00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Steve Ronella here. I know it's not my show, but I don't care. Man, I'm button in to tell you this. We got our mediator Live to Aur going right now me Steve the Lavin Eagle. Honest, who tell us? Ryan Callahan. We're on tour with special guests. At every venue. Everything is sold out except we've got two dates we gotta bring home. April fifteen, Masa Arts Center, Masa, Arizona, Get your tickets. That's you, Phoenix people. April sixteen, City National Grove, Anaheim, California. That's you l A people. It's our only two dates left with tickets. Get him now. Thank you. From Mediators World News Headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Kel's we Can Review with Ryan kel Kellahan. Now here's Kel. Everyone knows the old saying big things come in small packages. Well, in this case, dangerous things like some of the world's most dangerous things come in small packages. The quote cigarette snail, as in, if stuck by the hypodermic needle like harpoon which is hidden in the proboscis of this snail, the neurotoxin rich venom will kill a person in the amount of time it takes to smoke a cigarette. How that observation was made, I do not know. They're over six hundred types of cone snail. They're all venomous, but their ability to kill a person, which is typically what all us people really care about, is directly proportionate to their size and their prey species of choice. Just recently, a suspicious snail was found in the family aquarium. The owner of the tank, a husband and father of a six year old boy, took a picture of it posted the picture to an aquarium forum, where it was quickly identified as Conus geographus, or the cigarette snail. The owner of the aquarium believes the snail may have hitchhiked in on the most recent addition to the tank, a shrimp. What the shrimps intentions were we may never know. Now. This incredibly deadly snail is still a snail, not known for aggressiveness, speed, or agility. It won't fly out of the aquarium to attack an unfamiliar neighbor or pet, but you probably shouldn't have one in a tank that you regularly put your hand in. The risk may not match the reward. On top of that, they'll eat your fish smaller cone snails that hunt seaworms use smaller doses of venom. Of the cone snail species that prey on marine worms, eighteen have been documented in stabbing and in venomizing humans. Of those eighteen cases, the effects of the toxins were mild. Cone snails that specialize in molas tend to deliver more punch than the worm eaters and less than the fish eaters, whereas the larger snails that hunt fish use a larger dose of venom. Conus geographus specializes in fish and accounts for almost all documented cone snail fatalities, as well as half of all cone snail incidents worldwide. The venom in Cona's geographics is a mix of nearly a hundred different toxins comprised of over one hundred thousand different bioreactive compounds, creating a cocktail so complex there is no cure. How many do you have one just one? Cone snails are found primarily in tropical waters like the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, and parts of the Pacific. However, they do appear to be slowly adapting to milder temperatures, allowing them to expand their range, measuring only six to nine inches in length at their largest. These snails typically only stab people when they are picked up and handled, most commonly in the act of shell collecting, which I have sympathy for. That pretty cone like shell is that snail's castle, after all, and nobody wants to be plucked from your environment mid hunt to be thrown in a dive bag and preserved on someone's shelf somewhere. Before we leave this subject, keep in mind there is no need to be in panic over the cone snail. You can safely file this in the category of something very small, can be something very special, did not prohibit your children from entering the oceans over Conas Geographics as two thousand sixteen paper was the most recent compilation of verified snail involved injuries and deaths. This study went all the way to the seventeenth century and found only a hundred and thirty nine cone snail injury cases total, despite the fact that one adult cone snail has enough venom to potentially kill seven hundred people. According to the paper Cone Snail Toxicity by A. Capital and Cooper, there were only thirty six documented fatalities in the past four hundred years. As always you have to pay attention to the word verified. I am sure there are many more that were not verified, but bees, cars, dogs, and lightning should all stay a little higher up in your That thing is out to get me. Scale. This week, we're gonna talk venom and poison, Montana's mystery, elk law enforcement, and so much more. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. I went all the way out to Nashville, Tennessee, to the National Wild Turkey Federation Convention. Every year the convention is held at this place is called the gay Lord opry Land Resort. This place is a maze of guest rooms, conference rooms, ball rooms, atrium shops, and just as I have felt the last time I was there, it may be easier to find a real, live wild turkey in the woods than find your room in this place. N w TF is full of dedicated staff and volunteers. They do a great work on behalf of not just turkeys, but habitat and access to One of the most frequent questions I get is how do I meet other hunters? One great way is to go join a conservation organization and volunteer for field days. You'll do some good work and you will meet a lot of people. My advice is focused on the retirees. They have a lot of time and they like to show people around National Wild Turkey Federation, back Country Hunters and Anglers, Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, all great conservation organizations. A donation of your time to one of these organs will pay off. Also, thank you to everyone who is listening that currently volunteers. Time is the most valuable thing we have. Thank you, thank you. And speaking of volunteering, I have gotten in a few emails in regards to our Steel work days. We're looking for a couple of interesting projects where we can round up a bunch of steel power equipment, go out and do some trail work, some habitat work, you know, stuff that involves power equipment. Please keep the project ideas coming in. The good folks that Steel have a few occasions to lend equipment volunteers for some projects and I'm going to help them out with one or two. So again, if you need a hand on some trail work or habitat work, please let me know by writing in to ask cal A s k c A L at the Meat Eater dot com. Preferably something on land that the public gets to enjoy unless it's like a really killer habitab project. Anyway, good ideas are welcome, send him in quick side story from this same trip to Nashville. It was Steven Ronella's birthday, my good friend, uh, Happy birthday, Steve, And on top of that, it was podcast engineer Phil's wedding anniversary, all in the same trip. Phil likes to find tiki bars or tiki themed establishments on his travels, and in honor of these two momentous occasions, we went to Nashville's only, I presume, robot themed tiki bar. Our cocktail waitress was absolutely fantastic, and as it turned out, we had something in common. She, like me, is an a possum fan. She was also a real professional, as she smiled while I man splain to her all of my possum facts that she likely already knew. Aside from being patient, she also had this fun fact. If you ever find a bunch of baby possums on the side out of the road, put a sports bra on over the top of your shirt and put the baby possums in the bra. They will feel your heat and your heart beat and go to sleep. That apparently is how your angle possum children if it ever comes up. If you're too squeamish about possum babies in your bra it may help you know that, in our talented server's opinion, they look like quote tiny younger versions of Bernie Sanders. I approved this message, moving on to a combination of topic and fan mail venom v. Poison. While on the subject to cone snails, I was reminded of a listener email regarding the difference between venomous and poisonous, something I had messed up in the past. If you go face value by the definitions, you can think of it this way. Venom is a tool, and tools have to be used, like the cone snail uses its venom as a tool to incapacitate and kill its prey. Where poison is passive, the poison dart frog is not going to attack you with its poison. It is going to kill you if you bite the frog. And so doing. Poisonous animals are educating predators that they should find prey elsewhere. If you live in a rattlesnake country and someone points to a rattler and asks is that snake poisonous? You can look them in the eye laughing and say no, because, as we all just learned, rattlesnakes deliver their toxin by biting, meaning they are venomous not poisonous. The definition is based in delivery injected versus secreted kind of. As it turns out, there are plenty of animals out there that can be poisonous at times. Some things, like the cute little hedgehog, possess no natural toxins, but they have a strong immunity to them. The hedgehog can shoot toxic substances and distribute that toxin across and throughout their five thousand spines in a process called anointing. If you were to be pricked by a spine that had a healthy enough dose of toxin, you could get sick. You were infected from being pierced by a spine, which, if you think about it, is similar to a fang. But would it be correct to call the hedgehog venomous? Some things can be both poisonous and venomous, and some snakes and even birds that are considered poisonous don't create their own poison. They just store poison collected from the ingestion of things that start out poisonous. For instance, that very common little salamander and minno eater, the garter snake, actually stores up the cumulative toxins from salamanders and toads, making the snake itself poisonous to eat, but its bite is harmless. So don't allow yourself to make the broad statement that all snakes are venomous not poisonous. Here's another one to think on that is actually both venomous and poisonous. If you are in India. The tiger keel back snake is a prime example. This snake is incredibly cool for a lot of reasons, but I'm gonna stop short and say that you should not let it bite you, or you know, you try to bite it to further muddy the waters of the venomous poisonous definition. When I eat rattlesnake, a snake that falls squarely in the venomous not poisonous category, the first thing I do is separate the head and bury it, then continue on to process the rest of the snake to eat. Uh tastes like dark meat chicken in my opinion. But here's a question for you. If one were to eat the venom sacks located in the head and be killed not through injection but through ingestion. Would the rattlesnake then be poisonous? Someone right in and let us all know at which point venom becomes poison. It would be disingenuous to let us all point fingers at reptiles if you only have a much easier time imagining the creepy, crawley, scaly amphibian and insect world is poisonous. Did you know that certain primarily insectivorous birds like the little shrike, thresh, the spur winged goose, and even the common quail found in the UK can be poisonous when they dine on poisonous insects. In the human mammal world, we can point to examples of toxic friends, toxic attitudes, toxic masculinity. But did you know that there are venomous mammals. The list includes such animals as the male platypus, some moles, skinks and shrews, vampire bats, seleno dons. The venom in the vampire bat actually works as an anticoagulant, and not as something that turns the bitten into an actual vampire, just a f y I. As for the selenodons, which you have got to look up and take a look at this creator. They're nocturnal, insectivorous, burrowing mammals that strongly resembles a foot long, long legged shrew with the hair of a rat. Think for a a shrunken version of the r O U. S Is from that film classic The Princess Bride. I don't think that exists. Seleno Don means slotted tooth, and it is through the slotted teeth that they inject their venom. This extremely rare venomous mammal can only be found in two distinct populations in Cuba and Hispaniola. Another fun fact, the nipples on the slendodon are located just about on their buttocks, which could give us the origin story for that term you use for people that um, you know, kiss up to the boss. The male platypus a creature so unique that when it was discovered, the poor duck billed earthworm eating egg laying mammal was regarded as a hoax. This strange creator has two spikes, one on each rear leg, that are attached to venom producing glands and its thighs. The venom is toxic enough to kill other small mammals, although at this point in time, all the use those spurs get is likely during confrontations with other male platypus during breeding season. The slow Loris is the only venomous primate. This is doubly interesting and that the toxin delivered from the bite of the slow Loris is a combination of the saliva and the licked toxic secretions from the glands on the arms of this nocturnal primate. The secretions from the gland itself are talk sick and produce a reaction similar to the allergic effects of a cat dander, but the potency can change and in some cases be amplified when it's mixed with the primate saliva. Like many of the creators on this toxic list, diet has been found to be directly related to the potency of the animal's venom or poison. In some cases, like with the keel back snake of India, the animal will actually change habitats to search out prey that will bolster its poison, and that poison can be passed onto its young. It is widely accepted that in the case of venomous or poisonous mammals and are single primate, the slow loris. The adaptation of this type of defense is left over from a previous era when perhaps there were more or different predators that would have eradicated these species if it were not for the ability to kill through venom or educate through poison. Knowing all of this, I all of a sudden find a new appreciation for the simplicity of the old skull and crossbones warning label. Alright, enough of that, boys, moving on to the law enforcement desk. Montana Fishing Game is looking for your help with an unusual case. It seems that someone picked up an elk from the state of Washington. According to a genetic test, there's a ninety nine point nine eight percent chance that the elk came specifically from the Yakima elk herd before it was dropped off outside a Showdow, Montana, you know, showed that charming town on the Rocky Mountain front home of the Bulldogs. Anyway, according to the Billings Gazette, the two year old spiked bull was killed by a hunter October. When a warden inspected the animal, he found that had been castrated, which is unusual for wild elk. The warden was eventually able to find videos of a seemingly habituated elk in the Showdow area, bringing up the possibility that the bull was from a captive servant facility somewhere in the state. When that lead didn't pan out, Warden's turned to a rumor that the elk had been originally from Washington State. Through a lot of effort by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as well as the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the use of DNA analysis, they eventually determined that the mystery bowl is from a herd that contains Roosevelt elk DNA from six hundred miles away. This brings up a lot of concerns, mostly in the realm of disease transmission. The state's Washington, Oregon, and Idaho are starting to see who frought more commonly a truly sad, crippling disease that we do not want. Montana elk c w D, brucellosis bovine TB are concerns as well as you can imagine putting an elk in a trailer and moving at six hundred miles would help spread disease much faster than the typical roamings of elk, which is why transporting wildlife without the proper documentation is illegal. In fact, a group that is famous from helping elk move around, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has stated that they will likely never relocate another elk again, do primarily to disease factors. Another con there it is is this the only elk. If someone moved one elk, maybe they move more. Most people want elk, but we want them healthy. And one way to put a herd's health in question is the rapid introduction of intact, breeding capable elk from totally different populations. This investigation will continue, and it will be expensive for all the good people who buy hunting and fishing licenses in the state of Montana. So if you know someone who knows something, give one eight tip monocol. It can be anonymous, and they do have a reward system. Better Yet, if you happen to be the person who took pity on some half frozen elk calf somewhere near Yakama and just couldn't help yourself, so you threw it in the truck and brought it back to the Rocky Mountain Front and took the time to castrate it somewhere along the way. Make that call yourself. Let these folks know what's going on. These wildlife professionals have a lot on their plate. They could use the help. Moving on, but sticking with the crime beat, a Colorado woman recently learned that feeding deer, even if they are in your home and eating off your table is illegal. An Evergreen woman recorded herself luring deer through her basement sliding glass door to a small buffet of bread, apples, carrots laid out on her coffee table. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, feeding animals is definitely illegal, but I did not see if inviting them inside is illegal in itself. Either way, feeding and habitualizing wildlife typically ends in the death of wild animal, not in its salvation, which is, you know what I assume most people are after when they're trying to feed something, saving the animals from the outdoors. In some cases that we have discussed here, the animal is not actually euthanized. It spends the rest of its life in a veterinary research facility or behind some sort of tall fence, doing not what the animals intended to do. Feed your friends, feed the homeless, but don't feed the Wildlife CPW would like to remind you that if you were inviting deer into your backyard with feed, you are also inviting mounta lion ends into your backyard. Two feed, and last, but not least, stop at the desk of recognition, introducing critter number twenty four in this week's We Can Review, but soon to be number one in your hearts. The newly recognized cave dwelling relative to the golden mossiere is not only our newest species, but it is our largest cave dwelling fish species, both in length and bulk. It was previously thought that, due to the limitations of life underground, that cave fish were not likely to ever exceed the thirteen inch mark. The new cave dwelling monsieur population has many individuals at the seventeen inch mark and fatties at that. Like many obligate cave dwellers, this monsieur like species appears white and lax eyes, which, due to the ability of many cave dwelling fish to go long periods without food, are actually benefits. Takes energy to look around the dark, you know. The outdoor living golden musser has been climbing in the ranks of fun sport fish to target on the fly, rod or tackle, but it's underground cousin. Like most cave fish, is made to take advantage of anything that falls or crawls in the water, which means you can't exactly pat yourself on the back for catching one outside of the sports lens. This species is likely a very isolated and unique population, like almost all cave fish. Even though you won't be adding this fish to your must catch list, you can join me in rejoicing in the fact that there is still new stuff out there to be discovered. So join me in welcoming the pasty white moss. Here our newest known member of the underground fish scene. I'm not talking jam bounds people. For the record, that's critter number twenty five on episode forty three of Cal's Weekend Review. You may want to ask yourself where else can you get that much wildlife in this amount of time? Nowhere is the answer. Not yellow Stone and not the backyard. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for listening. If you're liking what you're hearing, please tell a friend or two and leave me a review By hitting that furthest right hand start tell me how I'm doing and what I've missed or messed up by writing into a s k C A L at the meat Eater dot com. Looking forward to hearing from you. I'll talk to you next week.

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