Weird But True (2016–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Animal Headgear - full transcript
CHARLIE: What's up guys?
Today we're hanging out
in Alaska, and talking
about animal fashion.
When you think about fashion,
a few cities might come to
mind, like New York, Milan,
Paris, but, for animals,
it's actually right
here, in Portage, Alaska,
'cause they've got animal
headgear fashion down.
KIRBY: Hey guys, what's up?
CHARLIE: It's time
for Weird but True!
Hey guys! Charlie here!
You know my sister Kirby.
KIRBY: Hey guys!
CHARLIE: We're so
glad that you're here.
KIRBY: Because the
coolest thing just happened.
CHARLIE: Alright so Kirby
and I were just outside
on a hike you know?
Normal day.
When all of the sudden
we stumbled across
something awesome.
-Whoa!
CHARLIE: Check it out!
KIRBY: An antler!
CHARLIE: A horn!
KIRBY: Wait.
CHARLIE: Wait.
-What?
KIRBY: I'm pretty
sure it's an antler.
CHARLIE: I know it's an
antler, but is it also a horn?
KIRBY: Is an antler
a kind of horn?
CHARLIE: Or is a horn
a kind of antler?
I don't know.
KIRBY: I don't know either.
CHARLIE: So I guess that's
what we're doing today.
Unraveling the world of.
-Animal headgear!
CHARLIE: Hey guys, today we're
checking out animal headgear.
Looking at antlers and
horns and trying to figure
out what sets them apart.
KIRBY: Hey Charles.
Check out page 35.
CHARLIE: Ahh this is good.
Alright, so apparently
this is an antler.
KIRBY: Whattup!
CHARLIE: Yeah and
100% not a horn.
KIRBY: Kirby's a genius.
CHARLIE: Yeah yeah, whatever,
but this clears everything up,
and I think I know the perfect
way to explain it.
Hey Kirb I'm feeling a little
poetic today, what about you?
KIRBY: Charles, I'm
always feeling poetic.
CHARLIE: Alright guys well
toss on your black turtlenecks
and buckle up buddies!
Welcome to HQ
underground, people.
Today we're listening
to a selection of
prose on the topic.
KIRBY: Horns vs antlers.
CHARLIE: We just learned
that there are three differences
between horns and antlers.
Which we will describe to you.
Man. In poem form.
KIRBY: Naturally.
CHARLIE: Naturally.
KIRBY: Naturally.
Difference number one!
Shape!
Oh I can see,
count one two three,
these antlers branched
just like a tree.
CHARLIE: Many times thick,
one spot to prick,
my horn is shaped
just like a stick.
Alright. Time for
difference number two.
KIRBY: Composition.
Snap your fingers
just like that,
antlers are dense
more like a bat.
CHARLIE: Antlers are dense
and a single structure.
Just like a baseball bat.
While a baseball bat is
made entirely of wood.
An antler is made entirely
of bone, through and through,
that grows right out of the
animal's skull.
Horns, however are different.
They are made up of two parts.
Like a sword and a sheath.
There's a hard core
connected to the skull,
that would be the sword,
and an outer covering
that fits right over
it, like a sheath.
That core is pure bone,
but the outer sheath part
is made out of keratin,
the same material that makes
up our hair and fingernails!
KIRBY: Alright,
difference number three.
CHARLIE: Lifespan!
KIRBY: It's quite clear,
your antlers deer,
will last as long
as one school year.
CHARLIE: Antlers start
growing in the spring!
In April or May.
Throughout the summer
they continue to grow.
They eventually lose their
soft velvet, and become
hard and bony by the fall.
Finally, in the winter,
the antlers are shed.
They fall right off!
Next spring, the
process starts all over.
So animals with
antlers have to regrow
them every single year.
Man the life style of horns
is the opposite of antlers.
Cows, muskox,
big horns too,
my horns will last
a whole life through.
Animals keep their horns
throughout the whole year,
throughout their whole lives!
Some animal's horns
never stop growing!
Wonderful, wonderful.
KIRBY: Charles,
this is so easy.
CHARLIE: Oh yeah?
KIRBY: Yeah.
Check it out. Antlers.
Branched, bony, temporary.
Horns, unbranched, bone
in a keratin sheath,
and last forever.
It's easy stuff!
CHARLIE: Alright Kirb, well
if you're feeling strong,
let's see what you got!
KIRBY: Okay!
CHARLIE: I'm gonna hold
up some images of animals and
you gotta guess the head gear.
Antler or horn.
Sound good?
KIRBY: I got this.
CHARLIE: Let's do it.
First up we've got a moose.
The largest moose
headgear measured six
feet, nine inches across.
That's more than one Kirby!
KIRBY: Well I know
horns aren't branched
and antlers are,
so I'm gonna go with
antlers for this one.
CHARLIE: Perfect!
Number two the alpine ibex.
Male alpine ibex have headgear
that can be 55 inches long.
KIRBY: Alright those
are looking pretty
unbranched to me.
Maybe like a keratin
sheath around a bony core!
I'm gonna go with a horn.
CHARLIE: Awesome.
Here's a tricky one.
The white-tailed deer.
KIRBY: Tricky?
Come on man this is what
we picked up in the backyard.
-Whoa!
KIRBY: Branched, bony, we're
looking at some antlers there.
CHARLIE: Three for three!
Speed round. Bison.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Elk.
KIRBY: Antler.
CHARLIE: Antelope.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Markhour.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Jackson's Chameleon.
KIRBY: Oooo a lizard!
I'm gonna go with horn.
CHARLIE: Giraffe.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Wait, uh what?
Giraffes don't have horns?
Let's just go
with another one.
Pronghorn.
KIRBY: Antler.
CHARLIE: Huh. What?
No again. Ummm, rhinoceros.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Wait rhinoceroses
don't have horns?
What's going on here?
KIRBY: How is that possible?
CHARLIE: Yeah, I don't know.
We need like a few
minutes and when we come
back I'm sure we'll have
it all down alright?
See you in a bit.
KIRBY: Weird but True,
antlers can grow up
to one inch per day!
That makes them one of
the fastest growing types of
animal tissue on the planet.
CHARLIE: Remember, antlers
are branched, solid
bone, and shed every year.
Horns are unbranched,
made up of a bony core
and keratin sheath,
and last for a lifetime.
So if we look at giraffes,
it turns out that these little
giraffe things are made out of
cartilage, not bone.
That means they're something
different, called ossicones.
So it's true, giraffes,
don't have horns.
KIRBY: And rhinos look
like they have horns,
too, right, there,
but those things are
made out of only keratin.
No bony core and
no keratin sheath.
So, they're not horns either!
Yeah, rhinos don't have horns.
CHARLIE: Pronghorns have
pretty hornlike headgear, but
they're actually kind of like
a mashup between an
antler and a horn.
The thing is made up of a bony
core and a keratin sheath, but
it's forked, like an antler.
And they shed the sheath in
the fall, also like an antler.
So these aren't really
horns, but they aren't
really antlers either.
They're just something
else entirely.
KIRBY: So it turns
out horns and antlers aren't
really the end of the story.
CHARLIE: There's a whole
lot of other animal
headgear out there.
KIRBY: Whoa Charles!
Check this out!
Animal Headgear Fashion Week!
Live! We gotta tune in!
CHARLIE: Welcome everyone to
Animal Headgear Fashion Week!
KIRBY: We're broadcasting
live from what we've decided
is the animal headgear capital
of the world.
-Portage, Alaska!
CHARLIE: I'm Charles.
KIRBY: And I'm Kirby.
CHARLIE: Bringing you the
latest styles of headgear
making their way across the
runway.
KIRBY: It's sure to
be an exciting week.
Isn't it Charles?
Let's dive right in!
First up, the
tusk runway show.
CHARLIE: You know,
Kirb, I was blown away
by this year's looks.
Tusks are definitely
in this year.
KIRBY: The elephant
looked absolutely timeless
in its enormous tusks,
simply dazzling the runway.
CHARLIE: Our favorite
swimwear look.
-The walrus!
KIRBY: He never disappoints.
CHARLIE: But the real
runway show stopper.
The hippo.
KIRBY: Two sets of tusks.
CHARLIE: The perfect
complement to
its enormous mouth.
KIRBY: The detail!
CHARLIE: The accents.
KIRBY: The energy it
took to grow those, they
work for any occasion.
CHARLIE: Hey you
changed the channel!
KIRBY: Super quickly, we
gotta talk about tusks!
Tusks are another awesome
example of animal headgear.
They kind of look
like horns coming out
of an animal's mouth,
but they're actually teeth.
Teeth! That just keep
on continuously growing.
How weird is that?
Usually they're the
canines, but sometimes
the incisors, too.
One of the most impressive
tusked animals, the
north sulawesi babirusa.
CHARLIE: Two sets of tusks.
KIRBY: Yup! the
upper and lower canines.
The upper canines grow up and
backwards through its nose!
The north sulawesi babirusa,
major tusk all-star.
Alright back to fashion week.
Alright up next
fresh for fall!
We have our newest bird looks!
CHARLIE: You can dress it
up, you can dress it down,
but in a bird's ensemble,
the beak takes the crown.
KIRBY: Our favorites
in active-wear.
The Australian Pelican.
CHARLIE: Dazzling,
simply ravishing.
KIRBY: Functional fashion,
a big trend this spring.
CHARLIE: In day wear we were
impressed by the toucan.
KIRBY: Bold pops of color.
A nice accent and
something new.
CHARLIE: Cool cool.
So beaks, like horns
and our fingernails, have a
covering made up of keratin.
They keep growing throughout
the bird's entire life!
Birds use beaks for
all sorts of things.
Let's check out the
Rhinoceros Hornbill.
The theory is that it uses
this chamber on the top of
its beak to amplify its calls.
The Roseate Spoonbill uses
its beak to strain tiny little
crustaceans out of the water.
And the Shoebill
Stork uses its big old
bill to chomp on fish.
How weird does this guy look?
Like a goose shoved it's
face into a wooden clog!
So weird!
This just about wraps up
our coverage for this year's
animal headgear fashion week.
KIRBY: All that's left to
do is give our lifetime in
fashion achievement award.
CHARLIE: This year we're
honoring a true visionary.
KIRBY: A surprise
choice, the porcupine.
CHARLIE: Timeless.
KIRBY: Elegant.
CHARLIE: Ingenious.
KIRBY: Inspiring.
CHARLIE: All seem to
fall short of describing
this fashion mogul.
So yeah, the porcupine
comes out of nowhere with
the ultimate headgear.
Quills are super stiff prickly
pointy hairs made out of
keratin that cover their head
and body.
When a porcupine feels
threatened his sharp quills
stand up and easily detach if
touched.
A brush with this headgear
won't soon be forgotten.
So we got horns and antlers.
KIRBY: And now we've
got tusks, beaks, and
porcupine quills, too.
CHARLIE: Oh my gosh
Kirb check it out!
KIRBY: What's up?
CHARLIE: The Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center
is accepting visitors!
It's in Portage, Alaska!
KIRBY: No way!
We gotta go!
CHARLIE: Alright guys, we
gotta pack up a few things,
but when we get back we're
gonna head on over to Alaska.
KIRBY: See you in a bit.
Weird But True, their antlers
are super heavy, but moose
can still run faster than the
fastest human Olympians!
CHARLIE: Oh man this is
gonna be so cool! Hey, guys!
KIRBY: Hey!
CHARLIE: You're just in
time, we're getting ready
to go to Portage, Alaska.
KIRBY: The animal headgear
capital of the world.
CHARLIE: To see some
awesome headgear.
You ready to go?
Sweet, let's roll.
Time to head up to Alaska.
The last frontier.
The Land of the Midnight Sun.
Purchased by the US in 1867,
granted statehood in 1959.
Hey guys we made it.
KIRBY: We're at the Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center.
They take in orphaned and
injured animals and nurse 'em
back to health until they're
good to go.
CHARLIE: Or if they're
too injured, provide them
with a nice natural home.
I gotta feeling we're
gonna see some pretty
sweet animal headgear too.
KIRBY: We gotta go talk to
someone about this. Let's go.
CHARLIE: Let's go.
Guys, it's Wilson!
KIRBY: He's an animal keeper
at the Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center.
CHARLIE: So exactly
who we need to talk to!
Hi Wilson!
WILSON: Hey guys
how's it going?
KIRBY: Wilson's favorite
Weird but True fact is, the
Triceratops was the last and
largest of the
horned dinosaurs!
CHARLIE: Are you an
animal headgear expert?
WILSON: Well I grew up here
in Alaska so I've seen a lot
of animals that carry headgear
around and I'm a Zoologist.
So hopefully I'll
be able to answer some
questions you guys have.
CHARLIE: Perfect!
KIRBY: Awesome.
CHARLIE: You got
anything to show us?
WILSON: Oh I got tons
to show you guys. Come
on let's go check it out.
CHARLIE: Alright
let's go guys!
Alright Wilson what are
we looking at here man?
WILSON: Before us here we've
got kind of a smorgasbord of
headgear as you can kind find
on all sorts of animals that
are found here in Alaska.
Right here sort of is a
centerpiece we do have the
skull of a bull reindeer.
So you can see it's.
CHARLIE: This thing is massive.
WILSON: Pretty impressive.
KIRBY: Oh yeah.
CHARLIE: Holy cow.
KIRBY: Oh yeah.
WILSON: Sort of
sculpture of bone.
KIRBY: Super cool.
WILSON: And then right
next to it, is actually the
antler of a female reindeer.
KIRBY: It's tiny!
CHARLIE: What are we
looking at over here?
WILSON: The uh keratin sheath
of a wood bison's horn.
-Ahhh.
CHARLIE: This is what
we were talking about earlier
in the episode the bony core.
Goes right in here.
WILSON: Fit right up in there.
This is the horn from a female
muskox, but you'll notice that
they look a lot different from
most horns you think
of that kind of.
CHARLIE: Yeah its.
WILSON: Go up.
KIRBY: Yeah.
WILSON: This kind of upward
hook, that's basically
for grabbing a predator.
CHARLIE: So you got anything
around here that we can
see not just some skulls and
antlers here.
WILSON: Well we've got animals
like you wouldn't believe.
There's moose here,
reindeer, black tail deer,
muskox, and you know,
if he's not too busy, and
if he's feeling up to it.
You guys might be able
to uh meet Snickers one
of the porcupines here.
-Oh!
CHARLIE: That sounds
awesome. Thanks Wilson!
KIRBY: See you soon.
CHARLIE: We'll see you later.
WILSON: See you around.
KIRBY: Alaska is so huge
the state of Texas could
fit inside of it twice!
With all that terrain it's
no wonder that it's home
to some incredible animals.
The conservation center we're
at isn't nearly that big, but
it's gonna take some exploring
to find some headgear
all-stars around here.
Check it out guys.
We found some elk with
crazy impressive antlers.
They can be as tall as
four feet, making the
elk nine feet tall.
That's like skimming
the bottom of the net
of a basketball hoop.
Crazy!
But elk are just the beginning
of what you can find here.
CHARLIE: What's up guys?
We met a new friend over here.
This guy's name is Teddy!
He's four years old
and he's an adult bull moose
and check out those antlers.
Moose antlers, they can be as
heavy as 40 pounds, which is
about as heavy as a microwave.
So imagine walking around
you whole life with
a microwave on your head.
That's the life of a
bull moose right there.
So Wilson, these antlers
look super fuzzy.
What's going on here?
WILSON: So this real, kind
of fuzzy looking stuff on it,
that's actually a really thin
layer of skin called velvet.
CHARLIE: Skin?
WILSON: Mmhm.
CHARLIE: Oh.
WILSON: And it's got a lot
of kind of blood vessels and
nerves in it that's actually
providing nutrients to
these growing antlers.
And they'll actually shed that
off in the fall once those
antlers are fully hardened.
-Mmmm.
CHARLIE: Does it peel
off kind of slowly?
WILSON: Kind of like
a banana peel. Yeah.
CHARLIE: Kind of
like a banana peel?
WILSON: They'll go up
to it and they'll sort
of rub on brush and.
CHARLIE: It's nice
and unraveled.
WILSON: And anything that uh
that's getting hard for them
and they'll just scrape it
right off.
CHARLIE: No way.
So how long does it take 'em
to grow the antlers each year?
WILSON: It takes a few months.
Antler, believe it or not is
actually the fastest growing
animal tissue that we know of.
CHARLIE: Wow.
WILSON: In some
species, like moose,
it can grow up to an
inch a day at the peak
of the growing season.
KIRBY: How come Teddy's
are so much bigger?
WILSON: There's really
kind of three things that
contribute to their size.
Age of the animal,
which is the case here.
Teddy's four years
old, Toke's only one.
-Mmmm.
WILSON: And then,
nutrition and genetics.
CHARLIE: So nutrition
just how, the better
food that they get?
WILSON: Yeah. If they've
got better food, just like us,
they'll grow bigger
and stronger and that
includes their antlers too.
KIRBY: So many cool animals,
so many cool antlers!
CHARLIE: But guys, this
is the animal headgear
capital of the world,
so we're just getting started.
We're gonna scope out the
area, look for some more
antlers, maybe some horns,
a quill or two and uh we'll
see you guys in a few.
There'll be so much
more to see alright?
See you soon.
KIRBY: Weird but True,
porcupine quills secrete
a natural antibiotic,
so if they prick themselves,
it heals quickly!
CHARLIE: What's up guys?
You made it back!
KIRBY: What's up?
CHARLIE: Today we're hanging
out in the Alaskan Wildlife
Conservation Center checking
out animals with antlers.
KIRBY: Like our friend
Teddy over here.
CHARLIE: But I think
there's a bunch more
headgear nearby too.
You wanna go check 'em out?
KIRBY: Let's do it.
CHARLIE: Let's roll.
Check it out guys we
found another animal with
absolutely huge antlers!
This guy is a caribou A.K.A.
a reindeer.
KIRBY: His name is Chuckles.
CHARLIE: Hey Chuckles!
The cool thing about caribou
antlers is that they're the
one species where both males
and females both have antlers.
Moose, deer, elk, all
of the others it's just
males, but caribou,
both males and
females have 'em.
If you look closely at
Chuckle's antlers right here
they seem like a nice tangled
mess.
And if you look at, we got
we've got a nice strong branch
right here and they kind of
fork at the tips.
And these are words that
we use to describe antlers
a lot, we got branched,
and we got forked.
They seem really similar,
but actually they're
distinctly different.
So let's check 'em out
a little more closely.
Here's the difference between
branched and forked antlers.
Branched have one main beam
right here, and every so often
a tiny little branch shoots
off.
Some antlers are
forked, instead of
having one main beam,
they split a few times
into equal branches.
Branched, forked,
I think we got it.
Here's a Weird but True fact,
Caribou migrate 1,600
miles every single year.
So imagine walking from
Chicago to Los Angeles every
year of your entire life.
That's the life of a caribou.
Check it out guys,
We found a Muskox.
We can't get too close to 'em
because it's breeding season
and these guys get super
aggressive, but you
see those horns?
They're super key to their
survival and they use
'em in pretty neat ways.
Check it out.
If a predator comes to attack
a herd of oxen they circle
the wagon and form a nice
protective circle around
their young, with their horns
pointed outwards it's like a
protective shield.
If the predator still ends
up attacking, these huge
oxen charge right at it,
their horns pointed
outwards, ready to
defend their families.
We've seen some pretty
amazing headgear here today.
Like a wood bison horn
and moose antlers.
And just as we're
about to go back to HQ we
stumble across the animal
we've been waiting for.
We found a porcupine!
KIRBY: This guy's
name is Snickers.
CHARLIE: He's a North
American Porcupine.
WILSON: Hey guys.
CHARLIE: Hey Wilson.
KIRBY: Hey.
WILSON: I see you
met snickers here.
CHARLIE: Snickers is the best!
WILSON: He's a pretty
neat little guy.
CHARLIE: Can we touch him?
WILSON: Yeah absolutely.
Just do be careful, he does
have all of his quills.
Best way to pet him is just
like you're doing, yeah.
CHARLIE: Hey bud!
WILSON: Start at the head
and sort of work down the
uh, work down the back there.
CHARLIE: Oooo.
So although you might not
think about a porcupine as
having awesome headgear,
they have quills right
on the top of their head.
So it's like if our hair just
turned into spiky quills.
How crazy would that be?
WILSON: You can see
that he's covered by
about 30,000 quills.
CHARLIE: He's really smelly.
I'm not gonna lie.
WILSON: He is.
CHARLIE: It's like
a wet sour sock.
Is what this porcupine smells
like right now, not the best.
KIRBY: Weird but True , a
group of porcupines is called
a prickle and baby porcupines
are called porcupettes.
So a group of baby
porcupines is called a
prickle of porcupettes.
CHARLIE: So porcupines
can't shoot their quills
like a lot of people think,
but if he ever feels
threatened they'll
stand right up on end.
And because they're barbed
at the end, you know, if a
predator attacks these guys
they're gonna end up with a
lot of quills to the face.
WILSON: Well unfortunately
guys, I'm afraid we are gonna
have to wrap it up a little
bit, uh snickers is really
busy this week and he's got
another interview he's got to
prep for, you know, with
the lifetime achievement
award and all.
CHARLIE: Don't worry
we totally understand.
Thanks so much for
your time snickers!
KIRBY: Thanks for
showing us around.
CHARLIE: See ya snickers!
Bye Wilson.
KIRBY: Bye.
Weird but True, Cape
Buffalo horns can grow
so large that they fuse
in the center to become one!
CHARLIE: Hey guys!
KIRBY: Hey!
CHARLIE: What's crackin'?
We just got back from the
Alaskan Wildlife Conservation
Center in Portage, Alaska.
KIRBY: We saw some of the
best animal headgear in the
world like moose and muskox.
CHARLIE: How cute
was Snickers, man?
KIRBY: Those
quills were unreal!
CHARLIE: We learned
so much today.
KIRBY: Antlers are shed each
year, but horns last forever.
CHARLIE: What else
did we learn today?
There were so many
interesting things!
KIRBY: Antlers are covered
with a thin layer of skin
called velvet and grow up to
one inch each day.
Rhinoceroses don't have
horns, because they
don't have bony cores.
CHARLIE: And Giraffes
don't either.
They have Ossicones
made of cartilage.
KIRBY: Elk antlers grow
as big as four feet long,
making them nine feet tall.
I just love this
stuff you know?
It's like finally
learning the truth.
CHARLIE: What are
you talking about?
KIRBY: The unexpected
stuff, the surprises.
Like how pronghorns
don't have horns.
CHARLIE: Oh there's
loads of stuff like that.
Like.
KIRBY: Spanish
Moss isn't Spanish.
CHARLIE: Or a moss.
KIRBY: Dragonflies
aren't flies.
CHARLIE: Killer
whales aren't whales!
KIRBY: We gotta
go to the library.
CHARLIE: There's so much
we have to research!
KIRBY: Alright guys we gotta
go get some library books.
CHARLIE: But thanks
for stopping by.
Come by again,
when we discover more
things that are weird.
KIRBY: But true!
CHARLIE: We'll see you soon.
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.
Today we're hanging out
in Alaska, and talking
about animal fashion.
When you think about fashion,
a few cities might come to
mind, like New York, Milan,
Paris, but, for animals,
it's actually right
here, in Portage, Alaska,
'cause they've got animal
headgear fashion down.
KIRBY: Hey guys, what's up?
CHARLIE: It's time
for Weird but True!
Hey guys! Charlie here!
You know my sister Kirby.
KIRBY: Hey guys!
CHARLIE: We're so
glad that you're here.
KIRBY: Because the
coolest thing just happened.
CHARLIE: Alright so Kirby
and I were just outside
on a hike you know?
Normal day.
When all of the sudden
we stumbled across
something awesome.
-Whoa!
CHARLIE: Check it out!
KIRBY: An antler!
CHARLIE: A horn!
KIRBY: Wait.
CHARLIE: Wait.
-What?
KIRBY: I'm pretty
sure it's an antler.
CHARLIE: I know it's an
antler, but is it also a horn?
KIRBY: Is an antler
a kind of horn?
CHARLIE: Or is a horn
a kind of antler?
I don't know.
KIRBY: I don't know either.
CHARLIE: So I guess that's
what we're doing today.
Unraveling the world of.
-Animal headgear!
CHARLIE: Hey guys, today we're
checking out animal headgear.
Looking at antlers and
horns and trying to figure
out what sets them apart.
KIRBY: Hey Charles.
Check out page 35.
CHARLIE: Ahh this is good.
Alright, so apparently
this is an antler.
KIRBY: Whattup!
CHARLIE: Yeah and
100% not a horn.
KIRBY: Kirby's a genius.
CHARLIE: Yeah yeah, whatever,
but this clears everything up,
and I think I know the perfect
way to explain it.
Hey Kirb I'm feeling a little
poetic today, what about you?
KIRBY: Charles, I'm
always feeling poetic.
CHARLIE: Alright guys well
toss on your black turtlenecks
and buckle up buddies!
Welcome to HQ
underground, people.
Today we're listening
to a selection of
prose on the topic.
KIRBY: Horns vs antlers.
CHARLIE: We just learned
that there are three differences
between horns and antlers.
Which we will describe to you.
Man. In poem form.
KIRBY: Naturally.
CHARLIE: Naturally.
KIRBY: Naturally.
Difference number one!
Shape!
Oh I can see,
count one two three,
these antlers branched
just like a tree.
CHARLIE: Many times thick,
one spot to prick,
my horn is shaped
just like a stick.
Alright. Time for
difference number two.
KIRBY: Composition.
Snap your fingers
just like that,
antlers are dense
more like a bat.
CHARLIE: Antlers are dense
and a single structure.
Just like a baseball bat.
While a baseball bat is
made entirely of wood.
An antler is made entirely
of bone, through and through,
that grows right out of the
animal's skull.
Horns, however are different.
They are made up of two parts.
Like a sword and a sheath.
There's a hard core
connected to the skull,
that would be the sword,
and an outer covering
that fits right over
it, like a sheath.
That core is pure bone,
but the outer sheath part
is made out of keratin,
the same material that makes
up our hair and fingernails!
KIRBY: Alright,
difference number three.
CHARLIE: Lifespan!
KIRBY: It's quite clear,
your antlers deer,
will last as long
as one school year.
CHARLIE: Antlers start
growing in the spring!
In April or May.
Throughout the summer
they continue to grow.
They eventually lose their
soft velvet, and become
hard and bony by the fall.
Finally, in the winter,
the antlers are shed.
They fall right off!
Next spring, the
process starts all over.
So animals with
antlers have to regrow
them every single year.
Man the life style of horns
is the opposite of antlers.
Cows, muskox,
big horns too,
my horns will last
a whole life through.
Animals keep their horns
throughout the whole year,
throughout their whole lives!
Some animal's horns
never stop growing!
Wonderful, wonderful.
KIRBY: Charles,
this is so easy.
CHARLIE: Oh yeah?
KIRBY: Yeah.
Check it out. Antlers.
Branched, bony, temporary.
Horns, unbranched, bone
in a keratin sheath,
and last forever.
It's easy stuff!
CHARLIE: Alright Kirb, well
if you're feeling strong,
let's see what you got!
KIRBY: Okay!
CHARLIE: I'm gonna hold
up some images of animals and
you gotta guess the head gear.
Antler or horn.
Sound good?
KIRBY: I got this.
CHARLIE: Let's do it.
First up we've got a moose.
The largest moose
headgear measured six
feet, nine inches across.
That's more than one Kirby!
KIRBY: Well I know
horns aren't branched
and antlers are,
so I'm gonna go with
antlers for this one.
CHARLIE: Perfect!
Number two the alpine ibex.
Male alpine ibex have headgear
that can be 55 inches long.
KIRBY: Alright those
are looking pretty
unbranched to me.
Maybe like a keratin
sheath around a bony core!
I'm gonna go with a horn.
CHARLIE: Awesome.
Here's a tricky one.
The white-tailed deer.
KIRBY: Tricky?
Come on man this is what
we picked up in the backyard.
-Whoa!
KIRBY: Branched, bony, we're
looking at some antlers there.
CHARLIE: Three for three!
Speed round. Bison.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Elk.
KIRBY: Antler.
CHARLIE: Antelope.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Markhour.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Jackson's Chameleon.
KIRBY: Oooo a lizard!
I'm gonna go with horn.
CHARLIE: Giraffe.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Wait, uh what?
Giraffes don't have horns?
Let's just go
with another one.
Pronghorn.
KIRBY: Antler.
CHARLIE: Huh. What?
No again. Ummm, rhinoceros.
KIRBY: Horn.
CHARLIE: Wait rhinoceroses
don't have horns?
What's going on here?
KIRBY: How is that possible?
CHARLIE: Yeah, I don't know.
We need like a few
minutes and when we come
back I'm sure we'll have
it all down alright?
See you in a bit.
KIRBY: Weird but True,
antlers can grow up
to one inch per day!
That makes them one of
the fastest growing types of
animal tissue on the planet.
CHARLIE: Remember, antlers
are branched, solid
bone, and shed every year.
Horns are unbranched,
made up of a bony core
and keratin sheath,
and last for a lifetime.
So if we look at giraffes,
it turns out that these little
giraffe things are made out of
cartilage, not bone.
That means they're something
different, called ossicones.
So it's true, giraffes,
don't have horns.
KIRBY: And rhinos look
like they have horns,
too, right, there,
but those things are
made out of only keratin.
No bony core and
no keratin sheath.
So, they're not horns either!
Yeah, rhinos don't have horns.
CHARLIE: Pronghorns have
pretty hornlike headgear, but
they're actually kind of like
a mashup between an
antler and a horn.
The thing is made up of a bony
core and a keratin sheath, but
it's forked, like an antler.
And they shed the sheath in
the fall, also like an antler.
So these aren't really
horns, but they aren't
really antlers either.
They're just something
else entirely.
KIRBY: So it turns
out horns and antlers aren't
really the end of the story.
CHARLIE: There's a whole
lot of other animal
headgear out there.
KIRBY: Whoa Charles!
Check this out!
Animal Headgear Fashion Week!
Live! We gotta tune in!
CHARLIE: Welcome everyone to
Animal Headgear Fashion Week!
KIRBY: We're broadcasting
live from what we've decided
is the animal headgear capital
of the world.
-Portage, Alaska!
CHARLIE: I'm Charles.
KIRBY: And I'm Kirby.
CHARLIE: Bringing you the
latest styles of headgear
making their way across the
runway.
KIRBY: It's sure to
be an exciting week.
Isn't it Charles?
Let's dive right in!
First up, the
tusk runway show.
CHARLIE: You know,
Kirb, I was blown away
by this year's looks.
Tusks are definitely
in this year.
KIRBY: The elephant
looked absolutely timeless
in its enormous tusks,
simply dazzling the runway.
CHARLIE: Our favorite
swimwear look.
-The walrus!
KIRBY: He never disappoints.
CHARLIE: But the real
runway show stopper.
The hippo.
KIRBY: Two sets of tusks.
CHARLIE: The perfect
complement to
its enormous mouth.
KIRBY: The detail!
CHARLIE: The accents.
KIRBY: The energy it
took to grow those, they
work for any occasion.
CHARLIE: Hey you
changed the channel!
KIRBY: Super quickly, we
gotta talk about tusks!
Tusks are another awesome
example of animal headgear.
They kind of look
like horns coming out
of an animal's mouth,
but they're actually teeth.
Teeth! That just keep
on continuously growing.
How weird is that?
Usually they're the
canines, but sometimes
the incisors, too.
One of the most impressive
tusked animals, the
north sulawesi babirusa.
CHARLIE: Two sets of tusks.
KIRBY: Yup! the
upper and lower canines.
The upper canines grow up and
backwards through its nose!
The north sulawesi babirusa,
major tusk all-star.
Alright back to fashion week.
Alright up next
fresh for fall!
We have our newest bird looks!
CHARLIE: You can dress it
up, you can dress it down,
but in a bird's ensemble,
the beak takes the crown.
KIRBY: Our favorites
in active-wear.
The Australian Pelican.
CHARLIE: Dazzling,
simply ravishing.
KIRBY: Functional fashion,
a big trend this spring.
CHARLIE: In day wear we were
impressed by the toucan.
KIRBY: Bold pops of color.
A nice accent and
something new.
CHARLIE: Cool cool.
So beaks, like horns
and our fingernails, have a
covering made up of keratin.
They keep growing throughout
the bird's entire life!
Birds use beaks for
all sorts of things.
Let's check out the
Rhinoceros Hornbill.
The theory is that it uses
this chamber on the top of
its beak to amplify its calls.
The Roseate Spoonbill uses
its beak to strain tiny little
crustaceans out of the water.
And the Shoebill
Stork uses its big old
bill to chomp on fish.
How weird does this guy look?
Like a goose shoved it's
face into a wooden clog!
So weird!
This just about wraps up
our coverage for this year's
animal headgear fashion week.
KIRBY: All that's left to
do is give our lifetime in
fashion achievement award.
CHARLIE: This year we're
honoring a true visionary.
KIRBY: A surprise
choice, the porcupine.
CHARLIE: Timeless.
KIRBY: Elegant.
CHARLIE: Ingenious.
KIRBY: Inspiring.
CHARLIE: All seem to
fall short of describing
this fashion mogul.
So yeah, the porcupine
comes out of nowhere with
the ultimate headgear.
Quills are super stiff prickly
pointy hairs made out of
keratin that cover their head
and body.
When a porcupine feels
threatened his sharp quills
stand up and easily detach if
touched.
A brush with this headgear
won't soon be forgotten.
So we got horns and antlers.
KIRBY: And now we've
got tusks, beaks, and
porcupine quills, too.
CHARLIE: Oh my gosh
Kirb check it out!
KIRBY: What's up?
CHARLIE: The Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center
is accepting visitors!
It's in Portage, Alaska!
KIRBY: No way!
We gotta go!
CHARLIE: Alright guys, we
gotta pack up a few things,
but when we get back we're
gonna head on over to Alaska.
KIRBY: See you in a bit.
Weird But True, their antlers
are super heavy, but moose
can still run faster than the
fastest human Olympians!
CHARLIE: Oh man this is
gonna be so cool! Hey, guys!
KIRBY: Hey!
CHARLIE: You're just in
time, we're getting ready
to go to Portage, Alaska.
KIRBY: The animal headgear
capital of the world.
CHARLIE: To see some
awesome headgear.
You ready to go?
Sweet, let's roll.
Time to head up to Alaska.
The last frontier.
The Land of the Midnight Sun.
Purchased by the US in 1867,
granted statehood in 1959.
Hey guys we made it.
KIRBY: We're at the Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center.
They take in orphaned and
injured animals and nurse 'em
back to health until they're
good to go.
CHARLIE: Or if they're
too injured, provide them
with a nice natural home.
I gotta feeling we're
gonna see some pretty
sweet animal headgear too.
KIRBY: We gotta go talk to
someone about this. Let's go.
CHARLIE: Let's go.
Guys, it's Wilson!
KIRBY: He's an animal keeper
at the Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center.
CHARLIE: So exactly
who we need to talk to!
Hi Wilson!
WILSON: Hey guys
how's it going?
KIRBY: Wilson's favorite
Weird but True fact is, the
Triceratops was the last and
largest of the
horned dinosaurs!
CHARLIE: Are you an
animal headgear expert?
WILSON: Well I grew up here
in Alaska so I've seen a lot
of animals that carry headgear
around and I'm a Zoologist.
So hopefully I'll
be able to answer some
questions you guys have.
CHARLIE: Perfect!
KIRBY: Awesome.
CHARLIE: You got
anything to show us?
WILSON: Oh I got tons
to show you guys. Come
on let's go check it out.
CHARLIE: Alright
let's go guys!
Alright Wilson what are
we looking at here man?
WILSON: Before us here we've
got kind of a smorgasbord of
headgear as you can kind find
on all sorts of animals that
are found here in Alaska.
Right here sort of is a
centerpiece we do have the
skull of a bull reindeer.
So you can see it's.
CHARLIE: This thing is massive.
WILSON: Pretty impressive.
KIRBY: Oh yeah.
CHARLIE: Holy cow.
KIRBY: Oh yeah.
WILSON: Sort of
sculpture of bone.
KIRBY: Super cool.
WILSON: And then right
next to it, is actually the
antler of a female reindeer.
KIRBY: It's tiny!
CHARLIE: What are we
looking at over here?
WILSON: The uh keratin sheath
of a wood bison's horn.
-Ahhh.
CHARLIE: This is what
we were talking about earlier
in the episode the bony core.
Goes right in here.
WILSON: Fit right up in there.
This is the horn from a female
muskox, but you'll notice that
they look a lot different from
most horns you think
of that kind of.
CHARLIE: Yeah its.
WILSON: Go up.
KIRBY: Yeah.
WILSON: This kind of upward
hook, that's basically
for grabbing a predator.
CHARLIE: So you got anything
around here that we can
see not just some skulls and
antlers here.
WILSON: Well we've got animals
like you wouldn't believe.
There's moose here,
reindeer, black tail deer,
muskox, and you know,
if he's not too busy, and
if he's feeling up to it.
You guys might be able
to uh meet Snickers one
of the porcupines here.
-Oh!
CHARLIE: That sounds
awesome. Thanks Wilson!
KIRBY: See you soon.
CHARLIE: We'll see you later.
WILSON: See you around.
KIRBY: Alaska is so huge
the state of Texas could
fit inside of it twice!
With all that terrain it's
no wonder that it's home
to some incredible animals.
The conservation center we're
at isn't nearly that big, but
it's gonna take some exploring
to find some headgear
all-stars around here.
Check it out guys.
We found some elk with
crazy impressive antlers.
They can be as tall as
four feet, making the
elk nine feet tall.
That's like skimming
the bottom of the net
of a basketball hoop.
Crazy!
But elk are just the beginning
of what you can find here.
CHARLIE: What's up guys?
We met a new friend over here.
This guy's name is Teddy!
He's four years old
and he's an adult bull moose
and check out those antlers.
Moose antlers, they can be as
heavy as 40 pounds, which is
about as heavy as a microwave.
So imagine walking around
you whole life with
a microwave on your head.
That's the life of a
bull moose right there.
So Wilson, these antlers
look super fuzzy.
What's going on here?
WILSON: So this real, kind
of fuzzy looking stuff on it,
that's actually a really thin
layer of skin called velvet.
CHARLIE: Skin?
WILSON: Mmhm.
CHARLIE: Oh.
WILSON: And it's got a lot
of kind of blood vessels and
nerves in it that's actually
providing nutrients to
these growing antlers.
And they'll actually shed that
off in the fall once those
antlers are fully hardened.
-Mmmm.
CHARLIE: Does it peel
off kind of slowly?
WILSON: Kind of like
a banana peel. Yeah.
CHARLIE: Kind of
like a banana peel?
WILSON: They'll go up
to it and they'll sort
of rub on brush and.
CHARLIE: It's nice
and unraveled.
WILSON: And anything that uh
that's getting hard for them
and they'll just scrape it
right off.
CHARLIE: No way.
So how long does it take 'em
to grow the antlers each year?
WILSON: It takes a few months.
Antler, believe it or not is
actually the fastest growing
animal tissue that we know of.
CHARLIE: Wow.
WILSON: In some
species, like moose,
it can grow up to an
inch a day at the peak
of the growing season.
KIRBY: How come Teddy's
are so much bigger?
WILSON: There's really
kind of three things that
contribute to their size.
Age of the animal,
which is the case here.
Teddy's four years
old, Toke's only one.
-Mmmm.
WILSON: And then,
nutrition and genetics.
CHARLIE: So nutrition
just how, the better
food that they get?
WILSON: Yeah. If they've
got better food, just like us,
they'll grow bigger
and stronger and that
includes their antlers too.
KIRBY: So many cool animals,
so many cool antlers!
CHARLIE: But guys, this
is the animal headgear
capital of the world,
so we're just getting started.
We're gonna scope out the
area, look for some more
antlers, maybe some horns,
a quill or two and uh we'll
see you guys in a few.
There'll be so much
more to see alright?
See you soon.
KIRBY: Weird but True,
porcupine quills secrete
a natural antibiotic,
so if they prick themselves,
it heals quickly!
CHARLIE: What's up guys?
You made it back!
KIRBY: What's up?
CHARLIE: Today we're hanging
out in the Alaskan Wildlife
Conservation Center checking
out animals with antlers.
KIRBY: Like our friend
Teddy over here.
CHARLIE: But I think
there's a bunch more
headgear nearby too.
You wanna go check 'em out?
KIRBY: Let's do it.
CHARLIE: Let's roll.
Check it out guys we
found another animal with
absolutely huge antlers!
This guy is a caribou A.K.A.
a reindeer.
KIRBY: His name is Chuckles.
CHARLIE: Hey Chuckles!
The cool thing about caribou
antlers is that they're the
one species where both males
and females both have antlers.
Moose, deer, elk, all
of the others it's just
males, but caribou,
both males and
females have 'em.
If you look closely at
Chuckle's antlers right here
they seem like a nice tangled
mess.
And if you look at, we got
we've got a nice strong branch
right here and they kind of
fork at the tips.
And these are words that
we use to describe antlers
a lot, we got branched,
and we got forked.
They seem really similar,
but actually they're
distinctly different.
So let's check 'em out
a little more closely.
Here's the difference between
branched and forked antlers.
Branched have one main beam
right here, and every so often
a tiny little branch shoots
off.
Some antlers are
forked, instead of
having one main beam,
they split a few times
into equal branches.
Branched, forked,
I think we got it.
Here's a Weird but True fact,
Caribou migrate 1,600
miles every single year.
So imagine walking from
Chicago to Los Angeles every
year of your entire life.
That's the life of a caribou.
Check it out guys,
We found a Muskox.
We can't get too close to 'em
because it's breeding season
and these guys get super
aggressive, but you
see those horns?
They're super key to their
survival and they use
'em in pretty neat ways.
Check it out.
If a predator comes to attack
a herd of oxen they circle
the wagon and form a nice
protective circle around
their young, with their horns
pointed outwards it's like a
protective shield.
If the predator still ends
up attacking, these huge
oxen charge right at it,
their horns pointed
outwards, ready to
defend their families.
We've seen some pretty
amazing headgear here today.
Like a wood bison horn
and moose antlers.
And just as we're
about to go back to HQ we
stumble across the animal
we've been waiting for.
We found a porcupine!
KIRBY: This guy's
name is Snickers.
CHARLIE: He's a North
American Porcupine.
WILSON: Hey guys.
CHARLIE: Hey Wilson.
KIRBY: Hey.
WILSON: I see you
met snickers here.
CHARLIE: Snickers is the best!
WILSON: He's a pretty
neat little guy.
CHARLIE: Can we touch him?
WILSON: Yeah absolutely.
Just do be careful, he does
have all of his quills.
Best way to pet him is just
like you're doing, yeah.
CHARLIE: Hey bud!
WILSON: Start at the head
and sort of work down the
uh, work down the back there.
CHARLIE: Oooo.
So although you might not
think about a porcupine as
having awesome headgear,
they have quills right
on the top of their head.
So it's like if our hair just
turned into spiky quills.
How crazy would that be?
WILSON: You can see
that he's covered by
about 30,000 quills.
CHARLIE: He's really smelly.
I'm not gonna lie.
WILSON: He is.
CHARLIE: It's like
a wet sour sock.
Is what this porcupine smells
like right now, not the best.
KIRBY: Weird but True , a
group of porcupines is called
a prickle and baby porcupines
are called porcupettes.
So a group of baby
porcupines is called a
prickle of porcupettes.
CHARLIE: So porcupines
can't shoot their quills
like a lot of people think,
but if he ever feels
threatened they'll
stand right up on end.
And because they're barbed
at the end, you know, if a
predator attacks these guys
they're gonna end up with a
lot of quills to the face.
WILSON: Well unfortunately
guys, I'm afraid we are gonna
have to wrap it up a little
bit, uh snickers is really
busy this week and he's got
another interview he's got to
prep for, you know, with
the lifetime achievement
award and all.
CHARLIE: Don't worry
we totally understand.
Thanks so much for
your time snickers!
KIRBY: Thanks for
showing us around.
CHARLIE: See ya snickers!
Bye Wilson.
KIRBY: Bye.
Weird but True, Cape
Buffalo horns can grow
so large that they fuse
in the center to become one!
CHARLIE: Hey guys!
KIRBY: Hey!
CHARLIE: What's crackin'?
We just got back from the
Alaskan Wildlife Conservation
Center in Portage, Alaska.
KIRBY: We saw some of the
best animal headgear in the
world like moose and muskox.
CHARLIE: How cute
was Snickers, man?
KIRBY: Those
quills were unreal!
CHARLIE: We learned
so much today.
KIRBY: Antlers are shed each
year, but horns last forever.
CHARLIE: What else
did we learn today?
There were so many
interesting things!
KIRBY: Antlers are covered
with a thin layer of skin
called velvet and grow up to
one inch each day.
Rhinoceroses don't have
horns, because they
don't have bony cores.
CHARLIE: And Giraffes
don't either.
They have Ossicones
made of cartilage.
KIRBY: Elk antlers grow
as big as four feet long,
making them nine feet tall.
I just love this
stuff you know?
It's like finally
learning the truth.
CHARLIE: What are
you talking about?
KIRBY: The unexpected
stuff, the surprises.
Like how pronghorns
don't have horns.
CHARLIE: Oh there's
loads of stuff like that.
Like.
KIRBY: Spanish
Moss isn't Spanish.
CHARLIE: Or a moss.
KIRBY: Dragonflies
aren't flies.
CHARLIE: Killer
whales aren't whales!
KIRBY: We gotta
go to the library.
CHARLIE: There's so much
we have to research!
KIRBY: Alright guys we gotta
go get some library books.
CHARLIE: But thanks
for stopping by.
Come by again,
when we discover more
things that are weird.
KIRBY: But true!
CHARLIE: We'll see you soon.
Captioned by
Cotter Captioning Services.