00:00:09 Speaker 1: From Mediators World News Headquarters in Bozeman, Montana. This is Kel's we Can review with Ryan kel Kelly. Now here's kel failure to launch a problem that affects recently hatched birds forced out of the nest by their parents, as well as a two thousand six movies starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Although both of these phenomenon are extremely painful, here on the show, we're not going to focus on the film that currently has a fresh rating on rotten tomatoes. Alright, alright, alright. Scientists have long studied why certain species of songbirds evict their offspring from the nest so young. Many of these fledglings are pushed out before they can fly, and these unlucky individuals almost always die of exposure or eaten by predators. How could any parent be so cold hearted and what evolutionary benefit could this behavior possibly confer? These parent birds are essentially condemning some of their chicks to death. This is the mystery that to scientists at the University of Illinois decided to get to the bottom of. Todd Jones and Mike Award knew they would need a lot of data to analyze this behavior across songbird populations, and so they recruited scientists, graduate students, and field technicians all over the country to help them. This army of observers recorded how often songbirds forced chicks out of the nest and what the survival rate was for all offspring, whether they were evicted or not. By analyzing all of this data, the evolutionary benefit became clear. According to the research, six of songbird species pushed their chicks out of the nest before all of them could survive on their own. They showed that this decreased odds of survival of any individual chick by thirteen point six percent, and this is the key. Despite the fact that individual chicks were less likely to survive, the odds that at least one chick would survive went up by four This is because the nests themselves are vulnerable to predation, especially when they're on the ground. If a cat, a skunk, a fox, bird of prey, or some other hungry intruder wipes out the whole nest, then none of the offspring will survive. These songbirds play the odds better to lose one or two chicks. Some of the time than risk the possibility that all your chicks get eaten all at once. Jones and Ward were able to train cameras on several nests. One of their videos shows this gamble in real time. Less than a minute after a motherbird pushes her young out of the nest with surprising roughness, the head of a snake appears in the frame, sniffing that same warm, little cozy nest where the vulnerable chicks had just been. We often discussed the need to think about wildlife on scale of populations, rather than always thinking about individual animals. For example, opponents of hunting might focus on the death of one particular bear and not consider what's best for an entire population of bears and how bear numbers might affect all the other animals in that ecosystem. In this case, it seems that songbirds may be hardwired to think on this larger scale too. Pushing their kids out of the nest gives the best chance to the largest number of offspring, which is how their genetic material survives in a harsh world. This is survival by numbers. You overwhelm your predators with your offspring. I will tell you that focusing on acute spotted individual is incredibly easy and incredibly tempting. As a quick leave behind example, I'll give you a short story has taken a rand on a mushroom hunt. While on the return leg of our mushroom loop, we came across an elk calf curled up by itself. Not another elk around in this big burn area we were hiking through. This calf stuck out like a sore thumb, like a glowing red in the black earth. My friend was confused as to why the calf was by itself. I explained, that's just how it works. Mom leaves the calf only defended by its spotted camouflage periodically while she makes the likely short trek to water or better forage. I then went on to explain that the number one elk predator in that area was the black bear. During the spring, bears will roam until they find the scent of a calf an attempt to track it down. The response was, oh, my god, we have to save the elk. I asked, well, what if saving the elk kills the bear? Oh yes, I'm rumbly and my humbly. This week we've got North Dakota geese trail cameras and so much more. But first I'm gonna tell you about my week. In My week as well as this podcast, as everyone knows, is sponsored by Steel Power Equipment. I am going to see about getting the folks at Steel to start working on a goose and duck plucker to add to their line of saws, snips and trimmers. That sure helped me. Ah. Let's see, I got a new niece out of the Christmas season, Georgia, Well done, Courtney and map. I got some time in with my beloved grandmother, who is nine or ninety four at this point and really really excited about getting the COVID vaccine whenever that becomes available to her. I believe she's also looking forward to New Year's to see what that's like. Let that be a lesson to you that lady doesn't quit. Dan Marino should die of GNA rhea and rotting hell, would you like a cookie? Son? She and her brother Doug took a whole plucked Google from me, and while saying thank you, laid on just enough guilt about not keeping the livers to let me know they aren't slipping. I've been absolutely glued to the news beat not unusual fun stuff involving animals habitat science, but watching a seriously spoiled child temper tantrum the last little bit of dignity out of the White House. That sure makes me feel like crap folks, but not surprised either. I'm referring, of course, to the Wednesday scene as we counted our electoral votes in d C. The positive of this situation is I think we can all look at the scenes in d C and think, boy, I'm better than that, and you are. We have this incredible opportunity to start in a position to be better, better all around, better to each other, better to ourselves, better to our communities, be those communities, animal communities, plant communities, or gut bacteria communities for that matter. Let's grab this year by the tail clar way up to its haunches and ride this pony past the unproductive partisan back and forth past COVID and right into spring turkey bear and fishing season. But don't you know being a rush enjoy some ice fishing and a couple of powder turns along the way. Start a bird identification list, plant one pollinator, friendly outside plant volunteer, A little bit run for office, as of the time of this recording January eight. I am wishing everyone an incredible and remember to get your relationships started with your duly elected officials. I'll tell you how right after the Snort report. Well, Snortacus, the yellow lab is now eight months old and she has retrieved somewhere in the neighborhood of thirteen to fifteen geese in the last couple of weeks. The most recent outing, we went along with Garrett Long, a friend and co worker at Meat Eator, to a spot above the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. The Canada geese poured in. We didn't exactly have our shooting or a goose spread dialed. Garrett had. His black lab was ten years old. Snort has not had any competition in the field since the last pheasant hunt, and this is just what she needed. She needed that other dog going after birds. The highlight of the day came when one of the few perfectly decoyed geese was hit ultimately fatally, but sailed wings more or less locked for a shade short half a mile, Snort directly underneath, well slightly to the rear of underneath. When the goose eventually ran out of gas, it felt like a rock from the sky and snort rather matter of factly picked it up and brought it back, just like a bird dog. She only had to stop once about three quarters of the way back. It was a scene that was as beautiful as it was mundane. It was a dog retrieving a bird from a long, long way out. Exactly why you want a dog. It was a beautiful day. The dog needs a ton of work still, but I think we have the drive part down. The interest is there. Now it's time to get her to hold her spot, stay and not break until I give her the go ahead in a waterfowl situation. It has been tons of fun, very fulfilling to watch that little dog. We might have one more hunt in us before the end of the season. Then it's onto lots of distractions until next bird season. Squirrel. Moving on, We're gonna start with this week's called Action. This particular treasure is the South Dakota Prairie Grasslands, a patchwork of ground in western North Dakota that makes up most of what we call the bad Lands. You know, the bad Lands is that iconic area of the American West, the Sioux, the Cheyenne Teddy row about Custer all that fun stuff. There's elk, deer, mountain lions, lots of turkeys. This is some of the most important prairie ecosystem we have left in this country, a one of a kind place that cannot be recovered once it's disrupted, and that's what this legislation will attempt to do. North Dakota Senator John Hoven has drafted a federal law that would allow roads to be built along all section lines in the state, which, to be clear, North Dakota state law says that is so. What Hovan's bill will do will include the protected parts of the Dakota Prairie grasslands managed by the U. S. Forest Service. This would in effect allow oil and gas development on almost all of the bad lands. Let's be clear, as we often say on the show, we are not against development in general. A balance between wildlife, habitat and industry is essential, and in fact, over the area in question is already open to oil, old drilling, and hydro fracking. The energy industry is by no means on life support in this part of the world. But Hoven's bill is an effort to open up that last protected four percent, just forty acres of a total one million acres. This bill is in response to failed attempts to change Forest Service rules to allow the development, as well as several failed lawsuits the last resort, you could call it. What makes this proposed law so dangerous is that it will likely be tucked inside a much larger omnibus bill that Congress rushes to pass every year, so it's gonna be hard to find on its own. Hoven's bill would likely never make it through, but unless we make a lot of noise about this now, it could fly under the radar. There's a risk of this bill being signed into law without anyone even knowing it's there, and that would be bad for the bad lands. Therefore, please call Senator Hoven's office at two zero two to to four to five five one and voice your objection to this legislation. If you are listening to this podcast on Sunday, just as it's released, set a reminder on your phone now to call tomorrow morning at nine am. If you're here a little later, maybe waking up with us on Monday morning, pause this podcast and dial too oh two two to four to one. We'll be waiting right here. When you come back. Put this number in your phone permanently two O two, two to four, three one to one. It is the congressional switchboard. You can ask to be connected with the office you are seeking. Super easy and worth doing. Use that number right now and call your state's congressional representative and let them know what is going on in the North Dakota Badlands. A big thank you to everyone who wrote in to alert me to this one. I'll note that members of the auto bound Society, people who work in the oil and gas industry, not that those two are mutually exclusive. Back Country hunters and anglers, and many folks who stated no affiliation, who just loved this area and have a true appreciation for how rare and valuable it is all rode in on this issue. They let me know what's going on in their neck of the woods. That big crowd of different voices should determine what happens to the land that we all own. Let's not leave that up to just a few people who want to make pumping oil and gas a little bit easier. The last note. We reached out twice to Senderhoven's office to get his comment and clarification on the fact that his proposal would in fact, only target this area as being compliant with the current state Section law lines and not all federal ground, but our calls have not been returned. One other quick call to action, The Arizona Game and Fish Commission recently voted to ban the use of trail cameras for the purpose of taking animals, and there is now a period of public comment before the measure is voted up or down. I am for the band. Trail cameras have upsides. They allow folks strap for time to make good use of their time. They're an incredible recruitment tool for getting new people out in the woods, especially kids, because you get to show them pictures of cool stuff that's out there. However, the downsides of cameras far outweigh those advantages in my opinion. Some water sources in Arizona have dozens of cameras surrounding them, and all the people going in and out to check those cameras have been shown to disrupt the ability of wildlife to get sufficient water during lean water years. Trail cams are also often used to quote unquote claim a certain area and often lead to disputes between hunters who come to feel entitled to a particular spot. Worst of all is the growing practice of selling animals on the hoof. This is when outfitters and guides promote the pictures that they've taken and essentially let a client buy the opportunity to hunt that particular animal, the way patron in a restaurant might point to a lobster in a tank that my friends just isn't hunting to me. In a larger sense, trail cameras takeaway from one of the most essential aspects of hunting, the not knowing. It's important that hunting is not like shopping or golf. For eating at a restaurant, you can't push a button and receive a certain outcome. When you go out in pursuit of animals, you have to use your brain and your boots, trying as hard as you can to get the information you need with just your senses. You have to put in that effort and sometimes still fail to bring anything home. A similar restriction was passed in two thousand eighteen in Nevada, and hunting has not ground to a halt there By any means, the use of trail cameras does not guarantee an animal, no matter how much you pay for the opera tunity to hunt that animal in the desert ecosystem in areas where the water sources are often at least improved by man and maintained, the animals have no choice but to drink at that spot. They have to drink, whether they are on your SD card or not. I do not think it's a bad thing that hunters would have to sit without knowing what is going to come in potentially or not. That's just hunting. The public comment period ends February one. If this is a topic that interests you, please email Rulemaking at a z g f D dot gov. That's Arizona Game and Fish Department, dot gov before February one to voice your opinion. Moving on to the cool animal stuffed desk, pay attention, this is going to be on a pub quiz somewhere. Scientists recently discovered the oldest known tropical reef fish, a midnight snapper, at Rally Shoals near western Australia. By count the growth rings on tiny bones and the snappers ears, called odalis, the same way you'd count tree rings, the scientists learned that this fish is eighty one years old, twenty years older than the previous reef fish record holder. That means that this snapper was likely alive before the start of World War two and just in time for the debut of the comic book character Batman in Detective Comics number twenty seven, and of course is now dead because you can't read an odo lift bone while and animals alive. One is no doubt very old for most fish, but for the greenland shark, a cartilaginous fish, eighty one means you're just getting started. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen studied a group of twenty eight greenland sharks that have been caught accidentally by fishing expeditions. Based on the species average growth of point four inches a year, that's some cold water folks and one individual females length of sixteen and a half feet, this distinguished grand dam is estimated to now be three hundred and ninety years old. It's important to note that this figure is an estimate with a one hundred and twenty year margin of error, but even at the lowest end of this possible age range, this is a fish who was swimming around before California was a state. If we could only go back to then next A team from the University of Swansea in the UK were able to fit some very cool flight measurement equipment onto Andean condors and found that one particular condor flew more than one hundred miles without beating its wings a single time. Just by adjusting its wings to take advantage of air thermals, this thirty five pound bird was able to travel for five hours with no forward propulsion at all. Interestingly enough, the Patagonia region where these condors are crew using around creates the perfect conditions for human made gliders as well. Up drafts from the South American mountains have allowed air busses perland to a winged aircraft without an engine to climb to over seventy six thousand feet, higher than the U two spy plane, which, by the way, it has engines that produce seventeen thousand pounds of thrust and way higher than that sissy condor can go. So take that, mother Nature. I'm kidding, of course, the condor again wighs thirty five pounds, the Pearland two weighs just fred and the U two weighs about forty different ways to tackle that whole, how high can we get problem. Lastly number four on today's round up, but likely number one in your hearts long time listeners of Cow's Weekend Review, going all the way back to episode number one, Wisdom, the las and albatross is still the world's oldest known bird. Scientists put a band on Wisdom's leg in nineteen fifty six when she was estimated to be five years old, and she has been cruising ever since, flying the equivalent of one hundred and twenty times around the globe some three million miles. In addition to her travels, she managed to find the time to lay at least thirty six eggs. The breaking news as of December is that Wisdom successfully hatched yet another chick at seventy years old and three million miles under her belt. So let's just recap the hot facts. You got the bang for your buck. Oldest known reef fish, the midnight snapper, deceased at one. Don't worry, there's likely some other fish in that age set that's still over there. In Australia, oldest known cartilaginous fish is the greenland shark. We don't even know how old these get, let's say three hundred. Oldest known bird wisdom the lays and Albatross seventy years old. Moving on to the anthropology desk, or maybe the indigestion desk, researchers at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln have made amazing new discoveries in the case of the Skyle's mummy, the body of a man who died more than one thousand years ago in what is now known as Texas. The man died of Chagas disease, a parasitic infection that can cause enlargement of the colon and therefore severe constipation. And we are talking severe constipation here. The Nebraska team discovered tiny plant structures in this man's gut called final liths, which typically pass right through the digestive system unscathed. Here, however, those tiny final lifts structures had been crushed to pieces by the built up pressure in the digestive system, kind of like a turkey's gizzard. Anyway, this, my friends, must have been an extremely unpleasant passing, or rather not passing. The guy died and you get it. However, by analyzing the contents of the mummy stomach, the researchers found incredible evidence of the care that the rest of the community took for this person. In his waning days and weeks, it seems that he ate almost nothing but crickets leading up to his death. That's right, crickets, and to be exact, crickets whose legs had been removed before he ate them. The scientists theorized that the man was fed crickets because of their nutritional value and moisture content, and removing the legs was an effort to make them as digestible as possible. This strategy did not work, but it suggests a group of people taking elaborate measures to relieve the suffering that they could a couple more quick and amazing aspects of this story. First, the Skyle's mummy was discovered back in ninety seven, and it has been analyzed over and over again since the seventies. These new findings, brought to you by a severely constipated man, are simply the result of better imaging tools and fresh curiosity. They should make you feel optimistic, loose, you could say, no matter how much of the world has been explored, there's always more to discover. Second, crickets are enjoying a bit of a renaissance these days as an alternative protein source. Here in the US. Insects are a regular and important part of the diet for most people on Earth, and raising them and turning them into edible flour requires a small fraction of the energy, water, and other resources needed for beef, poultry, and the rest of the organisms we more commonly call food. You may feel a little queasy at the idea of eating bugs, but compared to cells growing the lab or plant protein processed within an inch of its life to seem like meat loaf, I'd rather have a plate of crickets. That's all I've got for you this week. Thanks for listening right into eight s K C A L. That's asked cal at the Meat Eater dot com and let me know what's going on in your neck of the woods. Thanks again, I'll talk to you next week.