The Tragic Tale of a Would-be Lion Tamer and Other Animal Attack News + The Tooth & Claw 2025 End of the Year Wrap-up

The guys talk about a few notable animal encounter headlines from the past few weeks and then get into some of the highs and lows of 2025. Watch here: https://youtu.be/1D41lklWFbk ~~ NordVPN: EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal – https://nordvpn.com/tooth Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee Quince: Refresh your winter wardrobe with Quince—get free shipping and 365-day returns at https://quince.com/tooth, now available in Canada Nutrafol: Get $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping at https://nutrafol.comwith promo code TOOTH Hims: Get simple, online access to personalized, affordable care for ED, Hair Loss, Weight Loss, and more at https://hims.com/TOOTH with a free online visit ~~ To advertise on the show, contact us! Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/toothandclawpodcast ~~ Tooth & Claw is brought to you by QCODE. Support the show and get access to an extensive library of exclusive episodes like this by supporting the show on Patreon or joining the Grizzly Club on Apple Podcasts. For the latest updates on the show and all things wildlife, follow us at toothandclawpod.com and social: Instagram: @ToothandClawPodcast Twitter: @ToothandClawPod Wes: @GrizKid Jeff: @jefe_larson Mike: @mikey3ds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:13Jeff Larson?

  Hello everyone, welcome back to Tooth and Claw Podcast. We have Woodrow Wesley.

• 0:19Wes Larson?

  Woodrow Wes, that's me.

• 0:20Jeff Larson?

  Woodrow Wesley Larson. And I'm his brother Jeff. And we got our Swiss Army knife, Mike. Do you have any Swiss in you?

• 0:31Wes Larson?

  Uh, Swiss chocolate. I had some Lotte Rocks chocolates for Christmas. It's probably still in there somewhere.

• 0:36Jeff Larson?

  There you go. Yeah. So, we'll, we'll do New Year's resolutions at the end, but I have another one I want to add. I think next year I don't want to break up any more family fantasy football leagues. They've been around for 20 years.

• 0:53Wes Larson?

  I think that's a great goal for you, Jeff.

• 0:55Jeff Larson?

  Because I just broke another fantasy league up, my second year in, and no one liked my strategy of tanking to collect draft swaps. And it caused a whole bunch of fighting. And you know what? There's a guy in the league who is recently released from prison for murdering someone. And he seems to really hate me. So I'm kinda glad the league's over.

• 1:23Wes Larson?

  Yeah, this might become a two-person podcast pretty soon.

• 1:27Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:27Wes Larson?

  Oh, no.

• 1:28Jeff Larson?

  So, yeah.

• 1:29Wes Larson?

  Well.

• 1:30Jeff Larson?

  Hi Toad.

• 1:30Wes Larson?

  Yeah, I think that's a great goal. That's a great start. Oh, you guys heard Toad there?

• 1:35Jeff Larson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:36Wes Larson?

  I, um, Jessie's been gone for a couple of weeks in California and me and Toad have been home alone, which usually she takes him and this time she left him. And I have been bonding with him at a very high level. Like, I just love him so much now. And it's kinda weird how just like a couple of weeks of just us two together, I just like love this cat and I'm super allergic to him. I have been just constantly sneezing and stuff, but boy, do I love him.

• 2:06Wes Larson?

  Uh, here we are, end of the year. Congrats, guys. We're recording this on New Year's Eve. Yeah, we did it.

• 2:14Mike Smith?

  Barely.

• 2:14Wes Larson?

  We got through, I think like, I think it's been a particularly kinda hard year for a lot of people, you know? And we were through it, so hopefully this next one isn't more of the same.

• 2:23Mike Smith?

  Good job, everyone.

• 2:25Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 2:25Mike Smith?

  You know, when people, was it Time Magazine that gave all of us the Person of the Year Award? I'm doing that right now.

• 2:31Wes Larson?

  Six or something, yeah.

• 2:33Mike Smith?

  Right, you all get the person, the Tooth and Claw Person of the Year Award.

• 2:37Wes Larson?

  Yeah, it's better than who they gave it to. The people that created AI.

• 2:40Mike Smith?

  Ugh, dude.

• 2:41Wes Larson?

  That's a, oh, brother. Uh, we don't have to get into that.

• 2:45Jeff Larson?

  And that's their second time winning.

• 2:47Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 2:47Mike Smith?

  Is it?

• 2:48Jeff Larson?

  Really? Well, they won the one Mike was just talking about.

• 2:51Wes Larson?

  Oh, that's true. That's true. Everyone's on the board.

• 2:55Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 2:56Wes Larson?

  Yeah. Alright, well, because it's the end of the year, um, we decided to do kind of a combo news episode plus year end episode. So we're gonna have some stories that are more recent, but then we're also gonna just go back through the year, reminisce a little bit, get a little nostalgic. What do you guys think?

• 3:14Mike Smith?

  I'm ready.

• 3:15Wes Larson?

  Uh, who wants to go first?

• 3:17Mike Smith?

  I will. Me. No, I wanna go, please.

• 3:20Wes Larson?

  You go, yeah.

• 3:21Mike Smith?

  Oh, that was close. Got it. Get my stuff out of the way.

• 3:25Wes Larson?

  You saved me from a bad review or two there.

• 3:28Mike Smith?

  Yeah, that's true. Okay, well, I came up with a new segment called Granny's Gone Wild. It's a little, it's work in progress, maybe we'll change that, depending on feedback.

• 3:39Mike Smith?

  Oh, is it not?

• 3:40Wes Larson?

  Uh, I think you could probably find that out there, yeah, probably.

• 3:44Mike Smith?

  Oh, man, okay, well, I'll, I'll do some research on that later.

• 3:47Wes Larson?

  I'm surprised you haven't.

• 3:47Mike Smith?

  Okay. Come on. Listen. Don't yuck a yum, Wes. That's crazy. Okay, so, um, this is...

• 3:59Jeff Larson?

  You know, like, Epstein's Island was like all young women?

• 4:04Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 4:04Mike Smith?

  Oh, dude.

• 4:05Wes Larson?

  Mike's Island.

• 4:06Jeff Larson?

  If it was like a grandma's island, Mike would be...

• 4:10Wes Larson?

  The leader. He'd be writing that, that claim.

• 4:14Mike Smith?

  Alright, these are, this, these are, um, there's no basis for these claims, everybody. I'm not, I've never had, I'm not, there's no river so long it doesn't contain a bend, but I've never really been attracted to a grandma quite like that.

• 4:27Wes Larson?

  Sure.

• 4:27Mike Smith?

  Do you believe me? Is that convincing?

• 4:29Wes Larson?

  No.

• 4:29Mike Smith?

  Okay, so, all right, from here on out, we're gonna grant this, these stories all the reverence they deserve. So this is, this happened earlier this month, December 5th, reported by The Independent and various other news outlets that I got information from. It starts like this. Just like any other day, small statured, and that's gonna come into play probably in, in a few moments, you'll see why.

• 4:52Wes Larson?

  Widdle.

• 4:52Mike Smith?

  Small statured, a widdle guy like Wes, a widdle grandma, just kinda like Wes. Seventy-two year old Lydia West was down at City Lake Park in Royce City, Texas, feeding the ducks at the pond. Yeah, it'll get you in trouble sometimes. Got me in trouble when I was little. When a bunch of geese who were interested in getting in on some of that snack action wandered over, they were a little curious and they're like, we want some of that too. When they started getting a little too aggressive, Lydia started feeling uncomfortable, so she turned around and started running away. Her son David painted the picture from there, saying, quote, "She fell hard to the ground, tried to get up and flee, and the geese actually chased her down. She was trapped on the ground, unable to move." Probably a little bit of her just being...

• 5:37Wes Larson?

  Paint a picture of this, or are you just being rhetorical?

• 5:40Mike Smith?

  Cause that's...

• 5:41Jeff Larson?

  I hope one of our listeners paint a picture of that.

• 5:44Mike Smith?

  I'm gonna commission him to do that. Yeah.

• 5:46Jeff Larson?

  I want one of our listeners to do it.

• 5:48Mike Smith?

  Pay you some money. So, in a flurry of feathers and honks, the gaggle of geese rushed at Lydia and she quickly found out she was unable to fend the birds off on her own. Thankfully, two passersby walked onto the scene and pried the birds off of her before calling the paramedics. She was quickly taken to a local hospital, transferred to Dallas Trauma Center after doctors recognized how extensive her injuries were. So she had actually fractured her pelvis in several places. Probably, I'm guessing, during the fall. She was bleeding internally. She also already had some pre-existing health concerns, which all of this just added up into like a perfect storm of like, these geese just rushing her while she's on the ground, had some, you know, health concerns already. It was just not, it was not a great

• 6:32Mike Smith?

  scene for her. She was just shocked, you know? I think a lot of people know geese to be aggressive, but like... I don't know if I've ever heard a story quite like this before where they they just gang up and and pin someone to the ground and start going hog wild, you know?

• 6:48Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 6:50Wes Larson?

  Interesting. Yeah, we've described that. I mean, you know, I sound like a broken record here, but what do we always say about like, when do the worst geese attack injuries happen?

• 7:02Jeff Larson?

  Well, you're you're always saying never run away unless it's a bear.

• 7:07Wes Larson?

  No, that's not what I'm saying. That's bad advice. Don't run from bears either. There are animals you can run from. Geese are one of those animals, but your chances of getting hurt are much higher trying to get away from them than they are from the animal itself when it comes to a goose. So like, if you run in a blind panic, or you, you know, are just like panic trying to get away in any form, there's a higher chance of you've like falling and hurting yourself than there is of the goose doing any real damage. And yes, like, they can bite and it can like draw blood, but it's not going to be anything that's going to be more than like, at the absolute worst, couple stitches.

• 7:45Jeff Larson?

  What if 10,000 geese bit you?

• 7:48Wes Larson?

  Sure. Then yeah, if 10,000 geese attacked you and bit you at the same time, you're in a lot of trouble.

• 7:54Mike Smith?

  I think that's what's interesting about this story to me is I they're not like predator. I don't know how they I guess they're just like so interested in what she has on her person that it's almost like a group effort to like attack, not her, but like get at what she has. It's just a strange story that I thought was, I don't know, it's a continuing saga of geese related incidents that we deal with here at Tooth and Claw, and I thought I'd add this one to the list.

• 8:18Wes Larson?

  I'm glad you did.

• 8:20Jeff Larson?

  No, but like, it is true. Even just thinking about it, had she just turned around and walked to her car the way she would if there was not a single geese goose within sight, she would have been completely fine, you know?

• 8:36Wes Larson?

  Right. Yeah.

• 8:37Mike Smith?

  So wait, what?

• 8:39Wes Larson?

  She walked to her car and there were no geese around?

• 8:42Jeff Larson?

  No, like had she done it as if there were no geese.

• 8:45Wes Larson?

  Oh.

• 8:45Jeff Larson?

  Around.

• 8:46Wes Larson?

  Right.

• 8:46Jeff Larson?

  Like she would have been completely fine. Like had she just strolled to her car. Even with geese nipping at her. Yeah.

• 8:54Wes Larson?

  Exactly. And that has to like, that holds true for almost every single goose encounter. If you have a goose like rushing you or mad at you, if you calmly walk away and get to somewhere safe, you're going to be fine. Like it's not going to do anything more than scare you or maybe.

• 9:10Mike Smith?

  I'm just gonna, I'm gonna shout out Lydia, cause I, I'm not gonna, it's not my business personally, me, to blame anyone, especially someone small, maybe not so used to like these kinds of encounters.

• 9:21Wes Larson?

  For sure.

• 9:21Mike Smith?

  It's a lot of geese, you know, it's probably really frightening. So.

• 9:25Wes Larson?

  This isn't me, this isn't me, like, that's not me saying she did something wrong. It's me saying to other people, if this ever happens to you, just remember you're going to be okay. Walk away slowly. But yeah, it's like, that's an intense overwhelming experience. If you're an older person and you're suddenly swarmed by a bunch of geese, but yeah.

• 9:44Jeff Larson?

  I mean, I'll say she did something wrong by falling over. But like, it wasn't an unreasonable reaction.

• 9:53Wes Larson?

  Yeah, sure. Good. Yeah, I think that's.

• 9:55Mike Smith?

  Can you imagine just clotheslining a gaggle of geese all at once? Just like in a WWE wrestling ring, you're doing that like rope to rope move and you just. Forty geese at the same time.

• 10:07Wes Larson?

  Prime animals for clotheslining, aren't they?

• 10:10Mike Smith?

  So, yeah.

• 10:12Wes Larson?

  They're all.

• 10:12Mike Smith?

  That would be, that's what my Mike and Jeff would do.

• 10:16Wes Larson?

  Yeah. Probably pretty easy to put him in like a full Nelson too.

• 10:23Jeff Larson?

  The noise they make too, just like.

• 10:25Wes Larson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 10:33Wes Larson?

  Oh, that was a good one. That was a good one. Yeah. Keep that sound clip, Bill. We're gonna use that one a lot. All right. I can go next. I have kind of a sad one, so I wanted to get it out of the way. On November 30th, Jerson de Melo Machado, a 19-year-old boy in the Brazilian city of João Pessoa, decided that he would finally test his lifelong assertion that he was born to be a lion tamer in Africa. Unfortunately, this kid had a lifelong battle of schizophrenia, and one of his ideations when he was in this schizophrenic state was that he was just supposed to be a lion tamer. That was just something that he had always

• 11:15Wes Larson?

  thought, and so much so that he tried to sneak into the landing gear of a plane once that was headed to Africa so that he could visit Africa and like prove himself right. And luckily, they caught him trying to do that, because if you try and do that, you'll probably die. Just so people out there know, you shouldn't try and climb into landing gear.

• 11:36Jeff Larson?

  Or be a lion tamer.

• 11:38Wes Larson?

  Yeah, it's not a great idea. Anyways, yeah, both ideas aren't perfect. Unable to get to Africa, though, he made up his mind to try the next best thing. And on November 30th of this year, he visited the zoo in João Pessoa, and he beelined for the lion exhibit. Unfortunately, he was a pretty good climber. He climbed the tall side of the structure around the lion enclosure. And I think because I lived in Brazil and I've been to some Brazilian zoos, when I heard about this story, I thought, oh, it's probably super easy to hop this enclosure wall. This was a very steep enclosure. Like, this was a very well-made lion exhibit, and he managed to get over it. And then there was a tree on the opposite side, and he used

• 12:23Wes Larson?

  this palm tree to descend down into this like, it looks like a lion pit, almost, and test out his theory. And there's actually video of this. Bystanders took some video of him descending this tree. And when he gets a few feet from the bottom, he pauses because there's a lioness that immediately clocks him and goes and waits at the bottom of the tree. And you see him kind of waiting and then he makes up his mind and descends a little bit more. And when he does, this lioness jumps up, grabs him, pulls him down. And what you see in the video is kind of like a struggle in the bushes. He emerges, but then he turns and again, like a big struggle and you see him get pulled down and that's the end.

• 13:05Wes Larson?

  Um, this lioness killed him so quickly that zoo personnel didn't have time to respond or anything. And something I was impressed by is that they, they took the lion off exhibit, immediately put her in a holding cage. But when they interviewed zoo personnel like the day after, they said, oh no, we're not, we're not killing this lion. Like this was a totally natural response to a novel thing happening in her enclosure. She didn't, it's not like she got out and hunted down someone and killed them. This was someone who was mentally ill that entered a lion enclosure and lost their life because of it. So I mean, I think like we've said on other similar stories.

• 13:45Wes Larson?

  It's really tragic overall and it speaks to the need for appropriate care for people that are struggling with mental health issues. But um, this wasn't a, you know, bad behavior by this lion. There's a lion acting very naturally, especially a zoo lion that just kind of sees the same thing over and over again.

• 14:01Mike Smith?

  I have, have a question. I'm not even sure exactly what I'm asking here. So maybe you can help me Wes. But when you are witnessing an animal encounter like this, do you think it's not the wrong reaction to pull out your phone and record? Is that like useful footage to have? Or what do you think about that kind of thing?

• 14:19Wes Larson?

  I think it is. I like, I don't know. I think that's like such a weird moral quandary for our day and age, but I would, like I would record it, you know?

• 14:29Mike Smith?

  Sure.

• 14:31Wes Larson?

  I don't think I would like zoom in on like the wounds and be like, holy shit, look at this, but like I would record it.

• 14:36Mike Smith?

  Yeah, right. I don't know. Like my, in my brain. And I'm not blaming anybody. This is no one's fault, but the battle that this person was battling internally. But like, it almost seems like if you're close enough to get good footage, maybe you should be doing something a little more proactive to help. But I don't want to like, put that on anybody or say that like,

• 14:58Wes Larson?

  There's nothing, there's nothing these bystanders could have done. They were yelling for help, like everyone was screaming. I'm sure they were trying to stop him from climbing down. I think, I think, yeah, if you just like silently pull out your camera and you're, you're kind of like excited for something to happen, then maybe you need to check how you're, you know, what kind of person you are. But if you are trying everything you can do to stop this person, but also trying to get some, you know, documentation of it, I think personally, that's probably what I would do too.

• 15:27Mike Smith?

  Sure. Okay.

• 15:28Jeff Larson?

  You'd probably like selfie while you're recording it and be like, hey, guys. Follow me at Chris Kidd on Insta.

• 15:39Wes Larson?

  I definitely would not do that.

• 15:43Wes Larson?

  I actually was looking at my Instagram before we recorded and I realized this is probably the least I've ever posted in a given year since Instagram started. Oh, wow. I'm kind of losing my savor for it a bit. I don't, that's not me telling people they should. That's just me personally.

• 15:59Jeff Larson?

  You'd be that meme of like the American Idol girl where she's like crying and then she like side eyes the camera and goes. You're crying again.

• 16:12Jeff Larson?

  Alright.

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• 17:11Wes Larson?

  Here at Tooth and Claw, we talk about some of the most extreme wild animal attacks, but they aren't the only kind of attacks that you need to think about, obviously. Cybercrime is on the rise, and it's imperative that we all protect ourselves from cyberattacks, which can be pretty overwhelming. It just seems like something we're constantly at risk of, and that's why I use NordVPN. NordVPN provides you with privacy online, leaving no digital footprint by hiding your IP address. It's kind of like wearing an invisibility cloak while you're online. You can protect your private data like bank details, passwords, your online identity. And also, if you're streaming stuff, it's really nice that you can switch your regions so you can stream stuff that maybe isn't available in your region.

• 17:53Wes Larson?

  It can switch your virtual location, allowing you to save money by purchasing flights, hotels, subscriptions, and whatnot from countries that might have a cheaper price. And it protects your data while you're traveling and using public Wi-Fi. And for me, that's really important because when I'm traveling, I'm logging into all different kinds of public Wi-Fi routers, and I really want my personal data to be secure, and that's why I love NordVPN. You're also going to get super-fast internet speed with no buffering or lagging while you're streaming, and it stops your bandwidth throttling. So for those of you that don't speak a lot of IT jargon, it just makes things work a lot faster and better. And just one NordVPN account can be used on up to 10 devices.

• 18:35Wes Larson?

  I've actually been using NordVPN for years, even before they came on as sponsors to the podcast. I absolutely love how seamless their product is. It's so easy. I'm not a tech person, but it just makes it really easy to have a great level of protection. So to get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com/tooth, and our link will also give you four extra months on the two-year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. That's nordvpn.com/tooth, and that link is going to be in our episode description.

• 19:09Jeff Larson?

  I'm also gonna talk about a video for my first story.

• 19:15Mike Smith?

  Okay.

• 19:15Jeff Larson?

  So mine's about as funny as a bear attack can be, I think.

• 19:21Mike Smith?

  Yeah, it is.

• 19:22Jeff Larson?

  Okay. So on December 10th in Zhejiang, China, Mike, you speak Chinese. What? How do you say that?

• 19:32Mike Smith?

  I just, no, I can't. I don't, first of all. How's it spelled? Is it Z H E? J I A N G is what it sounds like? I don't know.

• 19:42Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 19:43Mike Smith?

  Zhejiang?

• 19:44Jeff Larson?

  Nice job spelling that. That's incredible.

• 19:47Mike Smith?

  That is impressive.

• 19:50Jeff Larson?

  So there's a video that maybe I'll just start out by playing the video for you guys, actually. So let me share my screen real quick.

• 20:00Mike Smith?

  Go right ahead.

• 20:01Jeff Larson?

  You see that?

• 20:03Mike Smith?

  Yep, we can hear it too.

• 20:06Mike Smith?

  Oh, he's squaring up.

• 20:08Jeff Larson?

  So these are Asiatic black bears performing, and so far it's not that funny. The bouncing noise was kinda funny. The basketball hoop.

• 20:19Mike Smith?

  The basketball hoop. Where did that come from?

• 20:23Jeff Larson?

  But now, wait. This guy has a parrot on his arm. He's trying to help with one arm.

• 20:33Jeff Larson?

  And then he takes a timeout, and then he comes back, and he's like, alright, you take the parrot, I'll take the basketball hoop.

• 20:43Jeff Larson?

  So.

• 20:45Mike Smith?

  You should go over the whole thing since we don't have a lot of video watchers.

• 20:50Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I will. So basically, these two Asiatic black bears, we've gone over the training that they have, like the...

• 21:01Jeff Larson?

  The abuse they endured to be able to like perform like this. So like, before we learned that, it would have been the funniest video I've ever seen, but because I feel bad for the bears, it's not. But these bears are like riding segues. And then they'll go and like jump over these bars and it's like boing, boing every time they do. But this one bear that gets off the segue starts wanting a treat and attacking its handler who didn't give it the bear treat. And it's just that the handler getting attacked for like the first 15 seconds. And then a lady holding a basketball hoop comes in and just starts like nudging the bear with a basketball hoop.

• 21:47Wes Larson?

  Yeah, someone's hitting it with like a bamboo pole too.

• 21:50Jeff Larson?

  And then the next guy who comes in has like a parrot, a huge macaw on one arm. So like he can only use one arm and the freaking parrot is just going crazy. So then he's like, I don't know. And like walks away. And then he comes back and switches the lady with the basketball hoop for its parrot. And somehow he uses the basketball hoop to move the bear off the guy eventually, but.

• 22:19Wes Larson?

  Well, and a crazy thing too is like the bear finally separates from the handler. He's free of the bear. And then he just immediately goes back in to try and like control the bear and it attacks him again at the end of the video.

• 22:32Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 22:32Wes Larson?

  It's just like, dude, just get away.

• 22:34Jeff Larson?

  You gotta get out of there.

• 22:35Wes Larson?

  Cut your losses. Yeah. It did make me wonder if they had declawed and.

• 22:41Jeff Larson?

  I assume so.

• 22:42Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 22:43Jeff Larson?

  Because it was reported, no one was injured.

• 22:46Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 22:46Jeff Larson?

  Um.

• 22:48Wes Larson?

  And it had him for a while.

• 22:49Jeff Larson?

  Uh, this is from ABC and this is how they translated it, but the park had some very reassuring statements from, from their tamers and the park. Okay.

• 23:02Wes Larson?

  Okay.

• 23:03Jeff Larson?

  So they said, although the tamers and animals were not injured, we apologize for the poor experience caused to tourists due to lack of onsite disposable capacity.

• 23:17Jeff Larson?

  In response to this, in response to this incident, our school attached great importance to it and decided to immediately cancel the behavior of the black bear and properly appease and observe the relevant animals to ensure their physical and mental health.

• 23:35Wes Larson?

  Okay.

• 23:36Jeff Larson?

  So it canceled the black bear's behavior and blames it on lack of onsite disposal capacity.

• 23:45Wes Larson?

  Yeah, maybe some translation issues there.

• 23:47Jeff Larson?

  Park officials vowed to seriously reflect and actively rectify and strive to improve the management and emergency response level of the park.

• 24:00Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 24:01Jeff Larson?

  So.

• 24:02Wes Larson?

  Yes, some corporate.

• 24:03Jeff Larson?

  So rest assured, they're on top of it. No, like, what they need to do is just cancel the whole thing because it is abusive behavior to the bears. People love seeing bears acting cute, but it's not so cute when you realize what the bear had to go through to get to that point.

• 24:26Wes Larson?

  Yeah. We get this question a lot from listeners, like, how do I judge if a zoo or a rescue or whatever is okay? And there are zoos out there, like, great zoos that have, like, really cool bird shows or they have some interaction with certain animals. If there's ever, like, a large, potentially predatory animal, like a bear or a big cat or something like that, that's being handled and put on display and forced to do tricks, you can almost bet that they've had to, like, break that animal. And it always ends up going bad. So, either for the animal or the handlers. So just don't support those kind of places. That macaw really just wanted a better view, I feel like.

• 25:11Wes Larson?

  It's just, like, leaning over, staring at it.

• 25:14Jeff Larson?

  It's just like, it's just so funny because, like, a guy's getting attacked by a bear, but then, like, a basketball hoop is all of a sudden in the video and then there's a parrot of macaw going crazy and it's just like... Like this is a cartoon.

• 25:31Wes Larson?

  It really is.

• 25:33Mike Smith?

  I mean, props to that guy, though, for trying to help out with one arm, you know? Yeah, it's a pretty good excuse to be like, listen, I had a parrot. I was dealing with my own stuff, but yeah.

• 25:45Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 25:45Mike Smith?

  Okay.

• 25:46Wes Larson?

  Video.

• 25:46Mike Smith?

  So my next story has infinitely fewer basketball hoops involved.

• 25:54Mike Smith?

  But it's a lot more tragic, so I'm gonna lead with that one. I got this story from People Magazine, actually did a really good write-up. They approached the story from a more human angle, which I thought was just a nice thing to focus on in these kinds of situations. So this happened in Stuartsville, Ohio on November 15th of this year. So, story began back in 2013 when 64-year-old Jody, it's like, we're gonna skip ahead. Don't worry, we're not gonna go over the whole past 12 years. So 64-year-old Jody Proger began saving deer in 2013.

• 26:31Wes Larson?

  Another grandma.

• 26:33Mike Smith?

  Maybe there is some, you guys might be on to something. So 64-year-old Jody Proger began saving deer in 2013 after she actually witnessed a whitetail dobe killed on the side of the road. And she saw its little male, are they called fawn when they're male still, baby male whitetail deer?

• 26:51Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 26:52Mike Smith?

  It was pacing back and forth near its dead mother's body. And at first Jody was like, ah, that's so sad, but there's not really anything I can do about it. And then as she continued to drive away, her heart kind of got the better of her, she won the day. She actually turned around, scooped up the baby deer and took it home with her. And over the next couple of years, she had to fight to keep this deer and she got licensed. And she actually became like a really big proponent for wildlife conservation general, but specifically about like sheltering, housing and raising deer. So just like a cool odyssey she went on from making the snap decision to save a baby deer. And then all of a sudden becoming kind of like a big player in that space of like advocating for wildlife. That was really cool.

• 27:37Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, that is cool. There's, I mean, a baby deer, that's so cute. It's hard to just, let it die.

• 27:45Mike Smith?

  Heartbreaking. Yeah. She actually named this baby deer Weezer with an H, W H E E Z E R, but still pretty, that's pretty sweet.

• 27:54Jeff Larson?

  Oh, like Weezin.

• 27:55Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 27:56Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 28:00Mike Smith?

  Had like a really raspy, what's the sound deer make? Do they, what are they toot?

• 28:05Jeff Larson?

  Oh.

• 28:05Mike Smith?

  Is that what deer sound like?

• 28:07Wes Larson?

  That's what ours do when they're doing alarm calls.

• 28:09Mike Smith?

  What the heck? I'm just realizing I've never heard a deer.

• 28:12Wes Larson?

  Yeah, it's more, it's kind of more coffee, like ah, sounding than that, but they, it's more high pitched than you would think.

• 28:20Mike Smith?

  I need to speak with more deer. So from this point forward, Jody's Facebook, it actually became pretty much entirely dedicated to a relationship with Weezer. It was allowed to come in, leave the house at its own leisure. It would like sit on the couch and quote unquote, watch TV with them. It would lick their pet cats. It's just a really kind, basically a part of the family at this point. Um, and it'd put on matching holiday outfits with Jody, which I thought was like Christmas, Santa hats and stuff. That's great. I think, I don't know. This seems like everything was on the up and up here.

• 28:53Wes Larson?

  I.

• 28:54Jeff Larson?

  You can't dress the deer as Santa. You gotta dress as Rudolph, right?

• 28:58Wes Larson?

  Rudolph, right? Yeah. I think you're right.

• 29:00Mike Smith?

  I do, like, I feel the need to just interject a tiny bit here, like. Please.

• 29:05Jeff Larson?

  Oh, dear.

• 29:06Wes Larson?

  People, people that are doing like a wildlife rescue or rehab or whatever. If, if the animals are pets, if they turn into like a member of their family or whatever, I do kind of start taking them less seriously. I'm like, that's just me being honest about it. Like that, at that point, it's like, no, you, like, you have some wildlife pets. You're not like a rescue or rehab, you know? So for me, that's, if you're dressing them up in funny costumes and stuff, it's fine. Like, I don't think there's a huge problem with that. And it's not like my fight, but I also am not gonna be like, oh, this is a serious player in conservation. They're dressing their rescue deer up as Santa, you know?

• 29:45Mike Smith?

  Sure. Right. I think this was an exception. She had many other deer that she would bring in and raise, and they weren't quite on this. I don't know, there's a very special connection with Weezer specifically.

• 29:55Wes Larson?

  It seems like she had a very sweet, soft heart, and I'm not saying she's a bad person.

• 30:01Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Yeah. So mid-November of 2025, uh, things took a turn for the violent when she entered the deer enclosure on their property while at home alone. Her husband was actually in the hospital, getting treated for a work-related accident. So she's home alone.

• 30:17Wes Larson?

  You know, she's probably putting nails on the ground, or maybe the deer.

• 30:20Mike Smith?

  Tarantulas.

• 30:21Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 30:22Mike Smith?

  Yeah, maybe. Um, her daughter Jennifer attempted to contact her a few times and failed each time. And she started to worry, so she sent her husband Matt over to search the property. Just make sure everything was okay. And when he searched the property, it was about 20 minutes until he discovered her motionless body on the ground inside of this male, uh, this deer enclosure. And he tried to contain it. He was acting really aggressively. He was worried it was gonna, you know, do some major damage to him. So he disengaged and just waited for authorities to arrive and help take care of what was going on here. And the responding deputies deputies ultimately did kill Weezer. But by then Jody had already tragically, she had passed away.

• 31:07Wes Larson?

  It's really sad.

• 31:08Mike Smith?

  It's just, it's a really sad story and there's a little bit, I don't want to call it a controversy, but Jennifer, her daughter, actually has taken it upon herself to go online and dispel any rumors that it was actually Weezer that caused the death of Jody. It seems to me like most of the signs point towards that being the case, but I think maybe Jennifer just knows better than I, I do, of course, but like, it seems maybe like a little bit of.

• 31:34Wes Larson?

  You know?

• 31:34Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 31:35Wes Larson?

  In my opinion, it's kind of like, uh, maybe she was getting a little too trusting of her wild animals, you know, and that, that sucks. And it's like deer are, they're an animal that have a rut, you know? Like male deer are a completely different animal when they're in their rut. And they're just like raging on, on hormones. So, yeah.

• 31:55Jeff Larson?

  Like we saw it with, we've talked about it a ton of times with chimpanzees, like, they're the most loving animals until they start to get to that, I want to mate. Or like Humphrey the hippo, he freaking loved that hippo. And he could ride on it. And then once it got to old enough to like mate, it behaved like a completely different animal.

• 32:18Mike Smith?

  Yep.

• 32:18Jeff Larson?

  Or Mike.

• 32:19Mike Smith?

  Right. Or me.

• 32:21Wes Larson?

  I'll say like, for, again, we've talked about this, like, there's a huge difference between taming. Taming an animal and domesticating an animal. And domestication is generations and generations and generations of breeding out aggress, you know, aggressive characteristics and even domesticated animals can hurt us. But taming an animal, it still has those like wild instincts and hormones and everything, even if it's tamed and sooner or later they're going to act out. They just aren't. So I, but this is terrible. Like there, that doesn't excuse that this is a huge tragedy and it sucks for her to lose her life this way.

• 32:58Mike Smith?

  It's a scary animal. Uh, maybe just, I don't really consider deer to be like a threat. In my day to day life, of course, I'm not around them like Jody was, but like this is a big animal. What can they get like 300 pounds, especially these males with the huge rack of antlers? It's like, if you think about it, you really look at one, it's like this one has many ways to dispatch me.

• 33:20Wes Larson?

  Sharp hooves, like they kick really hard, their antlers. Also for people that have a soft spot for deer, they're doing great. You don't have to worry about them. They don't need like extra attention. Deer are doing just fine. Yeah. So.

• 33:35Mike Smith?

  They are.

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• 34:33Wes Larson?

  We just started a new year and for a lot of us, that means colder days. And this is the moment where your winter wardrobe really has to deliver. And if you're really just craving a winter reset, for me, I get excited during this time of year because I like wearing like big sweaters and comfier, more cozy stuff. Quince brings together premium materials, thoughtful design, and enduring quality. So you're staying warm, you're looking sharp, and you're feeling your best during a time of the year where sometimes that's really important. Quince has everything you need. There's men's Mongolian cashmere sweaters, there's wool coats. I just bought a cotton turtleneck from there that I just absolutely love. We're going to Antarctica this year and I can't wait to wear it on that trip. And their outerwear is especially impressive.

• 35:17Wes Larson?

  It's really warm, there's down jackets, wool coats, Italian leather outerwear. And it's going to keep you warm when it's really cold and you're going to look great. So it's just a win, win, win. And the thing about Quince is they cut out middlemen and the traditional markups. They deliver the same quality as luxury brands at a fraction of the price. And the result is classic styles that you'll love, that aren't going to break the bank, and they're going to hold up year after year. It's not fast fashion. Again, I've just loved everything I've gotten from there. I love my new turtleneck. I have a cashmere pullover that is like the softest, coziest thing I own. I love wearing it as a layer underneath something maybe even warmer. Just really has been such a great addition to my wardrobe. So refresh your winter wardrobe with Quince.

• 36:02Wes Larson?

  Go to quince.com/tooth for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q U I N C E dot com slash tooth for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash tooth.

• 36:21Wes Larson?

  All right, I got another one. It's called "The Perplexing Puma Penguin Patagonia Mystery." No, sorry, let me do that again.

• 36:29Jeff Larson?

  That's a lot of Ps.

• 36:31Wes Larson?

  "The perplexing Puma Penguin picnic in Patagonia" is what this next story is called.

• 36:37Mike Smith?

  That's like a world record for alliteration.

• 36:40Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 36:41Mike Smith?

  You might be the record holder.

• 36:43Wes Larson?

  I might. I think I did it. Uh, there's certain animals that when I see them, I always think, like, why isn't every other animal just eating this animal like it's popcorn? Like, why is it still surviving? And for me, penguins have always been one of those animals because they've seen-

• 37:00Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, it's like, why don't polar bears just eat every penguin?

• 37:04Wes Larson?

  Because they don't live in the same place. But if they lived in the South Pole, they probably would. What? Yeah, they're on different ends of the planet, Mike. You know that. Uh, shock. Penguins are super speedy, super well-equipped when they're in the water. But when they're on land, when they're nesting or just hanging out on land, they're not very fast and they don't really have any great defenses. And I think their saving graces for most penguin species, their main predators are also water-based, so they don't really have to be that fast on land. But there's some exceptions. And Magellanic penguins in Patagonia are a big exception. Seasonally, these Magellanic penguins, and I've been to these colonies, and you guys are probably going to see these penguins soon when

• 37:47Wes Larson?

  we go to Antarctica, they gather on the shores of Patagonia, they form breeding and nesting colonies where they raise their young. And traditionally, seasonally, pumas have been able to have a real penguin picnic. So some researchers in this area recently published a paper that looked into this predator-prey relationship between these two species and the history. And what they noticed was that, like a lot of predators in the 19th century, pumas were largely removed from this area. And that was basically because of ranchers and farmers that didn't want to compete with pumas, so they hunted them to near extinction. And then recently, there's been a lot of protections put in place. National parks, just overall, a better conservation

• 38:31Wes Larson?

  system in Argentina and different parts of Patagonia. And these pumas have really rebounded. They're doing a lot better in Patagonia. It's where I've seen the most pumas. So researchers had heard some anecdotal stories about pumas feeding on penguins. And they decided to collar a number of pumas and see how their behavior and their movements changed during the penguin season. So basically, when the penguins would come up on land, nest, breed, they're spending a lot more time on land. And what they noticed is that these pumas that had these really kind of large, wider ranging territories suddenly shrank to just like the area directly around the penguin colonies. And it's really reminiscent to what you'd see with like a brown bear in Alaska.

• 39:17Wes Larson?

  Where when suddenly the salmon are running, this brown bear that's spending a lot of time in different places is now just in one spot. And that really speaks to the fact that a lot of these pumas are eating hella penguins.

• 39:29Mike Smith?

  It's like Jeff during McRib season.

• 39:34Mike Smith?

  Just tiny little geographic spot there.

• 39:39Jeff Larson?

  I'm so lucky you guys don't have like a tracking collar on me. I don't have my friend, find my friends on you guys are like, oh, good.

• 39:48Mike Smith?

  Again, it's three times today. What?

• 39:52Wes Larson?

  Also, if Jeff were at McDonald's and there's other Jeffs there, but it's McRib season, he's probably not going to compete very heavily with those other Jeffs. Whereas normally Jeff's like punching every Jeff that he sees. Yeah. Same thing with these pumas. When, when it's penguin season, they're willing to be in really high densities and share space. Whereas usually they're very territorial and aggressive toward other pumas. Again, this is very akin to what you'd see with brown bears on salmon streams. Where when there's plenty of food for everyone, everyone just kind of realizes we don't need to fight. There's lots of food here. We don't need to like defend it. And that's kind of what they're seeing with these pumas as well, which is really interesting.

• 40:36Wes Larson?

  So they actually think that during the breeding season, the penguin breeding season and nesting season, these areas have the highest puma density of anywhere on the planet, which is kind of cool.

• 40:47Jeff Larson?

  That's cool.

• 40:48Mike Smith?

  Wow.

• 40:49Wes Larson?

  Yeah, they've really only scratched the surface of this relationship based on the article I read in Smithsonian Magazine. Some big questions remain, but they did interview one of the researchers and they said that they think Magellanic Penguin numbers are actually still on the rise. So this isn't having like a huge effect on Penguin populations and they are, they are like, there's a ton of Magellanic Penguins down there. One of the lead scientists, Emiliano Donadio, had a really good quote about rewilding in general. And something that I think is really interesting to think about how the effects aren't always what we anticipate. And what he said is, when we start to rewild the land, the species that are coming back might find a system.

• 41:32Wes Larson?

  That's a bit different from the one they used to inhabit 100 years ago and they adapt to it. And I think that's really important to think about, like, I think sometimes when there's these conservation projects that are. Based on kind of recreating, you know, the habitat that existed 100, 200 years ago. You can't recreate it perfectly, but what we are seeing, and this is kind of a positive message and one reason I included this one at the year end thing. Is that animals are adaptable, especially animals like pumas or black bears or coyotes, lots of other animals. They can figure it out, squirrels. They can figure it out if we give them the necessity of what they need. So like prey, good habitat, you know, free from persecution.

• 42:17Wes Larson?

  They can figure it out and I think that speaks to the resiliency of nature. And the fact that even though we can do a ton of damage to these systems, there are ways to bring them back. Who else has got some shit for us?

• 42:31Jeff Larson?

  Mine is just titled, "We didn't forget about you, Australia."

• 42:39Mike Smith?

  Don't even worry for a minute that we did.

• 42:41Jeff Larson?

  I just feel like sometimes I personally forget about Australia and this time I didn't.

• 42:47Mike Smith?

  Like when people tell you to name all seven continents, you're like, oh yeah, and Australia.

• 42:52Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 42:53Mike Smith?

  The big island. Yeah. Shouldn't be a continent.

• 42:55Jeff Larson?

  Forget about them, you know, it's like, oh, sure. They got that many people living over there.

• 43:01Mike Smith?

  All upside down. They're like that Stranger Things show. Yeah.

• 43:06Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 43:07Mike Smith?

  They're lucky they're not.

• 43:09Jeff Larson?

  Okay, so I got two, two stories from Australia. Uh, first, November 26th. A woman was killed and then a man was seriously injured from a shark attack. Most likely a pretty big bull shark, they're saying.

• 43:27Mike Smith?

  I had that in my, my headlines too.

• 43:31Jeff Larson?

  Uh, yeah, it was in New, New South Wales. And it was at Kyle's Beach in Crowdy Bay National Park. Um, about 300 kilometers north of Sydney, Australia. But, uh, the paramedic said that the bystanders had saved the man's life by putting a tourniquet on him as soon as they found him after being attacked. Yeah. And I don't know, I think they went a little hard with what they were saying. They were saying that it took a lot of courage from the bystanders. I was like, if you know how to apply a tourniquet and you see a guy bleeding out, like you should.

• 44:13Mike Smith?

  The very least we'll expect you to do, right?

• 44:15Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 44:17Jeff Larson?

  Exactly. But not to take it, they did save his life, you know, so like.

• 44:22Mike Smith?

  Sure.

• 44:23Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, they deserve credit. I shouldn't be discrediting what.

• 44:27Mike Smith?

  Did they maybe like fish him out of the water? Like go into the water where the shark might still have been? I just think in a many way, maybe courage is the word that applies.

• 44:36Jeff Larson?

  The, that's what the quotes were making me think, but I don't think they did. Cause they're saying like, to put yourself out or to put yourself out there is heroic and I guess it is because like. If you do something wrong in today's world, a lot of times you're like liable.

• 44:53Wes Larson?

  You could get.

• 44:53Jeff Larson?

  Like if you apply the tourniquet wrong or something, it's like you could get in trouble. So you know what? Shout out those guys. You saved this guy's life. He was like lifelighted to a nearby hospital and yeah, great job saving that guy's life.

• 45:10Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 45:10Jeff Larson?

  We're sorry about the lady who was killed by the bull shark.

• 45:15Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 45:15Jeff Larson?

  And then.

• 45:16Wes Larson?

  It's tough. The other two sharks that it could potentially be are like a white shark or a white pointer, as they would call it down there. Or a tiger shark are the other two like potential culprits in that area. The only other thing I had to add is like, if both of them were attacked, it's incredibly rare that that happens. The two people get attacked in the same incident or bitten. And this is probably a predatory shark then. Like it's very likely that it was trying to eat them and that also is very rare.

• 45:46Mike Smith?

  Did I miss something? Were they together in the water? Were they like, like right next to each other? Cause I know.

• 45:52Wes Larson?

  I think they were like a couple or something. Yeah.

• 45:54Mike Smith?

  That's really interesting because I know we've talked about how.

• 45:57Jeff Larson?

  Reported, but that makes.

• 45:59Mike Smith?

  Okay. Yeah.

• 46:00Wes Larson?

  Let's see.

• 46:01Mike Smith?

  I just know that we've said in the past that when you have a group of people, that is a big deterring factor for a shark looking to munch on something, right?

• 46:10Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 46:10Mike Smith?

  Or am I getting that wrong?

• 46:11Wes Larson?

  No, it usually is like bull sharks. If this is a bull shark, you know, they do tend to be a little bit more tenacious than some of the other species when they do want something. So like it, it's not unheard of that they'll bite multiple people, but other sharks. If there's someone that comes in and tries to rescue, it's usually enough commotion to like get rid of the shark. I think because they were both there and it like, you know, bit them knowing that they were both there. That's a different scenario than it like biting one person and someone else showing up. You know, that's like a bit more surprising to the shark.

• 46:44Mike Smith?

  Gotcha.

• 46:45Jeff Larson?

  And then I forget my like coyotes, B Y line version for dingos that I made up. Like dingos be biting that ass or something, right?

• 46:56Wes Larson?

  Something like that.

• 46:58Jeff Larson?

  November, November 20th. So there was a seven year old who was visiting the island of Kagari with his grandfather. And as we know, dingos have been attacking people a lot on that island.

• 47:14Wes Larson?

  Dingo bite hotspot. Yep.

• 47:16Jeff Larson?

  And he was. He was fishing in the ocean and he had a fish when he was, he was reeling in a fish where, when a dingo snuck up behind him and started biting him. So he gets a little scraped up and then his mom said that the dingo let go for a sec and kind of like ran off once people were running in to help. And then it came back and like barreled down on him again.

• 47:44Wes Larson?

  Wow.

• 47:44Jeff Larson?

  And what I thought was crazy is she said that it took five people forty-five minutes to completely end the attack.

• 47:56Wes Larson?

  Wow.

• 47:56Mike Smith?

  What the heck?

• 47:57Wes Larson?

  Did they test it for rabies?

• 47:59Jeff Larson?

  Um, I didn't see anything about rabies. I don't think, I don't think that that was, I don't think it was rabid. But uh, yeah.

• 48:08Wes Larson?

  Like a rabid animal.

• 48:09Jeff Larson?

  Five, like forty-five minutes is insane for like.

• 48:13Wes Larson?

  That is insane.

• 48:14Jeff Larson?

  Something the size of a dingo and uh, he was rushed.

• 48:18Wes Larson?

  Herman Dingo.

• 48:19Jeff Larson?

  He was rushed like off the island to the nearby city and given care and lost part of his ear, had some pretty bad gashes, but he's gonna make a great recovery besides his ear, right?

• 48:31Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 48:32Jeff Larson?

  Um.

• 48:32Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 48:33Jeff Larson?

  And so this year there was seventeen dingo incidents on Kegari.

• 48:38Wes Larson?

  Wow.

• 48:39Mike Smith?

  Geez.

• 48:41Jeff Larson?

  Kind of a lot, you know?

• 48:42Wes Larson?

  Yeah, yeah. It is, I mean, it's a wild place. That's the thing about Kegari is like, I think if you go there, you gotta be prepared to maybe run into some dingos. So, yeah.

• 48:53Jeff Larson?

  It just feels like you should be able to scare it off, like after like three minutes or so.

• 48:58Wes Larson?

  Forty-five minutes is crazy.

• 48:59Mike Smith?

  Forty-five is a real long standoff.

• 49:02Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 49:03Mike Smith?

  Maybe if you're a widow guy, stay away from there.

• 49:05Wes Larson?

  Just a widow guy.

• 49:07Jeff Larson?

  I couldn't find if he caught the fish or not.

• 49:12Mike Smith?

  Oh, shoot. Well, yeah, we'll report back.

• 49:15Jeff Larson?

  Wes, you did remind me of one that I didn't include, but I was reading someone died of rabies recently because they got a kidney transplant and the person who gave them the kidney had been bit by a skunk.

• 49:30Wes Larson?

  Really?

• 49:31Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 49:32Wes Larson?

  That should be a question they ask when you're giving a kidney.

• 49:34Jeff Larson?

  Right?

• 49:35Wes Larson?

  Hey, have you been bitten by any wild animals lately?

• 49:39Jeff Larson?

  I know.

• 49:39Wes Larson?

  That's crazy. You guys got anything else? Should we move on to our year end categories?

• 49:44Mike Smith?

  That's all I've got.

• 49:45Jeff Larson?

  That one, the rabies one, shout out Bryn, sent me that this morning.

• 49:49Wes Larson?

  Thanks Bryn.

• 49:50Mike Smith?

  Hey Bryn.

• 49:51Wes Larson?

  Bryn's our intern, been just a wonderful addition to the team in 2025.

• 49:55Mike Smith?

  Killing it.

• 49:56Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 49:56Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Bill, you're doing okay.

• 50:01Jeff Larson?

  Well, Bryn's main job's just to like help Bill out with stuff.

• 50:12Wes Larson?

  Bill needs it dude.

• 50:13Mike Smith?

  Alright.

• 50:14Wes Larson?

  Poor guy.

• 50:14Jeff Larson?

  Oh my god dude, my resolution is to fire Bill.

• 50:19Wes Larson?

  Yeah, fire him more.

• 50:22Mike Smith?

  More often.

• 50:23Jeff Larson?

  Like permanently.

• 50:24Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 50:25Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 50:25Wes Larson?

  Oh wow, okay.

• 50:29Mike Smith?

  Hey everyone, this is Bill here, just a quick producer's note.

• 50:33Wes Larson?

  Bruh. Alright, so we got some fun categories to kind of wrap up the year and talk about things we liked and things we didn't like. So, let's just get into them. The first one.

• 50:44Mike Smith?

  Did you, did you like this year Wes?

• 50:46Wes Larson?

  Uh, this was a complicated year for me Mike. I think professionally and like it's been a great year for Tooth and Claw. I think it's been a good year for me, but I think it's been a hard year for a lot of people. So I don't, I don't think I particularly liked this year, no.

• 51:04Jeff Larson?

  What did you, what would you say this year, how was it for bears?

• 51:07Wes Larson?

  For bears? Uh, probably not that great. I think there's a lot more negative bear news than positive bear news, yeah.

• 51:18Mike Smith?

  Japan.

• 51:19Wes Larson?

  Japan.

• 51:19Mike Smith?

  Gone.

• 51:20Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, bears are kinda doing good in Japan.

• 51:23Wes Larson?

  Yeah, they're kinda doing good in Alaska too, to be honest, like.

• 51:27Mike Smith?

  Depending on what perspective you're looking at it from.

• 51:30Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 51:30Jeff Larson?

  Well, I just saw the Trump thing that he's planning to like go through all that bear habitat or whatever.

• 51:37Wes Larson?

  Yeah, and they're calling bears in Alaska and, but it's still a hotspot for bears. Like bears are still doing really well in Alaska and they probably still.

• 51:46Jeff Larson?

  Giant pandas probably still not doing great.

• 51:50Wes Larson?

  Doing better though, I think they're ones that are doing better year after year, so.

• 51:54Jeff Larson?

  That's good.

• 51:55Wes Larson?

  Polar bears.

• 51:55Mike Smith?

  Do you think a single panda, do you think any one panda this year has had sex?

• 52:01Wes Larson?

  Probably.

• 52:01Mike Smith?

  They never do. Why?

• 52:04Wes Larson?

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 52:05Mike Smith?

  Hims. Let's get hims on the case.

• 52:07Wes Larson?

  We do need to send them some hims.

• 52:10Mike Smith?

  Just like lace their bamboo with hims.

• 52:12Jeff Larson?

  They need some, some tea dude. Get them some more testosterone, you know?

• 52:17Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 52:18Jeff Larson?

  Some liver.

• 52:20Mike Smith?

  Injections.

• 52:22Mike Smith?

  Liver King.

• 52:23Wes Larson?

  The Liver King Panda is just all like red and veiny and just looks like he's sweating all the time.

• 52:31Mike Smith?

  Just like a toe stub away from a heart attack.

• 52:33Wes Larson?

  Yeah. It's funny, ever since that dude came on the scene, I can tell when other like influencers are doing that sort of diet. Cause they just look like they're ready to like pop. It's such a weird look.

• 52:46Mike Smith?

  Frightening.

• 52:46Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All right.

• 52:48Jeff Larson?

  I know. It's like RFK.

• 52:50Wes Larson?

  Oh, yeah, exactly.

• 52:52Jeff Larson?

  I actually think some of what he's doing is like, kind of important, like trying to get rid of red food dye. Like, yeah, go for that, you know? But it's also like, I don't trust this guy because of how he looks.

• 53:05Wes Larson?

  Yeah. Yeah. Well, and it's like, sure, you know, these guys are all gonna have a couple of things that ring true, but also like.

• 53:14Mike Smith?

  Broken clock twice a day.

• 53:16Wes Larson?

  Denying like, you know, saying that people shouldn't get the measles vaccine or stuff like that is, I don't know, doing a lot more harm than good in my opinion. All right.

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• 56:37Jeff Larson?

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• 57:12Wes Larson?

  Should we move on to our categories? Are you guys ready?

• 57:14Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 57:15Mike Smith?

  I am.

• 57:16Wes Larson?

  Okay, let's do our top three movies to start of 2025, and then go ahead and throw in your least favorite, too. So give us your top three and your least favorite that you saw.

• 57:27Mike Smith?

  It's tight competition for my least.

• 57:30Wes Larson?

  Oh, boy. Do you need time to think, Jeff?

• 57:33Jeff Larson?

  No, I didn't see the least favorite, but I'll think of one.

• 57:37Wes Larson?

  Okay. Mike, you want to go first?

• 57:39Mike Smith?

  I'll go first, and I'm gonna try to pick a few that I know you're not going to, Wes, and then maybe we can just do some honorable mentions at the end. So I'm gonna start out with Kiyoshi Kurosawa's newest movie, Cloud. Thought that was a really interesting movie, dealing with the dangers of being a presence on the internet, which is kind of what we are here at Tooth and Claw. Like, we're not doing anything nefarious like this guy was doing in this movie, but it does, I don't know, puts it in your brain that like, if someone really wants to get at you, like, they take a distaste towards you, you're a public persona in a way now, and like, they can't find you, and they can mess up your life pretty bad. So that one just really stuck with me. And Kiyoshi, he's like, he's the man.

• 58:19Mike Smith?

  He's the guy that did The Cure in Cairo and a bunch of just like all-time classics.

• 58:25Wes Larson?

  Adding it to my list.

• 58:26Mike Smith?

  I'm gonna go with Marty Supreme is my second choice.

• 58:30Wes Larson?

  I need to see it. Yeah.

• 58:31Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Josh Safdie, it turns out, I think Benny still has a bright future as a director with Smashing Machine. It wasn't quite on the level as the Safdie Brothers' earlier films, and Josh, Josh's solo attempt this year with Marty, but man, it's just another like-

• 58:47Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 58:47Mike Smith?

  Dude, it's like good time Uncut Gems, just like a permanent, you know, like your heart's ready to just explode due to the tension and just like a guy that's barreling head. I won't say too much about it, but great. I really enjoyed it and it's doing a lot more than just being like a sports movie. I thought that was really important.

• 59:05Wes Larson?

  I haven't even watched the trailer for that one because I'm really excited just to go in like pretty blind. Cause Uncut Gems is maybe, you know, it's a very, it's a top movie for me. So I really, yeah.

• 59:16Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Uh, in my last one, I just had the most incredibly fun time with it. I can't stop thinking about it. I listen to its soundtrack pretty regularly. K-pop Demon Hunters. It's a freaking good movie. I don't care what anybody says. I had an amazing time with it. Man.

• 59:34Wes Larson?

  I've talked to a lot of my friends that are parents where I'm just like, isn't it so nice to have a movie that your kids are obsessed with? It's like actually good. And they're like, oh, it's so, it's so nice that this is one that we actually like. So I love that movie. I, when you first brought it up on the podcast, I, I was very dismissive, but then I watched it and I was like, okay, I get it. And then I watched it with Jesse and we both like cried. It's just good.

• 59:58Mike Smith?

  Oh, yeah. I'm a Mira, Mira stan personally.

• 1:00:02Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I don't remember their names. Uh, go ahead, Jeff.

• 1:00:05Jeff Larson?

  Okay. Did you do least favorite?

• 1:00:08Wes Larson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:00:09Mike Smith?

  Oh, yeah. Uh, I'm going to go Predator Badlands. That's a little bit of a hot take, I think. It might've been circumstantial, the way we saw it. We were all really tired after a long trip and like, I was in, I don't know.

• 1:00:20Wes Larson?

  I thought one of you guys would pick that.

• 1:00:21Mike Smith?

  I, I just didn't have a good time with this and it's very much a personal thing. Everyone seems to love it and I'm happy for you all, but man, I thought it was like in almost every single way, a bad movie for me.

• 1:00:35Wes Larson?

  For me, it wasn't like a bad movie, but it didn't live up close to what it had been billed as is like a really good movie. And so I was really disappointed.

• 1:00:44Mike Smith?

  Sure.

• 1:00:45Jeff Larson?

  All right. I'm going to go one battle after another. Number one, I don't know. I just like, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it type of movie. And the clips that I see on social media, I've watched them every single time, like Leo's little Mexican whistle. I love where people are like, he nailed this whistle. I'm like, yeah, he kinda did. And like, I don't know. It's just a funny movie. Uh,

• 1:01:10Wes Larson?

  It's so funny. It's so good.

• 1:01:12Jeff Larson?

  Uh, next I'm going to go with Sinners. Probably, yeah, I just, great movie, amazing soundtrack, just a really fun one. I liked it.

• 1:01:23Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:23Jeff Larson?

  And number three, I'm gonna just go with one that probably isn't even number three, but I want to mention it type of thing. So I'm going Ballerina. I thought it was like

• 1:01:35Mike Smith?

  Whoa.

• 1:01:35Jeff Larson?

  Such a good John Wick like world. I think the John Wick ones were getting tired and needed a new person. I honestly kinda don't normally like the female action hero movies because I don't think they do a good job of just like how like being realistic and I think it was incredibly realistic. And she's just such a badass in it and is a good plot and like some amazing flamethrower scenes. Probably my favorite flamethrower, even above Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I'd say this is my number one for flamethrowers.

• 1:02:17Jeff Larson?

  So I loved it. And then my least favorite isn't my least favorite, but I'm gonna go most overrated. I think I'm gonna say Marty Supreme.

• 1:02:29Mike Smith?

  Really?

• 1:02:30Jeff Larson?

  I, I was just really excited for it and

• 1:02:34Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:35Jeff Larson?

  Like Timothy Chalamet's my guy. Not, he's not my guy, but I like Timothy Chalamet. And I've been loving his press. I think he's like really funny person, just in general, his like Drewski collab thing that they did with the, uh, the something talent. But I don't know, I thought it two and a half hours was crazy. And like, I liked the ping pong in it, but it just wasn't like quite funny enough or dramatic enough, or I don't, like, there wasn't enough plot for me where it's like

• 1:03:13Mike Smith?

  Okay. Yeah.

• 1:03:14Jeff Larson?

  We'll have to talk off air to avoid spoiling it for Wes, but man, so freaking good. Jeff, come on.

• 1:03:21Mike Smith?

  It's so good.

• 1:03:22Wes Larson?

  I'm in a, I'm, we're, it's gonna be.

• 1:03:25Jeff Larson?

  I'm not even, I don't want it to, I don't want to twist it, saying worse is like too harsh. Like I, it's not even a movie that I disliked. It's just like, I thought it was gonna be better than what it was.

• 1:03:39Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All right. My favorite movie of the year was Sinners. I, I do feel like I kind of am just going with the academy this year, but I just think we had some incredible movies this year that rose above all the rest for me. So Sinners was that for me. I watched it twice in theaters. The musical part in the middle just like swept me away like nothing has in a very long time. One battle after another was number two for me. Thought it was like impeccably acted and directed, just like such a good movie about rebellion and felt very real. Like the fascism in it to me felt like what we're seeing right now. So it felt very timely. And then.

• 1:04:14Mike Smith?

  Christmas adventures.

• 1:04:16Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:04:17Mike Smith?

  So stupid. It's amazing.

• 1:04:18Wes Larson?

  For me, the, my third movie, it was between 28 years later and this movie, but I picked Weapons. Because I just had so much fun with Weapons. I just felt on the edge of my seat and alive the entire movie. And just loved it. It was, it was perfect for me. So I picked it for number three. My least favorite, I'll be honest, it was between Ballerina. And Jeff, I, I think the reason I wanted to pick it is because I had such high expectations because Jeff and me are usually very pretty aligned on our movie watching.

• 1:04:57Wes Larson?

  And so when Jeff really likes something, I almost always really like it too. And I just didn't like it. But the one I actually picked was Jurassic World Rebirth. Because I had actually.

• 1:05:08Jeff Larson?

  Than mine.

• 1:05:09Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I'd allowed myself to get excited for a Jurassic movie based on the hype that was coming out of it. And I fucking hated it. Like I hate it almost as much as I hate Dominion and that's saying something. And I hate that they felt like they had to create new dinosaurs and it all looked like bad Photoshop. I just, I just hated it. I think it's a terrible movie. So.

• 1:05:31Jeff Larson?

  I'm going to switch mine to your answer. Marty Supreme deserves better than what I gave it.

• 1:05:36Mike Smith?

  I think I'm gonna also switch mine to Jurassic Park Rebirth.

• 1:05:41Wes Larson?

  It's bad, dismal.

• 1:05:42Jeff Larson?

  You know what's crazy to me? Well, it came out in the summer, right?

• 1:05:46Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:47Jeff Larson?

  I'm seeing Winter Olympic promos with Scarlett Johansson, where they're promoting Jurassic Park rebirth. And it's like, what? Why? Like, we watched this movie. Quit promoting it. Stop.

• 1:06:03Wes Larson?

  I think the frustrating thing about it is it's like every piece is there for you, for them to make an incredible movie. It's been done. It's not that hard, but they just make the laziest shit. It's like, no, your blood from these dinosaurs isn't going to save people. It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life because they have big hearts. It's going to help with heart disease. Come on. Like, that's just dumb. And I just can't, I don't know, I just can't get over the fact that they can't make a good dinosaur movie. Just make a good dinosaur movie. Make it scary. It's all you have to do.

• 1:06:35Mike Smith?

  I'm switching my pick back to Predators: Badlands. I just hate the thought that all Arnold Schwarzenegger had to do was like go on a little camping trip with the Predator in the first movie. They would have been great friends. They would have been awesome. They would have been tight and they would have bonded. Terrible. Oh, my gosh. I'm sorry. You're allowed to like what you like, everyone out there.

• 1:06:53Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:06:54Mike Smith?

  That's just me.

• 1:06:55Wes Larson?

  Let's move on or we're going to be stuck on movies for too long.

• 1:06:58Mike Smith?

  Yes, let's go.

• 1:06:59Wes Larson?

  Your top show, just your number one show of 2025 and your least favorite.

• 1:07:03Jeff Larson?

  Some great shows this year.

• 1:07:06Wes Larson?

  I'm gonna go first because this one I feel very passionate about right now. Uh, Andor was my favorite show of 2025, season two of Andor. It is my favorite show ever. I think I can say that now. I just rewatched season two. It affects me like no other show ever has. I have been on like Reddit trying to like find shows that are like Andor. And there's other people that are running into the same thing as me where it's like they're depressed because nothing hits like Andor does. And it's funny for both season one and season two, I was, I was into them when I first watched them, but I, they weren't like the best ever. But when I rewatched both of those seasons, it just hit so hard and.

• 1:07:50Wes Larson?

  Wrap me up so completely that I just think it's a masterpiece. So Andor for me is easily my favorite show of the year. My second or my least favorite is season five of Stranger Things. I've been watching it pirated because I don't want to give them my views, but I, uh, I just think it's just turned into garbage. And I loved season four. I loved it.

• 1:08:12Jeff Larson?

  Hmm.

• 1:08:13Wes Larson?

  And I'm a fan like season one was like a perfect season of TV. And I just hate the season. I think it's so bad. So.

• 1:08:22Jeff Larson?

  It's sad. Yeah.

• 1:08:23Wes Larson?

  But I just thought it was like poorly handled. I think it's been just a bad, a bad season of TV. There's just so many scenes of them like explaining like what's going on and coming up with these harebrained harebrained plans. That are so dumb and it's like every single episode is just chock full of that. And it looks terrible. Like it's lit, like it's all made in Photoshop. It's just really bad. I just hated it. So, yeah. And I love Stranger Things. So it's been hard.

• 1:08:52Jeff Larson?

  You know what? I'm going to choose the chair company.

• 1:08:54Wes Larson?

  As your best show?

• 1:08:56Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I loved it. And I just really liked Tim Robinson. Um, his humor works for me. And I was super excited for the movie Friendship and I didn't like it. So then I was like, kind of worried about him doing anything outside of just like sketch comedy. And I think he nailed it with the chair company. Like I thought it, every episode had something that like made me laugh out loud, but then like I kind of related a little bit to the story too. Like just having an office job you don't care about at all and like having a company

• 1:09:37Jeff Larson?

  you over and just no way to hold anyone accountable was like relatable, you know?

• 1:09:43Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I think of the three of us, you would be the best detective because you're a dog with a bone when something's like, you know, in your brain and volume and fucking you. Yeah.

• 1:09:53Mike Smith?

  Yeah. What's your least favorite?

• 1:09:55Jeff Larson?

  Least favorite? Oh, man. I'll go the beast in me, just because it was rated so highly by Bill Simmons, who I respect with this stuff.

• 1:10:05Mike Smith?

  Yeah, and it wasn't that great. I agree.

• 1:10:08Jeff Larson?

  Claire Danes was bad. Like, her facial expressions were crazy. So, I think it wasn't that bad of a show, but I really liked the pilot and then I kinda watched the whole thing expecting it to be good and...

• 1:10:27Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Mike, are you gonna watch that? Can I spoil something really quick? Go. Yeah, I have no plans on watching it. Something I hate in any TV or movie is like when the way they resolve it is someone records the person like doing a confession. It's like so lazy and that's how they resolve the whole thing. And it's just like, come on, that's just sucks. It's so trite and overdone. We don't need to do that anymore.

• 1:10:52Jeff Larson?

  And it was like so obvious what was happening, dude.

• 1:10:55Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:56Jeff Larson?

  It's like when she revealed that she recorded him, it's like, yeah, we know. Like, that's obvious.

• 1:11:02Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Yeah. I'm not quite tapped in. I, I just have a hard time with live action TV for whatever reason these days or limited runs, whatever we're calling it. I just don't really watch them. I watched Andor, season two was awesome. I really, I think, you know, back against the wall, that's what I would go with too. But as you all know, I'm a bit of a weeb, so I'm gonna shout out an anime. I think I already talked about it on the show. It's a show called Metalist and it's about a young girl who really wants to get into competitive figure skating. And she's just the most infinitely likeable and root forable character I've come across in a really, really long time. Her coach is one of the most likeable characters I've ever seen. It's just like this amazing portrait of a

• 1:11:45Mike Smith?

  young girl who doesn't have anything in life that makes her happy, except for this one thing. And there's so many obstacles placed in front of her in order to do that one thing. And it's just like such a triumphant feeling when you see her overcome each like a step at a time, just getting better incrementally. Sports anime, it's the best. I make no bones about it. It's my favorite genre just cause like, it's just the most fun, you know, watching underdogs triumph. It's a tale as old as time. It's the best.

• 1:12:14Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:14Mike Smith?

  Uh, least favorite, again, don't really have much to offer here other than I R L streamers on like Twitch and Kick and stuff. I think without exception, they're all pretty terrible, toxic and damaging content. I think it's, uh, really indicative of the times we live in, people just doing whatever they can to get eyes on the screen, watching them. And it's really resulted in a lot of really, really awful stuff happen. I'm not talking about like talking heads, political commentators, like whatever, that's,

• 1:12:43Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:43Mike Smith?

  That's their own thing, but like people that are on the streets, they go to foreign countries, they act like fools. Just to like get any kind of notoriety, whether it's good or bad, and I think it's just a really sad state of affairs.

• 1:12:55Wes Larson?

  It does feel like something that's gotten like too much legs under it, like I R L streams where it's like,

• 1:13:02Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:02Wes Larson?

  This shouldn't be as big of a force for the economy and everything that it is. So I tend to agree on that. Yeah. Next we've got, uh, one other favorite media from 2025, just any other kind of media that you consumed that was a favorite of yours this year.

• 1:13:21Mike Smith?

  Hmm.

• 1:13:23Wes Larson?

  Jeff, do you have your answer?

• 1:13:24Jeff Larson?

  Uh, I'll just go with, I liked playing the new Mario Kart when Mike got the Switch too. That's fun.

• 1:13:31Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:32Jeff Larson?

  Oh, yeah. I don't have like a really passionate one.

• 1:13:37Wes Larson?

  Okay. I, I read a book this year that I'm pretty passionate about that's gonna be my shout out. And I've mentioned on the podcast before, and actually, uh, listener Randy, who did some of our art, recommended it. Uh, it's the book Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Ajabrena. And just like a really good, fun, post-apocalyptic kind, not really even post-apocalyptic, but like, book about like some, kind of like Hunger Games-ish almost, but with some really interesting social commentary. And just like really beautifully written and I just loved it. I inhaled it. It was like the fastest I've read a book in a long time. So I really, really recommend that one for everyone.

• 1:14:20Mike Smith?

  Must have been a tiny book. Wasn't tiny. It's not huge, but it wasn't tiny either. You inhaled a whole huge book.

• 1:14:30Jeff Larson?

  If you like, really love an audio book, do you think it makes you love it more if you listen to it at like four times?

• 1:14:40Jeff Larson?

  The fastest I ever listened to it.

• 1:14:48Mike Smith?

  That's actually a good question. Like I could not get it delivered to me fast enough. I just listened to it at 5X. My, my one other piece of media I want to shout out is the new Clips album, Let God Sort Them Out. I think it's my favorite rap album I've heard in a very long time. And rap kind of had a bit of a down year post Kendrick Drake, like it hit a little bit of a lull and not a lot of great stuff was hitting the shelves. We had a couple of standouts here and there. Dana Brown's album was great, but you know, Miles, drop another clip, Rax, and right here.

• 1:15:25Mike Smith?

  Do the Indiana Jones one.

• 1:15:28Mike Smith?

  His album got a zero out of 10 from Fantana Needle Drop, which is exactly what he wants. So everyone wins. But yeah, I thought like the return of Malice and Pusha T just didn't miss a beat after 15 years of not having done anything together and it's like, every bar was just a killer. So if you're into hip hop at all and somehow missed it, check it. Oh, and you said, check it. So they, we know that you're into hip hop. Yeah, that's the whitest way to tell people to.

• 1:16:00Mike Smith?

  Maybe consider giving the new Clips.

• 1:16:04Mike Smith?

  Yeah, spin it on your. All right. Uh, your favorite moment from a trip we did in 2025? I'm going to go with Cassie sleeping with a hard boiled egg in her coat, uh, that happened in India. It's just the most shocking thing I've heard anyone say really first thing in the morning and it was still warm from her body heat when she told us, it was like. I don't, it's probably people hearing me say that out loud are like, how is that the most important thing that's happened to you on a trip? But I think it is. It's just the most, I had to sit and ponder that for a while, that she slept with a whole egg in her pocket and it didn't break. It was flawless. The shell didn't crack even a little bit. Good work, Cassie.

• 1:16:45Jeff Larson?

  I was going to do my Jaguar, but now that I'm remembering India was this year, I'm going to do my first tiger sighting. Cause it's like perfect. There's a female with two cubs, big female. And then, I saw it, oh yeah, three cubs. And I saw it with the cubs for a while. And then you guys didn't see this part, but I saw it like jump after some deer and like do a full lunge, which was sweet. So that's gotta be my favorite.

• 1:17:17Mike Smith?

  Yeah, mine is better. I should have gone with something like that in retrospect.

• 1:17:22Wes Larson?

  I feel kind of bad that we're all doing India, but I am going to do an India moment. I think India was like, one of the more challenging trips we've done. And for me, that's often the ones that have the memories that tend to kind of, you know, float above the rest. I think every trip we did this year was amazing. And there's like moments from each of them that I almost said, but in India, there was a day where we saw the snow leopard, which was just like was going to be my moment. But actually what it was, was that night, we went back and we had, our camp was really cold and the mess hall especially was like very cold. They had two heaters, but they, only the person sitting directly in front of it would get any heat from it. And it was like negative five. And especially on the days where it wasn't sunny,

• 1:18:07Wes Larson?

  it was just freezing. And there was, the night that we saw the snow leopard, after we finished eating, one of the guides brought in like a detergent can, bright green detergent can, that they had brewed like a local moonshine in it, that was made from like some yak product. And it was just pretty like gross, but also not that bad.

• 1:18:33Wes Larson?

  We all just drank a bunch of this Himalayan moonshine out of a detergent can. And Jeff especially was kind of responsible for bringing that vibe because when they brought it out, I think everyone was a little hesitant whether or not they were gonna go for it. Jeff's just like, I'm here. And then we all got in and it was really fun and just like a really fun moment.

• 1:18:54Mike Smith?

  Well, and I got the good luck too.

• 1:18:55Wes Larson?

  It was kind of hard. What was the good? Oh, you got like some yak butter on top or something?

• 1:19:00Mike Smith?

  Yeah, in my drink.

• 1:19:04Wes Larson?

  Yeah, it was really, really fun and just felt like a really special moment that we could have only had in the Himalayas in a tent in negative five with a really fun group of people. So that was probably my favorite moment. All right. Uh, top three new animals you saw this year. I'll go first. I, number one was snow leopard. That was the animal that I really hoped to see this year. It's been my number one bucket list animal for a bit. So I was, I, it was like an emotional experience seeing one for me and being able to watch it for like 13 hours was just the cherry on top. Uh, number two was actually sloth bear, both in India.

• 1:19:46Wes Larson?

  I had worked with sloth bears, but they were all captive ones that had been rescued. I had yet to see a truly wild sloth bear. So seeing one felt like I could finally say, you know, oh, I've seen sloth bears in the wild because there used to be an asterix on that. And then my number three was actually one I saw right after our Brazil trip with our group, which was a Maine wolf. That was like the big South American animal that I still really wanted to see. And seeing it was just very special and I think about it all the time still. So those were my top three.

• 1:20:17Mike Smith?

  That's great. Mine mostly come from our Galapagos trip, actually. So we saw the giant Galapagos tortoises, which I just thought was so, I don't know. It's such a charming animal that just kind of plops there. Sometimes they'll get up and move around, but like, yeah, I loved seeing those. They're as big and as, I don't know what the word is. Beautiful doesn't quite seem like the right word to invoke here, but they're in their way.

• 1:20:42Wes Larson?

  Kind of sexy. Yeah. Oh, mama. Uh, so I'm going with the tortoise.

• 1:20:47Mike Smith?

  I'm also gonna go, so I had a bit of a, a unique experience in the Galapagos where in I saw a penguin about 10 feet in front of me zip through the water. And it happened so fast that it like took a second to register in my brain, but I was like, we'd all seen penguins and we were all really excited about it. And I was kind of like over that initial like, oh, man, penguins. I wanted my whole life to see one. And then all of a sudden it like, another jolt to the heart of like penguin induced excitement, just having one zip real fast right in front of me in the water was so fun. Man, penguins are amazing.

• 1:21:21Wes Larson?

  And like the rarest penguin in the world too, which is pretty cool.

• 1:21:24Mike Smith?

  And just tigers being my favorite animal, this being the first time I've seen one out in the wild. Wes and I in our car had a pretty special experience with, I think the biggest male tiger that they had in that park, wildlife, whatever that place was. And it walked towards us and there was a moment in my brain where I was like, I could die very easily right now. It's just not something I experience very often. So that was really special for me. Yeah.

• 1:21:53Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I'll go Jaguars. I think that place in the Ponte Nole, they're just always hunting and always like, so it's just like such a scenic, cool experience. So I'm gonna go Jaguars. And they've always been like, within my top three favorite animals. And then next I'm gonna go with hammerhead sharks. I just think they're really cool. And I wanted to see them and I did. So that's cool. And third, I'll go with sloths because that's freaking cool.

• 1:22:29Mike Smith?

  That was cool.

• 1:22:30Wes Larson?

  That was fun.

• 1:22:31Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:33Jeff Larson?

  That one was cool because it was like, kind of just on our own, you know, like we just stopped the bus at a random spot and walked around until Lilith found a sloth. So.

• 1:22:45Mike Smith?

  Yeah. And like the most out in the open sloth I've ever seen in like such a beautiful spot. So.

• 1:22:51Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All right, this one is Jeff. Jeff came up with this category, so I'm curious the explanation. Tooth and claw animal of 2026. What's that mean, Jeff?

• 1:23:02Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I just think, you know, China always has an animal of the year. I think we should start doing it.

• 1:23:08Wes Larson?

  Okay, okay.

• 1:23:09Jeff Larson?

  I'm gonna nominate leopard seals.

• 1:23:12Wes Larson?

  I like that. Yeah, because we're going Antarctica. That's kind of our biggest trip this year. I would either say that or like the blue insularis vipers in Komodo, but I like leopard seals. I'll second your nomination.

• 1:23:27Mike Smith?

  Yeah, I would proffer up pandas maybe for our China trip that we're going on, but I think leopard seal feels a little more apropos of the moment. So, good job, Jeff.

• 1:23:37Jeff Larson?

  Pandas, I feel like get animal of the year a lot of different places, too.

• 1:23:41Wes Larson?

  That's true. They're too popular.

• 1:23:43Mike Smith?

  That's very true. Yeah, cut our own path.

• 1:23:45Wes Larson?

  Leopard seal. Let's hope we see one. Okay, now just like a little bit about Tooth and Claw. Your favorite episode we did in 2025. I actually have one of like a main and then I have one for each of your subscriber episodes, too.

• 1:24:00Jeff Larson?

  I like when, I forget who did this one, but the Lorena Bobbitt story?

• 1:24:08Wes Larson?

  That was you.

• 1:24:09Mike Smith?

  That was you, Jeff.

• 1:24:11Wes Larson?

  That was an interesting zag. Yeah, that was one where my head almost exploded halfway through the episode.

• 1:24:19Jeff Larson?

  I liked how whoever did it tied it in at the end to animals.

• 1:24:25Wes Larson?

  Oh, it was perfect tie-in. Yeah, it was very, very animal-centric.

• 1:24:31Wes Larson?

  Mike, you want to go next?

• 1:24:33Mike Smith?

  I'm actually gonna go with the Humboldt squid, El Diablo Rojo. I like learning about new animals that I didn't know were something, and I'm not saying we need to be like fearful of them when we go in the water, but it just never occurred to me that those creatures could pose the kind of danger. I think his name was Scott Castle, right? In the story, Scott something. And you did a really good job when you were explaining his encounter when he was really deep under the water with, what do you call a herd? A group, a flock of squid. And it was almost, you described it almost like a dance, and it was such a weird and beautiful and graceful, but also dangerous encounter that I just thought was like a really, really special moment to.

• 1:25:17Wes Larson?

  Highlights, that was an interesting animal. Yeah.

• 1:25:20Mike Smith?

  That's so cool.

• 1:25:21Wes Larson?

  Uh, I think for me, I kind of learned a lesson in that, like, the more effort I put into something, the better it gets. And like, that is something I probably should have learned a long time ago. But, uh, the Indianapolis episodes, I really enjoyed putting together and learning about that because I think I'd always just heard the surface level, like the Quint speech, kind of surface level of that. And understanding what those men went through, like, not just with the sharks, but with everything that happened to them, like, really changed how I looked at the horrors of war and, and kind of just the things that we never even think about that really that happened in war. Um, so that for me-

• 1:26:05Jeff Larson?

  I don't think you're allowed to call them whores anymore.

• 1:26:08Wes Larson?

  Horrors, not whores.

• 1:26:10Jeff Larson?

  Uh.

• 1:26:11Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:13Jeff Larson?

  The sharks?

• 1:26:14Wes Larson?

  But I mean, that feels a little like, I don't want to pat myself on the back too much because I really liked a couple of the episodes that you guys did too.

• 1:26:21Mike Smith?

  Uh, I, just to cut in, I think personally, those are my favorite episodes you've ever put together.

• 1:26:27Wes Larson?

  I think they might be my favorites too. I, they're the ones I-

• 1:26:30Mike Smith?

  You did an amazing job.

• 1:26:31Wes Larson?

  Thank you. I really liked Mike's, uh, episode that he did on like ancient guys that were killed by animals. We actually released that one wide.

• 1:26:40Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, that is great.

• 1:26:41Wes Larson?

  It probably made me laugh harder than any episode we've ever done, which was really fun. There's just a-

• 1:26:48Mike Smith?

  The donkey.

• 1:26:49Wes Larson?

  The donkey just killed us. Uh, and then I really, really liked Jeff's, uh, two-part series on the loneliest animals. Uh, it felt really like poignant and beautiful. And I just thought it was a really interesting idea for some subscriber episodes. So, good job, guys. Nice, nice year for, for us.

• 1:27:10Mike Smith?

  We did it.

• 1:27:11Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All right. Uh, since this is a news episode, I want you guys to say your most memorable animal news story from this year.

• 1:27:18Mike Smith?

  I'm going with the three-day standoff with the bear in Japan. I just think that that's endlessly entertaining to think about. I don't know exactly how it happened. The way it is described seems like it should have been resolved in minutes, not days, but-

• 1:27:33Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I just think that's an incredible story for a bear to bunker up in a store for three days and probably, you know, like getting in at all the, all the snacks in the aisles. I just think that bear was probably having an awesome time in there, you know? There's no better place for a black bear, an Asiatic black bear, a supermarket. It must just feel like the absolute heaven. Yeah.

• 1:27:55Jeff Larson?

  Uh, I mean, for me is the Jaguar, like, it's probably not the best to say my favorite was when someone died, but like Jaguars just hardly ever attack and kill people. So it's that. And it seemed like the way it did it was so efficient and like it did it so easily that it's kind of like gives you that realization like, oh yeah, these things can kill pretty quick if they want.

• 1:28:26Wes Larson?

  Yeah. That one was interesting for me because after our trip in Brazil, I went to that part of the Pantanal. And that guy had worked on one of the ranches that I stayed at. And everyone knew him like very well and personally had been friends with them for like decades. And so it was really interesting just to see like kind of their reactions. And I brought it like with all of them. I was like, hey, did you know? I had asked them all and they are all like, yeah, it's really sad, but also like can't feed them, you know? Um, that's a, yeah, it's a good pick. I also just picked, I was more vague than Mike. I think Mike's answer is better. But I picked all the bear news coming out of Japan. It's just been such a crazy year for bear attacks there and um, lots of crazy

• 1:29:10Wes Larson?

  kind of side stories surrounding it. So that's what I picked.

• 1:29:13Jeff Larson?

  What was, ah, man, I want to shout out the guy who got, who reached out to us. What was his name?

• 1:29:20Wes Larson?

  Connolly, Billy Connolly, I think.

• 1:29:23Jeff Larson?

  Billy, Bill, yeah. Yeah. One of the people in our Japanese bear attack stories, the guy from New Zealand who runs Billy. Uh, he reached out and said like, thanks for sharing. And we actually put him in contact with someone else who's been attacked by bears who we had on here, but just to like, kind of, yeah, Shane, to kind of talk about their experiences together and. It's cool. Yeah. So, yeah.

• 1:29:53Wes Larson?

  Yeah, that was great. All right. Uh, next one is just like a memorable, non-animal news story from 2025. Something from this year that you wanted to talk about. You can go a lot of different directions with this one.

• 1:30:09Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I really loved reading the Epstein list that they put out.

• 1:30:16Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:17Jeff Larson?

  You know, it felt cool to like, read a hundred and thirty pages in two minutes.

• 1:30:24Wes Larson?

  Oh, the redacted. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty cool when you see that, like, oh, our pedophile list needs to be redacted because we don't want people in charge to get in trouble for the full pedophile list. It's like, all right, something needs to change pretty quick. Yeah. Thinking the right way about this. Both sides. Yep. Uh, I picked the Louvre heist. I think there's a lot of like crazy

• 1:30:48Jeff Larson?

  That's a good answer.

• 1:30:49Wes Larson?

  news stories that we could talk about this year. And I think if you want to get my insight into like, some of the stuff that I actually have been thinking about all year, follow me on Instagram and I talk about it there or Twitter. But as far as like for our podcast, trying to keep it kind of positive, uh, the Louvre heist to me was just so fascinating that one of the biggest heists in history happened this year and that they almost got away with it. Like, they were so close.

• 1:31:15Jeff Larson?

  They really should have, too.

• 1:31:17Wes Larson?

  So I just, I love thinking about that stuff and I love that they did it. More heists in 2026. Did you? That's a good resolution. Yeah. Ice something.

• 1:31:27Jeff Larson?

  Did you see that $400,000 worth of lobster was just stolen from Costco in like Michigan or something?

• 1:31:35Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:37Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:38Jeff Larson?

  It's a lot of lobsters.

• 1:31:40Wes Larson?

  That's a lot. Yeah. From a single one or was that like a series of different Costco's?

• 1:31:46Jeff Larson?

  What?

• 1:31:46Wes Larson?

  Oh, a single Costco. Oh, yeah. A single lobster.

• 1:31:50Jeff Larson?

  No, they like stole the cargo trucks. Yeah, with like all the lobster.

• 1:31:55Wes Larson?

  Wow. Do you think it was Vin? Cow. Do you think it was the Fast Crew? Since it was a cargo truck?

• 1:32:00Jeff Larson?

  Diesel? Yeah, maybe.

• 1:32:02Wes Larson?

  Must have been.

• 1:32:02Jeff Larson?

  There's been like some Jameis, Jamison, or Jameis Winston rumors, maybe? Cause he's still

• 1:32:11Wes Larson?

  Loves lobster.

• 1:32:12Jeff Larson?

  Self, selfish before. Um.

• 1:32:15Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:16Jeff Larson?

  I, what, what eats lobster the most?

• 1:32:20Jeff Larson?

  Besides humans.

• 1:32:21Wes Larson?

  Humans. Um.

• 1:32:23Mike Smith?

  New Englanders.

• 1:32:24Wes Larson?

  It's a good question. I would guess like octopus would be my best guess.

• 1:32:29Jeff Larson?

  Oh, and they're smart.

• 1:32:30Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:31Jeff Larson?

  Could have been an octopus.

• 1:32:33Mike Smith?

  They could operate a. Yeah, semi. Um, I'm gonna go on that hits a little close to home that's making me mad to think about, so I'll make it quick. Uh, the fact that there are AI artists getting millions and millions of views and streams on platforms like Spotify.

• 1:32:50Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:32:50Mike Smith?

  Really, really bothers me. The fact that people are either falling for it or not realizing it is a really scary proposition that we're all gonna like.

• 1:33:00Wes Larson?

  Let's get better and better.

• 1:33:01Mike Smith?

  There'll come a day when we have to like do our research, because I don't, I don't want to partake, even if there it comes a day where it sounds good to my ears. I don't want an emotional exchange with a robot. I want the artist to be a human to have gone through that creative process and transfer those thoughts, feelings and sounds to me. And it's a two-way street. And I just think the method of creation is important as the end product. I think about stuff like, I don't know, like the Sistine Chapel or like anything written by Virginia Woolf or Chet Baker's music, like these people who are tortured for years and years, like creating beauty. And I think that's like a really, really important part of the equation.

• 1:33:41Wes Larson?

  I agree.

• 1:33:41Jeff Larson?

  Chinese Beaver.

• 1:33:43Mike Smith?

  The Chinese Beaver. Oh, man. That, that's real art. Someone like went in like.

• 1:33:49Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:49Mike Smith?

  Animated that Chinese Beaver to be talking over Chow Yun Fat and a better tomorrow. That's art to me.

• 1:33:55Jeff Larson?

  I mean, when you said this one's close to home.

• 1:33:59Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:59Jeff Larson?

  Charlie Kirk got shot eight miles from your house. I thought you might say that.

• 1:34:03Mike Smith?

  That's very close to my, um.

• 1:34:05Wes Larson?

  We were like, whoa.

• 1:34:07Mike Smith?

  Holy cow.

• 1:34:09Wes Larson?

  I think that leads perfectly into the next category because it kind of is one of the answers I had. But this is another category Jeff proposed and I like it. Anything we want from technology in 2026. And I'm just gonna go first because Mike kind of led into what I want to talk about is like. I kind of like, there's, I have a two-part answer to this. One of the things that I want is for people to be more, think harder about their technology, and especially with AI. And I think it's happening and it makes me feel more hopeful, because I think when AI first kind of came onto the scene, everyone was posting like AI avatars and really excited about it. And I do think people are slowly starting to realize that this is sucking a lot of the joy

• 1:34:51Wes Larson?

  and fun out of our art, and it's turning into something cold and meaningless. And that makes me hopeful. The other thing that my two-part answer to that, it's a little bit more, I think, on track with what Jeff said is like, the thing that I have hope for with technology is that I think climate change can seem really insurmountable and like, it's just, it, no matter what, it's going to be really bad and it kind of already is. But I do think our one hope for that lies in technology and people inventing stuff that might be able to lessen the effects of climate change. I do think like technology that controls the weather is scary to think about, or that helps with climate. But I think we're at that point where we need some kind of intervention, or else things are going to get really bad,

• 1:35:37Wes Larson?

  or they already are getting bad. And I think people are coming around to nuclear technology as being a good alternative. And that makes me happy because it is. It's better than what we're currently using. So, yeah. That was my answer.

• 1:35:50Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:35:51Wes Larson?

  Good category, Jeff.

• 1:35:52Jeff Larson?

  Mine kind of goes with that. I have a two-parter as well. One that goes with what you were just saying, and then another more animal one. But I had whatever that MIT professor infusion scientist that got shot dead in his home was working on. I hope they still come out with that.

• 1:36:12Wes Larson?

  Oh, wow. That's a crazy story. I know. That is a huge one.

• 1:36:16Jeff Larson?

  It seems like he was on to some real good energy.

• 1:36:19Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:36:20Jeff Larson?

  You know? So, hopefully fossil fuel people weren't involved.

• 1:36:28Wes Larson?

  I mean, I think they definitively were. But yes.

• 1:36:31Jeff Larson?

  And my second part would just be GPS collars for bears that don't explode and blow their heads off.

• 1:36:41Wes Larson?

  That's they don't do that.

• 1:36:43Mike Smith?

  We've been wanting those for years.

• 1:36:44Wes Larson?

  Number one. I thought you were gonna say.

• 1:36:46Jeff Larson?

  They explode, right?

• 1:36:47Wes Larson?

  Smaller and better.

• 1:36:47Jeff Larson?

  And fall off?

• 1:36:49Wes Larson?

  Explode. There's a tiny charge in there that explodes. And it makes the screws fall out, but it does not.

• 1:36:56Jeff Larson?

  I'm sorry, did you just say the collars have a tiny charge that explodes?

• 1:37:01Wes Larson?

  Yes.

• 1:37:02Jeff Larson?

  So they do explode.

• 1:37:03Wes Larson?

  Technically, they do explode. Not all of them, though. Just some of them. There's very few of them.

• 1:37:07Mike Smith?

  That's why you want the nuclear energy in there. So it just like blows up.

• 1:37:13Mike Smith?

  Why did your mom say it that way? It was in Yellowstone when she said something that made me think that that's what actually happened. And I was like, I guess it's on me mostly for falling for it.

• 1:37:24Wes Larson?

  Yeah, if you're listening to our mom on that on collar technology.

• 1:37:29Mike Smith?

  Uh, I somehow miss this category, so I'm just gonna go with the little pizza that turns into a big pizza in Back to the Future Part Two.

• 1:37:37Wes Larson?

  Sure. Yeah, I hope that happens too. Why not?

• 1:37:41Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:41Wes Larson?

  Okay. Uh, all right. Resolutions. Uh, let's first do an update of our resolutions from last year, from this year. And then resolutions for 2026. This is our last category before listener questions. How'd you guys do?

• 1:37:55Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, I can go.

• 1:37:56Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:37:57Jeff Larson?

  I mean, mine was close, but there were no nukes.

• 1:38:01Wes Larson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:38:02Jeff Larson?

  No nukes. Yeah, so no nukes. And.

• 1:38:05Wes Larson?

  Good job.

• 1:38:06Jeff Larson?

  I kept that one.

• 1:38:07Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:07Jeff Larson?

  Uh, and so, yeah, I kept my resolution. And this next year, it's gonna be to read at least one single real book.

• 1:38:17Wes Larson?

  Okay.

• 1:38:18Mike Smith?

  Ooh.

• 1:38:19Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All Stars. Should read that one.

• 1:38:21Mike Smith?

  Call me if you need help.

• 1:38:23Jeff Larson?

  Maybe I'll do like a book club so then the listeners can help me.

• 1:38:28Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:38:28Jeff Larson?

  You know?

• 1:38:29Wes Larson?

  That's a good idea. Yeah.

• 1:38:32Mike Smith?

  Mine was to write in my journal every day. I did mostly good. About three quarters of the year, I really nailed it. And then I fell off like October, November, while we were just kind of scrambling around so much. But I got back on the train at the end of the year. So overall, I feel like mission accomplished, like an A minus kind of, kind of effort. So there you go.

• 1:38:52Wes Larson?

  Uh, the two that I think I said on the show were swimming more and not killing anything that like, uh, I don't need to kill. That's like not biting me or whatever. Uh, I did really good on the second one. And it's actually, I think, become a lifestyle change for me. I just don't think I am going to kill bugs anymore or anything that is inviting me or like actively harming me. The swimming I did really bad on. I didn't swim at all at the swimming pool. And I still want to because Mike has really, uh, kind of put a, lit a fire under me with his fitness journey. But I just, because it's cold here and stuff, it's really hard for me to go to the gym and want to get into a pool, especially during the winter. So I've been doing other stuff, but maybe I'll get into swimming. We'll see.

• 1:39:36Mike Smith?

  Do you wish you could find that bullet ant so you could kill it?

• 1:39:39Wes Larson?

  Uh, no. I think he was already dead.

• 1:39:41Jeff Larson?

  I think you need to take that one to even like a next step, Wes, than no killing.

• 1:39:48Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:39:49Jeff Larson?

  Like, don't kill bacteria this year.

• 1:39:51Wes Larson?

  Or just like do something nice for all of the bugs I see? Like an act of service for all of them? Sure.

• 1:39:58Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Maybe like when you blow your nose, save the tissue and put it in a little jar and let like the cultures grow and stuff?

• 1:40:04Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:05Jeff Larson?

  You don't want those to die.

• 1:40:05Jeff Larson?

  Don't wash your hands.

• 1:40:07Wes Larson?

  I don't do that anyways. So, yeah.

• 1:40:10Mike Smith?

  Yeah, that's true. Okay.

• 1:40:12Wes Larson?

  Uh, all right. Resolutions for 2026.

• 1:40:16Jeff Larson?

  I gave mine.

• 1:40:17Wes Larson?

  No, what was it?

• 1:40:18Jeff Larson?

  Read a book.

• 1:40:19Wes Larson?

  No nukes? Uh, read a book. That's right.

• 1:40:21Mike Smith?

  Read a book.

• 1:40:22Wes Larson?

  Okay.

• 1:40:22Jeff Larson?

  For 2026, you mean?

• 1:40:24Wes Larson?

  Yeah. Yeah. I like it. Mike?

• 1:40:26Mike Smith?

  For right now, my new year's resolution is to remember what my new year's resolution is gonna be, because two days ago, I had such a good answer. And I'm trying to remember it. So for now, I'm just gonna try and remember that.

• 1:40:38Wes Larson?

  We'll put a pin in it. And if you remember it.

• 1:40:40Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:40:41Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I think it's fun to announce these on the show because it does actually keep me kind of like, like I have to do it. Um,

• 1:40:48Mike Smith?

  Such a good answer. Why?

• 1:40:50Wes Larson?

  Mine aren't that great, but the one that's the most kind of, uh, specific is that I want to try and meditate three times a week. I had a boss when I worked for Hawk Watch who had got really into mindfulness and meditating, and it really changed his life in some really good ways. And he sent me this big write-up on like, how to approach it in a really kind of approachable way. And I want to finally put that into practice because I think it would do me a lot of good just to have some moments away from my phone and everything that aren't in the movie theater.

• 1:41:22Jeff Larson?

  It'd be sweet if you can start levitating too.

• 1:41:27Wes Larson?

  Yeah, I'd love to levitate.

• 1:41:29Mike Smith?

  Nice byproduct of it.

• 1:41:30Wes Larson?

  The ones that are-

• 1:41:31Mike Smith?

  That's no fap, right?

• 1:41:33Wes Larson?

  No fap?

• 1:41:34Mike Smith?

  Like if you stop masturbating?

• 1:41:35Wes Larson?

  No, that's not-

• 1:41:36Mike Smith?

  That's what-

• 1:41:37Jeff Larson?

  No, you like cross your legs and you put your arms out and then you levitate like four inches.

• 1:41:43Wes Larson?

  Oh, or maybe I'll be like Dawson from Street Fighter.

• 1:41:45Mike Smith?

  Yeah, and I can shoot my arms out. That's what I thought too. Yoga flame?

• 1:41:49Wes Larson?

  Yeah. All right. Uh, my, my ones that are a little bit more vague are I want to be better about skincare. Cause I just feel like we have all these crazy products now. I might as well use some of them. I want to get in better shape and I want to camp more because I feel like every year when I look back, my happiest moments surround camping trips and that was true for 2025, both mine and Jeff's River trip and camping in the Himalayas. So I want to camp a little bit more. I, I love camping. Okay?

• 1:42:21Jeff Larson?

  Was that yours, Mike?

• 1:42:23Wes Larson?

  Yeah, more camping, Mike.

• 1:42:25Mike Smith?

  Camp less?

• 1:42:26Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:42:26Mike Smith?

  Never camp again.

• 1:42:28Wes Larson?

  All right, Jeff, you asked the listeners for some end of the year questions. Do you got some picked out?

• 1:42:34Jeff Larson?

  Yeah, you do too, right?

• 1:42:36Wes Larson?

  I got a couple, yeah.

• 1:42:37Jeff Larson?

  Okay. Let's see here. All right. The Heck Alley says, has any of your top five animals changed because of an episode this year?

• 1:42:48Wes Larson?

  I don't think so. My top five sharks has.

• 1:42:51Jeff Larson?

  I wanted to, after, after our lion versus tiger debate episode, I wanted to just be like lions are the best, but I couldn't quite do it.

• 1:43:02Wes Larson?

  No, I think

• 1:43:03Mike Smith?

  Not for me either.

• 1:43:04Wes Larson?

  No, I think Oceanic White Tips went into my top five sharks and they didn't used to be. But that, yeah.

• 1:43:11Mike Smith?

  Manatees really, that went pretty high, far up my list, but not top five status. But yeah, learning about manatees was really cool. Manatees.

• 1:43:20Wes Larson?

  I got one from Sunny Laughs. Best 2025 purchase you didn't need rocket money to advise you against.

• 1:43:27Mike Smith?

  That's a good question. I got a really nice electronic drum kit. Oh no, switching. Bread machine, Zojarushi bread maker. Holy cow. You just throw the ingredients in there. It warms it up, it kneads it up, it proofs it, bakes it, lets it rise, does everything for you. Four hours, you have an amazing loaf of bread, ready to munch.

• 1:43:46Wes Larson?

  I might have to buy that.

• 1:43:47Mike Smith?

  That's holy cow. So good. It's so bad. It's like the Nintendo glove, the power glove. It's so bad.

• 1:43:54Wes Larson?

  Bad. Uh, for me, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with, um, I got one of those little robot vacuums and I've had some in the past that were really good. And this new one's just like so good. And she, it's just like, gets everything and it mops too. And it just is such like a nice little convenience that feels so futuristic to me still. So my mop and mop and back robot vacuum might be my, my pick.

• 1:44:21Mike Smith?

  Not your rooster?

• 1:44:23Wes Larson?

  And roosters out there growing. And me and Jesse made a, a decision that we would never get a rooster. And someone sent us a rooster and we didn't know it until recently, but don't worry, it won't be around much longer. We're gonna give it away.

• 1:44:36Mike Smith?

  Whoa. You're no killing.

• 1:44:39Wes Larson?

  That's, I won't do it. But I, we're, people adopt roosters around here. So we'll get it, we'll find a new home for it.

• 1:44:46Mike Smith?

  I'm just gonna go new apartment. I got a new apartment. It's a lot bigger.

• 1:44:51Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:44:51Mike Smith?

  Uh, I got a great view and I love a big view, you know? So I'll just sit here and look outside.

• 1:45:00Wes Larson?

  Great.

• 1:45:00Mike Smith?

  Sometimes I see birds.

• 1:45:02Wes Larson?

  Yeah, that sounds great.

• 1:45:04Mike Smith?

  Um, all right. This one's mainly just for Mike because Wes gave his answer and I didn't read one. Not, no neighbors asked best book you read all year.

• 1:45:15Wes Larson?

  Hmm, that's a good question. I just read Andrea Harata's The Rainbow Troops. I just finished reading that. It's part of a little book club I'm a part of. Amazing. Just.

• 1:45:29Mike Smith?

  A glimpse into a life you never quite knew existed for people. It's a small, it's about a boy's experience growing up in Malay or Indonesia, sorry. And just paints such a beautiful picture about like the dualities of the existence of humans, how Belletong is just this island that is so loaded with wealth and riches, but the people that live there don't get to experience that. Whereas, you know, the colonizers, colonizers came in, took advantage of all of that. And I don't know, it's just like an amazing world expanding experience reading that book, Rainbow Troops.

• 1:46:06Wes Larson?

  I have a honorable mention that was almost my favorite, and it was The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, which I'd read Stephen Graham Jones' books before, but Danielle actually put me onto that book. And it's about, it's about the Blackfeet tribe in Montana. And like, me and Jeff grew up not far from where that tribe, you know, originally was. And I've always been really fascinated by their history. And it's a great horror novel. It's an amazing book all around. Really loved it.

• 1:46:37Jeff Larson?

  All right. Jod1986 says, Jeff Larson is comedic gold and national treasure. Thank you guys for doing this podcast. I guess there's not a question. I just want to read that.

• 1:46:52Mike Smith?

  Is that like a yes or? I'll say yes. If that's a yes or no question.

• 1:46:56Jeff Larson?

  Alexa Nadera, Alexandra M. Does a vampire with a warrant still need to be invited in?

• 1:47:06Mike Smith?

  Yeah. Oh, that's a good loophole. No, I don't think so.

• 1:47:10Jeff Larson?

  Because like, I mean, what is home ownership, really? You know, or like if you're a guest in someone's house, are you, do you, the vampire still can be let in if a guest invites them in, I think. I don't think you have to own the home. So I think if a judge tells you you can go in, like you are allowed.

• 1:47:32Mike Smith?

  Yeah. That's so smart.

• 1:47:34Wes Larson?

  Yeah. In Sinners, where the woman invites them in. And it's like, she's just like helping out with the party. It's kind of like, should she be able to let that vampire in? But yeah, I guess you make a good point. All right. I got one from wholesome contents. They said, what made you guys the happiest this year, despite the horrors, horrors?

• 1:47:57Mike Smith?

  Oh, they made me happy this year. Oh, yeah.

• 1:48:01Wes Larson?

  Uh, I, I picked this one, so I had a little bit of time to think about it. I think the thing that's made me the happiest this year and kind of feel a renewed vigor for humanity is kind of seeing finally, I think, people pushing back against like collective suffering and pain. And I think, I think this year, some of the big, you know, the politicians and corporations and billionaires pushed people too far. And people are finally kind of like, you know, we don't, this isn't how we should be living. And I mean that like in the political system here in the US, I think that's happening on both sides of the aisle. And I think it's a uniting factor for people to realize that like, you know, it isn't so

• 1:48:43Wes Larson?

  much red versus blue, it's more billionaires versus everyone else. And I think that

• 1:48:50Mike Smith?

  The common man?

• 1:48:50Wes Larson?

  Yeah, I think that has been a growing movement and it's, it's really invigorating for me to see it catch on in a more mainstream way.

• 1:49:00Jeff Larson?

  I like that answer.

• 1:49:01Mike Smith?

  I'll just say Disneyland.

• 1:49:03Jeff Larson?

  You went to Disneyland?

• 1:49:05Wes Larson?

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:49:05Mike Smith?

  Yeah.

• 1:49:06Jeff Larson?

  Made him happier. Yeah. You could probably use that one next year, too, since we're going in Tokyo.

• 1:49:12Mike Smith?

  Yep.

• 1:49:13Jeff Larson?

  Next year.

• 1:49:14Mike Smith?

  You guys don't even have to listen to this episode next year, you already know.

• 1:49:17Wes Larson?

  Can't wait to go to Tokyo Disneyland. I'm so excited.

• 1:49:21Jeff Larson?

  I'm gonna say scuba diving. You know, my first real year of like getting some scuba dives in and it was really cool, loved it. And we got our cousin Brent into scuba now. And Danielle's signed up to do scuba lessons, so like, you know, it's pretty cool.

• 1:49:46Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:49:46Jeff Larson?

  I would live down there if I could.

• 1:49:49Mike Smith?

  It's the best.

• 1:49:50Wes Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:49:50Jeff Larson?

  Atlantis or something?

• 1:49:52Mike Smith?

  Andadasi?

• 1:49:53Jeff Larson?

  I got one more.

• 1:49:55Mike Smith?

  Okay.

• 1:49:56Jeff Larson?

  Maxamids94, uh, what animal would you be most excited about if it was 10 times bigger in real life?

• 1:50:07Mike Smith?

  Excited?

• 1:50:08Jeff Larson?

  Yeah. Uh, I'm gonna say a giraffe.

• 1:50:12Wes Larson?

  Okay, yeah.

• 1:50:14Jeff Larson?

  I think, I think the spirit of his question is like, what small animal would be cool if it's 10 times bigger, but I was like, no, like, make our biggest animals 10 times bigger.

• 1:50:25Wes Larson?

  Even bigger. They would never be able to reach the water to drink, though. It's already so hard for them.

• 1:50:32Jeff Larson?

  Like, those facts about a blue whale penis already, if there's 10 times bigger than that, that'd be like as big as a blue whale is right now.

• 1:50:41Wes Larson?

  Right. The penis?

• 1:50:43Jeff Larson?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:44Wes Larson?

  Yeah. I think. That's awesome. I think I would pick an anaconda. And I think the reason I say that is, like, big pythons and anacondas, we are like right on the fringe of being small enough that we're prey for them. And if it's 10 times bigger, we're like, well within their range. And it just introduces a really scary new fun predator into the, into the world for us. So, that's what I'm picking.

• 1:51:11Mike Smith?

  I'm gonna pick Polly. I just think that'd be fun to see you and Jesse have to deal with that. Yeah.

• 1:51:17Wes Larson?

  Bill's dog.

• 1:51:18Mike Smith?

  See what the fallout on that is. Oh, man.

• 1:51:20Jeff Larson?

  Cassowaries would be fun, because then it'd be like, we have dinosaurs. Like, this counts.

• 1:51:26Wes Larson?

  Yeah, that's a good point. All right. Well, that's a great question to end the entire year on. Uh, thanks, everyone, for listening this year. Uh, truly, the thing that's made me the happiest is doing this show, and we couldn't do it without, uh, all you listeners. So, we, we really do love

• 1:51:45Jeff Larson?

  you. I think we could.

• 1:51:46Wes Larson?

  We could, but we, we definitely wouldn't have made it this long. So, um, thanks, everyone. I hope, we hope you all just have a great 2026.

• 1:51:57Jeff Larson?

  Love ya.

• 1:51:58Wes Larson?

  Love ya.

• 1:51:58Jeff Larson?

  Happy New Year.

• 1:51:59Mike Smith?

  See you next year.

• 1:52:00Wes Larson?

  Bye.