1 00:00:05,338 --> 00:00:08,074 And now for an animal joke. 2 00:00:08,074 --> 00:00:11,311 What do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman? 3 00:00:12,078 --> 00:00:15,482 I repeat, what do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman? 4 00:00:16,483 --> 00:00:21,121 The answer is going to be revealed at the end of the episode. 5 00:00:21,488 --> 00:00:26,726 But first, get your ears ready because It's the Happiest Animal 6 00:00:26,726 --> 00:00:31,865 Show on Planet Earth, the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. 7 00:00:31,865 --> 00:00:34,834 Do you want to be sad? No! Do you want to be glad? No! Wait yes. 8 00:00:34,834 --> 00:00:37,837 Well it's the happiest animal show on planet Earth. 9 00:00:44,010 --> 00:00:45,078 Hello 10 00:00:45,078 --> 00:00:48,948 and welcome to the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth, 11 00:00:49,215 --> 00:00:52,218 the podcast that asks the very important question. 12 00:00:52,485 --> 00:00:54,921 What animal is making you happy today? 13 00:00:54,921 --> 00:00:58,491 I'm Laura and I'm Rob, and we are a sister brother 14 00:00:58,491 --> 00:01:01,494 pair of zoologists, filmmakers and songwriters. 15 00:01:01,661 --> 00:01:04,330 We are here to explore the wonderful world of wildlife 16 00:01:04,330 --> 00:01:07,333 life and discover why animals make us happy. 17 00:01:07,333 --> 00:01:09,836 Today we are celebrating sharks. 18 00:01:09,836 --> 00:01:13,173 We have a new hilarious take on the song Baby Shark 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,310 and we chat with David Shiffman, an ocean conservation scientist 20 00:01:17,310 --> 00:01:19,546 who studies sharks and how to protect them. 21 00:01:19,546 --> 00:01:20,447 Here we go. 22 00:01:20,447 --> 00:01:25,051 What animal is making you happy today? 23 00:01:25,351 --> 00:01:29,289 I want to know today we're talking about sharks. 24 00:01:29,289 --> 00:01:30,390 We love sharks. 25 00:01:30,390 --> 00:01:36,029 I could talk about sharks forever, but Rob had a face to face encounter 26 00:01:36,129 --> 00:01:39,165 with a rare, unexpected shark over the weekend. 27 00:01:39,199 --> 00:01:41,401 I haven't heard the story. I'm excited to hear it. 28 00:01:41,401 --> 00:01:44,571 And I'm sorry I'm giving away your chakra, but I know that it's what 29 00:01:45,038 --> 00:01:46,406 it's going to be. 30 00:01:46,406 --> 00:01:51,211 Rob. What shark is making you happy today? 31 00:01:51,311 --> 00:01:55,148 Well, okay, so the shark that is making me happy 32 00:01:55,148 --> 00:01:58,318 today is a shark that I never in my wildest 33 00:01:58,318 --> 00:02:01,621 dreams thought that I would see 34 00:02:02,722 --> 00:02:04,657 outside of an aquarium somewhere. 35 00:02:04,657 --> 00:02:06,993 I never thought I would see one in the wild. 36 00:02:06,993 --> 00:02:09,963 And it's a pretty big shark. 37 00:02:10,096 --> 00:02:14,000 I read that females, which get bigger than the males, 38 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,637 the females have been measured up to like 18ft long. 39 00:02:17,937 --> 00:02:20,473 It's a that's a big yeah, it's a big shark. 40 00:02:20,473 --> 00:02:23,176 It's also a deep water shark. 41 00:02:23,176 --> 00:02:24,644 This shark. 42 00:02:24,644 --> 00:02:25,912 Here's the giveaway. 43 00:02:25,912 --> 00:02:27,780 It has six gills. 44 00:02:27,780 --> 00:02:30,683 Yeah. And most sharks only have five. 45 00:02:30,683 --> 00:02:31,317 That's right. 46 00:02:31,317 --> 00:02:33,887 Almost every other type of shark has five. 47 00:02:33,887 --> 00:02:37,157 So, Laura, do you have a guess what it was? 48 00:02:37,624 --> 00:02:38,324 The six. 49 00:02:38,324 --> 00:02:39,592 Gill shark. 50 00:02:39,592 --> 00:02:42,462 Yes. Ding ding ding. 51 00:02:42,462 --> 00:02:45,465 I saw a six gill shark. 52 00:02:45,932 --> 00:02:48,868 Six still shark. 53 00:02:48,868 --> 00:02:51,871 And wait, specifically, is this the blunt nose? 54 00:02:51,905 --> 00:02:53,239 Six Gill shark? 55 00:02:53,239 --> 00:02:54,841 Yeah, it is the blunt nose. 56 00:02:54,841 --> 00:02:56,776 Six Gill shark. Great. 57 00:02:56,776 --> 00:02:57,877 Tell me what happened. 58 00:02:57,877 --> 00:03:01,247 I just know that you saw one. Yeah. 59 00:03:01,481 --> 00:03:04,851 So I've always heard about them in the Puget Sound, 60 00:03:05,018 --> 00:03:06,920 which is in Washington kind of by. 61 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:11,624 Yeah, yeah, it goes from, like, British Columbia down to Seattle, down 62 00:03:11,624 --> 00:03:15,361 to, Olympia, Washington, down the Pacific coast. 63 00:03:15,595 --> 00:03:16,663 Okay. What happened? 64 00:03:16,663 --> 00:03:18,498 So there's a spot. 65 00:03:18,498 --> 00:03:20,066 It's called the Hood Canal. 66 00:03:20,066 --> 00:03:22,802 There's a spot right off the side of the highway 67 00:03:22,802 --> 00:03:24,637 where you can just sort of pull your car off 68 00:03:25,905 --> 00:03:27,941 and, and go scuba diving. 69 00:03:27,941 --> 00:03:30,443 There's a specific place called the Octopus Hole. 70 00:03:30,443 --> 00:03:34,781 And I went there with my friend Jeff, and we jumped in the water 71 00:03:34,781 --> 00:03:39,152 and we swam down, and there's this rocky wall, that we were exploring. 72 00:03:39,152 --> 00:03:42,422 And Jeff right away noticed there was an octopus den. 73 00:03:42,555 --> 00:03:47,560 And we could tell because there were pieces of crab all over the place. 74 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:52,065 So somebody was living in a under a rock there, and had been 75 00:03:52,065 --> 00:03:56,102 chowing down on crabs and just leaving chunks of crab everywhere. 76 00:03:56,536 --> 00:03:59,973 So I got down with my flashlight and I looked under this rock, and sure 77 00:03:59,973 --> 00:04:02,041 enough, I could see these big suction cups. 78 00:04:02,041 --> 00:04:05,612 We could see through the crack that there's this big octopus in there, 79 00:04:05,745 --> 00:04:10,583 and we were taking turns checking it out so Jeff would look, and then I would look. 80 00:04:10,583 --> 00:04:11,718 And then we were trying to see 81 00:04:11,718 --> 00:04:15,421 if we could see more of the octopus or see its eye peeking back at us. 82 00:04:15,655 --> 00:04:15,922 Yeah. 83 00:04:15,922 --> 00:04:21,127 And while Jeff was taking a look, I turned my head to the right 84 00:04:21,294 --> 00:04:24,931 and I suddenly realized there was someone else with us. Wow. 85 00:04:24,931 --> 00:04:29,802 I was I was face to face with a giant shark, and 86 00:04:29,802 --> 00:04:34,641 I just started screaming with excitement because I knew what it was. 87 00:04:34,674 --> 00:04:38,811 The only shark that I was going to encounter down there was a six gill. 88 00:04:39,045 --> 00:04:43,416 I'd heard rumors of it, but it always seemed like it was a shark. 89 00:04:43,416 --> 00:04:46,819 That you had to be the luckiest human on earth. 90 00:04:46,819 --> 00:04:49,322 You had to win the lottery to see it. 91 00:04:49,322 --> 00:04:50,123 The person. 92 00:04:50,123 --> 00:04:53,126 So I never expected that that that would happen. 93 00:04:53,426 --> 00:04:56,896 But it was just suddenly there, hanging out with this, almost like 94 00:04:56,896 --> 00:04:58,898 he was just wondering what we were doing. 95 00:04:58,898 --> 00:05:01,934 What's, what's in the, rocky place there? 96 00:05:02,402 --> 00:05:03,770 Yeah. What's going on, guys? 97 00:05:03,770 --> 00:05:06,773 You just looking for octopus? Me too. 98 00:05:07,073 --> 00:05:10,610 And I think, honestly, that's why maybe why he was there. 99 00:05:10,643 --> 00:05:12,011 Do they eat octopus? 100 00:05:12,011 --> 00:05:13,079 I think they do. 101 00:05:13,079 --> 00:05:16,382 And so I wonder if it was just kind of cruising past 102 00:05:16,382 --> 00:05:18,518 checking out spots that smelled good, like, 103 00:05:18,518 --> 00:05:21,988 because I assume that it could smell that there was an octopus nearby. 104 00:05:22,388 --> 00:05:25,525 I'm picturing you turning and seeing the shark and just screaming 105 00:05:25,525 --> 00:05:29,429 in your mask like a high pitched giggle scream like, oh yeah, yeah, 106 00:05:30,697 --> 00:05:32,532 I was it was like that. 107 00:05:32,532 --> 00:05:35,535 And, it wasn't afraid of us at all. 108 00:05:35,802 --> 00:05:37,303 It was just super curious. 109 00:05:37,303 --> 00:05:41,474 And it was as slow as you could possibly imagine. 110 00:05:41,474 --> 00:05:47,747 It just inched past us and we watched it just slowly go down. Wow. 111 00:05:47,814 --> 00:05:50,216 And you could count it. Gills. One. 112 00:05:50,216 --> 00:05:52,118 Yeah, two. Right. 113 00:05:52,118 --> 00:05:54,587 Three. Four. 114 00:05:54,587 --> 00:05:56,689 Yes, five. 115 00:05:56,689 --> 00:05:59,692 One more. Six. Yep. That's it. 116 00:05:59,759 --> 00:06:04,263 And then it just disappeared into the depths, into the murk. 117 00:06:04,464 --> 00:06:06,866 And it was gone and we never saw it again. 118 00:06:06,866 --> 00:06:10,803 And so the whole, you know, the whole encounter lasted maybe like, 119 00:06:11,137 --> 00:06:15,308 you know, less than a minute, but I couldn't stop screaming 120 00:06:15,575 --> 00:06:20,546 the whole rest of the dive because I couldn't believe what had just happened. 121 00:06:20,646 --> 00:06:24,317 Like, it just it just didn't seem like it was real when I turned. 122 00:06:24,317 --> 00:06:26,185 And it it was just staring at me, 123 00:06:26,185 --> 00:06:29,222 I could have put my hand out and touched its nose. 124 00:06:29,222 --> 00:06:31,190 Well, it was that close to me. 125 00:06:31,190 --> 00:06:34,894 And I was thinking later about how I've been in the water 126 00:06:34,894 --> 00:06:40,433 with a lot of different types of sharks in, just in, in the wild and in captivity. 127 00:06:40,433 --> 00:06:43,803 You know, I've been probably been in the water with like over 128 00:06:43,803 --> 00:06:47,540 20 different types, 25 different types of sharks. 129 00:06:47,907 --> 00:06:50,910 But this was the most exciting of them all 130 00:06:51,010 --> 00:06:54,013 because it was completely unexpected. 131 00:06:54,046 --> 00:06:57,183 Like when I went to see whale sharks, it was amazing. 132 00:06:57,183 --> 00:07:02,155 But I went to a place because there were yeah, whale sharks were going to be there. 133 00:07:02,155 --> 00:07:03,856 Here you were looking for an octopus. 134 00:07:03,856 --> 00:07:06,859 You turned your head and there was a shark next to you. 135 00:07:07,226 --> 00:07:07,727 Yeah. 136 00:07:07,727 --> 00:07:10,830 So that's the shark that's making me happy, as it should. 137 00:07:11,531 --> 00:07:13,599 I'm going to talk about my shark in a moment. 138 00:07:13,599 --> 00:07:14,500 Right after this, 139 00:07:15,601 --> 00:07:18,871 it's time for everybody's favorite game show. 140 00:07:19,305 --> 00:07:22,308 Ray, that sound. 141 00:07:25,278 --> 00:07:28,281 What is making this sound? 142 00:07:28,281 --> 00:07:31,050 What? 143 00:07:31,050 --> 00:07:34,086 Oh, yeah, I can't really. 144 00:07:34,086 --> 00:07:37,089 What are you hearing me? 145 00:07:38,191 --> 00:07:40,493 Oh, is it 146 00:07:40,493 --> 00:07:44,597 a Rob seeing a six skilled shark underwater? 147 00:07:44,897 --> 00:07:49,368 B Rob seeing a six gill shark underwater, 148 00:07:49,735 --> 00:07:54,607 or C Rob seeing a six gill shark underwater. 149 00:07:55,341 --> 00:07:58,444 And the answer ls it doesn't matter. 150 00:07:58,444 --> 00:07:59,212 You got it right. 151 00:07:59,212 --> 00:08:02,215 It was Rob seeing a six skilled shark underwater. 152 00:08:02,882 --> 00:08:06,018 Thanks for playing everybody's favorite game show. 153 00:08:06,085 --> 00:08:06,686 Great. 154 00:08:06,686 --> 00:08:09,689 That sound. 155 00:08:10,089 --> 00:08:11,491 And we're back. 156 00:08:11,491 --> 00:08:13,893 Laura, give us some clues. 157 00:08:13,893 --> 00:08:17,530 Tell us what shark is making you happy today. 158 00:08:17,997 --> 00:08:20,299 It is a small shark. 159 00:08:20,299 --> 00:08:22,735 It is named after a dessert. 160 00:08:22,735 --> 00:08:25,738 A dessert that I like to eat a lot. 161 00:08:25,771 --> 00:08:28,074 And I bake a lot. 162 00:08:28,074 --> 00:08:30,576 Sometimes with chocolate chips, sometimes without. 163 00:08:30,576 --> 00:08:33,346 Sometimes it's gingerbread, sometimes it's sugar. 164 00:08:36,015 --> 00:08:39,285 These sharks, when they take a bite out of their prey, 165 00:08:39,285 --> 00:08:42,722 they leave a perfect circle bite 166 00:08:43,089 --> 00:08:46,225 out of the side of their prey, and 167 00:08:47,260 --> 00:08:48,327 they can glow. 168 00:08:48,327 --> 00:08:50,596 They glow in the dark. 169 00:08:50,596 --> 00:08:52,532 It's a pretty cool shark. 170 00:08:52,532 --> 00:08:55,501 Yeah, there's a lot of good clues there. 171 00:08:57,103 --> 00:08:58,104 Rob, what is it? 172 00:08:58,104 --> 00:09:00,907 Are you referring to the cookie cutter shark? 173 00:09:00,907 --> 00:09:04,277 I am, it's a cookie cutter shark 174 00:09:06,012 --> 00:09:09,482 cookie cutter, shark cookie cutter sharks. 175 00:09:09,482 --> 00:09:11,551 What a great pick. 176 00:09:11,551 --> 00:09:15,221 Tell me, why is the cookie cutter shark making you happy today? 177 00:09:15,454 --> 00:09:17,189 It's such a funny name. 178 00:09:17,189 --> 00:09:19,759 I love to eat cookies, I really do, 179 00:09:19,759 --> 00:09:22,728 and also, it's a small shark that glows in the dark. 180 00:09:22,728 --> 00:09:25,398 Great. Like, that's just so awesome. 181 00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:28,401 Yeah, that doesn't seem right. 182 00:09:28,434 --> 00:09:30,036 Doesn't seem like that should exist. 183 00:09:30,036 --> 00:09:32,338 Yeah, I was just looking up a description of cookie cutter sharks. 184 00:09:32,338 --> 00:09:35,341 I've never seen one personally in the wild, but 185 00:09:35,575 --> 00:09:39,145 the cookie cutter shark is pretty small. 186 00:09:39,145 --> 00:09:43,282 It has a darker top and then underneath is a little bit lighter, 187 00:09:43,282 --> 00:09:46,919 but that underneath will glow with bioluminescence, 188 00:09:46,919 --> 00:09:49,789 like a swimming flashlight. Like a swimming flashlight. 189 00:09:49,789 --> 00:09:52,758 It has small fins on the back of its body. 190 00:09:52,758 --> 00:09:54,794 It has large green eyes. 191 00:09:54,794 --> 00:09:57,630 It's usually in the deep water, like a six gill. 192 00:09:57,630 --> 00:10:01,434 It's a deep water shark, and then at night it'll come up shallower, 193 00:10:01,801 --> 00:10:04,670 head up toward the surface to eat and get prey. 194 00:10:04,670 --> 00:10:07,106 And what it does is when it sees something, 195 00:10:07,106 --> 00:10:08,975 it's going to take a bite out of like a tuna. 196 00:10:08,975 --> 00:10:11,611 Let's say a big tuna fishes around. 197 00:10:11,611 --> 00:10:15,081 It will the tuna will see the cookie cutter sharks 198 00:10:15,314 --> 00:10:18,351 glowing underbelly, and it'll think it's a little fish. 199 00:10:18,351 --> 00:10:19,852 So the tuna comes to be like, oh, 200 00:10:19,852 --> 00:10:21,520 I'm going to take a bite out of this little fish. 201 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,756 But the cookie cutter shark is like baiting it. 202 00:10:23,756 --> 00:10:26,759 So when the tuna gets there, cookie cutter sharks like haha. 203 00:10:26,792 --> 00:10:29,762 And then instead it takes a bite out of the tuna. 204 00:10:30,096 --> 00:10:33,866 Really quickly, latches on and it spins its body. 205 00:10:34,467 --> 00:10:38,304 Wow. And that's like it spins its mouth, I guess, and then leaves 206 00:10:38,304 --> 00:10:41,440 this perfect circle bite that looks like a cookie. 207 00:10:41,674 --> 00:10:43,175 Looks like it was done with a cookie cutter. 208 00:10:43,175 --> 00:10:44,644 Yeah, what a crazy way to eat. 209 00:10:44,644 --> 00:10:46,445 It's also a really dangerous way to eat. 210 00:10:48,914 --> 00:10:49,682 You gotta lure 211 00:10:49,682 --> 00:10:52,685 something bigger that could basically eat you. 212 00:10:52,718 --> 00:10:54,353 Yeah, the last minute. 213 00:10:54,353 --> 00:10:57,356 Go take a quick bite and spin, then get away. 214 00:10:57,757 --> 00:11:01,460 I'm glad that that's not the way that we think would be really hard. 215 00:11:01,861 --> 00:11:04,864 Although restaurants be way more exciting. 216 00:11:05,398 --> 00:11:05,798 Yeah. 217 00:11:05,798 --> 00:11:09,702 So their size is interesting too, because when you talk about sharks 218 00:11:09,702 --> 00:11:12,304 with people, most people think about a big animal. 219 00:11:12,304 --> 00:11:14,473 But cookie cutter sharks are not that. 220 00:11:14,473 --> 00:11:16,442 So like, how big is a cookie cutter shark? 221 00:11:16,442 --> 00:11:19,645 Yeah, they look they look like a skinny little torpedo mail. 222 00:11:19,645 --> 00:11:24,183 Cookie cutter sharks grow to a maximum of 16.5in. 223 00:11:24,383 --> 00:11:26,252 So that's not very big. 224 00:11:26,252 --> 00:11:28,621 Yeah, my cat is longer than that. 225 00:11:28,621 --> 00:11:30,990 Yeah. 226 00:11:30,990 --> 00:11:35,094 And if we did not name your favorite shark today on this episode, fear not. 227 00:11:35,094 --> 00:11:38,097 We will talk about sharks more on other episodes. 228 00:11:38,330 --> 00:11:39,632 We love sharks. 229 00:11:39,632 --> 00:11:41,801 We have a movie about sharks. 230 00:11:41,801 --> 00:11:42,835 Called The Shark Riddle. 231 00:11:42,835 --> 00:11:44,503 You can find it on iTunes. 232 00:11:44,503 --> 00:11:46,772 We will talk more about sharks and lots of episodes. 233 00:11:46,772 --> 00:11:49,108 There are over 500 kinds of sharks. 234 00:11:49,108 --> 00:11:51,677 We're going to share more sharks and another time. 235 00:11:51,677 --> 00:11:55,081 So, Rob, you picked the six skill shark 236 00:11:55,081 --> 00:11:58,484 because one came up to you this weekend. 237 00:11:58,818 --> 00:12:01,721 I picked the cookie cutter shark because I love the cookies. 238 00:12:01,721 --> 00:12:03,122 Yeah, that's a good enough reason. 239 00:12:03,122 --> 00:12:05,791 Honestly, you don't have to overthink it. 240 00:12:05,791 --> 00:12:07,259 And those are our picks. 241 00:12:07,259 --> 00:12:09,595 And now it's time for a song. 242 00:12:09,595 --> 00:12:11,731 We all know Baby shark, right? 243 00:12:11,731 --> 00:12:15,234 It started as a simple and repetitive camp song that eventually 244 00:12:15,234 --> 00:12:17,403 took the entire world by storm. 245 00:12:17,403 --> 00:12:20,873 But we here at The Happiest Animal Show have always felt like Baby 246 00:12:20,873 --> 00:12:22,775 Shark was a little too vague. 247 00:12:22,775 --> 00:12:24,810 I mean, who is this shark anyway? 248 00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:27,813 There are over 500 different kinds of sharks in the world, 249 00:12:28,247 --> 00:12:32,785 so we decided to rewrite the song, complete with real shark names 250 00:12:32,785 --> 00:12:36,522 and we collaborated with our good friend and classically trained pianist, 251 00:12:36,522 --> 00:12:41,994 David Saffert to create this new and improved version of Baby Shark. 252 00:12:41,994 --> 00:12:42,928 Enjoy 253 00:13:01,981 --> 00:13:05,251 Cookie cutter 254 00:13:05,251 --> 00:13:09,088 shark doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. 255 00:13:09,088 --> 00:13:11,023 Cookie cutter shark doo doo doo doo doo. 256 00:13:11,023 --> 00:13:13,492 Cookie cutter shark. 257 00:13:13,492 --> 00:13:17,263 Pajama shark. 258 00:13:17,663 --> 00:13:22,434 Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. 259 00:13:22,434 --> 00:13:25,437 Pajama shark. 260 00:13:36,482 --> 00:13:38,584 Winghead shark, doo 261 00:13:38,584 --> 00:13:42,721 doo doo doo doo doo, winghead 262 00:13:42,721 --> 00:13:48,928 shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo, winghead shark. 263 00:13:48,928 --> 00:13:54,233 Goblin shark, Do do do do do do do do do do do do do 264 00:13:54,233 --> 00:13:57,236 Goblin shark. 265 00:14:03,142 --> 00:14:05,611 Wobbegong Shark,. 266 00:14:05,611 --> 00:14:08,080 Do do do do do do 267 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,851 do do do do do do do do do do do do. 268 00:14:11,851 --> 00:14:15,020 Wobbegong shark, doo 269 00:14:15,020 --> 00:14:18,190 doo doo doo. 270 00:14:18,190 --> 00:14:21,260 Bignose shark, Do do do 271 00:14:21,293 --> 00:14:24,263 do do do do do do beep. 272 00:14:24,263 --> 00:14:27,499 Bignose shark, do doo doo doo doo doo doo.. 273 00:14:27,499 --> 00:14:29,501 Bignose shark. 274 00:14:29,501 --> 00:14:30,469 Cookie cutter. 275 00:14:30,469 --> 00:14:33,472 Pajama, winghead, Goblin, 276 00:14:33,472 --> 00:14:36,842 wobbegong, big nose, and so many more. 277 00:14:37,977 --> 00:14:39,211 There are over 500 278 00:14:39,211 --> 00:14:42,214 different kinds of sharks. 279 00:14:43,082 --> 00:14:44,516 Before we get on with the show, 280 00:14:44,516 --> 00:14:47,519 here's a quick message for the grownups 281 00:14:47,586 --> 00:14:50,589 and we are back. 282 00:14:50,789 --> 00:14:54,426 It's that time in the show for the Happiest Animal, 283 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,330 where a fan like you gives us clues for what? 284 00:14:58,330 --> 00:15:00,065 Animals making them happy. 285 00:15:00,065 --> 00:15:04,136 Today's submission is from eight year old Leonard from Portland, Oregon. 286 00:15:04,470 --> 00:15:07,473 Here are Leonard's clues. Clue number one. 287 00:15:07,539 --> 00:15:09,608 They are social animals. 288 00:15:09,608 --> 00:15:10,876 Clue number two. 289 00:15:10,876 --> 00:15:13,679 They swap their shells. 290 00:15:13,679 --> 00:15:14,880 Clue number three. 291 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:17,583 They are not true crabs. 292 00:15:17,583 --> 00:15:19,018 Clue number four. 293 00:15:19,018 --> 00:15:21,153 This animal can be a pet. 294 00:15:21,153 --> 00:15:21,854 What animals? 295 00:15:21,854 --> 00:15:24,857 Making Leonard happy today? It's, 296 00:15:24,857 --> 00:15:26,358 hermit crab. 297 00:15:26,358 --> 00:15:29,361 Hermit crabs are making Leonard happy because they're cute. 298 00:15:29,428 --> 00:15:33,265 They have cool shells, and Leonard wants to get to to have his pets. 299 00:15:33,699 --> 00:15:36,702 Why have one when you can have two when it comes to hermit crabs? 300 00:15:36,769 --> 00:15:39,271 All right. Thanks, Leonard, for your submission and Grown-Ups. 301 00:15:39,271 --> 00:15:43,042 If you or your family would like to submit a happiest animal, visit our website at 302 00:15:43,042 --> 00:15:44,610 Happiest Animal show.com. 303 00:15:45,844 --> 00:15:48,714 Today's special guest is David Shiffman, 304 00:15:48,714 --> 00:15:52,117 an ocean conservation scientist who studies sharks. 305 00:15:52,785 --> 00:15:54,386 Thank you for joining us. 306 00:15:54,386 --> 00:15:55,387 Hi, David. 307 00:15:55,387 --> 00:15:57,022 Hi. It's good to see you guys. 308 00:15:57,022 --> 00:15:58,324 And good to be here. 309 00:15:58,324 --> 00:16:00,225 David. Big question. 310 00:16:00,225 --> 00:16:03,228 What animal is making you happy today? 311 00:16:03,362 --> 00:16:06,632 So one that I'm really excited about that I got to see 312 00:16:06,632 --> 00:16:10,502 just last week, was a great hammerhead shark. 313 00:16:11,837 --> 00:16:14,273 Great hammerhead shark. 314 00:16:14,273 --> 00:16:16,442 I absolutely love sharks. 315 00:16:16,442 --> 00:16:20,579 As anyone who knows me knows, my favorite shark is the Sandbar shark. 316 00:16:20,579 --> 00:16:23,582 But my second favorite shark is the great hammerhead. 317 00:16:23,582 --> 00:16:28,287 And this past week, I took my Georgetown undergraduates 318 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,558 down to Florida over their spring break, and they lived on a research vessel 319 00:16:32,558 --> 00:16:33,859 with me for a week. 320 00:16:33,859 --> 00:16:37,730 And they got to go snorkeling and they got to fly research drones. 321 00:16:37,896 --> 00:16:39,932 And we got to do some shark research. 322 00:16:39,932 --> 00:16:42,935 And we caught an eight foot long great hammerhead shark. 323 00:16:43,402 --> 00:16:45,738 And people just went absolutely nuts. 324 00:16:45,738 --> 00:16:48,707 I love these animals. They're so weird. 325 00:16:48,707 --> 00:16:50,342 They're so cool. 326 00:16:50,342 --> 00:16:53,645 They're they're of significant conservation concern. 327 00:16:53,645 --> 00:16:55,714 They're considered critically endangered. 328 00:16:55,714 --> 00:16:59,051 And some of my graduate school work led to improving their protections 329 00:16:59,051 --> 00:17:00,219 in the state of Florida. 330 00:17:00,219 --> 00:17:02,521 So it was really cool to get to see that, see it, 331 00:17:02,521 --> 00:17:04,890 and to get to show it to my students. 332 00:17:04,890 --> 00:17:06,258 That's amazing. 333 00:17:06,258 --> 00:17:08,360 How big was the shark you caught? 334 00:17:08,360 --> 00:17:10,696 It was just over eight feet long. 335 00:17:10,696 --> 00:17:14,099 So I'm a pretty big guy, and this shark was way bigger than me. 336 00:17:14,199 --> 00:17:16,802 A great hammerhead shark. Yes. 337 00:17:16,802 --> 00:17:20,172 When I think of those, I think of huge dorsal fins. 338 00:17:20,205 --> 00:17:22,875 Yeah. Do they have an absolutely enormous dorsal fin? 339 00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:27,179 The dorsal fin is the fin on top that cuts, that sticks out of the water. 340 00:17:27,279 --> 00:17:27,579 Yeah. 341 00:17:27,579 --> 00:17:31,450 And they also have that the what's called the cephalopod phobia, 342 00:17:31,450 --> 00:17:33,652 which is the hammerhead part. 343 00:17:33,652 --> 00:17:37,823 And the greats are particularly dramatic, for both of those things. 344 00:17:38,190 --> 00:17:40,592 And that separate file, the hammerhead shape. 345 00:17:40,592 --> 00:17:43,028 It's useful for a few things. 346 00:17:43,028 --> 00:17:46,465 One of those things is sharks have this whole other sense 347 00:17:46,665 --> 00:17:48,734 that we don't have at all. 348 00:17:48,734 --> 00:17:52,204 I mean, we can't sense this at all, and they have a sense for it. 349 00:17:52,504 --> 00:17:54,873 They can sense electromagnetic fields. 350 00:17:54,873 --> 00:17:58,577 And why that's helpful is hammerheads eat prey animals 351 00:17:58,577 --> 00:18:01,680 that bury under the sand, which means they can't see it. 352 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,649 They can't hear it, they can't smell it, 353 00:18:03,649 --> 00:18:04,583 but they know it's there 354 00:18:04,583 --> 00:18:07,586 because they can sense the electricity given off by it's beating heart. 355 00:18:08,220 --> 00:18:09,721 Which is very cool. 356 00:18:09,721 --> 00:18:12,825 So you will often see hammerheads sweeping their heads across the sand, 357 00:18:12,991 --> 00:18:15,594 much like someone at the beach with a metal detector. Right. 358 00:18:16,562 --> 00:18:19,298 And it has metal workers sweeping over the sand. 359 00:18:19,298 --> 00:18:20,632 That's pretty fun. 360 00:18:20,632 --> 00:18:23,102 They also use that to pin flat 361 00:18:23,102 --> 00:18:25,637 prey against the bottom when they can munch on it. 362 00:18:25,637 --> 00:18:26,371 Right. 363 00:18:26,371 --> 00:18:31,176 So it's it's really cool I think of them going after stingrays. 364 00:18:31,176 --> 00:18:32,678 That's what I think is exactly right. 365 00:18:32,678 --> 00:18:34,980 Oh, they like to eat stingrays. 366 00:18:34,980 --> 00:18:38,050 And I once saw a hammerhead shark 367 00:18:38,050 --> 00:18:41,987 that had 44 stingray barbs in its face. 368 00:18:42,087 --> 00:18:45,090 Water. So the stingray. 369 00:18:45,357 --> 00:18:47,726 I don't know if any of you or your listeners have ever stepped 370 00:18:47,726 --> 00:18:49,661 on a stingray and gotten stung. It's no fun. 371 00:18:49,661 --> 00:18:51,363 I hope it doesn't happen to you. 372 00:18:51,363 --> 00:18:57,336 But, it does not deter hammerhead sharks because they just keep going. 373 00:18:57,603 --> 00:18:58,303 Yeah. Wow. 374 00:18:58,303 --> 00:18:58,537 That's. 375 00:18:58,537 --> 00:19:01,573 Oh, that's like, you hear about, you know, a dog 376 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,843 going after a porcupine and getting your fine quills in the face. 377 00:19:04,877 --> 00:19:05,444 Yeah. Yeah. 378 00:19:05,444 --> 00:19:08,180 It's like the equivalent. The shark equivalent. 379 00:19:08,180 --> 00:19:10,182 That's not amazing. 380 00:19:10,182 --> 00:19:14,019 So you said you were out with your team and you caught a great hammerhead 381 00:19:14,019 --> 00:19:15,087 last week. 382 00:19:15,087 --> 00:19:16,989 Did you release it back into the ocean? 383 00:19:16,989 --> 00:19:18,724 We did? Yes. 384 00:19:18,724 --> 00:19:22,227 And we have specialized tools for working them up safely, among other things. 385 00:19:22,227 --> 00:19:26,431 A water pump that goes in their mouth so their gills are still receiving oxygen 386 00:19:26,665 --> 00:19:27,966 during the whole process. 387 00:19:27,966 --> 00:19:29,701 You are out doing research. 388 00:19:29,701 --> 00:19:32,771 You catch a shark, you bring it on to your boat, 389 00:19:33,105 --> 00:19:36,141 you're out sometimes alongside the boat, depending on the size of it. 390 00:19:36,508 --> 00:19:40,812 But the boat has a platform off the back that's under about a foot of water, 391 00:19:40,812 --> 00:19:43,615 which means the animal is still in water and can breathe. 392 00:19:43,615 --> 00:19:45,784 Okay, we have something we can stand on. 393 00:19:45,784 --> 00:19:46,351 Yeah. 394 00:19:46,351 --> 00:19:50,756 And then what do you what kinds of things are you hoping to learn from a shark 395 00:19:50,789 --> 00:19:51,156 that you bring? 396 00:19:51,156 --> 00:19:54,860 We learned lots of things from sharks, and there's so much we still need to know. 397 00:19:54,893 --> 00:19:58,664 Generally trying to understand very basic things like where do they go? 398 00:19:58,664 --> 00:19:59,598 What do they eat? 399 00:19:59,598 --> 00:20:00,799 What do they do? 400 00:20:00,799 --> 00:20:03,468 What where what are their habitats? 401 00:20:03,468 --> 00:20:05,304 Yeah, what what doing, 402 00:20:05,304 --> 00:20:08,840 what are you putting tags on them to follow them and track them? 403 00:20:09,007 --> 00:20:10,876 For some species, yes. 404 00:20:10,876 --> 00:20:12,010 For this great. 405 00:20:12,010 --> 00:20:14,513 Hammerhead did get an acoustic telemetry track 406 00:20:14,513 --> 00:20:18,483 tracker tag on it that allows it to when it passes near receiver stations. 407 00:20:18,483 --> 00:20:22,588 And we have receiver stations set up throughout Biscayne Bay and South Florida. 408 00:20:23,155 --> 00:20:26,124 We can track where the animal goes within that area for about. 409 00:20:26,124 --> 00:20:27,226 So it's listening for them. 410 00:20:27,226 --> 00:20:31,630 You have stations that are listening for it when it passes by. Yes. 411 00:20:31,630 --> 00:20:36,068 It's a tag that just says over and over again, this is shark number 217. 412 00:20:36,068 --> 00:20:37,169 I'm here. 413 00:20:37,169 --> 00:20:39,905 This is shark number 217. I'm here. 414 00:20:39,905 --> 00:20:42,908 I want to pass this near a listening station that gets recorded. 415 00:20:43,108 --> 00:20:46,111 And we download that about every three months. 416 00:20:46,378 --> 00:20:48,614 And it's a it's a really cool process. 417 00:20:48,614 --> 00:20:51,617 And then you're like shark number 217 was here. 418 00:20:51,650 --> 00:20:52,384 Exactly. 419 00:20:52,384 --> 00:20:56,521 So we also draw blood, which can tell you a lot of things 420 00:20:56,521 --> 00:20:58,824 about the health of the animal and what they're eating. 421 00:20:58,824 --> 00:21:02,427 We take a muscle plug, we take a skin sample. 422 00:21:02,661 --> 00:21:05,831 There's a lot of different things that can be banned from it. 423 00:21:06,131 --> 00:21:09,067 There is a new student in the lab 424 00:21:09,067 --> 00:21:12,070 that I work with who is doing a really cool thing. 425 00:21:12,304 --> 00:21:15,574 In. This gets gross really quick, but kids love gross stuff, 426 00:21:15,574 --> 00:21:18,577 so I love gross stuff. So let's do it. 427 00:21:18,644 --> 00:21:22,948 Sharks do not have a butt in the way that people and that mammals do. 428 00:21:22,948 --> 00:21:24,416 They have what's called a cloaca. 429 00:21:24,416 --> 00:21:26,652 And that's that is where kind of like this. 430 00:21:26,652 --> 00:21:27,286 Where the waste. 431 00:21:27,286 --> 00:21:29,788 Yes, that is where the waste comes out. 432 00:21:29,788 --> 00:21:32,791 And we're taking Q-tips, swabs of the cloaca 433 00:21:33,025 --> 00:21:36,662 to try to tell from DNA what the animals were eating and pooping out. 434 00:21:37,562 --> 00:21:39,298 So you're testing shark poop? 435 00:21:39,298 --> 00:21:42,000 Yep. With a Q-Tip to see what they're eating. 436 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:44,403 I love it. We also catch, 437 00:21:45,704 --> 00:21:48,740 there's a new student in the lab who studies shark parasites. 438 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:53,111 Oh, so we caught a lot of different parasites 439 00:21:53,412 --> 00:21:55,681 off of this, particular great hammerhead. 440 00:21:55,681 --> 00:21:56,682 Larger animals. 441 00:21:56,682 --> 00:21:59,618 Older animals tend to have more and more interesting parasites. 442 00:21:59,618 --> 00:22:02,020 One was the biggest leech I've ever seen in my life. 443 00:22:02,020 --> 00:22:05,691 I fear, sometimes when I close my eyes, I'm going to. 444 00:22:05,691 --> 00:22:06,858 I'm going to see this leaf. 445 00:22:06,858 --> 00:22:09,661 You just pluck it. Did you just pluck it off of the shark? 446 00:22:09,661 --> 00:22:11,963 Oh, the shark must have been so grateful. 447 00:22:11,963 --> 00:22:14,099 If they. Yeah, I think of shark. 448 00:22:14,099 --> 00:22:14,833 This hammerhead out. 449 00:22:14,833 --> 00:22:19,237 You, those stringy looking parasites that there's some of that on the dorsal fan. 450 00:22:19,237 --> 00:22:23,475 This was, a lot thicker, and it looked a lot more like a thing. 451 00:22:23,842 --> 00:22:27,312 Those stringy looking parasites that look, it could just be like fuzz 452 00:22:27,546 --> 00:22:30,015 if you're not looking closely. This looked like a thing. 453 00:22:30,982 --> 00:22:31,650 And it's, 454 00:22:31,650 --> 00:22:34,786 well, it, I, it looked back at me, and I wish it hadn't. 455 00:22:35,687 --> 00:22:38,457 And a parasite is defined as, What? 456 00:22:38,457 --> 00:22:40,892 A creature who's feeding off another creature. Yes. 457 00:22:40,892 --> 00:22:42,594 Without really eating them. 458 00:22:42,594 --> 00:22:42,928 Okay. 459 00:22:42,928 --> 00:22:45,931 So a parasite cannot want its host to die. 460 00:22:46,064 --> 00:22:46,932 Okay. 461 00:22:46,932 --> 00:22:49,034 They have a bunch of different types of parasites, 462 00:22:49,034 --> 00:22:51,303 including some that are only found in sharks 463 00:22:51,303 --> 00:22:54,940 and including some that are only found in some species of shark. Wow. 464 00:22:55,073 --> 00:22:56,441 Horrifying. 465 00:22:56,441 --> 00:22:56,708 Yeah. 466 00:22:56,708 --> 00:22:59,444 So, kids, if you're listening, you can grow up to study sharks. 467 00:22:59,444 --> 00:23:00,579 Figure out where they go. 468 00:23:00,579 --> 00:23:03,582 You could also study their poop to figure out what they're eating. 469 00:23:03,582 --> 00:23:05,150 Oh, yeah. Everybody. 470 00:23:05,150 --> 00:23:06,351 Everybody poops. 471 00:23:06,351 --> 00:23:09,354 Even sharks. Even sharks. 472 00:23:09,354 --> 00:23:12,290 And you can study the parasites, the little creatures 473 00:23:12,290 --> 00:23:15,193 that are living on their bodies and sucking on them. Well, great. 474 00:23:15,193 --> 00:23:19,531 Hammerhead is an incredible choice for what's making you happy today. 475 00:23:19,531 --> 00:23:21,400 Thank you. David. Oh, it was wonderful. 476 00:23:22,534 --> 00:23:22,801 Yeah. 477 00:23:22,801 --> 00:23:24,803 We're so happy to have you on the show. 478 00:23:24,803 --> 00:23:26,805 Thanks for having me. 479 00:23:26,805 --> 00:23:29,841 And now the time we've all been waiting 480 00:23:29,841 --> 00:23:33,478 for the answer to the joke of the day. 481 00:23:33,845 --> 00:23:36,882 What do you get when you cross a shark with a snowman? 482 00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:40,786 Do you have a guess? 483 00:23:40,786 --> 00:23:43,755 The answer is 484 00:23:43,755 --> 00:23:46,758 frostbite. 485 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:50,462 Thanks so much for listening. 486 00:23:50,462 --> 00:23:53,432 And before we go, remember, we live on a beautiful planet. 487 00:23:53,698 --> 00:23:56,902 So go out and find what makes you happy today. Oh. 488 00:23:59,971 --> 00:24:03,875 Hey, Grown-Ups, we know you're busy, but if you like 489 00:24:03,875 --> 00:24:07,846 our show, we'd love for you to tell your friends and family about it. 490 00:24:08,013 --> 00:24:11,850 It is the best way for our podcast to grow and Grown-Ups. 491 00:24:11,850 --> 00:24:16,455 You can also follow us on our social media accounts at Happiestanimalshow, 492 00:24:16,621 --> 00:24:18,824 or check out other fun things on our website 493 00:24:18,824 --> 00:24:22,027 like how to submit an animal or how to get merch. 494 00:24:22,260 --> 00:24:25,063 Visit Happiestanimalshow.com. 495 00:24:25,063 --> 00:24:30,202 The Happiest Animal Show is created by Laura Sams, Robert Sams, and Dave Cain. 496 00:24:30,368 --> 00:24:35,474 Produced by Sisbro Studios, hosted and directed by Laura Sams and Robert 497 00:24:35,474 --> 00:24:39,544 Sams, and written by Laura Sams, Robert Sams with story editor 498 00:24:39,544 --> 00:24:43,682 Dave Cain, and with only a little help from our cat walking across the keyboard. 499 00:24:44,816 --> 00:24:46,651 Now let's talk music. 500 00:24:46,651 --> 00:24:49,688 Original music is written and performed by zero time 501 00:24:49,688 --> 00:24:53,291 Grammy Award winning songwriters Laura Sams and Robert Sams. 502 00:24:53,492 --> 00:24:58,029 Except for the end credits, music which was written by Laura and Robert’s 503 00:24:58,029 --> 00:25:01,132 Grandma Max and the joke answer suspense music written by David Schultz. 504 00:25:01,399 --> 00:25:03,034 The theme song was written and performed 505 00:25:03,034 --> 00:25:06,605 by Laura and Rob and mixed by Jason Wells of Audio Wells. 506 00:25:06,805 --> 00:25:09,441 Thanks for listening. You’re the best.