Strange,
animals,
podcast.
Welcome to Strange Animals podcast.
I'm your host, Kate Shaw. This week, we
have our annual up date episode, and we'll
also learn about a mystery animal called the
lava bear. As usual, a reminder that I
don't try to they everything we've ever talked
about. That would be impossible. I just picked
new information that is especially interesting.
After our episode about animals and ultraviolet light,
I got a great email from Kelsey and
to with some information, I didn't know. I
got permission to quote the email which I
think you'll find really interesting too. Quote, you
said humans can't see ultra ultraviolet light, which
is true. However,
humans can detect Uv light, via ne,
a non visual photo receptor in the retina.
These detectors allow the body to be signaled
that it's time to do things like make
sex steroid hormones,
neurotransmitters,
etcetera.
Spending too much time indoors results in non
optimal hormone levels, lowered
neurotransmitter
production, etcetera.
Humans also have mel
detectors in the retina and skin. Mel
detectors respond to blue light.
Artificial light,
Leds, flu,
etcetera, after dark, entering the eye or shining
on the skin, is sensed by these proteins
as midday daylight.
This results in an immediate drop in melatonin
production when it should be increasing getting closer
to bedtime, unquote. And that's why you shouldn't
look at your phone at night, which I
am super bad about doing.
Our first update is related to ultraviolet light.
A study published in October of 20 23.
Examined hundreds of mammals to see if any
part of their bodies glow in ultraviolet light,
called flu.
More than 125
of them did. It was more common in
nocturnal animals that lived on land or in
trees. And light colored fur skin was more
likely to flu, then darker or skin. The
white stripes of a mountain zebra, for example,
flu, while the black stripes don't. The study
was only carried out on animals that were
already dead. Many of them tax.
To rule out that the flu had something
to do with the chemicals used in taxi,
they also tested specimens that have been flash
frozen after dying, and the results were the
same. The study concluded that ultraviolet flu
is actually really common in mammals.
We just didn't know because we can't see
it. The glow is typically faint and may
appear pink, green or blue.
Some other animals that fluorescent,
include bats, cats, flying squirrels, womb bats, koalas,
Tasmania devils, polar bears, are d, red foxes,
and even the dwarf spinner dolphin.
In episode 20, we talked about Del Court's
giant gecko, which is only known from a
single museum specimen, donated in the nineteenth century.
In 19 79,
a pathologist named Alain Del court Working in
the Marseille
natural history museum in France noticed a big
taxi
lizard in storage and wondered what it was.
It wasn't labeled, and he didn't recognize it.
Surprising since it was the biggest gecko he'd
ever seen. 2 feet long or about 60
centimeters.
He sent photos to several reptile experts, and
they didn't know what it was either.
Finally, the specimen was examined, and in 19
86, it was described as a new species.
No 1 knew anything about the stuffed specimen,
including where it was caught. At first, researchers
thought it might be from new Cal.
Since a lot of the museums other specimens
were collected from the Pacific Islands.
None of this specimens donated between 18 33
and 18 69
had any
documentation. So it seemed probable the giant gecko
was donated during that time and probably collected
not long before. More recently, there was
speculation that it was actually from New Zealand.
Since it matched Mow lore about a big
lizard called the Ka.
In June of 20 23,
Del Courts gecko was finally
genetically tested
and determined to belong to a group of
gecko, from new Cal,
an archipelago of Islands east of Australia.
Many of its close relations are large although
not as large as it is. It's now
been placed into its own genus.
Of course, this means that Del quirk gecko
isn't the identity of the Kuwait.
Since it isn't very closely related to the
geckos of New Zealand. But it might mean
that gecko still survives and remote parts of
new Cal.
It was probably
nocturnal and lived in trees, hunting birds, lizards
and other small animals.
We talked about some really big worms in
episode 2 89,
but somehow I missed the longest worm of
all. It's called the boot lace worm, and
is a type of ribbon worm that lives
off the coast of Norway din denmark Sweden
and Britain, and it's 1 of the longest
animals alive.
The longest worm we talked about in episode
2 89,
was an African giant earth, and 1 was
measured in 19 67
as 21 feet long, or 6.7
meters,
The boot lace worm is only 5 to
10 millimeters wide, but it routinely grows between
15 and 50 feet long. Or 5 to
15 meters with 1 dead specimen that washed
ashore in Scotland in 18 64,
measured as over 180
feet long or 55
meters,
that that is a very big worm.
When it feels threatened, the boot lace swarm
releases thick mucus.
The mucus smells bad to humans, but it's
not toxic to us or other mammals, but
a recent study revealed that it contains toxins
that can kill
crustaceans, and even some insects.
We talked about the painted lady Butterfly in
episode 02:03,
which was about insect migrations.
The painted lady is a small, pretty butterfly
that lives throughout much of the world, even
the Arctic, but not South America for some
reason.
Some
populations stay put year round, but some migrate
long distances.
1
population winters in tropical Africa,
and travels as far as the arctic circle
during summer, a distance of 4500
miles or 7200
kilometers,
which takes 6
generations. The butterflies who travel back to Africa,
fly at high altitude,
Unlike monarch
butterflies that fly quite low to the ground
most of the time.
Unlike the monarch, painted ladies don't always migrate
every year.
In October of 20 13, a researcher in
a small country in South America called French
Guyana,
found some painted lady butterflies on the beach.
Gerard Tal was visiting from Spain when he
noticed the butterflies. And while he recognized them
immediately, he knew they weren't found in South
America, But here they were.
There were maybe a few dozen of them,
and he noticed that they all looked pretty
ragged as though they've flown a long way.
He captured several to examine more closely.
A genetic study determined that the butterflies weren't
from North America, but belonged to the group's
found in Africa and Europe. The question was,
how did they get to South America.
Tal teamed up with scientists
from lots of different disciplines
to figure out the mystery. Their findings were
only published last month in June of 20
24.
The butterflies most likely rode a well known
wind current called the Sahara air layer, which
blows enough dust from the Sahara to South
America, that it has an impact on the
Amazon River Basin. The trip from Africa to
South America would have taken the butterflies 5
to 8 days and they would have been
able to glide most of the time, thus
conserving energy. Until this study, no 1 realized
this sahara air layer could trans poor insects.
We talked about the giant Grade 8 croatian
giga
in episode 03:48
And only a few months later, a new
study found that it went extinct 100000
years earlier than scientists had thought,
The study tested the age of the cave
soils where Dag
teeth have been discovered to see how old
it was. And tested the teeth again too.
As we talked about in episode 03:48,
gigantic
ate fruit and other plant material, and because
it was so big, it would have needed
a lot of it. It lived in thick
forests, but as the overall climate changed around
700000
years ago, the forest environment changed 2. Other
great apes living in Asia at the time
we're able to adapt to these changes, but
Gigantic
couldn't find enough food to sustain its population.
At It went extinct between 295002
hundred 15000 years ago, according to the new
study. Which is actually later than I had
in episode 03:48,
where I wrote that it would extinct 350000
years ago, Where did I get my information?
I do not know. I could not find
it again.
All I can assume is that I made
a typo at some point? And did not
catch it and just
replicated the mistake.
The first footprints of a terror bird were
discovered recently in Argentina dating to 8000000 years
ago. We talked about terror birds in episode
202.
The footprints were made by a medium sized
bird that was walking across a mud flat,
and the track is beautifully
preserved, which allows scientists
to determine lots of new information such as
how fast the bird could run, how its
toes would have helped it run or catch
prey and how heavy the bird was. We
don't know what species of terror bird made
the tracks, but we know it was a
terror bird,
We talked about the extinction of the Mammoth
in episode 02:56,
especially the last
population of mammoth to survive.
They lived on W Island. A mountainous island
in the Arctic ocean off the coast of
Western Siberia,
which was cut off from the Mainland about
10000 years ago when ocean levels rose.
Mammoth
survived on the island until about 4000 years
ago, which is several hundred years after the
great pyramid of Ge was built. It's kind
of weird to imagine ancient egyptians building pyramids,
And at the same time, mammoth were quietly
living on Ren Island, and the egyptians had
no idea what mammoth were. And vice versa,
A 20 17
genetic study stated that the last surviving mammoth
were highly in bread. And prone to multiple
genetic issues as a result, But a study
released in June of 20 24,
reevaluate the populations genetic diversity and made a
much different
determination. The population did show in breeding and
low genetic diversity,
but not to an extent that it would
have affected the individual's health. The population was
stable and healthy right to the end,
In that case, why did the last mammoth
go extinct.
Humans arrived on the island for the first
time around 1700
Bce
But we don't know if they encountered mammoth
or if they did if they killed any.
There's no evidence either way.
All we know is that whatever happened, it
must have been widespread and cataclysmic
to kill all several hundred of the Mammoth,
on Ren Island.
We talked about the Ding in episode 02:32
about animals that are only semi domesticated
That episode came out in 20 21.
And last year, Caleb suggested we learn more
about the Ding go. I found a really
interesting 20 22 study that reevaluate the Ding
genome and made some interesting discoveries.
The ding was probably brought to Australia by
humans somewhere between 3580
500 years ago. And after the t scene
was driven to extinction in the early twentieth
century, it became the continent
Apex predator.
Genetic studies in the past have shown that
it's most closely related to the new guinea
singing dog, but the 20 22 study compared
the Ding genome to that of 5 modern
dog breeds, the oldest known dog breed, 20
The Be
and the Greenland Wolf. The results show that
the Ding is genetically in between wolves and
dogs,
an intermediary that shows us what the dog's
journey to domestic
may have looked like. The study also discovered
something else interesting.
Domestic dogs have multiple copies of a gene
that controls digestion, which allows them to eat
a wide variety of foods.
The ding only has 1 copy of that
gene, which means it can't digest a lot
of foods that other dogs can.
Remember, the Ding has spent thousands of years
adapting to eat the native animals of Australia.
When white settlers arrived, they would kill Ding
because they thought their livestock was in danger
from them. The study shows that the Ding
has little to no interest in livestock,
because it would have trouble digesting, for instance,
a lamb or a calf.
The animals most likely to be hurting livestock
are domestic dogs that are allowed to run
wild.
We'll finish with a mystery animal called the
lava bear. In the early twentieth century
starting in 19 17,
A strange type of bear kept being seen
in Oregon in the United States.
Its fur was light brown like a G
bears, But otherwise, it looked like a black
bear, except for its size, which was very
small. The largest was only about 18 inches
tall at the back or 46 centimeters,
and did only weighed about 35 pounds or
16 kilograms
That's the size of an ordinary dog, not
even a big dog.
Ordinarily, a black can stand 3 feet tall
at the back. Or about 91 centimeters
and weighs around 175
pounds or 79 kilograms
and a big male can be twice that
weight and much taller.
The small bear was seen in desert,
especially around old lava beds. Which is where
it gets its name. A shepherd shot 1
in 19 17,
thinking it was a bear cub. And when
he retrieved the body, he was a prize
to find it was an adult. He had
it taxi
and photographs of it were published in the
newspapers and a hunting magazine.
Which brought more hunters to the area.
People speculated that the animal might be an
unknown species of bear, possibly related to the
g or black bear and maybe even a
new species of some bear, a small bear
native to Asia.
Over the next 17 years, many lava bears
were killed by hunters and several were captured
for
exhibition. When scientists finally got a chance to
examine 1, they discovered that it was just
a black bear. Its small size was due
to
malnutrition. Since it lived in a harsh environment
without a lot of food, and its light
color fur was well within the range of
fur color for an American black bear.
Lava bears are still
occasionally cited in the area around Fossil lake.
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Boop boop finally done that took forever
Genetic studies in the past have shown that
it's most closely related to the new...
To the new guinea
blah blah blah. To the new guinea singing.
Oh my gosh. Why is this so hard?