January 3, 2024 • 11 mins
Maria chats with science writer and editor Jennifer Szymanski about Nat Geo Kids book Deadliest Animals On The Planet!
With stunning photos and fascinating descriptions, you can learn about the fearsome and dangerous animals and insects on the planet. Educational for adults as well!
With stunning photos and fascinating descriptions, you can learn about the fearsome and dangerous animals and insects on the planet. Educational for adults as well!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea. On iHeartRadio, Welcome
to Maria's MutS and Stuff and withme is Jennifer Semanski, who is a
freelance science writer and editor, totalk about Deadliest Animals on the Planet from
(00:23):
not Geo Kids. Hi Jennifer,thanks for chatting with me today about the
book. Hi, thanks so muchfor having me on. Absolutely so,
I am fascinated by so many ofthe nat GIO books, but especially this
one, Deadliest Animals on the Planet. So, first of all, how
long did it take to put thiswhole book together? Well, this book
(00:48):
book, most of these types ofbooks take around eight months, okay from
start to finish this one. Thepublication was delayed just a little bit,
okay, But it's such a teameffort and so many people have their work
put into books like this, Imean, like the photo editors and you
know, the text editors. Thatit does take the better part of a
(01:11):
year, right, which is notwhich is a long time. But obviously
it's good that it takes a longtime because the product is well worth it.
So I think. So, yeah, So, how do you decide
on like which insects and which animalsmake the deadliest animals in this edition.
So what we've got to do withthis book, which I was really really
(01:34):
happy about, is we were ableto expand the definition of deadliest. So
we made sure that there were alot of high interest animals that kids would
really like, like tigers and bearsand great white sharks, but we also
included a lot of animals that area little more common. But all animals,
(01:55):
you know, need to protect themselvesor protect their offspring, So we
were hoping to get kids interested insome other animals as well that maybe they
wouldn't think about as being deadly,like a house cat. Like a house
cat, Yes, I was actuallykind of surprised, So tell me about
that. Why is a house cata deadly animal? Well, they are
(02:20):
cats and they are predators, andthey are good at both. So they
actually have a very high success ratewhen they are going to hunt. Among
all of the cats, lions,and tigers, they might have a ten
to fifteen percent success rate, andhouse cats come in at thirty or above
(02:45):
depending on where they are right,So they're not as high as like the
blackfoot cat, the one that's that'sbeen making the internet rounds because it's you
know, the one that's in thedesert, which has about a fifty percent
rate. But they are really reallyeffective predators. And I mean, I
mean I know that from friends whohave cats and say, oh, my
(03:06):
cat brought home a rabbit, Likewait what? So you know they bring
home all different types of animals thatthey leave on the back stoop or something.
So but that's very interesting, andI guess it's good because kids wouldn't
think of that, as I guess, because you know the cat. They
might have a cat and it's just, oh, it's my pet. But
there's that old joke that if acat was bigger, it would eat you.
(03:27):
And I know it's a bad joke. I'm sorry to tell you that,
right, but I'm not sure that'snot true. You know exactly exactly
which And now I'm going to hearfrom all the cat people who are like,
I knew it, you're a dogperson. Okay, that's great,
because I saw that. I was. I was surprised, But now I
(03:49):
understand about a house cat. AndI also saw like a koala bear and
they're so cute and so cuddly,and well, what tell us, why
would a koala be considered a deadlyanimal. They so I I had got
to work with a wildlife veterinarian forone of the books that I wrote,
and she said that they have someof the nastiest tempers really that you yes,
(04:14):
and they just don't look like itbecause they're cute, it's buy and
have the big nose and the cookieears. But they have some really strong
claws that you know, usually theyused to hold themselves up in the eucalyptus
trees carry their joeys. But theydo not like to be disturbed, and
they will make that their displeasure knownby using those claus right. So yeah,
(04:38):
and you know, regardless, itis a wild animal. And that's
and that's what's so educational and soperfect because even though an animal is very
cute and cuddly, it's still awild animal that we need to respect and
you know, which is perfect forchildren. This is why this book is
so great. Absolutely, you know, so tell me. I was just
you know, because I was slippingthrough and reading was like, oh,
(05:00):
you know, of course the pagewith the tarantula. That completely freaks me
out, so I have to gofast past that. But then I came
across an assassin bug, which Ihad never ever heard of, right,
I actually had not heard of thatprior to doing research for this book.
And that is that is quite thecritter. Oh my god, so weird
(05:20):
looking. Yes. So they havea habit of taking some of the for
lack of a better word, thecorpses of the other insects that they eat
and wear them sort of as backpacks, and that keeps some sort of camouflage
from birds and other predators that wantto eat them because they recognized them as
(05:43):
you know, being empty shells basically, or if they hold still, they
just figure, oh it's, youknow, a piece of debris. Right,
Wow, that's fascinating. Nature tome is just so fascinating, you
know, because who would have thunkof that? But this, right bug
did? Yeah, I mean,and I mean the photography and this book
is just exquisite. I mean it'sclose up and like that assassin bug and
(06:05):
you can see all the different thingson top of it, and it's like
wow. So, you know,kudos to the photographer on that. Absolutely.
Do you have a favorite deadly animal? I have. I tend to
like the ones that we think arecute that turn out to be pretty pretty
(06:26):
vicious. I always liked penguins.It's just one of my favorite birds as
a kid. And then to readthat they have like backward facing hooks inside
their bills so that when they graba fish, there is a minimal chance
of that fish being able to youknow, back out the mouth. Wow,
(06:46):
So definitely a one way system.I thought that that was pretty pretty
interesting. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Actually I didn't know that either.
That's that's kind of cool. Yeah, do you have another besides penguins?
So many of them? I know, I'm sorry. I don't need to
put you on the spot. No, no, no, that's okay,
that's what I mean. I couldgo on. I know I want you
(07:08):
to. Well, it's always fascinatingto me for the person who is it's
their project and they put this together. But I'm always curious, you know,
well, who are your favorites orwho who is? What's something that
you had no idea? Uh,that's a great question, one of So
I sort of grew up in witha family that did some bird watching,
(07:30):
okay, and I'm in I'm inPennsylvania, so I mean, we don't
have anything particularly exotic. So Iwas reading about the shrike which is a
fairly small, handsome bird, andit is I actually think I had the
patron that it's on one hundred andone. Okay, I'm gonna look at
it always. Yeah, it's alwayshunting. And if it's not hungry and
(07:54):
it is successful at it's hunt,it will take those it's caught prey and
pail that on a born or abranch. Wow, and just yeah and
save it for later, which soundslike a horror movie. Right, that's
that's to me. Does you knowit's like a cute little bird. It's
really cute. Yeah, it's verycute. It's a little gray head and
(08:18):
it has like a black stripe whereits eye is. It's really very it
is very pretty. But yeah,well that's kind of vicious. You're right,
it is. It's almost like asilence of the lambs of bird.
Right. That's really funny. That'sgreat. So what age is this book
is deadliest animals on the planet aimedat I mean, I'm fascinated by it
(08:41):
and I'm old, but I knowit's obviously because it's not geo kids,
it's probably aimed at children. Sowhat would be like the ideal age?
I would say seven to you knowthirteen. Okay, maybe maybe you know
a little leeway on each end.Right again, mentioned the photos. The
photos are so brilliant. Oh,they're just beautiful, I think. I
(09:03):
mean, I know when I wasa kid and wasn't a great reader,
yet I just love to look atthe pictures. Right, No, me
too, me too. I wishwe had books like this so we know
when we were kids, because thisis really I mean, it's just it's
so perfect because it's fascinating and theway it's presented with the facts, it's
not difficult for a child to read, which which ultimately makes the child learn,
(09:28):
you know what I mean. Like, it's not too complicated, which
is what's so perfect about it.And I love the size. I love
the fact that it's a little squarebook that's really that's a not geo kids
thing, And I love that aboutthese books because you don't see that that
often. I agree, I agree. So, did you have a lot
of extra of deadly animals that didn'tmake this edition that might make another one?
(09:52):
Or like, how was the processthat made you decide on the ones
that are specifically in this book?So this is sort of a middle book
in a series of sort of relatedbooks. So we did one called The
World's Cutest Animals, where we focusedon sort of, you know, the
physically cute aspects, and this isthe Deadliest, and then there will be
(10:16):
another one eventually called The Weirdest TheWeirdest. Yes, and you're going to
find some of the same animals inall three of those books, different photos,
different photos, because we're going tofocus on different aspects of what makes
them fit that category. Right,So is that that was a lot of
fun for me? Oh, I'msure. And is that your next project
(10:37):
of the Weirdest or so after Deadliest, we have the Weirdest has been written.
I haven't gotten anything back yet,so I'm not quite sure where that
is in the process, but butit's out there. So all right,
well that's great. Now, thisis terrific. And for the listeners who
(10:58):
are in intrigued by what we're talkingabout, and rightfully so, where can
they pick up this book? Itshould be available everywhere if you you know,
have a local bookstore that you like, or any online retailer, and
of course you can get it atthe National National Geographic Kids website. All
(11:18):
right, well, perfect, perfect, So Jennifer Semanski thank you, thank
you for your time, thank youfor all your effort putting into this amazing
little book. And I look forwardto well you're next on and we'll talk
then, I hope. So keepdoing what you do. I love it.
Okay, thank you so much
It's Maria's MutS and Stuff. Whata great idea. On iHeartRadio, Welcome
to Maria's MutS and Stuff and withme is Jennifer Semanski, who is a
freelance science writer and editor, totalk about Deadliest Animals on the Planet from
(00:23):
not Geo Kids. Hi Jennifer,thanks for chatting with me today about the
book. Hi, thanks so muchfor having me on. Absolutely so,
I am fascinated by so many ofthe nat GIO books, but especially this
one, Deadliest Animals on the Planet. So, first of all, how
long did it take to put thiswhole book together? Well, this book
(00:48):
book, most of these types ofbooks take around eight months, okay from
start to finish this one. Thepublication was delayed just a little bit,
okay, But it's such a teameffort and so many people have their work
put into books like this, Imean, like the photo editors and you
know, the text editors. Thatit does take the better part of a
(01:11):
year, right, which is notwhich is a long time. But obviously
it's good that it takes a longtime because the product is well worth it.
So I think. So, yeah, So, how do you decide
on like which insects and which animalsmake the deadliest animals in this edition.
So what we've got to do withthis book, which I was really really
(01:34):
happy about, is we were ableto expand the definition of deadliest. So
we made sure that there were alot of high interest animals that kids would
really like, like tigers and bearsand great white sharks, but we also
included a lot of animals that area little more common. But all animals,
(01:55):
you know, need to protect themselvesor protect their offspring, So we
were hoping to get kids interested insome other animals as well that maybe they
wouldn't think about as being deadly,like a house cat. Like a house
cat, Yes, I was actuallykind of surprised, So tell me about
that. Why is a house cata deadly animal? Well, they are
(02:20):
cats and they are predators, andthey are good at both. So they
actually have a very high success ratewhen they are going to hunt. Among
all of the cats, lions,and tigers, they might have a ten
to fifteen percent success rate, andhouse cats come in at thirty or above
(02:45):
depending on where they are right,So they're not as high as like the
blackfoot cat, the one that's that'sbeen making the internet rounds because it's you
know, the one that's in thedesert, which has about a fifty percent
rate. But they are really reallyeffective predators. And I mean, I
mean I know that from friends whohave cats and say, oh, my
(03:06):
cat brought home a rabbit, Likewait what? So you know they bring
home all different types of animals thatthey leave on the back stoop or something.
So but that's very interesting, andI guess it's good because kids wouldn't
think of that, as I guess, because you know the cat. They
might have a cat and it's just, oh, it's my pet. But
there's that old joke that if acat was bigger, it would eat you.
(03:27):
And I know it's a bad joke. I'm sorry to tell you that,
right, but I'm not sure that'snot true. You know exactly exactly
which And now I'm going to hearfrom all the cat people who are like,
I knew it, you're a dogperson. Okay, that's great,
because I saw that. I was. I was surprised, But now I
(03:49):
understand about a house cat. AndI also saw like a koala bear and
they're so cute and so cuddly,and well, what tell us, why
would a koala be considered a deadlyanimal. They so I I had got
to work with a wildlife veterinarian forone of the books that I wrote,
and she said that they have someof the nastiest tempers really that you yes,
(04:14):
and they just don't look like itbecause they're cute, it's buy and
have the big nose and the cookieears. But they have some really strong
claws that you know, usually theyused to hold themselves up in the eucalyptus
trees carry their joeys. But theydo not like to be disturbed, and
they will make that their displeasure knownby using those claus right. So yeah,
(04:38):
and you know, regardless, itis a wild animal. And that's
and that's what's so educational and soperfect because even though an animal is very
cute and cuddly, it's still awild animal that we need to respect and
you know, which is perfect forchildren. This is why this book is
so great. Absolutely, you know, so tell me. I was just
you know, because I was slippingthrough and reading was like, oh,
(05:00):
you know, of course the pagewith the tarantula. That completely freaks me
out, so I have to gofast past that. But then I came
across an assassin bug, which Ihad never ever heard of, right,
I actually had not heard of thatprior to doing research for this book.
And that is that is quite thecritter. Oh my god, so weird
(05:20):
looking. Yes. So they havea habit of taking some of the for
lack of a better word, thecorpses of the other insects that they eat
and wear them sort of as backpacks, and that keeps some sort of camouflage
from birds and other predators that wantto eat them because they recognized them as
(05:43):
you know, being empty shells basically, or if they hold still, they
just figure, oh it's, youknow, a piece of debris. Right,
Wow, that's fascinating. Nature tome is just so fascinating, you
know, because who would have thunkof that? But this, right bug
did? Yeah, I mean,and I mean the photography and this book
is just exquisite. I mean it'sclose up and like that assassin bug and
(06:05):
you can see all the different thingson top of it, and it's like
wow. So, you know,kudos to the photographer on that. Absolutely.
Do you have a favorite deadly animal? I have. I tend to
like the ones that we think arecute that turn out to be pretty pretty
(06:26):
vicious. I always liked penguins.It's just one of my favorite birds as
a kid. And then to readthat they have like backward facing hooks inside
their bills so that when they graba fish, there is a minimal chance
of that fish being able to youknow, back out the mouth. Wow,
(06:46):
So definitely a one way system.I thought that that was pretty pretty
interesting. Yeah, that's pretty cool. Actually I didn't know that either.
That's that's kind of cool. Yeah, do you have another besides penguins?
So many of them? I know, I'm sorry. I don't need to
put you on the spot. No, no, no, that's okay,
that's what I mean. I couldgo on. I know I want you
(07:08):
to. Well, it's always fascinatingto me for the person who is it's
their project and they put this together. But I'm always curious, you know,
well, who are your favorites orwho who is? What's something that
you had no idea? Uh,that's a great question, one of So
I sort of grew up in witha family that did some bird watching,
(07:30):
okay, and I'm in I'm inPennsylvania, so I mean, we don't
have anything particularly exotic. So Iwas reading about the shrike which is a
fairly small, handsome bird, andit is I actually think I had the
patron that it's on one hundred andone. Okay, I'm gonna look at
it always. Yeah, it's alwayshunting. And if it's not hungry and
(07:54):
it is successful at it's hunt,it will take those it's caught prey and
pail that on a born or abranch. Wow, and just yeah and
save it for later, which soundslike a horror movie. Right, that's
that's to me. Does you knowit's like a cute little bird. It's
really cute. Yeah, it's verycute. It's a little gray head and
(08:18):
it has like a black stripe whereits eye is. It's really very it
is very pretty. But yeah,well that's kind of vicious. You're right,
it is. It's almost like asilence of the lambs of bird.
Right. That's really funny. That'sgreat. So what age is this book
is deadliest animals on the planet aimedat I mean, I'm fascinated by it
(08:41):
and I'm old, but I knowit's obviously because it's not geo kids,
it's probably aimed at children. Sowhat would be like the ideal age?
I would say seven to you knowthirteen. Okay, maybe maybe you know
a little leeway on each end.Right again, mentioned the photos. The
photos are so brilliant. Oh,they're just beautiful, I think. I
(09:03):
mean, I know when I wasa kid and wasn't a great reader,
yet I just love to look atthe pictures. Right, No, me
too, me too. I wishwe had books like this so we know
when we were kids, because thisis really I mean, it's just it's
so perfect because it's fascinating and theway it's presented with the facts, it's
not difficult for a child to read, which which ultimately makes the child learn,
(09:28):
you know what I mean. Like, it's not too complicated, which
is what's so perfect about it.And I love the size. I love
the fact that it's a little squarebook that's really that's a not geo kids
thing, And I love that aboutthese books because you don't see that that
often. I agree, I agree. So, did you have a lot
of extra of deadly animals that didn'tmake this edition that might make another one?
(09:52):
Or like, how was the processthat made you decide on the ones
that are specifically in this book?So this is sort of a middle book
in a series of sort of relatedbooks. So we did one called The
World's Cutest Animals, where we focusedon sort of, you know, the
physically cute aspects, and this isthe Deadliest, and then there will be
(10:16):
another one eventually called The Weirdest TheWeirdest. Yes, and you're going to
find some of the same animals inall three of those books, different photos,
different photos, because we're going tofocus on different aspects of what makes
them fit that category. Right,So is that that was a lot of
fun for me? Oh, I'msure. And is that your next project
(10:37):
of the Weirdest or so after Deadliest, we have the Weirdest has been written.
I haven't gotten anything back yet,so I'm not quite sure where that
is in the process, but butit's out there. So all right,
well that's great. Now, thisis terrific. And for the listeners who
(10:58):
are in intrigued by what we're talkingabout, and rightfully so, where can
they pick up this book? Itshould be available everywhere if you you know,
have a local bookstore that you like, or any online retailer, and
of course you can get it atthe National National Geographic Kids website. All
(11:18):
right, well, perfect, perfect, So Jennifer Semanski thank you, thank
you for your time, thank youfor all your effort putting into this amazing
little book. And I look forwardto well you're next on and we'll talk
then, I hope. So keepdoing what you do. I love it.
Okay, thank you so much
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