Summary
Is color itself an illusion? Can blue jays speak English and imitate dogs? How can I get on Ellen? Do blue jays kill hawks? Do they use tools? Why do they mimic hawks? Are they bullies? What is so mysterious about them?
This episode will more or less answer all those questions, and together we will learn all about blue jays on this episode of Species.
Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WJBq56qTc0b1FPjJasToUn1ehuYfQrxZmU8t5pMVOuw/edit?usp=sharing
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm always hesitant to ascribe personality to entire species. Anybody who has ever owned a dog or a cat, |
| 0:08.2 | or any other type of animal, really, anybody who has ever had a close relationship with an individual outside of the Homo sapiens branch, |
| 0:15.3 | knows that there is a dramatic range of personality types within other species. So to say a generalization like, dogs are shy or |
| 0:23.6 | cats are friendly, sounds about as ridiculous as saying humans are agreeable. It's too much of a |
| 0:29.7 | generalization. That said, Blue Jays are bullies are bullies? Are they more than that? Yes. Is |
| 0:36.5 | bully too nonspecific? Sure. But nevertheless, |
| 0:39.2 | I say this without fear of contradiction. The Blue Jay is an animal that habitually seeks to harm |
| 0:45.0 | and intimidate others, often irrationally, often excessively, and often to their own detriment. |
| 0:50.6 | A disposition towards dominance lies in their DNA. |
| 0:55.1 | They're bad to the bone. |
| 0:56.2 | I've seen Blue Jays, tiny little animals hardly over a half foot long, chasing hawks away. |
| 1:02.8 | And the hawks, they know how bad the Blue Jays are. |
| 1:05.7 | They'll get the heck out of there. |
| 1:07.1 | They won't even try to fight. |
| 1:09.0 | Blue Jays will attack your dogs and your cats. They'll attack |
| 1:11.8 | humans too. Today we're going to find out what they're so angry about all the time. |
| 1:17.5 | Today we're going to talk all about an animal that is surprisingly mysterious, an animal that is a |
| 1:22.5 | bully, but is also more than just a bully. Today we're going to talk about the Blue Jay. Tiana Cita, |
| 1:29.2 | Cristata. I'm Mackin. This is Species. Welcome to the show. I think this is the first animal I've |
| 1:41.2 | talked about that I see every day that doesn't come from another country. |
| 1:45.3 | This animal's American? Through and through. Some of them live in Canada too, actually, |
| 1:49.7 | especially for breeding season. I guess they want some privacy since nobody lives there, right? |
... |
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