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Strange,

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animals,

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podcast.

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Welcome to Strange Animals podcast.

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I'm your host, Kate Shaw. This week, we

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have our annual up date episode, and we'll

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also learn about a mystery animal called the

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lava bear. As usual, a reminder that I

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don't try to they everything we've ever talked

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about. That would be impossible. I just picked

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new information that is especially interesting.

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After our episode about animals and ultraviolet light,

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I got a great email from Kelsey and

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to with some information, I didn't know. I

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got permission to quote the email which I

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think you'll find really interesting too. Quote, you

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said humans can't see ultra ultraviolet light, which

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is true. However,

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humans can detect Uv light, via ne,

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a non visual photo receptor in the retina.

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These detectors allow the body to be signaled

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that it's time to do things like make

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sex steroid hormones,

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neurotransmitters,

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etcetera.

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Spending too much time indoors results in non

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optimal hormone levels, lowered

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neurotransmitter

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production, etcetera.

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Humans also have mel

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detectors in the retina and skin. Mel

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detectors respond to blue light.

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Artificial light,

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Leds, flu,

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etcetera, after dark, entering the eye or shining

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on the skin, is sensed by these proteins

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as midday daylight.

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This results in an immediate drop in melatonin

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production when it should be increasing getting closer

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to bedtime, unquote. And that's why you shouldn't

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look at your phone at night, which I

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am super bad about doing.

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Our first update is related to ultraviolet light.

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A study published in October of 20 23.

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Examined hundreds of mammals to see if any

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part of their bodies glow in ultraviolet light,

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called flu.

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More than 125

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of them did. It was more common in

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nocturnal animals that lived on land or in

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trees. And light colored fur skin was more

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likely to flu, then darker or skin. The

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white stripes of a mountain zebra, for example,

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flu, while the black stripes don't. The study

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was only carried out on animals that were

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already dead. Many of them tax.

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To rule out that the flu had something

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to do with the chemicals used in taxi,

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they also tested specimens that have been flash

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frozen after dying, and the results were the

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same. The study concluded that ultraviolet flu

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is actually really common in mammals.

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We just didn't know because we can't see

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it. The glow is typically faint and may

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appear pink, green or blue.

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Some other animals that fluorescent,

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include bats, cats, flying squirrels, womb bats, koalas,

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Tasmania devils, polar bears, are d, red foxes,

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and even the dwarf spinner dolphin.

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In episode 20, we talked about Del Court's

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giant gecko, which is only known from a

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single museum specimen, donated in the nineteenth century.

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In 19 79,

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a pathologist named Alain Del court Working in

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the Marseille

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natural history museum in France noticed a big

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taxi

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lizard in storage and wondered what it was.

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It wasn't labeled, and he didn't recognize it.

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Surprising since it was the biggest gecko he'd

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ever seen. 2 feet long or about 60

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centimeters.

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He sent photos to several reptile experts, and

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they didn't know what it was either.

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Finally, the specimen was examined, and in 19

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86, it was described as a new species.

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No 1 knew anything about the stuffed specimen,

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including where it was caught. At first, researchers

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thought it might be from new Cal.

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Since a lot of the museums other specimens

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were collected from the Pacific Islands.

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None of this specimens donated between 18 33

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and 18 69

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had any

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documentation. So it seemed probable the giant gecko

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was donated during that time and probably collected

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not long before. More recently, there was

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speculation that it was actually from New Zealand.

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Since it matched Mow lore about a big

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lizard called the Ka.

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In June of 20 23,

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Del Courts gecko was finally

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genetically tested

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and determined to belong to a group of

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gecko, from new Cal,

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an archipelago of Islands east of Australia.

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Many of its close relations are large although

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not as large as it is. It's now

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been placed into its own genus.

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Of course, this means that Del quirk gecko

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isn't the identity of the Kuwait.

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Since it isn't very closely related to the

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geckos of New Zealand. But it might mean

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that gecko still survives and remote parts of

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new Cal.

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It was probably

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nocturnal and lived in trees, hunting birds, lizards

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and other small animals.

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We talked about some really big worms in

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episode 2 89,

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but somehow I missed the longest worm of

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all. It's called the boot lace worm, and

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is a type of ribbon worm that lives

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off the coast of Norway din denmark Sweden

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and Britain, and it's 1 of the longest

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animals alive.

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The longest worm we talked about in episode

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2 89,

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was an African giant earth, and 1 was

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measured in 19 67

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as 21 feet long, or 6.7

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meters,

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The boot lace worm is only 5 to

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10 millimeters wide, but it routinely grows between

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15 and 50 feet long. Or 5 to

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15 meters with 1 dead specimen that washed

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ashore in Scotland in 18 64,

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measured as over 180

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feet long or 55

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meters,

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that that is a very big worm.

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When it feels threatened, the boot lace swarm

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releases thick mucus.

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The mucus smells bad to humans, but it's

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not toxic to us or other mammals, but

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a recent study revealed that it contains toxins

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that can kill

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crustaceans, and even some insects.

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We talked about the painted lady Butterfly in

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episode 02:03,

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which was about insect migrations.

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The painted lady is a small, pretty butterfly

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that lives throughout much of the world, even

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the Arctic, but not South America for some

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reason.

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Some

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populations stay put year round, but some migrate

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long distances.

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1

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population winters in tropical Africa,

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and travels as far as the arctic circle

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during summer, a distance of 4500

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miles or 7200

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kilometers,

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which takes 6

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generations. The butterflies who travel back to Africa,

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fly at high altitude,

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Unlike monarch

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butterflies that fly quite low to the ground

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most of the time.

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Unlike the monarch, painted ladies don't always migrate

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every year.

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In October of 20 13, a researcher in

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a small country in South America called French

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Guyana,

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found some painted lady butterflies on the beach.

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Gerard Tal was visiting from Spain when he

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noticed the butterflies. And while he recognized them

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immediately, he knew they weren't found in South

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America, But here they were.

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There were maybe a few dozen of them,

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and he noticed that they all looked pretty

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ragged as though they've flown a long way.

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He captured several to examine more closely.

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A genetic study determined that the butterflies weren't

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from North America, but belonged to the group's

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found in Africa and Europe. The question was,

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how did they get to South America.

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Tal teamed up with scientists

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from lots of different disciplines

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to figure out the mystery. Their findings were

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only published last month in June of 20

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24.

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The butterflies most likely rode a well known

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wind current called the Sahara air layer, which

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blows enough dust from the Sahara to South

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America, that it has an impact on the

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Amazon River Basin. The trip from Africa to

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South America would have taken the butterflies 5

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to 8 days and they would have been

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able to glide most of the time, thus

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conserving energy. Until this study, no 1 realized

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this sahara air layer could trans poor insects.

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We talked about the giant Grade 8 croatian

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giga

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in episode 03:48

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And only a few months later, a new

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study found that it went extinct 100000

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years earlier than scientists had thought,

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The study tested the age of the cave

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soils where Dag

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teeth have been discovered to see how old

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it was. And tested the teeth again too.

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As we talked about in episode 03:48,

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gigantic

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ate fruit and other plant material, and because

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it was so big, it would have needed

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a lot of it. It lived in thick

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forests, but as the overall climate changed around

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700000

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years ago, the forest environment changed 2. Other

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great apes living in Asia at the time

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we're able to adapt to these changes, but

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Gigantic

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couldn't find enough food to sustain its population.

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At It went extinct between 295002

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hundred 15000 years ago, according to the new

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study. Which is actually later than I had

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in episode 03:48,

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where I wrote that it would extinct 350000

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years ago, Where did I get my information?

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I do not know. I could not find

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it again.

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All I can assume is that I made

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a typo at some point? And did not

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catch it and just

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replicated the mistake.

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The first footprints of a terror bird were

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discovered recently in Argentina dating to 8000000 years

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ago. We talked about terror birds in episode

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202.

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The footprints were made by a medium sized

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bird that was walking across a mud flat,

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and the track is beautifully

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preserved, which allows scientists

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to determine lots of new information such as

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how fast the bird could run, how its

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toes would have helped it run or catch

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prey and how heavy the bird was. We

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don't know what species of terror bird made

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the tracks, but we know it was a

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terror bird,

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We talked about the extinction of the Mammoth

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in episode 02:56,

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especially the last

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population of mammoth to survive.

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They lived on W Island. A mountainous island

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in the Arctic ocean off the coast of

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Western Siberia,

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which was cut off from the Mainland about

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10000 years ago when ocean levels rose.

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Mammoth

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survived on the island until about 4000 years

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ago, which is several hundred years after the

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great pyramid of Ge was built. It's kind

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of weird to imagine ancient egyptians building pyramids,

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And at the same time, mammoth were quietly

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living on Ren Island, and the egyptians had

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no idea what mammoth were. And vice versa,

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A 20 17

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genetic study stated that the last surviving mammoth

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were highly in bread. And prone to multiple

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genetic issues as a result, But a study

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released in June of 20 24,

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reevaluate the populations genetic diversity and made a

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much different

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determination. The population did show in breeding and

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low genetic diversity,

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but not to an extent that it would

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have affected the individual's health. The population was

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stable and healthy right to the end,

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In that case, why did the last mammoth

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00:12:25,399 --> 00:12:26,277
go extinct.

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Humans arrived on the island for the first

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time around 1700

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Bce

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But we don't know if they encountered mammoth

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or if they did if they killed any.

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There's no evidence either way.

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All we know is that whatever happened, it

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must have been widespread and cataclysmic

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to kill all several hundred of the Mammoth,

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on Ren Island.

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We talked about the Ding in episode 02:32

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about animals that are only semi domesticated

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That episode came out in 20 21.

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And last year, Caleb suggested we learn more

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about the Ding go. I found a really

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00:13:06,274 --> 00:13:10,430
interesting 20 22 study that reevaluate the Ding

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genome and made some interesting discoveries.

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The ding was probably brought to Australia by

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humans somewhere between 3580

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00:13:20,399 --> 00:13:23,528
500 years ago. And after the t scene

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was driven to extinction in the early twentieth

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00:13:26,478 --> 00:13:28,572
century, it became the continent

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Apex predator.

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Genetic studies in the past have shown that

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it's most closely related to the new guinea

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singing dog, but the 20 22 study compared

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the Ding genome to that of 5 modern

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dog breeds, the oldest known dog breed, 20

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The Be

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and the Greenland Wolf. The results show that

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the Ding is genetically in between wolves and

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dogs,

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00:13:54,603 --> 00:13:57,546
an intermediary that shows us what the dog's

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journey to domestic

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may have looked like. The study also discovered

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00:14:02,635 --> 00:14:04,066
something else interesting.

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Domestic dogs have multiple copies of a gene

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that controls digestion, which allows them to eat

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a wide variety of foods.

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The ding only has 1 copy of that

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gene, which means it can't digest a lot

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of foods that other dogs can.

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Remember, the Ding has spent thousands of years

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adapting to eat the native animals of Australia.

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When white settlers arrived, they would kill Ding

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because they thought their livestock was in danger

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from them. The study shows that the Ding

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00:14:36,339 --> 00:14:38,919
has little to no interest in livestock,

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because it would have trouble digesting, for instance,

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00:14:42,500 --> 00:14:43,860
a lamb or a calf.

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00:14:44,433 --> 00:14:47,240
The animals most likely to be hurting livestock

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00:14:47,536 --> 00:14:50,240
are domestic dogs that are allowed to run

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00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:50,558
wild.

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00:14:51,449 --> 00:14:54,246
We'll finish with a mystery animal called the

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lava bear. In the early twentieth century

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00:14:57,762 --> 00:14:59,300
starting in 19 17,

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00:14:59,694 --> 00:15:02,411
A strange type of bear kept being seen

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in Oregon in the United States.

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00:15:05,208 --> 00:15:07,765
Its fur was light brown like a G

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00:15:07,765 --> 00:15:10,485
bears, But otherwise, it looked like a black

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bear, except for its size, which was very

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small. The largest was only about 18 inches

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00:15:17,574 --> 00:15:20,226
tall at the back or 46 centimeters,

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00:15:20,682 --> 00:15:23,791
and did only weighed about 35 pounds or

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00:15:23,791 --> 00:15:25,008
16 kilograms

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That's the size of an ordinary dog, not

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00:15:28,669 --> 00:15:29,785
even a big dog.

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00:15:30,583 --> 00:15:33,772
Ordinarily, a black can stand 3 feet tall

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00:15:33,772 --> 00:15:36,512
at the back. Or about 91 centimeters

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00:15:36,965 --> 00:15:39,424
and weighs around 175

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00:15:39,424 --> 00:15:41,511
pounds or 79 kilograms

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00:15:42,058 --> 00:15:44,284
and a big male can be twice that

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weight and much taller.

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The small bear was seen in desert,

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especially around old lava beds. Which is where

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it gets its name. A shepherd shot 1

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in 19 17,

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thinking it was a bear cub. And when

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he retrieved the body, he was a prize

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00:16:01,147 --> 00:16:03,377
to find it was an adult. He had

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00:16:03,377 --> 00:16:04,195
it taxi

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00:16:04,651 --> 00:16:07,221
and photographs of it were published in the

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newspapers and a hunting magazine.

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Which brought more hunters to the area.

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People speculated that the animal might be an

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unknown species of bear, possibly related to the

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00:16:18,122 --> 00:16:20,909
g or black bear and maybe even a

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new species of some bear, a small bear

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native to Asia.

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Over the next 17 years, many lava bears

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were killed by hunters and several were captured

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for

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exhibition. When scientists finally got a chance to

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00:16:35,791 --> 00:16:38,503
examine 1, they discovered that it was just

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a black bear. Its small size was due

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00:16:41,693 --> 00:16:42,193
to

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malnutrition. Since it lived in a harsh environment

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without a lot of food, and its light

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00:16:47,852 --> 00:16:50,166
color fur was well within the range of

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00:16:50,166 --> 00:16:52,899
fur color for an American black bear.

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Lava bears are still

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00:16:55,220 --> 00:16:58,740
occasionally cited in the area around Fossil lake.

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You can find strange animals podcast

387
00:17:02,340 --> 00:17:05,606
at strange animals podcast dot blueberry dot net.

388
00:17:05,924 --> 00:17:07,916
That's blueberry without any ease.

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If you have questions,

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00:17:10,078 --> 00:17:14,132
comments, or suggestions for future episodes, email us

391
00:17:14,132 --> 00:17:15,745
at strange animals podcast

392
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,082
at gmail dot com. We also have a

393
00:17:19,082 --> 00:17:22,855
patreon at patreon dot com slash strange animals

394
00:17:22,913 --> 00:17:25,308
podcast. If you'd like to support us for

395
00:17:25,308 --> 00:17:27,476
as little as 1 dollar a month and

396
00:17:27,476 --> 00:17:30,756
get monthly bonus episodes. Thanks for listening.

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00:17:33,354 --> 00:17:35,919
Boop boop finally done that took forever

398
00:17:37,025 --> 00:17:39,585
Genetic studies in the past have shown that

399
00:17:39,585 --> 00:17:42,225
it's most closely related to the new...

400
00:17:42,625 --> 00:17:43,924
To the new guinea

401
00:17:44,705 --> 00:17:47,102
blah blah blah. To the new guinea singing.

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Oh my gosh. Why is this so hard?