Episode 9 Curious Creatures

APPLAUSE

Hello, I'm Kate Humble, and this is Curious Creatures,

the brand-new quiz all about the wonders of the animal kingdom.

Over the next half hour, we'll be covering all manner of life

on planet Earth, from birds, to fish...

..to insects, to reptiles.

But first, it's time to meet four mammals of the order Primates

and the species Homo Sapiens.

Please welcome on my left, star of Autumnwatch, Springwatch,

Winterwatch... He'll watch anything, it's Chris Packham.

-APPLAUSE

-Hello.

And he's joined by a marine and wildlife expert,

Miranda Krestovnikoff

APPLAUSE

And on my right, writer, broadcaster,

and founder of the Sloth Appreciation Society,

it can only be Lucy Cooke...

APPLAUSE

..who is joined by top TV vet and wildlife presenter, Steve Leonard.

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Let's get cracking with our opening round which is called Yay or Neigh?

So, I will read a statement about the animal kingdom,

and our team's job is simply to decide whether it's true...

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

That's a yay. Or false...

HORSES NEIGHS

That is a neigh.

And Chris, we are going to start with you.

"Female robins do not sing."

Wow, female robins do not sing.

Well, the first thing we can say is that there is a misconception that

female robins don't have a red breast.

It's only the males that have a red breast.

And that's not true to start with.

So, the females and the males do look identical?

-They look identical...

-It's not red.

-What do you mean it's not red?

-Look at it. It's orange.

-That's just your eyesight.

-No, it's not. They're orange.

-Yeah, they're russet-y.

-They are orange.

The problem being is they were named

before the colour orange was invented.

The colour orange only came along latterly because of the fruit.

So, everybody, if you drew a robin, you would reach for red pen.

It's not. It's quite clearly orange.

The other thing is that robins sing throughout the year,

and they are one of the most common songs that you will hear.

And they will sing in the middle of cities, in particular,

-in the wintertime.

-We can have a little listen to some.

-Shall we have a listen to some?

-OK, let's listen.

ROBIN SINGS

'Tis a lovely sound. It perks up a winter's day, doesn't it,

when you've got nothing else.

But the main reason that birds sing is what?

Well, typically it's a territorial thing.

And typically, of course,

it's the males that do most of the singing in the springtime

when they're proclaiming and displaying their fitness to females.

Would there be any reason for a female to sing?

Yeah, because what happens with robins

is that they keep their territories throughout the course of the year.

They're residents, they're not migrants.

And they are ferociously territorial.

They will fight each other to the death.

The statement is "female robins do not sing".

I should say a neigh for that.

Female robins do sing.

I think female robins sing.

Yeah, so were going to say neigh,

implying therefore that both male and female robins sing.

And you're right. Congratulations.

APPLAUSE

As you said, the female robins will sing as well throughout the year to

protect their territories, too.

You win the first part of your curious creature.

Let's have a look and see what it is.

Oh, what a fine looking fellow.

-I love those things.

-That is a fine looking fellow.

Right then. Lucy...

-Yes.

-This one is for you.

"Starfish do not have blood running through their veins."

This is an Indian sea star, in case anyone was wondering.

But does it have blood running through its veins?

Well, starfish are echinoderms.

-I know that. And they're in the...

-Good start.

-Which is...

So, I know the Latin name for the group that they're part of.

-Good.

-So, that's a good start.

They are very simple organisms.

And they...

Same family as sea urchins.

And, I don't think they've got blood vessels even.

Well, no. I think they'll have some sort of lymph, won't they,

-in terms of...

-Yeah, but it's...

-But it won't be an organised...

To have blood vessels, you need a heart, you need a pump,

and actually with most of these things, isn't it,

it's just through, actually, leakage of fluid to carry.

It's not as complicated as...

-..a more sort of, like a...

-Vascular system.

-Yeah, a vascular system.

I don't think there's going to be anything there.

No, I don't think so. I don't think a starfish even has a heart!

I don't think... They're callous.

They are. They are really, really mean.

Yeah. You don't want to cross a starfish.

-Oh, they can be brutal.

-They're cold.

So, if I were to say starfish do not have blood running through their

veins, you're going...

Yay.

You're right.

APPLAUSE

How do they distribute the nutrients around their body?

-Any idea?

-Oh, some sort of...

-Some sort of...

-Liquid.

Yeah. So, they sort of have an endolymph thing, or...

-Sea water.

-I love the way...

-Sea water?

-They use sea water...

To transport stuff around?

To transport nutrients throughout their bodies.

All of which means that you have won your first part

-of a curious creature. Let's have a look.

-Oh!

Oh, my deary me.

There we go. Miranda,

your statement is "a punch from a mantis shrimp can break glass".

Well, a lot of marine creatures have very unusual ways of defending

themselves, but I think the mantis shrimp is pretty famous

for having an incredibly powerful punch.

But powerful enough to break glass?

Well, I suppose it depends how thick your glass is, doesn't it, really?

A glass of wine. Would it be able to break a glass

that you'd have a glass of wine in, do you think?

I'm going to say absolutely yes on that one.

-Yes.

-Would you agree?

-Yeah, I would.

Yeah, their punching capacity is phenomenal.

They punch...

Now, I've got to get this right.

They punch so quickly that they can generate a vacuum in the water...

-That's the one, yes.

-Which causes a spark of light,

and an incredibly loud sound.

I think if you put one in the average wineglass,

it's going to be very unhappy about that.

It's not native habitat for a mantis shrimp...

Even if it's a very fine Chardonnay?

Yeah, and it's going to punch itself straight out of that.

So, your answer to the statement

"a punch from a mantis shrimp can break glass" is?

I'm definitely going yay.

-Are we going yay, Chris?

-Yay.

-Yay.

And you're right.

APPLAUSE

It can actually break glass up to a quarter of an inch thick

with its punch. You've won yourselves

another part of your curious creature.

Goodness.

Here's your statement, Steve.

"Lions are very efficient hunters,

"catching their prey around 80% of the time."

Ah, OK.

So, they're, obviously, a very unusual cat, in the fact that they,

obviously, are non-solitary hunters.

So, they are more successful than lots of other cats, because they,

obviously, do it as a pride.

But they are not that good, actually.

The one pack animal that really is up in that 80% mark

is your wild dog, your painted dog. In fact,

as soon as we start to be able to film these animals at night,

we find out actually that the lion, who is supposed to be the king of

predators, is actually a bit of a bully boy and steals prey.

I don't think a lion is successful 80% of the time.

So, your answer to "lions are very efficient hunters,

"catching their prey around 80% of the time" is?

-A neigh.

-Neigh.

You are absolutely right.

APPLAUSE

As you said, Steve, if the lions are hunting as a group, as a pride,

they might be 30% successful in getting their quarry.

As individuals, much less success rates, 17 to 19%.

Well done, you've won yourselves

another part of your curious creature.

Very good.

Cuddly.

Huggable.

So, as our curious creatures begin to take shape,

we move on to Round Two, which today is called Who's The Daddy?

Each team will see a baby animal.

All they have to do is figure out who its daddy and mummy are.

So, Chris and Miranda, have a look at this.

Any thoughts?

It's a bird.

LAUGHTER

You can come back again. Yes, absolutely.

I think I know what it is.

-I think you know what it is too, yeah.

-Yeah.

Quite an unusual looking bill, which I believe grows to sort of...

It turns down and grows quite large.

And I think it becomes my least favourite colour,

although I think I'm wearing it.

But I'll also tell you about their ridiculous nests as well.

I think birds should build nests out of twigs,

because that's what you learn at school,

or fluffy bits of down or something.

Something, I don't know, a bit comfortable to lay their eggs in.

And these birds just get a load of mud and build a nest full of mud...

Made of mud which raises the eggs above the, sort of,

caustic water that it's surrounded by.

-Well, that's a good thing, surely?

-Until the water comes up.

Until it rains, basically.

Well, now you've been so fabulously cryptic about it.

Do you want to name it?

It is a flamingo chick.

I can't tell you which species of flamingo chick it is, but...

Let's see if you're right.

I would say it's definitely a flamingo chick.

You're absolutely right.

APPLAUSE

They get that colour, carotene, from the food

that they strain with their beaks.

When they first started keeping them in captivity...

I was going to say, when they're kept in captivity

they have to be given extra carotene in their diet

otherwise they lose this amazing pink colour.

They go white, don't they?

Well, you have just won another part of your curious creature.

Congratulations.

APPLAUSE

Lucy and Steve...

-Yes.

-Your beautiful babe is this.

OK. So, I'm guessing as a vet, Steve,

you like to identify animals by...

By what they've come out of, normally.

-Normally that's the best way.

-Yeah, that's quite a good clue.

Because you've had a hold of both those feet,

-you're going, "You all right there, Mum?" So, yeah.

-Yeah.

What do you think you would have pulled those rather long legs out of?

It's looking very cow-like...

-Yeah.

-I'm just thinking could it...

-What kind of wild...?

-There's wildebeest.

-It could be wildebeest.

-I was thinking it might be a wildebeest.

They're very... And this is the weird thing.

When you see them for the first time, I thought they were going to

be the size of cows, which are great, big things.

They're actually really small. Adult wildebeest are tiny.

Is there anything else that could fit that description?

-Yeah, that's what I'm thinking...

-So there's buffalo, obviously.

-Yeah, there's bison...

-Yup.

-There's buffalo.

This is on grassland.

This is on a big savannah-y type thing.

It could be buffalo. They could be Cape Buffalo.

That's very... Obviously, they're large and black when they're adult.

I think it could be...

It could be buffalo. Come on, say buffalo.

-I think...

-Buffalo.

-Totally wrong.

If you say wildebeest now, I'm...

That is a gnu-born baby. It is a wildebeest.

You are a Cruella de Vil.

So, all in all, you didn't get it right.

No sulking.

This is the point in the show where we ask Is It Bigger Than A Chicken?

Our teams will take it in turns to ask me questions about a mystery

animal, to which I must be able to answer only yes or no.

Each time they get a yes,

a small part of the animal is revealed on the screens.

Whoever guesses the animal correctly wins another part of their team's

curious creature.

There is just one other rule which must be abided by.

The first question must always be, audience?

Is it bigger than a chicken?

Thank you very much, indeed.

So, Miranda.

-Hello.

-We'll start with you.

What would you like your first question to be?

Right, well.

I think I've got to ask you, Kate, is it bigger than a chicken?

I can begin with a big, resounding yes.

So you get your first little bit of the mystery animal.

-Here we are.

-OK.

Do you want to tell me what that is?

Fur.

-It's fur.

-So, yeah.

-Does that narrow it down somewhat for you?

-Yes, probably.

I think we're probably talking about a mammal!

That's probably about it.

You don't have to reveal it,

but do you have a suspicion what it might be just from that square?

I have a suspicion. Do you?

Yeah, I've probably got about ten suspicions of what it could be.

-OK. OK.

-But I wouldn't at this point proffer them in public.

I think that's probably very wise.

What would you like to ask me, Steve?

-Now...

-We want to get a yes answer.

I do want to get a yes answer.

Is it smaller than a blue whale?

Hang on, let me think. Yes, it is.

There we go. I think I've got the measure of this quiz.

Let's have a look at your second clue.

Ah, OK.

There you are.

So, we'll shrink it back and see where it fits in the picture.

I think we probably want to make some kind of a guess.

Yeah. I'm thinking, one of my favourite...

-You thinking Madagascar?

-No.

-Right.

-I'm thinking...

I'm thinking, um Tarka.

You're thinking Tarka?

Wowsers.

OK.

-OK.

-Or I know what you're thinking...

-Yeah.

-Yeah. But it could be.

You're thinking predator, aren't you?

Yes, I am.

Yeah, yeah. A very unusual predator.

Yes, exactly, yeah. From Madagascar.

Yeah. They have no idea because we've been in such code there.

They have no idea...

Were we talking about a fossa?

Who's got a coin? Who's got a coin?

I think fossa, you think otter.

So, you're making a guess?

What are you plumping for, Mr Leonard?

What do you want? Fossa your answer?

Well, it's up to you.

-Otter.

-So you're saying otter?

Are you right?

You're not. You're not.

So, Mr Packham, you have a chance here.

What would you like to ask me?

Is this animal predatory?

Yes. It is.

So, you get a third part of the mystery animal jigsaw.

It's definitely not an otter!

LAUGHTER

Would you like to see it in context

with the other parts already revealed?

I think it's almost certainly a tail.

Let's put it there for some scale.

OK, there we go.

There it is, yeah.

Do you want to have a guess?

You don't have to have a guess, Chris.

No, you don't have to have a guess.

-OK.

-So you're not going to guess?

-No, I'm not.

-Excellent.

Lucy, ask me a question.

OK. Is it a member of the cat family?

No.

It's not.

-Miranda?

-That's really thrown a spanner in the works.

So we've got to get a yes answer for the question.

A question I would suggest that we might ask is

-is this an arboreal predator?

-Ah, OK.

Is it one of those catlike animals which spends a lot of time

dashing around up trees?

-That's what I'd ask.

-OK, I will ask Chris's question.

-Which is?

-Is it an arboreal predator?

Yes.

It is.

Oh, so I was right.

It is, yeah.

So, the groans from the other team over there...

It's an otter. Damn it.

-Definitely.

-STEVE:

-Damn it.

So, I would like to propose that is in fact what you guys thought it was

earlier on. It's a fossa.

-STEVE:

-You knew, and I'm sorry.

It absolutely is a fossa.

APPLAUSE

But thank you very much.

Oh, wow!

Oh, man. I'm so annoyed about that.

SHE GROANS

-You should have stuck to your guns.

-But not a member of the cat family.

Should we have a look and see one in action?

-Oh, yeah.

-Here they are.

Well, they behave like cats.

They're very quick, fast-moving arboreal predators of lemurs.

I'm going to hate fossas now.

Previously, I had really liked fossas.

I thought they were really excellent,

extraordinary creatures from Madagascar, but no longer.

Very well done. Chris and Miranda get another part

of their curious creature.

However, Lucy, we can offer you a bonus question.

Which is, the fossa is related to the mongoose,

but what is different about their claws?

It's very, very catlike.

So, the one thing it needs is razor-sharp claws.

And the way that cats do that is they retract them,

where as all of the other mustelids

like mongoose, badgers, honey badgers,

you know, wolverines, they're out full-time.

And if you look on there, you can see their feet.

And when you saw that foot before...

-Yeah, it looked catlike, didn't it?

-Yeah. So, I think...

I got it completely wrong, so I can only advise.

So, we think that although fossa are related to mongoose,

they CAN retract their claws.

You're absolutely right.

Good.

Which means you have added another part to your curious creature.

Very good.

There we are. Very pretty.

And with all that kerfuffle, I can say well done to everybody,

and we are now fervent fans of the fossa.

APPLAUSE

And now we march on to Round Four,

which today is called Pecking Order.

So as the name suggests, teams,

your task is to put in order

three animals according to a certain attribute.

Chris and Miranda, we'll start with you.

I give you a killer whale, a Virginia opossum,

and an African bush elephant.

And I want you to rank them in order of the average length of their

gestation, from shortest to longest.

-OK.

-Discuss.

Should we start with potentially the longest, then?

OK, well.

I think elephants are famed for the fact that they have the longest

gestation period of any animal, which is a couple of years.

Yeah. Just under two years, isn't it?

-Two years.

-So, they are going to be the longest.

And I think your opossum is probably going to be the shortest.

Unless they do something weird. Do they do something weird?

That's the thing. Do they do something weird?

-Is there a trick?

-There could be a trick with the opossum.

So you get delayed implantation, which things like badgers will do,

which is whereby the developing embryos

implant into the side of the uterus wall and they're successively

reabsorbed by the female

depending on how much body weight she's got,

depending on how much food is available to her.

All of which is fascinating, but we're not talking about badgers.

We are talking about opossums, killer whales, and elephants.

We're thinking that the opossum might do the same.

Yes, I think they could mate in the summer,

and they could implant the embryos and birth them the following year.

And killer whales, you know...

When you think of the growth rate of a young killer whale...

-Yeah.

-They put on...

They're fed this incredibly rich, fatty milk,

and they grow incredibly quickly.

So surely the growth rate during gestation would be large as well.

So, do you know what?

I'm gravitating towards the order in which they're displayed.

OK, so you are saying that the killer whale

has the shortest gestation,

that the Virginia opossum has the second shortest gestation,

the elephant the longest.

Let's put them in the correct order.

Oh, damn.

Miranda, you were absolutely right.

The African bush elephant does have the longest gestation of our group,

22 months.

So almost two years.

It has the longest of any land animal.

Longest gestation of any land animal.

The killer whale, you said probably less than a year gestation.

It's actually 15 to 18 months.

-Is it?

-Yup, yup.

And the Virginia opossum is not like the badger.

It just jolly well gets on with it,

and can produce young in just 12 to 13 days.

So, I'm afraid you don't add a new part to your curious creature.

Now, then.

Lucy and Steve, I'd like to present you with these three lovelies.

The great bustard...

..the golden eagle...

..and the great white pelican.

They're among the heaviest birds capable of flight,

but could you please put them in order

of just how heavy they are, starting with the lightest?

So, I've held...

..golden eagles in my hand a couple of times, they're not that heavy.

-Big bird. Massive...

-Lot of plumage.

Yeah, lot of lovely plumage.

But the thing is, this is an animal that, you know,

is designed to carry huge amounts of weight,

but it actually doesn't weigh that much.

Which makes sense, because it's an incredibly agile predator.

So, if it was heavy,

it would never be able to make the manoeuvres it needs

in order to be able to hunt the way that it does.

So, I think that's probably the lightest of the three now.

The bustard has got a big, old heavy body on it.

It has, yeah. If you think of one of the heaviest flying birds,

which is the swan, you know that's a difficult animal to get off into the

air on the water.

So that takes an enormous amount.

And I think bustards do...

You know, they take those big, long legs

to really power them up and get going.

And they use a big spring to get up.

-Yep.

-Whereas your pelican's got quite small legs.

I think maybe they're in the middle.

-Yeah.

-The pelican...

-Yeah.

Then we've got the golden eagle as the surprise lightest.

-Surprise lightest, yep.

-Because it's the manoeuvrability and the agility.

-Yeah. I think so.

-Should we go with that? OK.

-So, we're going to go golden eagle...

-Yep.

-Pelican.

-Yep.

-Great bustard.

OK. Let's see if you're right.

-Oh!

-You absolutely are!

APPLAUSE

Nice. Happy with that.

All of which means that, congratulations,

you have won a new part of your curious creature.

Oh!

Well done to both of our teams.

Now, were nearly at the end of the show which means it's time to see if

they can identify the parts of their curious creatures.

So, Chris. We will start with that handsome head.

-We're happy about that one, Miranda.

-I think we are happy with that one.

Yes, indeed. It's a walrus.

-It is.

-It's a walrus.

-It is two points.

What about those ears?

-Oh, no, these, these ears.

-We are really puzzling with the ears.

-Oh, these ears!

-Because they're not symmetrical,

I think we were struggling with identifying an animal

-that has got ear tufts.

-Which are ragged like that,

because obviously lynx and caracal have ear tufts, but they're fine,

upstanding tufts.

These are droopy and straggly and unkempt.

-They do.

-We're going to have, have a stab in the dark.

They could be a hog, a little hog.

Are you going... Are you going with hog?

Rather... Yeah, it might be half-baked rather than roasted

but I'm going hog.

-And you'd be right.

-Oh, thank goodness.

-Oh! Well done.

Well done, well done, well done.

And it is a red river hog.

Red river hog. Oh, my goodness me.

Yes. You have four points.

Let's see if you can get another two, and identify the body of this.

Oh, yes. Well, this is the Silence of the Hogs.

-Isn't it?

-Oh, no.

This is the emblematic hawkmoth from that film.

-Miranda, do you know it?

-The Silence Of The Lambs.

Silence Of The Lambs, yeah. This is the Death's...

-The Chianti one.

-Yes, yeah.

A nice Chianti on a Death's-Head hawkmoth.

It is indeed.

Two points.

-Now then...

-Now, the legs.

Now then, what about these leggy legs?

Very long and muscly legs.

Yeah, they are. I...

What about... Is it that really long-legged...

..long necked animal, the gerenuk?

Is it a gerenuk?

It could be that. They have very long legs and a very long neck.

They're almost like a giraffe gazelle.

It could be a gerenuk.

So, what are you going to go for?

Let's take a very brave stab in the dark at...gerenuk.

-You're right.

-Oh, well done!

Very, very good.

You can get one extra point

despite the fact that you didn't win this body part.

So, let's have a look at it.

It is a fifth limb.

So, whatever animal has that, it uses it as a fifth limb.

So, something like a kangaroo, where they actually,

when they balance on their hind legs they use their tail to balance and

they can reach up and forage high up.

-Yeah.

-But is kangaroo going to be too obvious?

I think that's a robust, meaty tail...

I wouldn't want to be hit round the head with a tail like that.

-I think we go kangaroo tail for that, yeah.

-Kangaroo not wallaby.

It IS a kangaroo. It's actually a red kangaroo.

But that gets you one point, giving you a total of nine.

APPLAUSE

So, Lucy and Steve.

Let's start with the head.

Yeah, we're happy.

We think ibis.

Yeah. It's a black headed ibis.

So called because it's got a...

-Black head.

-Black head.

-Brilliant, there you go.

Yeah, yeah. First most sensible bird name ever.

So, you get two points for that. How about this body?

-Ah.

-I've swum with these in Florida...

-Yeah.

-And they look fat but they're actually, they're full of gas.

In fact, that's what inflates them up to that size

-and that's actually a manatee, which is...

-It is a manatee, yes.

-Should we move on...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-..to your next part, which is this?

Now, I think it's British. I think it's a swallowtail.

Yeah, to be honest, not my department, I'm afraid.

Don't know how to worm it, don't know how to vaccinate it,

it's out of my remit.

-Are you going swallowtail?

-Swallowtail.

You're right. Two points.

Now, then, these lovely legs?

It's shaggy, it's brown, it's in the snow.

-It's a bison.

-You're right.

-Oh!

-Yes!

-Two points.

Now can you get level with Chris and Miranda

and identify, for one point,

the body part that you didn't win, which is this?

Oh, rattlesnake, isn't it?

-And it's...

-It is a rattlesnake.

Yeah. So, you get one point

which means today it's a draw between Chris and Miranda

and Lucy and Steve.

APPLAUSE

Thank you to all four of you curious creatures for playing the game and

thank you to you crazy cats at home for watching.

We'll see you next time. Goodbye.