True Facts: The Rise of the Kitten Snake

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Thank You:
Robert E. Fuller, artist and filmmaker
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Dr Angela Horner
Dr Natalie Uomini
Dr Anthony Friscia
Dr Chris J. Law
Dr Karol Zub
Dr Tom Glass
Evan Buechley, University of Utah
Irish Wildlife Watch: / @irishwildlifewatch
Jytte's Trail Camera: / @jyttestrailcamera
Shem Llewelyn.
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Citations:
Arilla, Maite & Rufà, Anna & Blasco, Ruth & Rosell Ardèvol, Jordi. (2019). Small carnivores' cave-dwelling: neo-taphonomic study of a badger (Meles meles) sett and its archaeological implications. Historical Biology. 10.1080/08912963.2018.1558449.
Dechmann, D., LaPoint, S., Dullin, C. et al. Profound seasonal shrinking and regrowth of the ossified braincase in phylogenetically distant mammals with similar life histories. Sci Rep 7, 42443 (2017). doi.org/10.1038/srep42443
Fenelon JC, Lefèvre PL, Banerjee A, Murphy BD. Regulation of diapause in carnivores. Reprod Domest Anim. 2017 Apr;52 Suppl 2:12-17. doi: 10.1111/rda.12835.
Hartstone-Rose A, Hertzig I, Dickinson E. Bite Force and Masticatory Muscle Architecture Adaptations in the Dietarily Diverse Musteloidea (Carnivora). Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2019 Dec;302(12):2287-2299. doi: 10.1002/ar.24233.
Haslam, M., Fujii, J., Espinosa, S. et al. Wild sea otter mussel pounding leaves archaeological traces. Sci Rep 9, 4417 (2019). doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39...
Horner AM, Biknevicius AR. A comparison of epigean and subterranean locomotion in the domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo: Mustelidae: Carnivora). Zoology (Jena). 2010 May;113(3):189-97. doi: 10.1016/j.zool.2009.11.001.
Horner AM, Hanna JB, Biknevicius AR. Crouching to fit in: the energetic cost of locomotion in tunnels. J Exp Biol. 2016 Nov 1;219(Pt 21):3420-3427. doi: 10.1242/jeb.132449.
Kitchener, A. C., Meloro, C., and Williams, T. M., Form and function of the musteloids. In: Biology and Conservation of Musteloids. Edited by David W. Macdonald, Christopher Newman, and Lauren A. Harrington: Oxford University Press (2017).© Oxford University Press. DOI 10.1093/oso/9780198759805.003.0003
LIWANAG, HEATHER E. M., ANNALISA BERTA, DANIEL P. COSTA, MASAKO ABNEY, TERRIE M. WILLIAMS, Morphological and thermal properties of mammalian insulation: the evolution of fur for aquatic living, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 106, Issue 4, August 2012, Pages 926-939, doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2...
Rolim, F.A., Rodrigues, P.F.C. & Gadig, O.B.F. Baited videos to assess semi-aquatic mammals: occurrence of the neotropical otter Lontra longicaudis (Carnivora: Mustelidae) in a marine coastal island in São Paulo, Southeast Brazil. Mar Biodiv 49, 1047-1051 (2019). doi.org/10.1007/s12526-018-08...
Twining, J.. The ecology of a recovering native predator: The European pine marten (Martes martes). Dec 2020.

[@zefrank]

Check out Curiosity Stream! Go to curiositystream.com/zefrank and use code: zefrank to get 25% off when you sign up!

[@ravensmythe1]

My son loves curiosity stream! Thank you for your continuous education, humor, and hard work! I hope one day you'll cover horseshoe crabs! They're amazing creatures! Enjoy the holidays!

[@raymondj8768]

Frank thanks for the video have a merry Christmas !!!!!!!!!

[@honorboundfate9521]

Hey zefrank, could we learn about prairie dogs in honor of his greatness, Sir Biggerton Ouncerton?

[@amberbush1999]

The Wolverine needs its own video, if you didn't make one already and I just didn't see it.

[@researcherchameleon4602]

Now I want to design a spec evo creature that can fart bees just for the joke

[@MichiruEll]

Watching the badger burry the cow makes me think we might have an explanation for missing hikers whose bodies were never found

[@bobclarke5913]

And DB Cooper

[@lairdcummings9092]

@@bobclarke5913 Somewhere out there, there's a badger den lined in 100 dollar bills...

[@SandySaysRead]

new fear unlocked...

[@elif6908]

Wow 😮 never ever thought about that it’s a bit terrifying honestly

[@MrLumagu]

Now we know who to ask about Jimmy Hoffa's whereabouts

[@r.ipeter6445]

I love how Frank kept rambling about bee farts but the "shoot acid from their nipples" flew right past him. Good job Jerry

[@zefrank]

They really do that

[@elylew]

@@zefrank Is that why they're so cocky?

[@r.ipeter6445]

@@zefrank I searched the internet far and wide but alas I still not know if you jest or not. Could you enlighten me, man of silly knowledge?

[@SaintGerbilUK]

It's all lies, bee hives fart bees all the time. People don't think they're farts but hives are allergic to pollen which is why they are farting all the time.

[@embee7434]

​@@r.ipeter6445 not Mr. Frank, but milk has a pH generally between 6.2 and 6.8, very slightly below neutral 7. So while I cannot confirm 'shooting', they do in fact create (a very weak) acid... with which to feed their behbehs.

[@heatherlea561]

“Kitten snake” is far superior to my college ferret’s nickname, “stretch rat”

[@somethingforsenro]

disagree

[@skinnyweeny2178]

Snakes with fur is much classier, though.

[@Yonkage-ik5qb]

Taxonomically speaking, it should be "puppy snake" anyway.

[@somerandomdude6358]

Stretch rat is a better name

[@matthewtullis7205]

Bendy Bendy hamsters

[@ajmatheson2807]

Fun fact: a certain character WAS going to named "The Badger" by co-creator Roy Thomas, but since "badger" meant "to annoy" he went with "The Wolverine" because he wanted a tough Canadian animal.

[@BrigidsBlest7]

And then in 1983, comics creator Mike Baron went ahead and created a character called the Badger anyway. Just as vicious and crazy, but...no claws. Yeah, I dunno why either. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_(comics)

[@GaiaX5]

That's the comic book industry for ya, bub.@@BrigidsBlest7

[@keepinmahprivacy9754]

Now I'm imagining if they had decided to lean into "The Badger" and make him an annoying wisecracker who would never shut up.

[@ajmatheson2807]

@BrigidsBlest7 yeah, they tried a reboot or re-release in the 90's and had that one... basically a smaller Sabertooth

[@AskMia411]

I mean wolverines also have long claws and are just as ferocious as badgers. Another reason they didn’t go with badger could be because badgers are common in children’s stories and usually portrayed as chill (which is inaccurate but it could’ve influenced how he was seen by comic readers at the time he was introduced). I’m honestly sad ZeFrank didn’t go into more detail on the wolverines, they’re pretty cool too

[@MrChainsawAardvark]

So back in the 1970s, my dad told my mom that Fermi Labs used ferrets to clean the particle accelerator. She did not believe this. Being in an era before the internet was available to civilians, took it upon herself to call the laboratory directly to confirm this. Apparently this fact was correct. A ferret was fitted with a harness and attached to a rope, and then ran through the apparatus. In turn the rope would be used to maneuver the cleaning equipment. Some twenty years later my parents are taking the family to a science museum in Aurora Illinois. (SciTech, brand now at the time, but which unfortunately closed in 2022.) In the rush to get five kids in the car for a long road trip they misjudged the opening time, and arrived too early for admittance. Staff are present, however, and let us in - allowing us a private museum for a few hours. As we're getting ready to leave, we share the above story about ferrets with the people working there. As it turns out, many of the staff are form Fermi Labs employees, and the manager in fact volunteered his pet for the job. It was named Felecia.

[@phydeux]

And as they sent the ferret in to clean the works one of the workers heard the manager to say, "Bye Felecia!" and thus the first internet meme was born long before the internet.

[@orchdork775]

​@@phydeux😂

[@bari2883]

What is a particle accelerator.

[@phydeux]

​@@bari2883 - If only we had some kind of magical device that sits on a desk or fits in the palm of your hand that you could ask ANY question of and it would give you the answer.

[@noroiko7996]

​​@@bari2883 A particle accelerator is a structure designed to accelerate small particles to nearly the speed of light. In essence, they are giant ringed tubes lined with lots and lots of magnets. It's used for physics experiments. The largest particle accelerator is the current CERN particle accelerator in Europe, called the Large Hadron Collider, which has a perimeter of 27km (or about 17 miles). The one at Fermi was like 8km (~5 miles) if I remember correctly.

[@vincei4252]

That python wrapped around the honey badger is now examining its life choices. Many can learn from it.

[@rodgill9376]

I actually kind of felt bad about that python though. They didn't think that the badger could not only escape and fight it off but then gets double teamed when a fox or whatever that was showed up. Poor thing lol.

[@DemBigOlEyes]

I too, aspire to fart bees and squirt acid from my nipples one day. Just like my spirit animal; the kitten snake.

[@KWillo]

The honey badger was trying to see how the python looked as a chain.😂

[@SuziQ.]

It’s probably dead. Those Jackals looked serious about using it for the kind of tug-o-war where the “toy” gets destroyed.

[@AbysmalRapture]

​@@SuziQ. I've seen the full video of that and if I remember correctly the python actually survives, the jackals kept pissing off the honey badger so it chased the jackals off and the python took that as it's opportunity to make a break for it

[@user-jr8xn1ss1r]

4:29 "You have to admit: It's pretty metal using a corpse as neck support" Well, that's T-shirt material.

[@be6715]

Is it meta and not metal?

[@trexvalleygirl2770]

​@@be6715 Metal as in heavy metal (Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin). 🤘

[@timsullivan4566]

Best line : "You wanna sell your car to a weasel...? ...Do it in January!"

[@djdksf1]

Years ago, I was hiking in Waterton Lakes (Canadian side of Glacier Nat'l Park) when a chipmunk dropped right in front of me - blood coming from its neck. I stopped cold and waited, and in about 2 minutes, I heard a rustling in the brush to my left, then I saw a little weasel about the width of my thumb and about 10" long peering out at the dead rodent. He looked right in my eyes as I just stood there as still as possible. After another couple minutes, he worked up the courage to come out and grab his prize, and then dragged it (easily 2-3 times his mass) up the entire trunk of a tree by its neck. I was absolutely floored. I asked a ranger about it when I got back to the trailhead and he said that it was definitely a Least Weasel and I was very lucky to have seen it, since they are almost exclusively nocturnal hunters. Such a badass little critter.

[@cynthiatrombetta4655]

Sometimes, you wake up a little peckish.

[@Brando56894]

That's like a jaguar dragging a dead deer up a tree, always amazes me when I see footage of it.

[@manaash4316]

Good thing you stayed still. Sounds like a ferocious lil thing. Probably looked into your eyes trying to decide if he should supersize his meal 😂

[@skeptiwolf5654]

I once had a squirrel steal a bar of chocolate bigger than it. I am still sore about it. It distracted me with it's cuteness as I was petting it it grabbed my uneaten chocolate and ran off. I chased it and failed to catch it.

[@ashtheviking5007]

You're lucky to have gotten out alive, who knows how much they can carry.🤪

[@jackielinde7568]

Nice to see that Ze has kept Jerry around. Not the most reliable assistant, but he do has enthusiasm for what he do.

[@tammylaronde8593]

He should do a True Facts about Jerry. 😆🤣

[@caseysingletary9260]

@@tammylaronde8593 I'd pay to see that video! 🤣

[@jenniferstrover1276]

That is how the Jerry do

[@erickchristensen746]

I want them to seal roles and see how fun that is

[@simonolsen9995]

I laterally choked when I noticed how you dun dood dat.

[@TempoTronica]

Playing tug of war with a snake is the most metal thing I've seen all day.

[@British_Rogue]

_"All badgers have the ability to fart."_ It seems toilet humour plus the rule of threes still works on my grown adult self. Well played, Jerry. Well played.

[@saracrampton2012]

Hehehehe…perhaps you meant ‘toilet humor plus the rule of bees’

[@prodigalpriest]

🤣

[@longobardir]

You are 100% correct about Honey Badgers not farting bees. They fart Murder Hornets and laugh maniacally the whole time they do it.

[@nhmooytis7058]

I suspected as much! 😅

[@CD-Gaming]

Yeah, it's their European counterparts that fart bees! Why do you think Badger wasn't in Fantastic Mr. Fox more?

[@ryuudrazyl5330]

I remember winning a tree from a squirrel in a territory dispute. True story. My family loves telling it to folks. I was outside my grandparents house and noticed a gray squirrel was thumping its front paws on a tree trunk and making a pretty loud "virrup" sound. I stood at the base of the tree and tapped my nails on the trunk in the same pattern and did my best to mimic the squirrel's call. It would do its display, I would then do mine. It went on for probably half an hour or so. Eventually, the squirrel looked really ticked off, chittered at me, jumped to another tree and took off. I was there for a week and it didn't come back. No squirrels were around any of those trees for several days. So, yeah, I got in a turf war with a squirrel and won. 😅

[@A_T216]

I'm surprised it engaged, apparently considering your challenge legitimate! Super fascinating that a squirrel (and I assume most or all squirrels) didn't recognise you as part of a non-tree-dwelling species. I wonder if they're like cats, thinking we're just weird looking, poorly performing versions of their own species.

[@FlyToBeach]

😂 legend has it that squirrel passed all your information onto its neighbors thus preventing any squirrels from populating that tree

[@Callimo]

Well, you can add "facilitating successful arboreal ownership in English AND Squirrel" on your resume now :D

[@TabethaAurochs]

I have somehow incurred ire and resentment in a very large squirrel who lives in the patch of pines behind my apt. Nearly every morning for the past two-ish yrs now, this huge squirrel, who is more Shaq than Chuck and so I call it Shaq, showcases its powerhouse athleticism by bounding to its perch atop my A/C window unit, making quite a racket. 🐿️ As Shaq peers inside, giving the MOST attitude, we inevitably make eye contact-and Shaq goes OFF. 🧨 Chittering, harumphing, stomping its feet, Shaq eventually stands up, locks eyes with me, and bangs on my window! HARD. Three times! Sometimes more! I'm like Shaq, what did I do? What do you want, bruh? 🤯 My beagle-mutt is terrified of Shaq. Shaq wrinkles his nose, clearly disgusted with us, finally doing this twitchy swishy poofy tail thing, then POOF! Shaq's gone. 💨 Recently, Shaq's started bringing a bird around with it. And as God 🛐& Dog 🐶 are my witness, this weird bird 🐦‍⬛ 🪶is indisputably the Chuck to squirrel Shaq. Now it's probably too cold for Chuck to come 'round, but Shaq comes all year round, come rain, snow, sleet, only staying away when the temps hit the low teens or single digits.I live for Shaq the squirrel's morning shame sesh-Shaq' s disapproval is everything to me ❤😂😂😂😂

[@ladyaj7784]

​@TabethaAurochs You mentioned that Shaq brought the bird around. I was sooo confused to learn in the next sentence that it was a *living* bird. Clearly, Ze Frank has moulded my expectations. 🤣🤣🤣

[@Carly.m.springer]

I watched a friend’s ferret once when she was on vacation, and I’ve never seen an animal sleep so soundly. Every other pet I’ve had wakes up and looks around at loud noises, but ferrets seem to be so fearless that they sleep like the dead no matter what’s going on around them!

[@v8wr253]

I had a rat that slept like the dead. One time she was hanging out of her little hammock with her front paws and head down and i touched her bc i like the way rat fur gets soft and poofy when they're asleep and she didn't move. i picked her up and she stayed stiff. Started wailing and put her on my back to cry bc she liked being there. Woke up slowly. turns out that was not an unusual thing. When she died i made sure she was dead by basically rollercoasting her around after trying to pat her awake.

[@sporilight]

​@@v8wr253I am so sorry for the loss of your valued pet, but if the visual of "rollercoastering her around" to make sure she was dead didn't give me the giggles... 😅

[@v8wr253]

@@sporilight I'm glad you got a laugh! She died 2 years ago now and lived almost 4 years. On average rats live 1 so she lived a nice, long life! :D

[@sporilight]

@@v8wr253 Oh wow that is a long life!

[@soloexperiencer]

It simply wakes, looks around and gets back to sleep so fast that you don't even notice. That's how good they are.

[@aliciahowell9617]

Thanks for the shout to Robert!!! His owl, kestrel, stoat and kingfisher habitats are amazing!!!! He’s the only wildlife videographer to film the nesting behavior of Kingfishers. He films gorgeous footage and crafts stories about the animals and their families that are really entertaining. He’s an incredibly talented painter and wildlife rehabilitation specialist too! I just love when he ankle tags the owlets after each mating season. He also has footage of a male kestrel Mr Kes learning to feed and care for his nestlings after the mother disappeared. They mate for long periods and the males only hunt while the females tend to the nestlings and defends them. Mrs Kes likely died so he saved his babies by learning to care for them with a bit of secret help from Robert. He has a lovely accent and the videos are very relaxing at bedtime!

[@itzakpoelzig330]

Yes, that channel is a treasure trove.

[@greatestytcommentator]

Were the stoats in that film, his rescued babies in the wild?

[@crystalm4324]

I remember watching him film the babies growing in that hole inside the tree!

[@aliciahowell9617]

@@greatestytcommentator Yes he hand rehabbed baby stoats who lost their parents and he has a wall built on his farm that is a stoat habitat with wildlife cameras built in to record their lives in the habitat.

[@jospinner1183]

Yes! I was delighted to see his footage on a Ze Frank video. I've been enjoying Fuller's videos and artwork for years now.

[@DanGamingFan2846]

"He's even got a little pill- Oh god, that's a dead mouse." That and the honey badger and the jackel playing tug of war with that python while he regrets his life choices are definitely the highlights and some of my new favorite True Facts moments. I love these snake kittens. Not only are mustelids some of the most successful and widespread animals on the planet, but they make for both some of the cutest or most shocking nature videos ever. Now if only they really did fart bees.

[@watershipup7101]

I wish Jerry was right about that.

[@genjis5155]

He makes edutainment so fun.

[@thusnameddigital9397]

If woverines or honey badgers farted bees, the world would end.

[@nerfherder4284]

Yeah, sea otters are also cute, until they rape a baby seal to death. Fact

[@kalipw0210]

​@@nerfherder4284Ducks are some awful creatures too. *Every year they grow an even bigger exploding corkscrew penis* Gang grape females..to death some times. The girls have evolved to have fake twisted counter corkscrewed vaginas. Ducks...wtf?!

[@user-me6td1up1m]

Something else about otters - they’re extremely intelligent. A veterinarian involved in a breeding program for Eurasian otters said that their team noticed that the family group would leave their shellfish sitting in the sunlight for a few minutes every time they were fed things like mussels. The otters had figured out that leaving the bivalves out in the heat for just a couple minutes would make the shells open up and did that every time to avoid having to crack the shells open.

[@granatmof]

Sea otters will also have a favorite rock, and even have a pouch for their rock or somehow keep up with it. Theres asl a city, and I forget which continent it's even in, where there's otters in the river and marina. People started tracking the colonies and started reporting g on the turf wars and even territory swaps of the otter colonies on the river. It's pretty fascinating.

[@lapisliozuli4861]

@@granatmofwonder if it’s Singapore, but the otters arrived only a few years ago

[@mikeoxmall69420]

I thought they would have used their famous bee farting ability

[@user-me6td1up1m]

@@mikeoxmall69420 maybe that’s just defensive. Don’t want to waste the bees on a clam. :)

[@user-me6td1up1m]

@@granatmof I believe that might be Singapore. I haven’t watched any of the videos about the Singaporean otters, but someone said that two groups of otters from different species started interbreeding. What made this unusual wasn’t just the inter-species aspect, but that they actually had offspring, even though the two species aren’t even in the same genus. Even more unusual is that the offspring are capable of having babies of their own, when most inter-species hybrids like mules and ligers are sterile.

[@garethdean6382]

The least weasel is so named because that's the least amount of weasel you can have in one place. This is opposed tot he wolverine, which is known as the Most Weasel.

[@RKroese]

Should have mentioned that otters hold eachothers hands sometimes when they sleep, to prevent from floating away. How about that for cuteness.

[@xitaris5981]

Finally, KZbin actually gave me a notification for True Facts for once

[@laserlotus5]

Let's be honest. We all see the KZbin notifications but rarely read them, they just pile up and then you clear them. Lol. It's all about scrolling the subscription page.

[@francinemiranda8409]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

I got a notification but no link in my inbox. I had to go to my subscription page to find it.

[@East_TX_LCR]

Same

[@louisebanks6085]

Me too

[@clownwreck]

I can't believe you didn't mention that otters have built-in pockets! They keep their favorite clam-smashing stone in them!

[@vincem3748]

Cell phones too, I hear 😂

[@yikesyourchunkyhostilityha2321]

And some car keys

[@williammagill9977]

Giving us the expression, "she was as wet as an otters pocket".

[@naatkeey]

I want a whole episode on otters

[@user-me6td1up1m]

It’s really only sea otters that have the pouch, because they’re more aquatic than their river otter cousins. Otters that live along rivers and lakes, like Asian small-clawed otters and Eurasian otters, don’t have a pouch.

[@Raptorboy015]

Fun fact: Mustelids are caniforms under the super family Musteloidea and under the infraorder Arctoidea. Meaning they are closer to dogs ( technically bears ) than they are to actual cats

[@DJFracus]

Mongooses are kind of like the feliform equivalents. Maybe civets too.

[@Aliandrin]

Apparently hyenas are felid and not canid. And while they claim a fossa is not closely related to a cat, 1) just look at it and 2) it has retractable claws. Retractable claws are a massive innovation and you have to explain to me how it happened twice. So I don't put a lot of stock in geneticists being able to tell a cat from a dog.

[@AskMia411]

@@AliandrinI mean convergent evolution is absolutely a thing, so it could happen twice independently. The amount of crustaceans that independently evolved into crab shapes despite not being true crabs is nuts! There’s also a bunch of prehistoric reptiles from various groups that evolved into whale like creatures, from crocodilians to mosasaurs. So an animal having a similar shape and features as another animal doesn’t necessarily make them related.

[@Aliandrin]

@@AskMia411 Crabs evolving six times is technically a loss of function - the tail becomes reduced and the animal thus starts going sideways. Retractable claws should at least make you think as it is such an incredible addition of function. But we won't know until someone breeds a cat and a fossa. Or tries and fails.

[@SophiaAstatine]

​@@AliandrinI don't think I can breed bats with dolphins no matter how much they use sound for navigation.

[@louissavoy4832]

Jerry's creative take on research is always appreciated.

[@naviara715]

I've always considered them snake-mammals, but yeah, kitten snake fits very well.

[@DemBigOlEyes]

I too, aspire to fart bees and squirt acid from my nipples one day. Just like my spirit kitten snake.

[@timnordstrom7383]

> Implying kittens are, in fact, not mammals.

[@VampiresAreRealGuys]

@@timnordstrom7383 hah good thing i thought a bit before i chewed you out. i thought "weasle teach them a thing or two" but i mustelid made a mistake. im gonna stop beaver i say something i wolverine. i dont know what happened here i guess something got mongoose.

[@VampiresAreRealGuys]

@@timnordstrom7383 sorry i didnt mean to badger you. i just got a little carrion away and now im just a raccoonteur.

[@timnordstrom7383]

@@VampiresAreRealGuys Some of those were almost good ngl

[@mar83161]

Was born and raised on a ranch in Wyoming next to the ranch where the Black-Footed Ferret was re-discovered after it was thought to be extinct. It's diet is exclusively Prairie Dogs and helps to keep them in check. Almost exclusively nocturnal. The same week the ferret was discovered 70 game biologists showed up in town... The population was finally captured entirely and selectively bred in the Sybille Canyon wildlife facility here in Wyoming, and finally built up enough numbers to reintroduce int he wild. They've been a one of the few success stories for the Endangered Species Act.

[@mar83161]

Edited to add: That's a Black-Footed Ferret in the thumbnail, and is the first ferret shown in the video.

[@audreymuzingo933]

Yikes, Wiki says there are still only about 200 in the wild, spread across a bunch of states.

[@lexslate2476]

Are they the ones that were the target of those vaccine-laced M&M drone bombing runs?

[@Holidaemon2516]

Also one of the first endangered animals to have successfully been cloned. They got DNA from a sample that had been frozen back in the 80's that had no direct descendents, so it would've been great for genetic diversity. Unfortunately she apparently had to get a hysterectomy for unspecified reasons, but the proof of concept is pretty damn cool already

[@audreymuzingo933]

@@Holidaemon2516 Yes the whole "frozen Ark" thing comforts me to some extent, but just as "God" didn't HAVE to flood the world, we don't HAVE to keep using it up like there's no tomorrow. Everywhere I go I see avarice and waste, and I swear I'm not one of those cynics who looks for ugly things.

[@reivenne]

Thank you so much for shouting out Roberts work! He's so talented and his backyard should be an inspiration for anyone in the UK who wants to make their yard more nature-friendly. His work is SO very important in this time, as so many UK species are under threat.

[@Dw3llerr]

I find it so fitting to learn about Mustelids just one week after the ending of a D&D game starring Stoats.

[@ecurps1]

9:37 otter posse "Your mother was a hampster and your father smelt of elderberries! Now go away before I taunt you a second time!"

[@IronFreakV]

2:58 I died when the jackal joined in bashing that python, things went from bad to worse real quick

[@isabelmcgaugh711]

It tried the honey badger and decided it’d take its chances with the snake.

[@pansepot1490]

I have seen elsewhere (who knows perhaps even in this very channel but probably it was a bbc documentary) that badgers and coyotes are hunting partners. They hunt small burrowing mammals (like prairie dogs): while the badger tries to follow the prey in their tunnels the coyotes hovers and wait for it to get out of the opposite end. Sometimes they switch roles. Seems amazing and difficult to understand how they “agree” to collaborate however these opportunistic partnerships often are useful to both as the python example shows.

[@dragontear1638]

@@pansepot1490 I've heard of this a few times before, it's mentioned that while they don't tend to share the reward of the hunt, the hunts are much more successful than working alone.

[@nicohart6781]

Awwww you did mustelids! I'm so excited and loving this so much. My little danger noodles are enjoying it very much too. "Hello!" from the domesticated badgers.

[@cjburnham7346]

As someone who works at the Oakland zoo I will say it was very excited to see our boy at 9:49

[@jasondashney]

Jealous!

[@YEs69th420]

Something interesting about badgers is that they have reverse counter-shading; instead of having colouration that would disguise them from prey or predators, they're actually very visually obvious on purpose to convey that they are not afraid of anything.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Same thing with skunks, I assume?

[@YEs69th420]

@@MatthewTheWanderer Pretty much. Being conspicuous on purpose is pretty much the biggest flex possible in the animal kingdom.

[@Snargfargle]

I once ran a trapline of 50 museum specials and found them all to be tripped but nary a mouse to be seen. As I got to the end of my set, I heard a shuffling and snuffling up ahead. There, I found a fat and happy badger, eating the last of my trapped mice. We had a least weasel as an office pet at the museum. I had caught in in a live trap set for rats. It lived under a rock in a terrarium and I never saw it until I tossed in a vole, at which time there was a brown flash and then the vole was gone. If least weasels were the size of mountain lions we humans would have to live out our lives cowering in concrete bunkers.

[@SetiSupreme]

Yeah, they are the perfect killing machine. We have them here in Finland but it's a once in a lifetime thing if you somehow happen to witness one in the wild.

[@HennryHammerhead]

Problem is they can only be that fast because of their small size. If they were the size of mountain lions their speed (and to some extent their strength proportional to thwir bodies) would drop by a fair bit since so much extra energy would be needed to move themselves around.

[@Snargfargle]

@@HennryHammerhead That's true, and well-documented in the quickness of the actual mustelid species, with the badgers and wolverine not being nearly as quick proportional to their size as the weasels are. However, it's fun to speculate "what ifs." It's a rare thing to see a weasel in the wild. I was a field biologist, doing much of my research and teaching outdoors, and have only seen a handful of them. Most of these were inadvertently caught in live traps set for rodents when they chased a mouse into one.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

@@HennryHammerhead But, cheetahs are much bigger AND much faster than any weasel...

[@HennryHammerhead]

@@MatthewTheWanderer Cheetas also only weigh like a pound more than the average house cat. Nevermind the fact they get boddies by just about everything under the sun. Not really the best comparison tbh.

[@RobBernhard]

I'm so glad you featured Robert Fuller videos. I've been a fan of his KZbin channel for some time now and it is amazing the footage he captures!

[@littlerileyg]

omg what a joy to see you use some Robert E Fuller footage! His work is incredible, glad to see game recognize game

[@michaelccopelandsr7120]

A new True Facts! All is right with the world. Thank you, Ze.

[@wendymoyer782]

It's an early Christmas present!

[@johndemeritt3460]

And Jerry's back on the job, too!

[@charmh.422]

"Lady in the Tramp, that's always been a horror movie, from the point of view of the noodle" You made a great point, always giving new perspective ZeFrank 😂

[@joellucas5274]

How tf does he think of this??? This line killed me 😂😂😂

[@3takoyakis]

The giant snake turned from snacking into a snack for the musteliids (honey badger). Heck even dogs are joining too

[@rainsticklandguitartalk9483]

Thank you for doing a mustelid video. I asked a while back about ferrets, and loved seeing them as part of this video. I've had ferrets in my life for the last 15 years or so, and can't do without them. They're definitely cuddly if you treat them right. All mine have been super sweet. It's nice to see them portrayed accurately, rather than as a rodent or vermin.

[@Blue_J-th2fd]

Lol 😂 best episode yet! Had me cracking up! Also, very informati- gosh dang it, Jerry! They don’t fart bees!

[@CatholicDragoon]

Ah natures most underrated fur-murders, the shear versatility and viciousness of these adorable little monsters is a sight to behold.

[@cya2163]

Holy crap! I never knew they could bury livestock!!! I'm not sure whether I'm completely amazed or terrified!!!

[@mar83161]

The size of a hole a Badger can make while digging for a ground squirrel here in Wyoming is something you can lose a 4WD pickup in!🤠

[@seattlegrrlie]

Terrified. I'm going with terrified

[@piediddly]

Why not both?

[@TheReapzilla]

Thanks for Jerry's hard work researching these videos.

[@TheOReport1994]

He certainly tries his best!

[@michaelpepsin9581]

For more than a decade i've been provided with masterpiece after masterpiece, thanks Ze

[@ApetureTestSubject]

I have never related more with ZeFrank than when he just wanted to watch the otters being cute. Because they really are that damn cute.

[@S3lkie-Gutz]

Evil, but cute regardless

[@user-me6td1up1m]

@@S3lkie-Gutzif those are smooth-coated otters, they’re river otters. They behave differently to the sea-going variety.

[@alle2740]

Otters hold hands while floating too to stay together, it's super adorable.

[@riskyraccoon]

as an old fan of the show it's nice to see food being put on the table, and millions of people happy. it doesn't have to cater to niche audiences to be a force of good in the world

[@Kyoko123]

Oh my gosh I am DELIGHTED my YT algorithm led me here. This reminds me of the old Disney instructional videos where the narrator would mess with Goofy, except the narrator’s getting messed with by the writer. Subscribed immediately.

[@silverXnoise]

I had a ferret when I was in college named Mojo. He loved to take baths, so wasn’t ever smelly. He was very ticklish on his belly. My roommate smoked and would leave his cigarettes lying on the coffee table, so Mojo would stretch up and get one in its jaws then go bounding around the house with a cigarette in his mouth, which looked absurd. Mojo was a cool cat(tube).

[@supremecai5857]

How long did they live?

[@silverXnoise]

@@supremecai5857 I’m actually not sure. We adopted him from some friends who were moving away and couldn’t take him (they were heartbroken), and he was already 4-5 years old. We had him for about two years, and ultimately I moved into a small apartment and became a grown up with a job, while Mojo stayed with my old roommate. He must have pushed 10-years, anyway. It’s been nearly 20-years since, so it’s all sort of blurry. I grew up in a farming community, and have kept a menagerie of pets in my life-from cats, dogs, rats, and hogs. I can tell you that Mojo the Ferret was easily one of the most entertaining and charismatic creatures of them all. He was intelligent, gregarious, playful, friendly, and because they look so inherently absurd he was always making us laugh. We bought a holster for him so we could put him on a leash and take him for walks around town, which made us look equally absurd, I’m sure.

[@Eat_Pie]

So happy to see Robert E. Fuller mentioned! I watch both him and ZeFrank religiously, so this crossover is an absolute win!

[@tgill2943]

I would love to have a tibble with both of these brilliant naturalists. Happy Holidays all creatures far and near.

[@WaningGibbous]

Me too!

[@Acousticeg]

I raised Ferrets for over 20 years. I absolutely love this video and especially your humor in the narration about the Mustelidae family member's. In all the years I spent with ferrets I never loved a ferret that didn't love me twice in return. Or ever failed to make me laugh. Looking back now...All my best friends had four leg's.

[@Launchies]

Love is a four legged word.

[@josephhenderson2538]

4:11 That looks like a scene from a Scooby-Do movie

[@SuziQ.]

Remember, check your holes for Ferts. 5:07 Looks like bunny sex, too. Those cute little house rabbits get rough, with the neck biting, and clawing, and that’s just when they’re practicing on a human foot. Thank you, Ze! Happy Holidays to you and your family! 🎄

[@Just1Nora]

House cats too tbh. It seems like most mammals which sexually reproduce choose one of two approaches: go as fast as possible before she beats the crap outta you, or grab onto her so she can't run and then beat the crap outta you. 😂

[@Ragnarra]

Same with hedgehogs gotta go fast while the guys trying to get some. Also cougars when in heat scream and yes its terrifying. Typically mid size carnivores with large territories have neighbors who are female just to get some choice mating opportunities. Cassowaries and relatives have the award for dad of the year in the animal kingdom as the male incubates, raises and cares for the hatchlings with violent intent if you dare go near them. They are velociraptors come again.

[@thecatofnineswords]

@@Just1Norawe humans could take some initiative from this, too often it's the men doing the beating.

[@jader2357]

​@@thecatofnineswordsironically, dolphins who are considered really smart, also have the males doing the abusing. The pods are brutal, they will chase and abuse a woman for weeks. Also killer whales, but they are cruel to their food/other animals, I'm not positive between them

[@Mereologist]

@@thecatofnineswords Studies show that female humans initiate the vast majority of domestic abuse, including 45% of physical violence. So you get your wish.

[@travisshallenberger9486]

Awesome! Finally, the weasels get their time in the spotlight. The part about farting bees disturbs me though. Would they have the instinct to make honey in there? Would the colon become covered in honeycomb? That would make it a honeycolon, which is just about the most self-negating portmanteau ever.

[@Faesharlyn]

It would better explain why it's called a honeywagon...

[@LordofSyn]

Keep your voice down... Big Cereal has been looking for a new name. Don't give them profits, my dude.

[@j.robertsergertson4513]

It's called a honey badger ,right?

[@nunyabiznes7446]

Profile pic checks out lol

[@Jeorin]

I've heard of bee's knees, but honeycolon is a first for me. Thank you for this gift.

[@YsabetJustYsabet]

I have cared for, raised, been bossed around by and loved a large number of ferrets over the course of nearly 40 years; and I can absolutely verify that, if they COULD fart bees, they totally would. Absolutely awesome video, and I agree with you about the Wolverine thing; should've been Badger. And I bet HE could've farted bees.

[@dangerxbadger2300]

What is that ADORABLE critter at 5:35?!?!?! 🥰🥰🥰

[@lairdcummings9092]

I always thought of mustelids as "Tube Cats." Kitten Snake is a worthy alternative.

[@unlimitedduckgamer]

"Mr. Magoo as a Furby" freaking floored me! Id also like to mention "If you want to sell your car to a weasel do it in January" also killed me 😂

[@comedyimpossible]

“You wanna sell your car to a weasel, do it in January” is not a piece of advice I ever thought I would get

[@ananaithnid7495]

Even before I saw the watermark or heard the shoutout, I recognised Robert's work. Absolutely love his stuff, and every time one of his videos pops up somewhere else I get unreasonably excited.

[@RandomBogey]

I miss my ferret. They can be a handful- they need a lot of attention, but they’re so fun and goofy. Their little war dance is probably the single funniest thing any furry critter can do. My ferret loved boxes, so we’d scatter a handful of cardboard boxes around the gated off kitchen when we’d let him out to play. He and my little dog would play with each other and the dog would chase the ferret around from box to box, then he’s randomly go on the defensive and charge her from one of the boxes, they’d play battle for a minute, then he’d dart back to one of the boxes and the cycle continued. I cut holes cut in the top of one box, like the whack-a-mole game, and the ferret would pop his head up out of the hole and the dog would try to get him before he ducked down and popped up from another hole. Eventually they’d get tuckered out and lay down and the ferret would weasel his way into the bed next to the dog

[@supremecai5857]

How long did they live?

[@DarkWolfsDen]

It can be funny when you can get ferrets and dogs that get along. Back when I had ferrets and a Shar Pei, one of the funniest sights to see would be the Shar Pei walking around the house with the ferrets hanging off her folds by their teeth. They knew just the right amount of grip to use without going through.

[@DarkWolfsDen]

@@supremecai5857 Average life span of a pet ferret is generally 5-7 years. There have been cases where pet ferrets have lived longer but that is the average and many will develop cancers or other problems. Most ferrets past the age of 4 will generally develop cancers/adrenal disease so it is one thing to keep in mind before getting one as it is important to be able to care for them. More info: cimarronah.com/ferret-adrenal-disease-cancer-can-be-prevented/

[@DanceintheRaine666]

​@@supremecai5857whereas scientific articles state wild black footed ferrets have a life expectancy of 1 year, the species of the domesticated ferret is different and typically live a decade.

[@weezlemum]

depending on individual genetics on average 5-9 yrs. @@supremecai5857

[@twistedbranchesfishing]

YES!!! Thank you for this! I took my older son out backpacking in Wyoming. While up in the mountains, we fished a glacial lake and caught some trout. We left a trout on a rock, and a marten came from out of nowhere, sat on the rock, and ate the trout. It had little marten noises and seemed really happy that we had left it a trout. So, we ate trout, the marten ate trout and we had a moment.

[@amyrussell860]

Awww. That was sweet of you.

[@Malefizzz]

Except the trouts... 😅

[@moonbeamchaos]

I’m so happy that you credited Robert Fuller - he’s a terrific naturalist, and does excellent films on nesting birds, among other subjects.

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Love the deep dive into rodent antics and carnivore evolution! Your humor's got me cracking up while I'm learning.

[@jenelaina5665]

9:01 the badger definitely used this pic for their Christmas cards

[@elkraft1046]

10:32 It's not bullshit, you just need to do it in water. That's the reason hotels have pools

[@BakeBMDeezy]

I paused it at 0:53 and its crazy how murr really does look like a human ferret.

[@PhileasLiebmann]

8:43 Actually some badgers do poop inside, but if they do they actually go to specially dug toilette burrows off from the main burrow with long vertical shafts and they throw in soil and leaves and stuff in after to cover up the poop.

[@CarloRufinoSabusap]

"Meatballs of the field" Ze has such a way with words.

[@WizzardJC]

I love Kitten Snakes, mine was an albino polecat called Sandy that lived to 11, I got her a harness and I used to walk her round our farm. Sometimes I’d put her in my coat pocket as well, and she LOVED Her bath. Also for some reason she hated my uncle David and would nip him if he tried coming near her, I’m convinced he did something wrong as she was friendly to everyone else.

[@Jeremy_the_unfallible_n-a]

i had a ferret too, it wasnt aIbino but it was aII white. it Iived for a IiI over 9 years

[@natanluiza2936]

"If you want to sell a car to a weasel, do it in January." 😂

[@jackthejackrabbit1947]

Kitten snake is by far the most accurate description of most mustelids I've ever read

[@Draedaja]

They have the ability to- no. Just. The delivery. The timing. Amazing, 10/10. Cutest video in a while!

[@CG_Hali]

Our wild pine marten has us totally trained! She's so freaking cute we leave an egg and peanuts on the door sill everyday now and she comes eat and takes the egg like take-out! When we forget, we sometimes find her on the bbq waiting. Chipmunks also feel at home here and will come in if we leave the deck door open. We have cats but they don't understand the concept of that type of predator lol

[@11macedonian]

Thats awesome. Im surprised the pine .artin doesn't just eat the chipmunks when you forget its egg.

[@bryanlariviere5702]

The chimpunks in my yard knew to avoid the dog (Even though she was 13 and didn't even notice them (Too old to chase them) The thing is they did not fear us. We would feed them nuts but they would come right up to you. I was sitting listening to music (Not nuts in hand) and it jumped up onto my foot waiting for me to give it peanuts. (luckily there was a bowl on the table from earlier when my mom and sister were feeding them so I grabbed on, it then jumped it and took the peanut from my hand.) Be able to pet a while chupmunk is cool.

[@sdfkjgh]

Please don't feed wild animals. It just leads to acclimation, and then tragedy for either the animal(s), the human(s), or both.

[@lewis3128]

The non-european badger looks like he's wearing some mad headphones, smashing worms and listening to slipknot

[@SithMami]

I love Robert E. Fuller! Love that you referenced his amazing work!

[@kellykat8057]

"Mr. Magoo as a Furby!" Dates me too!😂 Love that you're back to making full length features.

[@AshLeeeeee]

Shoutout to D20's Burrow's End for making me so emotionally invested in fuzzy tubes before watching this

[@lauren8135]

“From the POV of the noodle.” 😂 too good. truly. 10/10

[@danielaverin802]

This is basically one of those rare channels where you can safely hit like before watching. I'm sure it will not disappoint. Thank you ZeFrank!

[@asusmctablet9180]

It's another fine day of saving the bees!

[@Bogwedgle]

I had the absolute privilege of watching a pair of wild baby stoats play for a few minutes a while back, the cutest psycotic murderers in the entire animal kingdom.

[@dakotahrickard]

These are my favorite mammal group. I affectionately refer to them as WormCats. Same vibe, less teeth. I think yours is more accurate. I never thought about how much heat they would lose over time. Thanks for the great video.

[@protocolsavage8506]

Carpet sharks, danger noodles, elongated pandas, etc.

[@ArinJager1]

b-but they're caniforms (=dog-like) >.>

[@starmayne1982]

“He is such a weasel in January” is my new favourite line to use in an argument

[@capnstewy55]

"Look at how happy he is" badger needs to be the next T-shirt.

[@touremuhammad5983]

1:49 “Mr Magoo is a Furby!!” That got me! That got me good! 😂😂😂

[@newbeartrucks4422]

Thanks Ze Frank. Always appreciate the clever humor.

[@grantdaniel6648]

So a fun fact about Wolverines is that their scientific name is Gulo gulo. Yes we absolutely loved that in the Mammology lab I just took because it was easy to remember but also yes we did roll our eyes and crack a few jokes of it getting named when the scientists were in a hurry.

[@ironsilk6634]

Mr. Magoo as a Furby is one of the best quotes of 2023.

[@dragonmaid1360]

I cant help but feel jerrys aiming for a raise with these bee antics😅

[@Ironbattlemace]

3:17 ROBERT E FULLER MENTIONED!

[@pedrowoolson4273]

One time I watched a least weasel going back and forth from a stream bank to wherever he was living - each time he went back home he had a fresh mouse kill. I'm not that patient so he was jacking those mice like a cop jacks donuts (or maybe he had jacked them all and was just stashing the little mousy corpses for later, perhaps to put on a puppet show for his baebies). All while giving zero efs that I was about three feet off his chosen path

[@jeremiaas15]

European badgers are often mates with foxes and sometimes do room-sharing. The badger does maintenance on the burrow while the fox hunts.

[@stevenshea990]

According to a Wes Anderson documentary, they also work together to steal chickens and hard cider from local dim-witted farmers.

[@elif6908]

Are they roommates or mate mates? Sorry for the wonky sentence but I don’t know how to word it better 😅

[@junebunny0712]

@@elif6908. Mates means friends in British, from what I’ve heard. So, they meant roommates most likely.

[@KoyasuNoBara]

That is adorable, I love it

[@stephgreen3070]

My brother and his family live near a river and get to watch a family of otters all winter long. They re just fascinating and very adorable.

[@CoeCoeLoco]

"With or without the bees!" Indeed... 🤣🤣🤣

[@alicewilloughby4318]

5:28 - That little *FACE!!!* (melts)

[@littledreamerrem7021]

Sounds like you need to give Jerry a bee episode now.

[@vincem3748]

That would bee awesome! . . I'll show myself out

[@darkdragoness5]

Fun fact, cheetah cubs grow a thick grey patch of fur on their head and backs to mimic honey badgers, because most predators don't want to deal with an angry honey badger.

[@abee5723]

"meatballs of the field" 😂

[@theemissary1313]

Ze Frank video releases brighten every day. "Look at this one stretching out in his den, he's even got a little pillow, oh God that's a dead mouse..." 😂😂😂