At Twitter Tim Daniels reminds me that there are people who believe the whole universe is flat not just as a temp and all it mentioned earlier in the hour about flat earth there's but at that Antarctica is a wall and the other planets have landscapes beyond that wall and all have their own ice walls all right and Hey Phil tower giving a shout out to grand rapids tonight along the coast to coast AM radio network standing by is that Nick Caruso there's also a they also mentioned for you Nick on Twitter to let somebody sent me the covers of of your book to pass this along so thank you and believe it or not is the new one the definitive field guide to earth slimy creatures we were just talking about possums because I just wouldn't thought they would be you said it's really just the the front and the back at the end of the business ends of apart right yeah yeah so when they feel threatened it's an involuntary response for them to up to play dad and it's accompanied by you know frothing at the mouth so they the creek that extra wine we go live that walks up and then they'll go to create this foul smelling green secretion from there and I'll glance out I mean who would only eat something right now all the awful life right so this theoretically of a of a fox or you know we'll for something more in the mood for some possibly come up to it they be like no thanks that's been dead for a while for I thought in your book other was interesting I didn't realize this that that possum females have do wool reproductive tracks and that possum males are will be the way we would describe it bifurcated where they would like a like a plug into a wall with the quick into both of those active tracks at the same time is that right yeah and it's one of my favorite next is that people thought that the mail actually Maynard what her nostril and she needed the doors how's your health they should have I get the couldn't imagine a scenario where each of their reproductive tract match I believe that's how my mom explained it during the talk but I don't remember my mind went blank with so tell me what you're slime ratings like how did you determine slime ratings well suited for a micro there Danny ramie ID and I and we got together and and discuss you know the characteristics of the line it is already producing the stop all the time are the just during special scenario we kind of made a a list of everything and had criteria for how you rank them and it was it was a rather involved process so this was but but it was a process between us here as we are right we which star fell the lime experts so over a couple of beers well virtual beer she within a new K. this was all done online and are all we've we've actually never met each other shop really how we don't we working on it one day yeah three books and you've never met no so every day at least you face time or Skype I mean you know each other look like yeah yeah October Twitter and you know email and all that stuff so so I mean we we made it work there's a romantic comedy in that for somebody out there I'm telling you so the but like the slightest creatures may be the ones that most of us don't know about maybe because they're in the deep sea and and the fact is the slime that is produced in nature tends to have a purpose right ambience not just they're doing it for sport or it's not that he has an evolutionary purpose right yeah and and most aquatic organisms have some type of blind help them maneuver through the water more efficiently but then you also have the species like the hagfish that yeah when they when they get threatened they wanna protect themselves they're gonna align themselves and everything around them so that they don't get eaten yeah and and they do this I've I've seen the bucket experiment thing where you put a bunch of hack fish in a bucket and then agitate them yeah it it never gets old if anything how much it can expand yeah I saw that I do you want to look like that is so but then they're not the only ones because this summer what's the parchment worm is that what it's called all right Sir because that that's like when you're higher rated slime creatures yeah so there are a warm they're not always you learn there which means they have a lot of hair everyone's hello and there's a lot of different species some of them will create kind of like a muted net and that's how they tracked that floating by in making defeat everything that gets trapped in there the species that live in the DC that if they get attacked though actually make the island luminescent new case that they have she got on the predator and then the prize become visible and other things are more likely to eat that thing the great defense but you know I mean we you like knowledge obviously you do in the book that humans to a degree you know when we're ill we create various things like snot for example but that's not the norm for us right it's most primates don't do if they involved out of the slime that was there ever a time in human evolutionary cycle where there is any archaeological suggestion that we were slimy here in the past I don't know the answer to that I would but yeah I would too but reading your book and like well but if the whole idea is to evade or deceive that's an interesting thing that we never develop that other animals do other and other for that matter other you know I mean like marsupials dead where they that's how they do but we never didn't seem like we went through that phase other than like a bad cold and you don't eat somebody's at about is like I have a cold well I mean I don't want to eat you wanted it but yeah I'm not suggesting you but but if you were you would draw the line at somebody who's in that place and so but I like I like it like how about things that are well the things that are living but we wouldn't they're not by people or anything like like trees and corals and stuff like that yeah coral great temple of a slimy creature that they have a mucous covering on them so specially the species that live and titled areas were gonna you know during low tide they might be exposed so that new gifts can help protect them from drying out and that's that's the across a lot of different species that that's fine or new gets or some type of slimy covering can help species urban water loss and that makes sense but then are there others that use that too is a way of are there any touch are there any times that slime is used as not just a defense but an offense yeah yeah one of my favorites are velvet warm that they have needs wine can and on their face and it simply act like an untethered hose like if you ever tryna hold on poor blacks and just let it go that's what it looks like and they shoot if flying you speaking right on their prey and it just immobilize them completely and I can just you know go to go to town eating eating there immobilize correct amazing and hippos I was surprised to see hippos listed as a chapter on slimy creatures I wouldn't think of a hippo is slimy shiny but not slimy right yeah this is another great evolutionary adaptation so only this is by saying you know don't go out Robert half on you after explaining what they do you might want to do that so but hippos this pink sweat that is it helps protect them from infections so they you know it was a very aggressive so it actually helps them action the way but also help them prevent UV damage yeah and able to play out the African sun on longer incredible and and you know it's not quite like ours to what it got a little bit more flying to it which one sounds like there's there's actually secreting sunscreen yeah don't rub have on you know yeah and while yeah but then to that so you're saying that even because it you mention their aggressive so when they get in those battles they scrape each other all the time and this is what keeps them from picking up more infections from from from water sources which may or may not be very clean that they're exactly right but what are spittle bugs bonds are some insects that they'll feed off of plant sap and they make and their their their names switching between alarming it all I was actually kind of coop themselves in this phone dot sap yeah and it can't hide them competitive that also doesn't taste good which is common theme in the book it's amazing how many times we came across and that were scientists who study the wine at like one minute feature and it's a fact yeah well it and there's a lot of things even just by the name of spittle bug I would want to taste I don't know why he would go I think I'll taste of spittle bug and see what happens but it would be either but thank the third week so he he's known for you now so what are what are the most dangerous of the slimy creatures because like snakes are not slimy which we eat some people think of them as they are because they're kind of shiny again and they they are they looks you know when they move they kinda glint the light off of them as though they are but they're not so what's the most dangerous of the slimy assed creatures on on the planet I guess it depends on on who you are whether there are some usually the south American leeches that will actually live in the nose and mouth of of mammals including US if you happen to go in the water yeah terrible yeah really I think that's actually reaction I have reading any of your entries it's either thanks it's like or you oh my god but so wire why would they be so dangerous the ones that are going up our nose so just like any other leach and they can they can draw blood from your body and you know if you have open open one can always get infections as well and so the species that actually named after the trend of those racks because the of it the large T. for so just to give you an image of yeah really it's got to be incredibly painful I was I was thinking about Komodo dragons because they're they're saliva is toxic right so even if they even if they bite you if they get one good bite and they get some of your saliva is some of their saliva into your system you can.