Ten Things I Like About... Podcast

Summary: You are what you eat, right? Find out what tuatara eat and how they eat it in the seventh episode of Tuatara.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Tuatara” Royal Ontario Museum, https://collections.rom.on.ca “Microstructure of dental hard tissues and bone in the Tuatara denture, Sphenodon punctatus,” by J.A. Kierser, T. Tkatchenko, M. C. Dean, M. E. H. Jones, and N. J. Nelson. Front Oral Biol. 2009:13:80-85. https://pubme.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19828975 Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. We have made it to the seventh episode of Tuatara and the seventh thing I like about these super cool reptiles is their diet and dentition. We have hinted a bit about what they eat but today we’ll take a closer look at what that is specifically and how their teeth help.  Let’s start with food. Tuatara are carnivores. They eat mainly invertebrates like worms and arthropods such as beetles, millipedes, spiders, and weta. Weta are insects native to New Zealand that look similar to crickets but like crickets on steroids. Weta have big bodies, spiny legs, and tusks. They look kind of like a cricket and a warthog had a baby.     The majority of the tuatara diet is made up of invertebrates but they will also eat lizards, seabird eggs and chicks, and occasionally they venture in to cannibalism and will eat young tuatara. Because of this, juvenile tuatara are active during the day while adult tuatara are active at night. I mean, really, if your relatives might eat you at night, then who wouldn’t want to avoid them.  Humans that live on the islands where tuatara are found always know when they’ve been hunting because they will see headless birds. Definitely not something you want to come across on a relaxing walk in nature. Why is this the indicator of the tuatara? The tooth pattern of the tuatara is unique. Just like almost everything else about them. They have two incisor like teeth in front of their top jaw. And they have three rows of teeth (I was not able to find an actual count but am guessing it’s around 85 teeth). One row of teeth lines the bottom jaw and two rows line the top jaw. The bottom row of teeth fit neatly into the two upper rows of teeth when the jaw is closed. Wait for it, we almost have our answer. The jaw motion of the tuatara is also unique. Instead of an up and down motion, like chewing, they have a forward and backward motion, like sawing.  And there it is! This is why the birds that tuatara hunt are missing heads. They saw them off with their unique teeth. Hah! Didn’t see that coming did you? Besides the unique pattern of teeth, the structure of their teeth is also unique. They have acrodont teeth which means they are rootless and attached directly to the bone of the jaw. They kind of emerge from the actual bone. This is unlike any other reptile teeth alive today. The teeth are serrated which helps with the sawing motion. Tuatara cannot replace lost or cracked teeth. Once the tooth is gone, it is gone. As tuatara age their teeth wear down from use. They are eating crunchy invertebrates and bony vertebrates, so they do take a beating. Tuatara can live for up to 100 years, so the older tuatara have to switch their diet to softer prey as their teeth wear down.  Now for a long time, we thought they didn’t have real teeth. We thought they were just bony protrusions that stuck out of the jaw, but some researchers in 2009 looked more closely at the teeth. They looked at teeth from a juvenile as well as an adult and found layers of typical tooth material. This was a surprise. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy, which is a sophisticated imaging technique that uses an electron beam to examine the surface of various materials, researchers found evidence of enamel containing dentine tubules, dentine, and cementum. All of these are found in other types of teeth. It’s not just serrated, bony material sticky up in their mouths. They have actually teeth. They are different then your average tooth, but they are teeth none-the-less. These tuatara are just full of surprises! I hope you enjoyed our dental adventure because my seventh favorite thing about the tuatara is what they eat and how they eat it!   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: The term “living fossil” is a bit controversial but does it fit the tuatara? Join Kiersten to find out.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “New study shows modern tuatara are little changed from 190 million year old ancestors.” Harvard University Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, March 2022. https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/news Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. The sixth thing I like about the tuatara is how long they have lived. Just like another animal we have talked about, the coelacanth, the tuatara appears in the fossil record from way back in time. The first time we see the tuatara in the fossil record is during the Jurassic period. Now, of course, a certain book and movie series has made this a very popular time in Earth’s history, so you may be familiar with this time period. It is famous for being the age of dinosaurs, at least some of the most popular and recognizable dinosaurs.  The term living fossil has been tossed around in reference to the tuatara, as well as the coelacanth, but this term is controversial. It is quite the romantic phrase actually. To think that an animal is so well adapted to the world it lives in that is hasn’t changed since the first time it appeared on this planet is a notion that a lot of us want to believe, but is it true? The first major problem with this concept, is that there is no real definition of what makes an animal or plant a living fossil.  Charles Darwin coined the term “living fossil” in 1859. According to Darwin’s definition a living fossil is a species or group of species that is so little changed that it provides an insight into earlier, now extinct, forms of life. A living fossil can also be described as an organism that has remained relatively unchanged over millions of years, or one that has no, or very few, close surviving relatives. It certainly sounds like we have stumbled on another controversy here. In the last episode we answered the question of whether the tuatara is a lizard or not. Spoiler here, listeners, if you haven’t heard the previous episode and you don’t want a spoiler to this question, stop listening now and go back and listen to last week’s episode. With that warning, let’s move on. We have established that tuatara are not lizards, they are reptiles but not lizards for various reasons. Shall we jump into the next controversial question then? Are tuatara living fossils? Let’s look at Darwin’s definition first. How much  have tuatara changed since they first appeared in the fossil record? A 2022 study from Harvard University’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology may give us some insight. Tuatara are the last remnant of the Rhynchocephalians. These reptiles peaked in abundance in the Jurassic period. Then they disappeared from the fossil record.   Two researchers were looking through the archives in the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and came across something that had been sitting in the drawers for decades, a tuatara fossil. This fossil was discovered in northern Arizona in the Kayenta Formation of the United States in 1982. Professor Stephanie Pierce and postdoctoral fellow Tiago Simoes jumped into examining this forgotten fossil. They used micro-CT scans to examine the fossil in three dimension. Then they digitally pieced the puzzle together revealing a full unflattened skull. It greatly resembled the modern day tuatara. It had rows of interlocking teeth that extended directly from the bone and it had two holes behind the eyes, just like the modern day tuatara.  Pierce and Simoes named the fossil Navajoshenodon sani which means “old age” in the indigenous language of the Navajo. This fossil provides the first nearly complete skull of any fossil sphenodontine in the world. It also places the tuatara in the Late Triassic. They may be older than we thought.  So how does this help us determine the answer to the living fossil question? It does give support for both descriptions. The modern day tuatara is similar enough to the fossil that it gives us insight into a long dead relative, and it seems to have changed very little from the long ago fossil of a creature that roamed the planet with dinosaurs.  Unlike the coelacanth, which is definitely not a living fossil, maybe the tuatara is a living fossil. It is food for thought and that is one of the reasons I started this podcast. I hope you will continue to think about this small living fossil controversy because it is my sixth favorite thing about the tuatara. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Is the tuatara a lizard? We have hinted at it for a few episodes. Join Kiersten to find out if the tuatara is or is not a lizard.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “It’s not a lizard or a dinosaur: the tuatara is something else entirely,” by Bec Crew. Australian Geographic, https://www.australiangeographic.com.au “New study shows modern tuatara are little changed from 190 million year old ancestors.” Harvard University Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. https://www.oeb.harvard.edu Parietal Eye, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/parietal-eye Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. During the last few episodes of tuatara, I have asked the question of whether the tuatara is a lizard or not a lizard. Today we are going to answer that question. The fifth thing I like about the tuatara is the unusual quirks that make them a unique reptile. We have established that the tuatara is in an order of reptiles all by itself, Order Rhynchocephalia. This means that they have no living relatives. That in itself doesn’t mean they are not lizards, it just means they are not related to any living lizards. So let’s look at a few more attributes of the tuatara that will help us answer our question. In the last episode we discussed the third eye, or parietal eye of the tuatara. Now other species of reptiles, mainly lizards, have a third eye as well. Certain iguanas, skinks, and monitors have a parietal eye, but their third eye is primitive and is not visibly seen at any stage of their development. The basics of the eye are there but it is hidden under a scale. The tuatara’s eye is much more developed and is exposed in young hatchlings. For more in depth discussion of the tuatara’s this eye, please listen to the previous episode. There are several things about the tuatara’s skeleton that also sets it apart from lizards.  One is the teeth. The tuatara has three rows of teeth. One row in the lower jaw and two in the upper jaw. When the tuatara bits down the lower teeth fit into the groove between the two rows of upper teeth. That is very unusual and as far as we currently know, no other reptile has a tooth formation like this. The teeth are fused to the jaw and have no roots, which is unlike most lizard teeth. Tuatara teeth are not replaced during their lifetime and as they age and their teeth wear down, they have to switch to softer prey.  Another strange and interesting thing about the tuatara’s jaw is that when it eats the jaw doesn’t open and close in the typical chewing motion of most animals. It moves forwards and backwards slicing their prey like a saw. Locals of the islands where tuatara live always know when the reptiles have been hunting because they find birds with their heads sawed off.  Another unique attribute of the tuatara skull is the complete lower temporal bar that closes the lower temporal fenestra. The temporal fenestra is the opening in the skull behind the eye socket. Most modern lizards do not have a complete temporal bar. Researchers believe the complete bar in the tuatara is used to stabilize the skull during biting. It’s a unique jaw motion and it makes sense that the skull needs a bit more support. As we travel down the skeleton of the tuatara we see some more unique features. The spine is made up of hourglass shaped vertebrae. This shape can be found in fish and amphibians but is unique reptiles to the tuatara. Each vertebrae has a tiny hole through which a rennet of the notochord passes. This was typical in early fossil reptiles but not in modern ones.  Could there be more unique features of this amazing reptile? Yes. We are not done with the odd features of the tuatara. Their ribs have some unique features as well. They have extra ribs, or rib-like bones, called gastralia that are not attached to the ribcage. These are also found in a few lizards and crocodiles. The tuatara have unicate processes on the actual ribs that are indicative of birds, and are found in modern bird skeletons, but are found only in the tuatara in the reptilians. The pelvis and shoulder girdles of tuatara are also completely different from lizards. Tuatara have a different rotational angle that allows them to push their body up off of the ground to move, should they choose to, where as lizards have a more sprawling motion when they walk. Tuatara don’t often hold themselves up to walk as it is tiring. Tuatara are also equipped for a cooler habitat than lizards. They have a unique hemoglobin structure that allows them to survive very cold temperatures. One last unique attribute of tuatara that I will mention in this episode is how long they live. Tuatara can live up to one hundred years! That is definitely longer than any lizard we know of today.   So knowing about all these different and unique attributes of the tuatara, we come back to the question of whether they are lizards or not lizards. Science says, no they are not lizards and those that study the tuatara are definitely offended when they are called lizards. If anyone ever asks or incorrectly refers to the tuatara as a lizard, you can now politely inform them that they are incorrect. Tuatara are not lizards, reptiles yes, lizards no. My fifth favorite thing about the tuatara is that they are truly not lizards. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Are tuatara eyes like every other reptile’s eyes? Maybe. Join Kiersten to find out what makes tuatara eye so special.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “The lonely eye,” by I R Schwab and G R O’Connor. Br J Ophthalmic. 2025 Mar:89(3):256. Doi:10.1136/bio.2004.059105 “Reptilian Eyes and Orbital Structures,” Jeanette Wyneken. 2012 Proceedings Association of Reptiles and Amphibian Veterinarians. https://cdn.ymaws.com Parietal Eye, https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/veterinary-science-and-veterinary-medicine/parietal-eye Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. As I begin episode four, I want to remind you of the question I posed at the beginning of the third episode. Is the tuatara a lizard or not a lizard? It is definitely lizard like. This episode, episode four, we will be talking about an attribute that might shed some light on the answer to this question. The fourth thing I like about the tuatara is their eyes, all three of them. To start, let’s look at the anatomy of the general reptile eye. Reptilian eyes are similar to other vertebrate eyes in the fact that they are layered, filled with fluid, and have a lens that focuses light on a retina. The structure of the eye includes three chambers. The anterior chamber is the fluid-filled space inside the eye between the iris and the cornea’s innermost surface. The posterior chamber is a small space directly behind the iris, close to the lens, and bordered by the ciliary muscles. The anterior and posterior chambers are filled with aqueous humour. The third chamber is the vitreous chamber located between the lens and the retina and filled with vitreous humour.  Tuatara have two lateral eyes, one on each side of the head, that rest in a bony orbit. They are separated by a cartilaginous interorbital septum. A periorbital membrane lines the orbital bones and septum that connects to the orbital membranes and the internal parts of the upper and lower eye lids. Whoa! We got a little scientific for a moment there, but anatomy can do that! These two lateral eyes are placed on the opposites sides of the head so they can have a wide perspective of their environment. Typically we see this eye position in prey animals and not all lizards are prey animals, but many of them are. Tuatara, as full grown adults, don’t have to worry too much about being eaten, but this eye placement is very helpful, none the less.    Most diurnal reptiles can see some amount of color, whether they see color the same way other vertebrates see color is still being studied, but the presence of cones is proof that they can see colors. Cones are useful in bright light, so reptiles active during the day will have more cones that those that are crepuscular, active at dawn and dusk, and those that are nocturnal. More rods are present in the eyes of nocturnal animals and these help pick up light and dark shades. Tuatara are active during the day and night, but are most active after dark; therefore, they most likely have more rods than cones.  They do have both upper and lower eyelids and are capable of closing their lids. They do not appear to have a nictitating membrane, which is another protective lens that can open and close over they eye, that some other reptiles have. They also have pupils that can contract and expand to allow various levels of light into the eye. When looking at close up photos of the tuatara’s eye the pupil is circular or oval along the vertical horizon. Interestingly, pupil shape in reptile eyes varies with behavior of the animal. Diurnal reptiles tend to have to have round pupils while nocturnal hunters have slits. Reptiles with slit pupils will have a pupil that is perpendicular to their orientation because that offers the best focus. The shape of the pupil has a profound influence on the retinal image because of the way light is allowed into the eye. Who knew the anatomy of the reptilian eye could be so fascinating. Okay, let’s get to that third eye I mentioned. There are actually two orders of reptiles that have a third eye, Order Squamata, which includes lizards and snakes, and Order Rhynchocephlia, which includes only the Tuatara. Lizards and the tuatara are the only reptiles that we know of that have third eyes. The third eye is also called the parietal eye and is found on the dorsal portion of the skull. It is smack dab in the middle of the top of the skull, because where else would a third eye be found? Anatomically speaking the parietal eye cannot focus on images like lateral eyes, so the third eye is not used for vision. At least not the parietal eyes on the current living tuatara. But this eye is more similar to lateral eyes than you might expect. The parietal eye is ventral to a parietal plug that is very similar to a cornea. Immediately below the plug is a lens that is remarkably similar to the lens in the lateral eyes. Below the lens are layers of pigment and photoreceptors. Photoreceptors detect light. Now we see where we are going with this whole third eye anatomy, maybe.  For a long time we thought that the parietal eye was used to detect light. It helped the animal tell when it was day and when it was night, and probably helped set animal’s the circadian rhythm. It helps the tuatara determine the changing of the seasons based on differences in the light cycle. But is that all there is to it? Some researchers believe that the third eye might be included in melatonin synthesis was well as other hormones. What it truly does is still a mystery. So….does this help answer our question about whether the tuatara is a lizard or not? Some lizards do have third eyes, just like the tuatara so leaning towards yes? Before you comment though, let me through out one more thing about the tuatara’s third eye. When they are newly hatched the third eye is  exposed and looks just like their lateral eyes. I’m not joking, search for tuatara hatchling third eye and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s very cool! As the tuatara ages the third eye is covered over with a clear scale obscuring it from view.  I hope you have enjoyed this discussion about tuatara eyes because it’s my fourth favorite thing about these interesting reptiles. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Join Kiersten as she takes you on a slow look at tuatara reproduction.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Novel mating behaviors in male tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) expand our understanding of reptile courtship,” by Sarah K. Lamar, Diane K. Ormsby, and Nicola J. Nelson. Austral Ecology, vol 49, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec13496 “Tuatara.” San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, https://animals.sandiegozoo.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. Welcome back to Ten Things I Like About after a year end break. I hope the new year treats you well and opportunities abound. Let’s get started! We will continue with Tuatara. The third thing I like about tuatara is reproduction. As we travel along with the journey of discovery with tuatara, I want to pose a question to you. Is the tuatara a lizard? Or is it something else? Based on the physical description I outlined in the first episode, they seem to be lizards, if not very lizard like. But I want you to keep this question in the back of your mind as we progress through each new episode. We will revisit this question at the end of this series and see what we all think. Okay, let’s talk about how baby tuatara are made. Tuatara mating and reproduction is not like anything else in the reptile world. Long incubation periods, extensive maturation, and unusual consummation marks the reproductive cycle of the tuatara. It all begins sometime between January and March when males begin showing off to attract a mate. Remember those spines that they have on their neck and back, well they are there for pretties. They can fan out and shake the larger crest of spines in hopes of attracting a lady. For a long time we thought this was all the males did during the breeding season, but a study that looked more closely at males on Takapourewa Island revealed many more tricks they use to catch the ladies eye.  Boys will come a courting at a female’s burrow and it can get complicated and lengthy. It might be a good idea that she gets to stay at home once all the excitement begins. First, the male adopts body positions that make him look big, such as inflating the body and gular region (that’s the chin area), elevating his body off the forest floor (the up part of a push-up), and erecting those spines on his neck and back. Next, the male will begin the slow proud walk, also known as stolzer Gang, in a circle around the female. He’ll perform this slow exaggerated walk in concentric circles, pausing occasionally, and decreasing the circle circumference with each pass. If the female is interested, she will leave her burrow entrance, allow the male to paw at her, and then mount her from behind. If there are obstacles in the male’s circular path, they will climb over, or go around. If the obstacle is too big to conquer, they’ll just shorten the circle to a semi-circle. I mean you gotta give them props for not getting distracted from their goal. The proud walk can last up to 44 minutes.    A few novel behaviors were observed by researchers studying the Takapourewa population. Mirrored head bobbing between the male and female was observed a few times, something that has not been seen in reptiles before. The male would bob his head a specific number of times and when he paused, the female would bob the small numbers of times. This was a very exciting discovery that will need more research to determine what it means and if it is found in other populations of tuatara, but how very interesting. Vocalizations in tuatara are typically limited to croaks emitted when handled, or during aggressive moments between males, but these researchers encountered several males that purred during the mating process. We aren’t sure what this means or if this is a wide spread behavior but it is another exciting discovery. Once the female has accepted the male and he mounts her from behind, he positions his pelvis so that both of their cloacas come in contact. This is how he spreads his sperm to her. Males do not have special reproductive organs like most other reptiles. So they perform the cloacal kiss to pass their sperm to the female. Male sperm are fast swimmers. They are actually the fastest sperm in the reptile kingdom, moving two to four times faster than any other reptile’s sperm. The female can store the sperm for 10 to 12 months.  Before all this happens, the female has been working on creating the eggs inside her body. It can take three years for a female to create and egg with yolk and an additional 7 to 8 months to create the shell. A female is only able to successfully breed every three to five years.  Once the eggs are ready and fertilized, the female can lay 1 to 19 soft-shelled, white eggs in her burrow. Incubation is extremely long at 12 to 15 months! Yes, it takes a year or more for baby tuatara to hatch into the world. This is unheard of in reptiles. Maybe not the best survival tactic for a species, but as we can see tuatara don’t do anything quickly. Similar to some other reptiles, temperature during incubation is important to the sex of a hatchling. Warmer temperatures produce males while cooler temperatures create females.  The eggs are on their own during incubation and the hatchlings have to fight for life alone as soon as they emerge from the burrow. Neither parent remains at the nest to protect the eggs or hatchlings. If they survive their early years, they have to wait ten to twenty years before they can join the reproductive cycle.  In this episode, I think we’ve proven that tuatara don’t do anything fast and that’s why their reproductive cycle is my third favorite thing about them.     If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

Summary: Where do tuatara live? Can I see one in MY backyard? Join Kiersten to find out if you can see a tuatara in your own backyard.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes: “Distribution of tuatara”, Te Ara: https://teara.govt.nz/en/map “Tuatara” by Marc E. H. Jones and Allison Cree. Current Biology, Vol 22, Issue 23, PR986-R987, Dec 4, 2012. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.10.049, https://www.cell.com/current-biology “Sphenodon punctatus (Tuatara)” Animal Diversity Web: https://www.animaldiversity.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. Last week’s overview of the tuatara probably made you want them in YOUR backyard, but they are only found in a small section of the world. This week we are going to find out where the tuatara live. The second thing I like about the tuatara is where they are found.  To see a tuatara in the wild you will have to visit New Zealand. They are found on different islands surrounding the main island of New Zealand as well as on the mainland. Those found on the mainland are there due to a reintroduction program begun in 2005.  The islands where you can find tuatara are fairly inaccessible which probably helped save them from extinction. The ones on the mainland were extinct before Europeans ever came to the island.  There are about thirty islands surrounding New Zealand where you can find tuatara today. Those island include Poor Knights Island, Hen and Chickens Island, Little Barrier Island, Cuveir Island, Mercury Island, The Alderman Island, Karewa Island, Plate Island, Moutoki Island, Moutohora Island, and Tiritiri Matangi Island. These are all off the northern coast. Sphenodon punctatus occurs naturally on all of these islands except Moutohora and Tiritiri Matangi Islands where the Northern Tuatara were introduced to help increase their population. Tuatara can also be found on Stephens or Takapourewa Island, Trio Island, Titi Island, The Brothers Island, and Matiu or Somes Island. Sphenodon guntheri occurs naturally on The Brothers Island and was introduced to Titi and Matiu Islands to boost their population. Please excuse any mispronunciations.  A scientific paper published in December of 2012 states that “there are about 32 natural populations of tuatara living on small offshore islands, a few island reintroductions, and at least one reintroduced mainland colony on the North Island [of New Zealand]. Most of the populations include just tens or hundreds of animals, but there are estimated to be at least 30,000 on Takapourewa Island.” End quote. The habitat that tuatara live in is an odd choice for a reptile as the islands are riddled with cliffs and exposed to strong winds. The vegetation is salt and wind tolerant; therefore, are pretty tough plants. The average temperature is below what the typical reptile can tolerate but tuatara are adapted to survive temperatures as low as 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  They spend their days in burrows that are dug by seabirds such as petrels, prions, and shearwaters when they are available or they will dig their own burrows. They also spend time soaking up the sun on the cliffs. Tuatara are more active at night leaving their burrows or basking spots to hunt for food. This episode is a bit shorter than my usual episodes and I do apologize. I will make it up to you in future episodes of the tuatara. Thank you for visiting with me to find out where the tuatara lives. It is my second favorite about this seriously cool animal. As the holiday season is upon us, I will be taking a break until the new year. We will pick up where we left off with the tuatara in January 2026. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me in January 2026 for another exciting episode about the tuatara.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Tua-what? Join Kiersten to find out what the tuatara is.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Sphenodon punctatus (Tuatara)” Animal Diversity Web: https://www.animaldiversity.org Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… This is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  My name is Kiersten and I have a Master’s Degree in Animal Behavior and did my thesis on the breeding behavior of the Tri-colored bat. I was a zookeeper for many years and have worked with all sorts of animals from Aba Aba fish to tigers to ravens to domesticated dogs and so many more in between. Many of those years were spent in education programs and the most important lesson I learned was that the more information someone has about a particular animal the less they fear them. The less they fear them the more they crave information about them and before you know it you’ve become an advocate for that misunderstood animal. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. The next unknown animal I have chosen takes us on a journey through ancient times. We haven’t ventured this far back in time since we talked about the coelacanth. Welcome to the first episode of tuatara. The first thing I like about this unknown animal is their continued existence.  You may be saying tau-what? Tuatara is our next animal. Let’s jump right into the classification which will answer some of your initial questions. Like what the heck is a tuatara? Remember classification is the way scientists identify different living things including animals and plants so that we all know who exactly we are talking about.  The classification of the tuatara is as follows:   Kingdom: Animalia (that’s the animals) Phylum: Chordata (chordates) Subphylum Vertebrata (that’s the animals that have an internal skeleton or the vertebrates) Class: Reptilia (that’s the reptiles) Okay! Now we’re getting somewhere. Tuatara must be a reptile! Order: Rhynchocephalia (there is only one reptile in this order) You guessed it! The tuatara. Family: Sphenodontidae Genus: Sphenodon Species: punctatus The scientific name for the tuatara is Sphenodon punctatus.  There are two recognized species of tuatara. The Brother’s Island Tuatara is Sphendon guntheri. The first tuatara, Sphenodon punctatus, is referred to as the Northern tuatara.  Now, we know this animal is a reptile, but what does it look like? Is it small? Is it large? Is it green, brown, or purple?  Tuatara can be green, olive, or brick red in color. Their adult size ranges from 15 inches, or 40 cm, in the female to 24 inches, or 60cm, in the male. Both male and female have two crests of dull-edged spikes that travel down the back of the head to the neck with the second on the middle of the back along the spine. The male’s crests will be larger than the female’s which helps to distinguish the sexes from each other. They have four short legs and a long tail that usually exceeds the length of their body. They look a lot like a lizard, but they aren’t exactly lizards. We will dissect that statement in a future episode. They have no external earhole but they do have ears. They have two eyes that can focus independently and are placed on the sides of the head.  They have a variety of scale structures along their body giving them a dinosaur-ish look. There are a few attributes that set tuatara apart from other species of reptiles. One of those is their third eye. Yes, they have a third eye, a parietal eye, right in the middle of the top of their head. It has a retina and is functionally similar to a normal eye. In juveniles it is exposed but as it ages a scale grows over it. We are currently uncertain of its purpose.  Another attribute that sets the tuatara apart is their teeth. Tuatara teeth are fused to the jaw bone, unlike any other toothed reptile. This is an acrodont tooth structure. This speaks to the age of this species of reptile. The tuatara is the only living specimen of Rhynchocephalia. All of them, expect the tuatara, went extinct in the late Cretaceous period. We will dive into this topic in a future episode.  One last thing about the tuatara before we end the first episode of this new series. One tuatara, many tuatara. When talking about the tuatara, the singular is the same as the plural.  Thank you for choosing to start this series with me. We are going to have a fun time with the tuatara. My first favorite thing about them is them!   If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week to find out where the tuatara are found.   (Piano Music plays)   

Summary: Do ants need conservation efforts? Join Kiersten to find out.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. The final episode of ants has arrived. As my loyal listeners know, this episode is typically about conservation and how we can help the animals or plantsman highlighted in this series, but the question I have about ants is whether they need conservation or do we need to conserve other animals and plants against ants. Let’s find out. The tenth thing I like about ants is conservation. The answer to this question may be both. Within our lifetimes it is thought that some species of ants have gone extinct, but not much research has been done on invertebrate extinction. I cannot say why, maybe it doesn’t happen often, maybe invertebrates that were undiscovered are the one that go extinct, or maybe no scientist has taken the time, or had the funding, to research this topic. One species of ant that was thought to be extinct was Myrmecia apicalis, a bull ant found outside of Australia. The only species of bull ant found outside of Australia. Somehow this species was able to cross an ocean and settle in New Caledonia. You probably noticed that I said it was thought to be extinct. Our ant hero Edward O. Wilson was on a trip with other scientists that happened to find a colony of Myrmecia apicalis on an island proving that it had not gone extinct. It was a joyful discovery but not one without concern. The ants had survived when we thought they had succumbed, but other ants, invasive ants had also come to the island and the excitement at finding Myrmecia apicalis was tempered with the knowledge that the invasive fire ant neighbors might wipe them out.  As Edward Wilson said in his book Tales from the Ant World, “The dark fate of this exquisite little species is entirely up to humanity. Myrmecia apicalis can be saved, along with other species still unrecognized, only if the little fire ants are halted and pushed back, and if the woodlands where the New Caledonian bull ant and probably other endangered species yet to be identified live are turned into carefully monitored reserves.” End quote. I could not say it any better. On the other side of conservation efforts are invasive species. An invasive species as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Interior is an exotic species that is introduced, non-native or alien and is also harmful in some way to the environment or to humans or both. I definitely think fire ants qualify. Solenopsis invicta, more commonly known as The fire ant, is one of the most successful invasive species of all time. Solenopsis invicta was probably introduced into the United States in the 1930s somewhere in Alabama. They establish themselves quickly and new colonies grow quickly. They can create new queens and more colonies within a year. By the 1940s it was well on its way to dominating the entire southern United States and found its way to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and China. It also spread south onto the islands of the Lesser Antilles.  Anywhere fire ants go, destruction follows. They are omnivorous and eat anything and everything that gets in their way. In pineland habitats, imported fire ants attack and consume small mammals and ground nesting birds. In the 1950s the U.S. Department of Agriculture said we must stop this destructive invasive species by any means. They decided to spray pesticides everywhere the ant was found all at one time. That would surely get rid of the problem. But that would also kill every other insect in the vicinity, poison mammals, birds and other vertebrates, pollute water sources, and expose humans to debilitating poisons. If even one fire ant colony survived it was all for not because that colony could start the process all over again within a few years. Thank goodness Rachel Carson and Edward Wilson spoke out against this option and widespread pesticide use was discontinued before more damage could be done. One thing we can thank fire ant for here in the United States is the launching of the new era of environmentalism. A time of more thought and less gut reaction. So how do we combat imported fire ants? One mound at a time. If we kill off the queens before they make more queens, then we can help. We will probably never extinguish them in their introduced habitats but we can fight the good fight by implementing targeted insecticide use and boiling hot water.  Another ant that has dominated the planet is the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. This ant is native to Northern Argentina and has been found on almost every piece of land on the planet. They have colonies that can span hundreds of square kilometers and they are indomitable. A quote form Mark Moffet’s book Adventures Among Ants give us a glimpse of the Argentine ant problem, “Argentine ants are as tenacious in the wars they wage with other ant species as they are in battles with their own, annihilating even California ants with far bigger and meaner workers. Though the Argentines can’t sting and are too small to bite humans, they use the energy-rich honeydew from their homopteran herds as fuel to quickly find and dominate every food resource they can reach, thereby leaving the competition hungry. But their depredations go further than that, for even when native species don’t vie for the same resources and offer no physical threat, the Argentine ants plunder their brood for an easy meal.” End quote. Isn’t it great that this species of ant made it around the world?  I guess the answer to the conservation question about ants isn’t as straight forward as some of the other species of animal and plant I have highlighted, but what we can say is that yes, they are in need of conservation whether from habitat loss or the invasion of other ants. Humans do have a role in the future of ants. Thank you for listening to the final episode of ants because the tenth thing I like about ants is conservation. I do have one final comment before signing off and that is a recommendation to read the books I have been referencing for this series. Any of the books by Edward O. Wilson will change your mind about ants, which I hope this series has at least partially done, and the photography and storytelling in Mark Moffet’s book Adventure Among Ants gives you a look into the ant world that will blow your mind. It is well worth your time. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me in two weeks for another exciting series about an unknown or misunderstood creature.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: Ants are such diverse organisms that extremes have evolved. Join Kiersten to learn about some ant extremes.   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. In this penultimate episode I thought we’d talk about the extremes of ants. The fastest, the slowest, the fiercest, and maybe a few more. The ninth thing I like about ants is the extremes. Edward O. Wilson studied ants for his entire life, give or take a few years when he was still in diapers, and that was 92 years. He discovered species we didn’t know about and described ant behaviors that boggled our human minds. It is no surprise that he included some of the extremes of ant life in his writings.  Something I had no idea about when I decided to pick ants as my next topic was that each species of ant has it’s own tempo. Not unlike music, this is the speed at which worker ants get things done. Some colonies are speedy as a tornado and others are as slow as molasses in winter, but they all get the job done. Each tempo fits the niche that a specific species fills in their habitat. Sometimes fast wins the race while other times slow persistence fairs better.  The fastest ants on Earth may very well be the workers of the genus Ocymyrmex. There are 34 known species in this genus and are found in most of eastern and southern Africa. Their chosen habitats are hot, hot, and hotter. Ocymyrmex, or swift ants, have streamlined bodies with very long legs attached with thick segments at the base. The mandibles are narrow and fit tightly against the head when folded. Their spiracles, air holes through which they breathe, are large. Ocymyrmex are built to be sprinters.  On a trip to Gorongosa National Park in Africa, Edward Wilson came across a colony of Ocymyrmex and wanted to grab a few for the Harvard University Lab. By this time in his career he’d caught a lot of ants, so he was well versed in the best ways to snatch a few specimens. The first obstacle he had to overcome was the extreme heat emanating from the mud flat on which the ants were running. It felt like a stove top, so kneeling down to catch some ants was going to be a challenge, but he was up for it. He positioned himself above the workers, readied his forceps, and caught not one single ant. The workers were just moving too fast. He could barely follow them with his own eyes much less grab them with forceps. A quote from his book Tales from the Ant World, “The ants were moving like a sizzle of water droplets in a frying pan, difficult even for the eye to keep track.” End quote. Those are some fast ants! Ocymyrmex are made for sprinting but another ant, which is a double extremist, is made for marathons. Ants in genus Cataglyphis are long-distance runners and Cataglyphis bicolor is one of the most heat tolerant animals known to western science. These ants live in the Sahara desert and are mainly scavengers. They search for dead insects and other arthropods that have succumbed to the heat of the desert to dismantle and bring back to the nest.  Cataglyphis bicolor can withstand temperatures up to 158F,  or 70C, but they must keep moving. If they stop, they fry. Talk about a good reason to keep moving. Let’s look at the opposite side of tempo, the slowest ants in the world. Ants in genus Basiceros are as slow as ants can get without dying. These ants are found in Central and South America. They are not well studied and; therefore, poorly understood. The main problem is they are incredibly difficult to find. If you can’t find it, you can’t study it.  What we do know is Basiceros ants are medium in size and rely on their camouflage to survive. Their opaque brown color closely matches the fallen leaves and mold in which they live. They do hunt for food and like any other slow moving predator they are ambush predators. They simply wait for prey to come to them, lunge, strike, and seize it. They will stalk prey, as well, just at a very slow pace. If they are discovered by something, or someone, uncovering their hidden pathways under the leaf litter they freeze and will remain still for minutes at a time to protect themselves. Edward O. Wilson says of them, “Their tempo may be as slow as an ant species can employ and still survive.” End quote. The Basiceros ants are also an extremist twofer. They are the slowest ants and also the dirtiest ants, which may be a linked trait. When Edward Wilson stumbled across some Basiceros in Costa Rica and transferred a colony to Harvard to study, they realized that the brown color of the ants wasn’t just camouflage to blend in with the dirt, it was dirt. The bodies of these ants are covered in coiled and feather-shaped hairs that essentially collect dust and debris. They use the dust and debris to hide amongst the leaf litter.   The colony of Basiceros studied at Harvard demonstrated this in an unexpected way. At the university, the colony that was brought back and housed in tunnels made of plaster of Paris. Within several weeks of living in the man-made tunnel the ants had turned white! They had replaced their dirt colored garments with the white plaster of Paris so they could blend in with their new habitat! For the last extreme we will discuss lets’s look at timidity and fierceness, both serve ants well in different situations. Dolichoderus imitator is probably the most timid, or least offensive, ant in the world. This small ant lives in the Amazon rainforest of South America. Most colonies typically consist of a few hundred workers and a rarely seen queen. They nest in random cavities of decaying leaf litter and do not set up permanent colonies. If they are disturbed, by person or predator, they scatter in all directions. Nothing seems to be directed; although, they do pause long enough to pickup the closest larva or pupa to take with them. The individuals will shelter in any covered place they find nearby waiting for the danger to pass. The colony will reconvene in another random clump of leaves elsewhere. Maybe the transience of their nests breeds timidity for survival reasons.  On the other side of the coin is fierceness. There are several candidates for the fiercest ants in the world. Our first candidate is the bull ants from Australia. They are in the genus Myrmecia and the largest workers are the size of hornets. They nest in craters of soil and are not intimidated by any creature that comes near, including something as big as a human. Edward Wilson has seen them lock their large eyes onto an animal simply walking by the nest. Sentries will turn and watch and if you come close, they walk toward you. If they catch you, you will regret it. When the interloper makes the correct decision to leave, they follow up to 10 meters, or 32 feet, to make sure you don’t come back.  Bull ants are pretty scary due to their size, but ants that live in symbiosis with a specific bush or tree are even scarier, especially if you come in contact with them in their home. The guardian ant, Pseduomyrmex triplar, are found in palo alto trees common in Colombia. In 1770 Jose Celestino Mutis happened upon these ants in an unpleasant encounter. He paused under a palo alto on a hot sunny day and quickly found himself covered in red ants that were continuously stinging him. There were so many and they were stinging so fiercely that he had to remove all of his clothes and jump into the nearest body of water.  Edward Wilson gives his vote for most ferocious ant to the tree-dwelling Amazon ant Camponotus femoratus. These ants are also know as the epiphyte garden-ants. They live in the trees and use soil and vegetable detritus gathered from the ground and surrounding branches to build spherical ant-gardens around certain species of epiphytes. Epiphytes are plants that grow on the surface of another plant but does not harm the host plant. The ants’ nest is held together in part by the roots of the epiphyte. A quote from Edward Wilson’s book Tales from the Ant World tells us all we need to know about why he voted these as the fiercest ants in the world. Quote, “When I turned and walked downwind toward the colony, a swarm of workers erupted almost instantaneously. As I came closer, but still without touching the nest, the defenders went berserk. Piling up on top of one another, they reached out toward me with the abdomens of many pointing in my direction and spraying a cloud of formic acid.” End quote. I see what he voted the garden ants as the fiercest ants in the world! There are many more extremes in the ant world, but I have already gone over time for this episode. I’m glad you joined me for my ninth favorite thing about ants, their extremes.  If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.

Summary: We know ants are farmers, but are they also ranchers? Join Kiersten to find out!   For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett “Trophobiosis is a tropical rainforest on Borneo: Giant ants Camponotus gigs (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) herd wax cicadas Bythopsyrna circulate (Auchenorrhyncha: Flatidae),” by Martin Pfeiffer and Karl Eduard Linsenmair “Aphid-farming ants,” by Annie B. F. Ivens and Daniel J. C. Kronauer “Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects,” by John D Styrsky and Micky D. Eubanks Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops)   Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. Two episodes ago we found out that ants are farmers, at least some species of ants are farmers and they are amazingly well organized and productive farmers. The other side of sustained food production is ranching. Ranching is a form of agriculture focused on raising livestock for various uses. Are ants ranchers? Let’s find out! The eighth thing I like about ants is their ranching activities. For those of you listening in order, last episode we learned about the Weaver ants of Africa that live in trees. They are some of the coolest ants out there with special physical adaptations  and behavioral adaptations that help them survive in the tree. One of the activities I didn’t talk about, because I was saving it for this episode, is their ranching. The weaver ants, Oecophylla longinoda, use other insects as a form of food resources. Now they do hunt other insects and tear them apart and eat the bits, but they also corral certain insects and use the honeydew that those insects produce as food. Mealy bugs, plant hoppers, and scale insects are some of the “cattle” that Weaver ants utilize. These insects are all sap-sucking species that tap a plant for it’s sap and drink it. The ants love the honeydew, or doo-doo, that comes out the other end of these insects. Yes, that’s correct, the ants are eating their excrement which is actually more nutritious than nectar.  The Weaver ants are protective of their livestock keeping them from harm and moving them to fresher pastures, just like human cowboys. They often build leaf tents over and around their charges keeping them hidden from predators and controlling their movements so they can gather the honeydew for as long as the insect lives.  Who knew ants were ranchers? It’s not only Weaver ants that exhibit this behavior.  Some species of Formica ants are also ranchers. They will tend similar insects as the Weavers including Mealy bugs, plant hoppers, scale insects as well as whiteflies and aphids. I found several papers talking about the relationship between Formica ants and aphids. They really treat these aphids like humans treat cattle. The ants tend them, watching them to protect them from predators, they will pick them up and remove them from a plant when danger arises (okay humans can’t pick up cattle, but we can escort them to another area when needed), and when the part of the plant that the aphids are eating from begins to run dry the ants will take them to greener pastures. The ants are after the honeydew, of course, the excrement from the aphids, just like the Weaver ants. It is high in concentrated sugars and carbohydrates that keep the ants running.   Giant ants, Camponotus gigas, from the tropical forests of Borneo herd wax cicadas. They are incredibly well organized in their herding and perform three behaviors to help gather as much honeydew from these cicadas as possible. Some of the ants are collectors and spend about 80% of their time sitting below the cicadas to collect the honeydew as it comes out. Ants that spend their time collecting often focus on one cicada, returning to the same individual after each collection. There are also secondary gatherers that collect honeydew from the body parts of the primary collectors and receive honeydew via trophallaxis, or passing of regurgitated liquids to another insect. This allows the primary collectors to spend more time collecting directly from the cicadas. The secondary gatherers take the collected food back to the nest. A third worker might sometimes stand in front of the cicada and perform what the researchers called “antennating from ahead”. One or more ants will sit in front of the cicada or next to it and gently tap it with its antenna. At times this seems to encourage the cicadas to pass honeydew more frequently, but sometimes it didn’t do anything, except possibly annoy the cicada. It’s so interesting that these Giant ants of Borneo have adapted such specialized behaviors to collect excrement from another insect. It may seem like the ants may be controlling the aphids or cicadas and taking advantage of their production, which is not entirely false. Many ant colonies restrict the movement of their insects just like humans do with cattle, allowing them to go only where they want them to go, but its not always bad for the cattle. Aphids are not the most cleanly insects and they congregate in large groups, as any gardener listening to this episode will tell you. A group of aphids can suck a plant dry! Anyways, the ants retrieve the honeydew almost immediately once it is excreted. This is an advantage to the aphids, because it cuts down on fungus that can grow on the excrement and sicken the aphids. The ants are also protecting them from predators. Some ants remove Ladybugs, their larvae, and pupae from the plants that the aphids have chosen to feed upon. Ladybugs love a juicy aphid! Parasitic wasps that feed on aphids are also on the ants’ radar. One of the questions that researchers have about this mutualistic relationship is whether it’s obligate or facultative. Turns out it can be both. Facultative mutualism is a relationship where both parties benefit from each other’s company but do not rely on each other. The previous discussion is an example of this. The Formica ants tending these aphids can walk away and find food elsewhere and the aphids can also go about their business without the ant ranchers. Obligate mutualism is when one or both parties is reliant on the other for survival. Some ants and aphids have evolved to rely on the other for survival. Some species of aphids and other insects have lost their ability to protect themselves without the help of ants. Some ants rely on the aphids and other sects to provide honeydew, they have lost the ability to go out and look for other food. Certain aphids live inside the ant colony and have lost the ability to grow wings and fly to find a mate. They just reproduce asexually throughout their entire lives and never the the ant colony at all. If these aphids left the ant nest, they would not survive. I guess we have proven that ants can be ranchers, as well as farmers. Thanks for joining me for this episode of ants as ranching is my eighth favorite thing about them. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next week for another exciting episode about ants.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, my very own piano playing hero.