14 min
310: Smell-o-flage Brain Junk
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- Natural Sciences
Nothing like rubbing yourself down with snakeskin jerky to keep yourself from getting eaten. Today we check out the parallel evolution of the California ground squirrel and rattlesnakes. It's an olfactory camouflage arms race that on a bad day, ends with someone getting eaten.
Show Notes:
UC Davis: Squirrels Use Snake Scent
Royal Society B: Donning your enemy's cloak: ground squirrels exploit rattlesnake scent to reduce predation risk
Nature: Squirrel Masks Scent with Rattlesnake Skin (Cool video of squirrels in action)
Nothing like rubbing yourself down with snakeskin jerky to keep yourself from getting eaten. Today we check out the parallel evolution of the California ground squirrel and rattlesnakes. It's an olfactory camouflage arms race that on a bad day, ends with someone getting eaten.
Show Notes:
UC Davis: Squirrels Use Snake Scent
Royal Society B: Donning your enemy's cloak: ground squirrels exploit rattlesnake scent to reduce predation risk
Nature: Squirrel Masks Scent with Rattlesnake Skin (Cool video of squirrels in action)
14 min