Animals in the News 🐕
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Season 2: Episode 64 Description
Ten News Gets Extra: 🐕 Gather your pets and join us for a rundown of our favorite animal news stories from this past month. 🐘 Animals, plants, and even humans are always evolving, and here to tell us more about evolutionary change is Nature Nerds' Laine Farber. ✔️ Fun Fact check: how do flamingos eat their food? And, test your animal knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources
Perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found in China - BBC News
Hedgehogs Are a Source of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Study Finds - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Watch This Goldfish Drive an Aquarium on Wheels | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine
Why are Flamingos Pink? And Other Flamingo Facts | Smithsonian's National Zoo (si.edu)
20 Pygmy Animal Species From Around the World (treehugger.com)
Animal-Pygmy-Hippo | Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium
Links
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:04
Hey animal lovers, this one's for you. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's Saturday, January 29th. And this is no ordinary episode of the Ten News. This is the Ten News gets Extra.
Various Voices 0:19
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:29
Gather your pets because it's time for a rundown of our favorite animal news stories from this past month. First up, the heartwarming story of the goodest doggo. A Shiloh shepherd named Tinsley led state troopers to her humans after they were hurt in a car accident. Tinsley's quick thinking and brave actions saved the lives of her humans, dogs who don't deserve them. As for ancient animals, a 66 million-year-old dinosaur egg with the baby dyno about to hatch was discovered in China. Scientists are excited because the Unhatched dino’s skeleton is perfectly preserved. Welcome to Jurassic Park. The egg shows the connection between dinosaurs and modern birds. And guess what? You can check out an artist's version of what the dyno looked like at the link in our show notes. And in animal Medical News, hedgehogs are one of the cutest creatures on earth, but you cannot kiss them. Scientists discovered that dangerous bacteria evolved on hedgehogs. The Mercer bacteria is called a superbug because it's so hard to cure. It got stronger due to a fungus that grows on hedgehogs’ skin to avoid infections. Don't kiss or cuddle hedgehogs. Um, man, of course, you can still admire how cute they are, but from afar. Finally, did you ever wish your pet goldfish could drive you to school? Well, that dream is one step closer now that scientists have trained goldfish to drive. Six adventurous goldfish were sent to Driver's Ed and learn to drive vehicles that are basically four-wheel fish tanks on land, cameras, and sensors track the fish moving around in their tanks and move the vehicles in the same direction. Then the fish were rewarded for reaching a pink target, which they got better and better at Wow, you can see a video of the goldfish driving at the link in our show notes. Next up, goldfish driving school buses. Animals, plants, even humans are always evolving, but it happens so slowly, we don't even notice. So, what does it mean when a big evolutionary change happens in a super speedy way? Here's Nature Nerds' Laine Farber to tell us more.
Laine Farber 3:16
What did Mama Elephant say to her misbehaving baby? tusk tusk. There is some evolution news to discuss concerning the planet's largest land mammal, the elephant. There are three species of elephant, the African Savannah Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, and the Asian Elephant. For today's story, we're going to be focusing on a group of African Savannah Elephants from the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Why? Well, according to scientists, human actions have significantly altered their appearance. Now I know what you're thinking. And no, we didn't knit the elephant’s giant Christmas sweaters. The reality of the situation is far grimmer, I'm afraid. You see, an elephant's tusk is made from a hard substance called ivory. Ivory is considered very valuable by some cultures and is used to make jewelry and sculptures. Because of the value of ivory. Elephants are often targeted by poachers, people who illegally hunt animals. Poaching was particularly potent in the Gorongosa National Park during the late 1900s. The poaching was so severe that the elephant population dropped by 90%. Such a big drop. Because of all this poaching, something very strange happened. The genetic makeup of the elephants in the park began to change what now before we get to this fascinating change, let's break down that term I was using genetic makeup. Now all organisms are made of a special material called DNA. That's right. You're made up of the same stuff as a banana would make is all different in how that material is put together. DNA is broken up into small segments called genes. And an organism's genetic makeup is like a blueprint of how all its genes fit together to create a unique individual. Now let's get back to the elephants. Most elephants grow tusks because their DNA says so, but there are a few that are missing that gene because of a genetic mutation. As a result, their tusks never grow in. A handful of the elephants who lived in the park during the late 1900s had this rare mutation. Typically, a negative trait being born with this mutation quickly became beneficial to the elephants. No tusks meant no ivory, so the poachers left them alone. Because of this, the Tusk was elephants survived and passed on their genes to their children. Now, around 50% of the elephants in the park lack tusks. Well, this is a cool piece of science that helped the species survive. It also has many drawbacks. Elephants have tusks for a reason. They use them for important tasks, like defending against predators and searching for food, and only time will tell what the impact will be on their population. But why is this study so important? Well, it shows how human actions can have a major impact on animals. This is especially important for us to remember when we talk about animal conservation, and the ways we can help the planet. Learn about different animals by watching documentaries, reading books, playing a pollinator garden to help insects take part in a tree-planting project, or start a compost in your own backyard. If we put our minds together and take action, we can all do our part to be conservationists and help our animal friends.
Bethany Van Delft 6:55
Thanks, Laine. Hey, grownups. Are you in the family enjoying the Ten News? If so, could you please do us a big, big favor? All you have to do is go to Apple Podcasts and give us a rating and a review. Hopefully five stars, but no pressure. You don't even have to stop listening. You could do it right now. Don't worry. I'll wait. Just kidding. Take your time to it though. It may not seem like a big deal, but it really helps other listeners find the Ten News so our community can grow. Thanks again for listening. We really appreciate it. I bet you already know that flamingos get their pink color from their food. But did you know they have to eat with their heads upside down? It's true. flamingos are filter feeders. They turn their heads upside down because their top Bill has kind of a comb, which traps food and filters out other stuff. Flamingos eat seeds, tiny shrimp algae, and fly larva. Up next it’s time for…
Various Voices 8:10
What, what, what’s the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 8:13
Trivia on the Ten. Which five-foot-long plant-eating animal lives in tropical swamps and rivers makes its own natural sunscreen. And is the tiny version of one of the deadliest animals on earth. Is it a) pygmy slow loris b) a pygmy hippo or c) a pygmy raccoon? Did you guess it? The answer is B. Pygmy hippos live in the swamps and forests of West Africa. Their skin makes a pink liquid that works like sunscreen. And pygmy hippos are the little cousins of hippopotamuses. And this may surprise you since they eat plants and float around in rivers. But hippos are one of the deadliest animals on earth. Whoa. But don't worry, pygmy hippos are much cuter and much less dangerous. due to habitat loss. There are less than 3000 left in the wild. Does he a photo of these cute mini hippos head to thetennews.com. Time is up, but before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to the Ten News. Look out for our new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is not kissing hedgehogs. and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Adam Barnard, Tessa Flannery, and Nathalie Alonso. Laine Farber contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft and thanks for listening to the Ten News. Alright, gotta call my goldfish and get a ride home. See you later.
