Pod Insights The MeatEater Podcast MeatEater Kids VI About this episode We are back for Season 2 of MeatEater Kids! It's a fun, educational, and engaging podcast for all of you outdoor kids. Learn about science and history from Steve's "Why It's the Way It Is" segment and impress your friends with your newfound knowledge, develop your ear for animal vocalizations with our "Guess that Critter" segment, and play along during "Kids Trivia" with host Spencer Neuharth.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
0:04 Speaker 01 No melting mess, no ice runs. The new Dometic CFX5 keeps your food chilled and your ice frozen so you can stay focused on the hunt. Just load it up, plug it in, and let it do the rest. I love using mine on hot pronghorn hunts and at early season elk camp. It really is a game changer. Head to Dometic.com to learn more about Dometic electric coolers.
0:42 Speaker 02 Meat Eater Kids.
0:46 Steven Rinella? It's time for Why It's the Way It Is.
0:51 Steven Rinella? Today on Why It's the Way It Is, we're going to talk about the difference between an antler and a horn. Now, this is a little bit confusing because a lot of people don't use the words in the right way, including me. I change it up all the time because I might say, "I found a deer horn," or "that deer had big horns," or "did you see the horns on the deer that Clay got?" Well, that's wrong because deer don't have horns. Technically, actually, deer have antlers. So what really is an antler? The way to think about an antler is it's like a bony material, kind of like the bones in your body. It's a bony material that grows out of a deer's head.
1:36 Steven Rinella? And when I say deer, I mean members of the deer family. Members of the deer family include caribou, moose, mule deer, whitetail deer. All members of the deer family have antlers. One of the most interesting thing about antlers is that, again, it's a bony material and they fall off every year.
1:58 Steven Rinella? Meaning a deer, every year, a male deer grows a new set of antlers and it falls off. So if a male deer is born, he'll grow his first set of antlers the next year. So when he's a year and a half old, he'll grow a set of antlers and then he'll grow a new set every year after that. And generally, their antlers get bigger every time they grow them. If you hear someone say they found a deer shed, what they're talking about is they were out in the woods and they found one of these antlers that shed or fell off. So if you can think of an antler as a bone-like material that grows outside of a deer's head,
2:40 Steven Rinella? you can think of a horn as, and this is gonna sound really weird, you could think of a horn kind of like a fingernail that grows outside of an animal's head. There are many horned animals in Africa, okay? Wilderbeest and pallas, cape buffalo, those are horned animals. Here in the United States, we have bighorn sheep, that's an horned animal. Mountain goats, that's a horned animal. American pronghorn or antelope have horns. And also domestic cows. So if you look in a farmer's pasture and he has cows or cattle, those are horns. The reason I say you can think of them like a fingernail is because horns are made of keratin
3:23 Steven Rinella? and keratin is the same material that is in your fingernails. A horn, and there's one exception to this, I'm gonna explain, but this is just generally how it goes. An animal grows a horn and it keeps its horn its whole life. And as it grows and gets older, the horn just grows and gets bigger. It never falls off, okay? When I said there's an exception to this, it's the animal called the American pronghorn or an antelope. And here's where it's weird. All horned animals have a bone core on their skull, okay? And their horn grows over that bone core and they don't drop off. But with an American pronghorn, what's crazy is the outer part of his horn,
4:06 Steven Rinella? the part that fits over the bone core, does fall off every year. But it's the only horned animal in the world that sheds its horn. And it's almost like he does it just to make it so we can't have good rules because he has to be like an exception to the rule. And let me tell you another way. Pronghorns are kind of a weird exception with horned animals. Most animal horns just come to a point on the end, okay? It might be a rounded point, it might be a sharp point, but they come to a single point on the end. The reason a pronghorn has his name is his main horn has a little prong on it. So they actually have a horn that can have two points. It's like a two-pointed horn.
4:50 Steven Rinella? It's the only horn that looks like that. So again, to wrap up, antlers grow on members of the deer family. They're bone-like and they fall off every year and then the animal grows a new one. Horns, with the exception of the American pronghorn, are fingernail-like or made of keratin and the animal keeps his horns for his whole life and they do not fall off.
5:23 Speaker 04 Why don't oysters donate to charity? Because they're shellfish.
5:30 Speaker 05 It's time for Guess That Critter, where we play animal sounds and critter calls and you've got to guess what creature is making those sounds. Don't worry, it ain't too hard. We're gonna throw in some clues. Now open up your ears.
5:48 Speaker 06 These critters are short-bodied but big. They can weigh over two pounds and measure close to eight inches in length. They're quite voracious, meaning they have big appetites and eat a lot. They consume insects, rodents, fish, invertebrates, small birds, amphibians, and more. Really, they'll eat whatever they can get that'll fit in their mouth.
6:21 Speaker 06 These are distress calls. You may not hear this sound too often, but know that these critters are capable of open-mouthed screaming. More typically, you'll hear sounds like this.
6:44 Speaker 06 There's a rhythmic quality to the sound, which occurs with the circulation of air. These critters move air from their lungs to the vocal sacs in their throat, which act as resonance chambers that push air back into their lungs. Males make this low-frequency baritone bellowing sound. Have a listen.
7:12 Speaker 06 It almost sounds like a cow mooing, doesn't it?
7:17 Speaker 06 The males sing to attract females and to stake out their territory. You can hear them in spring and summer during the mating season. Here's a chorus of males by a freshwater marsh congregated in the area to breed.
7:41 Speaker 06 These semi-aquatic critters live in and near marshes, rivers, ponds, streams, and creeks. They prefer warmer, shallow, and still sources of water. They also spend time on land and are very skilled jumpers, propelled by their long, muscular legs. The throat of the male is yellow, while the throat of the female is white. Males also have a noticeably larger thumb than do females, and on average, the body size of the female is much larger than that of the male. Now, try to guess that critter.
8:18 Speaker 06 Okay, it's time for the reveal. It's a bullfrog. Bullfrogs are North America's largest frog. Their croaking song sounds like a cow mooing, which is why they're called bullfrogs. Bullfrogs are harvested as a game species in many states and are also commercially farmed because their legs make a tasty dish. They are native to eastern North America and are so well-adapted that they've become an invasive species in much of western North America. Bullfrog farming has contributed to the spread, as has the use of their tadpoles as bait for fishing.
9:03 Speaker 07 What do you call a hog that loves karate? A pork chop.
9:11 Speaker 05 It's time for everyone's favorite game show, Trivia. Let's all join in.
9:19 Speaker 07 I'm joined by Mabel, Matthew, Rosie, Hayden, Conley, Sage, Hattie, and Bay. Each player will earn $10 for conservation with every question they get right. Today, there's a potential for this room to earn up to $240. This week, that donation is going to the Land Access Initiative, which provides more access to public lands for hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, swimming, and whatever else you like doing outdoors. Let's see how much money our players can raise. Question one. Which of these animals would a mammologist study? Is it a whale, an owl, or a lizard?
10:00 Speaker 07 Which of these animals would a mammologist study? Whale, owl, or lizard?
10:10 Speaker 07 Rosie's watching Bay's answer. Rosie, do you agree with what Bay wrote down?
10:14 Speaker 02 Yeah, no, I agree with what I said.
10:16 Speaker 07 Okay, you got the same answer.
10:17 Speaker 02 I don't agree with what I said. She was asking me what the answer was. I need to know.
10:21 Speaker 07 Oh!
10:21 Speaker 02 So I was watching to see what she actually said. I'm scared.
10:23 Speaker 07 Okay.
10:24 Speaker 04 Or are you just trying to cheat?
10:25 Speaker 02 Because I feel confident in my answer.
10:26 Speaker 04 Am I just trying to be cheap?
10:27 Speaker 07 Rosie is confident. How about you, Conley? You confident?
10:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
10:31 Speaker 07 You are, okay.
10:32 Speaker 02 I'm not.
10:33 Speaker 07 You're not.
10:33 Speaker 02 I'm confident.
10:34 Speaker 07 Okay.
10:35 Speaker 02 I'm confident.
10:35 Speaker 07 Is everybody ready?
10:38 Steven Rinella? Yes.
10:39 Speaker 04 Yeah. Yeah.
10:40 Speaker 07 Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Bay.
10:43 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:44 Speaker 07 Rosie.
10:45 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:46 Speaker 07 Mabel.
10:47 Speaker 04 Owl.
10:48 Speaker 07 Hattie.
10:49 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:50 Speaker 07 Hayden. Whale. Sage.
10:52 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:53 Speaker 07 Conley.
10:54 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:54 Speaker 07 Matthew.
10:55 Speaker 04 Whale.
10:56 Speaker 07 The correct answer is whale.
10:59 Speaker 04 Let's go.
11:00 Speaker 07 The room did very well.
11:02 Speaker 04 Ancient whale.
11:04 Speaker 01 That's an answer.
11:05 Speaker 04 Oh, well.
11:05 Speaker 07 I thought it said angry whale. A mammalogist is a scientist who studies what? Mammals! That's right, such as whales. Owls are birds, which are studied by ornithologists, and lizards are reptiles, which are studied by herpetologists. Can you name some other animals that a mammalogist would study? What do you got?
11:25 Speaker 04 Um, seal.
11:26 Speaker 07 Seal, that's right.
11:27 Speaker 04 Walrus.
11:27 Speaker 07 Walrus.
11:28 Speaker 04 Doggies.
11:29 Speaker 07 Dogs.
11:29 Speaker 04 Elephant.
11:30 Speaker 07 You guys know your mammals.
11:32 Speaker 04 Cat.
11:32 Speaker 07 Octopus! Were you trying to sneak that one in there?
11:35 Speaker 04 No.
11:36 Speaker 07 They don't study an octopus. Question two. What percentage of the earth is covered in water? Is it 21%, 46%, or 71%?
11:52 Speaker 07 Wow, our players look confident. Easy!
11:54 Speaker 04 Very.
11:55 Speaker 07 Matthew has declared that this...
11:57 Speaker 04 Very easy.
11:58 Speaker 07 Okay.
11:59 Speaker 04 Very easy. What was that?
12:00 Speaker 07 Wow. All of our players think this is an easy one. What percentage of the earth is covered in water? Twenty-one percent? Forty-six percent? Or seventy-one percent?
12:14 Speaker 07 Is everybody ready?
12:15 Speaker 04 Yes. Yeah.
12:16 Speaker 07 Go ahead and reveal your answers. We have Bay.
12:20 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:21 Speaker 07 Rosie.
12:21 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:22 Speaker 07 Mabel.
12:23 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:23 Speaker 07 Hattie.
12:24 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:25 Speaker 07 Hayden. Seventy-one. Sage. Seventy-one. Conley.
12:28 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:29 Speaker 07 Matthew.
12:29 Speaker 04 Seventy-one.
12:31 Speaker 07 The correct answer... Is twenty-one percent?
12:34 Speaker 04 What?
12:35 Speaker 07 No, I'm kidding. It's seventy-one percent. You guys got it.
12:39 Speaker 04 Come over to your computer and factor.
12:40 Speaker 07 That was too easy. Ninety-seven point five percent of the earth's water is saltwater, and of that little bit of fresh water, sixty-nine percent of it is frozen, and thirty percent of it is underground. That means just one percent of the earth's fresh water is on the surface in the form of lakes, rivers, and swamps. So maybe don't leave the sink running at home.
13:02 Speaker 04 It's not a lot.
13:04 Speaker 07 Don't leave the sink running anymore.
13:05 Speaker 04 Don't brush your teeth and have the sink on while you brush. You gotta trust me. Matt, you don't brush your teeth, so... Yeah, you cannot be talking.
13:13 Speaker 07 Question three. This man, who was America's third president, has a river and forest named after him. Is it Benjamin Franklin? Ronald Reagan? Or Thomas Jefferson?
13:29 Speaker 07 I think I heard someone saying the answer, but maybe...
13:32 Speaker 04 I heard it too.
13:33 Speaker 07 Maybe they weren't right. This man who was America's third president has a river and forest named after him. Ben Franklin? Ronald Reagan? Or Thomas Jefferson?
13:43 Speaker 04 I think I spelt it wrong. I did too. I didn't... Yeah. I think I spelt it right.
13:49 Speaker 07 Is everybody ready?
13:50 Speaker 04 Yeah.
13:51 Speaker 07 Was this an easy round?
13:52 Speaker 04 Yeah.
13:53 Speaker 07 Go ahead and reveal your answers, Bay.
13:56 Speaker 04 Thomas Jefferson.
13:57 Speaker 07 Rosie.
13:57 Speaker 04 Thomas Jefferson.
13:58 Speaker 07 Mabel.
13:59 Speaker 04 Thomas Jefferson.
13:59 Speaker 07 Hattie.
14:00 Speaker 04 Thomas Jefferson.
14:01 Speaker 07 Hayden. Jefferson. Sage.
14:04 Speaker 07 Conley.
14:05 Speaker 02 Thomas Jefferson.
14:06 Speaker 07 Matthew.
14:06 Speaker 04 Jefferson.
14:07 Speaker 07 The correct answer is Thomas Jefferson. Everybody got it right. Ronald Reagan was America's 40th president and Ben Franklin was never a president. Thomas Jefferson was president from 1801 to 1809. The river named after him is right here in Montana and the national forest named after him is in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. Now, if you guys could have something named after you, what would it be? Maybe a mountain, a sandwich, a fishing lure? How about a dance move?
14:35 Speaker 02 Hoffman Peak.
14:36 Speaker 07 Hoffman Peak? That's something that exists? Or no, you want there to be a Hoffman?
14:41 Speaker 02 I want there to be a Hoffman.
14:42 Speaker 07 Okay.
14:43 Speaker 04 Matthew's planet.
14:44 Speaker 07 Matthew's planet? What would that look like?
14:46 Speaker 04 Getting a little too greedy there. It's bigger than the sun.
14:50 Speaker 07 Bigger than the sun?
14:51 Speaker 04 That's too greedy, Matt.
14:53 Speaker 07 That's ambitious. You're gonna have to do some cool stuff in the next 50 years to get a planet named after you.
14:58 Speaker 04 If not that amount.
14:58 Speaker 02 I was named after the valley in Yellowstone, Hayden Valley.
15:03 Speaker 07 That's the opposite thing. You're supposed to have something named after you, not be named after something. All right, that's it for today's round of trivia. Phil the engineer, how much money did we raise?
15:13 Speaker 01 They raised $230.
15:15 Speaker 07 $230 going to the land access initiative. Well done, kids. Join us next time for more Meat Eater Kids trivia, the only other game show where conservation always wins.
15:27 Speaker 05 Thanks for listening, everyone. See you next week on Meat Eater Kids.
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