Bonus: BOTY goes Batty

[00:00:02] This is BewilderBeasts, an infotainment show dedicated to inspiring curiosity for all ages

[00:00:13] by investigating the ways animals intersect at humanity.

[00:00:17] I am not a historian, an ethologist, a researcher, a scientist, a zoologist, a trained audio

[00:00:23] engineer or an expert in… well, anything.

[00:00:26] Y'all, I'm lucky if I can remember to put my clean laundry in the dryer before

[00:00:30] it gets funky.

[00:00:31] And while I make every effort to present things as accurately as I can with a fun flair, I'm

[00:00:36] going to mess up.

[00:00:37] And that's okay.

[00:00:38] I hope I've given you a nice place to jump off from on your own adventures into curiosity.

[00:00:42] Or at the very least, I've given you the key to win your next round of trivia.

[00:01:08] Hello and welcome to BewilderBeasts.

[00:01:11] I'm your host Melissa McHugh-McGraw, regretting not taking that shower just before

[00:01:15] getting in this closet under the stairs.

[00:01:17] And today on this Patreon exclusive episode, we are talking about a bat who really peeved

[00:01:22] off a whole lot of ornithologists.

[00:01:24] Alright, let's go!

[00:01:36] Y'all thank you for supporting this show.

[00:01:39] I want you to enjoy this bonus episode just for you.

[00:01:43] I'm not going to have a new episode in the main feed this week.

[00:01:47] I was sick for a few days and those days were the days that I usually do all my

[00:01:51] research in writing for episodes.

[00:01:54] And while a Sudafed drugged out episode may have been really fun, it also may

[00:01:59] have got me in a lot of trouble.

[00:02:01] Plus the time editing out all of those snot blowings and it's just not cute.

[00:02:07] But as y'all provide support for this show and I had time to do one episode,

[00:02:11] it's going to you.

[00:02:13] So thank you so much for your support.

[00:02:17] One thing off the top I do want to mention and I am going to mention something in

[00:02:20] the main feed as well on this.

[00:02:23] If you happen to have time on November 23rd, 2021, that's a couple weeks from now

[00:02:29] I'm recording this on Veterans Day 11-11-21.

[00:02:32] There's going to be a free online book launch and it's a book called Drunk Flies

[00:02:39] and Stoned Dolphins.

[00:02:41] Y'all this is going to be right up most of your alley.

[00:02:45] The book is written by Dr.

[00:02:46] One Pagan.

[00:02:48] He's this really cool researcher that I stumbled upon on Twitter and we've

[00:02:52] become Twitter friends and he's just really great and amazing.

[00:02:56] And I had screen-shotted, screen-shot, maybe I'm still on Sudafed.

[00:03:02] I had taken a screen-shot of his book and put it on my Twitter feed and was

[00:03:06] like, guys, this is the Venn diagram of all the things that make me happy.

[00:03:11] We have inebriation and animals and science.

[00:03:17] And I guess when he saw that, he was like, you seem like my kind of people.

[00:03:20] He sent me a copy of the book to read before it was even published and put out

[00:03:24] into the world, which I think happens on the 16th.

[00:03:28] And I had the opportunity to read it before it went out into the world.

[00:03:32] So fun.

[00:03:33] You get to learn about what happens when bees accidentally drink nectar or

[00:03:39] eat things that are alcoholic and then they end up going back to the hive.

[00:03:42] They basically have bouncer bees outside the hive because they don't want them

[00:03:46] to accidentally make alcoholic honey and get all the other bees buzzed

[00:03:50] because that's really bad for the rest of the hive, it turns out.

[00:03:54] Why fruit flies use alcoholic fruit or fruit that has gone ripe, which has a

[00:03:59] higher alcohol content as part of their defense strategy against other animals

[00:04:03] that don't have as good of a response to alcohol.

[00:04:08] You find out a lot about plants.

[00:04:09] So if you're a fan also of the Plantar-Pology podcast, which I hope

[00:04:13] you are with Vikram Balega, I think this the intersection of plants and

[00:04:20] animals and just what happens with the body of other animals intersecting at

[00:04:27] intoxication.

[00:04:28] So again, the book is called Drunk Flies and Stone Dolphins, a trip through

[00:04:32] the world of animal intoxication.

[00:04:35] And it is really fun.

[00:04:37] And I learned a lot.

[00:04:38] He does his best to mix really good pharmacological, I really struggle

[00:04:45] with that word, pharmacological science with trying to make it an accessible

[00:04:51] medium for everyone.

[00:04:53] So if this is something that's interesting to you, join him and me

[00:04:58] because after we got to talking about his book, he's like, you seem really

[00:05:01] excited about this.

[00:05:02] Would you like to help me with my book launch?

[00:05:03] And I don't think I've been more flattered in quite some time.

[00:05:08] It was really nice to talk to him.

[00:05:11] We're friends now and this is just so cool.

[00:05:14] So Twitter being used for good.

[00:05:16] I've made a really cool friend.

[00:05:18] I have this really cool experience and I cannot believe that he trusts me to

[00:05:23] help him birth his book into the world.

[00:05:27] It will be a really fun conversation.

[00:05:29] I'm going to maybe try to slip in cocaine bear at least once in our

[00:05:34] conversation and see what happens.

[00:05:36] But yeah, I think it'll be fun.

[00:05:37] So if you get a chance, just follow at bald scientist.

[00:05:41] That is One Pagan's Twitter feed.

[00:05:44] You can also follow my Twitter feed at bewildered pod and you can get all

[00:05:47] the information there if you just wanted to avoid Twitter, which 90% of

[00:05:53] the time I would say is a good call.

[00:05:55] You can actually just go to copperfieldbooks.com and search for

[00:05:58] Dr.

[00:05:59] One Pagan, Drunk Flies, Stone Dolphins, and you can register for this

[00:06:04] free event.

[00:06:05] And with that being said, I guess we should just get in with this

[00:06:08] episode.

[00:06:09] You ready?

[00:06:10] Let's go.

[00:06:18] Okay.

[00:06:19] This bonus episode ties in a little bit with episode 18 in the main feed.

[00:06:24] It was titled The Side Effects of Toad Licking.

[00:06:26] And in that episode, there was one segment on voter fraud regarding

[00:06:30] New Zealand's annual bird of the year.

[00:06:32] So if you wanted to go back and listen to the third segment as a

[00:06:35] refresher on what turns out to just be one controversy in this annual

[00:06:40] contest, go right ahead.

[00:06:42] If you don't want to go back, it's totally okay.

[00:06:45] I'll just do a quick and dirty 30 second refresher.

[00:06:48] Last year in 2020, in the height of voter fraud claims in pretty much

[00:06:53] any democratically run election across, at least in my neck of the

[00:06:57] woods, the US, which zero cases of voter fraud had occurred.

[00:07:01] There was one case of actual voter fraud in New Zealand, which was

[00:07:06] legit.

[00:07:07] Someone had stuffed the ballot for the tiny but mighty Spotted

[00:07:11] Kiwi, stuffed that ballot to the tune of 1500 votes.

[00:07:16] Which was not that hard to figure out because this fraudster used

[00:07:20] the same email address.

[00:07:21] I mean, come on, watch one episode of Dateline if you're going

[00:07:26] to commit fraud of any kind, at least as a cautionary tale.

[00:07:31] The conservation group Forest and Bird runs this election based

[00:07:35] competition to help raise awareness for the New Zealand's

[00:07:37] native bird species, many of which are endangered.

[00:07:42] And the winner becomes the spokesbird for the next year.

[00:07:45] The face of New Zealand conservation efforts.

[00:07:48] And this year, as many of you undoubtedly have already heard by

[00:07:51] now, the winner of the bird of the year goes to the leather

[00:07:55] daddy of birds, the long tailed bat.

[00:08:00] Now listener, you might be thinking to yourself, last I

[00:08:04] checked bats are flying mammals and birds are living dinosaurs.

[00:08:08] And yes, you'll be correct.

[00:08:10] I swear this is not a Sudafed inspired dream that I made up

[00:08:13] into an episode.

[00:08:14] A bat really did just win bird of the year.

[00:08:18] I thought this whole piece was going to be on just how

[00:08:21] ornithologists got their feathers ruffled and a whole

[00:08:23] bunch of bad bird puns, but it turns out that bird of the

[00:08:26] year has had dozens of controversies in its 16 year run.

[00:08:33] Most years have incidences of voter fraud of some kind,

[00:08:36] including in 2010 when the Kakariki was accused of

[00:08:40] rigging the vote.

[00:08:41] To be clear, the Kakariki are birds.

[00:08:45] Not sure how they rigged the vote, but the forest and bird

[00:08:48] committed to securing the vote for future elections.

[00:08:51] In 2008, the very first year of the competition, the

[00:08:55] Kokopo was accused by the Takahe of accepting undeclared

[00:08:59] donations from wealthy migratory birds living in

[00:09:02] Monaco.

[00:09:03] This was cleared by the fictional serious feathered

[00:09:06] fraud office.

[00:09:08] This started off being quite silly, right?

[00:09:10] Birds can't accuse other birds, right?

[00:09:15] Right?

[00:09:16] But silly turned serious when in 2011, non-native

[00:09:19] birds were getting in on the technicality when a

[00:09:22] juvenile emperor penguin rolled up onto the shores

[00:09:25] of New Zealand.

[00:09:26] As he was on land at the time of voting, he

[00:09:28] was eligible to run for bird of the year.

[00:09:31] This bird gained national and international attention,

[00:09:35] but he didn't win.

[00:09:36] The native Pukeko, or the astral Asian Swamp Hen,

[00:09:41] eked out the win.

[00:09:43] But could you just imagine if a non-native bird

[00:09:46] won New Zealand's bird of the year?

[00:09:52] In 2014, the competition switched it up and only

[00:09:55] allowed seabirds for consideration.

[00:09:57] Gasp!

[00:09:59] Even going so far as to change the name of the

[00:10:01] competition for that year, seabird of the year.

[00:10:04] But you know your election isn't legit until the

[00:10:06] Russians have rumors of interference.

[00:10:08] This occurred in 2019.

[00:10:11] However, all the votes were legitimate, but

[00:10:13] rumors gonna rumor.

[00:10:16] There were so many cases of voter fraud over

[00:10:18] the years that in 2018, an independent

[00:10:20] scrutineer, I guess that's an official name of

[00:10:23] the person who just watches over an election

[00:10:25] to make sure that there's no funny business,

[00:10:27] was hired to keep an eye on things for again,

[00:10:31] bird of the year.

[00:10:33] So this year, after the Kokopo won, after the

[00:10:36] 1500 stuffed ballots were eliminated, making

[00:10:40] the Kokopo the only bird to win this event twice.

[00:10:43] There was only one way to mix things up even more.

[00:10:46] Encourage participation.

[00:10:48] The bracket style voting, a la the glorious

[00:10:51] Fat Bear Week Championships was just a few

[00:10:53] weeks ago.

[00:10:54] So switching formats is not going to cut the

[00:10:56] mustard, but adding a non-bird species?

[00:11:00] Now we're talking.

[00:11:01] That would get the internet twittering and well,

[00:11:04] tweeting.

[00:11:04] And it did.

[00:11:05] The long tailed bat or by the Maori word,

[00:11:08] Pika Pika, which is objectively way more fun

[00:11:12] to say was intentionally added to bring

[00:11:15] awareness to other flying pollinators.

[00:11:19] New Zealand's bats are incredible and they

[00:11:21] are in big trouble.

[00:11:22] They live side by side with our native birds.

[00:11:25] They roost in hollow trees and they only

[00:11:27] come out at night to feast on insects.

[00:11:29] But many people don't know they exist.

[00:11:33] Maybe that's how they snuck into the

[00:11:35] competition under the cover of darkness.

[00:11:37] This was a quote by Laura Kuhn, Forest and

[00:11:40] Bird spokesperson.

[00:11:42] She goes on to say, because of New Zealand's

[00:11:44] lack of mammals, bat of the year was going

[00:11:46] to be a very boring competition.

[00:11:48] It just felt like a nice opportunity to

[00:11:50] highlight this critically endangered native

[00:11:52] species and bring them from the darkness

[00:11:54] into the light.

[00:11:56] Any good competition has some smack talk

[00:11:59] from scoop quote.

[00:12:01] We spent hours going through all of the

[00:12:03] bird of the year legislation after weeks

[00:12:05] of caucus meetings.

[00:12:06] Team Toroa is forced to welcome long tailed

[00:12:10] bat as a legitimate candidate since

[00:12:11] there isn't any rule that says bats can't

[00:12:14] campaign says and to be an albatross

[00:12:17] campaign manager, Dan Brady, since over 90%

[00:12:20] of the seabirds in our area are considered

[00:12:22] at risk or worse team to Roa is urging

[00:12:25] the public to forget about bats and vote

[00:12:28] for a grand coalition of seabirds.

[00:12:30] Hashtag seabirds, not tree birds.

[00:12:34] But there was also some support from

[00:12:36] the winged feather in quote.

[00:12:38] We had team Kukopo look forward to

[00:12:40] making this competition more accessible,

[00:12:43] especially to another creature of the

[00:12:45] night, although we can't fly.

[00:12:47] We stand beside our Pika Pika brethren

[00:12:50] says campaign manager for the reigning

[00:12:52] champion Kukopo Gus Jessup.

[00:12:56] According to the bird of the year

[00:12:58] website, birdoftheyear.org quote,

[00:13:01] New Zealand has only two land mammals

[00:13:04] and they are both bats.

[00:13:06] That was the fact for me.

[00:13:08] I had no idea New Zealand only has

[00:13:10] two native land mammals and both of them

[00:13:13] fly anyway back to the quote.

[00:13:16] These flying fur balls are threatened

[00:13:17] by the same problems as our native birds.

[00:13:20] Predators habitat loss and climate

[00:13:21] change.

[00:13:22] The more we do to protect them, the

[00:13:24] more it helps feathered friends and

[00:13:25] vice versa.

[00:13:27] All things considered this competition

[00:13:30] did what it set out to do in a

[00:13:31] really fun way that with all the

[00:13:33] competition, some people took way too

[00:13:35] seriously what forest and bird wanted

[00:13:39] to do bring awareness to birds and

[00:13:42] goth birds who are in serious

[00:13:44] trouble from the effects of humans

[00:13:45] basically destroying land environment,

[00:13:47] climate habitat, native creatures

[00:13:49] and you know everything, which they did.

[00:13:54] The two native bats to New Zealand

[00:13:56] are the long tailed and short tailed

[00:13:58] bats and both are smaller than

[00:14:00] the size of your thumb.

[00:14:02] Look at it.

[00:14:02] Look at your thumb.

[00:14:04] Look how small that is.

[00:14:05] Your bat that we're talking about

[00:14:06] right here is smaller than that.

[00:14:08] And their wingspan is the size of

[00:14:10] your hand.

[00:14:11] Open it.

[00:14:12] You know you want to open your hand.

[00:14:14] Their wingspan is that tiny.

[00:14:17] And if you didn't know that until

[00:14:19] right now, consider yourself informed

[00:14:20] and then thank the forest and bird

[00:14:22] folks for doing this silly event so

[00:14:24] we can now think of these bats as

[00:14:26] pollinators, insect eaters and all

[00:14:28] around awesome little critters who

[00:14:30] always get a bad rap.

[00:14:32] Especially this time of year as

[00:14:34] bats are used to evoke a spooky

[00:14:36] mood for Halloween horror films and

[00:14:39] even one terrifying episode of Wallace

[00:14:41] and Gromit which I don't want to

[00:14:43] talk about.

[00:14:43] Thank you very much.

[00:14:45] But big ups to that five year old

[00:14:46] who can sold me a grown adult in

[00:14:48] the movie theater.

[00:14:50] I really should get my scare

[00:14:51] reflex checked.

[00:14:53] Y'all there were fifty seven

[00:14:55] thousand votes cast in the Bird

[00:14:57] of the Year competition this year.

[00:14:59] Fifty seven thousand.

[00:15:03] That's the most in this contest's

[00:15:05] 16 year history.

[00:15:07] How many is fifty seven thousand?

[00:15:09] OK well fifty seven thousand

[00:15:11] people in Ontario as of

[00:15:12] September 2021 have what is called

[00:15:15] long covid complications from the

[00:15:17] covid 19 virus that significantly

[00:15:19] last longer than three weeks of

[00:15:21] illness that is expected including

[00:15:23] fatigue pain organ issues lack of

[00:15:26] smell or taste insomnia etc.

[00:15:30] One in ten Ontarioans have the

[00:15:32] covid 19 symptoms that last

[00:15:34] longer than 12 weeks.

[00:15:37] Y'all please get vaccinated and

[00:15:39] vaccinate your kids.

[00:15:42] Fifty seven thousand people live

[00:15:43] in Greenland the largest island in

[00:15:46] the world.

[00:15:47] Most of those people live in the

[00:15:49] capital Nuke and the least

[00:15:51] populated country on the planet.

[00:15:54] That same population lives in

[00:15:56] St.

[00:15:57] Peter's City Missouri USA or

[00:16:00] Missouri.

[00:16:02] I'm sure I'll get letters.

[00:16:05] Volkspark Stadion a football

[00:16:08] soccer stadium in Hamburg

[00:16:10] Germany has over fifty seven

[00:16:12] thousand people.

[00:16:14] OK this is a bit of a stretch.

[00:16:15] Estadio Mario Alberto Campes in

[00:16:19] Cordoba Argentina holds exactly

[00:16:21] fifty seven thousand football

[00:16:22] fans but I couldn't not say

[00:16:26] Volkspark Stadion which is way

[00:16:28] more fun and my favorite stat

[00:16:31] fifty seven thousand people

[00:16:33] signed a petition to prevent

[00:16:34] Jeff Bezos from returning to

[00:16:36] earth after his space launch.

[00:16:38] Not all heroes wear capes.

[00:16:40] Fifty seven thousand people

[00:16:42] probably don't.

[00:16:44] While most of the votes went

[00:16:46] baddy not everyone was happy I

[00:16:48] had to dig to find some of the

[00:16:49] more colorful passionate

[00:16:53] interesting tweets and comments

[00:16:57] but it's the Internet and it's

[00:16:58] Twitter so it actually wasn't

[00:17:00] that much digging.

[00:17:01] Here's a sampling.

[00:17:02] I'll keep the names and handles

[00:17:03] private but they are very

[00:17:04] easily accessible on Twitter a

[00:17:06] social media platform known for

[00:17:07] people keeping their cool and

[00:17:08] making rational choices.

[00:17:11] Quote a bat is not a bird.

[00:17:14] I did not vote for a bat or a

[00:17:16] flying pig or flying fox.

[00:17:17] I voted for an indigenous bird

[00:17:20] which this bat is not.

[00:17:21] This really annoys me but I

[00:17:22] shan't stay annoyed because I

[00:17:24] shall remove myself from such

[00:17:26] votes for anything in the

[00:17:27] future.

[00:17:28] Y'all I'm assuming this is an

[00:17:30] adult and this person said

[00:17:32] shant gloves are on my

[00:17:35] gloves are off people.

[00:17:38] Quote this is a sad sad day.

[00:17:44] I mean I guess it's not so sad

[00:17:46] if you're the bat.

[00:17:48] Quote yet again science loses.

[00:17:51] How can we expect kids to

[00:17:53] believe anything.

[00:17:55] To which some hero put on a

[00:17:58] really great gif of a Simpsons

[00:18:00] character going won't someone

[00:18:01] think of the children.

[00:18:04] Which I applaud you reply hero.

[00:18:07] So if you are also loopy on

[00:18:09] cold medication that is

[00:18:10] currently medically needed and

[00:18:12] not being taken recreationally

[00:18:14] and you would love a good laugh

[00:18:15] click on the Wikipedia page for

[00:18:17] Bird of the Year.

[00:18:19] It has got a picture of our

[00:18:20] homeboy the bat wings out

[00:18:22] stretched and obviously what can

[00:18:24] only be described as victory

[00:18:26] pose.

[00:18:28] Try not to get the Batman

[00:18:29] theme song stuck in your head

[00:18:30] this week and just giggle

[00:18:32] because if you didn't know any

[00:18:34] of this and you happen to come

[00:18:35] across that Wikipedia page

[00:18:36] randomly you might think the

[00:18:38] site was hacked.

[00:18:40] I cannot wait to see what

[00:18:42] shenanigans happen next year

[00:18:43] with Bode.

[00:18:45] If you nasty because that's

[00:18:47] what they call it.

[00:18:48] I thought that their week was

[00:18:49] my thing.

[00:18:50] I think the annual Bird of

[00:18:52] the Year controversy going down

[00:18:54] might be my new annual pre

[00:18:56] Thanksgiving celebration for the

[00:18:57] rest of my days.

[00:18:59] And yes I voted.

[00:19:01] Hashtag goth bird.

[00:19:15] So as always you guys thank

[00:19:16] you. Thank you.

[00:19:18] Thank you so much for joining me

[00:19:19] today and be Wilderbeest and

[00:19:21] for supporting this show.

[00:19:22] This one is just for you.

[00:19:24] If there are topics that you

[00:19:25] would be interested in hearing

[00:19:26] about on this podcast things

[00:19:27] that you want me to cover in

[00:19:29] this feed for you if there's

[00:19:31] something that's a little off

[00:19:32] topic I'm happy to cover it

[00:19:33] this.

[00:19:34] Patreon thing is for you the

[00:19:36] listener so if you the

[00:19:37] listener of something that you'd

[00:19:38] like me to research and dive

[00:19:39] down on I'm happy to do so.

[00:19:42] When I'm not sick.

[00:19:44] If you know of any historical

[00:19:45] animals who changed the world

[00:19:47] animals who help humans or

[00:19:48] wacky animals in the news.

[00:19:50] Send them in to be Wilderbeest

[00:19:51] pod at gmail dot com tweet a

[00:19:53] people their pod be Wilderbeest

[00:19:55] pod on Facebook and be

[00:19:56] Wilderbeest on Instagram.

[00:19:58] I'm Melissa McHugh McGrath

[00:19:59] with much stuff media.

[00:20:01] Now go get curious.

[00:20:02] I got today's information from

[00:20:04] NPR dot org the scoop

[00:20:06] dot co dot nz Reuters

[00:20:08] dot com census dot gov

[00:20:11] the guardian dot com bird of

[00:20:13] the year dot org dot nz

[00:20:16] Halifax today dot ca on the

[00:20:19] coronavirus live science dot

[00:20:21] com Wikipedia dot org slash

[00:20:24] wiki slash bird underscore

[00:20:27] of underscore the underscore

[00:20:30] year.

[00:20:30] Y'all go look at that photo.

[00:20:32] It's my favorite thing on the

[00:20:33] internet this week and

[00:20:35] Smithsonian mag dot com

[00:20:38] links as always are in the

[00:20:39] description of today's episode

[00:20:41] intro music is diptoe at the

[00:20:42] back by Dan Lebowitz and

[00:20:43] interstitial music is by MK

[00:20:45] to additional music provided

[00:20:47] by pixabay and free sound

[00:20:49] dot org.

[00:20:50] Don't forget to like and

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[00:20:56] Thank you so much for

[00:20:57] listening.

[00:20:58] Check out one Pagan's book

[00:21:01] and his book launch if you

[00:21:02] want to see what my actual

[00:21:04] face looks like an actual kind

[00:21:05] of virtual person and only

[00:21:07] and I will have a fantastic

[00:21:08] discussion about a fantastic

[00:21:10] book about drunk purposes who

[00:21:12] use puffer fish to get high

[00:21:14] guys.

[00:21:14] You'll love it.

[00:21:15] OK.

[00:21:15] Anyway I'll see you next time.

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