July 12, 2024 • 23 mins
Welcome to our brand new podcast, MeatEater Kids! It's a fun, educational, and engaging podcast for all of you outdoor kids. Learn about science and history from Steve's "Why It's the Way It Is" segment and impress your friends with your newfound knowledge, develop your ear for animal vocalizations with our "Guess that Critter" segment brought to you by Katie Rinella, and play along during "Kids Trivia" with host Spencer Neuharth.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Part one, Why it's the way it.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Is today and why it's the way it is, We're
gonna dig into a weird word that you probably haven't
heard before. That word is crepuscular. Now, this is one
of my favorite words. I like saying it because it
kind of solves a little bit of a riddle, as
i'll explain. But to get into what crepuscular means, well,
(00:39):
first you should practice saying it one So work with
me here, crepuscular. Okay, Now, now that you got it,
we're gonna dig into what it means. But to dig
into what it means, to dig into like why it's
the way it is, we're gonna talk about another word
that I bet you you've heard before, and that word.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Is called nocturnal.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Now, nocturnal means this nocturnals means something that's active at night.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay. So if you're the kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Person or maybe your parents this way, maybe you're this
way that you like to be up late at night
doing stuff, people might say like, oh, they're nocturnal. Mean
they're like most active at night. They kind of feel
the wake at night, right, they want to do stuff
at night. So you'll hear people mention how they sometimes
feel nocturnal, or if they have a lot of work
they need to get done, they'll go nocturnal, right, they'll
(01:27):
start working at night in the dark. But in the
animal world, nocturnal refers to this whole group of animals
from all different types of animals, right, I mean, there's
nocturnal birds, as we'll get into, there are nocturnal reptiles,
there are nocturnal fish. They are nocturnal mammals. Within that,
you got nocturnal rodents, you got nocturnal bats. No, no, no, no, okay,
(01:51):
it means they're active at night. And I'm gonna talk
about a couple nocturnal animals just to kind of give
you a sense. One of my favorite nocturnal animals is
the apossum. Now, you will occasionally run into an apossum
in the daytime, but for the most part, they hide
out in the daytime. They go into little dens and burrows.
(02:12):
They'll go into rock piles, They'll go under old buildings
that are falling down. They'll go into hollow logs. One
time I was out with my brother Danny, and we
were out hunting rabbits and we found a dead deer carcass, okay,
And there was a lot of snow, but something had
kind of dug down to this dead deer carcass and
(02:33):
there was a hole that had been kind of gnawed
into its rib cage. And I was curious about this,
and I looked down into that hole and guess what.
There was a possum dend up inside of the deer's ribcage.
All the internal organs had been eaten away, and this
(02:54):
frozen deer rib cage, this frozen deer carcass with the
hide still on it was his den. And I'm not
saying you should do this, but I actually, just out
of curiosity, pulled him out by his tail. Now, possibly
can hang from a tree by his tail. You're not
gonna heard a possum picking him up by his tail.
But I pulled him out by his tail and we
(03:14):
took a picture of him and then put him back
down in that deer ribcage. And the reason I'm not
recommending you do this is you could get bit and
it's probably not a good idea to bother stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
But I was little, and you know, like.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
He was curious about stuff, and that's what I did.
I pulled him out, had to look at him, stuffed
him back in his little den where you hit out
during the day, and that night probably got active and
wandered around and ate on his dead deer that he found.
There's another word that we're gonna get to now, before
we get to crepuscular, We're going to get to diurnal. Now,
(03:50):
you hear diurnal less than nocturnal, like you hear diurnal
way less than nocturnal, but you still hear it more
than you hear crepuscular. Diurnal means an animal that's active
in the daytime. Okay, let me name some things that
are diurnal. Seagulls. Now that there's a lot of kinds
(04:11):
of seagulls, but seagulls, that's a diurnal creature.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You don't see seagulls flying around in the dark too much.
You go down to the beach on a sunny day
in the middle of the day, and seagulls are.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Running around, really active. They're diurnal.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I would also venture to say that us humans were mammals,
for the most part, were diurnal animals. We're most active
in the daytime. There are diurnal creatures living in the water. Okay,
I would say that the very common widespread fish called
a bluegill, a bluegills diurnal.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Now, if you ever going.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Out snorkeling at night, I used to like to do
this a great deal. Go out snorkeling at night with
an underwater flashlight. You'll see bluegills sitting there just kind
of zoned out in shallow water. You can even this
is gonna sound crazy, you can even with a little stick.
When you find a bluegill sleeping, you can even poke
it with a stick before it moves off.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
They're just zoned out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
They're sort of they're like a fish version of sleeping.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
But they love the daytime.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
In the spring, when the water starts to warm up
and they're getting active, bluegills will even come up and
stick their back out of the water just the sun,
just to feel the warmth and to warm water and
it's warmed by the sun at the surface. They like
the daytime. They feed in the daytime. They're active at
the daytime. If you've ever been out fishing bluegills and
you notice that the bite turns off, meaning the fishing
(05:30):
gets bad at night, they quiet down, they quit eating,
they quit being so active. Bluegills are diurnal. Now that
we've covered nocturnal and diurnal, nocturnal being active at night,
diurnal being active in the daytime, we're gonna talk about
a critter that's crepuscular. Now, crepuscular means kind of in
(05:53):
the middle. It's in the middle between diurnal and nocturnal,
meaning it likes the low light conditions like dawn, and
it likes dusk. And if you're a deer hunter, or
you have deer hunters in your family, go ask those
deer hunters when's the best time to go out deer hunting.
I guarantee the answer you're gonna get. You're gonna get
(06:16):
an answer that the best time to hunt deer is
at dawn and at dusk. That is because deer are crepuscular.
They like low light conditions, not totally dark, not totally daytime.
If they like the low light conditions, if there's a
(06:36):
time of day that deer gonna move, they're gonna move
at dawn and at dusk, when it's kind of gray
out and low light. That's when they like to do
their traveling. They can see good, they can see way
better than you can in low light, and that's when
they feel most comfortable to do their traveling. Here's another
animal that's crepuscular that you might be familiar with, the
(07:00):
red fox. The red fox likes to get out and
hunt during low light conditions. He likes to get out
and hunt in the early morning or.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
The late evening.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Now why could be There could be a lot of
reasons why an animal could be crepuscular because it has
predators that are diurnal or nocturnal. Meaning, if a red
fox is worried about getting killed by a mountain lion
who's nocturnal, he might find that his best not to
(07:33):
do his hunting out at night. And if a red
fox is worrying about getting killed by an animal that
is diurnal, say a big golden eagle, he might know
it's best not to get out and do his hunting
in the daytime. But he finds a little sweet spot.
He finds his zone when his nighttime enemy and his
daytime enemy are inactive and he can get out and
(07:56):
do his hunting. Another reason might be this, maybe the
animal doesn't have great night vision. They don't see really
good in the dark dark of night. And let's say
that same animal doesn't like to be overly hot. It
has a hard time staying cool when it's out doing
its honting. So here's a red fox. He's covered in
(08:18):
a thick coat of fur. It's summertime. Maybe in the
summertime it's eighty degrees, it's ninety degrees. It's just way
too hot for him to be out hunting. But he
doesn't see as good as he'd like in the absolute dark.
He sees really good in low light. So the day
cools off, it gets to be where it's not so
uncomfortable to be out hunting. There's still enough light to
(08:42):
be able to see to hunt. So that's the time
they find to do their work when they're out in motion.
Those are crepuscular animals. Now we've only talked about really
in detail. We've only talked about two crepuscular animals. We
talked about deer, we talked about red foxes. But there
(09:04):
are a lot of crepuscular animals. My daddy, when I
was a kid, would call the morning in the evening,
he would call it the magic hour, and that's when
he liked to be out in the woods.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And I picked up on that.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I picked up on that because whether I'm in the
mountains or the woods or the swamps. If I could
be out there for any period of time, I would say,
I want to be out there the hour after it
gets light, just light enough to see, and I want
to be out there the hour just before it gets dark.
And the reason I want to be there for those
(09:40):
hours is because they're the magic hour. Those are the
hours when you see the most animals. Let's talk about
the evening. Why the evening's cool. In the evening, you're
catching the diurnal animals at the end of their day.
They're wrapping up their day and getting ready to go
to bed. The crepuscular animals right at the peak of
(10:02):
their activity. This is the time of the day they
live for is that low light condition. And in the evening,
you're catching the nocturnal animals in their morning. They're just
waking up and getting ready to go. So you have
this big rush of wildlife ending their day, just in
the middle of their day, starting their day. And then
(10:23):
let's think about in the morning. In the morning, those
nocturnal animals are wrapping up their day, getting ready to
go to bed. Their crepuscular animals are out it's their
peak time of movement. And those diurnal animals are just
getting up and getting ready to start their day.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So through that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Little hour long period, maybe that ninety minute period, you
get this full rush of wildlife shifting and changing and interacting.
And that's what makes the magic hour. And the magic
hour is during that crepuscular period. So if you get
into wildlife watching and you realize what I have learned,
this is the best time to be out, you will
(11:03):
be able to describe yourself as a crepuscular wildlife viewer.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
You like to get out and view.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Wildlife in the low light conditions dawn and evening.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Part two, Guess that Critter.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's time for Guess that critter. Where we play animal
sounds and you've got to guess what animal is making
those sounds. You'll learn some neat facts about these animals
and develop your ear to better identify their sounds in
the wild or in this case, maybe in your attic too.
And don't worry, we'll throw in some clues along the way.
Now listen closely. These are social mammals that often live
(11:55):
in family groups. In the spring and summer. It's common
to see the mothers with as many as five or
six babies trailing behind as they head out in the
evening to search for food. You may hear them chittering
like this or purring to express contentment. And here's what
(12:21):
the babies or kits sound like.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Is it a chipmunk?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Ooh?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Not quite. While these animals do make fun and interesting
pets when captured in the wild and tamed, it's never
a good idea to approach them or attempt to pick
them up without an adult who's an expert in handling
this type of critter. For one thing, doing so might
be illegal in your state. For another thing, they are
vicious fighters and will readily attack a person who they
(12:52):
feel is threatening them. They'll growl when they feel threatened,
and the males of this species are prone to violent
clashes with each other during the midwinter breeding season, when
they come out on warm nights in search of female
mating partners and fend off their rival males. These fights
can be heard from far away as they screech and
snarl while scratching and biting each other.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Is it a grinner?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
What's a grinner? Awesome? Ooh, that's close. They're crafty and curious,
with an amazing ability to find food and shelter in
almost any situation. They'll make dens or sleep away the
day and abandoned badger or groundhog holes or hollow logs
and tree cavities or brush piles, junked cars, old barns,
(13:39):
or even the attics of new houses. They seem to
enjoy eating even more than us humans. They like everything
from corn to crayfish. If you're close enough to them
while they eat, you might hear munching noises like this.
These powerful critters have short legs, beady eyes, and a
(14:01):
pointed muzzle. Their front feet have five finger like toes
that are extremely dexterous, meaning they can use them to
grab things and also climb trees, rock walls, and fences.
They range in color from silver gray to dirty brown.
Adults can reach twenty pounds, with big males getting up
to thirty pounds. Their tails have black rings, and they
(14:22):
have black markings on their face that resemble a mask.
Folks will refer to them as mask bandits and even
trash pandas Okay, it's time for the reveal. It's a raccoon.
The raccoon is found across most of North America and
continues to expand its range. While human developments such as
(14:44):
farms and subdivisions might drive away more secretive wild animals.
Raccoons are able to make themselves feel right at home
as they feed on our garbage, our farm crops, and
the food we leave out for birds, chickens, or pet
dogs and cats. Raccoons, especially the babies, are preyed upon
by cootes, bobcats, boxes, and large owls. Humans hunt and
(15:04):
trap raccoons. The meat is edible and pretty good, and
sometimes the pelts can be valuable, especially the larger ones
with a silverish color. Ten years ago, raccoon pelts were
worth up to thirty or forty dollars. Right now they're
worth only a few dollars, but the prices will almost
certainly rise again. Raccoons are super cool, for sure, but
(15:25):
sometimes they are downright pesky. Maybe in the future you
can make some good money trapping them, while also helping
out farmers for trying to protect their orchards and crop
fields from these hungry critters.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Part three.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Trivia and now It's time for meat Eater Kids Trivia
the other only game show where conservation always wins.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
This is a quiz show for kids who love the outdoors.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Take it away, Spencer.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Today, I'm joined by Jimmy, Rosie, Matthew, Aina, Mabel, Hayden, Conley, Read,
and Bay. Each player will earn ten dollars for Conservation
with every question they get right today. There's a potential
for this room to earn up to two hundred and
seventy dollars this week. That donation is going to take
me fishing dot org, who provides resources to kids and
(16:15):
parents that will help them have a great day on
the water. Let's see how much money our players can raise.
Question one, which of these animals does not have an exoskeleton?
Is it a lobster, a grasshopper or an armadillo? The
room is not very confident. Bey is the first one
(16:36):
to come up with an answer. Here's the question again,
Which of these animals does not have an exoskeleton? Lobster,
grasshopper or armadillo? I think I know.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It, you do.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I'm very confident in my answers.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Two of them have an exoskeleton, one of them does not.
You need to tell me who the odd ball is
that does not have an exoskeleton from that group? Conley,
how do you know this one? Did you learn it
in school. You just know what an exoskeleton is, Yeah,
and you know what animals have them. Yeah, Okay, that's
a good formula for getting this one right. Does everybody
(17:14):
have an answer? Yeah, lobster, grasshopper, armadillo. Yep, go ahead
and reveal your answers. We have Aina saying grasshopper, Rosie
saying armadillo, Bay saying armadillo, Mabel saying armadillo, Jimmy saying armadillo.
Read saying armadillo, Matthew saying grasshopper, Conley saying grasshopper, Hayden
(17:36):
saying grasshopper. Nobody said lobster. The correct answer is not
a lobster, it's an armadillo. The room did pretty well.
An exoskeleton is a skeleton that's on the exterior of
an animal. Who'd have thought, huh Now, although armadillos have
that protective shell, they still have a skeleton in their body,
(17:57):
just like humans. Can you guys name some other animals
that have it exoskeletons? Spiders, spider that'd be one. What else?
There's a lot more. Shrab that's a good one. Shrimp
is a good one. You know any others, bees, scorpions, snails.
All arthropods and insects have exoskeletons. Question two, What state
(18:21):
is home to the Rocky Mountain National Park? Is it Colorado,
Wisconsin or Florida? Which state is home to Rocky Mountain
National Park? Colorado, Wisconsin or Florida. I know you know
this one. Yeah, she's not in her head, giving an
(18:42):
okay symbol. Define you think so? Some confident players, some not.
What state is home to Rocky Mountain National Park? Colorado,
Wisconsin or Florida. Everyone was quick to answer.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Though I haven't even answered yet.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I think we're waiting on you. Rosemary, Colorado, Wisconsin or Florida.
Which one of those states has the Rocky Mountain National Park?
Are you ready? Guys look nervous, Yeah, go ahead and
reveal your answers. We have Anas saying Colorado, Rosie saying Colorado,
Bay saying Wisconsin, Mabel saying Colorado, Jimmy saying Colorado, Read
(19:25):
saying Colorado, Matthew saying Colorado, Conley saying Colorado, Hayden saying Colorado.
You all got it, Almost all of you, he answers Colorado.
Rocky Mountain National Park gets about four point five million
visitors each year, some animals that call at home or
big horn, sheep, mule, deer, elk, mountain goats, moose, and
black bears. How'd you guys figure that answer out? How'd
(19:45):
y'all know that one?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I used to Colorado, Colorado?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Okay? I heard what were the options?
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida. Okay, so I knew it definitely wasn't
in Florida. The Rocky Mountains there, and I'm not a
colorad the Rocky Mountains.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Cheese and cows.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Cheese, cheese and cows. That's right, that's all. Wisconsin has
chocolate milk. They do have good cheese curtains. I learned
about Colorado and school. Okay, you kids got to figure
it out. Cheese and cows all you'll get in Wisconsin.
Question three, Which of these things is not a piece
of camping gear? Is it a carabiner, a vestibule, or
(20:27):
a calender? I don't know what any of those are. Okay,
two of them are things that you use while you're camping.
One of them is not. Which of these things is
not a piece of camping gear? Carabineer, vestibule, or calender.
Our players were very confident on question two, but they
(20:49):
are leaking confidence. On question three, there are going to
be some creative spellings in the room. I'm quite sure
of that. Which of these things is not a piece
of camping gear? Carabiner, vestibule, calender. Does everybody have an answer?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
I am not you're not confident. Do you know what
any of these things are?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Conley?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
No? Okay, just suggest does anybody know how many of
you know, like what one of them is?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Me?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
How many of you know what two of them are? Me?
And do any of you know what all three of
them are?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Idea?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Okay, there's a mystery piece of gear in the batch.
Does everybody have an answer?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yeah, go ahead and reveal your answers. We have an
are saying calender, Rosemary saying vestibule, By saying calendar, Mabel
saying calender, Jimmy saying calender, Read saying vestibule, Matthew saying vestibule,
Conley saying vestibule, Hayden saying calender. Nobody said carabiner. Huh,
carabiner is a piece of camping gear. So good on
(21:51):
you for not saying that one. The correct answer is collander.
About half of you got it right. A carabiner is
a D shaped metal ring with one spring hinged side.
A vestibule is a covered area next to your tent door,
and a calendar is a bowl with holes in it
that's used to strain liquid from food. Probably see it
(22:13):
used with pasta. Have any of you ever been in
a tent with a vestibule? Can you picture what that
looks like? Yeah, yes I can, I've seen it. Keep
you dry, keep your gear dry. A calender would not
keep you very dry though. That's it for today's round
of trivia. Fill the engineer. How much money did we raise?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
One hundred eighty dollars?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
One hundred eighty dollars and that's going to take me
fishing dot org. Well done, kids, Join us next time
for more meat Eater Kids Trivia, the only other game
show where conservation always wins.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Thank you so much for listening. We really hope you
enjoyed the episode. Now get outside. Be sure to tune
in next week for another episode Me Your Kids
Part one, Why it's the way it.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Is today and why it's the way it is, We're
gonna dig into a weird word that you probably haven't
heard before. That word is crepuscular. Now, this is one
of my favorite words. I like saying it because it
kind of solves a little bit of a riddle, as
i'll explain. But to get into what crepuscular means, well,
(00:39):
first you should practice saying it one So work with
me here, crepuscular. Okay, Now, now that you got it,
we're gonna dig into what it means. But to dig
into what it means, to dig into like why it's
the way it is, we're gonna talk about another word
that I bet you you've heard before, and that word.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Is called nocturnal.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Now, nocturnal means this nocturnals means something that's active at night.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Okay. So if you're the kind of.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Person or maybe your parents this way, maybe you're this
way that you like to be up late at night
doing stuff, people might say like, oh, they're nocturnal. Mean
they're like most active at night. They kind of feel
the wake at night, right, they want to do stuff
at night. So you'll hear people mention how they sometimes
feel nocturnal, or if they have a lot of work
they need to get done, they'll go nocturnal, right, they'll
(01:27):
start working at night in the dark. But in the
animal world, nocturnal refers to this whole group of animals
from all different types of animals, right, I mean, there's
nocturnal birds, as we'll get into, there are nocturnal reptiles,
there are nocturnal fish. They are nocturnal mammals. Within that,
you got nocturnal rodents, you got nocturnal bats. No, no, no, no, okay,
(01:51):
it means they're active at night. And I'm gonna talk
about a couple nocturnal animals just to kind of give
you a sense. One of my favorite nocturnal animals is
the apossum. Now, you will occasionally run into an apossum
in the daytime, but for the most part, they hide
out in the daytime. They go into little dens and burrows.
(02:12):
They'll go into rock piles, They'll go under old buildings
that are falling down. They'll go into hollow logs. One
time I was out with my brother Danny, and we
were out hunting rabbits and we found a dead deer carcass, okay,
And there was a lot of snow, but something had
kind of dug down to this dead deer carcass and
(02:33):
there was a hole that had been kind of gnawed
into its rib cage. And I was curious about this,
and I looked down into that hole and guess what.
There was a possum dend up inside of the deer's ribcage.
All the internal organs had been eaten away, and this
(02:54):
frozen deer rib cage, this frozen deer carcass with the
hide still on it was his den. And I'm not
saying you should do this, but I actually, just out
of curiosity, pulled him out by his tail. Now, possibly
can hang from a tree by his tail. You're not
gonna heard a possum picking him up by his tail.
But I pulled him out by his tail and we
(03:14):
took a picture of him and then put him back
down in that deer ribcage. And the reason I'm not
recommending you do this is you could get bit and
it's probably not a good idea to bother stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
But I was little, and you know, like.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
He was curious about stuff, and that's what I did.
I pulled him out, had to look at him, stuffed
him back in his little den where you hit out
during the day, and that night probably got active and
wandered around and ate on his dead deer that he found.
There's another word that we're gonna get to now, before
we get to crepuscular, We're going to get to diurnal. Now,
(03:50):
you hear diurnal less than nocturnal, like you hear diurnal
way less than nocturnal, but you still hear it more
than you hear crepuscular. Diurnal means an animal that's active
in the daytime. Okay, let me name some things that
are diurnal. Seagulls. Now that there's a lot of kinds
(04:11):
of seagulls, but seagulls, that's a diurnal creature.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
You don't see seagulls flying around in the dark too much.
You go down to the beach on a sunny day
in the middle of the day, and seagulls are.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Running around, really active. They're diurnal.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I would also venture to say that us humans were mammals,
for the most part, were diurnal animals. We're most active
in the daytime. There are diurnal creatures living in the water. Okay,
I would say that the very common widespread fish called
a bluegill, a bluegills diurnal.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Now, if you ever going.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Out snorkeling at night, I used to like to do
this a great deal. Go out snorkeling at night with
an underwater flashlight. You'll see bluegills sitting there just kind
of zoned out in shallow water. You can even this
is gonna sound crazy, you can even with a little stick.
When you find a bluegill sleeping, you can even poke
it with a stick before it moves off.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
They're just zoned out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
They're sort of they're like a fish version of sleeping.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
But they love the daytime.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
In the spring, when the water starts to warm up
and they're getting active, bluegills will even come up and
stick their back out of the water just the sun,
just to feel the warmth and to warm water and
it's warmed by the sun at the surface. They like
the daytime. They feed in the daytime. They're active at
the daytime. If you've ever been out fishing bluegills and
you notice that the bite turns off, meaning the fishing
(05:30):
gets bad at night, they quiet down, they quit eating,
they quit being so active. Bluegills are diurnal. Now that
we've covered nocturnal and diurnal, nocturnal being active at night,
diurnal being active in the daytime, we're gonna talk about
a critter that's crepuscular. Now, crepuscular means kind of in
(05:53):
the middle. It's in the middle between diurnal and nocturnal,
meaning it likes the low light conditions like dawn, and
it likes dusk. And if you're a deer hunter, or
you have deer hunters in your family, go ask those
deer hunters when's the best time to go out deer hunting.
I guarantee the answer you're gonna get. You're gonna get
(06:16):
an answer that the best time to hunt deer is
at dawn and at dusk. That is because deer are crepuscular.
They like low light conditions, not totally dark, not totally daytime.
If they like the low light conditions, if there's a
(06:36):
time of day that deer gonna move, they're gonna move
at dawn and at dusk, when it's kind of gray
out and low light. That's when they like to do
their traveling. They can see good, they can see way
better than you can in low light, and that's when
they feel most comfortable to do their traveling. Here's another
animal that's crepuscular that you might be familiar with, the
(07:00):
red fox. The red fox likes to get out and
hunt during low light conditions. He likes to get out
and hunt in the early morning or.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
The late evening.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Now why could be There could be a lot of
reasons why an animal could be crepuscular because it has
predators that are diurnal or nocturnal. Meaning, if a red
fox is worried about getting killed by a mountain lion
who's nocturnal, he might find that his best not to
(07:33):
do his hunting out at night. And if a red
fox is worrying about getting killed by an animal that
is diurnal, say a big golden eagle, he might know
it's best not to get out and do his hunting
in the daytime. But he finds a little sweet spot.
He finds his zone when his nighttime enemy and his
daytime enemy are inactive and he can get out and
(07:56):
do his hunting. Another reason might be this, maybe the
animal doesn't have great night vision. They don't see really
good in the dark dark of night. And let's say
that same animal doesn't like to be overly hot. It
has a hard time staying cool when it's out doing
its honting. So here's a red fox. He's covered in
(08:18):
a thick coat of fur. It's summertime. Maybe in the
summertime it's eighty degrees, it's ninety degrees. It's just way
too hot for him to be out hunting. But he
doesn't see as good as he'd like in the absolute dark.
He sees really good in low light. So the day
cools off, it gets to be where it's not so
uncomfortable to be out hunting. There's still enough light to
(08:42):
be able to see to hunt. So that's the time
they find to do their work when they're out in motion.
Those are crepuscular animals. Now we've only talked about really
in detail. We've only talked about two crepuscular animals. We
talked about deer, we talked about red foxes. But there
(09:04):
are a lot of crepuscular animals. My daddy, when I
was a kid, would call the morning in the evening,
he would call it the magic hour, and that's when
he liked to be out in the woods.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And I picked up on that.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
I picked up on that because whether I'm in the
mountains or the woods or the swamps. If I could
be out there for any period of time, I would say,
I want to be out there the hour after it
gets light, just light enough to see, and I want
to be out there the hour just before it gets dark.
And the reason I want to be there for those
(09:40):
hours is because they're the magic hour. Those are the
hours when you see the most animals. Let's talk about
the evening. Why the evening's cool. In the evening, you're
catching the diurnal animals at the end of their day.
They're wrapping up their day and getting ready to go
to bed. The crepuscular animals right at the peak of
(10:02):
their activity. This is the time of the day they
live for is that low light condition. And in the evening,
you're catching the nocturnal animals in their morning. They're just
waking up and getting ready to go. So you have
this big rush of wildlife ending their day, just in
the middle of their day, starting their day. And then
(10:23):
let's think about in the morning. In the morning, those
nocturnal animals are wrapping up their day, getting ready to
go to bed. Their crepuscular animals are out it's their
peak time of movement. And those diurnal animals are just
getting up and getting ready to start their day.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So through that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Little hour long period, maybe that ninety minute period, you
get this full rush of wildlife shifting and changing and interacting.
And that's what makes the magic hour. And the magic
hour is during that crepuscular period. So if you get
into wildlife watching and you realize what I have learned,
this is the best time to be out, you will
(11:03):
be able to describe yourself as a crepuscular wildlife viewer.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
You like to get out and view.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Wildlife in the low light conditions dawn and evening.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Part two, Guess that Critter.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
It's time for Guess that critter. Where we play animal
sounds and you've got to guess what animal is making
those sounds. You'll learn some neat facts about these animals
and develop your ear to better identify their sounds in
the wild or in this case, maybe in your attic too.
And don't worry, we'll throw in some clues along the way.
Now listen closely. These are social mammals that often live
(11:55):
in family groups. In the spring and summer. It's common
to see the mothers with as many as five or
six babies trailing behind as they head out in the
evening to search for food. You may hear them chittering
like this or purring to express contentment. And here's what
(12:21):
the babies or kits sound like.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Is it a chipmunk?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Ooh?
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Not quite. While these animals do make fun and interesting
pets when captured in the wild and tamed, it's never
a good idea to approach them or attempt to pick
them up without an adult who's an expert in handling
this type of critter. For one thing, doing so might
be illegal in your state. For another thing, they are
vicious fighters and will readily attack a person who they
(12:52):
feel is threatening them. They'll growl when they feel threatened,
and the males of this species are prone to violent
clashes with each other during the midwinter breeding season, when
they come out on warm nights in search of female
mating partners and fend off their rival males. These fights
can be heard from far away as they screech and
snarl while scratching and biting each other.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
Is it a grinner?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
What's a grinner? Awesome? Ooh, that's close. They're crafty and curious,
with an amazing ability to find food and shelter in
almost any situation. They'll make dens or sleep away the
day and abandoned badger or groundhog holes or hollow logs
and tree cavities or brush piles, junked cars, old barns,
(13:39):
or even the attics of new houses. They seem to
enjoy eating even more than us humans. They like everything
from corn to crayfish. If you're close enough to them
while they eat, you might hear munching noises like this.
These powerful critters have short legs, beady eyes, and a
(14:01):
pointed muzzle. Their front feet have five finger like toes
that are extremely dexterous, meaning they can use them to
grab things and also climb trees, rock walls, and fences.
They range in color from silver gray to dirty brown.
Adults can reach twenty pounds, with big males getting up
to thirty pounds. Their tails have black rings, and they
(14:22):
have black markings on their face that resemble a mask.
Folks will refer to them as mask bandits and even
trash pandas Okay, it's time for the reveal. It's a raccoon.
The raccoon is found across most of North America and
continues to expand its range. While human developments such as
(14:44):
farms and subdivisions might drive away more secretive wild animals.
Raccoons are able to make themselves feel right at home
as they feed on our garbage, our farm crops, and
the food we leave out for birds, chickens, or pet
dogs and cats. Raccoons, especially the babies, are preyed upon
by cootes, bobcats, boxes, and large owls. Humans hunt and
(15:04):
trap raccoons. The meat is edible and pretty good, and
sometimes the pelts can be valuable, especially the larger ones
with a silverish color. Ten years ago, raccoon pelts were
worth up to thirty or forty dollars. Right now they're
worth only a few dollars, but the prices will almost
certainly rise again. Raccoons are super cool, for sure, but
(15:25):
sometimes they are downright pesky. Maybe in the future you
can make some good money trapping them, while also helping
out farmers for trying to protect their orchards and crop
fields from these hungry critters.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
Part three.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
Trivia and now It's time for meat Eater Kids Trivia
the other only game show where conservation always wins.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
This is a quiz show for kids who love the outdoors.
Speaker 5 (15:52):
Take it away, Spencer.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Today, I'm joined by Jimmy, Rosie, Matthew, Aina, Mabel, Hayden, Conley, Read,
and Bay. Each player will earn ten dollars for Conservation
with every question they get right today. There's a potential
for this room to earn up to two hundred and
seventy dollars this week. That donation is going to take
me fishing dot org, who provides resources to kids and
(16:15):
parents that will help them have a great day on
the water. Let's see how much money our players can raise.
Question one, which of these animals does not have an exoskeleton?
Is it a lobster, a grasshopper or an armadillo? The
room is not very confident. Bey is the first one
(16:36):
to come up with an answer. Here's the question again,
Which of these animals does not have an exoskeleton? Lobster,
grasshopper or armadillo? I think I know.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
It, you do.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
I'm very confident in my answers.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Two of them have an exoskeleton, one of them does not.
You need to tell me who the odd ball is
that does not have an exoskeleton from that group? Conley,
how do you know this one? Did you learn it
in school. You just know what an exoskeleton is, Yeah,
and you know what animals have them. Yeah, Okay, that's
a good formula for getting this one right. Does everybody
(17:14):
have an answer? Yeah, lobster, grasshopper, armadillo. Yep, go ahead
and reveal your answers. We have Aina saying grasshopper, Rosie
saying armadillo, Bay saying armadillo, Mabel saying armadillo, Jimmy saying armadillo.
Read saying armadillo, Matthew saying grasshopper, Conley saying grasshopper, Hayden
(17:36):
saying grasshopper. Nobody said lobster. The correct answer is not
a lobster, it's an armadillo. The room did pretty well.
An exoskeleton is a skeleton that's on the exterior of
an animal. Who'd have thought, huh Now, although armadillos have
that protective shell, they still have a skeleton in their body,
(17:57):
just like humans. Can you guys name some other animals
that have it exoskeletons? Spiders, spider that'd be one. What else?
There's a lot more. Shrab that's a good one. Shrimp
is a good one. You know any others, bees, scorpions, snails.
All arthropods and insects have exoskeletons. Question two, What state
(18:21):
is home to the Rocky Mountain National Park? Is it Colorado,
Wisconsin or Florida? Which state is home to Rocky Mountain
National Park? Colorado, Wisconsin or Florida. I know you know
this one. Yeah, she's not in her head, giving an
(18:42):
okay symbol. Define you think so? Some confident players, some not.
What state is home to Rocky Mountain National Park? Colorado,
Wisconsin or Florida. Everyone was quick to answer.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
Though I haven't even answered yet.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
I think we're waiting on you. Rosemary, Colorado, Wisconsin or Florida.
Which one of those states has the Rocky Mountain National Park?
Are you ready? Guys look nervous, Yeah, go ahead and
reveal your answers. We have Anas saying Colorado, Rosie saying Colorado,
Bay saying Wisconsin, Mabel saying Colorado, Jimmy saying Colorado, Read
(19:25):
saying Colorado, Matthew saying Colorado, Conley saying Colorado, Hayden saying Colorado.
You all got it, Almost all of you, he answers Colorado.
Rocky Mountain National Park gets about four point five million
visitors each year, some animals that call at home or
big horn, sheep, mule, deer, elk, mountain goats, moose, and
black bears. How'd you guys figure that answer out? How'd
(19:45):
y'all know that one?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
I used to Colorado, Colorado?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Okay? I heard what were the options?
Speaker 4 (19:53):
Colorado, Wisconsin, Florida. Okay, so I knew it definitely wasn't
in Florida. The Rocky Mountains there, and I'm not a
colorad the Rocky Mountains.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
Cheese and cows.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Cheese, cheese and cows. That's right, that's all. Wisconsin has
chocolate milk. They do have good cheese curtains. I learned
about Colorado and school. Okay, you kids got to figure
it out. Cheese and cows all you'll get in Wisconsin.
Question three, Which of these things is not a piece
of camping gear? Is it a carabiner, a vestibule, or
(20:27):
a calender? I don't know what any of those are. Okay,
two of them are things that you use while you're camping.
One of them is not. Which of these things is
not a piece of camping gear? Carabineer, vestibule, or calender.
Our players were very confident on question two, but they
(20:49):
are leaking confidence. On question three, there are going to
be some creative spellings in the room. I'm quite sure
of that. Which of these things is not a piece
of camping gear? Carabiner, vestibule, calender. Does everybody have an answer?
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
I am not you're not confident. Do you know what
any of these things are?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Conley?
Speaker 4 (21:13):
No? Okay, just suggest does anybody know how many of
you know, like what one of them is?
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Me?
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Okay?
Speaker 4 (21:19):
How many of you know what two of them are? Me?
And do any of you know what all three of
them are?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
No?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Idea?
Speaker 4 (21:24):
Okay, there's a mystery piece of gear in the batch.
Does everybody have an answer?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (21:30):
Yeah, go ahead and reveal your answers. We have an
are saying calender, Rosemary saying vestibule, By saying calendar, Mabel
saying calender, Jimmy saying calender, Read saying vestibule, Matthew saying vestibule,
Conley saying vestibule, Hayden saying calender. Nobody said carabiner. Huh,
carabiner is a piece of camping gear. So good on
(21:51):
you for not saying that one. The correct answer is collander.
About half of you got it right. A carabiner is
a D shaped metal ring with one spring hinged side.
A vestibule is a covered area next to your tent door,
and a calendar is a bowl with holes in it
that's used to strain liquid from food. Probably see it
(22:13):
used with pasta. Have any of you ever been in
a tent with a vestibule? Can you picture what that
looks like? Yeah, yes I can, I've seen it. Keep
you dry, keep your gear dry. A calender would not
keep you very dry though. That's it for today's round
of trivia. Fill the engineer. How much money did we raise?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
One hundred eighty dollars?
Speaker 4 (22:34):
One hundred eighty dollars and that's going to take me
fishing dot org. Well done, kids, Join us next time
for more meat Eater Kids Trivia, the only other game
show where conservation always wins.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Thank you so much for listening. We really hope you
enjoyed the episode. Now get outside. Be sure to tune
in next week for another episode Me Your Kids
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