0:06

Welcome to Creature future production of iHeartRadio.

0:09

I'm your host of Many Parasites, Katie

0:12

Golden. I studied psychology and

0:14

evolutionary biology, and today on the

0:16

show brood X. There's

0:18

often generational battles, boomers

0:21

complaining about millennials, gen

0:23

X complaining about zoomers, Zoomers

0:25

duking it out with boomers in the thunderdome.

0:28

But perhaps as we have our petty generational

0:30

fights, we should stop to consider what's

0:33

happening under our feet. Something

0:35

is stirring. In fact, millions of

0:37

somethings are stirring. Rude

0:40

X is about to emerge, and we

0:42

should put aside our petty squabbles

0:44

about whether millennials eat too many avocados

0:46

or zoomers do too many tiktoks

0:49

about avocados and prepare ourselves

0:51

for brood X that has been waiting seventeen

0:54

years to emerge from the ground.

0:57

What is brood X? Should we panic?

1:00

Must we accept brood X is our new

1:02

leaders? And how might we ingratiate

1:04

ourselves to them? Discover this and

1:06

more to we answer to the age old question, how

1:09

is it fair that swarms of baby turtles

1:11

are considered cute? But swarms of bugs

1:13

are considered quote horrifying. Joining

1:16

me today to discuss brood X and

1:18

other mass spawning events is author

1:20

of the book Where Am I Now? Actress

1:22

and unofficial President of All Millennials.

1:25

Mara Wilson. Welcome, Thank

1:27

you so much for having me. I'm very excited

1:30

to talk about this brood X. It sounds

1:32

a lot scarier than it actually is, I think.

1:35

Or is it. No, you're right, that's true. Yeah,

1:38

it sounds scary. It sounds like

1:40

this is our come upance as a

1:43

specia and we're about to face the

1:45

music, the very loud music. But

1:47

no, it is it is actually very

1:50

very interesting thing in

1:52

evolutionary biology. So this

1:55

brood X is a mass

1:58

cicada blue. First,

2:00

I want to ask you, mar how's your feelings

2:02

towards cicadas.

2:04

You know, I don't think they have them where I grew

2:06

up, or at least not in the ways that they

2:08

do on the East Coast because

2:11

they so seventeen years

2:13

so they were, because I do remember hearing about them

2:15

when I was a teenager. Yeah,

2:17

so probably when I was That was two

2:20

thousand and four, so I would have been sixteen

2:22

or seventeen, and I do remember spending my summer

2:24

on the East Coast and I think that was the first time

2:26

I'd ever heard cicadas.

2:28

Yeah, yeah, I think we do get

2:30

So I grew up in San Diego, and I think we get

2:33

some cicadas there, yeah, but definitely

2:35

we don't get the mass burning

2:38

events that happens on the East

2:40

Coast.

2:41

I think, like, maybe i'd heard them before, but I didn't

2:43

know what they were where, Whereas

2:45

when I lived on the East Coast, like I definitely

2:48

i'd heard cicadas and

2:51

I knew what they sounded like, and I think, yeah,

2:53

I was.

2:53

I was like visiting family on the East Coast

2:55

in two.

2:56

Thousand and four, and I was like, what's this weird noise

2:58

in the tree that seems to be everywhere?

3:00

And what are these like dead bodies littered

3:03

on the ground. So

3:05

uh so yeah, so yeah, so I'm

3:07

kind of indifferent to them. I don't think that they're

3:10

They're like I I like the sounds of

3:12

crickets chirping. I don't mind the sounds

3:14

of cicadas so much. It is a

3:16

bit overwhelming and it is a bit

3:18

gross when like their corpses littered the streets.

3:21

But again, I haven't had to deal

3:23

with that as much, so,

3:25

so it's it's not you

3:27

know, it's not as much of an annoyance as like

3:30

as like coyotes are to me, or

3:33

like or or like snails or things

3:35

like that where I'm like gross, you

3:38

know.

3:38

Yeah, good, then you missed the Giant

3:40

Snail episode that was.

3:42

Yeah, I'm oh God, snails draws

3:44

me out so much.

3:45

I'm sorry, Katie, but I'm gonna have to skip that episode

3:47

because I think they're I think they're the grossest

3:50

things ever.

3:51

My friend Bridget also she's

3:53

been on the show, also disgusted by

3:55

snails. Yeah, so I won't tell

3:57

you the story about when I was a toddler, I used

3:59

to just eat garden snails.

4:01

Whoa, I mean that's that's you know,

4:03

that's that's French. That's it it is.

4:06

Yeah, that's gourmet, very bask Yeah

4:08

exactly, now

4:11

I would.

4:11

I can't eat I can't eat escargo.

4:14

Maybe it's because I like, as a kid,

4:16

it's just like, you know what, I've eaten enough snails.

4:19

I'm good.

4:20

Yeah, I've heard it's also not very good unless

4:22

it's prepared a certain way. So it's

4:25

like it's like one of those things that turns out

4:27

kind of rubbery and and.

4:28

Yeah, yeah, I don't know how

4:30

I managed. The reason, uh,

4:33

I know I ate snails because I barely remember

4:35

anything from that age is that my mom said

4:37

that I would come, I'd go out in the yard and then

4:40

come back and I had like snailshell in

4:42

my face. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm

4:46

sorry, Mark, I can't too.

4:47

Yeah, I'm gagging.

4:51

I don't I haven't done that in quite a

4:53

while.

4:53

I know, I know. But just the idea is.

4:56

Is, yeah,

4:59

well, that's that's your gross out of the episode.

5:01

Than Yeah, for I

5:04

figured there would be one. So

5:08

yeah, so cicadas maybe not

5:10

that gross, but maybe a little intimidating.

5:12

So this spring in the US,

5:15

we are welcoming millions of cicadas

5:17

into the world in a mass hatching event.

5:20

So yay, Yeah,

5:22

I guess, like before we talk about the mass s bonding,

5:25

let's talk about like, what what even is

5:27

a cicada?

5:28

Right?

5:28

They are a very loud

5:31

bug. They are a true bug. They're

5:33

like we call a lot of insects bugs,

5:35

but there are just a few species that

5:37

are known as like true bugs. Yeah,

5:40

and others that I guess are wanna be

5:42

bugs.

5:42

I don't know, but is

5:45

it like how there's no such thing as a fish

5:47

Like I always thought like bug was kind of like a

5:49

fake name that was just sort of

5:51

grouping a bunch of different creatures

5:53

together.

5:54

There's actually there there is, actually

5:57

there is such a thing. There is actually true bugs.

5:59

Yeah, I mean taxonomy

6:01

gets very I

6:04

don't know, there's a lot of gray areas. There's

6:06

a lot of like you know, like with you

6:09

mentioned with fish, there are like reef

6:11

and fish and then but a lot

6:13

of things that aren't fish are called fish,

6:16

like jellyfish are not fish. They're nidarians.

6:19

We're actually going to talk about some more Nigerians

6:21

at the end of the episode, which will

6:23

be very strange. But yeah,

6:26

so so cicadas true bugs.

6:28

And they're actually related to leaf

6:30

hoppers, those cute little

6:33

leaf shaped bugs that are really good jumpers

6:35

yea, and they come in

6:37

really interesting shapes. So I think we did an

6:40

episode on leafhoppers before. But yeah, they

6:42

are very interesting bugs, very beautiful

6:44

they are.

6:45

That's like one of the things that like blows.

6:47

It's like like if you ever want

6:49

to blow like a four year old's mind, you

6:51

know, show them a picture of a leaf hopper. Yes,

6:54

I remember, like I remember being in like preschool,

6:56

in kindergarten and going to

6:58

I don't know if it was a nature preserve or what, seeing

7:01

leaf hoppers and stick bugs and

7:03

just losing my.

7:05

Like what how does this exist?

7:07

Does?

7:08

How is this a thing? Yeah?

7:10

It looks Yeah, they look like made

7:13

up bugs that someone like paper

7:15

machade together.

7:16

Yeah.

7:17

It was like, yeah, I'm just gonna make a bug that's a leaf.

7:20

But I never would have thought they were related to cicadas.

7:22

Yeah. Yeah, Like leaf hoppers have that

7:24

sort of triangular shape, so

7:26

they're different. So there's there's leaf bugs

7:28

that have the sort of flat leaf, and then there's

7:31

leaf hoppers where they still look like leaves but

7:33

they're like kind of folded up leaves

7:35

where they have that triangular shape,

7:38

and they're really good jumpers. If you've ever like

7:40

you may see something that looks like a little

7:42

leaf, but then it has like little legs, and then

7:44

you try to pick it up and then it just almost disappears

7:47

by how quickly it can jump. That's a leaf

7:49

hopper. And cicadas are

7:51

sort of like bigger versions

7:54

of this, except they don't they don't typically

7:56

camouflage as leaves. They have

7:59

wings in a thick, triangular

8:01

body. There are many species of

8:03

cicadas, and they come in a variety

8:06

of colors, from black to brown to green.

8:08

There's even orange and blue hues.

8:11

And they are fairly decently

8:13

sized. So the smaller species

8:16

are about zero point seventy

8:18

five inches or about

8:20

two centimeters, and the largest species

8:23

can be over two and a fourth

8:25

inches long or five point seven centimeters,

8:27

so you know big.

8:29

Yeah, I've seen them before

8:32

and they are pretty big.

8:33

The ones that I've seen were pretty big. Yeah.

8:35

Yeah, like you don't want to get hit in the face,

8:38

like when you're when you're on your bike, just for

8:40

example, no reason.

8:43

I mean, I haven't had that happen, but I

8:45

have had. What are the Jerusalem

8:47

beatles or not Jerusalem?

8:48

They're like, oh yeah, what are Erusalem

8:50

crickets?

8:51

What are It's not Jerusalem crickets? What am I thinking

8:53

of? They're like the big flying

8:56

there's these big flying things that are like big

8:59

and lou they look like giant bees.

9:02

Oh yeah, those are I.

9:04

Don't know what they're called. We have them in southern California.

9:06

I think they're June. Are you thinking about June

9:09

June bugs.

9:09

No, they're not June bugs because they're they're

9:11

like they like fooled in on themselves.

9:14

They they like roll up and they fly

9:16

and they're like brightly colored and

9:19

they look like they're like some kind of flying beetle.

9:22

And but I've gotten one

9:24

in my hair before. Oh yeah, I

9:26

was like by my friend's pool and one got caught

9:28

in my hair. I've

9:31

also I've also found multiple spiders

9:34

in my hair before, which I think, which

9:36

I think means or only one at a time,

9:38

but like I've found a spider in my hair once and then like

9:40

I can't even remember it happening. But just last year,

9:43

I found a spider in my hair and I was like, oh no.

9:45

Not again.

9:46

And I was like, wow, that's a weird thing to think. I'm

9:48

just croving my goth side like up spider. I got

9:50

a spider in my hair again.

9:51

Oh no, yeah, oh gosh, yeah, I

9:53

have I have bad like luck with

9:55

things getting in my hair too. I was at well,

9:58

I won't name the restaurant so I won't

10:00

get sued, but it's that a burger

10:04

restaurant, and I felt something

10:06

land on my head and I was like well that's strange.

10:09

And I just sort of mindlessly

10:11

reach up and pick it up and it's a giant cock

10:13

crouch.

10:15

Oh god.

10:16

Yeah. And I was like, waiter,

10:20

there's a cock crouch. Uh

10:23

that fell on me? And he was just

10:25

like, oh, I'm sorry. I was like, you

10:27

might you might want to look into

10:29

that, like check it out.

10:32

I don't.

10:32

I generally don't mind bugs.

10:35

Like if a spider gets on me, there's an initial

10:37

startle reflex. But it's something about

10:39

it being in the hair yea that I

10:42

hate, like like emerging from

10:44

your hair, because you're like, it.

10:45

Wasn't emerging in my hair.

10:46

I just and it was a tiny spider, but yeah, the

10:48

idea of it emerging from your hair feels like

10:51

a like a creepy urban legend.

10:53

Right, yeah, exactly, like the oh oh

10:55

what's that the grudge you know? Yes, exactly,

10:58

the fingers cut.

11:00

The tiny spider. I looked at it. It might have been a fig eater

11:02

beetle.

11:03

Okay, yeah, because it was

11:05

big and iridescent and that getting caught

11:07

in my hair. I did mind that. I was like,

11:09

you are too big. Get out of my hair right now?

11:12

Yes, yes, no, no, I've I've been

11:14

smacked by it by Yeah, those.

11:16

Are annoying and they just they just it's

11:18

just like, you are so big, how can you fly?

11:23

Yeah? Exactly. I mean like that's how I feel about cicadas

11:25

too. They look too eaty to fly, but they

11:27

are. They are lighter than they look,

11:30

and they have big wings. Even

11:32

though like maybe getting smacked in the face

11:34

or having them land in your hair might be unpleasant,

11:37

you don't really have anything to worry about because

11:39

they are vegetarian vampires.

11:42

They will not suck on human

11:44

blood. They only suck on tree

11:46

blood or sap out

11:49

of roots and tree twigs,

11:52

so they thankfully

11:54

they are not out for human blood. That's good

11:56

to know.

11:56

It is good. If they were, we would all be screwed.

11:59

We would definite Oh we'd be so dead.

12:02

Uh So, the extremely loud

12:05

calls they make are due to their bodies

12:07

basically being designed like an instrument.

12:11

So males sing to

12:14

attract females. So that loud,

12:16

droning buzz you hear in the

12:18

summer that can be ear splitting at times.

12:20

Is males going come on and get some of

12:23

this to all the females trying

12:25

to attract them.

12:26

It's kind of like a rising and falling sound,

12:28

right like do do.

12:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it kind of sounds

12:36

like a little tiny buzz saw

12:38

that like little little forest

12:40

gnomes are doing some serious high rises

12:43

in the forests with the little teeny tiny buzzsaws.

12:46

But yeah, it gets very loud, I mean gets

12:48

as loud as a buzzsaw. Like it's

12:50

very very loud.

12:51

Well, because there are thousands of them right.

12:54

Well, even a single one can produce

12:56

a very loud call, and then when you

12:58

combine them it, yeah, it can

13:00

be deafening because one cicada

13:04

can produce a sound that is

13:06

about almost as loud as a chainsaw.

13:09

Wow. Yeah, So crickets

13:12

and other loud sound making bugs

13:15

and other like, there are lots of animals

13:17

that can make loud sounds. Often

13:19

use a technique called stridulation

13:22

to produce their call. That's where they rub

13:25

their wings or legs over a ribbed

13:27

body structure and kind of like play themselves

13:29

like one of those wood scraper instruments.

13:31

Yeah.

13:32

Remember in school when they made you sit in this circle

13:34

and you're like here, you get this wood block that you

13:37

d you get this like ribbed

13:39

wood thing that you like scrape back and forth

13:41

you get the triangle, and

13:43

like they would only entrust the triangle

13:45

to the non annoying kids, yeacause like

13:48

otherwise the situation would

13:50

get out of control.

13:51

That was a privilege, Yeah, that was, yes.

13:53

Definitely, because otherwise it was just

13:56

like clin clan clan, cling, clang and pandemonium.

13:59

Yeah, like that that wooden thing that has

14:01

like the grooves in it and you like rub

14:03

the stick on it. It makes that like noise

14:07

and it's like kind of the lame instrument that

14:09

you get and you don't really love it. But that

14:12

is how a lot of crickets,

14:15

and that's how other animals

14:17

will produce that loud noise through stridulation.

14:20

But cicadas don't use

14:23

this technique, like they are actually different.

14:25

They don't use stridulation. They

14:28

instead have specialized

14:30

structures in their exoskeleton

14:33

called timbals. So timballs

14:36

are these membranes that are

14:38

connected to muscles that can

14:40

vibrate them rapidly, producing

14:43

a very loud sound. In

14:45

fact, cicadas are the loudest insect

14:47

in the world. So it's kind

14:49

of like you know those like big metal sheets

14:51

that you shake to make it sound like it's thunder.

14:54

Oh yeah, yeah, I've seen that happen,

14:56

like like I was on I

14:58

worked on I remember where on a movie

15:00

once and we we

15:02

were on this this lot that used

15:05

to be like an air force base

15:07

I think, and there was a

15:09

pool in there and they made thunder

15:11

sounds by putting a giant sheet.

15:12

Of metal in the pool. Oh wow,

15:14

and it's like really scary echo.

15:16

Yeah.

15:16

I was always amazed by that.

15:18

That's interesting. I didn't realize they actually put

15:20

it in submerged it like in water

15:23

though.

15:23

Oh it wasn't in water. It was an empty pool.

15:25

Oh I see, so it would would like the

15:27

resonance of it. Yeah, that's

15:30

cool.

15:31

It was really cool. I you know, it was one

15:33

of those like oh that's how they do that kind of thing.

15:35

Yeah, yeah, that would be I feel

15:37

like that would be spooky though too. There's something about

15:39

like big empty rooms and

15:41

then like loud sounds in them.

15:43

It was very spooky.

15:44

Yeah, yeah, it spooky. It's like the idea

15:46

of like going to a an abandoned

15:48

theme park and then all of a sudden, like the

15:51

the carousel just starts

15:53

up and it's just music and an empty and then you're

15:55

like uh oh well, zombies aren't gonna come now.

15:57

Yeah, exactly, exactly. You

15:59

know, what have you done?

16:00

Yeah? But yeah, so

16:03

so that these timbals

16:05

kind of work like those big metal sheets and

16:08

but they're there. They're smaller and they vibrate

16:10

them much more quickly, and

16:13

so you get that. I don't know if

16:15

you'd call it high pitched, but sort of medium

16:17

pitched, like buzzing humming

16:19

sound. Yeah, and uh,

16:22

and I provided you with lovely

16:24

images of cicadas and like a little a

16:26

little animated textbook

16:29

illustration. That shit, I don't know how helpful.

16:31

This animation is all included in the show notes

16:33

so everyone can see it. But basically it's showing

16:36

like, look, it's this membrane and it

16:38

goes it like sort of wobbles in and out.

16:40

I think I find it really interesting. Also, I

16:42

love that it's from a site called cicadamania

16:45

dot com.

16:48

Everybody has subscription. Everybody

16:51

love Yeah, I'm actually subscribed

16:54

to Cicada bi weekly. But yeah,

16:56

it's it looks and

16:58

it's interesting because it's it's kind of ribbed structure,

17:00

looks mechanical, it looks like

17:03

a machine part. In fact, the

17:05

whole cicada looks very robot

17:08

like today. It's like an alien

17:10

machine, you know, kind of like a mixture between

17:12

organic and machine, which

17:14

I find pretty cool. But yeah, so that's how

17:17

that that sound is produced.

17:20

And just just for fun, I will

17:22

play a really loud

17:25

cicada. I'll make sure it doesn't

17:27

it's not gonna blow out your ears because I'm going to control

17:29

the volume, so don't worry.

17:32

But you know this, it's it sounds

17:34

like construction work. Here is what

17:37

it sounds like.

17:49

It to me, it sounds almost like somebody revving

17:51

up a motorcycle engine. Yeah, because

17:53

it kind of it kind of goes like, yeah,

17:58

there's like sort of a rise and fall.

18:00

Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah, it's like

18:02

little again, little forest gnomes

18:05

on their massive hogs, just like reving

18:07

around, yeah.

18:08

Trying to get women's attention, which like was

18:11

probably yeah, I mean probably what a lot of.

18:13

Dudes on motorcycles are trying to do.

18:15

Yeah, you're right, you're right. Cecanas

18:17

are very much like like dudes on motorcycles

18:19

going.

18:23

Yeah, just making some noise.

18:25

Yeah that's yeah, that's that's what it seems

18:28

like to me.

18:28

Yeah. So, so fellas and

18:31

ladies out there, if you're trying to seduce

18:33

someone. Uh yeah, just like

18:36

make really loud buzzing noises. I

18:38

think it'll work. You've got the creature

18:40

feature guaranteed that that'll that'll get

18:42

you some phone numbers.

18:43

By a motorcycle it. It'll definitely attract

18:45

some people, for sure.

18:46

Or a buzzsaw, yeah, or.

18:48

A buzzsaw well, yeah, if you just stand around with a

18:50

buzz said, I don't know, yeah, I do know

18:52

how many people that'll attract to you.

18:54

But but very special people,

18:58

Yes, it'll be. It'll be a match made having

19:00

once you find someone who appreciates

19:03

you do. Yeah,

19:05

in a forest, maybe then it's like,

19:07

oh, you're a lumberjacket in the middle of it, in

19:09

the middle of the street. Maybe not.

19:11

Yeah, I'm not gonna make not gonna make friends.

19:22

So now we know what cicadas

19:24

are, and so we are ready

19:26

to welcome millions and millions

19:29

of new cicadas

19:31

into the world this spring.

19:34

It's like, you know, spring is

19:36

always associated with cute little bunnies

19:39

and cute little baby chicks, but why not

19:41

cute little cicadas.

19:47

So the spring is very special because

19:49

the periodical cicadas

19:51

are having their moment. So there are

19:53

a few species of cicada that

19:56

have periodical bruits,

19:58

so a mass brood that stays

20:00

in stasis underground, often

20:03

for over a decade, and will emerge

20:05

altogether in one big party.

20:09

So right now in eastern

20:11

and Central US, cicadas that have been

20:13

resting and developing underground for seventeen

20:16

years will emerge fully

20:18

grown and ready to mate. So if you're seventeen

20:21

years old and listening to

20:23

this podcast, like, these cicadas

20:25

are the same age as you, They've just been your

20:28

entire life, have been waiting underground to

20:31

emerge.

20:32

Oh so maybe so maybe I was born in a

20:34

cicada year.

20:35

You could have been, Yeah, because I think.

20:37

I turned seventeen the last time.

20:38

Oh wow, So yeah, maybe so maybe

20:41

you're cicada baby exactly.

20:46

So, this group of emerging

20:48

periodical cicadas this spring

20:50

are called broodex, which

20:54

I love how menacing, Like I love how scientists

20:56

don't shy away from naming things like menacingly

20:59

do they don't.

21:00

I mean, of course, you have to.

21:03

Lean into it, you know. Yes, I love

21:05

the book lean In by a Cicada, And it's just

21:07

like on the cover, looking

21:09

professional. So this

21:11

group of emerging periodical cicadas

21:14

will emerge around May of this

21:16

year in Delaware, Illinois,

21:19

Georgia, Indiana, New York, Kentucky,

21:21

Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey,

21:23

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,

21:25

Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, Washington,

21:28

d C. So if you live in any of those

21:30

places, congratulations.

21:33

Yep.

21:33

There'll be millions of cicadas coming out

21:35

this spring, and they will be extremely loud

21:38

because they are looking for mates.

21:40

Basically, what happens is they'll pop out of the

21:43

ground, mate, lay their eggs, and then

21:45

die in a few weeks. So the

21:48

males will make their characteristic buzzes

21:50

and the females will flick their wings, which

21:52

makes us kind of like snapping sound like a

21:55

fingersnap, much louder, and

21:58

that is signaling to the male that they are

22:00

enticed by their revving sounds.

22:02

And then they go and mate, and then

22:05

the female will lay the eggs

22:07

in the branches of trees, and

22:10

shortly after that, the adult cicadas

22:12

die because that's that's it,

22:14

like that that's their They've had their

22:16

big party and then they're like, well, I'm

22:18

out here, and then they die and

22:21

that's why there's a bunch of Mario

22:23

were mentioning you found a bunch of cicada corpses.

22:25

Yeah, now you'll also find

22:28

often like a bunch of uh they're

22:30

not necessarily corpses, but the final molting.

22:33

So it's like they molt out of

22:35

their various life stages. And so if

22:38

you find sort of a hollow sort

22:40

of kind of like amber colored,

22:42

like it looks like sort of a yeah casing.

22:45

I remember what they look like because of the game Niko

22:47

at Sume the Cat collecton game. One

22:49

of the cats, like the cats will give you little

22:51

treats and it'll be stuff like a broken collar.

22:53

It's the kind of stuff cats will bring you, like like a

22:56

a.

22:56

You know, an old an old you know, a shoelace

22:59

or a broke half a mouse and yeah,

23:01

exactly. And and one of them is

23:03

actually a cicada MOLTI oh

23:06

wow over cicada morting.

23:08

And I remember I saw that. When I first saw

23:10

it, like brought back so many memories. I was

23:12

like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen one of these in years, but

23:14

I know exactly what it is.

23:17

Yeah, yeah, so they they they you

23:20

need to connect me with this game. Because I need to play

23:22

any game that makes a cicada reference.

23:24

Yeah, it's the nico atsume. It's

23:26

the cat collector game for I love this.

23:28

It's very cute.

23:29

Yeah, I gotta, I gotta check it out. Yeah, this

23:31

episode is not sponsored by this, but

23:35

if you want to sponsor us, get at me. So

23:39

you'll find both the cicada

23:41

corpses, which you can tell if they're they're

23:44

the corpse because they are actually they

23:46

have the full wings and I

23:48

think the ones in the US are sort of blackish

23:51

blue color and then their wings are are

23:54

lined in a bright orange and so that's

23:56

that's the adult form of the cicada, whereas

23:58

the casings, like the molted cicadas,

24:01

is sort of it'll be this like kind of translucent

24:04

amber color. And the wings are

24:07

clearly not fully developed on these

24:09

because in their earlier stages

24:11

of formation, the wings are little and they're

24:13

not functional yet because they get bigger and

24:15

bigger with each molting.

24:17

So they they traveling.

24:19

They don't travel in groups, but they like live in groups,

24:21

right yeah swarms, yeah, because

24:23

they I remember hearing them altogether.

24:26

Yes, yeah, I mean like this is the this

24:28

is sort of the entire point

24:31

of this mass emergence

24:33

from the ground is that they emerge

24:36

all at the same time, basically

24:39

millions of them, and then all mate

24:41

at the same time, lay their eggs at the

24:43

same time, and then that'll start the process again.

24:46

So yeah, because because I bet

24:48

like females probably aren't that discriminating

24:51

when it comes to Yeah.

24:53

They can't actually be because they have the

24:56

they have the luxury

24:58

to be discriminating because they're so many

25:00

males, right, So, like they'll listen

25:02

to these these calls and if they

25:05

like the song, like if it's it's like, yeah, that's

25:07

a that's a nice that's a nice uh motor

25:09

reving sound. Uh, they'll invite

25:11

the mail over with the wing flicks

25:13

and then they'll mate.

25:14

So I just feel like, if you, if you do your

25:16

wing flick at like a group of guys, who's gonna

25:18

know how do they know who it

25:21

is? No?

25:21

Not you, that guy, that guy, No, that one,

25:23

No, that one over there, No, not you.

25:25

Yeah, that's a really good question. I'm

25:27

not sure. I would imagine it may have something

25:29

to do with timing, Like they hear a call and

25:31

then they sort of do a wing flick at them right

25:34

after their call. But yeah, you're right, like there

25:36

must be some that's a really good

25:38

question. I wonder if there's any research onto like how

25:41

they are able to like directionally

25:44

locate where the stuff is coming from. I'm

25:46

sure they probably have some a very

25:48

interesting auditory system.

25:50

Yeah.

25:50

There, their auditory system actually also

25:53

works as a resonance chamber. So it's like

25:55

they they have this very

25:57

complex little machine apparatus. So I wouldn't

25:59

be surprised if they have some very

26:01

complex way of being able to differentiate

26:05

the direction of sounds so that

26:07

that would make it easier. I mean, that's yeah,

26:09

that's a really good question.

26:10

I went to theater school and very familiar with resonators,

26:13

with using

26:15

your vocal resonators and so

26:18

so.

26:18

Yes, but what now what you call me?

26:21

Just let the the using,

26:23

Yeah, using using the different parts. Yeah, that's

26:26

that's Resonance is something that you

26:29

know, I admire and other creatures.

26:32

They're natural born actors, but

26:34

they yeah, but especially.

26:37

When they live and die on the stage. Yeah.

26:40

Uh. And also with like how

26:43

many of them are trying to.

26:45

Exact part Yeah,

26:48

yeah, it's true.

26:49

It's true when the female lays

26:51

the eggs will actually lay them in the branches

26:53

of trees and then again

26:56

the adults kid was like, well, we had our big

26:58

party, now now we're out, and

27:00

they die. And then when the

27:04

eggs hatch with this little teeny

27:06

nymph like a baby cicada,

27:09

the nymphs will fall to the ground and

27:11

burrowed down a couple feet

27:14

near the tree roots, near the plant roots,

27:16

and then they will wait another seventeen

27:19

years before they emerge again. Underground,

27:23

they live off the juices

27:25

of the tree roots, which is called xylum.

27:29

Basically, like I said, they are tree vampires

27:32

and they take years

27:35

to fully mature. So they go through many

27:37

stages of molting and transformations

27:40

from the nymph form,

27:42

which is the young wingless stage after

27:44

hatching two adults where they have the

27:47

full wings and they're ready to party. So

27:49

they slowly develop those wings which

27:52

with each molting, and then once they've

27:54

reached their final stage of maturation, which

27:57

is about at the same time. Because again they were

27:59

all the eggs were laid

28:01

at the same time, they all went underground at

28:03

the same time. They're all synchronized, which is

28:05

incredible. Yeah, they

28:07

will start to burrow upwards and they test

28:09

the temperature of the earth and

28:12

once it is above about sixty

28:14

four degrees fahrenheit or eighteen degrees

28:17

celsius, they're like, yep, temperature's right

28:19

out. We come. And then it

28:21

happens again and

28:24

they actually leave a bunch of holes in

28:26

the ground, which for me, that's

28:29

like the spookiest part. It's not seeing

28:31

all the cicadas. It's like seeing the holes.

28:33

Like do you ever have you ever read a ging Eto

28:37

like his horror comics.

28:39

No, I don't think I have, But I

28:41

mean that does sound creepy.

28:42

There's a horror manga where it's like all

28:45

these human shaped holes in a cliff face

28:47

and like people like go inside and just get

28:49

sucked up. It's kind of it's just

28:51

like all these like little cicada holes. It's

28:53

just it's a little creepy. That's I don't know

28:55

why, but that's the part that kind of creeps me out. And

28:57

it's not it's not tripephobia.

29:00

I don't have that.

29:00

That's the the hear of holes.

29:03

Yeah, it's it's not really that. I think it's

29:05

just the knowing what they

29:07

are. Like that's where like this

29:09

brood comes out from I don't know. Yeah,

29:12

it gives me the shivers.

29:14

I mean, I feel like if you grew up in southern California

29:17

or or you know, anywhere in

29:19

the Southwest, you probably holes

29:22

in.

29:22

The ground mean snakes.

29:24

So I always, you know, my dad would always say,

29:26

never put your your your hand

29:28

or foot somewhere you can't see.

29:30

Yeah. No, that's a good point. Yeah, because like

29:32

I remember when I was a little kid and

29:35

I was like digging around in the dirt. I found a hole.

29:38

I was like, oh, I'll dig down in this hole. Scorpion,

29:40

scorpion. Yeah, don't you.

29:42

Yea, yeah, don't do that. That's I

29:44

have.

29:45

I have family that live in the desert and they're just

29:47

kind of like, well, the cat killed another scorpion today,

29:49

Yeah, And scorpions are so common to them,

29:52

and I'm like, I'm like, I'm

29:54

like, that's a bit overwhelming for me.

29:56

Scorpions are. I think they're fascinating

29:58

and cool, but but I'm I want

30:00

them. I wouldn't want them to be doing battle with

30:02

my cats or me.

30:03

Yeah, they're great parents. Scorpions

30:05

are, but they I don't want them in my room. I've

30:08

I'm like in my parents'

30:10

house where I grew up, where actually I am right

30:13

now because I'm visiting my parents because the vaccine.

30:15

Hooray. We're right next to

30:17

sort of this arid canyon

30:20

area. And so for whatever

30:22

reason that bugs loved my room.

30:25

Maybe they could sense a kindred spirit.

30:27

But I would get

30:29

like scorpions would get in there, and it's

30:31

like it would only be my room for some reason,

30:34

or maybe I was the only one looking around for scorpions.

30:36

But it's scorpions. I got, like

30:39

a pleinarian once. It's like weird sort

30:41

of warm thing. And I

30:44

got the you mentioned. I think

30:46

it was a misnom where you were talking about

30:48

the fig beetles. But yeah, but

30:51

Jerusalem crickets are around here as well, so

30:53

I got got one of those

30:56

those are creepy their faces,

30:59

something about I don't know, but

31:01

yeah, so I got a bunch of weird bugs,

31:03

including scorpions.

31:06

Never a cicada though only heard them from

31:08

a distance. Speaking of bugs

31:11

and them encroaching on us,

31:13

you may be asking, why do they do this

31:16

mass brooding event? Is it just to scare

31:18

us? What's going Is it an intimidation

31:21

thing? Oh god, why are they

31:23

doing this? So it's interesting

31:25

because most cicada species aren't

31:27

like this. They don't lay in wait for

31:29

seventeen years and then emerge on mass

31:32

like they live

31:34

for a few years, and they have like annual mating

31:36

cycles, just typical stuff.

31:39

The periodical brooding cicadas

31:41

are interestingly different, Like their whole

31:44

name is based on this

31:46

brooding habit. They're called magic

31:49

cicada, which sounds

31:51

like it's like magic cicada, which is I

31:53

love, But it actually comes

31:55

from the Latin maygui or

31:58

magi. I think it's magi, yeah,

32:01

which means to a great extent.

32:03

So it's basically saying like, there's a bunch

32:05

of them, But I also like to think that it's

32:07

because they're magic, just like magic cicada.

32:10

Yeah.

32:10

But the purpose of this huge brood

32:12

emergence is probably safety

32:15

in numbers, right, there are

32:17

so many of them. As an individual

32:19

cicada, you're statistically unlikely

32:22

to be preyed upon in such a huge mass

32:25

of others, And it makes mating easier

32:27

because you just have one big

32:29

meet and Greek party with millions of sexy

32:31

singles in your area.

32:34

Exactly.

32:35

It's what everybody everybody like,

32:38

you know what people be like, you know, me

32:40

and my homies. Once we get the vaccine, yes,

32:42

of course it's not going to be like that. It's much

32:44

more going to be like you know, us,

32:47

us slowly, you know, climbing out of.

32:50

Arcade where we've been hibernating.

32:52

Yes, it's probably not going to be as

32:54

fun and sexy as the cicadas.

32:57

You know what.

32:57

I didn't make that connection until now,

32:59

but you're absolutely right. Now it's like a metaphor

33:02

for emerging from quarantine. Yeah,

33:04

we're coming out of our holes that we've

33:06

been in for which feels like seventeen

33:08

years, but it's been over a year. And

33:11

then we'll probably have a mass

33:13

meeting of it. And

33:16

we should definitely call like all the babies

33:19

that happens because of like after the

33:21

quarantine, Yes, one like mating,

33:23

we should call them brute as.

33:25

They should be brute as.

33:26

Yes, that would be That would be a great and

33:28

and yeah, that would be a great, a great name

33:30

for them, I think, the babies.

33:33

And they would share, they'll share. Oh and oh

33:35

my god, this is so perfect. It's like when

33:38

nature is just poetic, because you're going to

33:40

share a birthday with millions

33:42

of cicadas. Yeah, I have a bunch

33:44

of cicada babies were

33:47

born like well, I guess not exactly,

33:49

because they'll be conceived now, they'll

33:52

they'll there's gonna be like, n enough delay.

33:55

Quarantine has been long enough that there are you

33:57

know, conceived in quarantine babies.

33:59

That's true. That it's true. I thought there wasn't,

34:01

like there was expected a baby boom,

34:03

but there wasn't because people

34:05

didn't feel like having a child. There

34:09

the thunk there might still be.

34:11

There might still be in the next but yeah,

34:13

but probably it was. It was a bit too depressing.

34:16

I think there's good. I think the celebratory

34:18

we're out of quarantine baby boom is gonna be much

34:20

bigger. I mean also because I think probably

34:22

a lot of people wanted to have children

34:24

and then we're waiting until after quarantine

34:27

had so like I imagine

34:29

a lot of them are going to be planned pregnancies

34:32

of like, hey, we're out of quarantine

34:34

now we can start our families. Yeah, exactly,

34:37

and so they're gonna be Yeah, it's it's beautiful.

34:39

Your babies are going to share a

34:42

special a special year with the millions

34:44

of cicadas that are also going to

34:47

breathe this year. Yeah, Cicada

34:49

generation a wonderful It's

34:51

just it's beautiful. It's it's like a

34:54

poem.

34:54

It's it's Yeah. They're

34:56

synchronized, you know, much like the cicadas

34:58

themselves.

34:59

Now synchronized with the cicadas.

35:02

So we're just gonna slowly become more and more

35:04

cicada like, uh so

35:06

going. Yeah.

35:09

Another proposed theory for

35:11

why they have such a long brooding

35:13

cycle is that it makes it hard for

35:15

predators to adapt to your weird intervals.

35:18

So like, if you are only like

35:20

you only emerge every seventeen years,

35:23

evolutionarily, it's kind of difficult for

35:25

predators to have, Like they don't have

35:27

a lot of predators don't have a lifespan of seventeen

35:29

years, so matching up with

35:32

that and being able to develop specific

35:36

evolutionary traits to be able to prey upon

35:38

you is harder. Although some biologists

35:41

disagree with this theory, They say, like, well, there's

35:43

actually a fungus that has developed that can

35:45

specifically prey upon these periodical

35:48

cicadas, So obviously there's

35:50

you know, but I still think

35:52

that like, yeah, obviously fungus

35:54

like probably because it's under the ground

35:57

and.

35:57

Guy are terrifying.

35:59

They are, yeah, they they there's

36:01

no defeating fung guy, Like that's the final boss.

36:04

Like we'd like to We're like, oh, no cicadas,

36:06

no cicadas, we don't have to worry about them. Fungi

36:09

that's what we got to worry about. Yeah, that's what's that's

36:12

the zombie virus is not gonna be a virus. It's

36:14

gonna be a fungus.

36:15

Yeah, like the most terrifying.

36:17

Like I think about how I'll walk outside

36:20

and I'll see mushrooms pop up out

36:22

of nowhere one morning, and then the next day

36:24

they'll be gone, and I'm.

36:26

Like, how did you do that? How did you

36:28

pop up and then go away?

36:30

How? It's it's I I do not understand

36:33

them. I have respect for them.

36:35

Yeah, I'm not. I'm not a

36:37

fung guy expert as

36:39

much as I wish I was, But yeah, they they

36:42

there's something about them that spooks

36:45

me because they're not they're not an animal,

36:47

but they're not really a plant either.

36:50

Yeah, they're in that in between zone of

36:52

spookiness and yeah, so especially

36:55

the parasitic fungus like cordyceps.

36:58

Yeah, spooky because that goes inside

37:00

an ant's brain or other insects make uh

37:03

like takes over their brain

37:06

makes some climb up of tree brands and then

37:08

sprouts spores like right out

37:10

of their brain. That's what the Last of Us

37:13

that game, the video game

37:15

about zombie apocalypse like that

37:17

that the Last of the Space there zombie

37:19

infection on the cordyceps.

37:21

Oh really, Oh that makes sense.

37:22

Yeah, I've heard about about the Last of Us,

37:24

but nobody has has told me that that

37:26

that.

37:27

Yeah, that sounds really cool.

37:28

Yeah it is. I really loved that aspect

37:30

of the game. It's like the biological

37:33

meshing sort of these biological facts. Yeah,

37:36

they're they're the science fiction.

37:38

We we we kind of understand

37:40

bacteria. We we kind of understand viruses,

37:43

but yeah, like fungi and like what are

37:45

they those things.

37:47

Are those things are?

37:48

Are?

37:49

Those are the misfolded

37:51

proteins that that just like, yeah,

37:54

causes a ruckets in your brain.

37:55

They don't like that.

37:58

But I do think, like, aside from from fun

38:00

Guy, which are not

38:02

a fun guy get uh

38:05

you know, I think that that strategy of like if

38:07

you lay in wait for like seventeen years,

38:09

yeah, like birds aren't going to know what to do about

38:11

you, Like their live spans are typically

38:14

not seventeen years. Long, so they're not going to have

38:16

any memory of these brooding

38:18

events. They're not going to know like when to

38:20

come and pray on you. So I

38:22

think that maybe that is part of the strategy.

38:25

Interestingly, sometimes there are stragglers

38:28

who either come too early or too late

38:30

to the big brooding party. So it's not

38:32

perfect. You know, nobody's

38:35

perfect, pobody's nerfect. And that applies

38:37

to cicadas too.

38:39

I feel like i've heard them before. I've heard

38:41

like like a soul. Yeah,

38:43

yeah, I feel like we get that. Like we used to

38:45

get the they're not actually June bugs, but we call

38:47

them June bugs in yeah, in California,

38:50

and like once or twice we would get a June bug that

38:52

was late.

38:53

My mom was like, oh sorry, dude,

38:55

you're late.

38:56

It's not June anymore. And yeah, kaidas

38:58

eat here. Sometime you'd hear like one

39:01

and it was just like, oh, that's so sad.

39:03

Yeah yeah, it's like anybody

39:05

is still out here. Yeah

39:08

yeah. But what's interesting is if there's enough

39:10

stragglers, because there's

39:13

so many of them, even if you're a

39:15

straggler, the chance that there's going to be another straggler

39:17

is pretty high, so sometimes

39:20

there are enough of them that they actually successfully

39:23

mate like a group of them, and then

39:26

they can get off sinc a little bit from

39:28

the rest of them, and that can actually start

39:31

a new brood that also

39:33

they still have like the seventeen year

39:36

cycle, but because they're like off sync

39:38

just a little bit, they start like a

39:40

different brood that will actually hatch

39:42

different years. So there are many

39:45

different cicada broods, so broodex

39:47

is not the only one. There are cicada

39:49

broods that emerge every seventeen years.

39:52

There are some that also emerge every thirteen years,

39:54

so slightly different species.

39:56

Yeah, because I know.

39:56

I've heard cicadas at times that weren't

39:59

just that wasn't just seventeen years ago.

40:01

Yes, because well, first of all, there's

40:03

the cicadas that aren't periodical bruders.

40:06

So they there are around every year,

40:08

and they they don't do this behavior

40:11

of waiting seventeen years. They have like a yearly

40:13

reproductive cycle. But you

40:16

may be saying, like, well, I've seen like mass

40:18

emergence of cicadas and it hasn't been

40:20

seventeen years since I've seen it, And that's because

40:22

like they're they're on these different cycles.

40:25

So this is not it's not that this event

40:27

only happens every second seventeen years.

40:30

This brood X is only

40:32

gonna happen every seventeen years because their population

40:34

is on this schedule.

40:37

But there are gonna be other staggered

40:39

populations of cicadas that are on different

40:41

schedules. Yeah, so we

40:43

see these mass brewed emergence events

40:46

every few years, and so

40:48

it's yeah, so if you're like, uh, oh, I'm gonna miss

40:50

this mass brood emergence, don't

40:52

panic. There will be another one and

40:55

you won't have to wait seventeen years. But if

40:57

you want to see this specific brute

40:59

event, yeah, will have to wait another seventeen

41:01

years. There's enough

41:03

cicadas for everyone, don't

41:05

worry. Speaking

41:08

of which, actually apparently I read

41:10

that cicadas tastes like canned

41:13

asparagus really, which

41:17

I don't know what, like the

41:20

the like Vinn diagram of like people

41:22

who have eaten cand asparagus

41:24

and people who have eaten cicadas.

41:27

Who has both eaten cand

41:29

asparagus yuck and

41:32

cicadas like, yeah, people have eaten

41:34

both of them. That they're like, oh, yeah, this is like

41:36

the cand asparagus that I eat like what.

41:38

Yeah, I mean liking asparagus is like a very specific

41:41

thing anyway, Like I think

41:43

asparagus is Okay, it's not my favorite. My

41:45

sister loves it and she cooks it a lot, and

41:47

you know, sometimes they'll eat it if she cooks it.

41:49

But but yeah, but I've never

41:51

had it canned.

41:53

Yeah.

41:53

No, no, I I'm like you, like,

41:55

I'll have like roasted asparagus.

41:57

I don't love it. It's a little too fibrous for me.

42:00

Yeah, also making your piecemeal weird,

42:02

I'm not Yeah, but like,

42:04

but the but can't I couldn't like eat

42:06

it. Something about cannix asparagus

42:09

just does not peel to me at all. But

42:11

then it's like, who's eat Like

42:13

I well, actually, you know what, I guess it makes sense. The

42:16

kind of person who would regularly eat cand

42:18

asparagus probably would eat a cicada just out

42:20

of curiosity.

42:22

They're already eating eating weird stuff, so yeah,

42:25

right, why not?

42:26

Yeah, it's like, what, look, once you've stooped

42:28

to the level of eating canned asparagus,

42:30

why not just try a cicada?

42:32

I'm thinking, is it like army rations or something?

42:34

Because or like survivalists because

42:37

I do feel like, yeah, because.

42:39

That seems like like the kind of people who would do it.

42:40

They'll be like, yeah, we eat bugs, We've also eaten you

42:42

know, these canned vegetables.

42:44

Yeah, of course, like bugs are going to be the meat of the

42:46

future.

42:46

Yeah, which I mean, like, yes,

42:49

it grosses me out to think about, Like I I

42:51

it both I both am like, oh, that's actually like a

42:54

really good idea to like make cricket flower

42:56

or something like that, because it's more readily available

42:58

and it's you know, probably eat safer

43:00

and maybe even than probably more humane than

43:03

like factory farming and such.

43:04

But right, but also like the idea

43:06

gross.

43:09

No, I'm with you, Like I'm like, yeah, no, we should

43:11

be probably eating more insects that would

43:13

be more ecologically

43:16

good for the planet. Ah

43:19

but yeah gross icky No.

43:20

Yeah, yeah, I'm like I.

43:22

I and I think it's entirely cultural.

43:24

I don't think there's any real logic to it. There are

43:27

places where people do eat insects and

43:29

like it's totally normal and fine,

43:31

and they probably like are they probably

43:33

look at our food like they'd probably look at like a Carl's

43:35

Junior like burger and be like, what the

43:37

hell, Like, yeah.

43:38

Exactly, No, it totally is cultural.

43:40

And I feel like there's yeah and and people

43:42

and you can like survive pretty well off

43:44

of that.

43:45

Yeah. But there's a Yeah, there's a guy

43:47

that was accidentally got stranded

43:50

I think somewhere in Australia,

43:52

like in the desert brush area, and

43:54

he survived by eating

43:56

wichety grubs, which are these big like

43:59

sort of you know how on The Lion King there's

44:01

a scene where they like teach them to eat big

44:03

grubs. It's they're huge grubs

44:05

and they just look not super

44:07

appealing to eat. But people

44:10

have been eat like for centuries. Uh,

44:12

people have been eating the witchity

44:15

grubs as as a part of

44:17

like their diet, and they're they're perfectly good

44:19

to eat. And this guy survived by eating them.

44:22

Uh And yeah, I just it's it's totally

44:24

cultural that we've we've been brainwashed to

44:26

reject insects as food. Yeah,

44:28

but somehow be okay with factory

44:30

farming, which is a little messed up.

44:32

Yeah, which is which is even grosser r.

44:34

Right exactly, Yes, it's way gross I think.

44:36

But like I don't like eating, Like

44:39

I I eat meat. Sometimes I don't eat a lot of meat.

44:41

But like, but like when I do, like,

44:43

I don't like, I don't think I would like to eat

44:45

a cricket if it looked like a cricket. Yeah,

44:48

it could, But I also don't like to eat meat that looks like

44:50

the animal that it is.

44:51

Like I feel like yeah, and I feel like for

44:53

me, that's a psychological thing, you

44:56

know.

44:56

I'm kind of the opposite. I almost like want

44:58

to know I'm just eating a buz glad.

45:00

Yeah.

45:00

I feel like if it's if you're like this cookie

45:02

was made out of ground up crickets, that's

45:06

here, I've roasted this cricket and it's

45:09

like prepared it, and you know, I'm like, Okay,

45:11

at least this is being honest with me.

45:13

That's true. I wouldn't want to be tricked into eating it or

45:15

anything.

45:16

Yeah, Yeah, I think I would rather. Also,

45:18

I think I'd rather eat a prepared

45:21

bug than I would to eat candasparagus.

45:25

Absolutely, I'm not eating candasparagus.

45:27

Yeah.

45:28

I can't canned no or

45:31

canned mushrooms too. I'd

45:35

rather eat a freshly prepared insect.

45:37

Yeah. In terms of the Cicada,

45:40

the Cicada broodex, like, should we be

45:42

concerned about this, like,

45:44

are you in imminent danger of having

45:47

your face covered in cicadas and then like you

45:49

know, skeletonizing you.

45:51

No, cicadas are harmless

45:53

to humans. They don't sting or bite. They

45:56

are allowed, So if you live

45:58

near where this happening, you

46:00

might have some tough nights, but

46:03

you know, they're not They don't hurt

46:05

humans. They also don't hurt they

46:08

don't really hurt the trees or

46:10

crops or anything. They're not like locusts. They don't

46:13

destroy crops. They

46:15

will suck the juice

46:17

out of tree twigs, which also doesn't

46:19

really hurt the trees that much. Like it seems

46:22

actually to just kind of like prune the trees.

46:24

They don't really do lasting damage

46:26

to the trees. There are even some arguments

46:28

with that. Because they burst out these holes,

46:30

it helps aerate the soil and is actually good

46:33

for the trees. I feel like it's probably

46:35

a net neutral because they do suck some

46:38

of the juices out of the roots, and when

46:40

they lay their eggs they

46:42

actually like kind of cut into the

46:44

tree a little bit to like stuff the eggs

46:46

in, so they're secure there. So I think it's probably

46:49

just a neutral effect. On the trees. But

46:52

I have seen some arguments that it's actually beneficial,

46:55

so maybe. But either way, they're not harmful,

46:57

So just enjoy the big cicada

46:59

party that happens only once every

47:02

seventeen years.

47:02

They're kind of the musical theater kids of

47:05

the insect world, which I mean I relate

47:08

to as a musical theater kid. They're

47:10

they're really annoying, but they're harmless.

47:13

Yeah, exactly.

47:14

Yeah, don't don't like, don't hate

47:17

on them too much. Just let them do their thing,

47:19

you know. Yeah, like like, you know,

47:21

you can find them annoying, but they're just.

47:23

You know, yeah, they might be cosplaying

47:25

as vampires, but it's exactly like tomato

47:28

juice.

47:28

So yeah, they just want to hook up at the

47:30

cast party. You know, they

47:33

just want to hook up at the cast party. So let

47:35

them have their little their party full of you

47:37

know, massage trains and.

47:40

And do you know, go back underground

47:42

soon enough.

47:43

Yeah, exactly exactly. They'll

47:45

they'll grow out of it, you know, just as theater kids.

47:48

Yeah, kind of kind of grow out of the Yeah

47:51

that's what they are. Cicadas are the theater kids.

47:53

Yeah, I'm sure theater kids are going to be

47:55

okay with that comparison.

47:57

Yeah, I'm okay with it. And I'm a theater

47:59

kid.

48:00

Yeah exactly. You're the president of theater

48:02

kidd.

48:02

Oh God.

48:13

So we've talked about cicadas

48:15

and their mass brooding events, but

48:17

they are not the only animal that

48:20

does this. Mar Are you familiar

48:22

with sea turtle mass hatching

48:24

events?

48:25

No, I'm not, but please tell me because I

48:27

love turtles.

48:28

Yes, So, thousands of female

48:31

sea turtles have this

48:33

uncanny ability to emerge

48:36

from the ocean all at once to lay

48:38

their eggs at specific beaches.

48:41

So there are all of Ridley's

48:44

sea turtles are one such species

48:46

who will emerge by the thousands

48:49

to lay their eggs at select

48:51

beaches, like, uh, there's

48:53

a beach called O'steonal

48:56

in Costa Rica, and they seem

48:59

to specific select particular

49:02

beaches to all come and

49:04

lay their eggs on mass. And because

49:06

they're all coming at the same time

49:08

to lay their eggs, that means the eggs

49:11

will all hatch around the same time as well.

49:13

Wow.

49:14

And so when these eggs hatch,

49:17

they'll come out because like they bury them

49:19

in the sand and they

49:21

have each one has a clutch of I

49:24

think a couple dozen eggs, and

49:27

then they'll all come out at

49:29

the same time, and the hatchlings

49:31

will instinctively go towards

49:34

the ocean, possibly

49:36

guided by light reflecting off of the

49:39

water. Some of them, like they'll come

49:41

out during night and like the moonlight reflecting

49:43

off the water seems to be a beacon for them.

49:46

These turtles, even

49:48

though there are so many of them, actually surprisingly

49:51

few will reach adulthood because they're

49:53

small and delicious, like

49:54

little cinnamon buns,

49:57

and so like, there are lots of scabs

50:00

and predators who wait

50:02

for these events. They know it's happening,

50:05

and these are very tasty treats for them

50:07

because they're so defenseless and there they

50:09

don't they can't move that quickly, so

50:11

when they emerge, they have this very dangerous

50:14

trek to the ocean. And so

50:17

having this mass hatching event

50:20

again gives you safety in numbers

50:22

like you are, you know, you

50:24

may not make it to the ocean, but like you're

50:27

much have a much better chance if you're

50:29

one of like thousands and thousands

50:32

of individuals. Then if it's just you

50:35

coming out, and then like a seagull's gonna immediately

50:37

see you and just snatch you up. So, yeah,

50:40

these these mass turtle hatchings,

50:42

they happen all over the world, but

50:44

like often these populations

50:47

of sea turtles prefer specific

50:49

beaches, so they're often these events

50:52

that that people wait for these turtles

50:54

to hatch and watch them or

50:56

like sometimes do that.

50:58

Yeah, yeah, turtles.

50:59

Yeah, it's it's quite something.

51:01

I mean, the babies are so cute. It's hard though, because

51:03

like you know, a lot of them aren't gonna make it so

51:06

and you can't you shouldn't interfere. Sometimes

51:08

there are rescue groups that will like h

51:11

kind of try to help protect

51:13

them from like poaching and stuff. So but

51:15

yeah, I mean it is. It is

51:18

quite something though. So you know, watching

51:20

a video of just like thousands of these

51:22

turtles just like kind of like ambling

51:25

because they can't move very well. Uh,

51:27

they just kind of like use their little flippers

51:29

to like kind of push themselves forward, and it's

51:31

just.

51:31

Like, yeah, I like the little patterns

51:34

that they leave in the ground. Yeah, I'm looking

51:36

at the little patterns they leave, and it it does

51:38

look like they're just moving forward very

51:40

very slowly, just pinching.

51:42

It's very cute.

51:43

I mean, they're hustling you can tell they're

51:45

hustling as fast as they can. Unfortunately

51:48

that's just not very fast. Yeah,

51:50

but yeah, they really, they really

51:52

try to gun it to the ocean,

51:54

but they can they can only move so fast

51:56

because they're these little, tiny, little, tiny

51:58

like sand dollar size things, and they

52:01

yeah, it's but yeah, you're right. The patterns

52:04

they leave behind are quite beautiful.

52:06

But you may have heard of these

52:08

sea turtle mass hatchings, but there are also

52:10

mass river turtle hatchings. Yeah,

52:14

in the Amazon rainforest. So in

52:17

Brazil, on the Perus

52:19

River in the Amazon Rainforest,

52:22

tens of thousands of baby array

52:25

turtles, also known as the giant

52:27

South American river turtles will

52:29

hatch and make their way to the

52:32

river. So similar to the sea

52:34

turtles, they are buried in the sand, which keeps

52:36

the eggs safe. Right, So if you're wondering, well, why don't

52:38

they just lay them in the ocean

52:40

or in the river, the eggs are gonna

52:43

be just sitting ducks or sitting

52:45

eggs for anything to eat, So

52:47

burying them and the sand keeps them safe.

52:50

And so once they hatch, that is when the

52:52

real trouble starts.

52:54

So they say, giant, how giant,

52:56

are they.

52:57

Yeah, So as adults the babies

52:59

are small, obviously cute little babies,

53:01

but as adults they get up to

53:03

about two hundred pounds or ninety

53:06

kilograms in weight. Those are the larger I

53:08

think on average they don't reach that weight, but

53:10

like those are some of the larger individuals, and

53:13

their shells can grow to be over three feet

53:15

longer over one meters long. So I

53:18

think typically they're a little smaller,

53:20

so more around like one hundred two hundred

53:22

and fifty pounds and a little smaller

53:25

shells, but they can get quite big. They're

53:28

also I think as adults very cute.

53:30

They have these long necks, and they have these little

53:32

piggy noses, like little

53:34

little piggy snouts. And then they also

53:37

often like algae will grow on their

53:39

shells, so I think they're really cool.

53:41

Sometimes they get like these mohawks of algae

53:43

growing on them. They're they're

53:46

really interesting looking, very cool. And

53:49

then the babies are

53:51

adorable, but they face

53:54

a very unfortunate odds. So

53:56

in a protected area of the Peruse

53:59

River, these turtles will hatch

54:01

en mass. So in twenty twenty,

54:04

ninety thousand baby turtles

54:06

hatch just within a few days of each other.

54:09

And if you think that's going to look

54:11

like a huge pile of baby turtles,

54:14

that is what it looks like.

54:15

Wow.

54:17

Unfortunately, even though there's just so

54:19

many of them, you'd think like, well, god, there must

54:21

be like huge numbers of these turtles.

54:23

Unfortunately, only about one percent

54:26

of them will reach adulthood.

54:28

So it truly is just a law

54:30

of large numbers. Like you want to make as

54:33

many babies as you can because

54:35

their odds are so slim, and

54:37

you just want to make sure that some of

54:39

them will make it to adulthood.

54:42

What are their predators, do you know?

54:44

I mean there's a lot.

54:45

Of different Yeah, for the

54:47

sea turtles, there are a lot of like birds

54:50

are a big one, but there are also plenty

54:52

of small sharks like in the ocean

54:54

that are really good predators. What about

54:56

the river ones and the river ones

54:58

again, I mean, there are a lot of skin averaging birds

55:01

that fresh water birds that will

55:03

pray for them. And then I'm

55:05

pretty sure, uh, I mean, there are a

55:07

lot of big fish in these rivers

55:09

that are would be happy enough to eat them. There's

55:11

also otters river otters

55:14

I believe that live in the area.

55:15

Oh yeah, river otters are scary, Like I

55:17

like, I like otters, but river otters are scary.

55:20

They're they're yeah, they're serious.

55:22

They're serious. Like you you think of the cute

55:24

little sea otters. No, yeah,

55:26

river otters are huge. They're

55:29

like almost as tall, like they're as

55:31

an adult man, and

55:33

they they're long, they have huge teeth.

55:35

They can take on crocodiles. They can

55:37

like literally take on on

55:40

gators and crocodiles and hold their own.

55:42

So they're serious business. But

55:44

yeah, so that that is perhaps

55:46

one of the cutest mass spawnings.

55:49

But in terms of the biggest

55:51

mass spawning, you have to go to the

55:54

Great Barrier Reef. Yeah,

55:56

the Great Barrier Reef is home

55:58

to the largest mass spawning events

56:00

in the world of coral. So,

56:03

I know, coral looks like a plant

56:06

or a rock, but they are living animals,

56:08

which is mind blowing. They just don't they don't

56:10

look like they should be alive. They look like a

56:13

you know, they look like set

56:15

dressing.

56:15

Yeah, my grandmother had a coral

56:18

ring and it's weird to me now because

56:20

I'm like that's almost like that's like closer

56:22

to fur than.

56:23

It is to like, you know, diamonds skeleton

56:25

gems.

56:26

Yeah, exactly, and it was a very pretty

56:28

ring. But yeah, I think about it now and I'm like, oh,

56:30

so weird that that was alive once.

56:32

Yes, yes, and so coral

56:35

are very much alive. They are Nigerians,

56:37

which is the same philum as jellyfish

56:40

and seeing enemies. So yeah,

56:43

they're actually related to jellyfish and seeing enemies.

56:45

They are often colonials,

56:48

so that means they form these huge

56:50

groups of many individual polyps.

56:53

So a polyp is like just

56:55

like one individual like you see if you see a

56:57

big branching thing of coral, chance,

57:00

are there like thousands of individual polyps

57:02

or hundreds of individual polyps like on this

57:04

piece of coral. Yeah,

57:07

so a polyp generally

57:09

speaking for coral is like a sort of oval

57:12

structure. For some coral they look

57:14

more like sort of a long flower

57:16

with a stem. Some of them are more squat,

57:19

some of them look sort of like a flower bulb.

57:21

Some of them look more like pine cone shaped.

57:24

But it's this is a living it's got it's

57:26

a living animal with like living tissue

57:28

and it eats. They'll they'll filter feed

57:30

and they like will come out of this.

57:33

These corals and like, uh, you

57:35

know, use use their flowering organs

57:37

to like catch prey and filter

57:40

feed and just whatever is floating around.

57:43

So, colonial polyps will

57:45

often share sort of a base

57:48

either formed by fibrous proteins

57:50

or calcified materials. Uh,

57:53

and so that will form these big, beautiful

57:55

structures that you see in the barrier reef.

57:57

There are two main types of coral.

58:00

There are soft corals and stony corals.

58:03

Soft coral you may not even realize

58:05

their coral because they look they

58:07

don't look hard. They are visibly

58:10

soft. They look sort of like a bunch of

58:13

sea an enemies or flowers.

58:15

Is that this?

58:16

Oh yeah, you have a picture of yellow ones

58:18

and yeah, they look like they look like those.

58:20

Bottle brush tree you know. Yeah things.

58:22

Yeah they look like spiny but they look soft.

58:25

Yes, yes they are. They are

58:27

softer. They don't generally

58:30

have that like hard calcified

58:32

skeletal structure. They're held together by

58:35

jelly like tissues and they but they also

58:37

do have some spiny structures that will

58:39

support them.

58:40

I was gonna say, do they feel soft to touch?

58:42

Yeah, so part of them would feel soft to

58:44

touch, But the part of them that is the

58:47

sort of like base that's holding them together

58:49

is going to be a little more firm, sort of like spiny,

58:52

like like tree branches. Right, but yeah,

58:54

like the definitely the polyps

58:56

themselves is going to be softer but hard.

58:59

Coral is to feel hard.

59:01

So the stony coral is

59:04

the stuff that you probably think of when

59:07

you think of coral. They look like mineral,

59:09

more like a mineral than an animal, but they are

59:11

alive. So there are a bunch of tiny

59:14

polyps on stony

59:16

coral skeletal structures. And like these

59:18

polyps are, they're less sort of like flowery

59:21

looking than soft corals. They're more a little

59:23

more conical shaped, and they give

59:25

like these stony corals

59:27

a sort of harder, more rocky appearance.

59:30

Right.

59:31

And because often like

59:33

these these polyps are very tiny,

59:35

only like one to three

59:37

millimeters, you can barely see

59:40

each individual. It just looks like this rocky

59:42

texture on like this coral. It doesn't

59:44

look like there's a bunch of individuals. But if you zoom

59:46

in, those little little bumps are actually

59:49

like living polyps. And

59:51

if you ever I have a visual eight

59:53

formara here, you guys can check

59:55

out the show notes and and see

59:57

pictures of this, but I actually found because

1:00:01

like I mentioned, I'm actually at my parents'

1:00:03

house right now and I found this in

1:00:05

the bathroom as a decoration.

1:00:08

It's actually a

1:00:10

a coral skeleton. So this

1:00:13

is uh the uh,

1:00:15

this is a stony coral and this is

1:00:17

the calcified hard

1:00:20

base of the skeleton that would

1:00:22

home a bunch of little polyps.

1:00:24

And I'm gonna hold it up. Oh yeah, so you can see

1:00:26

each of these little like they look like

1:00:28

little holes or little divots. I

1:00:30

don't know how much detail you can get from

1:00:32

the camera.

1:00:33

It was like little stars on it, Like

1:00:36

they're not they're like little stars.

1:00:39

Right, because that the little

1:00:41

time like that was home to each of

1:00:43

these polyps that had this like radial sort of

1:00:45

branching structure. So each of those little

1:00:48

like like feathery kind of

1:00:50

star structures is where that that little

1:00:52

polyp would have grown and have that like radial

1:00:54

symmetry like a sea an enemy or

1:00:57

like a jellyfish. But it was like

1:00:59

a little individ and of course all

1:01:01

that's left now is the hard calcified

1:01:04

structure or the skeleton. So

1:01:06

if you have decorative coral, that

1:01:09

is a skeleton that you have basically,

1:01:11

yeah, I think.

1:01:11

We used to have I like because when you when I

1:01:13

as soon as I saw that, I was like, that looks familiar. And I feel

1:01:16

like we might have had that in my bathroom when we were little.

1:01:18

Or like it's a common bathroom

1:01:20

decoration, yeah, or like like on

1:01:22

on in like a little display on top of the

1:01:25

back, when we had like you had

1:01:27

like the TV cabinet.

1:01:29

Yeah, I feel like we had we had like.

1:01:31

We had like potpourrie on one part of it, and we have

1:01:34

but we had like pretty rocks and coral

1:01:36

on there too, yeah, or maybe like my grandparents

1:01:38

had it. Yeah, I feel like that was that was

1:01:40

a very kind of seventies eighties decoration exactly.

1:01:44

Yeah. Yeah. And so it's it

1:01:46

was kind of fun neat because I was like thinking about this episode

1:01:48

and like and I was just like, you know,

1:01:50

doing my business in the bathroom. We don't need to go in detail

1:01:53

there. But I saw this like on a shelf,

1:01:55

and it's like, oh, hey, yeah, That's what I'm talking

1:01:57

about today.

1:01:58

Yeah.

1:01:58

Yeah. So, because corals are

1:02:00

often huge colonies with hundreds

1:02:02

of thousands of individual polyps, and

1:02:05

the Great Barrier Reef is one of the world's

1:02:07

largest coral systems with over

1:02:10

six hundred distinct coral species.

1:02:13

There are millions and millions

1:02:15

of individual polyps in the Great Barrier

1:02:18

Reef by my rough calculation.

1:02:20

When it is a coral species time

1:02:23

to spawn, it gets buck

1:02:25

wild in the ocean. So coral

1:02:28

are sessile, which is just a way

1:02:30

of saying they're immobile. They spend

1:02:32

their whole time just kind of staying

1:02:35

still, you know, just like we've

1:02:37

been on quarantine. We've been sessile

1:02:39

on our couches. And so having

1:02:42

sex is a problem because how do you have

1:02:44

sex and reproduce when you can't really move.

1:02:47

So they will release sperm

1:02:49

and egg packets into the water, and

1:02:52

if these sperm and egg packets just happen to bonk

1:02:54

into each other, they will fertilize and

1:02:56

form an embryo. So in

1:02:59

order to maximize the chance of successful

1:03:01

fertilization, they have to synchronize

1:03:05

because like if you just like send out your egg or your

1:03:07

sperm packet and then it's like nobody

1:03:09

else is doing it, maybe one person

1:03:12

like way far away is doing it, the chances are going to bunk

1:03:14

into each other is like pretty minimal if everyone's

1:03:16

doing it. It's a blizzard of sperm

1:03:19

and egg packets, and the chance that you're going to

1:03:21

bunk into something and get it fertilized

1:03:23

is very high, and so that's what they do.

1:03:26

It's this blizzard of coral

1:03:28

sperm and eggs, and it's

1:03:31

super colorful. So uh, like

1:03:34

coral, as you know, are very pretty,

1:03:36

very colorful, and so you wouldn't even guess

1:03:38

that it's such a such dirty business

1:03:41

going on here because it comes in these colors

1:03:43

of like yellows and pinks. Uh,

1:03:45

and it's like this flurry. Uh, it

1:03:48

looks like a magical enchanted

1:03:50

blizzard, but you know that's a it's coral

1:03:52

sex junk happening.

1:03:54

Yeah.

1:03:54

There's a photo that I'm looking

1:03:56

at here where there's like there's

1:03:58

like coral spawning and it looks it's like like it's

1:04:01

like really beautiful. You could put it up as

1:04:03

like a photograph like in your home

1:04:05

as as a decoration. And then there's another

1:04:08

one and there's a diver in the middle of it

1:04:10

and he looks a little

1:04:12

like, Okay, what did I get in the middle of here?

1:04:14

Y'es? Oh? Oh you guys,

1:04:17

yeah, guys, just come on. Yeah,

1:04:20

yeah, it's like it's like a snow

1:04:22

globe. Like you turn in the snow

1:04:24

globe and you see all these like big sort of like things

1:04:27

of snow, except like it's pink and yellow and

1:04:30

it's you know, coral sex goo. Yeah,

1:04:32

once they fertilize, says, we'll create new coral

1:04:34

polyps. You can actually look

1:04:36

like there's an aerial photo too,

1:04:39

like that shows these like

1:04:42

mass coral embryos

1:04:44

that creates like this pink film

1:04:46

on the ocean and look like someone just like spilled

1:04:48

a bunch of pink ink in the oation.

1:04:51

It's beautiful. Uh, it's

1:04:53

just but it also like shows you the scale of

1:04:55

this event. It's just huge, huge

1:04:58

number of uh any

1:05:00

coral just making babies.

1:05:02

And how often does this happen?

1:05:03

I think this is a

1:05:06

yearly event. I'm not sure if

1:05:08

like every species does it every year,

1:05:10

but they like

1:05:12

it's staggered enough that this happens relatively

1:05:15

often. So should

1:05:18

we be worried about this? Not

1:05:20

really? I mean unless you are a

1:05:23

fish in a lagoon during an unfortunately

1:05:25

timed weather storm that causes coral sex

1:05:28

goop to rain down in your home and literally

1:05:30

suffocate you, which actually happened

1:05:32

nine years ago in a lagoon

1:05:34

and an atoll in the Cocos Island

1:05:36

in the Indian Ocean, a fluke

1:05:39

storm blew a bunch of coral spawn

1:05:41

into a lagoon system, which consumed

1:05:43

oxygen, and then the decaying

1:05:45

coral polyps released

1:05:48

methane, which made the water unbreathable

1:05:50

by the fish, who suffocated and died

1:05:53

on mass. So sometimes, hey,

1:05:56

coral sex does kill.

1:05:57

Wow.

1:05:59

Yeah, that's like getting caught up in like

1:06:01

somebody else's drama.

1:06:05

Oh jeez, yeah.

1:06:06

Yeah, yeah, someone like it shows

1:06:09

you a text, like between them and someone they're singing,

1:06:11

and it's like they expect you to resolve the drama.

1:06:13

It's like, no, yeah, I'm not

1:06:15

going to be a fish in your coral right.

1:06:21

That's a great way to tell them. Now, I'm not fish

1:06:23

in your coral sex lagoon. Okay, they'll

1:06:25

know what you mean you, they'll know, they'll know

1:06:27

they should If they don't,

1:06:29

you don't want to be their friend.

1:06:30

Anyway, exactly exactly. I mean,

1:06:32

like if they're if they're making you be a fish

1:06:34

in their coral sex agon, that's to get out

1:06:36

of there. You got those toxic ties. Yeah.

1:06:41

Well, I think we've covered probably

1:06:43

as many mass spawning events as I can

1:06:46

tolerate in one episode.

1:06:48

But yeah, it's it's a it's look, it's the beautiful

1:06:51

cycle of life which sometimes

1:06:53

happens. And buy the millions.

1:06:56

But before we go, I do want to do a listener

1:06:59

email that was in response to last

1:07:01

week's episode, which is about bunnies. Mar

1:07:03

you missed the bunnies, miss the bunnies by

1:07:06

one by one week, so instead

1:07:08

you had the mass cicada sex

1:07:10

episode.

1:07:11

I mean, it's it's still interesting to me

1:07:13

and I and I got turtles, which I like.

1:07:16

So that's true. That's true too.

1:07:18

Massive baby turtles. Yes, a lot of

1:07:20

them are gonna die, but hey, it's.

1:07:23

But they're cute while they last. Yeah, it's it's an ephemeral

1:07:25

thing.

1:07:26

Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah,

1:07:28

enjoy, enjoy the turtles every moment.

1:07:31

Don't think about the turtles of the future, think

1:07:33

about the baby turtles of the now.

1:07:35

Yeah, it's it's like that those those you know what

1:07:37

are those like the mandalas that they'll make in sand?

1:07:39

Yeah, think about think about the beautiful patterns that

1:07:41

the turtles making sand and.

1:07:43

Yeah, and enjoy

1:07:45

and yeah yeah, yeah

1:07:47

that's that's you know, so it goes, yeah,

1:07:51

well, here is this very nice, uh not

1:07:53

deadly email. Hi Katie,

1:07:56

I'm a longtime listener and I really

1:07:58

enjoyed your lagomorph episode. I am a bunny

1:08:00

owner and an ecologist and really appreciated

1:08:02

the love you give to these underappreciated

1:08:05

fluff balls. I just wanted to tell you

1:08:07

a few cool things that I've learned about pet domestic

1:08:09

rabbits. First, they can be letterbox

1:08:12

trained fairly easily and successfully,

1:08:14

especially if they're a spade or neutered. I think in the

1:08:16

show I threw a little bit of shade at bunnies.

1:08:18

I said that you can try to litter box

1:08:20

train them, but I think it's sort of on whether

1:08:23

they want, whether they feel like it or not.

1:08:25

Yeah, but apparently it's look

1:08:28

Maya Kolpa. Apparently bunnies will

1:08:31

fairly readily poop in a litter box.

1:08:33

That's good to know.

1:08:34

They seem very stubborn domestic. Every

1:08:36

domestic bunny I've met has has been like

1:08:38

I have a mind of mind.

1:08:39

Like people think cats are hard to control. Bunnies

1:08:41

yeah, yeah.

1:08:42

Oh but yeah, but it's a whole new Like cats

1:08:45

are sort of like a little bit but they're they're

1:08:47

coy and playful about it, where they're like, oh maybe

1:08:49

will I won't I but they do. They do love

1:08:51

you and they but like bunnies. Yeah,

1:08:54

they're like, no, no, you think you're gonna

1:08:56

get me to do something? Uh uh yeah, I'll kick you

1:08:58

in the face and pee on you. Yes, exact exactly.

1:09:03

Although although the listener

1:09:05

does admit that there will be an

1:09:07

occasional misplaced bunny

1:09:09

poop, so hey yeah,

1:09:12

she writes that the secret is to put hay

1:09:15

in or next to the litter box so they can eat

1:09:17

while they poop or pete luxury

1:09:19

luxurious living. Once

1:09:22

litter trained, the bunnies can roam in an area of the

1:09:24

house freely after some bunny proofing. The

1:09:27

House Rabbit Society has lots of information

1:09:29

on how to do this. I also just

1:09:31

wanted to mention a few other super cute bunny

1:09:33

behaviors. When they are very excited, bunnies

1:09:36

will do a jump and a shake their bodi's mid

1:09:38

air, which is called a binkie,

1:09:41

And when they are very relaxed, they will dramatically

1:09:43

flop over on their side.

1:09:45

Wow, so cute.

1:09:47

I actually had a cat named Binkie and

1:09:49

he was he was pretty rabbit like because

1:09:52

he was very scared. He never killed anything

1:09:54

and would run away. And one time, this

1:09:56

is in high school, and I came home and I was, you know,

1:09:58

frustrated with school, so drop my books on

1:10:00

the floor and across the room. I

1:10:03

didn't realize the cat was there, and so he jumped

1:10:05

like a like three meters into the areas.

1:10:08

It's so funny, poor thing.

1:10:11

And then then the listener shared some beautiful

1:10:13

pictures of the bunnies which are just

1:10:15

for me, So sorry about that. But

1:10:19

oh and then and then she writes, I also especially

1:10:21

appreciated your bee episode.

1:10:23

I did my master's degree studying native bees in

1:10:25

Ontario, so I appreciate it when bee species

1:10:27

other than honey bees get a mention. And

1:10:30

this is from Emma. Thank you so much, Emma

1:10:32

for your kind words and for your bunny

1:10:34

facts. So I take

1:10:36

it back. Bunnies can be litterbox trained,

1:10:39

but again, hey, look when

1:10:41

they want to, like if they there

1:10:43

may be a poop once in a while, You're just gonna have

1:10:46

to deal with it, right.

1:10:49

Don't pretend like you can control the bunnies.

1:10:51

No, you can't control a bunny.

1:10:52

Control the bunnies no,

1:10:55

no, they are.

1:10:56

They are those strong back legs

1:10:58

they can they can slap you.

1:11:00

Yeah.

1:11:02

I have a friend who has bunnies, and she says that

1:11:04

they they when they're pissed

1:11:06

off at you, they'll turn their back on you and kick with their

1:11:08

back legs.

1:11:09

They'll kick you. Yeah.

1:11:10

Yeah, which, which.

1:11:11

I love you is is I love that about them.

1:11:13

It's just like I love you bunnies for being

1:11:16

for being like they hey, screw you with their back legs.

1:11:18

Yeah. I mean I like that they stand

1:11:20

up for themselves because like we have the sense of

1:11:22

like, oh, they're just a little floppy bunnies. They

1:11:24

don't they're helpless frightened rabbits.

1:11:27

Yeah yeah, no, I

1:11:29

mean it's more like the Peter Rabbit

1:11:31

level of like defiance.

1:11:33

They Yeah. My sister was bitten

1:11:35

by a bunny once oof.

1:11:37

Yeah.

1:11:37

Yeah.

1:11:38

They got strong teeth, they do.

1:11:39

Yeah. She said she had to get a Titanish shot after

1:11:42

oof.

1:11:42

Yeah, because oh yeah, because their teeth are so

1:11:45

long.

1:11:45

Yeah.

1:11:46

Wow.

1:11:46

She said the shot hurt more than the bite, but it was still

1:11:49

very very strange.

1:11:50

But I mean, basically the bunny

1:11:52

is responsible for the shot too, exactly.

1:11:55

Insult and injury to injury. Yeah,

1:11:58

yeah, no, bunny is a serious

1:12:00

Like I know, bunnies are cute. I don't

1:12:02

necessarily discourage having bunnies as a pet,

1:12:04

but if you want one, definitely look

1:12:07

into it because I would say they are one of the harder

1:12:09

pets, Like they're harder than a cat or a

1:12:12

dog. Yeah, I would say, so, yeah,

1:12:14

just just check it out because because

1:12:16

there's a lot of special care you have to do. Uh

1:12:19

My, I had a friend who had a bunny and again,

1:12:21

like I would pet it and then when it wanted me to

1:12:23

stop, it would kick me and pee on me like

1:12:26

it was a mail And I think they like to flick urine,

1:12:28

so they so he would kick me and flick you on

1:12:30

me. And I was like, you know, I think I'll stick with cats

1:12:33

and dogs.

1:12:33

Yeah,

1:12:36

you can predict they're more productive.

1:12:38

I only sometimes get kicked by my dog,

1:12:40

and that's usually on Yeah, my.

1:12:42

Cat will will you know, they'll go away or

1:12:45

maybe they'll hit me or bite me lightly if I'm

1:12:47

annoying them.

1:12:48

Yeah, I'm like, okay, all right, we'll stop petting you.

1:12:52

Yeah. Yeah. My dog loves

1:12:54

belly rubs, but like once it's like she's

1:12:56

got a very specific. You have to pet her very

1:12:58

specifically, and if you stop, like she

1:13:00

she looks so sweet

1:13:03

and angelic. But then if you pet her wrong,

1:13:05

like suddenly the little Chihuahua demon

1:13:07

face comes into play and it's oh my

1:13:09

god, she's like, it's really funny. Satan

1:13:12

takes over. Yeah.

1:13:14

Well, Mara, thank you so

1:13:17

so much for joining me. It's truly

1:13:19

been a pleasure to have you

1:13:21

on. Big thank you, big

1:13:23

fan of you, big fan of your your Twitter

1:13:25

and and your articles, and so I am

1:13:28

you know, trying to keep the fangirling.

1:13:30

To a minute.

1:13:32

No, I mean, I I love your stuff, and I feel

1:13:34

like and I love learning about things that

1:13:36

that I don't know a lot about.

1:13:37

So this is really cool to me. This is really fascinating.

1:13:40

I'm so glad that you could learn about. And

1:13:42

I'm sorry about all the about all

1:13:44

the coral perversion.

1:13:48

It's it's fine, it's fine. I'll give them their space.

1:13:51

You know, I'm not gonna king shame them.

1:13:53

I mean, if they if if you're like in a lagoon

1:13:56

and they foist their kink upon you

1:13:58

in the that's a yeah,

1:14:00

but it is problematic.

1:14:02

You were wandering into their space.

1:14:05

Yes, but that was like that. I

1:14:07

just there's like a freak storm that

1:14:10

dispensed all of this coral

1:14:12

sexcw on these poor fish.

1:14:15

It's like it's like the like a

1:14:17

disaster movie, except a lot of corel

1:14:20

coral eggs and sperm.

1:14:24

Attack of the killer coral, attack

1:14:26

of the killer coral coral baby's

1:14:29

attack sounds like there might

1:14:31

be a plane, Yeah there is? Or is

1:14:33

it a storm of coral stuff?

1:14:37

We've angered the coral. We've angered

1:14:39

the coral guards. Gods.

1:14:41

Yeah, now there's just gonna be a cyclone

1:14:43

of like coral sperm.

1:14:45

Sorry.

1:14:46

Yeah, oh well, well.

1:14:49

Thank you again for coming on. Where can people find

1:14:51

you?

1:14:51

Thanks? They can find me at Mara

1:14:53

Wilson on Instagram and Twitter. I

1:14:56

also have a cameo.

1:14:57

I I do videos where

1:15:00

I will talk about you know anything, my

1:15:02

cats or cookie recipes or cicadas

1:15:05

what I.

1:15:06

Know about Yeah, and those are

1:15:08

really fun to make. I have a

1:15:10

newsletter at Mara.

1:15:11

Dot substock dot com called chet We Tell the

1:15:13

Vicar because I come up with.

1:15:14

Names for fake British TV shows. Nice

1:15:17

them every time.

1:15:19

I don't want to put you on the spot, but can you can you?

1:15:22

I can? I can?

1:15:23

Yeah, I can there's uh, I'm just here to do

1:15:25

the hoovering. There's

1:15:28

that one the mission quigly bubble

1:15:30

and squeak.

1:15:33

You know that's perfect.

1:15:35

Yeah, it's uh, it's and and

1:15:37

sometimes it's kind of hard to tell which ones are

1:15:40

real and which ones.

1:15:41

Are Oh yeah, no, I would believe it. If it's

1:15:43

like like I'm just here to do the hoovering,

1:15:45

I would totally think it was one

1:15:48

real one. That's great And you can find

1:15:50

the show on the internet at Creature Feature

1:15:52

Pod on Instagram at Creature feet Pod

1:15:54

on Twitter. That's f e A T, not f

1:15:56

e E T. That is something very different.

1:15:59

You can also send me an email at

1:16:01

Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com

1:16:03

with all your questions, bunny

1:16:05

pictures, choral questions.

1:16:08

If you have a problem with cicadas making

1:16:10

loud sex noises, just let

1:16:12

me know send me an email. Uh, And

1:16:14

I'm Katie Golden. You can find me at Katie Goolden

1:16:17

on Twitter, where I just post all my Katie thoughts

1:16:19

and as always I'm also pro bird rights

1:16:23

or is pro bird rights?

1:16:24

Me?

1:16:24

Am I birds? We'll find out

1:16:26

on Twitter. Thank you so

1:16:28

much for listening. If you enjoyed the show,

1:16:30

and you leave me your rating and review, I

1:16:33

will read it and it'll make my day. I'll

1:16:35

be floating on Cloud nine all day

1:16:37

long. When you leave nice reviews. I really appreciate

1:16:39

them. And thanks to the Space Classics

1:16:41

for their super awesome song. Ex Alumina.

1:16:44

Creature features a production of iHeartRadio.

1:16:46

For more podcasts like the one you just heard,

1:16:48

Visity I Heard Radio app app podcast, or

1:16:50

Hey Guess what. However, you listen to your favorite shows,

1:16:53

I don't judge, even if you're listening it

1:16:55

in like a choral sex lagoon. That's fine.

1:16:58

Not here to judge you, here to provide

1:17:00

you with entertainment. See

1:17:02

you next Wednesday.