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Bizarre Behaviour

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# Marauding mice and walls of ice and sharks on a golfing spree (Argh!)

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# Cicada swarms and nasty storms and fish walking out of the sea (Really?)

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# Elks in trees and foaming seas and giant mayfly moths (Huh?)

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# Zombie snails and friendly whales and completely frozen frogs

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# You what?

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# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

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# Really really wild and really really weird

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# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

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# They're really really wild

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# They're really really wild and weird. #

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Coming up on today's show, some bizarre behaviour.

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Elk with anger management issues.

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A fish on an afternoon stroll.

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And a goat that likes to put its feet up.

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Er, Tim?

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-Yeah.

-Why are you behaving so bizarrely?

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Well, earlier on this morning I had THE best bit of chocolate cake

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I've ever eaten and I was thinking that

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if I do the wobbly thing then I can go back in time and eat it all again.

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Oh.

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HARP PLAYS

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OLD TIME MUSIC HALL TUNE PLAYS

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HARP PLAYS

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Hm. Do you mean like that?

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That was my chocolate cake.

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Oh, sorry.

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-Shall we watch some clips now?

-Yeah.

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I've got more bizarre behaviour to show you.

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-Let's get under way in the US of A.

-Oh, very poetic.

-Thank you.

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This is Estes Park in Colorado,

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nestled amongst the stunning scenery of the Rocky Mountains.

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A beautiful natural oasis where man and beast exist in peaceful harmony.

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Peaceful, that is, until you switch to a heavy metal soundtrack.

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HEAVY METAL MUSIC

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-Uh-oh, uh-oh! No, no!

-'Whoa!'

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Because every autumn the normally placid elk of Estes Park go on

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the rampage, attacking anything that moves, including cars and trucks.

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Talk about road rage.

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'Back up, people. Back up.'

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When their ears go back and their eyes get real big

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and their head just out, then you're in trouble.

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They will charge their reflection in windows.

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People dive over fences. They run in the water. They climb trees.

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Whatever they have to do to get out of the way.

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Jane and Rick are part of the town's elk response team.

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What's an elk response team?

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It's a bit like the Fire Brigade

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only less fires and more elk.

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Oh.

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Jane and Rick are responsible for making sure that elk don't

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get themselves into too much trouble.

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Every year we have elk with Christmas tree lights

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on their antlers.

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Tangled up in Christmas tree lights?

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They're not very bright, are they, these elk?

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I've taken a bicycle off of an elk.

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Garbage can lids.

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Every kind of fencing material you can imagine.

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Er, Naomi,

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would you, er...

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So what have the people of Estes Park done

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to deserve this British behaviour?

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Is it time to call in an expert?

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It most certainly is.

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How about one leaning on a log?

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No problem.

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Wildlife consultant Chris Rowe has been studying

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the elk of Estes Park.

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The Estes Valley has probably some of the best elk habitat

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that you can find anywhere.

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And within this general area we have a population that's

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several thousand elk that reside here throughout the entire year.

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You've got the population of people

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and you've got the population of elk.

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For most of the year, it's a pretty peaceful coexistence.

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There's only a couple of times during the year

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where all of a sudden we have conflict.

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Every autumn the elk take part in the annual rut.

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It's the time of year when the males are trying to defend their patch

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and attract the ladies.

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What's that, Tim?

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This is my new aftershave for attracting the ladies.

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Eau de elk.

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As we move into the month of September,

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their aggression and their intensity level on protecting those cows

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really, really ramps up.

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They're not afraid to lock antlers and get physical.

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Given the fact that Estes sits right smack dab in the middle

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of some of the most perfect habitat,

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all this occurs right in town, in and around the houses,

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in and around the vehicles,

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right in the middle of the street a lot of times.

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During the autumn rut the males are so driven that they'll look upon

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virtually everything as a threat to their dominance.

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Anything that moves is fair game.

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And even a few things that don't.

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They will charge a tree. They will fight bushes.

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They will attack swing sets.

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They have volleyball nets.

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So it's clear. For a male elk protecting his patch,

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absolutely anything is on the hit list.

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And if the idea of being chased down by a 300-kilo,

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antler-wielding, angry animal isn't your idea of fun,

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then you might want to avoid an autumn break to Estes Park.

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-Not bad, Naomi.

-Thanks.

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On the internationally recognised bizarre scale of 1 to 10,

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I would award that story a lemon.

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This story, on the other hand, is more of a meringue.

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Join me in the quiet suburbs of Florida,

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a place where you might expect to see the odd dog out for a walk.

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But not this.

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What in the world?

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-How weird is that, huh?

-It is weird.

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Hopping around in the yard?

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My God. Where are they coming from?

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'Gardens and homes are being overrun...'

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I don't know. That's weird.

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'..by a type of fish.'

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-A fish?

-Mm. A fish.

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-What, like a fishy fish?

-A fishy fish, yeah.

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And it's not just this neighbourhood. It's happening all over Florida.

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After a storm, these strange creatures appear

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as if from nowhere to walk the land.

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-There's one over there.

-Where?

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-Over there.

-That is blowing my mind.

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What could be behind this utterly bizarre behaviour?

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-It's a mad scientist, isn't it?

-What do you mean?

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A mad scientist who's crossed one species with another

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and that's why it can walk and breathe on land.

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Don't be ridiculous.

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-What is it then?

-A catfish.

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Ha! A cat and a fish.

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No. Just a regular catfish.

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The long feelers that look like whiskers give it away.

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It's a species appropriately named the walking catfish.

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Concocted in a secret laboratory by a crazed genius.

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No, born in the water like every other fish.

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But if it's a normal fish, why is it out of the water?

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Well, let's ask scientist Bill Loftus.

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-Oh, is he a mad scientist?

-No.

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But he does know how catfish can breathe out of the water.

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It does this by use of a specialised organ that lies behind

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the gill chamber inside of its head

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and it can take oxygen from the air through that organ

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and put it into its bloodstream.

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That's an amazing adaptation for this animal to allow it to get

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out on land and to move around.

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-But where are these fish out of water going?

-Erm? I don't know.

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The chip shop?

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Well, it turns out some were heading for Florida resident

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Colin Calway's garden pond.

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When you're looking at a pond every day you know the type of fish

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you've got in there and there's a strange activity,

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something's not right and you've got to find out what it is.

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We've pumped the pond down and instead of approximately

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10,000 rosy barbs,

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we had what looked like 10,000 walking catfish in their place.

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The catfish had eaten all of Colin's other fish.

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Walking catfish are very broad feeders

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so they will feed on fish, invertebrates, amphibians

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and pretty much the whole gamut of aquatic insects.

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So the catfish are taking to dry land in search of new feeding grounds.

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And when they clean out one pond, they just walk off to find the next.

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They'll wait for that night when a good thunderstorm comes,

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or rain comes or a very heavy dew

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and then they'll leave the pond in large numbers

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and they'll keep moving up the ditches and through the grass

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until they find another pond.

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They'll clear that one, then move on again.

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Wow. It is lucky that Colin is not a tropical fish farmer.

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And that pretty well wiped us out as tropical fish farmers.

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Oops.

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So, if it's bizarre behaviour you're after

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then you need look no further than the walking catfish

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because it really is the original fish out of water.

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A walking fish. How do you top that?

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-With a goat.

-Goat?

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You can't top a fish with a goat. You'd squash the fish.

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Just watch this, Tim.

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To finish our exploration of all things bizarre,

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we're heading to Tennessee in the deep South of the USA.

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These may look like perfectly normal, healthy goats

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but some of them are acting very strangely indeed.

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Ah! Did you see that?

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Goat down.

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And another. And another.

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They're dropping like flies. Big goat-shaped flies. What's going on?

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Well, let's ask local farmer Gene McNutt because he had a shock

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when he and his family first arrived in the area.

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We moved here to Tennessee in 1988.

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My wife immediately wanted a new goat.

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One of our neighbours was kind enough to bring her home

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a 6- or 8-week-old goat.

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That goat became the pet of the house.

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The McNutts adored their new pet

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but then one day Gene had a very unnerving experience.

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One day, the goat falls down.

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And it looks like it has gone stiff with rigor mortis.

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And I said, "Oh, no, I've killed my wife's goat."

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Ooh, I hate it when that happens.

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What have I done? Has it had a heart attack?

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And I'm standing there just in total amazement trying to figure out

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what am I going to do.

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So what on earth had Gene done to his wife's goat?

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I know. He'd used his psychic powers on the goat.

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-Look at that stare.

-Er, no.

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Suddenly the goat wiggles a little bit, gets up and walks off

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as if nothing had happened.

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I decided to say nothing to my wife about it

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since the goats appeared to be OK.

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Never tell your wife about your psychic powers.

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He's not a psychic, Tim.

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TIM'S MIND: 'I wasn't talking about him.'

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I asked a neighbour about the goat

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because it was something that had never happened before

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and he says, "Oh." He says, "Those are just old nervous goats."

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He says, "They're from around here."

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It seems Gene's experience wasn't a one-off.

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All over the deep South,

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goats were heading south only to rise again unharmed.

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That's nothing unusual. I get that every time I think about...

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So what was behind this bizarre behaviour?

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Well, there could be a clue in what triggers their downfall.

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It's all right, I'm back. I'm back.

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I've just got to avoid thinking about...

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Almost any noise that is unusual will cause the goat to stiffen

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or fall over and it will stay in a fallen position

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for 30, 45 seconds and sometimes even up to a couple of minutes.

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Most animals are programmed with a fight or flight response

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when threatened or surprised.

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Their muscles suddenly tense up as they prepare to run away or attack.

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It turns out that these goats in Tennessee have

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a glitch in their system.

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Instead of tensing up for a split second when they're startled,

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they seize up completely.

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It's all down to a genetic disorder called myotonia congenita

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and it's unique to this particular breed called fainting goats.

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Well, if you're going to call them that, what do you expect?

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Of course, in the wild

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this condition would prove fatal for a goat.

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They'd fall off a mountain or be eaten by a predator

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but because these are domestic goats, it seems they've simply

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learnt to live with this peculiar condition.

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When they're young, a lot of things will make them faint.

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But as they get older, even though they'll stiffen up,

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most of the time they'll find something to lean on

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or they'll get their balance because they know, if they're off-balance,

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then they're going to fall over.

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Oh, that would be a right pain in the...

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So, for the gates of Tennessee, it looks like this is

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one type of bizarre behaviour that's here to stay.

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I don't know about you, Naomi, but I could watch goats fainting all day.

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For sure, but what about you, Tim?

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What is this mysterious thing that, every time you think about it,

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-it makes you faint?

-Do you really want to know?

-Yeah.

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WHISPERING

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# Wild and weird, wild and weird

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# Really really wild and really really weird.

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# They're wild and weird, wild and weird

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# They're really really wild

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# They're really really wild and weird

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# Wild and weird. #

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