April Fools: Masters of Deception

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Swartz, and I'm welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncovered fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance in international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. I am so excited. I can't wait to start this our very first April fools Day episode. That's right, this episode is officially being released on April one. And hey, if you're listening after the first, that's okay, because this wild life that we're talking about today, well, they're always trying to fool us or other animals every day of the year. And one other thing I'm really excited about is in this episode we have questions from a young listener. Now, if you'd like to put your questions in as well, feel free to send us an email at Wildlife at I heart media dot com and we'll be in tight just to see if we can get you on our podcast. Okay, Rick, So between the two of us, you obviously have a bit more animal experience, or I should say a lot more animal experience. But before we jump into this fool's journey, I want to know, have you ever been fooled by an animal? Ohh yes, After thirty years of working professionally with animals, I have been fooled more than once. And I'd have to say the biggest I got you I have ever experienced was from an African gray parrot. Okay, so let me set up the story for you. You know, kind of go back in time a bit. So at the time, I was working as a wildlife specialist at a small zoo with many different parrots, and we had one older parrot that lived in an office area named Gary, the African Gray. And it was the end of the day and we were already kind of locked up for the evening to go home. As I was walking away, I remembered that I had forgotten something back in the office area. So I ran back real quick, wasn't really thinking about it. I the door, turned on the lights, you know, said hold to Gary real quick, because you got to be polite to the office bird. He's a good guy. I retrieved what I had forgotten and then headed out the door. So as I turned off the lights, and just as I closed the door and started to lock it. I heard the phone ring. Now in that moment, I contemplated not answering it, but then I thought, well, it might be important, and we're technically like right at the end of the shift, so I'm right here with the door. I'll do it. So as the phone keeps ringing, I unlocked the door, turned on the lights, and as I walked towards the phone and stops ringing. So I think, okay, oh well, no big deal, I missed the call, you know, turn off the lights, close the door, lock it up, And as soon as I take a step away from the door, the phone rings again. And this time, after unlocking the door and opened it back up, I noticed that the ringing phone was actually coming from Gary. The whole time, Gary was messing with me, basically with this pitch perfect imitation of our office phone. I mean, it was exact, it was perfect. He had observed that whenever the phone rings, people come back into the office, so I'm assuming, I mean, I'm not in his brain, and so I don't know, but I'm assuming. In an effort to keep me there later and to kind of have someone to hang out with, he decided to beckon me back to the office with his own special phone call. That is so interesting. That's amazing. I didn't even realize that parents do that, so rick, I've heard a parent mimic a human's voice or even other animal sounds, but I had no idea that a parent could mimic something like a phone. Do animal experts know what makes them capable of doing this, Well, there's a lot of theories out there, and I'm going to kind of go through a couple of them here, but it really is fascinating. You know, I've worked around birds that can mimic you know, the sound of a garbage truck backing up in the distance, or even you know the noise that your radio makes when you key in to call another wildlife specialist. But it's believed that one of the reasons they have learned to mimics so well is to be able to find their mate or family members within a loud, noisy flock. They have learned to mimic their mates called and make their sort of own unique couple call, if you will, and it kind of makes sense. I mean, imagine a flock of twenty individual parrots or more, all squawking and calling at the same time. Making a lot of noise at once. Well, when these birds have a unique call with their mate, they can find each other within the flock by just listening for that specific call. And there's other studies out there that show that there are benefits to learning to mimic, and this might include understanding the context specific calls. Now, keep in mind this requires a certain level of intelligence and physical ability to if you think about it, having the ability to mimic requires acute hearing memory and memory recall, and then the physiological muscle control for a sound production. So it really is pretty amazing when you start thinking about everything it takes to create new sounds to mimic and to understand and comprehend and then reproduce those sounds. And another interesting aspect to all of this is that there are then local dialects that occur within the same species in different regions. So sort of like here in the United States, those of us on the West Coast here in San Diego have a different dialect maybe than someone in Louisiana or someone in New York. So now when it comes to these bird species, they have their own dialect as well. And in some cases these dialects or regional calls can assist some birds species with territorial neighbors and help distinguished drifters from local territory holders. And when it comes to parents mimicking the English language or talking, the question is are they truly talking with a cognitive understanding of the words that they're using, or just mimicking what they hear from us as if they were mimicking another bird's call. The best of my knowledge, we don't know for sure, but there are a lot of debates around this topic. And is it true that other birds also have this ability to mimic birds like crows and ravens. Oh? Yes, absolutely. Crows and ravens are in the Corvidae family of birds and sometimes just called corvettes. This includes crows like you mentioned, ravens too, but magpies, jays, and a handful of other species. It has been observed that these species can mimic as well, but they don't seem to have the same level of skill that parrots do. Now that said, there are many species of birds that can mimic very well. There's a common minor bird, for example, then the classic mocking bird. I mean it's right there in the name. The bower bird in the European starling, just to name a few. I had no idea so many species of birds could mimic. As fascinating as this conversation has been about our feathered friends, I want to move on to mammals. Yes, let's do it. Okay, so let me clarify. I don't think correct me if I'm wrong that there are any mammals that can mimic like parrots. But are there any species of mammals that can try to fool us? Oh? Yes, and it's one of my favorites I think. I mean, it's not my most favorite animal, but I think it's one of my favorite mammals that likes to fool us. Is native right here to North America, and that's the opossum, are one and only marsupial right here in the United States. Wow, so the old possums play dead? Yeah, well exactly. But here's the fun thing about this is it's not actually playing dead, because if we play dead, it means we understand, we know what we're doing. It's a conscious choice. But let's dive into this. This is pretty awesome. The opossum play is dead to avoid being eaten by a predator. But I want to make sure people know this isn't actually a conscious choice to play dead. It is a response to stress or fear of being hunted or eaten. So kind of like if something surprises you, you you have an involuntary response to being scared. You get a little adrenaline, you get oh my gosh, and short of breath real quick. Well, for opossums it's the opposite. Now, some biologists suggests that is a pronounced state of shock or falling into a temporary coma. Even that's how severe it is for these opossums. And to keep in mind, it's not like they just fall over and don't move. They will actually curl up their feet, their mouth opens slightly, their eyes stay slightly open and even glaze over. Their body goes rigid, just like a dead bodywood. And here's the part that really helps convince predators they're actually a dead, rotting carcass not worthy of eating. Opossums have a gland under their tail that releases a thick liquid that smells very much like a dead rotten animal. I mean, talk about committing to the whole act of playing dead here exactly. It sounds like an oscar worthy performance right there, even if it is involuntary. So I say bravo to opossums, right, I mean, it really is impressive. There's so much of their body goes through just to play dead. Basically, it can take upwards of three to four hours for them to come out of this state of shock or mini coma. In fact, some people have reported finding dead opossums in the garage and then putting the body in the garbage can, only to find a few hours later that it came back to life and was trying to get out of that garbage can. That would freak me out. Come back to life from the dead or or seemingly dead and just banging around like that, that would just be a scary experience. I'm glad it hasn't happened to our family. Okay, Okay, fair enough, I didn't mean to give you in the listeners. He'd be GEPs with the zombio possum talk there. But we can move on to some other cool wildlife that fools others to avoid predation. Okay. I think we have one that everyone has probably heard about but may not have ever seen, or at least they didn't know they were looking at it. Because it looks like it's part of a plant. I'm giving a hint there, Rick, Can you tell us about stick insects? Oh, ebany, you might want to be more specific. Would you believe there are more than three thousand different species of stick insect around the world, now right? You know? I think that's because often we don't see them, so we don't know there's that many, And of course it's around the world. But from the largest the giant Chinese stick insect coming in at twenty five with its legs stretched out, that's that's over two ft so that's a branch insect, not a stick insect, to the smallest one that is found right here in California, known as Christina's tima, that is only about a half an inch long and probably the most popular one here in North America, the walking stick, sometimes called the Northern walking stick, which is about three to three and a half inches in length. But no matter the species of stick insect you're talking about, they all have evolved to look just like part of the plants that they live in, right down to the coloration. Some have spikes that look like little thorns of the plant they live in. Others have bumps that look like the nodes or buds of the small branch, and others have body parts that look like leaf structure. It's really pretty amazing, and isn't there also something about the way that these insects moves that that also helps them look like they're they're part of the plant. Yes, I mean, it's really it's kind of mind blowing you think about it, that there's something in this insect that knows it has to move like the plant would. So studies have shown that when there is wind or a breeze, stick insects have a way of moving through the branches that have sort of a slow rocking back and forth. And the idea here is that the insect is mimicking how a branch or twig would move in a natural breeze. This kind of swaying movement while walking is something referred to as motion camouflage, making the insect appear as a non prey item to predators. This is pretty cool adaptation of fool predators when you think about it, because so many species of wildlife use the freeze or lack of motion to camouflage from predators. That is amazing. There's so many different ways wildlife fools us and other species. So rick, we've talked about birds mimicking a mammal that gives an oscar worthy performance by playing dead, and insects that sometimes do a better job of looking like part of the plants than even plants do sometimes. Um, but we haven't talked about reptiles. So are there any reptiles that have the ability to fool us? That can fool us? Oh? Yes, you better believe ebony. There are a lot of different reptiles that do some amazing things that either fool us or their natural predators. One that comes to mind right away is the shingle back skink, a lizard species found in southern Australia. They have these thick, dark scales that look very much like roofing shingles, hence the common name shingled back skink. But that's not the part that fools anyone. The big trick is being able to confuse predators on where to strike. You see, the shingle back skinks tail is short compared to other lizards and has fat reserves, which creates sort of this wide tail that is the same shape as their head. Predators tend to try to strike at the back of the head and neck area to kill its prey quickly. Having a tail that looks like its head increases the odds that the predator will grab the tail, allowing the shingle back skink to defend itself with its powerful bite. That's truly fascinating. And I don't know why I'm so surprised we decided to name this podcast Amazing Wildlife because there's so many amazing wildlife on Earth. But I really feel like in this episode was just one amazing animal after another. So having a lot of and yeah, well, and it's true though, but you're right, You're right. It is a well named podcast. And to think we have only mentioned a few of the many species that have amazing talent for fooling others. All right, now it's time for the San Diego Zoo Minute, an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the zoo. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance helps the endangered burrowing owl in San Diego County by translocating populations when areas become unsuitable for them due to human impact. Unfortunately, the burrowing owls sometimes refused to settle in their new habitat, so a research team undertook a three year study to develop creative ways to tempt the owls to stay in the protected habitat for their own good and to improve conservation outcomes. And here's what the researchers discovered. When they played recorded vocalizations up burrowing owls, they fooled them into thinking there were resident owls living nearby. They also splattered white paint resembling owl droppings near the entry of burrows to persuade the newcomers that owls had lived there and therefore this must be a safe neighborhood for them. The owls were twenty times more likely to stay and make a home in the new location when these acoustic and visual cues were used. Now we can successfully establish burrowing owls in safe protected areas, a win win situation for owls, people and the environment. If you want to learn more about burrowing owls, you can listen to episodes seventeen of Amazing Wildlife wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up next, we're going to take a few questions from a curious young listener of Amazing Wildlife. That's right after this. Today we've been talking about all kinds of wildlife that fools us from sounds they make, to smelling like they are dead, and even moving like a plant in the breeze. But we also found that our young listeners have some pretty good questions about these unique adaptations. Zozzi wants to ask Rick about a few more reptiles and how they try to fool the rest of the world. Is it true that some snakes that aren't venimous try to look or acts like those that are venomous so they can fool other animals into leaving them alone. Yes, Zozzy, that is exactly correct. One example we see here in the US is the non venomous mountain kingsnake in the West and the non venomous scarlet kingsnake in the east. They both have very some coloration to the venomous coral snake. They all three have bands of color that include black, red, and yellow. The subtle difference is what order the bands appear. In the king snakes, we typically see the alternate bands of red, black, and yellow, in which red touch is black but does not touch yellow, whereas in the coral snake. Whereas in the coral snake, the red bands will touch the yellow bands but not the black but unless you're a snake specialist, I recommend you always leave plenty of room between you and any snake. After all, we sometimes see variations occur in nature that create exceptions to even this rule. Oh and one other non venomous snake that likes to fool us by acting like a venomous snake is the bowl snake. They have a very similar coloration to the rattlesnake, and when they're threatened, they'll coil up and hiss like a rattlesnake. And get this, they even shake their tail just like the rattler. Now, they don't have a rattle on their tail, but if they are in leaf litter or dry grass or something similar, that rapid tail shaking against the ground cover sounds very similar to the rattle snakes rattle. I know that some snakes will sit in wait to ambush your prey, but I don't know if that what other things the snakes you to seek up on their prey. Oh, I really like the way you're thinking, Zaza. You know a lot about snakes. The South African puff adder is known for using a couple of body parts to lure curious prey within striking distance. This snake has been observed staying very still except for its tongue. It will stick its tongue out and wag it in a way that imitates the movement of a bug. This usually attracts small birds or toads, and then once that prey item is close enough, well, it's a dinner time for the South African puff adder. But the trickery doesn't stop there. They also have been observed using the tip of their tail wagging and wiggling it in the grass to mimic a bug or worm. And again when a curious bird comes along to try to get that free snack, well, the puff adder is the one that usually gets the meal. Are there any types of reptiles that camouflage so well but you might never see Ah? Yes, yes, the camouflage that's so good even the human eye will sometimes miss seeing them. You see zosi. There are several species of reptiles that have incredible camouflage, but one of my favorites is the giant leaf tailed gecko from Madagascar. With long, flat bodies that have triangular shaped heads a broad leaf like tail, well, they're well suited for blending in. They will lay flat against the tree or branch with their head down, and the fringe flaps they have in the lower jaw will spread out, making sort of the seamless transition between animal and plant. Combined with the cryptic coloration they have, it becomes nearly impossible to decipher the outline of the gecko's body, almost becoming one with the ark of the tree. It really is pretty amazing, Zozi. I want to thank you for all of those very thoughtful and insightful questions. I loved answering them. And if any of our other young listeners have an animal question or two, or even three, please send an email asking your questions to Wildlife at I heart media dot com. Send in your questions and will be in touch figuring out a way that you can ask your questions. Thanks for listening. We hope you learned a lot about animals that survive and thrive by fooling others. And be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which will bring you the story of the largest land mammal and its lifestyle in the forests of Africa. I'm any Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening. If you would like to find out more about San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alion. Please visit sdz w a dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I Heart Radio. Our producer is Nikia Swinton and our executive producer is Marcia Peanut. Our sound engineer and editor is Amina Gnatra. For more shows from my heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.