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  • - Hello, this Jack from tofluency.com.

  • And this is a conversational lesson about pets and animals.

  • And today we have our favorite guest,

  • - Kate.

  • - Kate, who is going to bring some American flair

  • to this conversation.

  • And, yeah, we're just gonna have

  • a conversation about pets.

  • We're gonna talk about pets that we've had,

  • common command for dogs.

  • We're gonna talk about going to the zoo,

  • extinct animals.

  • We'll think about talking about strange animals

  • we've eaten before, but we might not go there.

  • We'll see where this conversation goes,

  • and stay to the end because we'll have a question for you.

  • Kate's question.

  • Okay. And,

  • and just one last thing,

  • we're going to have this natural conversation,

  • but I'll leave some of the key phrases in the description,

  • and also turn on subtitles.

  • If you want to follow along with the conversation.

  • Let's just start with, pets that we had growing up.

  • We'll keep this segment a little bit short.

  • We won't go into too much depth,

  • but what animals, what pets did you have growing up

  • in Connecticut, United States of America?

  • - I had,

  • dogs.

  • - Uh huh. - So when I was born,

  • my parents had a golden retriever.

  • And then when I was a little bit older, we had a poodle,

  • We had a cat who was a rescue cat,

  • and she stayed a little bit feral,

  • a little bit wild,

  • - Hmm. Spider.

  • - Spider. Her name was Spider,

  • because she had a habit of eating spiders.

  • - I didn't know That's why you called her Spider.

  • - Yeah, we didn't.

  • She had that reputation in the animal shelter.

  • And so that became her name.

  • And I also had,

  • parakeets,

  • and betta fish,

  • and horses.

  • - (laughs) and horses.

  • - and horses.

  • - Yeah.

  • - I was very lucky.

  • - Yeah.

  • - So, a lot of, a lot of,

  • kids want a pony,

  • but I,

  • I had a pony,

  • in my backyard.

  • - Yeah, we, so we never had dogs,

  • but we, I always wanted a dog as a kid,

  • but my parents were more interested in cats.

  • So we had a cat which died when I was around four.

  • So my parents had that before I was born.

  • And then we had two cats called Tiger and Pepper.

  • We had a bunny called Fluffy,

  • and Flooffy.

  • - Flooffy. (Jack laughs)

  • and then, I think that's it, really, growing up.

  • I don't think we had any other pets, growing up,

  • but and, let's just talk about the horse briefly,

  • because that's,

  • I imagine people are interested in that.

  • 'Cause not a lot of people have a horse.

  • Was it a lot of work involved,

  • - Yes. - with the horse?

  • - Yes.

  • So I did all of, when the horse came to live at our house,

  • I did all of the work for the horse and when it was boarded,

  • other places, I would also go and help out.

  • So that was hauling water,

  • making sure that there were hay bales,

  • which are big,

  • rectangles of hay, up in the loft.

  • And you know, and every morning you have to do barn chores.

  • So I would put on my boots and go out to the barn

  • and just muck out, (laughs)

  • every day.

  • - Muck out - Uh-huh.

  • - It's a phrasal verb.

  • - Is is a phrasal verb, and it's one

  • that you might not have heard before.

  • - No.

  • - No, so, - I can understand it

  • from the context, probably that it means let's clean,

  • - Yep. - clean it out.

  • - Uh-huh. - 'Cause horses,

  • create a lot of waste.

  • - They do.

  • - Right.

  • - So,

  • - And combing, brushing the horse.

  • - Uh-huh. A little grooming,

  • - Grooming, grooming.

  • - So usually I wouldn't groom,

  • my horse unless I was planning to ride.

  • But well, before I rode,

  • I had different brushes,

  • and a special tool

  • called a hoof pick to scoop out the dirt.

  • - Hoof pick.

  • - A hoof pick.

  • - H-O-O-F.

  • - Yeah, 'cause horses have hooves,

  • and then sometimes they get dirt

  • caked in their feet and you have to scoop it out.

  • - Wow. So a lot of upkeep.

  • - A lot of upkeep. Uh-huh.

  • - And yeah, I think that's a good thing to talk about,

  • Which pets need the most amount of maintenance,

  • the fish, least amount.

  • - Least amount.

  • - Cats next.

  • - Yes.

  • - Dogs.

  • - Uh-huh. - Then the horse.

  • - Yes.

  • - Yeah.

  • - I would almost say, that,

  • a cat might even be easier than a fish, in some senses,

  • - Hmm.

  • because you can go away

  • for a few days and leave food for a cat,

  • and a fish, you have to feed them every day.

  • - Oh, yeah.

  • - Uh-huh.

  • - I wonder if they have like, automatic

  • fish food dispensers now.

  • - You would think so.

  • - If not, that's an idea, for somebody to introduce.

  • And, so yeah, pets that need the most attention.

  • I think a horse is up there. Right?

  • - Yes.

  • - Which means a horse has a great contender for a pet

  • that needs the most kind of maintenance and attention.

  • What other pets need attention more than a horse?

  • Can you think of anything?

  • I mean some, you probably need to pay attention to,

  • a little bit more. - Uh huh.

  • For example, we're going to talk about some exotic pets

  • that people have.

  • Which might be venomous spiders,

  • snakes.

  • - Okay.

  • - Like what's happened in Florida, with some snakes.

  • - Oh, this is a story that you clearly know more about.

  • I haven't been following it.

  • - So people had, boa constrictor pets,

  • - Uh huh.

  • and they got released into the wild.

  • - Oh no.

  • - And they're massive.

  • I think they're from,

  • somewhere in Asia,

  • I can't remember which country they're really prevalent in,

  • but people kept them in as pets in Florida,

  • they got too big,

  • And just oh, go to the wild and have taken over,

  • - Oh no. - The Everglades.

  • - Is that dangerous to humans?

  • - Not necessarily,

  • but to other animals that are more native to Florida,

  • they can take over territories, et cetera.

  • - So they're invasive species.

  • - Invasive, yes.

  • Yeah. And that just reminds me,

  • I think there's a stat that I think is really cool,

  • or maybe not cool, but interesting.

  • That the country with the most amount

  • of tigers in the world is the US.

  • - Wow.

  • - Think of Tiger King.

  • - Yeah.

  • - And people keep them as pets in certain states.

  • So, there there's a map I saw as well of where it's legal

  • or illegal to keep a kangaroo as a pet,

  • because in the US things are really,

  • a lot of laws are created state by state.

  • So in some states you can keep exotic animals, like tigers.

  • So people have tigers as pets.

  • And there are instances like in Knoxville,

  • where our friends live, where that tiger got loose.

  • Do you remember that story?

  • - I do.

  • - And someone created a fake Twitter account,

  • talking about, "I am the Knoxville tiger."

  • (Kate laughs)

  • Just like, someone, the authorities said,

  • we're leaving out chicken traps and stuff like that.

  • And the tiger would respond saying

  • like, "You can't fool me with that."

  • (Both laugh)

  • But it ended up, I think, being a false alarm.

  • - Oh, okay.

  • - 'Cause our friend who's a vet was part

  • of that mission to try and find it.

  • - Uh-huh. - He was in the helicopter

  • looking for the tiger

  • and going off leads.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - But this is real, like these pets

  • can escape.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - The thing with tigers,

  • it doesn't seem like if they escape,

  • they will breed and create more baby tigers.

  • But the boa constrictors seem to do that in Florida.

  • - I guess, unless you have a significant number

  • of tigers escape at the same time,

  • - Uh huh. - which is, unlikely.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah.

  • - What was an animal like that,

  • that you would consider having as a pet.

  • If you had to have,

  • maybe like a,

  • tarantula, or,

  • - I was going to say, I'll take a koala. (laughs)

  • - Koala.

  • - You're talking about kangaroos,

  • That would be an exotic pet.

  • - Yeah.

  • Everyone loves a koala.

  • - Yes.

  • - They seem to be very chilled out, relaxed.

  • - Yes,

  • - There was some type of,

  • video where people at the zoo tricked

  • a British reporter about the dangers of koalas

  • and made up, like a massive armor suit.

  • - Oh no. - Do you remember that?

  • - No.

  • - And they just tricked her about like,

  • how dangerous they are,

  • and she put on this massive suit, just like, tricked her,

  • so she's reporting for news channel,

  • for the UK wearing this,

  • - Oh, no.

  • - That's a good prank. - Yeah.

  • - I'll leave a link to that in the description.

  • - So, was the tiger escape also a prank?

  • - No, I think it was like someone saw,

  • it might have been a coyote, or something like that.

  • I can't remember what it was. - Coyote, tiger. (laughs)

  • - Well,

  • I will tell a story,

  • - Okay. - When we got,

  • our first dog together, Lyle.

  • He was very small for a dog and he was a puppy as well,

  • - Yeah. - so he was tiny.

  • And we, I was with him for a few days,

  • and I hadn't really seen a cat in that time,

  • and we went out, do you remember?

  • - I do. - And I said,

  • "What is that down there?"

  • It's huge and it's feline.

  • And I was thinking, it was either like a tiger, baby tiger,

  • or maybe a coyote.

  • And it was just a house cat.

  • - Oh, But,

  • it wasn't just a house cat.

  • So there,

  • it wasn't any special kind of cat.

  • - It was,

  • a house cat, but it was huge.

  • - Right, so it was bigger than normal.

  • - I think it was both bigger than normal.

  • And it had a very aggressive personality.

  • - Oh, This was a different cat.

  • - Oh. - Yeah.

  • - The orange, stripey one?

  • - The one that used to terrorize Lyle,

  • - Yes. - at your house,

  • - Yes. - No, different one.

  • - Okay. - We went for a walk one day.

  • - We were just used to Lyle, - And it was in the distance.

  • being so small,

  • - Yeah - That you're like,

  • "It's a tiger."

  • but this one honestly was terrifying.

  • So the neighbor's cat was this huge orange cat

  • and, it would hide in the bushes near our house,

  • and wait for me to take little puppy Lyle outside.

  • - Uh-huh.

  • - And then the moment that we got onto the porch,

  • it would run out and go like,

  • (Kate hisses like a cat) - Yeah.

  • With its, like, and it would be all like, bristly

  • - In that bush. - and its tail would be huge.

  • And Lyle was terrified and developed a lifelong,

  • fear and hatred of cats.

  • - Which is a natural for a dog.

  • - Yes.

  • But I think that this cat in particular,

  • - Yeah. - really,

  • cemented it.

  • Although, do you remember?

  • - He defeated it.

  • - He did.

  • He got big enough that he could bark at it.

  • - He chased it out, remember?

  • - And he chased it out.

  • - And you could just tell it was the proudest moment

  • of his life.

  • - Yeah. - But that cat was a menace.

  • I was afraid to walk off of our porch.

  • - Really?

  • - Yes,

  • (Both laugh)

  • Did you see it? - Yeah,

  • It was a little aggressive. - Did it ever attack you?

  • - It was so aggressive,

  • and it was huge. - Yeah. It was a very,

  • It was really fat and mean.

  • - Yeah,

  • - It's the worst cat ever.

  • - It was, yeah.

  • Which is the reason why, I'm more of a dog person now.

  • And yeah, So we have two dogs.

  • And Lyle unfortunately died a couple of years ago,

  • and now we have a new dog,

  • which we won't talk about too much.

  • - She's yeah.

  • - She's, um,

  • - She's special.

  • - Maybe we'll save that for a future episode.

  • But there are certain commands that you can give dogs,

  • and they listen, and you can train them.

  • - Why don't I give you the command and you model?

  • (both laugh)

  • - No. (Kate laughs)

  • - However,

  • - It is worth a try.

  • - What I find, just from an English teacher point of view,

  • the commands are all in the command imperative.

  • - Imperative.

  • - Yeah.

  • So you'll say things like,

  • sit,

  • and you don't say sit down, do you?

  • you say sit. Right, yeah.

  • So, sit.

  • Lie down.

  • - Uh huh. - Not lay down, but lie down,

  • - Lie down.

  • - And roll over.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - Speak.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - Shake.

  • - Uh huh. - So they give you their paw,

  • and you shake hands.

  • Is there anything else?

  • - Leave it?

  • - Leave it.

  • - Wait.

  • - Wait, yeah.

  • - Wait, wait.

  • So those are the main commands that we can think of.

  • Sit, lie down, roll over,

  • speak,

  • paw,

  • wait,

  • leave it.

  • - And of course, dogs, especially certain dogs

  • have a capacity to learn a lot more.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - So some dogs are professionally trained,

  • and you know, become movie stars,

  • - Yeah. - and learn all sorts

  • of commands.

  • But we have, one of our dogs,

  • Toby,

  • he's a beagle mix.

  • - Uh huh. - He's a hound.

  • We adopted him,

  • 11 years ago?

  • - 10.

  • - 10 years ago. - Uh huh.

  • - And he,

  • I wouldn't think would be very intelligent,

  • but he is so food motivated that if you have a treat,

  • he is a genius.

  • - Yeah.

  • He's learned all of those commands and more.

  • He's just so motivated to get that treat,

  • that he will do anything if he can figure out

  • what you want, and he usually can, he will do it.

  • - But he does anything as well

  • to get the food, just generally.

  • - Yeah. - So we've done days

  • when we've just about to go

  • to a potluck party,

  • and then we leave out, it was a pigs in blanket, right?

  • - Uh huh. that time we left it out

  • on the counter, and he moved the chair.

  • - He used to move our stools around the corner.

  • - Wait, well, wait quietly until we leave the room.

  • As soon as we leave the room, move the chair,

  • get on the chair, get on the top

  • and just eat as much as he can as quickly as possible.

  • - Uh huh.

  • And then, yeah.

  • The "leave it" for Toby isn't that strong.

  • - No. if it's food.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - But no he's, dogs that are highly motivated

  • by food are very trainable.

  • - He's very trainable. - Yeah.

  • - And he is, I mean, he's eaten whole pizzas,

  • he's eaten whole pies,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - homemade pies

  • for the kids' birthdays.

  • He's eaten an entire Turkey, - Oh, that.

  • I remember that pie,

  • oh, and the turkey. - A Thanksgiving turkey.

  • - Yeah. - And when he was little,

  • he used to be able to jump from the floor onto the counter.

  • - Hmm.

  • - And then he learned how to use the stool,

  • but we used to come in and he would just be up there

  • on the counter, tail wagging.

  • - And so he does the whole, drag the tablecloth off,

  • - Drag the tablecloth off with his mouth.

  • - The milk spills everywhere.

  • - Cereal milk.

  • - And then he'll get the milk.

  • - Hmm. - Uh huh.

  • - And,

  • - We love him.

  • - Yeah, no, he's great.

  • So let's talk about animals where we live.

  • - Okay.

  • - So growing up in the UK,

  • the way I always talk about it is that we don't really have

  • any animals that can kill you.

  • - I mean, there are instances of cows.

  • - Or dogs.

  • - Dogs, yeah. Yeah.

  • But that type of,

  • the joke is always about Australia.

  • Isn't that where in Australia there's so much that can,

  • if the shark doesn't get you,

  • then the kangaroo will punch you and then the spider,

  • the snakes, - Box jellyfish.

  • - Box jellyfish.

  • - Do people often die from kangaroo punches?

  • - I don't, not that I'm aware of.

  • - But I've seen a few, again,

  • I don't know where I get all these,

  • - I know. (chuckles) - these movies from but,

  • it's just funny when you see a kangaroo,

  • 'cause they actually did look like boxers.

  • - Uh huh. - Have you seen them?

  • - I have. - When they stand up,

  • they'll be like, "All right, We're ready to go."

  • - Uh huh. - And there's just,

  • bit, like videos of the guy like,

  • hooking a kangaroo,

  • and then they both look at each other and think,

  • "It's not worth it." - Yeah.

  • - "Let's just, let's not fight."

  • - Let's not fight. (Jack laughs)

  • - It's funny because they say that kangaroo

  • are as common as deer.

  • - Oh, really?

  • - Where, yeah, where I grew up.

  • I grew up in a place with a lot of white tail deer.

  • So every morning, at least, we would see

  • deer walk through our yard.

  • It's a little bit dangerous to drive at dusk and dawn

  • because there are deer running across the roads.

  • And so I think kangaroos are that common,

  • but kangaroos can also, punch.

  • - Yeah. - It's different.

  • - And kick.

  • - And kick.

  • - Yeah. - Yeah, and deer

  • just run away.

  • - Yeah, they do a lot of damage to cars,

  • And obviously they get,

  • - Yeah. - You know.

  • - Yeah.

  • - They don't usually walk away from those types

  • of incidents. - No.

  • - And you see quite a lot on the road.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - And, but yeah, the UK.

  • So growing up, going out of my house,

  • I'd never think,

  • oh, there's gonna be a coyote or a bear.

  • Or,

  • what else we have here, but,

  • - Yeah, We have,

  • So in terms of dangerous animals, we have,

  • - Yeah. - Coyotes,

  • We have bears in our yard quite frequently.

  • - Bobcats.

  • - Bobcat's more rare.

  • - But dangerous for animals too,

  • for pets. - They're more illusive.

  • Yeah, dangerous for pets.

  • And then we have some venomous animals.

  • - Hmm.

  • We have black widow spiders,

  • - Yeah. - Uh huh.

  • and rattlesnakes,

  • - Copperheads.

  • - Copperheads,

  • - and,

  • - Water moccasins.

  • - Is that like, shoes?

  • - I know. They're not, they're venomous,

  • - Oh, then. - snakes,

  • that live in the water. - I need to learn about

  • the water snakes that are dangerous.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - But if I see a snake in the water, I just assume,

  • - Yeah. - It's not good.

  • - Better to be safe and assume that a snake is,

  • is venomous and get out of the way,

  • - Yeah. - and leave it be.

  • - Yeah.

  • - The bear is a big one where we live

  • because we see them all the time,

  • they're just always in our neighborhood,

  • whether it's the male one, the young male one,

  • a new mum with cubs.

  • - Yeah.

  • - The junior ones.

  • - In the spring, we almost always get,

  • a mama bear with at least a couple cubs

  • that walks through the neighborhood.

  • - They're so cute. They're tiny.

  • - Yeah. - Sometimes they're this big,

  • well, maybe a bit bigger.

  • - Yeah. - But,

  • we see them about this big and just, you know,

  • to try to play on swings and do that kind of thing, but,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - they're also, they can be quite annoying in a way.

  • - Uh huh. - For example,

  • we can't put out our trash cans

  • or rubbish bins,

  • the night before,

  • because the bears know that and they can smell them.

  • - Yeah. - And they'll just,

  • topple over your trash can,

  • take everything out, rip everything up,

  • usually on the lawn,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - and then go through and maybe get bit of chicken here,

  • you know, an apple here.

  • - Uh huh. It's not good for the bears.

  • - And it's not good for them.

  • And they don't tidy up after.

  • - Uh, I know. And they also poop in our yard.

  • - Yeah. And then they do a big poop in the yard after.

  • But they usually do it,

  • if we left the garage door open,

  • when I was packing the car for a beach trip.

  • - Uh huh. - It takes half an hour

  • to clean it all up,

  • - (laughs) It's such a mess, yeah.

  • - Such a mess. But then,

  • - And not good for the bears.

  • - No.

  • - Uh huh. - When they've started

  • to do things like open doors

  • to people's houses.

  • Getting to garages.

  • Welcome to the story in this house.

  • Going garages, they take,

  • frozen Indian meals.

  • They'll,

  • They killed all our chickens,

  • killed all the neighbors chickens.

  • And recently, I'll let you tell that, but,

  • - So I had gotten a text message,

  • from a neighbor that there was a bear in our minivan.

  • - Yeah, we had just left,

  • - We just left. - to go to our friend's house,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - in my car, and then we got a text message saying,

  • there's a bear in your car.

  • So we just got interrupted,

  • but you were saying how we got texts,

  • And normally they destroy cars.

  • - Uh huh. 'Cause they get into a car

  • and then they get trapped.

  • The door closes and they can't get out,

  • and then they panic and they just, (chuckles)

  • - "How do I get out? How do I get out?"

  • - And they're so big,

  • - And strong. - and powerful,

  • and they have claws and teeth

  • and it's just not good.

  • - No.

  • - And so we went out, we came back later,

  • I was so worried.

  • And then I looked in the car and it was fine.

  • - You got me to check the car.

  • - I got you to check the car in case there's still a bear

  • trapped in it. And it was fine.

  • - Yeah. - It was cleaner. You know,

  • maybe a couple of things were not in the right place,

  • but I couldn't remember.

  • - No.

  • - And so, and so we went home and I thought,

  • for awhile that our neighbor, that it was a prank.

  • That they just thought,

  • oh, we'll say that there was a bear in her car,

  • because it was so clean. It was normal.

  • The doors were shut. Nothing was strange.

  • And then a couple of days later,

  • a neighbor sent me a picture,

  • of the bear,

  • in my car. - Yeah.

  • - So right where I sit every day and drive my minivan around

  • and you know, listen to the radio, drive my car,

  • There was, a like, 200 pound bear just,

  • right there on my seat.

  • - Yeah.

  • Are they 200 pounds? More?

  • - Oh, more than that.

  • - More than that.

  • - That bear was more like three to 400, I think.

  • - It was a big bear. It was a very big bear.

  • And it was just there.

  • - And sometimes you think, oh, that bear is quite small.

  • But the day we were leaving for our recent trip,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - We got a text message saying,

  • "Oh, the bear's in the neighborhood."

  • Cause we tell each other,

  • so we know not to let the dogs out or like children out.

  • And these are called, these are black bears,

  • which generally, touch wood, is this wood? (laughs)

  • - Mmm.

  • This is. - Yeah, this is.

  • And they're not as aggressive as the grizzly brown bears

  • like in Alaska,

  • - Yeah. or polar bears.

  • - We both had a bear stand up to us,

  • - Yeah. It looked huge. - and growl

  • and it's terrifying. - Yeah.

  • - But in both cases it was a mama bear with cubs.

  • - Uh huh. - And so they always,

  • we always talk about mama bear as being like,

  • aggressive and protective.

  • And that's been true.

  • So when the mama bear comes through the neighborhood,

  • she'll come with the cubs running behind her

  • and she'll make a noise like, (growls)

  • - Yeah. - and the cubs will go

  • up into a tree and wait,

  • and then she'll call them back, but,

  • - But she never wants to get in a conflict,

  • it's because then her cubs are at danger.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - So they seem more aggressive,

  • but they don't act out as aggressive.

  • - Oh, really? - Someone was,

  • Eli, our friend who works

  • at the nature center,

  • he says that any bear attack,

  • and we need to, I need to look this up.

  • But this is what I was told, by an expert,

  • - By an expert.

  • - that it's always a single male,

  • - Oh yeah.

  • - who's hungry and wants a momma bear.

  • Usually that's the case, because, think about that,

  • They don't have as much to lose,

  • but the momma bear, she gets injured,

  • she can't look after her cubs.

  • - Oh yeah. - But they're more aggressive

  • in the sense of, (imitates bear growl)

  • - They're more confrontational.

  • - Yeah. Like, "Don't you mess with me."

  • - "Don't mess with me."

  • But then they don't actually,

  • - That's what I heard. - follow through.

  • - I mean, it's,

  • so when I,

  • - But the same time, - I didn't know

  • - [Both] When I,

  • - went out in the middle of the night,

  • because I heard our chicken squawking,

  • and I suspected it was a bear, was,

  • and I came down the stairs and the mama bear was over here,

  • and I looked around and I didn't see anything.

  • And she kept rushing

  • - Yeah. - back at me and growling.

  • - And I don't know what I was doing just full of adrenaline

  • yelling and,

  • probably like banging on something,

  • like a pot. - Yeah.

  • And, then I started after a few minutes of her rushing back

  • and making this noise, I heard way up in the tree.

  • These other little noises were responding and it was,

  • I chased off the mama,

  • but there was still baby bears up in a tree.

  • - And so they came down and ran away together.

  • But it was, I'd come between a mama bear

  • and her babies, - Yeah.

  • - And I had no idea.

  • - And the mama bear puts the babies in the tree

  • because it's the safe place for them

  • while she kills the chickens.

  • - Yeah. - and gets chickens for,

  • - Uh huh. - I don't know

  • if they eat them that much,

  • maybe they eat one and then,

  • - Yeah, I,

  • - it's just it's coyotes do that,

  • they'll just kill the flock of chickens.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - And maybe eat one.

  • - Yeah, I mean, some animals like,

  • is it cache, or cache'

  • the bodies for later.

  • - Right. - If they're also

  • kind of scavenger animals,

  • - Right.

  • - So that it's like a food supply for later.

  • - And help out their vulture friends, and,

  • - Yeah. And there are lots of vultures around

  • our neighborhood. - Opossums.

  • - We really do have like a whole Appalachian forest,

  • - Uh huh.

  • of wild animals in our neighborhood.

  • - Yeah.

  • - Yeah. No, I think it was the same bear that,

  • it stood up to me last week.

  • - Uh huh.

  • - 'Cause I was saying there's,

  • there's a bear in the neighborhood, I got a text.

  • - So I went to close my car doors 10 minutes later,

  • but I didn't check before I went and they're so quiet.

  • - They're so quiet.

  • - It's unbelievable.

  • They're just like very stealthy.

  • And even when they're running,

  • you can't hear them,

  • - Uh uh. - unless they're near a bush.

  • And then, yeah, I went and I turned around

  • and it was 10 feet away and he just stood up

  • and then he got back down and it ran off

  • with the babies,

  • - Uh huh.

  • - I said "Yeah, yeah, come back here, Bear."

  • (Kate laughs)

  • - You know, chased after it. I didn't.

  • No, I just,

  • - Yeah. I just,

  • froze a little bit and it went off.

  • - We have a healthy respect,

  • - Oh, yeah. - for bears.

  • - Although there's someone feeding them,

  • - Oh yeah. - in our neighborhood.

  • - Another story.

  • - Yeah.

  • - And so let's just do a quick fire question.

  • Favorite animal?

  • - Uh huh, What,

  • - What's your favorite animal?

  • - What's my favorite animal? - Yeah,

  • what's your favorite animal? - Oh gosh.

  • - Quick. - Can I say the top three?

  • - Yeah.

  • - I think I like turtles, goats, and horses.

  • - Yeah, - What's your favorite animal?

  • - It's a goat isn't it?

  • - What's your favorite animal?

  • - Probably a llama.

  • - Oh! - No?

  • - (chuckles) Plot twist! - So though,

  • llama, and, llamas in Ecuador.

  • - They were funny weren't they?

  • (Both laugh)

  • We bonded over a llama.

  • We were both a little bit scared of it,

  • in case it was gonna spit.

  • - Uh huh. - Do you remember?

  • - I vaguely remember, but I do like llamas.

  • - Llamas are cool.

  • - Uh huh. - Yeah.

  • A lot in Peru as well.

  • And, favorite thing or favorite animal

  • when you go to the zoo?

  • - Elephants.

  • - Elephants, yeah.

  • - I don't like seeing them in zoos but,

  • - No. - I, you know,

  • they're one of those animals

  • that you get close to them and they just have such presence,

  • - Uh huh. - and they're so impressive,

  • they're huge.

  • And like, you can tell that they're intelligent

  • and social,

  • - Yeah. - and,

  • really, you know, special.

  • They have personality.

  • - Yeah. We don't have a zoo in Asheville.

  • We have a nature center,

  • which, it takes injured animals generally,

  • or animals that people have kept

  • and they don't want anymore.

  • And then they look after them at the nature center.

  • It's a fun place to go. Isn't it?

  • - Uh huh.

  • - And, Kate's question.

  • - Okay.

  • My question from today's conversation,

  • is what pets do you have?

  • and what wild animals are in your neighborhood?

  • - Yeah.

  • - What pets do you have

  • and what wild animals are in your neighborhood?

  • Yeah, and we, maybe we'll save the Ice Age,

  • extinct animals,

  • for, before the time, - I love,

  • I love megafauna,

  • - We both do. - and we will another time.

  • - Yeah

  • - I love that era.

  • So favorite pets and also in your neighborhood.

  • We also had a question before. I think?

  • I can't remember what it was now,

  • but you might've answered that already.

  • Leave a comment below with your answer,

  • and also share this,

  • this video or podcast episode,

  • If you're listening with a friend, you know.

  • Send it by WhatsApp, Messenger, anywhere, really.

  • So just share it with a friend.

  • Okay, so thank you so much for watching

  • and I'll speak to you soon. Buh-bye.

- Hello, this Jack from tofluency.com.

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