Tree Lobster

Species

Macken Murphy

Nature, Social Sciences, Science

4.8 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2018

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This isn't actually a lobster, and they don't live in trees anymore. This is the rarest insect on earth. The Lord Howe Island stick insect. Dryococelus australis.

Considered extinct for decades and hidden for almost a century, this creature is unique, and they have an amazing story. Come listen and learn all about them!

Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rQ-E6um6w6N9dh_OUScPt_VKhwMT_5ZEUDDff9KkCs8/edit?usp=sharing

Support Species: speciespodcast.com/donate

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	How many insects live on earth?
0:04.0	If we were able to count every individual ant, every single bee, every single beetle, mosquito, mantis, and fly, what number would we come up with?
0:12.2	Go on.
0:12.7	Guess how many insects live on earth?
0:16.3	All right, here's the real number.
0:18.8	10 quintillion.
0:20.9	You didn't even know quintillion was a number, did you?
0:23.7	How much is a quintillion?
0:24.9	Well, it's a one with 18 zeros after it.
0:29.8	18.
0:30.8	Too big to conceptualize, right?
0:32.4	Well, let's try and break it down.
0:35.2	Imagine 1,000 insects.
0:37.2	That's a lot, but imagine it.
0:39.1	Now imagine 1,000 sets of 1,000 insects.
0:43.4	That's a million.
0:44.4	Now imagine 1 million sets of 1 million insects.
0:49.9	Now, imagine a million sets of a million sets of a million insects.
0:56.1	That's one quintillion.
0:58.5	Now, multiply that by 10, and you've got all the insects in the world.
1:03.6	And this isn't just some guy's number.
1:06.1	This is coming from the Smithsonian.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Macken Murphy, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Macken Murphy and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.