One of my favorite phenomenons in nature is when evolution makes an animal really good at succeeding in one niche, then throws them into a new niche and they radically evolve.

Their environment throws them a curve ball, and they knock it out of the park.

Usually when an animal was put in a situation that doesn't fit their niche, they just die.

They go extinct.

But sometimes, an animal will overcome and adapt, and the results are invariably fascinating.

Think back to our Kiwi episode.

That's a bird adapted for life in the trees and in the sky that got thrown a curveball and basically transformed into a mammal.

Or for longtime listeners, think back to our panda bear episode.

That was a perfectly adapted, vicious carnivore that suddenly ran out of meat,

and turned into a relatively docile herbivore.

Today I'm going to talk about a ray.

You know, one of those small, bottom-dwelling venomous creatures. Today I'm going to talk about

a ray that transformed into a whale, the giant oceanic manta ray. Mubula barostris. I'm Mackin. This is

species.

Welcome to the show. I'm going to be comparing this creature to a whale a lot on this show,

and just so you all know, just in case anyone gets confused,

it's always purely metaphorical.

I'm just making an analogy to a more familiar creature.

This animal is obviously still a ray. And they have traits that are entirely unique,

traits that I won't be making any analogies about. And I'm excited to tell you all about them.

Anyway, if you want to support this show, if you like listening to this, text the link to some friends right now.

Seriously, your phone is right there. You can really help me out.

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