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  • - Hello and welcome to today's episode of SciShow Talk Show!

  • Today, we have with me Emily Graslie, the host of the new show, the Brain Scoop.

  • You should go to youtube.com/thebrainscoop and subscribe now!

  • So, today, Emily, you have brought me some science news, some interesting science things?

  • Right? Yes? - Yes. I'm sure you are very familiar with the problems facing rhinos;

  • in that last three years alone there have been something like 400 rhinos poached to sell their horns

  • as trophies and on the Chinese black market.

  • - Yeah, and to me this seems like a problem from ten years ago.

  • Like, the fact that it's getting worse...

  • - They're just reacting to a heightened popularity in the market.

  • - I mean, and what can you do? Like, you can't stop Chinese people from wanting rhino horns.

  • - No, and that's a problem. With education, they're trying to let people know that "Hey, this is a horn;"

  • "it's made out of keratin. It's the same material that your hair and your fingernails are made out of."

  • "It has no special, magical or medicinal properties at all."

  • - It's not going to help you in the bed. - That's actually a misconception!

  • - No, okay. - This is an interesting thing about this story that I read.

  • Rhino horn is medicinally used to treat fevers and convulsions.

  • - So I feel a little better, now. Because it's a little less selfish.

  • - Yeah. - Like, if my child is having seizures, I need some rhino horn, versus "I am not what I once was."

  • - But there is good news. - Okay.

  • - This article that I recently read on PopSci was talking about this group in Africa,

  • and they have developed a three-part method that is supposed to be proactive in deterring poachers.

  • First, they take a rhino horn, and they use a high-pressure pneumatic device.

  • - Like a sand blaster? - Kind of, actually.

  • They infuse the rhino horn with the same kind of pink dye

  • that shows up on security and x-ray scanners... - Okay.

  • - So this works by deterring poachers who might want to use the entire horn as, like, a trophy or something,

  • and even if they grind it up, which is how rhino horn is sold on the black market, as a ground powder,

  • they won't be able to smuggle it through airports anymore, because this pink dye will show up on the scanner,

  • and it tips off the airport security. So that's a good thing.

  • Another awesome thing that they're doing is they're implanting GPS tracking devices within the horn.

  • - So, like, one at the top, one at the middle, one at the bottom?

  • - I'd assume so! You know, I'm not exactly--

  • I haven't looked into the exact placement of where they're putting these.

  • - They just like, core out a little hole and stuff a little GPS tracker in there? - Yeah.

  • - So they'll know where these rhino horns are at all times, they'll know if it's been cut up, if it's been segmented,

  • when it happened, where it happened... Which is a lot more cost-effective than training twenty-four hour armed guards,

  • which what some of these, you know, nature preserves have had to do.

  • And the last thing, which I think is the most interesting thing about this group,

  • is that they are, infusing the horn with an ectoparasiticide,

  • which, which is really fascinating!

  • An ectoparasiticide is something that, it'll live topically on top of the keratin;

  • it doesn't become circulated throughout the rhino's blood system or anything like that;

  • it doesn't hurt the rhino at all.

  • And what this does is, if you grind this up and ingest it, it'll make you very sick,

  • which deters them from--hopefully--wanting to use it even more.

  • - I mean that's kind of terrible...

  • - It's just an awareness thing. It's an education thing. It's reinforcing the fact that this has no medicinal value.

  • Hey, if you have a headache, chew on your fingernail, and it'll give you the same amount of

  • medicinal power as, you know, butchering and poaching these, you know, highly valued and protected species.

  • - Maybe we should get some real fever medicines and seizure medicines, also.

  • - Access to adequate healthcare--

  • - They're obviously willing to pay for it; it's not cheap.

  • - Actually it is worth its weight in gold, as a powder.

  • Gold is about $1,600/oz., rhino horn is about $1,600 - $1,800 an ounce.

  • It's interesting in that it's a cultural misunderstanding. - Yeah. Yeah.

  • - But, with--like I mentioned--with increased education about these things,

  • hopefully we can make a positive difference. - Awesome.

  • Well, I think that brings us to the next segment which is "Stump Hank."

  • - Yes. And this is actually exciting for me,

  • because on Fridays, I used to play the game "Freak of the Week" on Friday,

  • and post a picture of an interesting thing.

  • - On your tumblr? - On my tumblr.

  • So you should go and follow me there, for all kinds of fun, zoology-related museum things,

  • in addition to subscribing to The Brain Scoop.

  • So... - So...!

  • - I'm gonna go grab the first one. - You're gonna get a thing.

  • Uuuuh... what?!

  • - Okay. - Well you should--you shouldn't have held it--

  • You should-- What the frick?!

  • So, like, I don't even know the orientation.

  • Hold on, give it to me. - Here you are, you're gonna hold it?

  • - Yeah. What... the heck? - It's a little fragile at the end.

  • Tell me--Tell me what you think about it, right now. - Okay. So... this looks like vertabrae...

  • - Okay.

  • - Am I right?! - I'm just gonna--I'm just gonna listen to your assessment.

  • - It's light, so I would think,

  • you know, marine...

  • maybe? Because I'm kind of--

  • large-- This is not--

  • I thought, when I first saw it, that it was a head, but it's clearly not a head.

  • This is a pelvis! - Yes.

  • You are correct. Do you know of what, though? - No!

  • I don't know of what!

  • - Step one, down!

  • - Well, if it's a pelvis, then it's not... a fish.

  • Well-- I mean, there-- Okay. Okay, so this definitely a spinal column,

  • but it's fused; it's all fused...

  • Because you can actually see down the hole there, where the spinal cord goes, which is pretty cool.

  • But what the heck?! ...Ahhhh...

  • - Do you want to know it is? - Yeah, but don't tell me yet. - Okay.

  • - Does it live in the water? - No.

  • - Oh god.

  • Is it bigger than a bread basket? That's not actually a question. - Yeah.

  • It's so light!

  • Is it...? It's not a bird.

  • Why else would it be so light?

  • It is a bird. - Yeah.

  • - It's a ...? What?! - Yeah.

  • - Okay, I don't know.

  • - You want me to tell you? - Is it alive on the Earth today?

  • - Yes, it is! - Okay. Alright, yeah. Okay.

  • - It--you're actually holding it upside down, too. There you go.

  • - That doesn't help me at all, by the way. Just to be clear.

  • - This is the synsacrum of an ostrich.

  • - An... ostrich-- of course! I was like, it's a bird! But it's too big to be a bird!

  • - It's a huge bird!

  • - Awww, because I forgot about ostriches! God dangit!

  • - I know! Um, I don't know, you can kind of see it.

  • These are where the femur attach. - Right, what is the point of these bones?

  • - For balance! I love this thing.

  • - That is crazy cool, and when I first saw it, I thought it was a skull and I thought these were eye holes.

  • - You wouldn't be the first.

  • - Well! Well, I am stumped!

  • What are we gonna see?

  • So we're gonna move onto our animal segment of the evening, now.

  • Animal Wonders has brought a truly amazing animal for us to check out.

  • And, well, I won't even tell you. Let's just have it happen. Let's just have it happen.

  • Jessi from Animal Wonders will join us, and we will show you something very cool.

  • Now, today, we have an extremely special guest: we have Cas the arctic fox!

  • - Yes!

  • - This is Jessi from Animal Wonders! Thanks for coming!

  • And, this may an extra-brief episode, because Cas...

  • is a wild fox... on my desk. - He is! Let's come on over here!

  • Let's come back over here, buddy.

  • - This is pretty much the best day of my life right now. I'm not even lying.

  • - So this the winter coat? - This is the winter coat.

  • - Very fluffy. Very fluffy. - He is... huge.

  • - Very white. - We actually have the summer coat of an arctic fox right here.

  • - He will look almost like that. He's actually a little bit grayer, less brown,

  • and so they do vary in color a little bit per individual.

  • But yeah, this coat is massive.

  • We can't get our finger down to his skin; it's just so thick.

  • - So tell us about arctic foxes!

  • - Well, they live in the arctic. And--

  • - Is this a full-grown skull, so is that that size of that thing's head?

  • - Yeah. - Wow, that's a lot of fur.

  • - That is ... so much fur.

  • - Oh my goodness, you're so beautiful!

  • - Hey buddy, good job!

  • So, let's talk about a couple things that we see on him,

  • you know they're most famous for being able to change white in the winter time.

  • And then... There you go, just settle in there. - It's okay.

  • - So, let's take a look at a couple of other things on him.

  • He has really short ears, and he has a black nose and black eyes.

  • Now, the black around his eyes are gonna help him see.

  • So kind of like how a football player puts that black paint underneath

  • so they can see the ball better and so there's no glare,

  • he's gonna have that black around his eyes so he can see in the snow, so there's no glare;

  • so he can actually go hunting.

  • He's going to have a shorter nose than other foxes,

  • and he's actually gonna have shorter legs than other foxes as well,

  • and all those things are gonna help him conserve his warmth.

  • - That's why.. the small ears, too. You don't want to get ear frostbite.

  • - Exactly. And this huge tail is also gonna help.

  • He's gonna curl up and that's going to cover up his face and nose and that short fur on his face, there.

  • And he's going to look pretty adorable. - Cute.

  • - Yeah, he's actually adorable.

  • - And these guys are actually close to being put on the endangered species list.

  • A couple of their populations have gone from about 20 breeding pairs to 4 breeding pairs,

  • and one of the reason is because the red fox--who actually,

  • he is one his best friends, Serafin is a red fox, they live together...

  • - Awwww! - But, in the wild, it's a little different!

  • They're not going to be friends; the red fox is bigger and more aggressive;

  • he's going to take over their den.

  • And the red fox couldn't survive up there before, but now they can,

  • without all these special things. - So, the range is shrinking... - Yeah.

  • - So is the color for hiding from prey or predators?

  • - Everything. - Everything, I guess that makes sense.

  • - Yeah, everything up there is gonna be white. - So they do have predators? - They do, yeah!

  • They would be preyed on by, you know, polar bears, maybe... they're not very fast.

  • But they're gonna be preyed on by the wolves up there, and by birds of prey.

  • - Oh! Really?

  • - So, thats' a big bird. Golden eagles? - Yeah, they'll go up there.

  • - One of my favorite things that I know about the arctic fox is their ability to sense things underneath the snow.

  • So you can get those pictures of them, like, leaping up almost vertically into the air,

  • and coming down, and they'll get, like, stuck, like, three quarters of their body into the snow.

  • They look graceful going up; coming down, it's a little dirtier, right?

  • - Slams right in there, yeah! Diving in the snow!

  • - Why is his mouth open?

  • - He... should actually be done now. He's getting a little hot.

  • - He's like, "I -- this is--"

  • - "... I'm hot, panting. I have this massive fur coat on, and I'm inside, under lights"

  • - Okay. Alright. - So he's a little hot.

  • - Well, Cas, it was a pleasure to meet you; I'm sorry that it's so hot!

  • - Yeah! - Let's get you cooled off. - Yes.

  • - Thanks for coming in! - Thanks for having us!

  • - Oh, it's hard to be an arctic fox inside...!

  • That was a pretty fantastic experience,

  • thank you for joining us here today, Emily, and for showing off your ostrich pelvis!

  • - Anytime, Hank. - Is that what it was?

  • - Yeah, yup. Ostrich pelvis.

  • - What else was it, though? You had a different word. - The synsacrum.

  • - The synsacrum. That's an awesome... metal band album name.

  • - Ostrich synsacrum!

  • - Thank you for joining us here at the SciShow Talk Show.

  • Go, and subscribe at youtube.com/thebrainscoop if you would like to see more of Emily.

  • Of course you would! And we'll see you next time.

  • High-five.

- Hello and welcome to today's episode of SciShow Talk Show!

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