Better Than Human

The Gilbert’s Potoroo is Australia's most endangered marsupial, and one of the world’s most critically endangered mammals. The Gilbert’s Potoroo is a small, nocturnal marsupial that was recently rediscovered off the southern coast of Western Australia in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. There are less than 100 Gilbert’s Potoroos left in the world. 

In the Good the Bad the News

Reality star who said she made $200,000 by selling her farts in Mason jars, hospitalized, and now selling her 'farts' as NFTs. Yep, you heard that right. That is now a thing in this world. 

Mozambique recently created a new National Park by merging two existing parks, a marine reserve and a land reserve. The Park protects one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, which are regarded as the most biodiverse places on the earth. 

Webb Space Telescope Deploys Primary Mirror Without any issues and Dolphin females have working clitoris. Who knew? Oh yeah, biologists.

We don’t know a lot about Gilbert’s Potoroos because they are so rare and only recently rediscovered. Described as a small rat kangaroo, Gilbert's potoroo was originally last sighted in 1869. In fact we thought they were extinct until 1994 when Elizabeth Sinclair and Adrian Wayne, two students from the University of Western Australia, found one while doing research on wallabies in Two Peoples Bay. Luckily, Prince Philip lobbied for Two Peoples Bay's protection in 1962, and stopped this area from being developed saving a number of endangered species. 

Gilbert's potoroo have expensive taste, with a diet that consists mostly of truffle-like fungi. We believe they require a habitat that has not been burnt for over 50 years, with dense scrub coverage of shrubs that are also rare to find in Australia. All of these are likely factors in why Gilbert's potoroo is so rare and contributed  to the marsupial remaining hidden for over 100 years. 

Listen now to learn about Australia's most endangered marsupial, Gilbert’s Potoroo.

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Beluga Whales are white cetaceans adapted to life in the Arctic. Belugas are highly sociable and communicate in high-pitched squeaks, squeals, clicks, and whistles. This is why they’re also known as the  "sea canary" of the ocean. Their forehead contains an organ (called a melon) that they use for echolocation, finding breathing holes in the ice, and to hunt in dark or turbid waters. Young male belugas may mimic human speech, but they grow out of it. 

In The Good, The Bad, The News

Physics Professor mailed an anonymous cardboard box filled with cash. This gift would provide fully-funded scholarships for those in need. 

Beavers saved from euthanasia (who euthanizes beavers???) are now replenishing rivers in the Utah Desert

Betty White  passed away 😔😔😔

The amusement park, Marineland, was charged with using whales and dolphins in performances, violating the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act of Canada.

Beluga’s closest relative is the narwhal, and these species have been known to interbreed in the wild, though this is rare. Belugas can act very curious towards humans in the wild, and will swim alongside boats. They also follow the same migration paths every year making them easy prey for over-hunting by humans. Belugas are classified as "near threatened" by the IUCN due to uncertainty about threats to their numbers.

Listen now to find out why everyone loves Belugas. 

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Krampus is a horned, anthropomorphic figure in Alpine folklore. On Christmas, he terrifies children who have misbehaved. Krampus has recently been introduced into North American culture, but has a rich history in Eastern European cultures, including pre-Christian pagan traditions where he has long been a companion of Saint Nicholas. 

Jennifer’s good and bad news: Quantum entanglement is complicated, but we try to explain it in the most basic terms. Why? Because researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have quantum entangled a Tardigrade. This is the first multicellular organism to be quantum entangled. 

Amber’s bad news: The Guinea worm was almost eradicated, but is now making a comeback. (The worm Jennifer talks about is the guinea worm…) 

The good: Eastern mosquitofish are being scared into not mating by robot fish. Yes, we said robot fish. 

Krampus is a half-goat, half-demon monster. He has a long, pointed tongue that lolls around (like a snake), and fangs. He carries chains that sometimes have festive bells! Like a super creepy version of Santa's sleigh bells. 

Unlike North American versions of Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas concerns himself only with the good children, while Krampus is responsible for the bad children. Saint Nicholas gives gifts, while Krampus punishes bad children. Sometimes Krampus appears with a sack or a basket strapped to his back and he carts off evil children for transport to Hell. So you better watch out. You better not pout. Or Krampus will kidnap you! 

So grab your masks and let's go to a Krampus run, get shitfaced, and scare children. Happy Holidays Everyone!

The maned wolf is a large canine of South America. However, it is not a wolf, they aren’t even related. The maned wolf has many fox-like characteristics, but they are not related to foxes either. Maned wolves are a unique animal. They are the tallest wild canine species, but not largest, and they have an erectile mane. 

The Good, The Bad, The News

Fox News is over reacting about a Christmas tree. Conservatives only care if something bad is happening directly to them.

Global Climate change is going to kill us all, but did it cause the most recent extreme weather? 

Good News

A Komodo Dragon has successfully bred at San Antonio Zoo bringing hope for the Endangered Species.

Australian University scientist, Dr. Alexandra Carthey, has developed Cardboard Habitat Pods to help animals displaced by wildfires.

The maned wolf is the only species in the genus Chrysocyon (meaning "golden dog"). The maned wolf's long legs make it adaptable to the grasslands where it lives. Maned Wolves are a solitary species, so they do not want to be your pet. The maned wolf is omnivorous. They eat small and medium-sized animals, mostly rodents and rabbits, birds, and even fish, but at least 50% of their diet is vegetable matter, including sugarcane, tubers, and fruit. They are also big fans of wolf apples. Maned Wolf pee smells like cannabis, which has led to wild goose chases at zoos. 

Listen now to learn about the maned wolf, the fox lookalike that is not a wolf. 

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The American crow is a large passerine bird (song bird) of the family Corvidae. American crows are highly cunning and inquisitive, which makes them tricksters spirits. Crows both use and make tools, which is one of the reasons why crows are considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals. They’re probably smarter than a five-year-old child. Caw Caw

The Bad
The Norwegian wolf is extinct, and it’s 100% humans' fault. Marjorie Taylor Greene is an idiot, and anyone who supports her is a moron. 

The Good
People who are fully vaccinated against covid-19 are far less likely to infect other people with Covid. Awesome, get fully vaccinated if you haven’t already. Landfills, and otherwise useless land, can be turned into useful solar farms, which can help local, low income families have affordable power.

Crows steal food from other species, often in creative ways. Crows understand water displacement, something human children don’t necessarily understand. They are social birds that recognize human faces. Seriously, don’t tick them off. Crows hold grudges, and they’ll teach their friends and children to recognize you and hate you, too. 

Crows can learn to mimic human words like parrots, and will mimic birds of preys' calls in the wild. We don’t know as much as we should about crows outside of the lab, because they’re almost too smart to study.

Crows will eat almost anything, and are adapted to human society. Which is why Amber calls them garbage pits of the bird world. They’re basically very smart flying racoons. 

Listen now to learn about American Crows, the bird proving the term bird brain wrong since forever.

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In biology, plant mimicry occurs when a plant has evolved to resemble another organism, increasing the mimic's Darwinian fitness. Mimicry may provide the mimic certain benefits including protection against being eaten, trick pollinators into provide them a service without offering a reward (food) in return, or may even do something we haven't figured out yet.

In The Good The Bad The News

Amber hates snow, Jennifer thinks it is beautiful, but you know what Jennifer hates? Nurdles. Those tiny plastic pellets that are spilled into the ocean, just like oil, and cause just as much damage. Over 230,000 tonnes of nurdles end up in oceans every year. Not good.

Most Americans would be fine without turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, and Jennifer and Amber agree that this would be fine. The UK government has declared that lobsters, crabs, octopuses and related species will be included under the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which is Good news for animal rights.

In plant mimicry there are always three things, the mimicker, the model, and then the third thing, which is the thing being duped by the mimic. Sometimes the fool is actually humans. Mimics walk a fine balance between being an evolutionary advantage and being an evolutionary dead end.

There are many different examples of plant mimicry in the wild, each more interesting than the last. Vines that might borrow host DNA, hooker lips, bee flowers, and trickster rye plants just to name a few.

Listen now to learn about plants that pretend to be something they aren’t.

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Cranberries are a fruit native to North America, and are a staple at most American Thanksgiving Dinners. Due to their very sharp and sour taste, cranberries are rarely eaten outside of the holidays. Nowadays, most Cranberries are consumed as a juice which can contain more sugar than soda pop, and has iffy health benefits. 

In The Good The Bad The News

The Bad: The Kyle Rittenhouse trial once again proves that white men can get away with murder. You don’t bring a gun somewhere unless you plan on shooting someone, and destruction of property is not the same as hurting living beings.

The Good: 

A record number of Humpback whale has been recorded off the coast of Seattle with a record number of calves birthed. In fact the entire population of Humpback whales has almost rebounded to the pre-whaling numbers. This shows that conservation does work.

Cranberries can be found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The Algonquian nation used cranberries for food and for dye, and introduced this fruit to Europeans. Cranberries are grown and harvested in a unique fashion, and the sale and marketing of them has led to things like the Great Cranberry Scare, the introduction of different juices, and the manipulation of the market.

Their most known benefit might be their ability to prevent urinary tract infections. Do cranberries actually help with UTIs? The science says yes! But the science also says no. So ... maybe?

Listen now to wade through the history, growth and marketing of Cranberries, the tart fruit you probably only eat once a year.

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Hamsters are rodents commonly kept as pets. Do you know what Hamster means? Hoard. Do you know what a group of Hamsters is called? Horde. You know what that means? Bring out the horde of hoarders! If you’ve ever had a pet hamster, then you probably know, they're solitary animals that dislike changes in temperature, and may resort to cannibalism if stressed. Amber isn’t a fan of hamsters as pets, but we can agree that they are an interesting species in the wild, as a pet, and in laboratories. 

In The Good, The Bad, The News

Apparently, men with pet hamsters are more likely to cheat, according to this one random study on this website that we’ve never heard of before ...

A 15 Million-Acre ocean superhighway was just created to preserve marine life, which is great news. And, a hamster’s home is sacrosanct, even in a graveyard. Austrian developers fail to challenge protection over species.

There are over 20 species of hamsters, all of which are related to mice. Five hamster species are common as pets, and wild hamsters are found throughout much of Europe and Asia. Female hamsters are very sensitive to disturbances while giving birth and after giving birth, which may lead to them eating their own babies, to the horror of many grade school children. But, if you keep them alone, in a large enough cage, with enough fresh bedding, in a non-drafty area, they can make great pets.

Listen now to learn about the farmland pest who has become a common household pet.

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Ladybugs (Ladybirds or Coccinellidae) are a widespread family of small beetles. Regardless of their name, they are not bugs nor birds. We’re not sure where their name comes from but it might come from "Beetle of Our Lady" in reference to the Virgin Mary. Many cultures consider them good luck, this is probably because they sometimes eat unwanted pests which helps preserve crops.

In The Good The Bad the News

This week it's complicated. Jennifer talks about the cocaine hippos from Colombia and how they have become the first animals recognized as “legal persons” in the U.S. (If you want to learn more about them listen to our episode all about Hippopotamus found at the link below). Then she talks Penis worms that lived in the depths of ancient seas more than 500 million years ago. Amber didn’t look into bad news because bad news is sad, but for her good news refugees in Cameroon have turned a desert camp into a thriving forest.

Ladybugs are often brightly colored with small black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, heads and antennae.  However, they are not all red and some are not colorful at all. There are 6,000 ladybug species worldwide and almost 500 species in North America.

Unfortunately, due to invasive species of ladybugs, such as the Harlequin ladybird (Asian lady beetle, Asian Ladybug) and the Seven-spotted ladybug, native North American ladybug species, such as the nine-spotted ladybug, are becoming displace and even extinct in some areas. 

Listen now to learn about the good luck bug, one of nature's natural pests, and  also, one of nature's natural pest controls.

Link to the episode about Hippos: https://betterthanhuman.buzzsprout.com/603916/4990118-i-want-a-hippopotamus-wait-never-mind-hippopotamus-are-terrifyingly-deadly

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This week is all about the Allosaurus, a large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Think what the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park look like, but bigger, and spoiler: probably no pack hunting. 

In the Good The Bad the News

In the Bad, Syphilis in on the rise in the U.S., a sign that our public health services are failing. (A few years ago we almost eliminated syphilis in America…)

In the Good, Amber talks about the ‘penis plant' that just bloomed in the Netherlands that smells like rotting flesh. Yum. And Jen talks about loggerhead sea turtle nests in the West African nation of Cape Verde making a rebound. 

Allosaurus means "different lizard" referring  to its unique (at the time of its discovery) hollow vertebrae. Allosaurus had sharp saw-like teeth, which it used to slash the flesh of its prey, tearing at it without splintering bones. 

We know a lot about Allosaurus because of the many fossils we found of the species, from eggs to fully grown. Allosaurus was one of the earliest dinosaur discoveries, and they are the most commonly found dinosaur in the United States. The Bone Wars of the late 1800’s, however, botched their discovery, and it was years before the dinosaur was even officially even called Allosaurus. 

Listen now to learn about Allosaurus, a commonly found dinosaur throughout the U.S.'s Midwest.

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Follow us on Twitter @betterthanhuma1

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We look forward to hearing from you, and we look forward to you joining our cult of weirdness!

#betterthanhuman #cultofweirdnes