1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,920 You're listening to Weird and Dead, the paleontology podcast 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:08,920 that tells evolutions most embarrassing and bizarre 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:10,440 stories. I'm Megan Wetherell. 4 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,600 And I'm Amy Atwater, and we are two living scientists who are 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:15,680 weirdly excited about dead things. 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:20,640 On the last episode, we got so overwhelmed that we ran out of 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,160 time to talk about two more sets of horrible, mostly naked hands. 8 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:28,400 Let's dive into the eye. Iconic finger for fishing out 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,080 bugs and boogers and then some very defamed members of the 10 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,000 possum community. They're the mullet of marsupials 11 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:37,680 queued up front, petrifying down below. 12 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,680 And like always, we're gross. You know this. 13 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:45,200 Check the content warnings before continuing, especially if 14 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,120 you are grossed out by boogers. Amy is a booger sommelier. 15 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:58,620 I'm proud. I think this is a 2 parter about 16 00:00:58,620 --> 00:01:04,379 how mad we are about fingers. So let's talk about the better 17 00:01:04,459 --> 00:01:07,560 fingers, eye, eyes. Absolutely. 18 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,080 Because talking about. Cute. 19 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:13,680 We're getting so cute. This is like, yeah, this is this 20 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:18,240 is my eye eye era. I am in my I'm never doing my 21 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:19,560 hair. I'm living in the. 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,760 Trees. I'm using my incisors to chew. 23 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:29,280 Been electrocuted. I found out even more wild shit 24 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:34,040 about eyes this week and the radial sesmoid comes into play. 25 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,040 Oh my. God, that's. 26 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,920 One of the things that make I is additionally, it's like one of 27 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:45,080 my last notes. So there's plenty of other 28 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:49,920 incredible I I information and they really if you type into any 29 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,800 search engine and say freaky animal fingers, you're only 30 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,200 going to get results on. I is like that's just they kind 31 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,480 of reign supreme in terms of freaky fingers, and we're 32 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,920 largely are a big inspiration for us to go down this rabbit 33 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,280 hole. I mean, we love to talk about I 34 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:09,520 is, we've talked about them many times before, but. 35 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:14,360 As many times as possible. I eyes are great. 36 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:17,720 I do have to say that I was listening to Britney while I was 37 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:21,680 writing all of this because still to this day Britney Spears 38 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:26,920 is like my go to writing music. I don't know how it just is. 39 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,600 I don't question it. I just put it on and I was 40 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:31,120 listening. I mean, she does listen to a lot 41 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,160 of songs, but I was particularly listening to Lucky as I'm 42 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:41,600 reading about I guys. Then Britney's like I, I, I, and 43 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,200 I was like Britney. You too. 44 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,680 You're also obsessed with this particular primate. 45 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:56,880 I was like Britney. I knew we had so much in common. 46 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:01,360 We love to make deranged dance videos. 47 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,080 I just never post mine. I just never post mine. 48 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,320 I got them. I've sent some to you. 49 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:11,960 I just don't post. You only post them if you're in 50 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,880 costume and then. You post them. 51 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,240 That's been a while, but hey, maybe we could do the modern eye 52 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,960 eyes versus the giant eye eyes. I forgot they were giant eye 53 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,200 eyes. I don't know why. 54 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,880 So that's the Paleo connection here anyway. 55 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:29,200 All right, OK, I'm going to back it up. 56 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,480 So eye, eyes, if if you haven't listened to the pod, which is 57 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,960 fine, we're happy you're here. I eyes are really rare Lemurs. 58 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:41,720 They are very strange lemurs for that matter. 59 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:45,800 So again, lemurs really cool primates quite they're old in 60 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,000 terms of primates. Some of the earliest primates 61 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,080 that we had and I eyes are like the oldest of the lemurs. 62 00:03:53,080 --> 00:03:56,720 We are big fans, obviously. Yeah, because so it has some. 63 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,240 Famously ugly. Like, well, they're famously 64 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,000 ugly and so weird. Everything about them is bizarre 65 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,120 and that's fucking great. Yeah, so I have some points 66 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,880 about why I eyes are amazing and one of the things that I don't 67 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,840 know if I'd fully grasp. So one of the things that 68 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:17,399 defines lemurs is a tooth comb, which is the merging, not 69 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:19,440 merging, but the like all of your front. 70 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:21,480 Incisors. They are it. 71 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:23,880 Is it is. Yeah, it's it's what it sounds 72 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:25,440 like. It's like if you imagine a teeny 73 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:27,960 tiny little comb being made out of your front teeth on the upper 74 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,400 and lower jaws. And so lemurs have this and it's 75 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,840 very definitive of being a strepsarine and being a lemur. 76 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,280 And eye eyes actually have even weirder front teeth. 77 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:39,600 There's. It seems hard. 78 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:46,400 Continuously growing so they were when naturalist first saw 79 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,240 them and probably ate them, they identified them as rodents 80 00:04:49,280 --> 00:04:52,520 because they had ever growing incisors, which is the defining 81 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:57,040 trait of rodents hipsilodontism. So they're I think the only 82 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,520 primate that has ever growing incisors and this is an 83 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:05,440 adaptation because they gnaw on wood to to break holes into 84 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,240 that's a weird way of saying it. They not into wood to be able to 85 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,360 get into the passages and what not to get grubs out. 86 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,600 And then that's where your freaky deaky finger comes into 87 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,040 play as well. We talked about this in podcast 88 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:19,000 episode 1. Go back listen. 89 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,120 We measure things in blue whales. 90 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:23,880 It's hilarious. You know lemurs used to live all 91 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,600 across North America, right? I've found them in Wyoming and 92 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,520 all sorts of places back in the Eocene days, and they went 93 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,640 extinct everywhere except Madagascar. 94 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,480 That's kind of how it went. So we think of them being like, 95 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:37,560 oh, they're native to Madagascar. 96 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:39,520 They absolutely are. But they used to live everywhere 97 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:41,600 else too. And they got there by rafting. 98 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,280 By the time Madagascar, they colonized Madagascar, it was 99 00:05:44,280 --> 00:05:46,200 already an island off the coast of Africa. 100 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:49,080 So they ended up like on these land raft things. 101 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:50,760 Go listen to the episode. It's awesome. 102 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,680 And there's some talk that like, all the lemurs got there and 103 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,280 like, they all came over and like, they're like, oh, this is 104 00:05:57,280 --> 00:06:00,760 the most parsimonious explanation is that they all 105 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:02,440 came over. They were braiding each other's 106 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,400 head. They were like singing songs. 107 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,360 And then they all diversified from there. 108 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:10,600 And then there's some people who are like, no, have you seen that 109 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,520 motherfucker that did? Not come on the boat. 110 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:15,640 Nobody let that bitch on the boat. 111 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:18,520 No, they. Were like no, I'm sorry, go talk 112 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:20,040 to Noah, get the fuck off that was. 113 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:23,600 The nightmare that they were rafting away from, yeah, that's. 114 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,680 Like they were like, get on the boat, the fucking hi guys got 115 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,800 into the neighborhood, get out. Yeah. 116 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:33,440 So there's definitely been OK. They're also killed a lot 117 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,280 because people are superstitious about I eyes being like a black 118 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:40,280 cat kind of thing. So they just get a bad rap all 119 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,120 over the place. And there used to be a giant sub 120 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,520 fossil I I that we talked about in a bonus episode on Patreon, 121 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,680 but it was actually two to five times larger. 122 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:55,320 So today I eyes weigh about 5 lbs and this extinct 1 weighed 123 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,840 about 25 lbs OK, so that's more than two times larger. 124 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:01,680 Anyway, ignore that math. So. 125 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,320 Well, as we've discussed, the estimates on size really range. 126 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,600 So exactly. And it was, I was like, OK, so 127 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:12,000 how did you guys know how big it was? 128 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,480 It was like, well, because it was still alive when humans got 129 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:17,800 to Madagascar. And in fact, its incisors were 130 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,720 collected, drilled and used for jewelry. 131 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:24,840 And that's how we can compare like so the way that they are 132 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:33,360 reinterpreting body size is from jewelry of dead I I I incisors. 133 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,720 So paleo heritage in a really fucked up way. 134 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,040 Yeah. So they were even bigger, which 135 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:42,640 is even creepier because they have freaky hands and the sub 136 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,480 sub fossil eye eyes also had freaky diggy hands. 137 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:50,040 So they have the largest hands relative to body size in all 138 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,120 primates. They're also the largest 139 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,000 nocturnal lemurs of Madagascar, but that's doesn't really mean a 140 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,400 whole lot. It's like not a ton of 141 00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,600 competition. They're just OK. 142 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,080 But their hands are really really, really weird. 143 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,720 They also have really big ears, and that's also important too. 144 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,160 And that is because they are these specialist feeders. 145 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,120 They're almost entirely arboreal, so live in the trees 146 00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:17,520 like their entire lives, and they hunt by checking out trunks 147 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,360 and branches and trees and all that and dig in to get larvae. 148 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:25,760 And how do they do that? With their fucking terrifying 149 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:28,720 fingers. Teeth and fingers and their. 150 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:30,720 Fingers. Yeah, it's a combo that works 151 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:32,280 with their giant creepy ass ears. 152 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:33,919 So it's not their fault they're ugly. 153 00:08:33,919 --> 00:08:36,880 They're just trying to adapt. They're so I guess they're also 154 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,120 called the long fingered primate, which I think is 155 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:44,039 hilarious, but they do technically have 6 fingers as 156 00:08:44,039 --> 00:08:45,680 well. They have this pseudo thumb as 157 00:08:45,680 --> 00:08:50,200 well on this elongated expanded radial sesamoid bone. 158 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,200 Don't they have a thumb? Yeah, yeah, they have a thumb. 159 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:55,960 I've got pictures somewhere. Yeah, it's more of just like 160 00:08:55,960 --> 00:09:00,720 kind of a a hook in their palm. It doesn't go to make a full 161 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:02,680 digit. Like it doesn't go full panda 162 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:06,000 with it by any means. OK, But what is super weird 163 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,160 about it is that they have and this is where I was wrong. 164 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,200 I can admit when I'm wrong, I can't, but I'm going to say it. 165 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,280 I thought it was just their third finger that I'm showing 166 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,520 you right now. That was super go go gadget 167 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,240 finger and I'm totally wrong. Their third and 4th fingers. 168 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:25,920 So their middle finger and ring finger are really long. 169 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,920 Wait, both of them. Yeah, and what makes the middle 170 00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:33,440 one weird is that it is super skinny and skeletal. 171 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,480 Yeah, it's really skinny. Yeah, I thought it was just the 172 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,120 one. Is there a picture on this? 173 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:39,960 Go. Ahead and scroll, keep 174 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:44,280 scrolling, scroll to that. So I have seen so many pictures 175 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,160 where I see that fourth finger and I go, that's the wonky eye 176 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:50,920 eye finger. And it is, but it's only one of 177 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,440 the wonky eye fingers because their middle finger is almost 178 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:56,320 the same length. It's actually not as long as 179 00:09:56,320 --> 00:10:01,400 their 4th digit is, but it is creepy, teeny tiny and I'm going 180 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,520 to tell tell you about all the disgusting ways they use it 181 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,880 because it gets weird. Yeah, I always thought that they 182 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,280 had one long finger because I make that joke about like how my 183 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:13,960 mother plays Junga tip tap tapping with one finger. 184 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,920 But no, they've got double the Junga fingers. 185 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,200 Interesting. And I made a finger for the 186 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:24,840 occasion for this too. She's put like a roll of paper 187 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,960 on her finger. Tap. 188 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,520 Tap, tap, tap. I'm not in the restroom. 189 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:32,640 Tap, tap. The third finger is super duper 190 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:34,880 long. And this is because of this this 191 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:36,760 adaptation for their hunting lifestyle. 192 00:10:36,760 --> 00:10:39,280 They're almost entirely insectivorous, so they're eating 193 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,680 grubs and larva. So what they do is they go and 194 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,320 use their creepy middle finger that's really skinny and they 195 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,720 tap, tap, tap. I got to stop saying that on 196 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:51,360 like a log. And their freaky deaky ears can 197 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,320 tell if it's hollow or not or if there's a grub inside. 198 00:10:55,640 --> 00:11:00,080 And then they use their freaky ever growing tea teeth to gnaw a 199 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:04,560 hole into said log. And then they use their skeletal 200 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:09,040 finger to dive in and hook it out because the end of it is 201 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:12,840 literally like a hook. And this finger, the third 202 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,000 finger where it meets the metacarp. 203 00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:19,080 Nope. I should have practiced saying 204 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,360 that. Metacarpophalangeal. 205 00:11:21,360 --> 00:11:23,400 There you go. Metacarpophalangeal joint is a 206 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:25,720 ball and socket joint. Megan. 207 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,920 Oh my God. So they can rotate it all 208 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:32,040 different directions. It is like your hip or shoulder 209 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:35,040 joint in your middle finger. Think of all the people you 210 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,320 could flip off from, how many directions it'd be amazing. 211 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,480 And that is so that they're able to straight up rotate and go 212 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,200 into all of these logs and just check everything out with this 213 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:48,720 insane straight up ball and socket joint. 214 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:51,600 So you can scroll to your next image to see both. 215 00:11:51,600 --> 00:11:55,920 A skeletal reconstruction that shows you it's where the 216 00:11:55,920 --> 00:12:00,560 metacarpal meets the phalanx of the 3rd digit. 217 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,160 So we're talking about where it's going from the palm to the 218 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:08,840 digits here and that can kind of swivel around like a full blown. 219 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:12,160 That looks like horse tails. It does. 220 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,200 Like the plant? Not, yeah, not the pony. 221 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,360 And it's the eye eye is on the left. 222 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:22,400 And then it's looking at other primates as a comparison to give 223 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:26,680 a frame of reference for how freaky deaky these fingers 224 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,000 really, really go. And then you can see our little 225 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:33,440 guy here of an eye eye who actually looks pretty cute in 226 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,280 this image. This is a juvenile eye eye. 227 00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,680 If you want to see the cutest baby eye eyes, I cannot 228 00:12:39,680 --> 00:12:42,880 recommend the Duke Lemur Center's Instagram account more. 229 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:46,840 I am their number one fan. I don't know if they know that, 230 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,320 but I know that I get such joy from their posts. 231 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,920 Highly highly highly recommend. OK, so they can also do other 232 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,800 freaky deaky things with. Not just this scrub digging and 233 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:02,040 they're not to be clear, they're not like chop sticking right. 234 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,040 That's not why they have the fourth finger all so long. 235 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:09,200 It's just they're. Also highly arboreal, so those 236 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:14,360 long other fingers are also AIDS and being a very arboreal 237 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:18,680 primate species, except for the fucking fact. 238 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:21,800 Oh, so they call this type of feeding percussive foraging. 239 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,920 And it is it's using sound as well as this, this ability to, I 240 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:30,040 mean, they always call it tapping to be able to, yeah, to 241 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:33,680 listen for the echoes of these hollow areas. 242 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:38,000 But the other things that these researchers figured out by 243 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:42,280 observing eye eyes in captivity is they can also use these 244 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:46,200 fingers to pick their own nose all the way down to their 245 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,520 throat. Just the worst time like 246 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:55,080 maneuver of all time, like, oh, you're choking, let me get that 247 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,560 for you. Yeah, but they're not choking. 248 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,120 They're doing it to eat their own snot. 249 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,920 They have been observed in the captivity, I shouldn't say in 250 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,640 the wild, to be able to do this. So if you want to go ahead and 251 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,480 scroll to your next image, which is my favorite scientific figure 252 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,680 of all time, please describe what you see. 253 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:23,000 OK, so this looks like it's part CT scan and part really weird 254 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,000 choices on drawing where they've you've got a side profile of an 255 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,320 eye eye, someone has put false eyelashes on it I. 256 00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:34,800 Love that part though, I love it. 257 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,440 So big are they. Really look so good. 258 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,400 This eye eye is ready for Love Island. 259 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:43,920 I will tell you what. Yeah, this eye, when it blinks, 260 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:48,080 it causes wind. I think those are actually 261 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,800 whiskers is what they're supposed to be. 262 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:51,480 But they look like false eyelashes. 263 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:57,480 And in green, we've got the bones of a hand and they've cut 264 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,280 off most of the rest of the fingers except for the Super 265 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,680 long freaky finger, and it is going in through the nose all 266 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:09,560 the way down to the throat. That is so gross. 267 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:13,760 We should be hiring these for like endoscopies like this is 268 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:16,280 the endoscopy. Rude. 269 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:23,360 I was going to say like I I have to use a neti pot, I can't use 270 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,320 my own. Fingers as a neti pot. 271 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,800 You know, like, wow, life finds a way. 272 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,400 So I will say this, this article was hilarious because they this 273 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:35,680 other article I found about it was the the researchers smartly 274 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,200 did not attempt to scan an I, I while picking its nose. 275 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:43,400 So they scanned an I, I and then took, as you've noticed, a the, 276 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:47,080 the, the skeletal of the hands and then combined them into this 277 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:52,160 image and they are very, very, very good at it. 278 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,120 And if you want to click on the little YouTube video, you can 279 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:57,960 watch this I I picking her own nose. 280 00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,880 Yeah, obviously I want to watch this. 281 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:01,640 Oh, good. It's in dark vision. 282 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,400 It gets to the point right away. We don't have to watch the whole 283 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:05,120 thing. Oh. 284 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:08,080 My God. Well, she is going after it. 285 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,200 She's having a what's? In your nose, girl. 286 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,480 Nothing now. And now she's scratching her 287 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,800 face with it. She's just now she's just 288 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,000 hitting herself in the eyes. Well, it's dark. 289 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,760 Yeah, OK. Well, that's that's really 290 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:28,840 gross, but right. To Lexus, that's what it's 291 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:30,200 called. Nose picking. 292 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:35,360 It is an actual terminology. Fancy fucking term for nose 293 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,920 picking. And they went on, this is where 294 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,920 it got as if it hasn't been gross already. 295 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:47,520 But they notice it's called mucophagy, where you eat your 296 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,280 own boogers. Also pretty, you know, 297 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,800 delicious. And that's really what they seem 298 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,640 to be going after. So then their question is why? 299 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,640 And then they go and they're like, we studied it. 300 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,960 And 11 other species of primates, including humans and 301 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,960 humans, report that humans pick their nose due to texture, 302 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:11,520 crunchiness and saltiness of the it's not characteristics. 303 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,200 Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this to us? 304 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:16,800 Do you understand the content warnings we're going to have to 305 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:22,079 put on this now? Content warning? 306 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:24,960 Descriptions of why you might eat snot. 307 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,520 Yeah, crunchy. Apparently. 308 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:30,000 I just. I did. 309 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,800 They interview a summer camp. You know, I'm just like how many 310 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,240 children? I mean, my son is fully in his 311 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:38,680 nose picking era. It is, you know, I'm just like, 312 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,760 get it, get it, get it, get it go a little I, I go. 313 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,080 So of course there isn't an answer as to why the fuck this I 314 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,320 I is eating its own snot besides the fact it wants to and a bunch 315 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,080 of other primates do this too. A lot of other animals do this 316 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:58,680 as well, so even giraffes will lick and eat their own nasal 317 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,560 mucus by swirling their tongues around. 318 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,040 You saw how long those tongues were and just up the nose 319 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,000 cleaner on out. And maybe it's for breed, like 320 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,400 maybe they are their own neti pot like go go gadget. 321 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,600 I mean, I'm sure you know you can be in your own neti pot 322 00:18:14,120 --> 00:18:17,600 without eating your snot, but I guess you would have to clean 323 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,000 your finger off if you're going to double dip. 324 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,520 Otherwise you're just pushing snot back in. 325 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,080 And who wants snot on their clothes? 326 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,760 Not the I I who doesn't wear clothes, but they don't want it 327 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,040 on their fur either. Right. 328 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,160 It's like you're going to clear it out, but what are you going 329 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,000 to do with it except for then that's just putting it right 330 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:40,280 back into the same system. Well, I mean, you know, it's not 331 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,360 in your nose is different, I would assume because it's it 332 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:48,920 impedes their breathing and it's not as like an evolutionary 333 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:51,320 function. It's meant to trap bacteria. 334 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:55,680 That's what most mucus is for. So, yeah, and that bacteria is 335 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:58,080 not necessarily going to be dangerous when it goes down into 336 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,040 your VAT of stomach acid. It's not like food poisoning 337 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:03,840 bacteria. It's bacteria that would be bad 338 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,800 to get into your lungs. So food poisoning from your snot 339 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:08,280 would be pretty embarrassing though. 340 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,200 Well, yeah, that, but wouldn't you have already been poisoned 341 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,480 if it was that bad? If it was in your nose, it was 342 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,000 probably going to. But see, I feel like Doctor 343 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,240 Weatherall here is fully endorsing eating one's own snot. 344 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,680 I'm endorsing. If you have to pick your nose, 345 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,040 maybe get a napkin. You're a person, you know. 346 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:31,280 Sorry, Amy. Isn't it delightful though? 347 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:34,680 It's so gorgeous. So yes, I read this. 348 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,640 I read an article about this years ago and I've been like, so 349 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,320 excited to get it into a podcast episode since we started the 350 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:46,080 podcast to talk about how I eyes use their creepy skeletal skinny 351 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,160 finger to pick their own nose and eat their own boogers. 352 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,200 Heard it here first, everybody. So, you know, it's a 353 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:57,600 multifunctional tool. And I just the other day was 354 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,280 watching my sheep perform a behavior that I'm wondering if 355 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,040 the eye I can do more effectively, which is that the 356 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,480 sheep really think it's super great to walk up to one of our 357 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:11,120 gates, lift their tails and rub their assholes to scratch their 358 00:20:11,120 --> 00:20:14,320 butt holes all over it. So, you know, you come down 359 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,480 there the right time of day, you see a whole bunch of sheep just 360 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,080 scratching their assholes on fences real specific to butt 361 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:21,400 holes too. They're really getting in there 362 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:26,400 and I'm just wondering. Do I eyes use this to perform 363 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,080 their own colonoscopy? Level. 364 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,400 Oh my God, what a great question. 365 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,600 Thank you. They got to put it in every 366 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:35,000 hole. I mean, you got it, I mean. 367 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:39,000 It's a night I you know who's going to judge them. 368 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:41,560 They've already got so much going against. 369 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,560 Have they ever seen them cleaning out their own earwax 370 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:48,760 like this too? Oh my God, they've got their own 371 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,440 Q-tip. Yeah, yeah, 'cause it's so 372 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,920 skinny, it just, it's and a little guy just fits. 373 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,080 Yeah, I bet they do clean their I I guarantee they're doing that 374 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:00,800 to their ears. I'm not sure they're doing it to 375 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:02,640 their butt holes, but they. Probably. 376 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:04,280 Are. Yeah, yeah, probably. 377 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,080 Yeah. I mean, at least every teenage 378 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:07,960 eye. Eye at some. 379 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,600 Point it sticks and they're sticking it probably at each 380 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:12,440 other's butt holes, you know? Yeah, it's all. 381 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,440 Good. It's all good, right? 382 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,720 Right, right. That's another defining 383 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,400 characteristics to primates. That's right. 384 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,240 Yeah, we grew. It's great. 385 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:27,520 Oh yeah, it's, it's delightful. And what I love to think about 386 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,920 is, again, this is like a 5 LB I, I or whatever they might be a 387 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,080 little bit bigger than that, but if we're talking about a giant 388 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,800 I, I that's like 20 to 25 lbs. It's also got these crazy long 389 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,080 fingers. The idea of this giant, not 390 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:44,960 giant, but like small dog sized primate picking its own nose and 391 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:47,640 then people being like, Yum. That looks delicious. 392 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:49,600 Preseasoned. It's. 393 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:50,880 Preseasoned. Yeah. 394 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,440 Just look. And I was, I, I was reading 395 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,480 these papers and seeing. I'm really good at that. 396 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,920 It's just like Brittany. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 397 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,000 I was reading that. Yeah. 398 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,080 So they also have this 6th digit modified thumb that is also 399 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:15,320 formed by an expanded radial sesamoid bone and cartilage that 400 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:20,200 has been historically compared to pandas, but it's not nearly 401 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,760 as pronounced as pandas and is also thought to be an arboreal 402 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:28,200 so life in the trees adaptation kind of thing and not so much 403 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,440 directly tied to this percussion eating that they are also known 404 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:36,120 for. And I saw some other animals 405 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:41,760 have similar fingers to some of these adaptations that you might 406 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:47,960 be telling me more about. One more content and you don't 407 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,640 want to wait, or maybe you don't want to hear ads like this? 408 00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:53,760 Well, head on over to our Patreon for exclusive content, 409 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:56,480 early ad free episodes, and so much more. 410 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,520 For only $5 a month, you can hear outtakes, exclusive 411 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,800 episodes, and the stuff we cut for time, and also the stuff we 412 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,920 cut because it was just too much for the general public. 413 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,400 Looking for fresh fashion with a science twist? 414 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:13,640 Be sure to check out Geopedal Fabric Megane Clothing Company. 415 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:16,760 These geek chic designs look fantastic and make for excellent 416 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,000 conversation starters. Plus, get 10% off using code 417 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,040 weird and dead. Head on over to 418 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:29,240 geopedalfabric.com now. Yeah, so as it turns out, I had 419 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,920 to really dance away from reading certain papers because 420 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,720 they were primarily about eye eyes. 421 00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,680 Wow, she just squeezed your water bottle too hard. 422 00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:39,200 I didn't. There's the pressure. 423 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,200 I didn't open it since I came up the hill and that was the 424 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,760 elevation. Wow, it just. 425 00:23:44,200 --> 00:23:47,000 Sounds like a water fountain. Sorry, I just need water y'all. 426 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,520 Yeah, so I had to stop reading a whole bunch of papers because 427 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:52,720 even though they did mention the animal that I'm going to talk 428 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:57,040 about, the last Freaky Fingers episode, they were primarily 429 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:01,920 about eye eyes with the striped possum being kind of an 430 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,000 accessory animal. So that's the animal that I got 431 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,720 to look into last. And striped possums. 432 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,720 First off, these are Australian possums, so they are cute. 433 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:15,200 They have fuzzy tails. As opposed to are you just like 434 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:19,080 very racist in your I racist in your possums here have. 435 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,080 You fucking seen an American possum? 436 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,280 I think they're adorable. You know why they're called 437 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:25,800 opossums? It's because it's like. 438 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:31,720 Possum, that's good. That's good, yeah. 439 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,320 Our opossums are disgusting and have nasty rat tails and my God 440 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,680 they're so. Cute and they have tribuspenic 441 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,000 dentition and they're beautiful. And Kelly and I at our apartment 442 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,360 in Georgia, we're like, what is that strange noise? 443 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,760 And we looked in the field behind our apartment from our 444 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:49,560 little balcony and they were possums having sex and it was so 445 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,600 awesome. I watched the whole thing, it 446 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,320 was so cool. I was just like nature is 447 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,880 everywhere everyone. I am in the heart of Atlanta 448 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:01,520 watching these possums spoon fuck it was impressive. 449 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,480 I will send you the video. I took many, of course. 450 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:09,320 You took a video. It was so cool. 451 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,240 I tried to send Patreon for possum porn. 452 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:17,160 Oh my God. OK. 453 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:21,600 OK, so Australian possums. Australian possums are cute. 454 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,880 Whatever, there are some South American possums that are also 455 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:26,240 cute by. The way because traditionally, 456 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,560 yeah, it's just North American shit ones. 457 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,040 Those are just the bad ones. Everybody else has better. 458 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:39,600 They got the upgraded possum like just this is just such a 459 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:41,920 fucking Appalachian level deviant. 460 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,360 It's not cute. So the possums that I'm going to 461 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:49,360 talk about are, they're striped possums and I'm going to attempt 462 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:51,000 to pronounce their scientific name here. 463 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,760 Dactylo dactylopcilla. Dactylopcilla Dactylopcilla 464 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:00,640 which does mean naked hand. Finger OK. 465 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:04,280 Naked hands because well. I mean, I saw some naked hands 466 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,360 too that day. I bet you did so, and that's The 467 00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:12,000 thing is that, well, Australian possums are on the whole cuter. 468 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,240 I will say striped possums are kind of taking a step back 469 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,240 towards North America with their hands. 470 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:22,960 So their scientific name means naked hands. 471 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,120 And I want you to Scroll down to the first image. 472 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:31,680 Oh my God. Oh my God. 473 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,680 Talk about business on the top and party on the bottom. 474 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:39,160 I mean, wow, wow. I'm getting Pan's Labyrinth. 475 00:26:39,360 --> 00:26:42,600 Like I'm getting, oh, those are terrifying. 476 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:47,480 It's like a cute animal, very cute, very just generic mammal 477 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:49,720 looking. And then you see it's 478 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:53,880 terrifying. Like monster hands that are 479 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,920 naked hands. Yeah, it yeah. 480 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,720 It's like they are like really into waxing the hair off of 481 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,600 their hands and feet. Yep, just their hands and feet. 482 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,400 They do still have the cute Australian possum tail. 483 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:09,240 They didn't go full naked and they have one elongated finger 484 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:13,280 and it is their ring finger and their ring finger. 485 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:16,080 They also have they actually have quite a lot of the same 486 00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:20,200 adaptations that eye eyes do. They have the the longer finger. 487 00:27:20,200 --> 00:27:24,240 It's also a little skinnier. They have a Beaver face. 488 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:27,640 They have like elongated incisors that are directed so 489 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:32,160 that they can chew wood. My sheep are outside and the 490 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:34,000 dogs are chasing them. Sorry. 491 00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:37,720 My toddler is upstairs now and he is making noise so. 492 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:39,360 Apologizing. Yep. 493 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,280 Before I get into some of these adaptations for opossums, I 494 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,800 wanted to read you some of the sentences that I found on 495 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,200 Wikipedia about them because I do feel like this genus of 496 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,400 opossums suffers from kind of the same problems that we saw 497 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,120 with the rodent episode. Yeah, where? 498 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:01,760 It's like someone who wrote the Pedia article didn't like them 499 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:06,160 like their enemy wrote a passive aggressive Wikipedia article. 500 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,800 So right success. Placental mammals were like 501 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:12,840 fuck. You fuck you fucking. 502 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,280 Your stupid, ugly hands. The rest of the marsupials are 503 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,760 trying to kick them out. Yeah, it is most easily found by 504 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,120 the sound it makes chewing and drinking in the forest. 505 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,400 Me too. I mean like me too. 506 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,840 It emits a very powerfully unpleasant smell. 507 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,640 It is noisy and growls. Me too, yeah. 508 00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:41,400 OK, so I'm a possum. Does not form social groups. 509 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,840 You could just say it lives independently. 510 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:48,640 It is solitary, but no, it does not form social groups. 511 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,760 Uses their unpleasant odor to warm other striped possums to 512 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,720 stay out of their area. Maybe they like it. 513 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:57,960 Yeah, maybe. They're into it. 514 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,080 You don't know. You weren't there. 515 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,120 We don't know. So. 516 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:07,400 I'm sorry this guy, I can't tell you, but you're quite cute. 517 00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:10,280 Yeah. Besides, if I just not look at 518 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:12,440 your. Hands striped possums are one of 519 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,280 the less studied marsupials, just kind of generally, 520 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,200 presumably for all of the reasons listed above. 521 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:24,840 Researchers were like, they smell so bad and they're so 522 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,280 lonely. And in the wild, they have also 523 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,920 been reported to tap on wood with their creepy finger. 524 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,680 They don't have the big bat ears, But, you know, they were 525 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,320 tapping on wood, tearing out chunks of wood. 526 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:41,080 And a study in the 80s decided to look at what the fuck they 527 00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,480 were eating because apparently they were having some trouble 528 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,880 getting them to eat in zoos. And they also wanted to see if 529 00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,640 they were, you know, what are what are these animals eating? 530 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,880 And I thought that the list of things they attempted to feed 531 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,320 them in the zoos was kind of funny. 532 00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:00,960 Oh, I love this. It's like the zoo recipes are 533 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,480 great. I love that. 534 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,520 From Flamingos, Yeah. Oh yeah, it only lists 4 things 535 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,320 and then one thing. They figured out that it liked 536 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,200 fruits like mango and banana? OK, seems normal. 537 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,600 Locusts and jam? Sure. 538 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:20,120 And jam. Doesn't like any of those, by 539 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,200 the way. Those were the four foods that 540 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,760 they tried. Why would you try jam? 541 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:30,080 They figured out that it ate termites, so it just seemed 542 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:35,840 like, yeah, really throw in like some weird combinations of items 543 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:37,800 at this. Point that just speaks to me 544 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,120 that someone was like, fuck, I made so much jam this summer. 545 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:42,160 What am I going to do with all this? 546 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,880 Which I have been in this situation last year when we were 547 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,600 processing all those grapes, I was just like, fuck, I still 548 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:50,720 have so much frozen grape juice in my freezer. 549 00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,440 Yeah. So yeah, that's weird. 550 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,440 Yeah. I like biscuits with jam. 551 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,680 No likes fucking termites. Likes termites, maybe with jam, 552 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,560 but they do seem to actually be there. 553 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:05,840 There's some evidence that maybe they eat bananas in the wild, 554 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:07,840 just not the shitty zoo bananas I. 555 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,920 Love watching videos of possums eating bananas. 556 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,040 I used to watch that in Graduate School. 557 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:15,880 They're like, they look terrifying. 558 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,240 It's so cute. And then maybe sugar canes that 559 00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:21,880 they'll chew on sugar canes, but that might also be because 560 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,120 there's bugs and sugar canes. So, right. 561 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:28,160 But they use their upper in sizes as a fulcrum to like take 562 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,200 off chunks of wood. And they did a study and they 563 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,000 like looked at their digestive tract and they found it's just 564 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,680 full of bark. And they really emphasized, 565 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,960 again, insulting the possum. They were like, this has the 566 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:44,320 shortest digestive tract we've ever seen in a marsupial to the 567 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:46,640 extent where there's an image and I didn't include it because 568 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,840 it's just stupid. But they like took out the 569 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,840 digestive tracts so like the throat, the stomach, the 570 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:56,240 intestines of a striped possum and like a kids macaroni art put 571 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,920 it next to like a regular marsupial so you could see how 572 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,120 short it is. Kind of just like see what even 573 00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,120 is a? Regular marsupial though. 574 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,160 They're inherently weird like that. 575 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,640 What do you mean by that? They got 2 vaginas. 576 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,200 You know, like come on, 2 vaginas. 577 00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:13,240 And longer digestive tracts, yeah. 578 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:14,560 OK. So. 579 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,840 They don't get it, man. They don't necessarily need it, 580 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,200 but they don't. It means that they're limited. 581 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:22,760 It's probably why they're not eating a whole lot of fruit and 582 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,080 jam and definitely why they're not eating right. 583 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:28,600 Like they basically can't. They can't break things down, 584 00:32:28,680 --> 00:32:31,400 things that pass really quickly through their digestive tract. 585 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:34,840 So they eat things that are really high energy. 586 00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,240 The wood is a byproduct of them going after termites and ants 587 00:32:38,520 --> 00:32:41,840 because termites and ants they yeah, they pass the woods so 588 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,240 they can get it just. Like I'm going to build. 589 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:45,040 Me out. That's fiber. 590 00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:49,720 That's just fiber, yeah. Clear it out, no cold out here. 591 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:51,480 Baby exactly. Yep. 592 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,960 And they just and then the going for those little Nuggets of 593 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,760 termites, OK, right. Yeah, that's good. 594 00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,840 Yeah. So they're they, they describe 595 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,400 them as arboreal anteaters, and then another. 596 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:04,840 Paper. Hey, that's cool. 597 00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:06,360 Yeah. Do they have a paper describing 598 00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,920 this woodpeckers? They do have a long tongue as 599 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,360 well. I was not able to find a picture 600 00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,560 or any estimates. It was just it. 601 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:14,920 Doesn't sound like it seems like people just are. 602 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,680 Not really. I mean, like, I couldn't find 603 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:17,280 that many. Yeah. 604 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,400 Anyway, yeah, some of these animals are just. 605 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,960 Very ignored. There's four species within this 606 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,640 genus. The one you're looking at is Tri 607 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,360 verchata, Tri vergata, something like that. 608 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,280 It's the striped, striped possum. 609 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,480 They're all striped, but that's what it was named after. 610 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:34,960 And it's, I would say probably the best studied and even it is 611 00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:37,400 pretty understudied. And I'm going to go ahead and 612 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:40,920 have you Scroll down to the reason that I don't think 613 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:42,800 anybody studies or likes these possums. 614 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:48,040 Why don't you describe what you're seeing? 615 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,080 The one in this Bush here. Yeah, Yeah. 616 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,320 Oh, that is, I mean, can I count those fingers? 617 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,080 That's a lot of. So it again, it looks like 618 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,560 relatively cute. And then it kind of looks like 619 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:02,840 AI, how AI cannot get hands, right. 620 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:06,320 And it's like this again, it's a cute little thing, actually does 621 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:10,480 have pretty big ears, relatively very cute little face, fluffy 622 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:15,000 little body. And then it just has very thin 623 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:20,600 long witch's claws like it is. I want to zoom in. 624 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:24,800 Yeah, this one has like an eye eye finger. 625 00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,679 This one has a creepy long skinny finger and. 626 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:32,159 But if I'm counting my fingers correctly, it has. 627 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:33,840 I think there's too. Many. 628 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,400 Too many. There's a foot involved in 629 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,120 there. Oh OK, cuz oh oh, I see. 630 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:42,560 OK, it's a hand over a foot. I was looking at this and I was 631 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:44,560 like, Megan, this is like 8 fingers. 632 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,280 It's a hand over a foot. So I'm counting 6 fingers 633 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:50,760 anyway. OK but that makes more sense. 634 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,280 And this is the ring finger, I think that is. 635 00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:55,040 Yeah, I believe it's the ring finger. 636 00:34:55,679 --> 00:34:57,920 Yeah. And it's so much longer in this 637 00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,840 species. But this is not the species that 638 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,240 has been studied. I think this species lives in 639 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:04,320 like, Indonesia, not in Australia. 640 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:09,280 And its scientific name is what I think we should basically 641 00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:11,720 finish this off on. Because if you thought that that 642 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:17,120 Wikipedia article was awful and mean and cruel, which I kind of 643 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:21,240 did the scientific name. So remember that the genus name 644 00:35:21,240 --> 00:35:28,400 means naked hands and the the species name is palpator, which 645 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:32,160 means to palpate or grope. This is groping. 646 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:34,960 They groping naked hands. Naked groping hands. 647 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,200 Naked groping hands. That's what this I'm so sorry. 648 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,000 I'm so sorry. That's almost worse than all the 649 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,240 fish that are called like tiny penis fish. 650 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:48,160 You know, I'm just like, we don't know that you grope. 651 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:49,920 That's rude. It's just so. 652 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:52,080 Well, I mean, I think you grope. You just grope. 653 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,160 Maybe for bugs. For bugs, that's a bug. 654 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,280 That's better. That's way better. 655 00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:01,080 That's a much better option. Oh, man, that is wild. 656 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:04,440 And that's those are yeah, that's that's definitely I I 657 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:06,640 territory there with that that finger. 658 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:08,520 Yeah, yeah. Like that first one, I was like, 659 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,040 man, I don't remember why this came up when I was looking for 660 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,880 freaky fingers. Like, that's weird, but it's not 661 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:14,680 that weird. And then I looked up the other 662 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,360 species and was like, oh, shit, OK, That's why. 663 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:19,520 That's why these come up. Fuck me. 664 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,920 Because yeah, those are some long, long fingers. 665 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:26,320 Those are some long fingers. They are. 666 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,080 And I think, you know, people should go study that. 667 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,880 Go go study it. And then, yeah, the last thing I 668 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:35,240 have for you is that as I was Googling all of these things, I 669 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:37,280 had to Google all sorts of terms that I couldn't remember. 670 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:40,080 And one of them was like dog Pollux. 671 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,240 I was looking it up because they were like that. 672 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,360 That's the last thing to per mineralize or whatever. 673 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:47,680 It doesn't matter what I was looking at. 674 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:52,440 But what I found is on the next picture, that's one of the few 675 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:53,760 Google images that came up. I'm. 676 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,400 Sorry, what is this? Some magazine? 677 00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,880 Did you mean to? Send this to your husband. 678 00:37:01,240 --> 00:37:03,560 Nope, Nope. I meant to send this to you, 679 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:08,920 babe. Oh I'm so I feel so special man. 680 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,600 If we have any kinky listeners they're going to love this shit. 681 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:15,880 So wild. You've gotta get you some 682 00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:18,440 Iguanodon mittens. You're gonna be popular. 683 00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:23,040 I wanna make Iguanodon mittens. I wanna make I fingers for 684 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,480 playing Jenga. Just tape a chopstick. 685 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:30,600 Exactly. Exactly. 686 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:37,280 Thank you for listening. If you like the podcast, be sure 687 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,520 to rate and review us on your listening platform of choice. 688 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:42,800 We really, really, really appreciate it. 689 00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:45,680 If you'd like to hear more and support the show, you can follow 690 00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:49,480 us on Patreon for some exclusive bits or on our various social 691 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,400 media platforms. You can follow Amy on Instagram 692 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:56,080 at Mary Adding Revenge. And Megan on Instagram and 693 00:37:56,080 --> 00:38:00,240 TikTok as geopedal fabric or both of us at weird and dead on 694 00:38:00,240 --> 00:38:03,440 Instagram and TikTok. Our theme song is Unlock Me by 695 00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,800 Prize Canal. Cover art was provided by Chris 696 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,560 Spencer and the host. And this has been hosted and 697 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:12,960 researched by us in the Atwater and this episode edited by our 698 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,200 new editor, Max Scott. Thanks so much for joining the 699 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,160 team. Max, thank you for listening.