Life, Death, and Taxonomy

“…and today we’re talking about an owl with an eye for allies. But more on that later.”

Small things slithering across the woodlands know to watch the skies. A killer approaches silently as it glides from high perches. For most small mammals and invertebrates that meet this aerial doom, it’s time to say goodbye to this mortal coil. But when a particular snake comes face-to-beak with the eastern screech owl, they have one more chance to prove their worth. But sometimes, combating deadly predators is a matter of being worth more alive than dead in Life, Death, and Taxonomy. 

“…and today we’re talking about the sloooowest mammal in the world. But more on that later.”

The Amazon jungle is home to a wide variety of animals both fast and slow, with one of the slowest being the brown-throated sloth. But with so many fierce predators on the jungle floor, it helps to spend all your time hanging out in the trees. The only problem is, there aren’t a lot of good things to eat way high up in the trees. So to stay healthy, and stay slow, the sloth has some unorthodox ways of getting his vitamins here in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

“…and today we’re talking about the plume in the room. But more on that later.”

At the bottom of the deepest oceanic trench, you’ll find an animal that’s worth writing home about. The sea pen is a feathery friend with multiple personalities and penchant for puffing itself up when the coast is clear. But when slow-moving danger is around every corner, you have to be ready to retreat here in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Description

• The sea pen is so named because it sort of looks like a feather pen. 
• The feathers are actually tentacle-like appendages
• A smooth bulb anchors the sea pen in the sediment and a stock rises and curls like a fancy quill.
• Branches from the quill have tentacles that give the organism a feathery appearance. 
• They come in a variety of light colors from a cream color to pink. 

Measure Up

Welcome to the beloved Measure Up segment. The official listener’s favorite part of the show! The part of the show when we present the animal’s size and dimension in relatable terms through a quiz that’s fun for the whole family. It’s also the part of the show that’s introduced by you when you send in audio of yourself saying, singing, or chittering the words Measure Up into ldtaxonomy at gmail dot com. We do have a Measure Up intro this week from our friend Calvin. 

Length at Sexual Maturity

• 55 and 90 mm
• How many sea pens go into the length of the longest feather ever recorded?
• Hint: According to Guinness, the longest feather ever recorded was documented in 1972 in Kochi, Shikoku, Japan. The feather belonged to a phoenix fowl, also called a yokohama chicken.
• 117.7 sea pens. The feather was 10.6 m (34 ft 9.5 in). 

Living depth

• 6,100 m (3.7 miles)
• How many sea pen living depths would go into the length of RNA needed to vaccinate the entire world?
• Hint: This came from the subreddit r/theydidthemath, which I found because we’re mentioned in the comments for our measurement-based assault on mathematics. Thanks to listener Jessica for emailing to let me know that were mentioned on at least one corner of Reddit.
• 49,709,695,400,000 depths. It would take 296 trillion km (31 light years) of RNA.

Fast Facts

Though sea pens look like plants, they live down where no plants can survive because of a lack of sunlight. They can live in shallow reef areas to deep intertidal abysses. 

They like all kinds of regions but prefer tropical and temperate water.

The entire order pennatulacea are called sea pens but only members of subselliflorae really look like feather pens. Other orders can be found in a variety of fanciful shapes from feather dusters to peacock plumage.

The fully unfurled plume is actually full of water and it can deflate like a broken arm flailing inflatable tube man. When there’s danger around, the pen will expel water to shrink down into the sand.

This particular genus has several bioluminescent species.

Some species of sea pens can use barbed nematocysts to sting and harpoon prey. 

Also, sea pens could possibly live for more than a century. Their tentacles also have stingers. They can get up to almost 6.6 ft.

Major Fact: We are Legion

I was going to talk about the fact that the sea pen is the only non-extinct animal with glide reflection symmetry, but it turns out that it involves Euclidean geometry so it’s tough to explain. Basically, it means that the pen is symmetrical, but slightly askew so it’s not symmetrical at all.

Instead, let’s talk about polyps. You may have noticed that the sub class was “octocorallia”, which is octocorals. 

So the sea pen has more in common with coral than anything else. 

Each polyp is basically a tiny jellyfish octopus – a cnidarian with eight tentacles that all come together to form a single animal. 

The first polyp will lose its tentacles and turn into the tree trunk of the pen with a large root at the bottom (otherwise known as the peduncle) and anchoring itself in the sea floor.

Then other polyps bud from it and each one specializes in a different function. Like pluripotent cells.

Some polyps become gills, others become rudimentary stomachs, and others become reproductive organs. Like a more advanced version of three kids wearing a big trenchcoat to get into a PG-13 rated movie. 

When you see a sea pen in its full glory, it’s actually mostly filled with water. If it’s threatened, it can expel that water and deflate, disappearing into the sand. This process can take up to 4 hours, but when your primary predators are sea slugs and star fish, you have time.

Ending: So anchor yourself, work on your Euclidean reflection geometry, and remember that the pen is mightier than the swordfish here in LDT.

“And today we’re talking about one of the fastest ungulates west of the Mississippi. But more on that later.”

North America has a few big animals, but it’s mostly dominated by smaller fauna that have learned to thrive in the amber waves of grain. However, America was once a continent like Africa, home to great beasts that made the bison look like a midsized megafauna. It also used to have predators like lions, hyenas, and cheetahs. But there’s one relic of epochs long gone that still follows the old ways of the Pleistocene era. The pronghorn may be a product of its time but sometimes the good old-fashioned lessons still hold up in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

“…and today we’re talking about Yennefer of Vengerbird, the black and white songbird downunder. But more on that later.” 

If you’re out for a stroll in the wilds of Australia, Europe, or North America, you might stumble upon a peculiar and gruesome sight: the impaled victims of the butcherbird. Setting its sights on larger prey but lacking the strength to subdue it, the butcherbird uses its environment to its advantage when hunting. But, brutal or not, a bird’s gotta do what a bird’s gotta do to survive here in Life, Death, and Taxonomy.

Description

The grey butcherbird has a black head, with a white neck and belly. Their shoulders are a slate grey with black wingtips and tail feathers. Young birds have a dark brown head with white streaks and are said to look a lot like a kingfisher. 

They’re shaped kind of like a crow with a proportionally longer beak. The beak also has a distinct hook on the end of it that you wouldn’t see in every passeriform. 

Males and females share similar colors but males are slightly larger. 

Measure Up

Welcome to the beloved Measure Up segment. The official listener’s favorite part of the show! The part of the show when we present the animal’s size and dimension in relatable terms through a quiz that’s fun for the whole family. It’s also the part of the show that’s introduced by you when you send in audio of yourself saying, singing, or chittering the words Measure Up into ldtaxonomy at gmail dot com. We don’t have a new Measure Up intro this week.

1. Common Black Bird
2. Malabar Whistling Thrush
3. Bahama Mockingbird
4. Grey Butcherbird

Wingspan 

• They have a body length of up to 30 cm or 11.8 inches and a wingspan between 37–43 cm (14.6-16.9 in). 
• How many grey butcherbird wingspans go into the tallest inflatable waterslide?
• Hint: The tallest waterslide ever is called the Hybrid XL and it was made for a pop-up water park in Perth, Australia. It was made by the U.S. based company Freestyle Slides. 
• 52.1 wingspans. The slide is 22.4 m (73.4 feet).

Weight

• 90 grams (3.2 oz)
• How many butcherbirds go into a jar of Elvish Honey that you could buy for $6,800?
• Hint: Elvish Honey is natural wild honey that’s produced in a deep cave in Turkey. The cave is said to imbue the honey with special minerals that make the product more expensive than gold. 
• 11 butcherbirds. Elvish Honey goes for about $6,800 per kilogram. 

Fast Facts

Even though they’re known as butchers, they’re actually very talented singers. They are known to be among the premier songbirds of Australia. Their songs contain both melodious whistles and harsh dissonant sounds. 

Each member of a territorial group participates in the same territorial song. They repeat each other’s songs in a given area to let other birds know the territory belongs to their group. Sharing the same song allows the birds to spread a tune farther than if a single bird sang, like lighting the beacons of Gondor. 

When a territorial group is performing, birds from other territories shut up and listen. Songs have been recorded lasting as much as 15 minutes. Individual members usually call and respond but sometimes overlap. 

The breed in pairs between July and January and both sexes share parenting duties. Both will feed hatchlings and defend the nest but the mother incubates eggs. They may nest in a variety of habitats including woodland, shrublands, rainforests, and even urban areas. 

They mostly eat insects and other animals but they’ll sometimes eat seeds. In some cases, they’ll eat other smaller birds and vertebrates. 

Major Fact: Penchant for Poking

Butcherbirds are birds that are known for a specific and brutal style of hunting.

They aren’t all related taxonomically though. Many butcherbirds are in the shrike order of birds. I’ve seen the shrikes in South Africa. The ones in Australia, however, are more closely related to magpies.

But butcherbirds of all types practice a common predator hunting method called “sally pouncing”, which involves flying straight into prey, grabbing it with its beak, and flying back to its perch. They’ll mainly go for insects, but they’ll also eat lizards, frogs, and even mice as big as they are.

Lots of birds use the sally pounce, but where raptors have strong legs and talons to grab and carry off prey, the butcherbird has the dainty feet of a passerine, so it needs a different strategy for larger prey.

It will clamp its beak down on the spinal cord of the animal to paralyze it. After that, it will shake the prey around like a dog to break its neck.

Then, they’ll often find a nice, quiet place to impale their prey like a thorn or branch. This acts as a larder, or a place to store food. The butcherbird can come back later to eat and it makes it easier to eat as well. It is also a way for males to attract mates with a scrumptious offering.

So you can tell when a butcherbird is nearby when you see the impaled bodies of its victims on display around thorny bushes. Kinda like a mad-max scene.

Ending: So sally-pounce whenever you get the chance, sing a rollicking duet, and keep your food impaled where you can always find it like the grey butcherbird here in LDT.