Podcasts about piano music

Summary: How do colonies of ants live in trees? Find out in this episode about arboreal ants.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. We are rounding the bend with the ants series and there is no better way to do that than to take to the sky. The title of this episode is Arboreal Ants. There are ants that live in trees and never touch terrestrial earth their entire lives. You thought the Leafcutter ants were amazing, well hold on to your hat because the seventh thing I like about ants is the colonies that live in the trees. Arboreal ants, which are ants that live in trees, are found on many different continents and there is more than one species, but we are going to focus on one species in particular so we can really see their amazing qualities in detail. We're spending some time with the Weaver ants of Africa, Oecophylla longinoda. Now living in a tree for an ant is no small feat, so how do they do it? Terrestrial ants dig into the dirt and create many chambered nests. It's kind of difficult to dig into  a tree, so where are arboreal ants living? Weaver ant nests are most common in the outer, uppermost branches of trees where the sun light is bright. Here, the ants will bind adjacent healthy leaves together to create a treetop tent. The size of each nest will vary but is often between the size of baseball or a volleyball. They are as light as an inflated ballon and can withstand wind, rain, and enemy invasions. To begin building a nest, a worker ant will pull the edge of a leaf toward the edge of another leaf. If her bending is successful other workers will come to her aide.  Now weaver ants get their name from the next step. To keep the leaves together they employ their larvae. If you're think, “What?” I hear ya! The larvae are picked up by workers and taken to the edge of the leaf connection. The workers tap the larvae on the leaf to encourage the larvae to release silk. Yes, the larvae of many species of ants create silk. The Weaver ants use this silk to secure the leaves together. The motion of shuttling the larvae back and forth to connect the leaves with the silk is where the weaving comes in. The nests may last for years because when one leaf dies the ants will just weave in another living one.  The nests are larger enough to house thousands of ants, but the weaver ants don't have just one nest in the tree. They travel all over the tree that they call home, so they often build other trees  op tents so they can maximize their resources. They don't stick to one central nest, they have the ability to move around when they need to. One territory can have multiple nests. The queen is often in a nest that is the most centralized to the territory, but her eggs are distributed throughout all the nests. With all of these spread out workers, Weaver ants have to have an excellent communication strategy. And boy, do they! Earlier we learned that pheromones are integral to ant communication. It's the same with weaver ants, but they have a specialized gland that helps the pheromones that they use to create their paths last longer than terrestrial ants. They have an anal gland that helps them make their poop a bit more than just poop. To keep their pathways from wearing away too quickly, weaver ants use their feces to create longterm smell paths. The droplets of worker excrement hardens into a shellac like substance that can last for months.  This form of communication also allows these ants to do something most other ants do not, defend a specific territory. Weaver ants are known to defend  their treetop territories from other ants they encounter. With the pheromone lines drawn already it gives them an advantage in skirmishes. Their scent is already laid down. If a weaver ant encounters an enemy worker, she will race back to more familiar territory to recruit help. She does this by mimicking fighting motions and other workers will follow her prepared for battle. So what do weaver ants eat? This species of ant is omnivorous. They eat both meat and veggies. One of the coolest things they target is nectaries created by trees. These are spots on the leaves of trees that seep nectar. This isn't like the sap that leaks from the tree's bark, this is like the nectar that a flower produces. When they find a nectary, the weaver ants will built a tent around it to hide it from other animals that might be interested in this pot of gold as well.  Weaver ants do eat meat in the form of other insects, Mark Moffett retells an experience he had in Cambodia as he watched some local Oecophylla drag a 5 cm long scorpion up a tree to pull it apart, as well as other meat items such as birds, bats, and other ants. The protein is eaten mainly by the larvae while adults typically consume sap and nectar. Does the tree benefit from the ants in residence or are they detrimental? This is a question that ecologists try to answer through cost/benefit analysis. Some benefits to the tree are weaver ants culling leaf eating insects before they can defoliate the tree. Foliage lasts longer in areas where the weaver ants live. The ants also provide a bit of fertilizer to the tree as well by pooping on the leaves. Trees can absorb some nutrients through their leaves. On the cost side, some of the leaves the weaver ants use to create their nests are permanently lost, but considering the small percentage of leave the ants use, I think the benefits outweigh the costs.  I hope this quick foray into the treetops with these arboreal ants was worth it, because treetop living ants is my seventh favorite thing about ants. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.    (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

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Summary? Can ants be farmers? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Can ants be farmers? In this episode we are going to find out. The sixth thing I like about ants is their farming abilities. You may have heard of leafcutter ants. These are ants that cut leaves and carry them back to their colony. They are often highlighted in nature television programs. It's mesmerizing and charming watching a line of ants traveling with various sizes of leaf pieces held above their heads. Leafcutters will fall into one of two genera: Acromyrmex and Atta. There are 39 species that we currently know of and they are all found in the New World. Atta are most prevalent in the tropics of South America but there are two species that can be found in North America, one in Texas and Louisiana and one in Arizona.  Leafcutter ant nests can extend 7 meters, or 22 feet, into the earth and contain eight thousand chambers. The largest chamber is typically the ant waste chamber which is buried as far down as they can make it. The title of this episode is farmers so how does that relate to our leafcutter ants? Well, leafcutter ants are farmers. I used to think that they cut those little pieces of leaves to eat themselves, but that is not what they are doing. They take the leaves back to their nest where they feed it to fungus. They tend the fungus like farmers and then they eat the fungus, or rather the larvae eat the fungus. So I guess every leaf cutter ant eats the fungus at some point in their life.  The adult workers ants eat the sap from the leaf fragments that they cut. This is what energizes them to process the leaves. The leaves have to be mulched first before it is fed to the fungus. The fungus will grow and grow and grow in the leafcutter nest. It will fill up the majority of the chambers with a lightweight spongy structure that kind of looks like a human brain and is called a fungus garden. The ants tend the fungus by adding new leaves to the top and sides while they removed the older bottom portions.  It is unusual that ants are completely dependent on vegetation, but leafcutter ants are. The fungus is actually high in protein and that helps the larvae grow big and strong.   The largest nest that Mark Moffett ever came across during his studies was in the Kaw Mountains of French Guiana. The above ground soil mounds were chest high and ranged over a 14 meter wide area. It ranged over about 160 square meters in total. If we compared this to a human made structure, it would be bigger than the Empire State Building in New York City. This nest probably housed millions of workers.  A nest of this size can require an excavation of 40 tons of soil. It must house the queen, the brood, and the workers but even with millions of ants it's the fungus gardens that take up most of the real estate. The ant population can weigh up to 15 to 20 kilograms and utilize 280 kilograms of leaves. That's enough plant matter to blanket a soccer field. Now, this is a lot of living things inside an enclosed space, so it gets hot and humid. To combat increasing heat and humidity which slows down fungal growth, the ants have installed air conditioning ducts. The long tunnels that open above ground are placed strategically around the nest to release humidity and heat. If it get too cold, the tunnels will be closed off.  The only reason leafcutter ant nests can support millions of workers is because they are farmers. Just like humans, farming allows the ants to support a larger population by creating their own resources. These ants use incredibly advanced farming techniques. Humans will use various farming equipment to produce large quantities of crops, but for leafcutter ants its all hands on deck. The ants within this species are highly polymorphic, meaning sizes between workers vary greatly depending on your job. The largest soldier ant is 200 times bigger than that of a small worker. These colonies are run like assembly lines of self-directed individuals. Many steps are managed by ants in a variety of sizes. Mid-size workers cut the foliage, carry it into the nest, and deposit it onto the garden surface. Smaller ants with 1.6 millimeter wide heads take the next step which is shredding the greens into scraps.The next step is accomplished by even smaller ants who chew up the scraps into moist pulp. Still smaller ants will insert the pulp into the gardens. Then ants with 1 mm sized heads will lick the pulp and seed it with tufts of fungus from established fungal gardens. This is just like a human horticulturist using cuttings from a vine to establish a new crop! The smallest workers with a head width of 0.8mm remove contaminants from the gardens such as bacteria, yeast and spores.  Just like any good farmer, the ants use fertilizer to help their gardens grow. They don't have to go far to get the fertilizer, they just poop on the leaves. The ammonia and amino acids in the feces helps breakdown the leaves and encourages growth.  To retrieve the plant matter that grows the fungal gardens, leaf cutter ants will maintain almost permanent trails. Other species of ants trails vary depending on where they can find resources, but leafcutter ants are loyal to their grocery stores. Another caste of ants larger than the workers we have already discussed but smaller than soldiers that defend the nest are the maintenance crew for the paths. They will dismantle anything that gets in their way. They haul off debris that they can heft and chew through things they can't. They widen and smooth out the path until traffic is flowing again. They can do this quickly as they are present on the paths at all times! Boy, don't we all wish our highways were that well maintained! There is still one more layer to these superhighways. Worker ants that are smaller than the ladies hauling the leaf parts home will scamper about under the plant carriers and reinforce the pheromone trails. As we discussed before, these pheromone trail are super important for ant communication.  With all of these layers of responsibility, levels of workers, and intricate cooperation, some believe that leaf cutter ants are the gold standard of superorganisms. Quoting from Edward Wilson's book, Tales from the Ant World, “So well-marked and powerful is the division of labor among members of a leaf colony that individual colonies can be reasonably called a superorganism.” The definition of a superorganism is an organized society that functions as an organic whole. Leafcutter ants must have every layer of worker functioning correctly to survive, any deviation and the whole organism dies.  Edward Wilson goes on to say, “The leafcutters are superorganisms that succeed under natural conditions.” I think we have established that ants can be farmers and very successful farmers at that! Thanks for joining me for episode six because my sixth favorite thing about ants is their ability to farm.  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Let's talk ant anatomy! Join Kiersten as she discusses basic ant anatomy, as well as a few unbelievable anatomy specializations.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Ant Body Structure” - Harvard Forest: https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu “Ant Anatomy” - Ask a Biologist, Arizona State University: https://askabiologost.asu.edu/explore/ant-anatomy “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. So far we have talked about some extraordinary ant behaviors and we have so much more to explore, but I thought we should look at an individual ant before we move forward. The fifth thing I like about ants is their anatomy. Ants are classified as insects, so they have three body parts: head, thorax and abdomen. They have an exoskeleton made of chitin. Chitin is the second most abundant amino polysaccharide polymer found in nature. It is hard and protects the internal organs of insects and gives their body structure.  The head of an ant typically hosts two compound eyes, two antennae, two mandibles and a mouth on the outside while internally it houses the brain. Many species also have ocelli in the middle of the head, as well. The compound eyes contain hundreds of lenses that combine to form a single image. Species that use vision to hunt for prey will have larger compound eyes, while those that rely on other senses will have smaller compound eyes. All species of known ants have antennae, typically two. The antennae will be constantly moving as the ant tastes, touches, and smells everything it comes in contact with. The antennae will bend in the middle like a human elbow allowing maximum flexibility. Mandibles are super important to ants and they will vary by species. Some of them are extremely specialized and we will go through a few of those species in a moment. In general, mandibles are used to grasp anything ants need to pick up or carry. They are also used to bite, crush, cut, dig, fight, and hunt. Just behind the mandibles is the mouth which is used to eat, clean themselves, and groom nestmates. The last item on the head is the ocelli. Ocelli are simple eyes that detect light. Ant head shape will vary greatly between species and that is dependent on what they eat and how they build nests. The second segment is the mesosoma. Now, I just said ants have three segments and the second segment was the thorax, right? I did and this is technically correct, but the last two segments aren't clearly visible. The mesosoma actually contains the thorax and the front of the abdomen. The mesosoma segment is full of muscles and is where the legs attach to the ant's body. Ants have six legs. Their legs are made for movement and most ants can run fast when needed. Each leg has four segments and a hooked claw at the end of each leg helps the ant climb and hang onto surfaces. The third segment is the abdomen which is made up of the petiole and the gaster. This is the segment that contains all the important internal organs that keep the ant alive, besides the brain which is located in the head. The heart, the digestive tract, and the chemical weaponry is all found in the gaster. The chemical defense system will vary by species. Ants can have a stinger with which to inject venom into prey or predator or they may have a small opening through which they can spray acid to stun prey or defend themselves. In between the mesosoma and the gaster is the petiole. This structure attaches the mesosoma and the gaster together giving the ant enough flexibility to sting or spray acid in different directions. Some species of ants will have a second attachment segment called the post-petiole.  Ant can have separate classes of workers, major and minor workers. They perform different activities. Minors typically take care of the young, clean and build the nest, and gather food. Majors are often soldiers, guarding and defending the colony. Some species will have size differences between these castes and can have modified anatomy to fit their specific jobs. Queen anatomy is slightly different as they are the only ant in the colony making babies. The body will still have three segments, like an other ant as well as all other anatomical parts we have discussed thus far. They will have wings at birth so they can make the nuptial flight but they will lose them soon after reproduction and establishing her new colony.   The queen is typically larger than the other worker ants in the colony. Her gaster will be large because it contains all of her important life-giving organs and her reproductive system. Her mesosoma is also large because she needs more muscles to power flight. As I have stated before, all workers in a colony are female, so male ant anatomy is slightly different. They have wings like the queen so their mesosomas are large and muscular. They may be bigger than some workers but are often not as big as a queen. Their eyes are typically smaller and their antennae are straighter. Their reproductive organs will be large. They don't live very long and are made for only one thing, mating.   Now ant anatomy can be specialized for certain species and I thought we'd talk a little about some of these unique features. Certain canopy ants that spend most of their lives in trees have an internal sac to store liquid called a crop. They can transport tree sap to their sisters in this sac and regurgitate it to feed to them when needed. Kinda like birds. There is also an oral pocket that most ants have in which they store detritus that they clean off each other or strain off a meal before consuming it. Once a day, ant workers will spit out a pellet in the midden pile that is full of this detritus, like an owl pellet! Weaver ants have a sternal gland specific to their family that releases a short-range pheromone during war or hunting to call her sisters to her aide. One on the most diverse parts on an ant is the mandibles. Each species' will shapes will be dictated by what they eat. Some are so specialized that they are modified to eat only one type of prey.  One of the most abundant ants in the world, the dacetines, are small ants with long mandibles that snap together like spring traps. Why would such a small ant need such vicious, fast snapping mandibles? Because they eat springtails. Springtails are small invertebrates that jump fast and high, so these ants have developed mandibles that help them catch this specific prey. Thaumatomyrmex, or miracle ants, have mandibles that look like wicked pitchforks. Their mandibles consist of a flat base that ends in a row of long spikes. Yikes! Why do they need such scary looking mandibles? They eat polyxenid millipedes. These millipedes are covered with dense bristles that ward off most predators. The thaumatomyrmex mandibles allow them to impale the millipedes without worrying about the dense bristles. These ants also have an additional adaptation that allows them to eat these scary millipedes; pads on their forelegs that help them scrub the bristles off the millipede exposing the soft bodies.  There are so many more amazing anatomical adaptations in the ant world, but I only have so much time. Thank you for joining me for the fifth episode of ants because my fifth favorite thing about ants is their anatomy. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Did you read that title right? Yes, you did. Some ants make slaves of other ants! Join Kiersten to find out how.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. In the last episode we talked about communication and how pheromones allow ants to give each other important messages and instructions. This is an amazing adaptation that makes them one if the most efficient organisms on the planet, but it does have a downside. Relying on pheromones as your main source of communication can lead to loop holes that others will take advantage of and by that I mean enslavement. Yep! Some ants enslave other ants. It's not exactly something I like, but it is incredibly interesting. So, the fourth thing I find interesting about ants is how they use and misuse pheromones to their greatest advantage. We discussed how ants know who is allowed to come in and out of a colony in the last episode. When ants emerge from their pupal stage their body oils absorb the unique smells of their colony. This gives them the key to re-enter their colony when they venture out, and it helps protect the colony from intruders, but it can also be used to enslave them.  Let's find out exactly how this works. The workers of ant species specialized to be slave-makers will raid colonies of other species. Workers from Polyergus lucidus or Formica subintegra will raid the colony of a vulnerable species such as Formica subsericea. When they raid the colony they have one target, the pupae. The adults of the colony being raided certainly put up a fight and ants on both sides of the battle will lose their lives but the raiders will retrieve at least some of the pupae they were after. That pupae is taken back to the raiders colony and settled in with the nursery there. Within a few days or weeks, the raided ants will emerge and soak up the scent of their new colony. They believe this is their home. It's where they are meant to be. They accept the raiders as their sisters and the raiders accept them as their own. So, the enslavement isn't like what we think of from the human perspective. It is a bit more like capture and domestication of wild animals. In the north temperate zones of North America, Europe, and Asia ant slavery is common especially in the subfamily Formicinae. Oddly, slavery is known in only temperate areas. Five species of Polyergus ants are known to be slave-makers and these ants range across North America, Europe, Russia, and Japan. All of them enslave ants in the genus Formica.   Let's follow a specific raid detailed by Mark W. Moffett in his book Adventures Among Ants. At Sagehen Creek Field Station in the Sierra Nevada of the United States, Moffett and his graduate student watched a raid between Polyergus breviceps, also known as Amazon ants, and Formica argentea. The Amazons were raiding the Formica colony. They watch as the Amazons forced their way inside the Formica colony and then head out the other side with the pupae of the Formica. They flipped a rock to find out what was going on inside and expected to see a war going on between the raiders and the Formica, but that is not what they saw at all. The only fight they saw was one Formica ant in a tug of war with a n Amazon over a pupa, but all the other Formica were just walking around, business as usual. These species of Formica only fight raiders by putting up blockades of dirt. Once the raiders destroy those blockades and enter the colony, the residents just give up and let the Amazons raid the nursery. Mark and his student followed the Amazons back to their own colony and were amazed at what they saw. The Amazons were greeted by adult Formica slaves that took the pupae that they'd just raided from them and scuttled off with the stolen pupae. Other adult Formica ants exited the Amazon colony and picked-up the raiding party and carried them back into the colony where they would be waited on hand and foot. The majority of the time, the Amazons never did anything for themselves they just laid around maybe grooming one of their sisters as the Formica slaves did everything in the colony. A quote from Moffett's book explains everything we need to know about the fate of the stolen Formica pupae, “Assimilated into the wrong society, the ants are duped into a life of servitude, doing all the drudge work their masters won't: building nests, foraging for prey, harvesting honeydew, slaying free-living Formica that enter their territory, and taking care of the brood. The Amazon slavers' only job is to go on raids, replenishing the store of Formica pupae as their enslaved workers age and die.” End quote. The other side of this raiding behavior is also quite interesting. The Amazon ants can't actually take care of themselves. The literally can't do anything but raid Formica nest to steal pupae. They cannot create nests, they cannot find food for themselves, the cannot take care of themselves. They must have slave ants to do it for them.  Moffett tells his readers about an instance when he dropped a piece of his turkey sandwich near an Amazon worker. She walked right by completely ignoring it, not knowing it was a tasty bit of food. It remained where it fell until a Formica slave ant came upon it and took it to the colony.  The Amazon raiders are so out numbered when they enter a Formica colony that, if the Formica actually fought back, the Amazons would lose, but these species have evolved in this unusual dance for years. The Amazons are now dependent on the Formica for survival. Maybe the Formica have accepted the raids as just another day in the colony. Polyergus aren't the only ants that make slaves. It seems to be spread through the ant kingdom. In Yosemite National Park, Edward Wilson came across a raid in progress. The raiders were Formica wheeleri and they had four different species of Formica spread throughout their colony with some of the enslaved ants participating in the raid on another nest.  You would think that slave-making would be a dead end evolutionarily speaking for the ants that adopt this behavior, but it doesn't seem to be causing any of them to go extinct yet. It can degenerate into social parasitism though. Strongylognathus testaceus has completely lost their raiding warrior spirit. The newly mated queen simply moves into a colony of another species and sets up shop right next to that colony's queen. The host colony workers take care of both queens. When the parasitic queen lays eggs the host workers take care of them as well. The adult parasitic ants just kind hang out with the other workers but don't do any work at all. Talk about the couch surfing friend that just won't leave! How did slave making evolve in ants? No one is sure of an answer, but the most accepted hypothesis is that the first slave-makers were competitive species that raided other colonies for whatever they needed and took the pupae as part of their booty and most likely ate them. Some of the pupa survived and became the first slaves. Evolution and survival took over from there. Nature can be so very interesting. Thank you for joining me for the fourth episode of ants. I know it was a choice to listen to this specific episode based on the title, but I am glad you did listener's, because my fourth favorite thing about ants is how the use of pheromones have evolved into something so surprising. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

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Summary: How do ants organize all those colony residents? Join Kiersten to find out the amazing answer to this question.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. I feel like we have already talked about so much cool stuff about ants and we are only on episode three. This is going to be quite an exciting series on ants. The third thing I like about ants is how they communicate. Most of us have probably seen a line of ants moving from one place to another at some point in our lives. We may have stopped to take a look and wonder what they were doing or just walked on by without too much of a second thought.  Either way, your brain probably took a moment to puzzle over what they were doing, where they were going, or how they knew where to go.   Communication is the key! So, how do ants communicate? Two types of chemical substances lead ants through their lives. Pheromones which are chemical substances passed back and forth between individuals of the same species and allomones which are chemical substance used by other species and used by social invertebrates to hunt prey or avoid being prey. A quote from Edward O. Wilson about ant communication states, “Among all of the organisms that live by smell and taste, ants are the virtuoso of chemical communication.” End quote. Just a heads up, of you haven't already figured this out, I will be quoting E.O. Wilson a lot in this series, but he's learned so much about ants and he is always eager to share that I just can't help myself. Ants have created a unique chemosensory world that no other creature known to humans can surpass.  Let's look first at how those ants traveling in a line know exactly where to go? When an ant colony needs resources they send out scouts to find what they need. When a scout finds what they want, they eat or drink their fill and run back to the nest in as straight a line as possible. The scout always knows where her nest is regardless of how far away they have traveled (we will discuss this in a moment). When she arrives at the nest, the scout will puke all over the floor. No serious, she will gurp up a small portion of what she ingested in front of a few ants and then turn around an head back. Some of her sisters will immediately follow her out. But why? She just came in the house threw up all over the floor and then left! What is going on?  When that scout regurgitated the resource she found she created a pheromone that simply stated, “I've found what we need! Here it is! Follow my trail to find more!” Who can resist an invitation like that? The original scout laid a scent trail for herself by dragging her stinger along the ground to follow back to the resource and now her fellow workers will also follow that trail to help gather more of what they want. E.O. Wilson encourages you to experiment with some sugar water to see this phenomenon for yourself. You can use a drop of sugar water near a line of ants and watch what happens when they find it! Please use common sense if you choose to do this. Be careful to keep yourself and the ants safe from harm. How do ants identify these chemical signals? Do they have a nose to sniff them out? Sort of. They do not have a nose like a mammal that sticks out on the front of their face. They have antennae. These structures are attached to the heads and protrude out into the environment. The first segment of the antenna is called the scape and it is typically the longest and support the other shorter segments. Collectively this structure is called the funiculus. The funiculus is the “nose” of the ant. It is covered in tiny hairs, knobs, and plates, that detect various chemical substances. The funiculus neurologically transmits the identity and quantity of the substance to the brain.  The information transferred to the ant's brain must be analyzed in a matter of seconds with unerring precision to ensure survival of the individual and, more importantly, the colony. Based on the sensory information received, the ant chooses her actions quickly and decisively relying on instinct and current circumstances. If you watch a line of worker ants traveling out and back to the colony, you won't notice how they are communicating with each other the entire time because they are doing so without hesitating or slowing down. Slow-motion photography reveals the continuous movement of the antennae of each ant. They are swinging their antenna back and forth constantly, “sniffing” each ant they pass, the chemical trail they are following, and their surroundings.  What happens if an ant from another colony tries to enter a different colony? It's not a great day for that ant, she will be stung to death. This brings up the question, how do ants recognize each other? They all look the same to us. Do they all look the same to each other? Visually, maybe. But they don't all smell the same. Using their keen funiculus ants can smell a faker. Each ant carries a specific colony scent with them everywhere they go. Yes! Ants have BO and it is super important to their acceptance. The ant's body oils absorb the particular scent of their colony. It's an identification card or work uniform that says you belong here. If an ant with the wrong odor tries to come into the colony the smell gives them away and they will be attacked immediately. Okay, I think it's clear that pheromones are extremely important to ants, but how do they create these pheromones? In the summer of 1958, Edward Wilson decide to answer this question. He chose to investigate this using a colony of fire ants in his lab at Harvard. Fire ants are incredibly good at coordinating search and retrieval expeditions for food resources, so they were the perfect candidate for this research. We know ants lay trails using their stingers. So the best place to look of the origin of the pheromonal substance is in the stinger venom, right? This is were Edward Wilson looked first, but no dice. When he created trails using the venom of a fire ant, no one seemed to care. This was the case with several other glands he found as well. Continuing his search, he finally found something with the potential to be the pheromone producer. A small organ connected to the stinger. The Dufour's gland. It's a sausage-shaped speck that is barely visible to the naked human eye.  Could this be what he was looking for? Turns out it was. It was first described in 1841 and Edward Wilson was doubtful that it was what he was looking for, but sometimes serendipity provides. To confirm his unlikely hunch, an experiment was devised using a Dufour's gland from a sacrificial fire ant. He crushed the gland and drug a line near the colony. The ants flipped out! They streamed out of the colony and ran up and down the line like their butts were in fire. This was definitely what they were using to create their scent trails.  The next step was to determine what chemical the Dufour's gland contained, and then maybe we could talk to the ants. Edward Wilson teamed up with some Harvard chemists who used gas chromatography to determine what was in there. They determined that is was a terpenoid pheromone but as they purified it more and more to find the base chemical it lost it's potency. It turns out that the substance the scout was using to lead her sister's back to the resource was a combination a pheromones used to excite, attract, and to lead. So how many pheromones are involved in ant communication? Edward Wilson's best guess is between ten to twenty different pheromones. The exact number depends of the species. The most amazing part of this is that ants can create new messages by varying the amount of the pheromones released. For example a harvester ant out foraging encounters a group of fire ants. The harvester ant can release the alarm substance methyl heptanone to, hopefully, repel, the fire ants but also call for help from her nest mates. The intensity of the pheromone tells her reinforcements how far away she is and when they come closer they pick up their pace to rush to her rescue. With one pheromone she's given three different instructions. Can ants understand the pheromone language of other ants? Sometimes and this leads to a whole load of trouble for certain ant species, but we'll tackle that topic in a future episode. We went from something as simple as a scent trail to a whole new animal language in this episode about ants. I'm super excited to share this episode with you, because my third favorite thing about ants is how they communicate. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

(1) Tigers continued.... then Around the NFL, Lamar out and looking ahead (2) Jason Fitz from Yahoo! joined J&J to discuss Bad Bunny at Super Bowl & NFL (3) Jason & John tribute to local preps and outdoorsman Larry Rea

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Summary: How do ants create new colonies? Join Kiersten to find out the amazing way new ant colonies are born!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Ant Biology” Ants Canada, https://www.antscanada.com Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. On to episode two of ants, listeners! The second thing I like about ants is the life of a colony. I had no idea how complicated the life a colony was when I started researching this topic. Each species of ant will have specifics that differ based on how they obtain resources and where they choose to live, but the basic structure of the life cycle of a colony is essentially the same for all ants. It all begins with a virgin queen. When a colony reaches a certain size, and that size varies with each species, the current queen will lay an egg, or several, that will develop into a new young queen. She will develop wings, and as soon as she is able, will take flight from the existing colony. Her first flight is also her nuptial flight. She will emerge form the colony structure and alight on a leaf or rock and release a pheromone that says “Hello! Here I am!” And the males will come flying. Typically they want to mate with males of a different colony, but when males are scarce they will mate with males of their own colony. Diverse genetics is not something most insects have to worry about like mammals must. Depending on the species, the queen will mate with one or multiple males. Regardless, the queen will mate only once in her life. Sometimes mating takes place in the air and sometimes it takes place on that leaf or rock. Either way, they will each go their separate ways once the deed is done. The queen will wonder off looking for the perfect place to start her new life while the male, having completed the only thing he was born to do, will die or become food for a predator. Sorry, gentleman. For the new queen, no longer a virgin but with a spermatheca full of sperm (a quick aside: a spermatheca is a pouch in the abdomen where queen ants store the sperm obtained during mating) she follows her instincts to find the best home for her new colony. Based on species it could be a rotten log, a perfect dirt mound, a tree branch, or any number of other places. If she survives the nuptial flight, and that is a big IF, and she finds the perfect colony-building site, another big IF, she will break off her wings and settle in to begin pumping out eggs.  It can take a queen anywhere from 24 hours to a week to lay eggs. The first eggs laid will be the first workers in the colony, so…they will be female. That's right! It's a woman's world in the ant universe. Disney Pixar's A Bug's Life  is wrong, it would have been a female ant that saved the day while the males just laid around doing nothing! All working ants in a colony are female. And here comes the harsh truth about the males: According to E. O. Wilson, one of the foremost authorities on ants in the world, quote “Adult males, with the exception of competing for access to virgin queens, and the food and grooming they receive from their sister workers, are pathetic creatures.” End quote. Males have small brains and big genitalia. They are only necessary during the nuptial flight and mating success is not guaranteed, only death is guaranteed. Once again, gentleman, I'm sorry, but it is a pampered life of eating and eating until it's time to go have some intimate time with a queen, so maybe it's not so bad, even if it is a short, short existence.  Let's say our queen has been successful and she is on her way to creating her colony. Eggs have been laid, once they hatch she will clean and feed them as larva until they become pupa and then turn into adult ants. These ants will be workers, probably a combination of some minors, that will stay in the nest to care for the queen and more eggs, and some majors that will exit the colony in search of food and water. Once we are at this stage, the queen just keeps going. She will lay the eggs and the worker ants will keep the colony running. The various tasks performed by the worker ants varies by species, but you will typically have indoor and outdoor workers. In some species age determines your job. Young, new workers remain in the colony taking care of the queen and the eggs, larvae, and pupae, while the older ants will venture outside to hunt for resources. We will look at a few specific species of ants in future episodes. The queen is able to decide when to make females and when to make males. How does she do this? Remember that spermatheca? This pouch in her abdomen is attached to her oviduct by a tube that has a valve. The queen is able to open and close that valve at will. When she wants a fertilized egg, she opens the valve. When she wants an unfertilized egg, she lays an egg without opening the valve. Fertilized eggs will become females while unfertilized eggs become males.  Let's take a quick moment to think about this, the queen only mates once in her lifetime and she can lay thousands, maybe millions depending soon how long she lives, of eggs in her life, so it must be a lot of sperm transferred in that nuptial meeting. It's amazing that one moment of contact gives her what she needs to produce an entire colony.  How long can a queen live? That varies greatly depending on the species. Some will live only 2 to 3 years while some can live 15 years. The oldest known queen was kept by a German scientist for 29 years.  Ants go through a complete metamorphosis. This means they go through four stages of growth, the egg, the larva (where they are fed by adult ants), the pupa (this a more dormant stage where they are changing into the adult), and the adult. The egg, larva, and pupa stage are cared for by adult workers making sure they are clean, fed, and moved/rescued should something happen to the colony.  When workers get older, they do not get to retire to a life of luxury, they usual just die on their feet. Other workers will pick them up and take them to the “trash pile” and leave them to desiccate. Sometimes, when needed, they will be dismembered and eaten. If you die outside the nest you may be brought back as a food resource or left to be scavenged by predators. Not much crying over the loss of a sister in an ant colony.  When the colony reaches a certain size, the queen will lay eggs that become fertile females, up until then she is the only fertile female in the colony. When these fertile females hatch they will venture forth to begin the colony-building process a new. Thank you for listening to episode two of ants, listeners, I hope you see why my second favorite thing about ants is the life of a colony, because what a fascinating journey this episode has been! If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Ants are some of the most misunderstood animals on Earth. Join Kiersten as she begins a new series about these fascinating insects.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants,” by Mark W. Moffett “In Search of Ant Ancestors,” by Ted R. Schultz, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Dec 5;97(26):14028–14029. doi: 10.1073/pnas.011513798 “The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth,” by Patrick Schultheiss, Sabine S Nooten, Runxi Wang, and Benoit Gurnard. PNAS, 119 (40) e2201550119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201550119 Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  My name is Kiersten and I have a Master's Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you've become an advocate for that misunderstood animal. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This is the beginning of a new series about a misunderstood animal that every one of us has encountered. Ants. Ants are one of the most misunderstood animals on the planet but they are so fascinating and very successful. In this series we are going to find out what makes them tick. The first thing I like about ants is their origins. As I begin this series I actually have a red, angry fire ant bite on my thumb. The irony is not lost on me that I am about to embark on a ten episode series dedicated to lauding the amazing attributes of ants to lure you into loving them while I have an itchy, painful welt from an ant bite on my thumb. These animals are truly fascinating so I bet I can get you to fall in love with them despite the nasty bites we've probably all experienced. Let's get started from the beginning shall we? The classification of ants is as follows: Kingdom Animalia (Animals) Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods): invertebrate animals that have a segmented body and jointed appendages Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods): a six-legged arthropod  Class Insecta  (Insects) Order Hymenoptera (Ants, Bees, Wasps and Sawflies) Superfamily Formicoidea (Ants) Family Formicidae (Ants) The scientific names will vary based on species. When did ants first appear on the planet?  They have been on the planet between 100 -150 million years ago. The specific timing has been hotly debated for many years until and amber sample was found by some rock hounds in 1966. This sample was discovered in Cliffwood Beach, New Jersey in the United States. It seemed an unlikely place to find what scientists needed to determine the origins of ants and it took twenty more years after the initial discovery to clarify whether this sample was of an ant or not. In 1986, it was confirmed to be the amber fossil of an ant solidifying the origins of ants in the mid-Cretaceous period, 90-94 million years ago. By the mid-Eocene period, approximately 50 million years ago, ants had achieved their current level of abundance. How many ants are on the planet today? In the summer of 2018, Edward O. Wilson, one of, if not the, foremost experts in the study of ants said in his book, Tales from the Ant World, that there are 15,438 species of ants in the world that have been recognized and given a Latinized name. Edward O. Wilson described 450 of known species of ants so I think we can take his word for when he says he's fairly certain there are approximately 25,000 species in existence today. A study published in 2022, says 15,700 species of ants have been identified. The numbers do see to be going up! The ant taxonomists working at Harvard University which has the world's largest collection of ants believe the figure to be between 25,000 to 30,000 different species of ants. To sum it up, there are a lot of ant species out there! Ants actually make up two-thirds of all insect life on Earth. We don't know have many individual ants are walking around on the Earth at this very moment, but it is in the billions possibly trillions. They are found on every single continent except Antarctica, but as soon as they figure out how to live in snow and ice, they'll be there too. They inhabit every habitat the planet has to offer from forests of all kinds, mountains ranges, deserts, prairies, and wetlands. There are even ants that scavenge for food underwater. They live underground, in the branches of trees, and inside caves. The eat seeds, fungi, animal protein, and insect protein. They are hunters, farmers, ranchers, and enslavers. They have one matriarch and live for the good of the colony. Ants are unbelievably complicated life forms and I can't wait to take you on a journey you won't forget. Thanks for joining me for the first episode of ants. My first favorite thing about this misunderstood insect is their origins. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next we for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Hey, it's Katie and I want to welcome you to this special bonus episode. It'll be here for you completely ad-free for the next week so you can get a feel of what it's like to be a PREMIUM member. If you'd like an easy ad-free experience for all of our podcasts - that's over 200 episodes each month, then JOIN PREMIUM today at https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at hello@womensmeditationnetwork.com to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,

Summary: What does conservation look like for the Aba aba? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. We have made it to our tenth and final episode of Aba aba. I hope you have enjoyed our journey with Gymnarchus niloticus, come on you have to admit, it is fun to say that, because I have had a blast talking about this amazing fish. The tenth thing I like about this unbelievably cool fish is conservation. As any of my longtime listeners know, I typically use the last episode to talk about the conservation status of the current animal or plant that we are discussing. This is the whole reason I started this podcast in the first place, to bring awareness to the animals and plants with whom we share this planet. We have to learn to live together if we are going to be good stewards of this amazing planet. Before we can learn to live together, we have to know what's out there that is worth fighting for, and all the animals and plants I talk about are worth fighting for. Let's talk about what conservation looks like for the Aba aba. When we look at the IUCN Red List, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gymnarchus niloticus is listed as Least Concern. This means that no conservation efforts need be taken at this time. The last time that the overall population of the Aba aba was assessed was in 2019, so this information needs some updating. The North African population was last assessed in 2007 and is also listed as Least Concern, but once again we need updated information for this population. The Western African population was last assessed in 2006 and is currently listed as Least Concern. The Eastern African population was last assessed in 2003 and is listed as Vulnerable. Vulnerable means that adult population numbers are decreasing.  Overall and in the Western and Northern populations the population trends are unknown, so the Least Concern classification may be incorrect. What's interesting is that the Eastern population that is labeled Vulnerable also has no population trend data. What does this mean? It means we really don't know how many aba aba are out there and if they are holding their own as our plants changes. The IUCN does list the threats to the Aba aba and those include dams, water pollution related to the military and agricultural industry, logging and wood harvesting destruction of habitat, and overfishing. Natural climate impacts are droughts. The Aba aba relies on the seasonal flooding of rivers for breeding season. The overfishing impacts the Eastern population because the local humans use Aba aba as a food source in this region. Currently there are no conservation plans being implemented in any regions of residence, with the exception of small grassroots campaign in the Eastern population region informing local fishers about the risks of overfishing the Aba aba.  Another threat to the wild population of the Aba aba in collection for the aquarium industry. Gymnarchs niloticus is a fascinating fish that many people fall in love with when they see them in a zoo or aquarium or learn about them from educational resources like this podcast. It's great to develop an appreciation for nature after learning about a specific specie, but letting that appreciation grow into a need to possess that species can be disastrous. As I talked about in the last episode, Aba abas are not suitable for the home aquarium, but the market still exists. Some people think they can make it work even if they don't have the correct size tank, or offer the type of food they need, or realize how dangerous Aba abas can be. They purchase a fish. And when it dies, they purchase another and so on and so on. Most of the time the Aba abas collected are so small and fragile that they are bound to die in transport or in the home aquarium.  Collectors will come back for more and they aren't just taking a few out of each nest they come across, they are taking all the babies and may even kill the adults to sell for food.  There is some discussion about how to create an aquaculture program with Aba aba in response to the use of Aba abas as food. Whether this would work or not is yet to be seen since no one has tried to raise Aba abas in a captive situation. One study implied that using Tilapia and Aba aba in a dual aquaculture program might work. Tilapia breed easily and in large numbers in captivity already. The Aba aba could be held with the Tilapia, eat some of the young but not all of them. This situation only deals with one side of the process though. How do we get the Aba aba to breed in captivity? Until that problem is solved, I do not think we'll be aquaculturing Aba aba anytime soon. So what can we do right now to help the Aba aba? First, do not support the set trade. Let them stay wild. Second, tell their story. The best way to ensure that they survive into the future is to get people to care about them, and, as you know listeners, you must know about something before you can care about it, and when you care about it, you'll fight for it. Thank you for joining me to learn about the Aba aba in this series. My tenth favorite thing about them is conservation. I hope you take this information about the amazing fish and tell everyone you know about them, so we'll have them far into the future.   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me in two weeks for another new series about and unknown or misunderstood creature.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Description:Settle in for a truly peaceful experience with this episode, where you'll enjoy 10 hours of gentle rain sounds blended seamlessly with soothing piano music. Designed to help you unwind, drift off to sleep, or simply find a moment of calm, this soundscape is perfect for relaxation, meditation, or background ambiance while you study or work. Let the calming melodies and the soft patter of rain create the ideal atmosphere for rest and restoration.Take a moment to pause, breathe deeply, and let your stress melt away as you listen. Whether it's bedtime, a midday break, or you just need a peaceful environment, this episode is your companion for serenity and better sleep.Stay tuned for more episodes designed to bring peace and relaxation to your daily life.DISCLAIMER

Summary: Do Aba abas make good pets? The short answer is no, but join Kiersten as she discusses why this animal should not be on your next pet list.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  Seriously Fish: https://www.seriouslyfish.com Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. We've reached the second to last episode of Aba aba and I find myself in a quandary. This isn't something I like about the Aba aba but it is a topic I think we need to address, so the ninth thing I would like to talk about the Aba aba is the possibility of having it as a pet. Whenever I start a new series for this podcast, I typically know at least a little about the animal. Even if I know a lot, like about bats, I always do extra research to make sure I offer you the best and most up to date information, I can. When I picked the Aba aba, it was one of the animals I thought of first when I decided to make this podcast, I did my extra research. I have personal experience with this animal, as I have mentioned, so I knew quite a bit about its behavior, diet, and life cycle, but you can always learn more, right? As I started researching for Aba aba I did find scientific research papers but the majority of information I found about this fish came from home aquarium sites. This surprised me because this fish gets big, really big and isn't fit for the home aquarium.  At the zoo we had a 250 gallon tank with multiple canister filters attached and our Aba aba wasn't  anywhere near full grown. Our aquarium was only a temporary home for him while the aquatic area of the zoo was under renovation. The 250 gallons tank would not be able to host him as he got bigger.  Many of you may have had, or currently have, fish aquariums in your home. I have had some as well, both freshwater fish and saltwater fish. The largest we had was a fifty gallon saltwater tank, and I thought that was enormous for a home aquarium. So when I saw aquarium hobbyist websites talking about the Aba aba I was a little wary.  The Aba aba is a terrible choice for a pet. Beyond the large tank, and when I saw large tank I mean a 2000 gallon tank to house a full grown Aba aba, and extensive filtration set up you need to provide a clean environment for a fish of this size, you have to provide large food items, not just fish flakes for the Aba aba. Food such as silverside fish and freshwater shrimp. Aba abas are also a dangerous pet to have in your home. Their feeding behavior is intentionally brutal, as a predator you don't want your prey to get away. Once a fish is sucked into the Aba aba's mouth, they most likely won't get out again. If that happens to be a human finger, you'll be one short for the rest of your life.  I truly enjoyed taking care of our Aba aba at the zoo, and I can see what  might attract a person to this amazing animal. They are mesmerizing to watch. The constant rippling of the fin is captivating. Watching them rearrange the aquarium furniture is a delight. Offering them various enrichment items and seeing them interact with each one figuring out the puzzle of the new item is rewarding. I personally think they have cute faces, but you have to remember this is a wild animal and they are not like your typical fish you buy at the pet store. This is a predator, a problem solving predator. And you just brought it into your home. You cannot house it with other fish, as the Aba aba will most likely eat anything you put in with it, so you will have a tank with only one fish. That isn't typical what most home aquarists want. The Aba aba in unsuitable for a community tank. That includes keeping it with other Aba abas as they are solitary species in the wild with the exception of breeding season when they briefly tolerate each other's company to fertilize eggs and deposit them in a nest.  I finally looked at what one of the hobby sites had to say about the Aba aba as a home aquarium fish, I was pleasantly surprised. This is what the Seriously Fish site had to say about Gymnarchus niloticus, quote “…the species is simply not suited to the home aquarium in any respect. If you see these for sale, and they are undoubtedly amazing looking fish, ask yourself if you have the money, facilities, and knowledge to house a species that can grow to 5 1/2 feet in length and could remove your hand as an adult.” End Quote. I can't agree with this statement more. Leave the Aba abas captive care to the professionals.   I think I have made my point with episode nine of Aba aba. Thank you for listening and taking this little bit of advice seriously because the ninth thing I thought we needed to talk about involving Gymnarchus niloticus is the home aquarium.    If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Have Aba aba impacted human culture in the areas they are found? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Some Ecological Factors of the Tropical Floodplain Influencing the Breeding and Conservation of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829): A Review,” by Oladosu O. O., Oladosu G. A., and Hart A. L. https://core.ac.uk/downloads/pdf/158459099.pdf “Gross Anatomy and Histological Features of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cover, 1829) from the River Niger at Agenebode in Edo State, Nigeria,” by M. O. Agbugui, F. E. Abhulimen, and H. O. Egbo. International Journal of Zoology, Volume 2012, Issue 1, June 19, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/3151609 “Morphology of Aba Knife Fish (Gymnarchus niloticus) (Cuvier, 1829)”, by S.O. Ayoola and C. E. Abotti. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (5): 354-356, 2010. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Through the last few episodes I think I have painted a pretty good picture of the Aba aba's anatomy and natural history. I have fascinated you with the amazing way they hunt and today, I thought we'd investigate how this fish impacts human culture. The eighth thing I like about the Aba aba is how much humans value this fish. Animals of all kinds impact other animals that reside in their habitats. Aba abas are no exception to this and they have become important in many indigenous human cultures that live where these fish are found. The first thing you may think of when speaking about how fish impact people is as food. And no doubt, we, as do many other animals, eat fish. Aba abas are highly prized as a food fish. They can grow quite large, creating a lot of meat. A five foot long fish means a bunch a meat. They are an oily fish, but several sources say they are tasty. Smoking them seems to be delightful way to eat them. In West Africa they are also eaten raw. Some cultures also gift them, alive or dead is not entirely clear, my guess is probably both. Suitors will gift them to a bride's family symbolizing respect and goodwill. Nothing like a long, electrical fish to start off a relationship right! Certain cultures, such as the Yoruba of West Africa, will also present them to community leaders as a sign of respect during community celebrations.  The introductory paragraph of the scientific paper “Gross Anatomy and Histological Features of Gymnarchus niloticus from the River Niger at Agenebode in Edo State, Nigeria,” states: Gymnarchus niloticus commonly known as the Nile knife fish, trunk fish, or aba is one of the most valued fishes along the River Niger by the inhabitants of Agenebode and Idah. The trunk fish is highly valued for its good taste, rich nutrients, though oily flesh, ability to grow as large as 25kg, highly valued in customary rites for marriage and community celebrations. End quote. In Yoruba it is known as Eja Osan while in Hausa it is known as Dansarki which means son of a king. These names are a sign of respect for this amazing fish. (Do please forgive me if I mispronounced any words.) Since Gymnarchus niloticus is such a large fish and edible, a lot of research is going into whether it would be a good candidate for an aquaculture fish. Is raising them in a farming situation beneficial for protein production and economically sound? The answer is not yet decided but it would be extremely difficult to do in an aquarium situation since the fish get so big and they are aggressive to other animals.  Someone did discover that polyculturing Aba aba with Tilapia might be possible. They can be kept together in the same space, feeding the tilapia food and then letting the Aba aba eat the tilapia fry. Tilapia grow quickly and create a lot of fry. The Aba aba can eat the tilapia fry but not all of them. Then both species can be harvested. Whether this is possible long term allowing Aba aba to reproduce is unknown, as they are a solitary species, it may not be functional. It is worthwhile investigating though. Current fishing practices of Aba aba often includes killing the adult and harvesting the young from the nest. This is an unsustainable fishing practices and to help this fish and humans weather the future of changing climate, we will need to work together. Some researchers believe that the Aba aba is a good candidate for an aquaculture food fish. It grows quickly and is a hefty fish, but it needs specific conditions and is a carnivorous fish, so much more planning and research needs to be done. Another way fish impact humans live is in our home aquariums. Keeping fish can be a rewarding and relaxing hobby, but is the Aba aba a good candidate for the home aquarist? I will answer this question next week. Thanks for listen to week eight of the Aba aba. My eighth favorite thing about Gymnarchus niloticus is their human cultural connection.   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: How does the Aba aba find its food? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “The Mechanism of Object Location in Gymnarchus niloticus and Similar Fish,” by H. W. Lissman and K. E. Machin. Journal of Experimental Biology (1958) 35 (2): 451-486. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. I know I left you with a cliffhanger last week and we will remedy that now! This is week seven of Aba abas and the seventh thing I like about this super cool fish is the way they hunt.  We know that Aba abas are carnivores and that they eat aquatic insects, small fish, and fresh water crustaceans. We also know that they have tiny eyes and relatively poor eyesight. There is not much discussion of olfactory functions in animals that live underwater, and I found no mention of the sense of smell when deep diving the Aba aba. Sooo…we can rule out Aba abas using sight or smell to help them find their prey. What does that leave them with for hunting? Let's find out! Something I haven't mentioned about Gymnarchus niloticus, yet, is that they are an electric fish. This little quirk was discovered by Hans Lissman in 1950 when he received a living specimen as a wedding gift. As he watched the Aba aba swimming in the aquarium he noticed that they could swim backwards and forwards equally well. It never ran into the sides of the tank or into anything placed inside. He wondered how it was navigating so well, thus began some of the first European studies into electroreception in fish.  Electroreception is the biological ability to detect electrical stimuli. Electrogenesis is the ability to create electrical fields. Both of these abilities are important to the Aba aba. There are two types of electrolocation. I know, there's a lot of electric words here, bare with me. One type of electrolocation is passive. When using passive electrolocation the predator senes the electric field that the prey item creates. On the other hand, or fin shall we say, is active electrolocation. Here, the predator creates its own electric field and uses the distortions other objects create in its field to target prey or notice obstacles. Active electrolocation is practiced by three types of fish that we currently know of including Order Gymnotiformes, the knifefishes, Family Mormyridae, the elephantfishes, and our friend Gymnarchus niloticus. All of these fish are considered weakly electrical fish because they do not use their electric fields to stun their prey. Electroreception and electrogenesis are more common in aquatic animals as water conducts electricity more easily than air.  An electric fish creates an electric field with an electric organ modified from muscles in the tail. The tissue of these modified muscles are called electrocytes and they have evolved at least six times among various fish species. These organs are used for everything from prey detection to communication, mating, and even stunning prey items. The electric field created by this tissue can emanate in short bursts, as in the elephantfishes, or as a continuous wave, as with the knifefishes. To detect electric fields generated by other creatures, our Aba aba, elephantfishes and knifefishes use sense organs called Ampullae of Lorenzini. They are electroreceptors that form a network of mucus-filled pores in the skin of various fishes. They evolved from the mechanosensory lateral line organs for early vertebrates. Most modern fish and mammals have lost this adaptation. How does this work in the Aba aba? This is truly amazing! The Aba aba makes its tail negatively charged while its head will stay positively charged creating a symmetrical electric field around its body. To keep this field present its back must remain straight. That's why it has the long dorsal fin that they use to swim. This fin structure allows it to keep its body completely straight when in motion.  This electrical field it has created allows the Aba aba to navigate around obstacles and underwater features it cannot see. It also allows it to find nearby prey items. It can sense the distortions that these objects or prey items create in its own electric field. It can actually sense this distortion on its skin with the Ampullae of Lorenzini organs. The Aba aba's brain is larger than other species of fish, this is true of all electric fish, so they can process the data provided by their various electroreceptive organs.  If nothing else about the Aba aba has convinced you of their absolute awesomeness, this is it! This is one of the most amazing ways to interact with your surroundings and to hunt for prey that I have ever come across. In my personal experience, I never felt any electrical shocks when working with my Aba aba at the zoo. They do not use their fields to stun prey, so they never send it out from their body. It is not something that humans can feel. I am not sure if other small fish can sense it either since that would make hunting with it extremely difficult. You'd never catch anything to eat if your food could tell you coming. They do have to be cautious about other species of electric fish that use this method of hunting because if their electric fields are similar they can interfere with the Aba aba's detection. Most fish that use this form of perception can create a jamming avoidance response. If two electric fish with very similar wave discharges meet, each fish will shift its discharge frequency to increase the difference between the two. This prevents them from jamming each others perception. My mind was just blown! Can you believe that? This one snuck up on you didn't it? This is probably the coolest adaptation of the Aba aba. That's why the way Gymnarchus niloticus hunts is my seventh favorite thing about them.    If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: What does the Aba aba eat? Join Kiersten and a guest co-host to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Morphology of Aba Knife Fish (Gymnarchus niloticus) (Cuvier, 1829)”, by S.O. Ayoola and C. E. Abotti. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (5): 354-356, 2010. “Aspects of the biology of juvenile Aba, Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829) from Eye Lagoon, Lagos, Nigeria,” by FV Oluwale, Ugwumba AAA, and OA Ugwumba. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2019; 7(30): 267-274. www.fisheriesjournal.com “Some Ecological Factors of the Tropical Floodplain Influencing the Breeding and Conservation of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829): A Review,” by Oladosu O. O., Oladosu G. A., and Hart A. L. https://core.ac.uk/downloads/pdf/158459099.pdf Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This is episode six of Aba aba and the sixth thing I like about Gymnarchus niloticus is their diet. We have talked a bit about this is the past, but we will add a bit more detail of what Aba abas like to eat in this episode. I have a guest co-host with me this week as I have had some dental work done and need help with all this talking! My husband, Georgiy, is helping me today. Welcome Georgiy, and thanks for helping me out! Georgiy: Absolutely! Hi! Kiersten: I know you've been listening to this series…right? Georgiy: Riiight… Kiersten: Of course you love it. What's your favorite thing about the Aba aba so far? Georgiy: The scientific name. Let me try to pronounce it. Gymnastic nalarcus? Kiersten: (laughs) Not even close! Gymnar-kus niloti-kus. Georgiy: (laughs) Gymnar-kus niloti-kus Kiersten: I like that too, but I like everything about the Aba aba. Can you tell our listeners what you've learned about what the Aba aba eats? Georgiy: I know they are carnivores, so they like to eat meat.  Kiersten: Definitely! Georgiy: When they are small, 2 to 3 inches in length, they eat insects found in the water and very small fish. A study done in Nigeria found that 36% of juvenile diets were made up of aquatic insects.  Kiersten: Really? Georgiy: Yes! 32% of the diet was made up of fish. Kiersten: Interesting. Did it say what kind of insects and fish? Georgiy: No. They looked at stomach contents of dead juveniles, so they only found small parts of the digested prey. Kiersten: Hmmm. It sounds like the juvenile Aba aba is a specialist feeder on insects? Georgiy: Yes! Exactly. Another study showed that Aba aba young that have used up their egg yolks will eat the midge larvae that are in the nests with them! The adult midges lay eggs on the grasses that the male Aba abas use to make their nests! Kiersten: Wow! That's so smart. I love it! Bring the food to you. Does their diet change as they get older? Georgiy: Yes. As they get older, and larger, they can eat bigger prey items. They will eat more fish, such as silversides, tetras, or African catfish, and add crustaceans to their diet. They will still eat insects but this makes up very little of the diet when they are adults. Kiersten: That sounds like a smart survival plan. Georgiy: Yes. The Aba aba are not competing with each other for food sources and they don't risk injury by hunting something larger than themselves. What did you feed them at the zoo? Kiersten: Ooo. Good question! We fed them silver side fish and shrimp. The nutritionist made sure we varied his diet so he got the right type of nutrients to keep him healthy. The nutrition staff made the diet for us and weighed out just the right amount of food, so he didn't get overweight, but also didn't get too hungry. He never turned his noise up at anything we offered him. It was one more thing I like about working with him. We never had to worry about him not eating. Georgiy: How did you feed him? Kiersten: This was also fun! Since his eyesight was not great, we fed him with tongs so we never had to remove decaying fish form the tank. That can get pretty gross and can be detrimental to his health. We offered him one piece at a time with tongs that were about 12 inches long. We just dipped the fish or shrimp into the water and it was only a matter of moments before he found it. Georgiy: That sounds fun. Kiersten: It was fun, but we had to be careful because if he accidental got one of our fingers he could really hurt us. When Aba abas eat their prey they suck the food into their mouths with a quick forceful suction. If you remember my bite story from last week, the popping sound, that was the suction action he used to pull the prey item into his mouth. If it had been something smaller than my arm he could have bitten off my finger. Georgiy: Whoa! Kiersten: Yep! Once an Aba aba has sucked in a prey item they clamp their mouths shut and use their bony tongue to help guide the food down their esophagus whole! Georgiy: That cool! Kiersten: It actually is pretty cool. Georgiy: How do the find their food in the wild? Kiersten: That is a great question and I will be answering that in next week's episode. Thanks for helping me out with this episode Georgiy, I really appreciate it. Georgiy: My pleasure. Thanks for having me! Kiersten: I hope you all enjoyed this episode about the Aba aba diet because it is my sixth favorite thing bout them. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Episode Title: 10 Hours of Relaxing Rain and Piano Music for SleepDescription:Let the gentle sound of rain and soothing piano melodies guide you into deep relaxation and restful sleep. In this episode of the Be Calm and Relax Podcast, we offer a continuous 10-hour mix designed to help you unwind, ease stress, and drift peacefully into slumber. Whether you're settling in for the night or taking a moment to reset during your day, this calming blend of rain and piano will create a peaceful environment for your mind and body.Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and allow yourself to be carried away by tranquil sounds. Remember, making time for relaxation is essential—give yourself permission to rest.Tune in next time for more calming experiences to help you find your peace.DISCLAIMER

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Summary: To get a thorough understanding of the Aba aba join Kiersten for a look at this amazing fish's anatomy.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Gross Anatomy and Histological Features of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cover, 1829) from the River Niger at Agenebode in Edo State, Nigeria,” by M. O. Agbugui, F. E. Abhulimen, and H. O. Egbo. International Journal of Zoology, Volume 2012, Issue 1, June 19, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/3151609 “Studies on the Biology of Gymnarchus niloticus in Lake Chad: Age Determination and growth; Meristic and Morphometric Characters,” by V. O. Sagua. https://aquadocs.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. I can't believe we are half way through Aba aba already, but here we are at episode five. The fifth thing I like about Gymnarchus niloticus is their anatomy. Up until now, we've talked about some of the very interesting parts of the Aba aba's body, but in this episode we're going to talk about the Aba aba's anatomy as a whole.  If we start from the inside out, we already know that the Aba aba has a bony skeleton as it is classified as a ray-finned fish which has an internal bony skeleton. That is going to include a skull, elongated with small sharp teeth in the lower jaw and a bony tongue. Last week we discovered that bony-tongues fish have teeth in their tongues, but Gymnarchus niloticus is an exception to this. Instead of having teeth in the tongue they have teeth in both the lower and upper jaws. Their bony tongue is used to hold prey still for easier swallowing. The teeth, though sharp, are not triangular, but peg-shaped. They look like a flat-head screwdriver bit that fits into a power drill. The lower mandible is rounded and is deeper than the upper. The upper jaw does have teeth, as well. The upper jaws teeth are also peg-shaped. The bottom jaw teeth number around 24 teeth while the upper jaw has only 10 to 12. There is only one row of teeth on both jaws. The structure of the jaw gives the Aba aba a perpetual smirk. Let me inject a funny story here as it pertains to the teeth of this amazing fish. As you know, listeners, I worked with an Aba aba at the zoo and one day, I was cleaning the algae off the glass of his tank. This was a precarious job and typically entailed two people, one to clean the glass and one to watch where he was in the tank. Well, this day we were all busy but the algae on the glass had become a bit more unsightly than we liked so I said I would clean it alone. That was the day I got bit by an Aba aba.  It was a bit more startling than terrifying, I must say, as he caught me off guard hiding in the plastic plant nest he'd built in the center of the tank. I thought I knew where he was but he got my upper arm as is it slipped below the water line just next to the nest. A scary sucking sound ending with a pop and a sting told me I'd just been bitten. He tagged me on the underside of my upper arm just below my armpit. It didn't hurt much, or bleed that much either, it felt more like a scrapped knee, but the bite was wicked cool. It looked like a dotted circle and I hoped it would scare, because that would have been one heck of a scar to talk about later, but it healed up perfectly fine with nothing left to show for the exciting moment.  I had a hard time finding research that described the internal skeleton of the Aba aba fish, with the exception of one study detailing the number of vertebrae. With ten specimens examined the number of vertebrae averages about 117 from the base of the skull to the tip of the tail.  Internal organs include the typical fish guts with research paying particular attention to the gastrointestinal tract. The GI tract consists of long and longitudinally organized organs. I mean they have a long tubular body so this makes a lot of sense to me. It begins with a tubular oesophagus, followed by a long tubular stomach, two pyloric ceaca, and straight intestine, and the cloaca. The intestine is neatly folded and compacted to sit nicely within the fish.  A single lung arises from a slit in the right side of the pharynx which is on the right side of the fish. The lung and pharynx are held together with sheaths of connective tissue and blood vessels.  Let's move to the external anatomy of this fish. Beginning at the head, we have a two nostrils for intake of oxygen. The eyes are next and are relatively small. Aba aba fish do not depend heavily on eyesight. Continuing toward the tail of the animal we come to the gills next. There are four sets of gills on the left and right sides. The gills are small and bony with prominent gill arches, 11 gill rackers, and 63 pairs of fused gill filaments. One operculum, the gill covering sits over the gills to protect them with a slit opening to allow water to pass over the gills. The head has no scales but there are small cycloid scales on the entire body. Cycloid scales are round, smooth edged scales that overlap. To tell you the truth, the scales on the Aba aba are so small it's hard to see them. It gives the impression of a smooth skinned fish.  The one fin is the dorsal fin and it runs the length of the top of the fish from behind the head to the also the tip of the tail. The very end of the tail is blunt and lack a fin. There are no hard spines in the fin and is the main means of propulsion. The fin flows in a serpentine motion allowing the Aba aba to move forward and backwards very quickly. That's how he tagged me! To summarize, Aba abas have a long slender body with no scales on the straight head, no caudal fin, anal fins, or pelvic fins. The long dorsal fin extends down the entire body from the head to the end of a blunt tail. No spines in the fin. The entire body, not including the head is covered in small cycloid scales.  Inside the mouth we have peg-shaped teeth on the top and bottom of the jaw with a bony tongue. Small nostrils and eyes adorn the head. That is the Aba aba in a nutshell.  I hope it paints a good picture of this extraordinary fish for you because my fifth favorite thing about Gymnarchus niloticus is its anatomy. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Join Kiersten as she discusses the classification of the Aba aba a bit more closely to find out what it can tell us about this amazing fish.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Introduction to the Actinopterygii” https://ucmp.berkeley.edu Bony Tongue, EBSCO Research Starters: https://www.ebsco.com Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.      This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. In episode four, we're going to jump back a bit to episode one and delve into more detail about about the class, order, and family of the Aba aba. The fourth thing I like about Aba abas is their classification. In episode one I briefly described the classification of this fish, but I think we should investigate the class, order, and family of Aba abas a bit more closely. First for my first time listeners, or for those who are not students of biology, what is classification?  It a system that scientists and researchers use to connect all living things but to also individualize all living things. Whether flora (plants) or fauna (animals) we are all related through physical characteristics.  Way back in the day, like way back in the 1700s, Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish biologist and physician who developed a binomial nomenclature (a two part name) to organize every living thing into groups. It helped man understand the natural world around him. We still use this classification system today, even though the attributes we use to organize individual plants and animals into their groups has evolved over the years. In the beginning, naturalist used things like appearance and behavior to place animals and plants into the same groups, but now we look at genetic similarities to classify living things. The two part name consists of the genus and the species. This helps make sure that when you are talking about an individual animal or plant with another researcher you are talking about the same plant or animal. Animals often have different common names around the world and even have different names within the same country. For example, fireflies are known as fireflies, lightening bugs, and glow-worms. These common names vary depending on what region of the United States you may be visiting, but we're all talking about the same insect. The Aba aba is known as Aba aba, African knife fish, Frankish, freshwater rat-tail, or aba fish, so researchers refer to it as Gymnarchus niloticus.  If we take a few steps back in the classification we can learn even more about an animal. So let's do that now with Gymnarchus niloticus. When we look at the Class level of this animal, Actinopterygii, we know that it is a ray-finned fish. What exactly does that tell us? Well, Actinopterygii are fish that possess fins that are made of webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines. We also know that fish in this Class usually have complex skeletons of true bone. Ray-finned fish are the dominant aquatic vertebrates in the water today. They make up about half of all vertebrate species known and are found in every aquatic habitat from the deepest depths of the ocean to freshwater streams and ponds.  So this level of classification lets us know that Aba abas have a bony skeleton and some sort of webbed fin on their body. It's a great start. The next step is the Order. This will narrow down things ever more. Aba abas are classified in Order Osteoglossiformes. In Ancient Greek this literally means ‘bony tongue'. Members of this Order have toothed to bony-tongues. They are also known for the forward part of their gastrointestinal tract passing to the left of the esophagus and stomach (in all other fish it passes to the right). They can vary in size ranging from 2 centimeters up to 8 feet or 2.5 meters.  Up to the early 2000s we thought that Osteoglossiformes were fresh water fish only. All of the 245 known living species of bony-tongued fish are found in freshwater. In 2008 several marine bony tongued fish fossils were discovered in the Danish Eocene Fur Formation. Maybe there are some extant marine osteoglossiformes in the ocean we haven't found yet. I guess we'll have to wait and see! Okay, back to the Aba aba. What does bony-tongued mean in relation to our fish? Bony tongued fish have teeth on their tongues. When they catch prey they use their toothy tongues to crush the prey items against the teeth on the roof of their mouths! Yikes! It sound so cool and so very scary.  The next step to Gymnarchus niloticus, is the Family, Family Gymnarchidae. The Aba aba is the only fish in this family which it makes it unique, but we already knew that! I know that scientific classification can be a confusing subject, but I hope this episode helped you understand the Aba aba a bit more. The classification of animals can be very helpful and enlightening and the class, order, and family is my fourth favorite thing about the Aba aba.   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: How do Aba aba make more Aba aba? Join Kiersten to find out about the reproductive behavior of Gymnarchus niloticus.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Abundance, Distribution, Morphometric, Feeding Evaluation and the Reproductive Strategies of Gymnarchus niloticus in the Lower River Niger at Agenebode, Edo State Nigeria,” by Mo Agbugui, Fe Abhulimen, and Ao Adeniyi. J. Apple. Sci. Environ. Manage Vol. 25 (8). 1371-1377, August 2021. “Gymnarchus niloticus Cuvier, 1829 “Some Ecological Factors of the Tropical Floodplain Influencing the Breeding and Conservation of Gymnarchus niloticus (Cuvier 1829): A Review,” by Oladosu O. O., Oladosu G. A. And Hart A. I. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Episode three of Aba aba is here and we are talking about reproduction. The end of episode two hinted at reproduction kicking off with the rainy season so that's where we'll begin. Join me for the third thing I like about Aba abas, reproduction. It all begins when two Aba aba love each other, no really, it all begins with the rainy season. In the continent of Africa many animals rely on the abundance of the rainy season. This season brings rain that is a necessary resource for survival of all living things, as well as flooding the rivers. Flooded rivers overflow into flood plains where food becomes abundant. Terrestrial invertebrates are often caught off guard and drown leaving them to be consumed by aquatic carnivores, like the Aba aba. The Aba aba already lives in the water but when those waters rise nutrients increase and aquatic vegetation gets thicker. Then it's time to start looking for a mate. In studies performed in the Lower River Niger, two breeding peaks were observed. One from May to July, the other from October to January. The breeding behavior of Gymnarchus niloticus is heavily dependent on the flooding of the rivers. Beyond the food resources that increase at this time the aquatic plants that increase are important for the nest making of the Aba aba. Now, the males of the species are the ones that make the nests. This is not uncommon in fish na the Aba aba is no exception. Their nests can be pretty big, but that is not a surprise for a fish that can get 5 feet in length. The male Aba aba makes a nest with uprooted aquatic plants. He pulls up the plants himself and weaves them into a floating nest that can be 1 meter, or 39 inches, in width. The perimeter of the nest is molded with the mud from the roots of the plants. It is expertly woven. It will be anchored to other plants and have an opening through which the male can enter and depart when needed. A little bit of the top of the nest will stick out of the surface of the water. If the nest becomes dislodged the male will remain with it as it floats down the river. Inside the plants the male will create a bubble nest. This portion of the nest is made of air bubbles and this is where the eggs will be nestled. The nest is important for several reasons: The first is to attract a mate. The ladies are attracted by large, well made nests, so the gentlemen will take their time picking the right plants for just the right nest. A few studies have indicated that they prefer plants in Family Poaceae, which are the grasses. The oblong leaves of the grass are perfect for weaving. We have to remember that this animal is weaving a nest. An animal that has no hands is weaving a nest. How extraordinary it that! The second reason the nest is important is that this is where the eggs will be hidden and held until they hatch. Eggs are between 7mm-8mm, some papers have even said 10mm. That is a very large fish egg.  Once the eggs are in the nest and fertilized, the male aggressively protects the nest from all predators. It will not hesitate to attack any living thing that comes near, including humans. These guys have no fear, especially when protecting their young.  As I mentioned before, the nest have an opening for the Aba aba to enter and leave. When they are inside the nest, the male has been seen agitating the water around the eggs. We are not sure why they do this, but it could be to make sure the eggs are well oxygenated and/or keeping the eggs clean of debris. Either way the male is doing a great job keeping the eggs healthy. I did not find any reference to how long it takes the Aba aba fry, that's right baby fish are called fry, to hatch and leave the nest. They will remain in the nest until the yolk is completely absorbed. Until then they are vulnerable to predation and they will stay in the nest under papa's protection. The fry have long gills to help absorb oxygen from the water, but will also gulp air from the center of the nest as well. How many eggs are we talking about here? Good question! I love it when you think ahead listeners. Females can lay 800-1000 eggs in a nest. That is a lot a fry to keep track of, but it's actually a low number compared to other species of fish. Aba aba seem to put more energy into larger, but fewer eggs, and more parental involvement to ensure future generations' survival.  I could not find any information about how many nests a female will visit in one breeding season. This may be due to the fact that it is difficult to follow them in the rivers where they live, especially during the rainy season when sediment is stirred and flowing freely in the rivers, or it could be that no one has pursued this avenue of study.   Male and females both have singular reproduction organs. The males have a single testis and the females have a single ovary. This probably limits the amount of eggs they can lay and fertilize.  Aba abas will complete this reproductive cycle twice a year in the wild following the rainy seasons. In captivity, it may be a different story. The Aba aba I worked with at the zoo was a male. We know this because we gave him enrichment toys such as weighted pool toys and copious amounts of plastic aquatic plants. The only thing he ever did with them was make a floating nest. He would weave the plants together and then shove the pool toys up inside the nest. Sometimes he used the nest like a hammock. Just relaxing inside it and not moving at all. Several times he gave me gave me heart palpitations as I thought he was dead, but it was just one more thing that made me like him. I'm so happy you joined me for episode three of Aba abas because my third favorite thing about them is their reproductive behaviors. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

There is a span of nearly six decades between the first and last of the compositions on this album of piano music by Czech composer Alois Hába, with works written during various creative periods and with differing intentions. As a whole, they document both the development of the composer's musical thinking and goals and the diversity of approach to composing for the piano in the 20th century.

Summary: Where are Aba aba found? Join Kiersten as she tells where you can find these amazing fish.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Gymnarchus niloticus” Global Biodiversity Information Facility, https://www.gbif.org “Gymnarchus niloticus, Aba aba” Seriously Fish, https://www.seriouslyfish.com “Morphology of Aba Knife Fish (Gymnarchus niloticus) (Cuvier, 1829)”, by S.O. Ayoola and C. E. Abotti. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (5): 354-356, 2010. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This is the second episode of Aba aba, or Gymnarchus niloticus, and the second thing I like about this little known fish is where they are found. Let's talk about where in the wild this fish is naturally found and what kind of habitat they tend to like best. This episode may be a bit shorter than most, but I promise to make up for it in future episode of this series. In episode one we found out that the Aba Aba is found in Africa. They can inhabit bodies of fresh water in the Nile, Turkana, Chad, Niger, Volta, Senegal, and Gambia basins. It is wide spread throughout West African countries of Egypt, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and Gambia. It has been reported in Cameroon, where it is an introduced species, but identification here still needs further confirmation. By widespread I mean that they can be found in various bodies of freshwater such as lakes and rivers in these areas but they are sparsely spread.  These fish need fairly large territories, remember that can get up to five feet in length and weigh 42 pounds, and spend most of their lives as solitary individuals, so therefore, they are sparsely spread throughout their natural habitat. Now that we know where in the world to find these amazing fish, what kind of habitat are we looking for? We know they like freshwater and can be found in lakes and rivers. They will most often be found in areas with dense aquatic vegetation. They use this to hide from larger predators and to help camouflage themselves from prey items.  In rivers, they favor the edges of the water near the banks to keep out of the rushing currents toward the middle. Don't get me wrong, they can swim well, but the edges host the plants they need to rest in during the day. Aba aba are nocturnal, so they are most active at night and they spend their days resting in the vegetation. They can use the plants a bit like a hammock, supporting them while they sleep. Aba aba fish have very small eyes and are a bit sensitive to light so this is another reason to live in and around thick vegetation.  Their behavior is seasonally influenced by the rains of this continent, as are many species of animals that live on the African continent. When the rains come breeding season begins, but you'll have to wait for the next episode to find out the unique breeding behaviors of the Aba aba. That's it for the second episode of the Aba aba. Thank you for joining me to find out where this amazing fish lives because it is my second favorite thing about them.  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: What's an Aba aba? It's our next unknown creature! Join Kiersten as she introduces us to the Aba aba fish.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Gymnarchus niloticus” Global Biodiversity Information Facility, https://www.gbif.org “Gymnarchus niloticus, Aba aba” Seriously Fish, https://www.seriouslyfish.com “Morphology of Aba Knife Fish (Gymnarchus niloticus) (Cuvier, 1829)”, by S.O. Ayoola and C. E. Abotti. World Journal of Fish and Marine Sciences 2 (5): 354-356, 2010. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Aba aba Fish Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  My name is Kiersten and I have a Master's Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you've become an advocate for that misunderstood animal. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Welcome back, listeners! In this new series after summer break, we will be heading back into the water. Don't worry we will not need a bigger boat! Okay, I had to throw in a reference to Jaws, being that it's fifty years old this year, and also one of the reasons that an entire generation of people fear sharks. But that is another series all together.  This episode is the first in a new series about a fish. The Aba aba fish to be specific. Never heard of it? That's exactly why I picked it as my next unknown creature. This first thing I like about the Aba aba fish, is the Aba aka fish. We will start off this series with an overview of this wicked cool fish to whet your appetite to learn more. The Aba aba fish, Gymnarchus niloticus, is also known as the African knife fish, Frankish, freshwater rat-tail, or aba fish. It is a long, slender bodied fish with only one fin. The dorsal fin runs from the back of the head to the tip of the tail on the top-side of the body. This is their only fin and the reason they are called knife fish because they kinda look like a knife if you used the head as the handle.  Aba aba are typically black to gray to brown on the top half of the body while the underside is a paler color, such as white or beige. They are covered in very small scales that do not stand out making it look like they have smooth skin. Adults can reach a length of five feet or 1.6 meters and weight 42 pounds or 19 kilograms. That's a pretty big freshwater fish. Classification of the Aba aba is as follows- Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii (the ray-finned fish. These are fish that have lightly built fins made of webbings of skin supported by thin bony spines) Order: Osteoglossiformes (this is an order of ray-finned fish known as the bony tongue fish and we will delve into to this in more detail in a future episode) Family: Gymnarchidae  Genus: Gymnarchus (meaning naked bum) Species: niloticus (meaning from the River Nile)     They are the only fish in the family Gymnarchidae and in the Genus Gymnarchus which makes them special.  In the wild the Aba aba is found in the freshwaters of Africa. They live n the lakes and rivers of the Nile, Turkana, Chad, Niger, Volta, Senegal, and Gambia basins. This fish is an obligate air breather which means they need to gulp air form the surface of the water to supplement the oxygen that they get from the water. If they cannot do this, they will suffocate. There are other species of fish that are also obligate air breathers. Typically this adaptation is found in fish that live in waters that are thick with sediment or have seasonal changes that can increase the sediments levels in the water. Gulping air gives the fish a clean source of oxygen. Aba aba are predators hunting for other small fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, copepods, frogs, and snails. The diet is dictated by the size of the Aba aba but they are carnivores throughout their entire lives. This amazingly cool fish is nocturnal and because they are most active at night they have an adaptation that makes them even cooler. No way, you say! How could they get any cooler than they already are? Well, they are electric! Didn't see that coming did you? Aba aba are capable of generating a weak electric current that helps them find prey in low light. Yes! Aba aba are electric fish. I became fascinated by this fish when I worked with one at one of the zoos where I worked. As soon as he was transferred to our department, he quickly became one of my favorite animals to feed, clean, and develop enrichment for. That's right these fish are great problem-solvers and we had to give him things to rearrange inside his tank to keep him busy. It was my pleasure to work with him and I like to think he appreciated the attention we gave him, as well. That is it for the first episode of Aba aba. I hope the overview of this animal has you excited to learn more because my first favorite thing about the Aba aba IS the Aba aba. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the Aba aba.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen  Join our Premium Meditation for Kids Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Kids podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here → https://bit.ly/meditationforkidsapple Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,

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Summary: Are Screamers in need of conservation? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org Data Zone by Bird Life: https://datazone.birdlife.org IUCN Red List: https://www.iucnredlist.org American Bird Conservancy: https://abcbirds.org/bird/southern-screamer/ Asociacion Armonia: https://armoniabolivia.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This is the final episode of Screamers and we'll be talking about conservation. Like everything else with Screamers this episode will have a few twists. The tenth thing I like about Screamers is conservation. Each species has a story of it's own, so we'll take them one by one. Let's start off with the Southern Screamer. Southern Screamer, Chauna torquata, also known as the Crested Screamer is found from the eastern half of Bolivia south into Argentina as far as Buenos Ares Province and east through Paraguay into south western Brazil and Uruguay. The conservation status of the Southern Screamer is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources as Least Concern. This means that Southern Screamer population numbers are steady or increasing. Their population trend is listed as stable with adult individuals estimated between 66,700 to 667,000 individuals. The last time this species was assessed was in 2024. This species of Screamer is impacted by habitat loss. As wild lands are drained and deforested to create more land for cattle ranching and farming, Southern Screamers lose vital habitat, but a 27,000 acre reserve created in 2008 by Asociacion Armonia to protect the Blue-throated Macaw had the added bonus of offering protected habitat to the Southern Screamer. Barba Azul Nature Reserve protects 250 species of birds and is an important stop over for migratory shorebirds.  If you are interested in seeing the Southern Screamer at the reserve you can book a conservation birding trip through American Bird Conservancy. All fees support the reserve and American Bird Conservancy's mission for protecting wild spaces for birds. Now there are other things keeping the Southern Screamer protected, this is the twist for this species, ranchers and farmers actually like having Southern Screamer nearby as they are excellent guard birds and raise the alarm when any predators come near. Sometimes people sneak a young Screamer away from the parents and keep them on their property for exactly that reason.  Southern Screamers have also been seen eating invasive plants species, such as white clover, which means they are helping their own conservation efforts.  The Northern Screamer, Chauna chavaria, also known as the Black-necked Screamer is in a similar situation as the Southern Screamer. This Screamer is found across northern Columbia from the Atrato River and Magdalena River valleys east into the Lake Maracaibo area of Venezuela. They are also under pressure from habitat destruction for ranching and agricultural use. As of the latest surveys in 2023, the Northern Screamer is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Their population is stable with 60,000 to 130,000 mature adults. Locally, in Columbia and Venezuela, they are listed as Vulnerable. Conservation efforts in these countries include educational campaigns bringing awareness to Northern Screamers and their importance in the local environment. Several preserves have also been established to help protect the wetland areas that these birds rely upon. Other threats to the Northern Screamer include egg collection by humans for use as food and collection of young for the local pet trade.  The last species of Screamer, the Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta, is found in the Amazonian regions of Venezuela, to the eastern llanos of Columbia, to eastern Bolivia and south-central Brazil. Their latest assessment by the IUCN was in July of 2024 and they are currently listed as Least Concern with a stable mature adult population estimated between 16,700 to 66,700. There are not many conservation efforts in the region specifically aimed at the Horned Screamer, but there are established conservation sites throughout their range to prevent more wetlands from being drained for ranching needs.  The subcutaneous air sacs found in all three species of Screamer keep these birds from being on the menu internationally, but locally some people do hunt them for food. It is probably an acquired taste and you need to know how to prepare the meat just right to make it palatable.  It is nice to report on species that are still thriving in our ever changing world and I am glad to know that local conservation effort exists for all three species on Screamers. Thank you so much for joining me for another series of Ten Things I Like About… I learned a lot about the Screamer as I wrote this series and I hope you learned a lot by listening. My tenth favorite thing about Screamers is conservation. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  I will be taking a bit of a break at the beginning of summer, so join me again in July for a brand new series on an unknown or misunderstood creature.       (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

In 2007, Yevgeny Sudbin released an album of music by Alexander Scriabin. Reviewing it in Gramophone, Bryce Morrison described it as a 'disc in a million'. Now, Sudbin has returned to the composer for his 25th recording for BIS, and offers a wide-ranging survey of music that includes two more of the piano sonatas. James Jolly caught up with Yevgeny Sudbin recently to talk about his relationship with the composer and his unique musical world.

Piano Music courtesy of Harpeth Presbyterian  Church used with permission.A subtitle for this podcast might be BridgeMaven Returns, Series II, number two, my interview with William Lefko. In this episode, Bill tells me about The Big Club, as Precision Spade is now called, by those who use it…This interview was recorded live via iPhone at Vanderbilt Bridge Club and has been lightly edited — William is an engaging speaker, and it's in my plan for us to hear from him again…Join me later this week, when I explain the facts of life in 21st Century America to the publisher of Poets & Writers….Here's my title: “There's no Crying in Baseball … There's no Crying in Baseball” — I'm sure you recognize Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own… In the opinion of this writer, probably the best baseball movie of this or any other era…

Summary: Join Kiersten as she talks about the eyes and beaks of the Screamer.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: Ornithology 3rd Edition by Frank B. Gill “The evolutionary relationship among beak shape, mechanical advantage, and feeding ecology in modern birds,” by Guillermo Naval, Jen A. Bright, Jesus Marugan-Lobon, and Emily J. Rayfield. Evolution 73-3;422-435, Society for the Study of Evolution. doi:10.1111/evo.13655 “Bird Eye Color: A Rainbow of Variation, a Spectrum of Explanations,” by Eamon C. Corbett, Robb T. Brumfield, and Brant C. Faircloth. Https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13276. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. This is the penultimate episode of Screamer and the ninth thing I like about this animal is their eyes and beaks. One of the things that is often overlooked in bird is their eye color, so today we will delve into the variations that exist by looking through the eye of the Screamer. Bird beaks, or bills either is correct, also vary extensively through out the avian family. Beak shape often indicates what type of food the birds eats, but like everything else about the Screamer, things are not always as they seem. Bird eye color varies more than anyone expected. Not many researchers have attempted studying this characteristic and the few that have taken up this research topic and finding more questions than answers. Colors ranged form dark black or brown to vivd emerald green, sapphire blue, scarlet and crimson, turquoise, and even white. There is even a bird with pink eyes. It is absolutely amazing the various hues that birds' eyes contain.  Irises can be one color or more than one. The eyes of Rock Pigeons, one of the most disliked birds around the world, are bicolored starting with a ring of yellow on the outside and red/orange close to the pupil. The Satin Bowerbird has eyes with a vibrant blue ring on the edge of eye with an equally vibrant ring of purple next to the pupil. The Three-streaked Tcharga has a ring of light spots that look like stars set in a dark background giving them some of the most unique bird eyes around.  Eye color in birds can change as a bird matures, for example Osprey eye color changes from red as juveniles to yellow as adults. Sexual dimorphism is also present in some species of birds meaning the female's eyes are a different color than the male's. Seasonal changes in eye color can also happen, for example Brown Pelican eyes change from brown to blue during breeding season. Southern Screamers and Northern Screamers both have brown eyes as adults, while Horned Screamers can have yellow to orange to red eyes as adults. To clarify, I found no research indicating that these birds eye color changes as they age, but I could only find reference to their adult eye color.  There are three things that contribute to the color of a bird's eye, pigments, blood vessels, and structures. These three color options are still being closely studied but certain pigments are responsible for light colors and different pigments are responsible for darker colors. For example, carotenoids are responsible for the orange color of birds in Family Anatidae which includes certain ducks. An increased amount of blood vessels in the eye creates the red eyes of some species.  Why do bird have such varied eye color? The short answer is we just don't know. It could be related to how they find food, where they nest, diurnal versus nocturnal behaviors, communication, or another reason we have not thought of yet. Much more research needs to be done to answer this question, but for now, we can marvel at the extreme variation of bird eye color.  Now, let's take a look at some bird beaks. Just like eye color bird beaks vary tremendously. They can be wide and flat like a duck, tweezer-like similar to a gnatcatcher, chisel-like as the raven's beak, long and thin like a hummingbirds, and deeply curved like the honeycreeper. These are only a few beak shapes found in the avian world. What a bird eats can impact the shape of its beak. Keeping this idea in mind, let's look at the Screamer's beak. Screamers eat leaves, stems, flowers, and roots of aquatic vegetation, so we might assume that their beaks would look at lot like their closer relatives ducks, geese, and swans who also eat similar items. Duck bills are flat and wide with some serration on the inside to help grasp aquatic grasses, but as we know Screamers have a hooked beak reminiscent of a raptor beak.   Hooked beaks help raptors tear apart their prey to facilitate swallowing. If the Screamer eats plant material why does it have a small hooked beak? It has to be hard work to get enough food using a smaller beak to pick up leaves, flowers, and plant roots. It is so much effort for a food item that is low in calories. Once again there is no easy answer to this question, but new study discovered that what a bird eats isn't the only determination of beak size and shape. Turns out we should be thinking about the birds beak in the same manner that we think of our hands. Beaks are not just for eating, they are for manipulating the environment.  Screamers may have hooked beaks to help them build nests, feed their young, or manipulate their environment in ways that we have yet to discover. Once again Screamers are pushing the boundaries of normal avian behaviors. Thank you for joining me for the ninth episode of Screamers. I hope you learned something new, I know I did and my ninth favorite thing about Screamers is their eyes and beaks. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for the final episode of Screamers.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

What does it mean to carry a musical legacy forward—not through imitation, but through living artistry? In this powerful and intimate episode of The Piano Pod, I sit down with pianist-scholar Jarred Dunn and concert pianist Anna Górecka, daughter of the legendary Polish composer Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, to explore his emotional, historical, and deeply human world of music.We discuss the making of their new album, Górecki's World of Piano—featuring the first-ever recording of an unpublished Górecki piano work—and what it means to honor a legacy while creating something new. Along the way, we reflect on Górecki's profound impact, his voice as a composer, and the responsibility of carrying forward a family and cultural tradition through music.This conversation isn't just about music; it's about mentorship, intergenerational collaboration, identity, history, and what it truly means to be a classical musician today.

Summary: Do Screamers actually scream? Find out in this episode of Ten Things I Like About Screamers.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Observations on the Horned Screamer,” by Frank B. Gill, F.J. Stokes, and C.C. Stokes. Wilson Bulletin, Vol. 86 (1974), Iss. 1, Art. 6. https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/wilson_bulletin/vol86/iss1/6 Screamer Vocalizations: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/horscr1/cur/sounds Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it.   Listeners, let me first apologize for missing a week in the middle of Screamers. Spring has started off extremely busy for me and time got away from me. Let's jump back in with episode eight of Screamers. The eighth thing I like about Screamers is their vocalizations. Yes, that's right we are finally going to talk about the attribute that gives these birds their common name, Screamers. Most of the research I found on the vocalizations of Screamers focused on the Horned Screamer, Anhima cornuta, so what we talk about today pertains to this species. All species of Screamers make similar calls and vocalizations that's where the name come from, but the specific details in this episode are about the Horned Screamer.   Most of what we know about Horned Screamer vocalization and related behaviors come from the research of Frank B. Gill. Three vocalizations have been observed and described from observations of wild Horned Screamers.  I promise you that none of them are a melodious song that you associate with songbirds. Their calls are definitely more like their close relatives swans, ducks, and geese. I cannot play any of these calls for you in this episode due to copyright agreements, but I will post links in the show notes that you can follow to listen to these calls. The first call that we'll talk about what is titled the Moo Co call. M-O-O C-O is the spelling. This call is bisyllabic meaning it has two notes. The second note has a distinctly lower frequency than the first note. The intensity of this call varies from a melodious call to a harsh bark to a coughing note. The volume of this call can vary from soft and only heard when close to the bird or very loud and can be heard from over a mile away. That's quite a call! The Moo Co calls are often given by couples in a duetting sequence. When this happens the birds combine their calls by overlapping the second note of the first individual with the first syllable of the second individual. This can result in a trisyllabic call Ha Moo Co or Ha Moo-o Co. This call is where the local name for Horned Screamers, jamuco, comes from. This triple call is only performed by couples, most likely mated pairs, as it was never heard from a single, lonely individual. The triple Moo Co call is the call that mated pairs use to reinforce their bond through the year and at the beginning of each breeding season. It is believed that males produce a louder and deeper pitched Moo Co call than females which makes the duetting a bit more musical. It can also aide in identifying sexes through vocalizations. Moo Co calls are used for alarm calls, distance calls, and greetings. The second call is called honking as it closely resembles the honking calls of a goose. This call consists of two distinct patterns given in various combinations. One of the patterns has seven to eight strongly developed harmonics. This sequence typical lasts about 30 seconds and is often accompanied by head and neck bobbing, especially when multiple screamers are together. Honking is typically used for distance calling and greetings. The third call is a loud bugle-like call titled the Trumpet call. This call consists of two syllables with a low introductory note and a second inflected note. This one is meant for long distance communication as is it the loudest of all three vocalizations. With these three call descriptions, we can clearly see why these birds are called Screamers, when you listen to these calls it will reinforce this name. These birds do a lot of screaming! I do have to admit that the duetting between two Screamers is quite hypnotic and has a lovely sound. I can see why they reestablish their bonds and their territories using this call. In the wild, screamers typically do most of their vocalizing in the early morning, but will call sporadically throughout the day. Morning brings Moo-Co calls to greet the morning and talk to the neighbors. Remember this species of screamer lives in small groups of 5 to 10 with everyone helping define a territory, so knowing that everyone made it through the night and where they are is important. If nothing really happens during the day, the screamers are quiet but, if they decide to move locations or other screamers encroach on their territory, things can get loud. Moo Co calls are made when groups decide to move locations and can be heard during take-off when individuals are close together. If an individual within an established group changes location they are quiet upon take-off but are greeted loudly with honking upon landing.  Honking between isolated groups, up to a mile apart, happens a lot. One group will begin honking with occasional trumpet calls and then nearby groups will respond. This kind of check-in can last about 20 minutes and involve up to seven different groups. We are not entirely sure why they do this, but it is certainly a great way to get information about your surrounding environment.  Honking and trumpeting erupt when other groups of screamers land near territory boundaries or cross over into an established territory.  There is one last call we need to discuss. Screamers also produce a nonvocal sound using the unusual subcutaneous air sacs we discussed on the last episode. This call is a low-intensity sound created during pair bonding activity and family greetings. It is produced with the body in a horizontal position, with the tail slightly lowered. Feathers in the middle of the neck region are repeatedly raised and flattened in concert with this “ugh” sound. We are not exactly sure how Screamers produce this sound, but it is hypothesized that it is created by forcing air through the subcutaneous air sacs in the neck. Well, Screamers just get more and more interesting with each episode. I hope you enjoyed this look at Screamer vocalizations because it is my eighth favorite thing about this amazing bird. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next we for another exciting episode about screamers.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Soothe your senses and drift into deep, restorative sleep with Thunderstorm Nocturne, a calming soundscape that blends the emotional beauty of ambient sleep piano music with the rich atmosphere of a nighttime rainstorm. As soft melodies echo gently through the night, rainfall taps against the earth and distant thunder rumbles across the horizon. Underneath it all, subtle 2 Hz delta wave binaural beats guide your brain into its deepest stages of sleep—where healing, recovery, and full-body rest take place.

Piano Music courtesy of Steinway Piano Gallery -- Down by the riverside, recorded live via iPhone (2014) used with permission.Madame Attorney General (of New York State) went one better. While residing in New York State, she purchased property in Virginia and listed it as her primary residence, to get favorable “mortgage terms..” Blip — that's Tax FraudIn case you missed it — The Law of the State of New York requires that members of the administration (ie government), be residents of New York State.Now, of course, because she is a doubly disadvantaged minority, she's entitled to flaunt the law. (By her reasoning). 

Summary: You mean Screamers have even more physical oddities? Yep! Join Kiersten to find out about more anatomical anomalies of Screamers.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: Ornithology 3rd Edition by Frank B. Gill “A peculiar association: the skin and the subcutaneous diverticula of the Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata, Anserifomes), by Mariana B. J. Picasso, Maria Clelia Mosto, Romina Tozzi, Federico J. Degrange, and Claudio G. Barbeito. Vertebrate Zoology, 64(2): 245-249, 7/25/2014. “A Study of the Pterylosis and Pneumaticity of the Screamer,” by Ida S. DeMay. The Condor, March 1940, vol 42. Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. In this episode we will continue with our anatomical anomalies. The seventh thing I like about Screamers is their unusual feather pattern and subcutaneous air pockets. That is not a sentence I ever thought I would say, but I have had this experience many times since I've started Ten Things I Like About…  Just like the last episode, we will have to do a little bit of background on avian anatomy before we jump into the Screamer anomalies, so let's get started. Birds are covered in feathers. When talking about nature you should not use all or never because there is always an exception to the rule, but we can safely say that all birds have feathers. Feathers help bird do lots of different things such as keep warm, keep cool, keep hidden, or advertise their presence, and of course fly. They have different types of feathers that cover their body, such as flight feathers, both primary and secondary that help them fly, tail feathers that help them during flight and balance while perching, downy feathers that lay close to the skin to help with temperature regulation, and bristles that are often seen near the eye or mouth. Feathers grow out of the skin from pores. They are not spread along the entire skin like the fur of most mammals. Avian feathers grow in tracts on the birds body. The concentration of the tracts can differ depending on the species of bird, for example, Tundra Swans, which have approximately 25,000 feathers, have 80% of those feathers on their head and neck, where as, songbirds have 2000 to 4000 feathers and only 30 to 40% are found on the head and neck. In between these track are patches of bare skin called apteria.  There are nine major feather tracts. These names of the feather tract are not important for our purposes, but where they are located is pertinent. On most birds the feather tracts travel from the middle of the head at the base of the beak down the spine to the tail. There are more tracts on the tops of the wings from shoulder to wrist, along the side of the neck and belly, and long the legs. You may be thinking, “I have never seen big ‘ole bald spots on birds?” Well the feathers in the tracts lay flat and cover the apteria. That's why we don't see them. For any one you that have pet birds that you can handle and groom, know just what I'm talking about.  Okay, what does this have to do with our Screamers? Well, Screamer feathers do not grow in tracts like other birds. They grow all over their body. Screamers have no apteria, no patches of bare skin. Why? We don't know. The other bird species that have this type of feather growth pattern are the flightless ratites including ostriches, emus, rheas, and cassowaries, as well as penguins, so what the flighted Screamers are doing with this pattern of feather growth, we're not entirely sure. But it is one more thing that makes Screamers unique. The second anatomical anomaly of Screamers that we are going to talk about in this episode is the odd subcutaneous air bubbles they possess. That is right, I said subcutaneous air bubbles. This is pretty odd, let's delve into it. First a bit of background into bird respiration. Birds do have lungs similar in structure to mammals but they function differently. Most bird species have two lungs attached to the trachea via two bronchi. Sounds pretty familiar, but the air flow is different. In mammals air flow is both in and out. Birds breathe in only one direction, but they have only one trachea. So how does this work? Air sacs that are part of their respiratory system. These sacs allow birds to utilize all the oxygen in each breath and disperse carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere while employing continuous, unidirectional, efficient flow of air. Amazing! This respiratory system it what allows birds to process enough oxygen to fly and prevent them from overheating when they are in flight. Pretty important stuff. Screamers have an oddity associated with their respiratory system. They have subcutaneous diverticula, also known as, pneumatic diverticula, subcutaneous air cells, or superficial air cavities, all over their body. These bubbles are full or air and lay between the skin and muscles. These structure appear to be extensions of their respiratory system.  Why do they have these extra air sacs? Once again, we don't know. Screamers are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But boy it does make them fun! We can make educated guesses as to why they might need these, such as Screamers fly at unusually high altitudes and the excess air sacs ma  y help in buoyancy keeping the body light. This combined with their highly pneumatic bones that we learned about in the last episode could explain the extra air sacs. These subcutaneous air sacs may also help them extract as much oxygen out of thin air as possible. We do know that it gives them a strange crackling noise when they walk, and keeps them safe from hunters. The extra air sacs make them unappetizing to the human palate.  Well, that's it for episode seven of Screamers and I hope you found it as fascinating as I did because my seventh favorite thing about them in their anatomical anomalies. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about Screamers.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

El compositor Roberto Sierra nos habla acerca de su nuevo álbum con obras para piano y de cámara interpretadas por el ensemble Continuum.

Piano Music courtesy of Harpeth Presbyterian Church, used with permission. Audio clip courtesy of News Channel 17/Nashville, less than 15 seconds (fair use) The issue before the Senate of Tennessee is whether or not an “illegal” has access to a taxpayer-funded activity ie Our Public Schools.It's caused quite a stir in the latest rent-a-mob and they once again confused a legislative assembly for a Football Stadium.The Governor wasn't having it! He not only reminded them they were welcome only as spectators, but threated them with arrest… for interfering with the business of the house…As a further clarification, the bill is not yet come before the house, unknown to the gallery, the vote was on a motion to “table” or postpone debate. I recommend to those student “activists” to find a copy of Roberts Rules of Order, and bone up on the legislative process…

Summary: Can Screamers get any stranger? You bet! Join Kiersten as she discusses some skeletal anomalies that Screamers possess.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Functional significance of the uncinate processes in birds”, by Pete G. Tickle, A. Roland Ennos, Laua E. Lennox, Steven F. Perry, and Jonathan R. Codd. The Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 3955-3961. 2007 doi:10.1242/jeb.008953 “Uncinate processes in birds: Morphology, physiology and function,” by Jonathan R. Codd. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Vol 156, Issue 3, July 2010, 303-308. Britannica: Screamers, https://www.britannica.com Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Episode six of Screamers is going to take us on an interesting journey into  Screamer anatomy because the sixth thing I like about screamers is their weird anatomical quirks. Last episode we talked about one of their special anatomical accessories, the spurs. In this episode we will look at two more of the Screamer's anatomical anomalies that also pertain to the skeleton. Many of you have probably heard somewhere that birds have hollow bones. This is a simplified statement about bird bone anatomy. We will need to understand this a bit before we talk about screamer bones, so, those of you that already know this, bear with me, for those of you who are hearing this for the first time, hold on to your hat, I'm about to blow you mind. Vertebrate skeletons are made up of hard, calcium rich bones. It's what give our bodies their shape and ability to move. Birds are vertebrates so they rely on their skeleton to give their body shape and act as the anchor for muscles to allow them movement, just like mammals. Avian bones are special because they have adapted to the bird's need to fly. If you have too much weight defying gravity can be difficult. Flighted birds adapted to this challenge by evolving less solid bones than mammals.  Using the word hollow, makes you think of a tube, such as a straw or toilet paper tube that is completely open inside with no internal structure. You can look through one end and see clearly out the other end with no obstacles. Bird bones are not hollow in this manner. Their bones have an internal structure throughout the tube. If we were to look inside a bird's bone we would see more of a honeycomb design. It's essentially bones with air pockets. These are called pneumatic bones.  The bones have lessened weight by getting rid of dense material but have increased strength by adding structure throughout the middle of the bone. This is how flighted birds can get off the ground and fly. They have bones that contain more air that provide structure for the body and muscles without being so solid that flying is a struggle.  Now having said this, if we look at an average flighted bird, say a Bald Eagle or a Northern Cardinal, not all of their bones have this honeycomb structure. Typically, the larger bones will have this structure and smaller bones will not. The smaller bones will be more solid. This is where the Screamer skeletal oddity applies. All the bones in a screamer have this open honeycomb structure. All of them, including the smallest toe bone. Screamers have the most pneumatic skeleton of any living bird. And we have no idea why.  Screamers are good flyers. Once they get up into the air, they soar like vultures, riding the thermals. They can soar for hours at a time, but as we know they spend most of their time on the ground in or around water. They are a larger bird, so maybe this has to do with their interesting bone structure. On the other hand, geese and swans are the same size, are great flyers and spend most of their time on or near the water, but they do not have this skeletal anomaly.  This is not the only abnormality about the Screamer skeleton. Another oddity sets Screamers apart from almost all other birds. This interesting tidbit involves the uncinate processes. As before, we need to do a short anatomy lesson to fully understand the anatomical oddity of the Screamer.  The uncinate process is a bony projection that is attached to vertebral ribs in avian skeletons. These projections are important in avian respiration. Birds do not have a muscular diaphragm like mammals to help them inflate and deflate the lungs. Birds rely on the movement of their sternum to breathe. That's why it's so important to hold birds properly when restraining them for veterinary care or scientific measurements. If you put too much pressure on the sternum, you can suffocate them.  Studies have shown that the uncinate processes are integral in avian respiration acting as attachment site for muscles used in the mechanics of breathing. The presence of an uncinate process on the ribs of a bird increased the respiration function by 2 to 4 compared to a bird without an uncinate process. These processes allow the bird to more easily rotate the dorsal ribs forward, pushing the sternum down and inflating the lungs. Seems pretty important to me! The length of the uncinate process varies by species and seems to be impacted by what physical activities the bird partakes in most often, for example walkers versus divers versus non-specialist birds. Further studies have shown that the uncinate process is actually important in both inhalation and exhalation in birds. I don't think I need to tell you this, but this little bone extension seems like a mighty useful tool and one that all birds should have, but the title of the episode isn't Screamers: Skeletal Normalities but Screamers: Skeletal Anomalies.  So, here it is folks. Screamers do not have uncinate processes. That's right, they do not have these little bones that are so helpful for breathing. And once again, we don't know why. None of the three species of Screamers have uncinate processes. They can breath, clearly they are living creatures that process oxygen just like the rest of us, but unlike most species of birds they do not utilize uncinate processes to do it. Every episode I write about these incredible birds makes me like them more and more. I hope you think so too because my sixth favorite thing about Screamers is their skeletal anomalies. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about Screamers.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Let go of the day and drift into serenity with Delta Piano Dreams, a gentle sleep soundscape designed to guide you into the deepest stages of rest. Featuring sleepy ambient piano melodies, paired with the soft hush of relaxing white noise, this episode creates a calming, immersive atmosphere that soothes the nervous system and quiets the mind. Beneath it all, 3 Hz delta wave binaural beats help slow brain activity, inviting your body into the healing depths of deep, restorative sleep.

Maurice Ravel was born 150 years ago, on March 7, 1875, and he is the subject of numerous tributes this season. Bertrand Chamayou recorded the complete piano works ten years ago for Erato ('No one who loves French music or exquisite piano-playing will want to miss this' wrote Patrick Rucker in Gramophone), a set that incidentally has just been released on LP. So, by way of a supplement, he has curated a programme that weaves a handful of Ravel transcriptions together with tributes and memorials by other composers. James Jolly went to visit Bertrand at his home in Paris this week to talk about the new album, but also to discuss Ravel's place in the pianist's repertoire.  This Gramophone Podcast is given in association with Wigmore Hall

Immerse yourself in the serene energy of River of Focus, a soundscape designed to enhance concentration, mental clarity, and relaxation. This episode blends soft ambient piano melodies with the gentle sounds of a flowing mountain stream, creating a peaceful yet invigorating atmosphere. Infused with 15 Hz beta wave binaural beats, this soundscape is perfect for studying, working, reading, or engaging in mindful meditation, helping you stay sharp while keeping stress at bay.

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen  Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,

Join Premium! Ready for an ad-free meditation experience? Join Premium now and get every episode from ALL of our podcasts completely ad-free now! Just a few clicks makes it easy for you to listen on your favorite podcast player.  Become a PREMIUM member today by going to --> https://WomensMeditationNetwork.com/premium Join our Premium Sleep for Women Channel on Apple Podcasts and get ALL 5 of our Sleep podcasts completely ad-free! Join Premium now on Apple here --> https://bit.ly/sleepforwomen  Hey, I'm so glad you're taking the time to be with us today. My team and I are dedicated to making sure you have all the meditations you need throughout all the seasons of your life.  If there's a meditation you desire, but can't find, email us at Katie Krimitsos to make a request. We'd love to create what you want!  Namaste, Beautiful,