Misunderstood Animals (with comedian Alex Falcone)

What animals do you like that other people don’t like? What animal is covered in spots and makes a whooping sound? Laura and Rob chat about misunderstood animals that make them happy, plus you’ll hear a song about hyenas and vultures, a game show about animal sounds, awesome animal clues from fan Jack and an interview with special guest, comedian Alex Falcone. What animal is making Alex happy? It’s an animal that throws up its food when it gets scared.

The Happiest Animal Show (on Planet Earth) is a comedy podcast for kids and families who love wildlife, with original animal songs, stories, jokes and special guests from comedians to scientists to kids. If you like spotted hyenas, roaches or vultures, you might really like this episode!

Episode Transcript (Please forgive any typos)

And now for an animal joke. How do you get a skunk to stop smelling? I repeat. How do you get a skunk to stop smelling? The answer is going to be revealed at the end of the episode.

But first, get your ears ready Because it’s the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. The Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. You want to be sad? No! Do you want to be glad? No. Wait. Yes. Well, it’s the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. Hello and welcome to the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth, the podcast that asks the very important question: What animal is making you happy today? I'm Laura, and I'm Rob and we are a sister brother pair of zoologists, filmmakers and songwriters.

We are here to explore the wonderful world of wildlife and discover why animals make us happy. Today we are celebrating misunderstood animals with stories, a new song, and with special guest comedian and a person who makes very funny videos about misunderstood animals. Alex Falcone Here we go. What animal is making you happy today? I want to know. The theme we have given ourselves for this episode is Misunderstood Animals.

I feel like it's animals that people don't understand or animals that people don't like. Basically, an animal I think is pretty cool and deserves some recognition. Yeah, it's time that these animals get a little bit of respect and in the spirit of respect, Laura, how about you go first? What misunderstood animal is making you happy today? Oh my goodness.

It's an animal that I love. It lives in Africa. It's a really good hunter. It has spots. It. I know Rob's laughing because he knows that he knows what I'm doing. For those of you listening. Here are some more clues. They live in clans. The females are all in charge and they make some cool sounds. Sometimes they make what sort of sounds like a giggle, and a lot of times they make a sound that sounds like a whoop, like ooh ooh.

What animal am I thinking of here? I wondered if you were gonna kind of stray and pick pick something else. But you went with the spotted hyena. Spotted hyena, spotted hyena. Spotted hyenas are so awesome, and I feel like they may be one of the most misunderstood animals of all. So why are hyenas making you happy?

Well, they make me happy because when I was in college at Michigan State University, I got to go study hyenas in Africa. I spent my whole undergrad career studying hyenas with, professor named Doctor Kay. Holekamp. And I loved it. And honestly. So when I think of hyenas, I just get good feelings because I had such a fun time going to Africa and studying them.

Well, what makes them so misunderstood? People think of hyenas as gross, dirty scavengers who are only stealing food from others instead of hunting for themselves. And it's just not true, right? Hyenas are more successful hunters than lions, are they catch food way more than lions do. Lions are more likely to steal food from hyenas than the other way around.

I was just thinking about this one time we actually came across. There's a whole group of hyenas they had just killed, something they were all eating, and there was a big group of them, probably like ten hyenas. And the hyenas were so excited and their tails were bristled and they were all eating. And it's pretty cool because all the girls get to eat first.

Girls are in charge in hyena world, and so the top girls would eat, then the next girls would eat and they'd all be darting in. And then there were these boy hyenas who were hanging around the sides, and they would try to sneak in and grab a little bit of food. They'd be walking on eggshells, come in and be like, oh, okay, can I, can I eat now?

No. Okay, okay. Come back. I'll come back later. And then they'd try again and they'd come past the car from behind us and like dart in and be like, what's up? Hey girl. So can I eat yet? No. Okay. You're still eating. Okay. I'll go, I'll go away. And that kept happening. One time I thought there was another boy hyena, coming in to try to see if they could eat yet, and I turned my head to look out the window.

And this. It was not a hyena. It was a giant male lion that came running right past my window, wind in his mane. It was so close and I was like, oh, I kind of recoiled. The lion ran into the middle of all these hyenas, roared super loud. A lion roar feels like a motorcycle going through your body.

It vibrates super loud. So this lion roars.

All the hyenas scatter immediately, and the lion totally stole their food. And then the hyenas are small compared to the lion. So they knew that they probably couldn't win it back. And then they just had to give up and walk away. And the lion stayed on that food with its ladies for days eating it. So hyenas, it makes sense.

A hyena would try to eat really fast before a lion can steal their food. Yeah, they eat so fast. I've watched. I watched one hyena eat a gazelle one time in minutes and their their stomachs get so big and they're trying to walk around, but they gotta eat fast before anybody else steals our food. So I've. I've done that with French fries.

So yeah, my, my family wouldn't eat my French fries. You hyenas down your French fries. Yep. I can relate to the hyenas in that way. What does it mean when they laugh? Yeah. So hyenas do giggle, but when they giggle, they're not laughing. They make that sound when they're nervous or they're scared and. Oh, okay. It's kind of a submissive sound.

It's hyenas really deserve another look. And so I declare them as the most misunderstood animal. Wow. Bold statement, but probably true. Take that Lion King and I like the Lion King. Next up, we'll hear my pick right after this. It's time for everybody's favorite game show. Raise the Sound.

What is making this sound? Ooh, whoa whoa.

What? Is it a) cows b) spotted hyenas? Or c) your uncle's stomach after realizing he's already eaten all the little Debbies in your pantry. Oh, the answer is B they're spotted hyenas calling at night. Thanks for playing everybody's favorite game show. Great. That sound. Hey, Rob, what misunderstood animal is making you happy today? My misunderstood animal is actually made up of 4500 different species.

What? But. But categorically, everybody just sort of clumps them into one thing. Oh, there's 4500 kinds of this animal. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay, that's, My animal is usually considered a pest. Okay. And they are. I'll say this. They are one of the most successful animals on the entire planet. Oh, and they are usually associated with darkness and dirty places.

Unclean, please. Any guesses? Okay. Is it kind of like a bug or is it. It is. Yeah. It's a type of insect. Okay. Is it something we could see in our house? A lot of people encounter them in their home. Okay. Yeah. Is it a roach? It is a roach. It. Cockroach. Whoa. Yeah. Just saying the name Roach probably creeps a lot of people out.

But why? They're basically harmless. Why? Why are roaches making you happy today? I it's making me happy because I think it's one of the most amazing survivalists that nature has ever created. It can squeeze into tight places. It can eat things that other things don't eat. They can eat paper. Yeah, they can survive off of eating paper.

Wow. I mean, how crazy is that? Yeah, it can survive long periods of time without food, and it can multiply really fast if there's enough food around. So it's it's just really good at surviving. Yeah. I mean, in the Pixar movie Wall-E, it was the last living creature on Earth. Oh, right. Cockroach. Yeah. And they don't they don't bite, they don't sting, and they won't hurt you.

They just eat our leftover scraps of food. That's a really good point. So they eat dead things and litter and things on the ground. They help recycle it and put nutrients back into the soil. So they're actually really good. Yeah, they are nature's recyclers. Also, I read that they're one of the fastest animals in the world. When you compare them to their size, they are extraordinarily fast.

They can run something like 50 body lengths in one second. And so that's hard to understand what that means. But let's put it this way. If you as a human could do that, you could run over 186 miles an hour. Whoa. I had no idea they were that fast. From now on, instead of saying you're going to run as fast as a cheetah, you should say, I'm going to run as fast as a cockroach.

Yes. So at your next soccer practice or your next school field day, you all can just run like cockroaches. Start a trend. You can do it. I got to say, I was not expecting you to pick a roach. That really threw me. Good work. Yeah. Thanks. And now for a song. I wrote a song for the Misunderstood Animals.

And this one is just me and the piano. Someday I hope to record cellos and a string quartet because I hear that in my head with the song. But for now, here it is. And this song goes out to anybody who has been feeling like they've been left out lately, or like other people just don't quite understand them.

Enjoy. This is for the misunderstood animals. The ones that people think are weird. This is for the misunderstood animals. Just know I'm glad that you are here.

Oh iick, ew , no, bleegg or gross. Is what some people say about you. But I say, Cool. Oh, awesome. Whoa. And I hope that others feel that too.

Hyenas are really good hunters. The lions steal their food more than the other way around. Hyenas are really good mothers, playing with their cubs and cuddling on the ground. And vultures are not really dirty. They deeply preen their feathers and take baths in waterways. And vultures are not really lazy. They'll fly 60 whole miles to find food in a day.

This is for the misunderstood animals, the ones that people think are weird. This is for the mis understood in humans. Just know I'm glad that you are here. Oh iick, ew , no, bleegg or gross. Is what some people say about you.. But I ain't say. Cool. Whoa! Amazing. Oh. What? And I hope that others feel that, too.

In sports, you hear the same old animal names a lot. Go, Lions! Go, bears! Go, tigers! But what about the overlooked sports mascots? Go, skunks! Go, possums! Go spiders! This is for the misunderstood animals. The ones that people think are weird. This is for the mis understood animals. Just know. I'm glad that you are here.

Before we get to our special guest, a quick message for the grownups. And we're back. It's that time in the show for the happiest fanimal. Where a fan like you gives us clues to an animal that is making them happy. Today's submission comes from six year old Jack from Portland, Oregon. Clue number one. There are two types Bactrian and Dromedary.

Clue number two. Its foot looks like a pancake with two toes. Clue number three. It has long eyelashes. Clue number four. It can close its nose holes. The answer is a camel. Camels make Jack happy because their humps are bumpy. Thanks for your submission, Jack. Grown ups. If you or your family would like to submit a happiest animal, visit our website at Happiest Animal Show.

Com. Today's special guest is comedian Alex Falcone, who makes lots of very funny videos about animals and all kinds of things. We are very excited that he is here. Alex, thank you for joining us. Hello. I'm excited about this. I'm excited about this as well. And I know you know this, but you have an animal in your last name.

I do, and, I have an extra letter, but that's just because it means falcon in Italian. So it's just the bird. Oh, and growing up, my best friend was. His last name was Peregrine, and it was adorable. No. Oh, wow. We were we were raptor buddies. You you you were destined to be friends. Were then the.

For those of you listening, peregrine falcons are the fastest birds. Fastest animal in the world. Yeah. Yeah, I love them. Everyone loves to talk about a cheetah, but, they forget the peregrines. I mean, they use gravity a little bit. Cheetahs go left and right, but, you got a falcon on a dive. Nothing faster in the world.

Yeah. So, Alex, what animal is making you happy today? And. Yeah, go ahead and give us some hints. Well, so one of the things that I am really interested in is a lot of animals seem like they have too good of a marketing campaign already. You hear too much about lions. You know, you hear cheetahs stuff all the time.

Horses are very cool. And all of those are fine, but I'm. I'm really, like, trying to lift up some of the lesser celebrated. So I, you know, I love pigeons, I love rats, I love especially stuff that's in an urban environment. But the thing that I have been really interested in lately is a bird. Incredibly sensitive smell.

Okay. Yeah, I can smell very, very long distances. Can fly for a very long time without flapping. Ooh, that's a good hint. Creepy heads. I think that's it. Right. Okay, so we're thinking, like, maybe I'm thinking something in the vulture budget category. I was going to go broader. I was going to go all vultures. That's what I want.

I just want to talk about vultures. Let's do it. Vultures. I'm so into vultures recently, and I. It's it's one of those, like. Because everybody loves a hawk. Everyone loves an eagle. And vultures just look like. Like their heads look bad and that's the reason everyone hates them, is their heads are all. They got this creepy skin and so.

And they hunch over when they walk, which is actually really an interesting, more interesting thing than I realized originally. But they can soar for extremely long periods of time because they go to where the wind hits the edge of a forest, blows the, when wind turns up because it's the trees, and the vultures will just catch that thermal and they will just ride one flap for hours at a time.

They have the strongest sense of smell. Some some vultures with strong sense of smell of any animal. And they just chill up there smelling for stuff. And I think that is amazing. It is amazing. And I was actually just reading about vultures because I was writing a song that included vultures. Yeah. Well, they I was reading that they can fly like, some people think they're lazy and they're not lazy.

Not at all. They can fly up to 60 miles a day in search of food. Yeah. Well, I think so. One of the things that I think people are in general biased against scavengers. Yeah. And I think, I like and I, I understand cockroaches are a little creepy. People don't like rats, whatever. But we also like them, especially the vultures there are going to be.

There's going to be some carrion out there. There's going to be some animals that have sadly departed. Yeah. And do we want them to just pile up and sit there? Is that better for anybody? No. We need a crew to come in and clean it up. Yeah. Also, by the way, the creepy heads, the thing that everybody is worried about is they're they got like, a lot of weird skin on their head.

Yeah. And the reason is because they have to go into, a carcass and get food in there. And if you had feathers on your head, it would get stuck. It would get covered in stuff. And so, yeah, that's that's a sleek function for getting in there, doing your business. That's right. It's sort of like having a bib at a crab feast.

It's like trying to make it easier for later. And I like that. So now you see the creepy head, you know, like, well, yeah, it's worth it. That's like if I put my hair in a ponytail to go eat wings. Exactly. You have to do plastic wings, pony tail. Do you guys know, do you know the, king vulture?

No. Tell me. Teach me about the king. You have the king. But this is worth a quick right. Google right away, because you have to see. Is this the king, the colorful head? Yes. They look like. They look like parrots who have had a tough life, but they have bright purple orange heads, weird pieces of extra orange skin on them.

Just incredibly colorful and interesting. Looking for birds? Yeah. King vultures are beautiful. Holy cow. Yes, they are purple and orange and red. And there's some, like, blue blue tones. Yeah, it's so many colors. Yeah. And just think it's a maximalist choice of any animal. It is all of the colors all at once. Yeah. Just. And I don't know why this is like, this is what I'm saying about the marketing is I just feel like I never heard about King Vultures until I was working on this a couple weeks ago, and I, I don't know how people aren't talking about king vultures every day.

It's the craziest looking animal I've ever seen, and I don't know why that's not getting top billing more often. Yeah, you think about you think about all the work that people do to make themselves look good, and all all of the makeup and hairstyles and everything. And the king vulture just wakes up and is. Look at that animal.

Look at that animal. This is I also like the way that they defend themselves. You know that story? Of course. Of course. Yeah. They just get scared and then they throw up. I find that very relatable as well. Yeah, I think that is a charming activity to do. I don't I was looking into this because I think people will say that they are like vomiting on a creature to get away, but mostly it's just empty in the tank.

So, you know, because they don't take off well. So so they can get in there whiter so I can skedaddle. And, it's so it's not aggressive at you. It's just like, I'm sorry, this is gross for me to. And then they take off. That very, very cute thing to do, I think. Not in the moment, but in theory.

That's such a good choice of an animal. I didn't expect that. You know, I was like, wondering, is he going to go Falcon? But I thought, yeah, no, I mean, I do like a Falcon two, obviously. I, I've been on this kick of just, like, underappreciated animals. And how exactly how we sort of choose. And it is so much of it is marketing.

So much of it is like the bald eagle is a cool animal, right? They say every time you've ever seen a bald eagle on television, it makes a scream sound. And that scream is not a bald eagle sound. That's a red hawk. Yes, they a red tailed hawk. Because what actual bald eagle sound like is they sound like seagulls because they're mostly seabirds.

And so if you hear them, they sound bright and annoying. Rob, you can do a pretty good eagle call. I've heard, you know, I've heard him talk to Eagles before. Yeah. There were a pair of bald eagles out that landed in the tree across the street one time, and I opened the window, and I. I just sort of whistle like a like a select.

Yeah, sure sure sure, sure. But I actually got them to talk back to me. And we had a little conversation at night. And then I was sort of just like, oh, did not say anything offensive. You know, I know they did leave the next morning, but yeah, yeah, yeah, I, you probably were very offensive. You got to be careful speaking other languages.

But that's like, why have we just I mean obviously America right. We picked this and it is a cool looking for it. And I love a bald eagle. But we just we wanted them to be something they're not. So whenever they're on TV we do this fake thing. We fake it out. Let them sound like this sound. Let's use the real let's let's celebrate this and let us.

And so because of all that marketing, I just feel like I need to keep getting the word out there about animals that are underappreciated. And so vulture is was my was my first push. Well, Alex, thank you for helping us think about vultures today and the misunderstood animals. Well, it's great to talk to you both. Yeah. Thanks for joining us on the Happiest Animal Show.

Yes. And now the time we've all been waiting for the answer to the joke of the day. How do you get a skunk to stop smelling? Do you have a guess? The answer is you plug its nose.

Thanks so much for listening. And before we go, remember, we live on a beautiful planet. So go out and find what makes you happy today. Oh.

Hey, Grown-Ups, we know you're busy, but if you like our show, we'd love for you to tell your friends and family about it. It is the best way for our podcast to grow and Grown-Ups.

You can also follow us on our social media accounts at Happiest Animal Show, or check out other fun things on our website like how to submit an animal or how to get merch. Visit Happiestanimalshow.com. The Happiest Animal Show is created by Laura Sams, Robert Sams, and Dave Cain produced by Sisbro Studios, hosted and directed by Laura Sams and Robert Sams, and written by Laura Sams. Robert Sams with story editor Dave Cain. And with only a little help from our cat walking across the keyboard. Now let’s talk music. Original music is written and performed by zero time Grammy Award winning songwriters Laura Sams and Robert Sams, except for the end credits music which was written by Laura and Rob’s Grandma Max, and the joke answer suspense music was written by David Schultz.

The theme song was written and performed by Laura and Rob and mixed by Jason Wells of Audiowells.

Thanks for listening. You are the best.