Not all top predators have to be as large as tigers and bears. As "fun size" humans, Katy and Laura have an appreciation for animals that are small but fierce. In this episode, they discuss some of nature's most incredible and deadly tiny predators.
Not all top predators have to be as large as tigers and bears. As "fun size" humans, Katy and Laura have an appreciation for animals that are small but fierce. In this episode, they discuss some of nature's most incredible and deadly tiny predators.
Hello
Laura:and welcome to For the Love of Nature, a podcast where we tell you everything you need to know about nature and probably more than you wanted to know. I'm Laura.
Katy:And I'm Katie, and it's season nine! Yeah. Nine. Nine. But, kicking off season nine, we're going to be talking about small but deadly things, and how we often, like, associate predator behavior with large creatures of any sort, but nature has its own surprises, and sometimes lethal predators can be found in quite small but deadly little creatures.
Laura:Well, let me just take Katie and I.
Katy:Yeah, right. It's just tiny lethal
Laura:creatures. Tiny but lethal. Yeah. Dude,
Katy:that needs to be on a hat for me. Tiny but lethal. Tiny
Laura:but lethal. I'm definitely getting arrested. It's a picture of like a praying mantis or something.
Katy:Yes. Okay, hang on. Gotta write it down. Tiny but lethal. Because when I'm making stuff, I'm always like, man, what did we do? Okay. Yeah, what have we talked about? Tiny but lethal. Praying Mantis.
Laura:Alright, so, Predators are like one of my absolute favorite things to talk about. And I feel like a lot of people like to hear about them. But like Katie was saying, most people, I don't think, you know, I mean, Predators, where they get sharks, and bears, and lions, and... Big stuff. Big stuff. Today we're gonna talk about the teeny tiny things, which is another passion of mine. I love...
Katy:I mean, you have a kid, you know, she's
Laura:tiny, she's like so tiny, she is like almost concerningly tiny,
Katy:but she's so adorable. And so you
Laura:like it's so tiny, but deadly. Yeah. Like talk about tiny, but lethal that girl, she bit me so hard the other day. She drew blood. Oh my gosh.
Katy:She's you though. Like she's a hundred percent you.
Laura:Yeah, her personality. It's like, striking. Like, it's like, oh my gosh. And then she even does things. Like, the other day, I went to the Spirit of Halloween store with her. She's not afraid of any of that stuff yet. And we went in, and she found a Jack Skellington stuffed animal that was as big as she did. So she just picks up his hand and goes, Hello, who are you? I was like, oh my gosh, that's exactly something that probably should be done to her, I'm sure. Right.
Katy:Oh, goodness. All right. Well, well, besides our tiny, but lethal mini me's that we both have, uh, we don't have any nature news other than, again, we say this every season that we're just blown away that we're still here. Um, I would just like to emphasize that Laura and I are both
Laura:shocked in our abilities. I was just thinking about it again today because every once in a while, like I go through this, like I have with all my hobbies. Where I'm like, alright, I think I'm gonna have to tell KB that I'm done. Because I don't know if I can sustain this much longer. But here we are again.
Katy:And I am enjoying this so much. I know. No, me too. It's one of those things. But I'm happy.
Laura:Yes, I'm exhausted. Yes, because it's like a rollercoaster of a
Katy:hobby because it does take time And I mean again pitch for the curiosity network if anybody's thinking about starting a podcast and doesn't know where to start check us out but shameless plug But it is time consuming like there are ways to be smart about it But it does take time and I don't I the people
Laura:who approach me outlines. It's like It's literally just like trying to coordinate for the two of us. Oh my gosh,
Katy:yeah. Schedules, everything. It's literally time consuming. Yeah.
Laura:And like, to do this by yourself and like write the outlines by yourself. Oh yeah. It's another to be like, okay, when can you record? And then how many can you record? And when are we gonna, like, it's... And we're all virtual. That's the mental exercise. And we're
Katy:all virtual. Like, I have to remind people that all the time that Laura and I live in opposite sides of the country. And different time zones, so, so it can be a little, a little challenging because I mean, and I have so many people that, you know, come up to me and they're like, Oh yeah, I really want to start a podcast. And then you start to really lay it out like the reality of what you need to do to be successful, to see the numbers, to have quality content. And that's when you lose people. Yeah.
Laura:And I mean, even where I think we've got great quality content. Like a fairly good numbers. Oh yeah. We're not like, busting through any records or anything. Yeah. And we're still sustaining. Yeah. Yeah. Probably what most people
Katy:would do. Yeah. We're definitely above the average and the average is simply so low because either most people don't stick with it or it is just, they upload content and it just, they. Give up on it. They just stop and you know, life catches up because it does take a lot of work. But shockingly, here we are, season nine. This is, what is this, two and a half, three, almost three
Laura:years? Dude, I have never, yeah,
Katy:I've, dude, I've never kept a hobby this long. Like consistently. My only
Laura:one was martial arts, was my longest hobby. I
Katy:mean, I played soccer, but that was like, I would, that was my life, man. Like that
Laura:wasn't right, but that's what it felt like to, yeah. So yeah, I guess this is my longest, like side hobby, although, okay. One more, one more segue. I was upstairs and this weekend was our Halloween event at work and they had like some leftover balloon stuff. So I brought home a, like a, that somebody had made and left behind this, like. Balloon ghost, essentially. Halora's been loving it. She's been making it talk and making it fly around and everything. Well, he, his head popped. So all that was left was a big, was a big long body. And she was a little devastated, but not in tears yet. And then Mama was like, no problem, I'll just make you a dog. And like, I'm like, and I make a balloon animal dog. And Justin looks over and he's like, whoa. And I was like, oh, little did you know, one of my random side hobbies, because of course we all have those. Like for a balloon animals, balloon animals. Yes. You don't know your ADHD and then you tell a story like that and you're like, Oh, right. There it is.
Katy:I've, I've done this. I've done the same thing decorating a coworker's office for her birthday. We didn't know what to do and went and got balloons and all they really like, they had like the normal balloons and I was like, Oh, balloon animals. Cool. And I grabbed it. And one of my employees that was with me at the time she was like, do you, Well, do you know how to do anything? We can watch some videos. I was like, Ha ha. She was newer at, newish at the time, and I was just like, Little, little do you know. I already know how to do this. I can, I can do, I can do all kinds of animals. Like, just step back. Just watch, watch the ADHD work. It's fine. Yeah. But this is still consistently one of the longest hobbies, and yeah, it is tough, but, I mean, it is, again, it's one of those things that I wish I had so much more time for, because I do like it, and, we'll see, but we're in season 9 so far, and it's shocking, and we're just gonna keep kicking out content to you guys as long as we can survive doing so. Yeah,
Laura:that's, I think, essentially what it is. When will the burnout finally kick in? Hopefully not for a while longer. Okay I was really excited to do this episode because I already had some animals in mind. Okay. So, first off is the world's deadliest cat, and it's the black footed cat, which is one of the small ones. Mm hmm. There's been some, I don't want to say talk, but I guess like really niche talk. There's been powerful videos written about this cat that like, people who are into nature might have heard about. Okay, just a little bit about what, who is the black footed cat, and then we'll talk about why they're an amazing predator. So, black footed cats can be found in grasslands, scrublands, and the deserts of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.
Katy:Okay, now I know what cat we're talking about. Okay, okay. Picture an
Laura:adorable, tiny, little cat. They're the smallest cat in Africa and one of the smallest in the whole world. By small, I mean they're only 8 inches tall and anywhere from 2 to 5 pounds. Oh, dang. Oh, tiny! They have a golden coat with dark brown to black spots, some stripes, and a few other dark markings. Kind of like leopard ish looking. Hm. With a white belly, chest, and chin. Their tail's only about a half as long as they are. And their name comes from the fact that their paw pads are black to help them to not get burned on the desert. Oh, makes sense. So it's black footed, but you'll only ever see that if they lift their foot up and wave at you.
Katy:So if they're just walking normal, you're gonna be like, I have no idea why this is called a black footed cat. I have no clue. And then it just waves at you. It just waves. It's like, ah, there
Laura:we go. Oh, right. Yeah. They are a nocturnal species, and they are vulnerable as far as population, which is unfortunate. But, what makes them an amazing predator? Well, they're carnivores that eat a wide range of prey, though mostly that's mammals. And they have to eat a lot of stuff because their metabolism is crazy high. Making them have to eat non stop, and that equates to about one fifth of their body weight each and every night. So, if they're five pounds, they have to eat a pound of food a night, which is actually, like, a lot of mice. Um, fun fact, the average mouse weighs around, like, twenty five grams. So, it'd be a lot of mice. And to find that food, They're, they're ranging around 8. 5 kilometers per night. That's really,
for
Katy:how tiny they are, that's far. They're
Laura:so tiny, and they're booking it. Um,
Katy:they've Just running around looking for mice. They're so
Laura:cute. They've got three hunting techniques. So it's not like they're just ambush predators, or they're just chasers like a cheetah. They've got a variety of ways, which is probably what makes them so successful. First is their sit and wait, which is typically by a burrow of some kind of rodent. They're literally just do the little cat loaf where they like tuck their paws in at the front and then just shut down and just wait there. Sometimes they don't even have their eyes open, but their ears are constantly moving and they're just waiting for the mouse and then boom, get it. The other thing is the fast hunt, which is when they flush out prey and they just trot through the grass like really fast and really low because they're always like, oh, slightly crouched because they get eaten by other things. They're like slightly crouched, booking it. Making the birds and stuff fly out of the grass for them to
Katy:catch. Well, yeah, that's kind of, that's probably why they are, they move so, like, such a long distance at night because they're
Laura:like, Yeah, it's because they're trying to, like, just going and going and
Katy:going. Yeah, they have to keep going, or else they're going to be eaten, too. Like, Very true. Yeah.
Laura:And then the slow hunt, which is, like, stalking and winding their way through the grass. Slower than flushing. But, like, Think, like, typical cat behavior, where they're, like, Stop. Stop. You know, like when they're like, one with the shadows. The way they can like, they basically just turn into a liquid. And like, wind their way through the grass without moving the grass. Like, they're just like a liquid. They can climb trees to find food. They can jump 1. 5 meters into the air to catch birds. Which is crazy when you're only 8 inches tall. And
Katy:they're I'd say I don't have that vertical leap at all.
Laura:No, heck no, not ratio wise. And they have a few adaptations to help them be such a successful hunter. The hair on their feet, that protects them from the sand, also I'm sure helps to keep them quiet. They have really large, round ears to give them enhanced hearing, as a lot of desert animals do. And they have really big eyes that gives them vision six times better than humans. Jeez. Um, so, all great when you're a hunter. They eat about 3, 000 mice per year. So, tiny little murder machine. Um, and they can eat prey larger than they are. They're known to steal prey from other predators and can even defend themselves from jackals. Which is impressive when you're only an 8 inch tall cat. Yeah. Dang. But, they've been seen like, chasing off a jackal that was trying to eat them. They are the deadliest of felines, with a success rate of 60%, which is a lot. Um, so that is how often are they pouncing and how often are they getting something. So, a lion, 25 percent success rate. One out of four times do they actually get their food. Which is so disappointing. Oh my gosh, right? Like, I would be so disheartened as a lion. I'd be like, no. I can't deal with this disappointment. I'm so hungry. Laura gives
Katy:up being a lion day one. Just, I'm done.
Laura:I'd be too hungry to keep trying. No, these guys they eat, so with the, and with that 60 percent success rate, they are doing it so much. They're eating 10 to 14 meals per night. They're eating like, once, like, every 45 minutes. Boom. Boom. Boom. Like, that's nuts. And if you're, you know, if you're like, wow, I really want to know about these cats more. PBS nature had a mini series called super cats and there's like a whole episode devoted to them. So you can see all the footage of their different hunting techniques and how freaking adorable they are. So yeah, black footed cats, nature's deadliest feline. Cool.
Katy:Cool. Cool. Well, the two that I focused on are kind of in the same. Like, deadly category. Cause, I, I don't know why. I was just looking up stuff, but I picked both that have to do with venom. Cause, why not? Why not? Alright, so my first one that I'm going to focus on is the blue ring octopus. Cause they are very tiny.
Laura:And... Yes, they are. Yeah, like surprisingly. So, remember when we did, didn't we do like a...
Katy:An octopus, well I mean we've talked about... Yeah, we've talked about octopus. And we
Laura:talked about how like... Somebody said that the most octopuses are, like, really small, and it's only, like, the giant Pacific You know what I mean? Like, I think everybody thinks of octopuses as being, like, the size of the giant Pacific octopus. Yeah, all the time. No,
Katy:we're not are very small. Yeah. Well, these guys are pretty neat And so they only get they measure between five to eight inches now remember that's like tentacle to tentacle You know what? I mean? So five to eight inches. Yeah, that's like and like stretching his little armies out here Right? I mean, not brutally. You're not ripping his arms off. No, I know.
Laura:No, I was thinking, that was an awe of cuteness. I was talking about how little they're, like, basically a giant butterfly. Yeah, no, it's like one of those stretchy men.
Katy:Yeah. Stretch Armstrong. But even though they're really small, I mean, they are... Deadly. And that's kind of what they're known for. So they're found around the waters of Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan. Yeah, of course. Everything. It's got it somewhere. Australia has got to be in there. Uh, usually in rocky crevices and coral reefs they have a diet primarily consisting of small crustaceans, crabs, and shrimp. They're known for their complex mating behaviors as most octopuses are. And they have clutches of eggs that number between 50 to a hundred, which is. A lot, but I guess if you're that little, you want a pretty high success rate, you know? Yeah. So, like most octopuses, these guys are a master of camouflage, blending seamlessly with their surroundings, of course, and the pulsating blue rings that you see is their kind of warning and signaling to, hey, back off. Because even though it can kill, it would rather just not fight. Like, yeah, if it can avoid it
Laura:risk of also
Katy:dying. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Cause yeah, they can die as well. So the whole thing that we're talking about here is just like their lethality behind it. And so these guys, they are, like I said, they have a potent venom that contains what's called a tetro doc. Tero Toin, which is a substance found in puffer fish. Um, so the tetrad doin is an incredibly toxic and can lead to paralysis, respiratory failure, and even death in humans.
Laura:Because you talked about puffer fish in an episode too. Mm-Hmm.
Katy:Yeah. Yeah.'cause it, it is pretty cool now. There is no known anti-venom for a blue ring Octopus. And that is correct. They do bite, which is to me is like, I don't know. I don't know
Laura:what I thought. I thought they were like a jellyfish. Nope. Even though that doesn't make sense because of course they don't have nematocysts in my head. I know. Yeah. Touched a blue ring octopuses and you
Katy:touched it. No, they got to bite you. Um, Yeah, and so it's gotta, which I'm also like, man, that's gotta be a cute tiny beak. You know what I mean? Like,
Laura:it probably wouldn't hurt that much when it bit you.
Katy:Oh, no, it does. Yeah, no.
Laura:But I mean, like, that little beak
Katy:shouldn't hurt that much. Yeah, no, it's, it's, uh, apparently, apparently they were saying, of course the venom is gonna hurt, but... Everything that I was finding says that like the bite from the beak itself like hurts, like that hurts too. So what is a tetro doin whatever it is, T-E-T-R-O-D-O, toxin. So it is a potent neurotoxin, so neuro brain, and it's a substance that targets and affects the nervous system, like I said, neuro, uh, and it's found in several species of marine and terrestrial animals, like I said, including puffer fish. This particular one. Including puffer fish and other Yeah. I
Laura:think you talked about puffer fish in the venom episode that we
Katy:did maybe. Yeah. And even some amphibians have this, so this toxin is particularly infamous for its ability to block the voltage gated sodium channels and nerve cells, which effectively halt the transmission of nerve impulses. And so that's terrifying to me.'cause if you really like. Break that down, voltage gated sodium channels, whatever, but they effectively halt the transmission of nerve impulses. For anybody who's listened to any of our things, we, Laura and I have talked so many times about how crazy it is, how our bodies are controlled by like hormones and just little volts of electricity. And it just stops that. It shuts it down. It just stops that. Which is, that's just terrifying to me. That has to be one of the
Laura:worst. What an amazing thing if we could harness that for like nerve blocks. For people who are having like horrific pain. Like if you could just, just stop it. Just stop it. But like localized.
Katy:Yep. So when introduced into the human body, typically, again through the ingested, well here, let me back up. Most of the time when people are affected by this, it's, and I, we talked about this with the pufferfish. It's most of the time it's ingested because they eat it with in food and they're eating a pufferfish or eating something and they don't either get the venom sack out or whatever and, and eat it. And so it can lead to a range. I already gave a few symptoms, but a few of the other symptoms are, like I said, paralysis, the numbness, respiratory failure, and in severe cases, just you're going to die because of all those other things. You can't breathe nothing. Now the Tero doin found in the blue ring octopuses is not produced by the octopus itself, but rather it is synthesized by symbiotic bacteria living within the octopus's salivary glands. Yeah, stop it. Yeah. So these bacteria are so cool thought to be responsible for the production of the toxin, which the octopus then stores and delivers through the venomous bite. Now, like again, it's a symbiotic and so it has, it's a dual ratio of like the octopus needs the bacteria, the bacteria needs the octopus. But what I found interesting, and I guess, I don't know, I feel like we talked about it in our venom one, but again you have so much useless knowledge in your brain. Sometimes you forget things that like most venoms aren't one substance. It's made up of like many different components because it's like many, it's not so like For this guy, for this toxin, I should say, this venom, it's not just the, the tetradoxin. Like, it's not just that. That happens to be what the majority of it is, but that's not all of it. so I started going out of a rabbit hole about venom as I do. And about just random things. And I, and again, I need to do more research onto this, but I want to know why, because if it's a neurotoxin, it's almost like that animal creates more of like, the neurotoxin. So it's like, okay, so if it's bits and pieces, can it be like a mix, like a cocktail of venom? Or does it all have to be, you know, one and the same kind of thing? I think having a
Laura:cocktail makes sense though, because like, You would think.
Katy:Yeah, but it doesn't seem to be there yet. So it's like from an evolution standpoint, are we going to get there? Which is terrifying to think about. So anyway, so due to the extreme toxicity and the lack of the antidote, the tetradoxin poses obviously a significant health risk if it wasn't so elusive. So even though it has a specialized beak, which is hard and compunction of the skin to inject the venom It just rather would stay away from people and rather than eat it. So some other just little tidbits about the blue ring octopuses, they are doing some research on it, but most of it, what most of the research so far that I was finding that has been done has been more so not so much for the human medical benefit of it, but more so of the understanding. Evolution side of venom to figure out where we've been to see where we're going to see how other animals think to eventually get to an anti venom. Um, yeah. And so they, they are studied a good bit and I'm assuming it's because of their small size and they have a venom. So like you can keep them, you know, in fairly small tanks are fairly common. Um, and so the, yeah, they do a good bit of research on it, but nothing to. I don't know, I still have a lot of questions, but.
Laura:Yeah, yeah. I just see videos of people like holding them, and everyone's like, They're so stupid! No, I always figure it's because if you touch their skin.
Katy:It's the bite. So I mean, it's just kind of like anything. I mean, yeah, just don't piss it off. I mean, and again, do not, do not, do not go out and pick one up, but it's the same thing. Like look in zoos, like we've handled tarantulas all the time and they can fling their hair hairs. But if you know what to do and how to handle it, not so bad. I, I wouldn't recommend it. Cause you could just have pick up an octopus that has just had a really crappy day and just was going to bite the crap out of you. There are more and more pharmacological researches projects that have been going on with these guys. But I couldn't really find a ton of information because like you had mentioned about pain management, other drug developments and under understanding, Neurological, different neurological disorders because of how it travels through the system and seeing like how it affects and how it's made, how it's generated. So they are studying these guys a lot. It's just, again, it's like one of those things that. I don't want to say it's under studied, because it is being studied, it's just, I mean, it's an octopus funding. That's kind of what it, you know, what it kind of comes down to and stuff. So anyway, that is the blue ringed octopus. A little bit about him.
Laura:So cool. Also, I just love, every time, we always do these episodes, and I'm always like, I'm always going to be surprised by the animals you choose, but then I'm always surprised that no matter, like, a lot of the times, we approach these things completely differently. Like, with like,
Katy:deadly predators,
Laura:sure, they're a predator. But also they're deadly because they're venomous. Whereas I'm just like, they're really freaking efficient. Yeah, yeah. Like, it's just a funny difference. Okay, so speaking of efficient my last one is the most efficient predator on planet Earth. It's got the highest success rate of any predator, so In my opinion, it's the best predator. Um, and it's the dragonfly. Aww. Which is so cool. I already know a lot about dragonflies because I think they're interesting, but again, I always learn more when I do these episodes. So a little bit about dragonflies. They've been around, they've been around 325 million years, so they have their crap figured out. You gotta figure, they were way
Katy:bigger. They were way bigger back then.
Laura:It only made sense that they would have like, really figured out this predator thing since they've had millions of years. Right? There are 3, 000 species and they live on every continent except Antarctica. And you'll always find them near fresh water because their life cycle, they have to lay their eggs in water. How do they look? Picture a long body with two pairs of narrow wings. The hind ones are typically smaller. So they're not like a butterfly. Instead of having, they don't have, you know, two big voluminous wings. I was like, I'm so excited for this description. I don't know where she's going. Voluminous wings. Voluminous wings. They have two pairs of narrow wings. Their wings are generally transparent, but they can have markings on them. They have giant compound eyes, and they can be all different colors. And like I said, they do go through a life cycle, which I'm not going to go into, but will come up in a minute. Okay. How and why are they amazing predators? Because they are built to be a predator. And they have some crazy adaptations. What I did not know is that when they're in the water, so they lay the egg, and then they turn into an aquatic larva, and they can be in there for like one to three years.
Katy:I hate species that can do that because I feel like we as humans got ripped off just like going from the womb. Having like a different
Laura:life cycle.
Katy:Yeah, like we could have been so much cooler, but yeah.
Laura:Right? No. Well, I knew that these guys like were predators in the water and could eat things. Mm hmm. What I didn't know is they had extendable jaws like alien. Wait, what? Or like an eel. Yeah, yeah. You should look up a video of it eventually. Okay. Somebody's got it and it's like... It's not like alien and then they're coming, or like an eel where it comes out of the earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This, it's basically like praying mantis arms flipped upside down underneath of them. So the jaw is on a giant whoosh hinge that stabs and pulls in. That is
Katy:terrifying.
Laura:It's terrifying. Like if you were the same size as that thing, holy crap. Yeah. So, extendable jaws.
Katy:Now again, okay, you think, hold on, let's pause here, let's pause here. You don't hear anybody about being a mascot of a dragonfly, and that sounds terrifying to me. Right. Continue. Aquatic
Laura:larvae, I mean everything about them is pretty creepy looking. You're right. Also, even better, that would be great for a mascot, is that they're the only known insect that has jet propulsion. What? So, other animals, I guess other non insects. Like, uh, probably like some, like shrimp and things like that. Anyway, they pull water in their anus and then shoot water out of their anus really fast. I
Katy:keep my, I keep my statement
Laura:that humans could have evolved to be so much cooler. We need, excuse me, uh, God, we need jet propulsion butts. Please put that on the list. Anus. But can you imagine too, like you're just like a tiny little, I don't know, what would you be? A water penny. Another type of aquatic insect. Minding your own business, when all of a sudden, this giant predator comes jet propelling towards you. From its butt. Shooting out of its anus. Yeah. And then its extendable jaws just stab you and pull you in to the ball. So
Katy:terrifying and amazing at the same time.
Laura:That's my new fun fact. Did you know that dragonflies shed propelling anuses? That's my new favorite fact. That's my new favorite fact. So the horror doesn't end there. When they're adults, they're even better predators. Um, so they I am so excited to see how you think you can stop that. Okay, well you're right. They probably don't have jet propelling anuses, but They're just better at being predators, so, they come out of the water for their final molt, and then they get their wings, and so now they can fly around. They now have compound eyes that are basically like having two giant tennis balls on your head. They can give you nearly 360 degree vision. But there's a teeny tiny blind spot right at the back or front. They are some of the fastest insects with some being able to fly up to 30 miles per hour, which is intense. Yeah.
Katy:I was gonna say, that's gotta be so fast for them. Like,
Laura:in the ratio? Didn't we learn about how right, like, that animals perceive speed? Yes.
Katy:Like, right?
Laura:Doesn't it, didn't we talk about once how squirrels perceive how fast they're going? Yeah,
Katy:yeah, yeah. There's that, uh, there's that website. Go ahead and keep talking and I'll see if it's on there. Okay, yeah. What's
Laura:a dragonfly? How does it feel going 30 miles an hour? I'm sure, I'm just imagining them as little jet fighter pilots. Right? Since they're already used to jet propelling. So, just, like, their little goggles on, just... Just there. But the coolest thing about the Dragonfly is, no, okay, no, there's two really cool things. One is that they have independent Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,
Katy:ooh, wait, wait, wait, got it, we got it, we got it. Now this one says that the top speed is 18 miles an hour, which again, this is like Why? I don't know. It's like a non secure website and everything, so take it with a grain of salt. But it says that the top speed, if the top speed was 18 miles an hour, that feels like 279 miles an hour for the Dragonfly. Okay. Bye.
Laura:Oh my gosh. Well, double that.
Katy:Yeah, double that. So, 400, almost 500 miles an hour. Just this little phase, like...
Laura:There's nothing but speed. High end speed. Um, so, they have independent control of their fore and hind wings. Which doesn't sound like, it doesn't sound that interesting, but it gives them absolute precision flying capabilities. So, because they can move the fronts, apart from the backs, they can go forward, backward, up, down, hover. Like, they're like a little helicopter. Yeah, they
Katy:definitely are. Except
Laura:faster, about being able to change things. And they just have insane maneuverability. And studies have even been done showing that they can lose a wing and still have that kind of hunting capability. I thought you were for
Katy:a split second. I thought you were going to say they could lose a wing like from flying. I was like, I 500 miles an hour. I wouldn't
Laura:buy it. Can you imagine running into a gnat at 500 miles an hour? Um, but. No, I actually think what's the coolest thing, besides how fun it would be to fly like that, because that is something. You can take the jet propellant any day. I'll take the independent wing movements. Listen, I will always have a conversation starter. I've never really been a person that was like, what would your superpower be? Flying or pretty much anything else. But if I could fly like that... Yeah, that is pretty neat. I'll take that kind of flight. But, they are really smart. So, they have done a whole bunch of studies, and you can actually look up some of these, like, videos and journals. It's amazing. I kind of want to be a person who studies dragonflies. But, um, they have found out that dragonflies, first of all, aren't just, like, chasing insects around. They are actually ambush predators, because the way they hunt, they come from below and behind, and then BAM, onto the insect. Which is cool. Sneak attack. Sneak attack. And then, nuts, they're so good at sneak attacking because their tiny little insect brains can predri can predict trajectory. What? So, they intercept. They're not chasing, they're intercepting. Jeez. So they can predict their speed and they match speed. Like, they have shown that whatever speed their prey is flying Dragonfly matches that speed. What they think is happening is that they're seeing an insect in one of their facets on those crazy eyes and as long as they keep it in that facet, they will intercept just like, you know, like you, we, like a lock on target. You're gonna run into something. Yeah. Like if you're gonna run into something. They do the same thing. So they know that they're gonna run in. That's awesome. To whatever they're hunting. And they're aerial hunters. So, of course, yes, they're flying and they're hunting, but, like, they're catching it and eating on the wing. They don't land to do stuff, so. Yeah. It's even, like, I just can't imagine, like, those bigger predators have, like, nothing on them. Like, if you were a wolf, then, okay, sure, you, sure, can you chase down something? Yeah. But can you eat it, like, while flying and don't drop it? Yeah. Like, that's a lot. That's a lot. Well, you
Katy:figure too, I mean, because they are so small they've had to like, adapt to the extreme, because it's not just, like you said, it's not just hunting, it's hunting surviving themselves, because they are also the prey.
Laura:Yeah, because they're also being hunted. Yeah. And they can eat, because they're eating off a wing, you know, some predators, like I said, the black footed cat can eat things bigger than them. They can't eat. They can't do that because they have to still be able to fly, but they can do something 60 percent their size, which is respectable. Yeah. Um, cause some of those dragonflies can still get a pretty decent size wingspan of like more than 6 inches. Okay, so with all of that being said, all of their adaptations, all of their crazy hunting techniques, it leads them to be the most successful predator, at least of one that humans have researched. Maybe there's something else out there and maybe we'll find that out. But as of right now, dragonflies are 95 percent successful. That's insane. They like basically never miss. Yeah. Yeah. And we were talking, I was talking about this with someone at work the other day. Okay, maybe, maybe, it's also because what they're hunting is like dense. Like, when you're hunting mosquitoes or gnats, there's a cloud of them. True. Yeah. So maybe it's harder.
Katy:They're just gonna fly into the masses and hopefully they
Laura:catch one. Yeah, mouth open. But, but, there is like some thinking going on. Yes. I don't know, 95 percent is like. That's crazy. Wowzer. Yeah. And the people who were doing the research on these, like to see if they were matching speed, Katie, first they were taking them and just like having them in a tent chasing bugs. Then, they basically, you know how there's like chase lines for cheetahs? Yeah. Or like greyhounds. Yeah. They basically made those for dragonflies. Oh my gosh. A clear bead. And they, basically a dragonfly will hunt anything that moves, essentially. Cause they have great movement vision, but not like, clear vision. Um, so they were like Well yeah, it doesn't
Katy:need to be clear whenever you're
Laura:moving 500 miles an hour. It's all gonna be a blur anyway. Yeah, something's moving and it could fit in my mouth. I'm going for it. Yeah. Hahaha. Hahaha. But, yeah, they just had these beads on strings that they could, like, depending on the way they would move the string, it wouldn't have to be straight, it could be zig zag, like they were making, like, crazy bead patterns. That's crazy. These things were chasing, just making little teeny, tiny ziplines for dragonflies. Yeah, right?
Katy:That's cool. World's best predator. That, that is neat. That is neat. Um, this one is not as cool as far as speed factor goes, because the second one that I'm going to be talking about is a slow loris.
Laura:So it's literally... Also, are they a predator? I mean, technically. Oh, okay, okay.
Katy:Yeah, I mean technically. So we're going to be talking about slow loris. So they're from, I mean, okay, to be fair. It's not really considered prey. And they do go after stuff. I mean, The prey as far as the venom goes is where I'm coming with this from. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Alright, so they're found, Um, and tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia found typically in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand Malaysia, and they've adapted to the variety of forest habitats from dense rainforests to even more open woodlands. Now the slow lures, they're known for, obviously, this is all about small things, so they only get to be about 10 to, or 6 to 10 inches in length and weighing from about 250 to 900 grams, give or take. And their small stature allows them to navigate tree canopies with remarkable agility. Now for diet, Solurces primarily feed on a variety of diet that includes insects, small vertebrates. Um, they also can do. tree, tree sap, fruit, nectar, that kind of stuff. So, their specialized teeth are adapted for this diverse diet with sharp incisors for gouging tree bark and tree sap and specialized comb like molars for grooming and extracting insects from fur. Um, so, I mean, it can be from their own. parasites. I mean, that's convenient whenever you're a slow Loris. Yeah. Yeah, it is efficient. Alright, so I said that, you know, they're slow, deliberate movements and largely nocturnal lifestyle because they are active at night. If you guys have never seen them, I mean, they're, I don't even know how to describe them. They have huge, buggy eyes. Like, just huge eyes. They're tiny, small, brown. I, uh, I don't know.
Laura:You look like you could cuddle it, but you shouldn't. Yeah, kind
Katy:of slothish. Yeah, yeah. But,
Laura:like, huge eyes.
Katy:I mean, that's a pretty, that's pretty accurate sloth and a lemur. So now the interesting part of them, like I said, the last one I talked about had venom, this one too, also venomous. Um, and I think now this one, I think I feel like. Even though the blue ring octopus was studied a lot for venom. I feel like this one there I came across a so much research on slow loris venom But I feel like it's because people were just I don't know fascinated with it because it's so shocking almost like surprising Venomous
Laura:mammals are so rare. Yeah, and people are obsessed with having these things as pets and probably want to know right? It's just
Katy:so stupid. So, I'm going to talk a little bit, just like I did with the other one, go into a little bit about the venom that they have. So, like Laura said, there are very, very, very few mammals known to produce venom. And their venomous bite, again, it should not be underestimated. Now, the venom that they secrete is not neurotoxic like that of snakes or like the other ones I've talked about which paralyze their prey. Instead, it contains a complex mixture of proteins and peptides That serve various purposes. So this one kind of is more like a cocktail. Um, but one of the key components of their venom is a protein known as, Not, not, Nitisibis Conglang Venom. And it comes from their gland. Yeah. Otherwise known as NCVGT. Now when someone is bitten by a slow loris, again, it is, The venom part of it, they do use it to kill prey, but it is this for the most part is more used for a defense. But I mean, for the octopus, it kind of is too. Um, they may experience a range of side effects people wise, but it's important to note that the slowlers venom is not again like a neurotoxin like we talked about. However, Most of the time, whenever you're bit, you have localized pain, swelling, because it just sucks, redness, um, a lot of people apparently are allergic to them, yeah, which I, which again, I was reading, like, I'm allergic, or was allergic to poison ivy and things like that, but apparently, like, there's a high rate of Being allergic to a slow loris, and I'm like overlap?
Laura:What? Oh, okay, I thought you were gonna say overlap between people who are allergic to poison ivy and people who are allergic to lorises. I was like, dang!
Katy:No, no, no, no, no, but they are allergic and they end up But having more symptoms from their allergic reaction to the bite and the venom than what they do with the actual venom itself. But in more severe cases, because it is, has a lot of hemotoxin properties, it can lead to necrosis and,
Laura:um, This sounds a lot like the copperhead. Because the copperhead, they say, actually you're more likely to die from your allergic reaction to it than it, and it's hemotoxic.
Katy:Yeah. And I feel like that's a, I feel like that's a lot with hemotoxins because you figure you can get like sepsis, infections, there's all kinds, like neurotoxins are terrifying because they, yeah, it shuts your body down, but neurotox, or hemotoxins are, because a lot of times that does, like we're talking about, it affects like, uh, your symptom or your skin. And so you end up having like a wound that ends up being open and gaping and it just, yeah, ends up necro, necro, necrosis gets disgusting. Now the venom itself is generated in specialized glands located near their elbows and when threatened, slow lorises lick or rub their venom onto their upper incisors mixing it with their saliva. So it's intentional. Like,
Laura:oh yeah. Like, and that's like all those videos of people tickling slow lorises and when they get stressed they get their arms up. Yeah. Probably. So they're ready to lick those elbows. Yeah, right, to lick,
Katy:yeah, to lick them to,
Laura:like, get, get,
Katy:get ready. But yeah, so then
Laura:they What weird evolution thing to develop glands in your, near your elbows that are just a convenient spot to like Lick.
Katy:I mean, it would make sense though, because if I
Laura:mean, you're hanging. Yeah. So your arm elbows are probably by your face a lot. Yeah. But I just think it's like a funny place.
Katy:But I wonder what would be the, the reasoning for not just having it in your mouth all the time. You know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. Anyway. So like I said, agonizing pain, allergic, severe allergic reaction oftentimes. It's,
Laura:I, you know what, it's probably, it's probably an accident evolution thing. You know, like It could be. It probably had glands there all the time, like scent glands. And then all of a sudden, some weird happened. And they're sort of producing venom and some of them were like, they survived because they started biting things and never dying. You know what I mean? And never dying. That was probably like a... They evolved the gland and evolved the gland and evolved the gland. Well, there is,
Katy:hold on, there is, there is, there is a reason though for the gland. And it's not so much like venom as in defense, but it also, besides subduing prey, if it is eating something that's alive, um, their preference for, like, different gum and sap trees, that venom can actually weaken, like, the tree bark. So the same thing that, yeah, so the same thing that, like, breaks apart your skin in a hemotoxin also weakens the tree, like, the sap and everything and, like, the bark of the tree.
Laura:Because trees aren't like us enough. Yeah, right. Because we need more data to support that.
Katy:Yeah. Yeah, so that ends up making it easier to access. It makes it being able to break down the structure of like the tree, depending on what species it is, whether it's through the bark, whether it's through like the inner, it's easier to access the sap as it's being broken down. And so they think from an evolution standpoint, like that, yes, it was defense. So it's almost like a twofold. I don't know. If I don't know how they got to that point though, like take a step back in time Okay, how did how did that then happen? Like what was the first step of like did someone have a cold and then like That hematoxin is what ended up breaking down the tree sap. so there's a lot of research like what you're saying There's a lot of research that goes on with the slow lures just because there aren't very many venomous mammals out there, but it is really fascinating and Again, like most things that can kill us, there's also a lot of medical, there's possibilities for medical benefits. And so, there again, insights into pain management, drug development, even some allergy research. Because again, people are so allergic to these guys. Um, which I've never heard of somebody being like, what are you allergic to? Slow loris. Like, I should just start telling
Laura:people that. I guess you just live on the wrong continent though, you know what I mean? Like, maybe more people... Yeah, I guess
Katy:so. I wonder if that's like over in Asia. Like, is that something like your medical history? Poison ivy? Yeah, right. Are you allergic to anything? Not poison ivy, but I am allergic to slow lures, um, uh, but anyway, so it is, it is to me, it's interesting. So they study them a lot. They're doing a lot of medical insights into them just to see and study and figure out what they are. Now, unlike the blue ring octopus their conservation status. is like most things in Asia. Not good. Just because wildlife trade, like Laura was saying, how people keep them as pets. Um, and so, yeah, so there, I don't know. Let me look up what they actually are. I don't know. They are endangered. They're actually endangered, which again, I mean, it's Asia, illegal wildlife trade, all that stuff. I mean, I don't know why, besides pets, but there's gotta be some medicine or something they think they have. It's gotta be habitat
Laura:loss too,
Katy:because of the Oh, no, no, no, it is, it is, yeah. Habitat loss, illegal wildlife trade are the two biggest ones. So anyway, yeah, so they're, people, or scientists are continuing to study them to protect both the slow loris itself and just hopefully understanding, you know, hey, how, if these guys are able to evolve this kind of where, how did it start? Where is it going to understand other creatures? Because things like breaking down tree sap and stuff. I mean, yeah. Because you typically don't think of a venom as doing that, but, so that's why whenever you were like, Oh, it's not really a predator. I'm like, I mean, it's prey is really still, but, But it is. I mean, they still use it for insects and things and protection, but it's also like a plant thing too, which is, I thought was really neat. So anyway, that's also a loris. Cool. All right, guys. Well, if you want to go ahead and reach out to us on Twitter at footlong podcast, F T L O N podcast and interact and reach out to us on there, cause we do sometimes post weird things on there.
Laura:Yeah. Try to get better at it again. It's one of those things. Just
Katy:trying to keep busy guys. Yeah. Trying to live life
Laura:over here, but definitely tune in next week. Cause next week's our fun. We always do like a fun spooky episode kind of for Halloween. And, uh, I think it's gonna be a good one.
Katy:Yeah, it should be really good. Alright guys, till next week. Bye!