The MeatEater Podcast - MeatEater Kids VI

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

We are back for Season 2 of MeatEater Kids! It's a fun, educational, and engaging podcast for all of you outdoor kids. Learn about science and history from Steve's "Why It's the Way It Is" segment and impress your friends with your newfound knowledge, develop your ear for animal vocalizations with our "Guess that Critter" segment, and play along during "Kids Trivia" with host Spencer Neuharth. Connect with Steve, Spencer, MeatEater, and The MeatEater Podcast Network MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YoutubeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's time for Why It's the Way It Is. Today on Why It's the Way It Is, we're going to talk about the difference between an antler and a horn. Now this is a little bit confusing because a lot of people don't use the words in the right way, including me. I change it up all the time because I might say I found a deer horn or that deer had big horns or did you see the horns on the deer that Clay got? Well that's wrong because deer don't have horns. Technically, actually deer have

antlers. So what really is an antler? The way to think about an antler is it's like a bony material, kind of like the an antler is it's like a bony material, kind of like the bones in your body. It's a bony material that grows out of a deer's head. And when I say deer, I mean members of the deer family. Members of the deer family include caribou, moose, mule deer, whitetail deer. All members of the deer family have antlers.

One of the most interesting thing about antlers is that again, it's a bony material and they fall off every year. Meaning a deer every year, a male deer grows a new set of antlers and it falls off. So if a male deer is born, he'll grow his first set of antlers the next year. So when he's a year and a half old, he'll grow a set of antlers and then he'll

grow a new set every year after that and generally their antlers get bigger every time they grow them. If you hear someone say they found a deer shed, what they're talking about is they were out in the woods and they found one of these antlers that shed or fell off. So if you can think of an antler as a bone-like material that grows outside of a deer's head, you can think of a horn as, and this is gonna sound really weird, you could think of a horn kind of like a fingernail that grows outside of an animal's head. There are many horned animals in Africa, okay? Wildebeest and Pallas, Cape Buffalo, those are horned animals. Here in the United States we

have bighorn sheep, that's an horned animal. Mountain goats, that's a horned animal. American pronghorn or antelope have horns and also domestic cows. So if you look in a farmer's pasture and he has cows or cattle, those are horns. The reason I say you can think of them like a fingernail is because horns are made of keratin and keratin is the same material that is in your fingernails. A horn, and there's one exception to this I'm gonna explain, but this is just generally how it goes. An animal grows a horn and it keeps its horn its whole life and as it grows and

gets older the horn just grows and gets bigger. It never falls off, okay? When I said there's an exception to this it's the animal called the American Pronghorn, or an antelope. And here's where it's weird. All horned animals have a bone core on their skull, and their horn grows over that bone core, and they don't drop off. But what an American Pronghorn was crazy is the outer part of his horn, the part that fits over the bone core, does fall off every year.

But it's the only horned animal in the world that sheds its horn. And it's almost like he does it just to make it so we can't have good rules, because he has to be like an exception to the rule. And let me tell you another way, prong horns are kind of a weird exception with horned animals. Most

animal horns just come to a point on the end, okay? It might be a rounded point, it might be a sharp point, but they come to a single point on the end. The reason a pronghorn has his name is his main horn has a little prong on it. So they actually have a horn that can have two points. It's like a two-pointed horn. It's the only horn that looks like that. So again, to wrap up, antlers grow on members of the deer family. They're bone-like and they fall off every year and then the animal grows a new one. Horns, with the exception of the American pronghorn, are fingernail-like or made of

keratin and the animal keeps his horns for his whole life and they do not fall off. Why don't oysters donate to charity? Because they're shellfish. It's time for Guess That Critter where we play animal sounds and critter calls and you've got to guess what creature is making those sounds. Don't worry it ain't too hard we're gonna throw in some clues. Now open up your ears. These critters are short-bodied but big. They can weigh over two pounds and measure close to eight inches in length. They're quite voracious, meaning they have big appetites and eat a lot. They consume insects, rodents, fish, invertebrates, small birds, amphibians, and more. Really, they'll eat whatever they can get that'll fit in their mouth.

These are distress calls. You may not hear this sound too often, but know that these critters are capable of open mouth screaming. More typically, you'll hear sounds like this. There's a rhythmic quality to the sound, which occurs with the circulation of air. These critters move air from their lungs to the vocal sacs in their throat, which act as resonance chambers that push air back into their lungs. Males make this low-frequency baritone bellowing sound. Have a listen.

It almost sounds like a cow mooing, doesn't it? The males sing to attract females and to stake out their territory. You can hear them in spring and summer during the mating season. Here's a chorus of males by a freshwater marsh congregated in the area to breed. These semi-aquatic critters live in and near marshes, rivers, ponds, streams, and creeks. They prefer warmer, shallow, and still sources of water. They also spend time on land and are very skilled jumpers, propelled by their long, muscular legs.

The throat of the male is yellow, while the throat of the female is white. Males also have a noticeably larger thumb than do females. And on average, the body size of the female is much larger than that of the male. Now try to guess that critter! Okay, it's time for the reveal. It's a bullfrog! Bullfrogs are North America's largest frog. Their croaking song sounds like a cow mooing, which is why they're called bullfrogs are North America's largest frog. Their croaking song sounds like a

cow mooing, which is why they're called bullfrogs. Bullfrogs are harvested as a game species in many states and are also commercially farmed because their legs make a tasty dish. They are native to eastern North America and are so well adapted that they've become an invasive species in much of western North America and are so well adapted that they've become an invasive species in much of western North America. Bullfrog farming has contributed to the spread, as has the use of their tadpoles as bait for fishing. What do you call a hog that loves karate? A pork chop. loves karate. A pork chop.

It's time for everyone's favorite game show, Trivia. Let's all join in. I'm joined by Mabel, Matthew, Rosie, Hayden, Conley, Sage, Hattie, and Bay. Each player will earn ten dollars for conservation with every question they get right. Today there's a potential for this room to earn up to $240. This week that donation is going to the Land Access Initiative which provides more access to public lands for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, and whatever else you like doing outdoors.

Let's see how much money our players can raise. Question 1. Which of these animals would a mammologist study? Is it a whale, an owl, or a lizard? Which of these animals would a mammologist study? Whale, owl, or lizard Rosie's watching Bay's answer Rosie do you agree with what they wrote down? Yeah I don't agree with myself. You got the same answer. I didn't agree with myself. She was asking me what the answer was. I need to know. So I was watching to see what she actually wrote down. Okay. Or either trying to cheat. Cause I feel confident in my answers. I'm just trying to be cheat. Rosie is confident. How about you Conley? Are you confident? Yeah. You are.

I'm not. I'm not confident. I'm confident. Is everybody ready? Yes. Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Bae. Rosey. Mabel.

Hattie. Whale. Mabel. Owl. Hattie. Whale. Hayden. Whale. Sage. Whale. Conley. Whale.

Matthew. Whale. The correct answer is whale. Let's go. The room did very well. Ancient whale. That's an answer. Oh.

I thought it said angry whale. A mammologist is a scientist who studies what? Mammals. That's right, such as whales. Owls are birds, which are studied by ornithologists, and lizards are reptiles, which are studied by herpetologists. Can you name some other animals that a mammologist would study? What do you got?

Seal. Walrus. Walrus. Doggies. Dogs. Elephant. White tail. You guys know your mammals. Cat.

Octopus. Humans. Were you trying to sneak that one in there? Lizard. Humans. They don't study it, Octopus. Question two. What percentage of the Earth is covered in water?

Is it 21%, 46%, or 71%? Wow, our players look confident. Easy! Very! Matthew has declared that this... Very easy. Okay. What was that?

I wrote a negative one. All of our players think this is an easy one. What percentage of the Earth is covered in water? 21%, 46%, or 71% is everybody ready yeah go ahead and reveal your answers we have Bay 71 Rosie 71 Mabel 71 Hattie 71 Hayden. 71. Sage. 71. Conley. 71. Matthew. 71. The correct answer is 21%. What?

No, I'm kidding. It's 71%. You guys got it. It's not to come over to your computer and factor. That was too easy. 97.5% of the Earth's water is salt water. And of that little bit of fresh water, 69% of that little bit of freshwater 69% of it is frozen and 30% of it is underground that means just 1% of the earth's

freshwater is on the surface in the form of lakes rivers and swamps so maybe don't leave the sink running at home don't leave the sink running anymore don't brush your teeth and have the sink on while you brush. You gotta trust me. Matt, you don't brush your teeth. Yeah, you cannot be talking. Question three. This man who was America's third president has a river and forest named after him. Is it Benjamin Franklin, Ronald Reagan, or Thomas Jefferson?

I think I heard someone saying an answer. Ronald Reagan or Thomas Jefferson? I think I heard someone saying an answer, but maybe they weren't right. This man who was America's third president has a river and forest named after him. Ben Franklin, Ronald Reagan or Thomas Jefferson? I think I spelt it wrong. I did too. I did, no.

I think I spelt it right. Is everybody ready? Yeah. was this an easy round? Yeah Go ahead and reveal your answers Bay Thomas Jefferson Rosie Mabel Thomas Jefferson Hattie Thomas Jefferson Hayden Jefferson Sage Conley Thomas Jefferson Matthew Jefferson the correct answers Thomas Jefferson. Matthew? Jefferson. The correct answer is Thomas Jefferson. Everybody got it right. Ronald Reagan was America's 40th president and Ben Franklin was never a president.

Thomas Jefferson was president from 1801 to 1809. The river named after him is right here in Montana and the national forest named after him is in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Now, if you guys could have something named after you, what would it be? Maybe a mountain, a sandwich, a fishing lure, how about a dance move? Hoffman Peak. Hoffman Peak. That's something that exists? Or no, you want there to be a Hoffman Peak? I want there to be a Hoffman Peak. Matthew's planet. Matthew's planet? What would that look like? It's getting a little too greedy there.

It's bigger than the sun. Bigger than the sun? That's great. Too greedy, Matt. That's ambitious. You're gonna have to do some cool stuff in the next 50 years to get a planet named after you. I was named after the valiant yellowstone-hated... Oh! That's the opposite thing. You're supposed to have something named after you, not be named after something. Alright, that's it for today's round of trivia.

Phil the engineer, how much money did we raise? They raised $230! $230 going to the Land Access Initiative. Well done kids. Join us next time for more MeatEater Kids Trivia, the only other game show where conservation always wins. Thanks for listening everyone. See you next week on Meat Eater Kids.