more like oh, a
butterfly lands on you, or yeah, something like that that
seem simple are more romantic, like this bird does look
like I mean a piece of bark and or scaly snake. Yeah,

(30:10):
I'm gonna tie it to a string and like spin
it around, like I'm gonna torture a bird. Yeah, yeah,
I've tortured this bird for you. Don't you love me? Yeah?
It just it doesn't seem there are so many other
interactions that I've had with animals that seem a lot
more conducive to romance. And right, it's like cording a bird.

(30:35):
It's like cording someone by kicking a squirrel. Yeah, I
don't I don't really want someone cording me. That's torturing
an animal. Right in the meantime, that seems terrifying to
be kind of honest. If someone came up, I mean,
like spinning a bird, I that's like I feel scared. Yeah,
that's one of my that's one of my deal breakers.

(30:58):
I think torture, Yeah yeah, board bird torture specifically, I'm
sure is a point of contention for you, but I
think in general, yeah, uh, capturing and spinning an animal,
it's not yeah, fantic. Yeah. If I'm looking on your
Tinder and like there's photos of you smiling, photos of

(31:18):
you in front of a statue, and then a photo
of you with like a bird twirling like that, you're
twirling around. You've just grabbed a seagull and you're smashing
it against a wall. I'm not interested. It's not sure,
But I mean a lot of a lot of dudes
do think that, like capturing, like a fishing like that's
true with a with a bass open is cool and romantic.

(31:43):
So who knows that's true? We do. We are We
are like, hey, this fish is drowning in the air. Uh,
it's not attractive. Does this not impress you? Is working?
Yea work? You could be like this fish in my arms? Yeah. Yeah. Instead,
here's a bird I'm spinning at you. Oh, poor Bertie,

(32:06):
doesn't that is just trying to pretend to be a snake. Yeah.
And then like, I it's so sad when these great
evolutionary strategies of these animals that they've put in perfecting
for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years, and
then like humans come around. I was like, Ah, a
funny bird. Maybe if I spin it around, someone will

(32:29):
have sex with me. Yeah, it is very funny that
the idea of just throwing a bird at someone you're
interested in. Yeah, yeah, it's evolution did not really take
into account the dumb creativity of humans. No, no, there
was no way to because who saw that coming? Who

(32:51):
saw spinning a bird around on a straight you know
who saw that coming? Apes? Apes, apes apes come h
yeah yeah, they're like, yeah, this is great, this is fun. Yeah,
you should do this. Do it to me? Yeah? Well yeah,
Before we go, we've got to play a little game, Bridget.

(33:12):
You know what game? Yeah, I do. I'm bad at
this game. So that's what makes it fun. That's how
I feel superior is to shame my guests. Yeah, I
guess his squawk and the Mystery Animal sound game. Every
week I play a mystery animal sound and you the listener,
and you the gift, try to guess he's making that sound.

(33:35):
It can be any animal in the world. Um, and
so here we go. Last week, mistery animals sound hint
was a tiny wolf or something else. So Bridget, can
you guess who is making that sound? Um? Well, you

(33:58):
did say something about a tiny wolf, and it makes
me think it's not a tiny wolf, or it might
be a tiny wolf, which is not helpful. There's some
sort of fox. I'm gonna go that's a fox noise.

(34:19):
Interesting gifts, it's incorrect. Congratulations instead not to Bridget but
to raining champions Auntie B and Joey P. For gissing
correctly the grasshopper mouse. And honorable mention to ray Gee
who guessed werewolf mouse, which I think is probably a
better name for it than grasshopper mouse. So the grasshopper

(34:43):
mouse is found in North America, and despite its cute,
little fluffy body, it is a ferocious predator like a
miniature wolf. It will eat insects and even scorpions, snakes
or other mice. It has no moral code other than
feeling it's tiny, voracious belly. Uh well, you know it's

(35:05):
a mammal. I'm gonna give myself points. You did guess mammal.
And aren't we all related? All us camels? When you
go back somewhere enough somewhere some little shrew thing. So
how do these little mouse's mice mice is the word?
How do they manage mice to kill scorpions and centipedes

(35:28):
despite their toxins. So they are very fast and they
can repeatedly out maneuver the arthropods and deliver a series
of exoskeleton crushing bites. But additionally they have developed a
pain tolerance to scorpion stings and are able to brush
off a few pokes if it means they can feast
upon a delicious scorpion dinner. So these are like super mice. Wow,

(35:54):
that's cool. That's badass. Yea a scorpion now and it's
pretty pressive. Yeah, yeah, and it's pretty cute. It's like
not the not the killing part, but that are still
pictures of the mouse. Well, and it's just a widow moodo.
It's a little, tiny baby moodo. It's baby murders. They're
tiny and honestly, I'm I'm rooting for the furry thing

(36:17):
over the bug anyway. I feel like murderer is cute
once it gets small enough at a certain scale. Yeah. Oh,
it's just a little murder, a little it's murder. So um.
These mice will also howl as a form of communication,
although researchers aren't exactly sure what they're communicating. It could

(36:37):
be to stake out their territory or ward off anyone
who would dare challenge this tiny killer. Oh there's a
picture of it howling in the moon and love wan
I yeah, you if you tried to keep one of these,
it would be like you'd wake up and it'd be came.

(37:00):
It would just be screaming. Yeah, So onto this week's
mystery animal sound the hint you wouldn't want this around
your neck than so, Bridget guesses, Oh god, well, you're

(37:28):
hint made me think sneak. But there's no way a
snake is making those noises. Those are wild noises. I
want to say it's some sort of goose, some sort
of goose. Well, we'll find out next week on the
next episode of Creature Feature if Bridget is right that
this is some sort of goose sort of very specific. Yeah, no,

(37:50):
there's a species of goose called some sort of some
sort of some sort of goose. Well, Bridget, hey, thank
you so much for coming on the show and go
on on this wild twist and turning ride taking a
podcast house and fun as always. Yeah, as always, thanks

(38:11):
for having me. You got anything to plug? Um? Yeah,
I'm working on some new stuff some with my podcast
co host Sarah Griffith. We're working on a little sketch
series that we're doing with friends, and working on some
very exciting stuff with small Beans. We're making a movie
over there, and if you follow the Small Beans Patreon,

(38:35):
you can keep track of all that stuff. And if
you follow me on Twitter at bridget Tweets, you can
see all the fun video content we're writing and producing.
That's so exciting. Small Beans is a great podcast network
as well. And now you guys are doing video. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're we're trying to make a movie over there. And

(38:55):
it's very exciting and like a small meal, a feast
for the yea and for the eyes. Yeah, it was
super talented, super great folks. And uh yeah, we're gonna
need help making a movie. So if you go to
their Patreon, follow follow us there and see when we're
up to. So a movie is kind of like a podcast,

(39:16):
but that you can look at, you can look at
and most podcasts are, you know, of equal length these
days of movies. Uh, but yes, a visual podcast if
you will. Wow, Okay, what a concept. Well that's great. Yeah, well,
thank you guys so much for listening. If you're enjoying

(39:38):
the show and you want to write a rating or
a review, I guess you don't write a rating. Equally,
you have a rating and you write a review, right,
you barf out a rating and you sit down and
pin a review. Either one of those are great. It
really helps out the podcast. I also read every single

(39:59):
review and I take them seriously and when they're positive,
they make my day. And if they have any kind
of like constructive criticism, hey that's great too. If you're
calling me a butthole, I still like it. I don't know.
I like a tension of all sorts. And hey, you
know what, thanks to the Space Classics for their super

(40:21):
awesome song x Alumina. Wait a minute, I have to
tell people to email before I get into that thinking
of the song. People, you can email me at Creature
feature pot at gmail dot com if you got questions
or if you know the answer to this week's mister
animal sounds. So hey, do that already? Thank the music guys,

(40:42):
they don't need a second. Thank you, So now here
it is the end of the podcast. It is a
production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the one you
just heard, the iHeart Radio app Apple podcast, or hey
guess what where have you listened to your favorite shows?
I don't judge you. See you next Wednesday.