June 20, 2023

Chromatic Creatures - Rainbow Theme

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This month, we're celebrating our vibrant world with a Rainbow Theme! Prepare to be dazzled as Quizmaster Andi corrals four unbelievable facts about colorful beasts. But beware! One of the facts is a lie! Join hosts Sups and Tanner on this technicolor safari as they try to spot the true colors of the facts and hunt down the lie!

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Sups

It's

Andi

mating. hot,

Tanner

I it.

Sups

Why

Tanner

why bother

Sups

about 300 peacocks?

Tanner

Oh

Andi

man.

Tanner

vote.

Andi

suit. Imagine if we were killing 300 bald eagles Oh

Tanner

wow. Their mood rings

Andi

ring

Tanner

come on. Yeah. Right.

Andi

I know all of those individually,

Sups

but I don't know what happens when you put them

Tanner

together. Yeah Cuz they don't have to worry about predators, they just punch the crap out of 'em.

Andi

Hello and welcome to, I should have known. The trivia game show that can't be trusted. Each week, our quizmaster will present you with four facts on a topic, but one of those facts is a lie, and we are starting season four. Very exciting. And our first month theme is rainbow. So we've been covering lots of topics related to colorful things and color. I'm your quizmaster today, I'm Andy, and I'm going to be giving you four facts about colorful creatures. but one of them is a lie. So join our other hosts, soups and Tanner, and figuring out which one it is.

Tanner

All right.

Andi

So the episode's gonna cover four different creatures. Cool. We're going to be talking about peacocks, chameleons, poison dart frogs and mantis shrimp.

Tanner

Oh.

Andi

Which are. Some of the

Tanner

weirdest

Andi

creatures on the planet, I swear. But first the P Q Q. Mm-hmm. Our pub quiz question. So this is a new thing for season four. This question at the top of the show is meant to be similar to something you would hear at a pub quiz or bar trivia.

Sups

Okay. Bring it on.

Andi

How many kinds of cones do humans have. So we're talking about the human eye,

Tanner

right? So there's three kinds of cones. Doctor

Andi

Tanner.

Sups

Don't even have to answer. Yeah.

Andi

Yes. So there are three of them and they are for red, green, and blue. Mm-hmm. So we're gonna talk a lot about color, vision, and then these are just cool animals. So yeah. Are you ready to go? this. All right. fact number one. Between 300 and a thousand peacocks are still killed every year for their feathers.

Tanner

Oh, no. Starting off with a very sad fact.

Andi

well, I just wanna get the downer out of the way.

Sups

Okay. All right. Okay.

Andi

So I will say this is far lower than it used to

Tanner

be, only

Andi

300,000. Honestly, we're at the point where it's, improving. Mm-hmm. So peacocks, actually peacocks only refer to the males, and I use that word deliberately in the fact. Mm-hmm. Because only the males have trains, which are the long tail feathers. That's what you think of when you think of a peacock. Mm-hmm. Those are the males. Okay. Collectively, The whole species is peafowl. Okay. If you wanna refer to all of them, and then you have pea hens and pea chicks.

Sups

P chicks.

Tanner

Aww. Little tiny pea

Andi

chicks. Yeah. So there are three species of peacock Oh. Or peafowl in the world. One is relatively new, to us the Congo, and it's not as closely related to the others, but the two main species are the Indian. Or blue peacock. And the green or Javanese? the blue ones are the ones you've seen their chest and their neck is bright blue. Mm-hmm. These are from India. Mm-hmm.

Sups

Peacock is the National bird of India.

Tanner

Okay.

Andi

Yeah. So So, they are in the pheasant family, so they're related to pheasants and quails.

Tanner

which are all very ugly in comparison.

Andi

Well, pheasants are pretty

Tanner

sure, but they're brown, not blue.

Andi

Yeah, they're not blue. Yeah. The bright blue of a Indian peacock is basically unmatched in the animal kingdom. There's really nothing else that color. Mm-hmm. So how do you this? color? yeah. Yeah. the peacocks feathers have very little or no pigment in them.

Tanner

Okay. So usually pigment is how animals make color in their fur or feathers. Yeah.

Andi

But the way you get this bright blue color is not from a pigment, it's actually an illusion. they have on their feathers, Little barbs, and then they have mini barbs, which are called Barb mules. And then on those, there are these tiny structures that do have some melanin in them, and they are arranged So that when light hits them, it reflects back to us only certain, ranges of the light spectrum. Okay. That's why they look iridescent. Mm.

Tanner

When you turn them and move them, it looks like they're changing color.

Andi

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's actually an illusion. They appear blue because the way they're arranged, they reflect that color blue to our

Sups

Yeah.

Andi

So then going back The reason only the males have the tail feathers, and the reason they're so colorful and beautiful is because PE hens like them. Yeah.

Sups

It's

Andi

mating. hot,

Tanner

I it.

Andi

most birds have three color vision, like humans, and so they can see the different colors. so the male fans up his ha feathers mm-hmm. And tries to attract the,

Sups

And she's like, oh

Andi

wanna get

Sups

so hot.

Tanner

this works for PE hens. They like a big, colorful tail.

Andi

Mm-hmm.

Tanner

That's what you're

Sups

Yeah. So back to the fact you said that between 300 to a thousand Yeah.

Andi

They're harvested

Sups

harvested.

Andi

tail

Tanner

harvest. Why do you need to kill them for their tail

Sups

So tail feathers are a thing. There's something that I can say If you ever go to India, that's like a common thing. You can just buy it off the street.

Tanner

thinking globally, 300 to a thousand peacocks are killed in a year to get their feathers. Well that's, That low. That's not

Sups

that many. Yeah.

Tanner

In the context of what we talked about before with like killing sharks and stuff

Sups

Yeah.

Tanner

Mm.

Sups

But it's like so weird. Why would you do it? Like you can just get in naturally.

Tanner

Yeah. Just let them fall off. Yeah. Yeah. But also, why do you have to kill 'em to get them? That's what really bothers me.

Sups

mean, humans, yeah.

Tanner

just pluck them.

Andi

don't want to tell you, like, Well, yeah. Well, some of the more humane farming is they just pluck them.

Tanner

Okay. Well I

Sups

I think then.

Tanner

300.

Sups

Why is it been a fact then? Why? Why

Tanner

why bother

Sups

about 300 peacocks?

Tanner

Oh

Andi

man.

Tanner

vote.

Andi

suit. Imagine if we were killing 300 bald eagles for their Lock

Tanner

up.

Sups

Not allowed. Okay. Okay. Point taken. Point taken. sorry if I've heard anyone's sentiments. I apologize.

Tanner

I'm not so sure I believe this, but,

Sups

okay.

Tanner

Three more facts.

Andi

So now we're doing chameleons. Fact number two, chameleons don't change color based on their background.

Tanner

That's a lie. I think that's a lie.

Sups

Okay. Explain

Andi

yourself. So chameleons change color.

Tanner

Yeah. But

Andi

it's not based on their background. Like if you put a chameleon against a blue wall, it's not gonna turn blue.

Tanner

Okay. I, I'm very inclined to not believe that because I'm pretty sure I've seen them do that.

Andi

chameleons. Chameleons are a group of lizards. There are about 150 species. They range in size from like, about the size of your thumbnail to about the size of a cat.

Tanner

Whoa. That's a huge difference in

Andi

size. Mm-hmm.

Tanner

Mm-hmm

Andi

Many of the species are from Madagascar. Oh. But they are native to pretty much all but Saharan Africa. including North Africa in the Swan region and even in the Mediterranean, they are native also parts of West India. native

Tanner

like South American.

Andi

No, they're an old world lizard. Oh. Yeah. So they are most famous probably for their ability to change color.

Tanner

Yeah. But they're also very weird besides that they have the weird toes. Yes. And And they have the eyes that move in different

Andi

directions. Yeah. Their eyes are also an important distinguishing thing. They can rotate them. It's really creepy and gross. Yeah.

Tanner

Yeah.

Andi

And so they have pretty good color vision. Mm-hmm. Which is also why they can change color And some species like the panther can change into very vivid colors, purples, blues, pinks. So this is like very appealing,

Tanner

very

Andi

rainbow.

Tanner

So why did they change color and how do they change

Andi

Yes. So they change color for basically the same reason as peacocks. Mm-hmm. To attract mates. Mm-hmm. prettier colors. You are the more the female is gonna be into you. Females can also change color, usually. Not as vividly as the males. They change color based mostly on light and temperature. Right. So if it's hot or there's high light, then they will turn a lighter color in order to reflect it. Or a darker color, the opposite to absorb more Sense That's a major reason. Also this is crazy, but. I promise this true. They change color based on their emotions. Oh,

Tanner

wow. Their mood rings.

Andi

ring

Tanner

come on. Yeah. Right.

Andi

Yeah. Okay. We're indulging here

Sups

Go ahead. Go ahead.

Andi

So they, they change color based mostly on fear. And also sometimes for victory, so the males also fight and so after their fight, the loser turns one color and the winner turns another. I think. So the female knows who's the

Tanner

winner.

Sups

Oh, wow.

Tanner

awesome.

Sups

Yeah.

Andi

Yeah. Okay. So the way they do this is kind of amazing. The outermost layer of their skin is translucent. It's clear.

Tanner

Okay?

Andi

And in the lower layers of their skin, they have something called phos.

Tanner

Okay. From the Greek word iris for rainbow.

Andi

Yes. which are tiny crystal structures inside their skin. They reflect light much, in the same way as the peacock, depending on their arrangement, it changes the color of the light reflected. these phos are controlled by the autonomic nervous system. Which makes the dermis expand or contract based on the hormones or the feedback that the lizard is getting.

Tanner

Okay. Kind of like in humans, when our blood vessels constrict or expand, like when you feel flushed or when you're embarrassed, you turn red. Mm-hmm. Because more blood is closer to the surface of your skin.

Andi

Yeah, exactly.

Tanner

Cool. So it has many reasons to change color. Yeah. But not for what's in front of it. So it's not using it for camouflage.

Andi

Yeah, I would've said chameleons don't change color for camouflage, but they are naturally camouflaged when in a relaxed state. So ar boreal or tree dwelling chameleons tend to be naturally green. So when they're chill, they're

Tanner

green. but when they're like in front of a flower. They don't change color to match the flower is the idea. Okay. Huh? Well then what good are all those eyes?

Sups

Aren't you No. I've seen quite a few chameleon in my life, and I think most of them were green, so I can. Do that. They were all very

Tanner

chill.

Sups

Yeah.

Tanner

That's okay. Yeah. Watching them change color though is kind of really

Sups

amazing.

Andi

It's, yeah,

Sups

super

Tanner

cool. Yeah.

Sups

Yeah.

Tanner

Okay. I'm very skeptical of this though, because of the chameleons I've seen. Are changing color based on like what's near them.

Sups

Yeah.

Tanner

So I'm skeptical.

Sups

Yeah. I don't know.

Tanner

But the other reasons they check out. Yeah. For sexual selection, for

Sups

I mean, if you can't have any other reasons, to it's because of sex

Andi

I mean, makes

Tanner

actually

Andi

though. Yeah. Primarily two reasons why an animal would be colorful. Yeah. The first one is for sex remaining and the second one. We're gonna talk about with our third So fact number three. Many poisoned dart frogs get their toxicity from their diet.

Tanner

Hmm. What the heck are they

Andi

eating? So Poison Dart frogs are a group of about a hundred to 200 species. They are from the tropics of the new world, primarily in the Amazon rainforest, but as far north as like Nicaragua, they are named. Because their skin secretes alkaloids, which are poisonous to mammals and birds. And some indigenous groups in the Amazon actually rub the tips of their darts or their arrows on their backs. Mm-hmm. And use those to hunt monkeys and birds. Yeah. Yeah. So that's where their name comes from. Poison Dark frogs are famous not only for their poison, but they also come in a wide variety of bright colors, bright blue, bright red, interesting spots, yellow stripes, like they're very, very colorful. Okay.

Tanner

Okay. If you've ever seen a super bright red frog, yeah, that's what we're

Andi

talking about. Yes. And that's a poison red frog. their toxins actually can. Kill

Sups

dude.

Andi

Oh.

Tanner

Oh,

Andi

But you can touch them if fine.

Tanner

Right. It's if you ingest it or

Sups

Like it's in

Andi

or into your bloodstream. Yes. So if you have open wounds on your hands, that would be very bad. Yeah. But you can hold them just fine.

Tanner

Okay.

Andi

It's their skin's not gonna hurt you just by holding them.

Tanner

and they can't bite you to inject a

Andi

Yeah. Don't get it into your mucus membrane. So don't put it by your nose or your eyes or your mouth. Right.

Sups

right.

Tanner

Or

Andi

your crotch

Sups

Right? Don't. Is that

Andi

that about like frog

Sups

you.

Tanner

Yeah.

Andi

And then poison dark frogs are very, very colorful and the reason they're colorful is what is called. apo, somatic, or conspicuous coloring. Yeah. Meaning it's a warning right So the reason they're colorful is to tell potential predators, I'm poisonous, don't eat

Sups

me. Mm.

Andi

So then they live because they're not getting eaten. Okay.

Tanner

Okay.

Sups

Right. That's smart

Andi

So, their color is formed similarly to the chameleons, they have rito fours and melano fours, which have melanin in them. Mm-hmm. It reflects the light back.

Tanner

Yeah. So the idea between they're brightly colored And they're poisonous. These are actually two biologic systems that just happen to combine. Right. The poison doesn't make them color full.

Andi

No, but the reason that they are colorful is to Yes. Okay.

Sups

But, it can be that they are lying

Tanner

yeah.

Andi

there are some animals that imitate this behavior Not all of them are toxic actually. And the toxicity for some species they eat probably some kind of meat. Yeah. And the reason that they tested this is that when you capture them in captivity, if they're not fed these beetles, they lose those alkaloids in their skin secretions.

Sups

I see.

Tanner

Oh. So it's kind of one of those accidental discoveries. Yeah. We caught a frog, we fed, it flies. It's not poisonous anymore. What did we do?

Andi

Yeah,

Sups

Okay.

Tanner

Skeptical.

Sups

there's something fishy about this one.

Tanner

Yeah. Yeah.

Sups

Yeah.

Tanner

Because you think that they are poisonous from some other way.

Sups

Yes. Okay.

Tanner

maybe. how else are things poisonous?

Sups

maybe it's naturally toxic. Mm.

Tanner

Hmm.

Sups

Okay. We've got one more to go. Yeah. And gonna

Andi

about. One of the strangest creatures on the planet. Okay, we're the mantis shrimp, particularly the peacock mantis shrimp, because it's the colorful one. So fact number four, the mantis shrimp has the fastest predatory strike on the planet.

Tanner

Mans shrimp. Predatory strike. They're predatory shrimp.

Andi

yeah.. I know all of those individually,

Sups

but I don't know what happens when you put them

Tanner

together. Yeah

Andi

first of all, they're not actually shrimp.

Sups

Okay.

Tanner

great know.

Sups

Yeah, that's totally not confusing.

Andi

They are a kind of crustacean. They're called Stamato pos or Stamato pods. Okay. Which comes from the Greek for mouth foot

Tanner

Oh, gross. It

Andi

and also their name mantis is because they have a dactyl club. And it's a large, kind of like a claw arm thing that they have. Yeah. And they have two in the front and they use it to either, Stab or smash

Tanner

Kind of like a lobster has claws. These things have

Andi

Dactyl clubs.

Tanner

Dactyl clubs. Okay.

Andi

Yeah. So they use these clubs to punch through the shelves of their prey. Mm-hmm. Especially bi valves. So like clams, they or smash the shell, and then they slurp out the creature inside. It's nasty.

Tanner

My God. This is gross.

Andi

It gets wilder so its strike is 23 meters per second.

Sups

Oh Wow. And that's

Andi

through water? Yeah. Remember we're talking about through water. Oh my God. So there's drag But it's not just the punch. The punch is so fast that it creates something called a cavitation bubble.

Tanner

Oh,

Andi

So because of water is thicker than air, When you move that fast, the pressure drops so low basically creates a vacuum and then that vacuum collapses in on itself. Mm-hmm. Like a dying star and creates basically an explosion of bright light and hot temperature about the temperature of the surface of the sun. So not only do you get punched, but you also

Tanner

and deafened. blinded

Andi

and, and deafened and stunned. And

Sups

possibly burned to that.

Andi

And, yeah, maybe

Tanner

burned. How can what?

Andi

How

Tanner

it do

Andi

that It's

Sups

not, It's a lie.

Tanner

So, no,

Sups

it's

Tanner

So they

Sups

Very violent.

Tanner

yeah,

Andi

so,

Tanner

they hunt. They're predatory. They're carnivores. They have this punch. the rainbow fit in? Where's the

Andi

Good question. So if that wasn't weird enough, the peacock connecta shrimp is named because it is very colorful. It's bluish. Greenish has spots of purple spots of blue. They call 'em leopard spots. And the reason they can even bother having them is because they have between 12 and 16 light receptors in their eyes. We have three, remember they have 12 to 16 so they can see very different ranges of light. Lots of

Tanner

Mm-hmm.

Andi

So this is why they look like this.

Tanner

so they're super colorful, all these different colors, all these different patterns because they can see

Andi

that.

Tanner

So it's interesting to them

Andi

again.

Tanner

Mating Mating. Okay. Cuz they don't have to worry about predators, they just punch the crap out of 'em. So, back to the fact, fastest prey, predatory strike.

Andi

Honestly, I wanted to say fastest strike, but I couldn't find anyone on the

Sups

internet

Andi

that, but I couldn't find a faster predatory one. Yeah.

Sups

I mean, what? did you say? It's 23 meters per second. Yeah, yeah. Come on. are you comparing I dunno.

Tanner

Cobras? Tigers. Like cats. Yeah. What's

Sups

fast.

Tanner

Maybe Birds, eagles. What else is predatory? I, you know, barracuda or something. You know, an eel. Like I could think of a lot of really scary, fast predators, but 23 meters

Sups

that's fast.

Tanner

Yeah. Humans can strike pretty fast, but nowhere near 23 meters.

Sups

No.

Tanner

I mean, ask all those peacocks.

Sups

Okay. Okay. Right.

Tanner

But 23 meters is kind of outlandish.

Sups

Yeah, but

Tanner

not the fact. The fact is that it's the

Sups

fastest, yeah,

Tanner

I believe that,

Sups

I mean, because it's the fastest, the number has to be something outlandish. Yeah, right. Yeah. And that's why I feel like, cause this is so crazy. It must be true Uhhuh.

Tanner

if

Sups

it's not 23 meters, what is it?

Tanner

I dunno. I'm just like running through animals in my

Sups

head Yeah, I know, right? All right. We've got four colorful creatures doing four totally different things, but all of them have some mating thing going on with colors. Before Tanner and I, we guess, which one is probably not a very colorful fact. Could you repeat the four creatures and the facts?

Andi

Yeah. fact number one, between 301,000 peacocks are killed every year for their feathers. Fact number two, chameleons don't change color based on their background. Fact number three, many poison dart frogs get their toxicity from their diet. And fact number four, the mantis shrimp has the fastest predatory strike on the planet. One of those is a lie.

Tanner

oh boy.

Sups

Okay, so here's where I'm at

Tanner

uhhuh.

Sups

Think I know about Chameleon

Tanner

Yeah. fact. Yeah, I am. I'm agreeing

Sups

with you. I think

Tanner

that's exactly right. I think that all the things she said could be true. They changed for their mood and all this temperature and stuff, but also they changed based on the background. Yeah. Because they

Sups

You wanna get eaten.

Tanner

cause with poisoned dark frogs, the way she worded that one. Yeah. She said many. Mm-hmm. So I think that's true. Many could have it from their diet. The Manta shrimp is too fast to be anything else. I think peacocks could be higher, but I'm really hoping

Sups

it's

Tanner

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I also think it's chameleons.

Sups

Yeah. Chameleons,

Tanner

it's so hard

Andi

to believe Okay. I'm sorry. You guys are wrong. Oh no. no. It is a very very common misconception. No, and there are many, basically faked videos of chameleons doing this. Okay. If you've ever seen a video of like a chameleon grabbing a pair of

Tanner

Yes, I've shown

Andi

seen that

Tanner

my English classes when we practice colors. That's the one I'm

Andi

thinking of. that's fake. That's not real. They don't do that. Yeah. Can you imagine if they actually could do that? that's Amazing Yeah. That would be yeah. It's, too amazing to be true. It's a very common misconception, though. So common that. pretty much every source I looked at Mentioned how, like, you know, contrary to popular belief. the lie. It's very funny that you thought there would be more peacocks murdered because actually, as far as I know, there are zero peacocks murdered for their feathers because they dropped them after meeting

Sups

season here. Yeah,

Andi

I

Sups

was,

Tanner

yay. Humanity.

Sups

I was going to get to that. in India, just before the start of monsoon, there's a saying that when peacocks are like this, fanning their feathers, of course they want to mate, but it's also a signal that the montros are about to start. And there is like a particular season where peacock feathers are so famous that it's available almost every everywhere

Tanner

Right. It just

Andi

Right. Yeah. Cause they Yeah. Yeah. The males drop them after mating season is done and then they grow back bigger the next year. So that's why a male with a bigger tail fan is more fit. Yeah.

Tanner

Right.

Sups

Because after

Tanner

Oh, okay. So it's very similar to antlers on Deere in America. Exactly.

Andi

Yeah, so you can just pick 'em up off the ground. So you can buy peacock feathers, you know, With a clear conscience. They don't have to be killed for you to take them. You don't even have to steal

Tanner

hear from drop

Sups

wait. Be

Tanner

patient.

Andi

Yes. faith and humanity is restored.

Sups

Good. This is excellent. Yeah. but also like the chameleon one.

Tanner

Like I totally

Sups

thought that I

Andi

Yeah.

Sups

cha

Andi

common misconception. I

Tanner

I know.

Sups

Yeah. I should

Tanner

known

Sups

I should have

Andi

I should have Known. I Thanks for listening to this episode of, I should have known we will be continuing Rainbow Month and we'll be finishing it up next week with another episode. so be on the lookout for that. we are on YouTube in celebration of season four, so it's not exactly videos of us in recording the episodes, but we have the episodes themselves you can listen or watch. On YouTube and you can like, subscribe and comment. Let us know if you knew the peacock lie I'm very curious if anyone else knew or any other colorful animals that you didn't hear about that you'd like to please let us know. And as always, thanks for listening. Nature is gay