How do animals pick their leaders?
Dennis Stogsdill/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Here in the U.S., we’re gearing up for the 2024 election! We’re about to vote to pick a new president and choose other leaders too. Maybe you’ve seen yard signs for different candidates around your neighborhood or campaign commercials on TV. All this election fever got us wondering: how do different animals pick their leaders?
Join Molly and cohost Emily as they get to know some of the wildest leaders in the animal kingdom, from tiny ants to orca whales. Plus, they’ll learn about a special group of monkeys that vote! And as always, a new mystery sound!
Featured Experts:
Dr. Deborah M. Gordon is a professor of biology at Stanford University. She studies ant communication and why ant colonies thrive.
Dr. Erin P. Riley is a professor of anthropology at San Diego State University where she researches relationships between humans and non-human primates.
Audio Transcript
Download transcript (PDF)
PRESENTER 1: You're listening to Brains On!, where we're serious about being curious.
PRESENTER 2: Brains On! is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
[DOG BARKING]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Oh. Hey, Penelope Poodle. What's up, girl?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Do you want to go for a walk? Is that it?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Do you need another hot dog?
[PENELOPE GROWLS]
Oh, belly rub?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Huh. [SIGHS] If only you could just tell me what you want.
[PENELOPE BARKS]
PENELOPE: Argh! These humans. Haven't they ever heard of dog lingo? Yes, it is I, Queen Penelope, the poodle, and I can definitely talk. Things in human society have seemed a little rough lately, and I think it's time for some new leadership. Therefore, I've decided to promote myself to top dog.
I know it won't be easy being queen. The paparazzi has already been hounding me to no end. I can't even chase a squirrel without flashing cameras in my face. But I know I'm up to the job. Sanden's been treating me like a queen since I was just a pup. And trust me, he is not easy to be in charge of.
Stop one on my "paw-sitive" improvement world tour is cleaning up Brains On! headquarters. It is pure chaos in here. Someone's always leaving their dirty dishes in the lab or kitchen. Molly's office is full of chocolate-covered cottage cheese clusters that she won't share with me. Rude. And what kind of office building has a taco farm?
Plus, it always smells like farts. Hey. Hello?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Attention.
[PENELOPE BARKS]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Ha ha ha She's so cute with the barking. I think you need another hot dog.
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Don't you, Penelope?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Who's a good little "puppoo?" Who's a good little pup?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On! from APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom, and my co-host today is Emily from Redwood City, California. Hi, Emily.
EMILY: Hi, Molly.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here in the US, we've got election fever. We're about to vote to pick a new president and choose other leaders, too. Maybe you've seen campaign ads on TV or yard signs for different candidates or overheard people talking about it. And it got us wondering-- how do other animals pick their leaders? Emily, you had a question about this, right?
EMILY: Yeah. I wanted to know how ants picked their queens.
MOLLY BLOOM: Incredible question. What made you think of it?
EMILY: I was thinking about this question when me and my mom were laying in bed and talking about how many ants we have in our house.
MOLLY BLOOM: So where do the ants live in your house?
EMILY: We actually don't know, but we see them everywhere in the house.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] Oh, man. Do you feel like they're like friendly, or are you like, please, could you just live somewhere that's not my house?
EMILY: Please, do not.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] So you're like, you know, guys, I'm sure you're really nice, but maybe you should go outside, find your own house.
EMILY: I remember the day when me and my dad were taking a walk and my mom called and said, oh, there's a big problem in the house! We ran because we thought my sister was like something happening to my sister, and there was just ants all over the chicken.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, no!
EMILY: Yeah, and it was very funny.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, so you live with ants, so you got curious about their queens. So we're going to be talking today about all different kinds of animal leaders, not just ants. But your question is a great place to start. There are more than 10,000 ant species out there from teeny tiny Argentine ants to big, beefy bullet ants.
EMILY: And tons of new ants are being discovered all the time.
MOLLY BLOOM: But one thing almost all ants have in common? They live in groups called colonies.
EMILY: And in each colony, there's at least one queen ant.
MOLLY BLOOM: The queen is usually bigger than the rest of the ants. And sometimes, she even has wings.
EMILY: Fancy!
MOLLY BLOOM: Very fancy. But back to your question, how do ants pick their queens? The answer is--
[DRUM ROLL]
--they don't. Queens are born into the job.
EMILY: Wait, what?
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, not too long ago, scientists discovered that some baby ants are naturally able to absorb more nutrients from the food they eat. These ants grow bigger than their siblings, and eventually, become queens.
EMILY: So ants don't actually pick who becomes queen. Some ants are just born to be queens. I guess it's kind of like how human kings and queens are born into power, not elected.
MOLLY BLOOM: But wouldn't it be cute if there were ants elections? Think of all the tiny campaign signs and the tiny little speeches spoken into tiny little microphones. The tiny election buttons!
EMILY: Molly, keep it together.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, sorry. So some baby ants naturally grow bigger and become queens. But these queens don't rule over the colony or make decisions.
EMILY: Yeah. Their main job is to lay eggs.
MOLLY BLOOM: Right. All of the worker ants you see in a colony are females, but they're not able to lay eggs. That's up to the queen. We did a whole episode of Brains On! about this called Ants, Who's in Charge Here? Here's a clip from that episode. This is ant expert Deborah Gordon describing how ant colonies actually run.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- Even though we call them the queens, they're not in charge. They don't tell anybody what to do. They don't give any instructions. In fact, in an ant colony, no ant gives any other ant instructions. And so, it's a really interesting question, how do they ever figure out how to get anything done?
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Deborah explained that most ants communicate with each other by smell.
EMILY: But ants don't have noses. They smell through their antennas.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, good one. I love it. Those are the two boingy sticks on top of their heads.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- So when one ant touches another ant with its antennae, it's smelling it. So if you start watching ants, you'll see them approach each other and touch each other with their antennae. And it turns out that they're smelling this layer kind of a grease that they have on their bodies. And that grease has a smell that tells the other ant what job it's been doing and whether it belongs to the same colony.
And they also put out chemicals from glands in their body that have a smell. The most famous kind is called trail pheromone, and that's a chemical that one ant puts down on the ground where it's walking. And then another ant that comes along tends to be attracted to that smell. And so it goes in the direction of the smell.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: So the ants smell each other to see what each ant is up to. And sometimes, they'll make little smelly trails to tell other ants what to do.
EMILY: Like if one ant finds a tasty snack, it'll make a little scent trail to lead other ants to it.
MOLLY BLOOM: So each individual ant is making decisions based on the ants around them. If you want to listen to the rest of our ant episode, we've linked it in the show notes.
MEN: (SINGING) Bah ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba brains on
EMILY: So even though we call queen ants queens, they aren't the leaders. Turns out the animal world is very different from our world. And it doesn't always work to use our ideas to describe animal societies.
MOLLY BLOOM: Exactly. Some animals do pretty much everything by themselves, like adult snow leopards or desert tortoises. Other animals do live in groups with leaders, but they don't have elections like the one that's happening in the US this year.
EMILY: Even though you won't see any animal campaign commercials--
MOLLY BLOOM: Like, I'm a pony, and I approve this message.
EMILY: --leadership is still important to them.
MOLLY BLOOM: We invited a few very special guests from across the animal kingdom to explain how it's done in their groups.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
Ops, sounds like our first guest is here. Emily, this is Olga. She's an orca whale.
OLGA: Well, hello there. Aren't you just the cutest little thing? Here, I brought my famous mackerel upside down cake. Let me get you a big slice. Oh, this is going to be oceans of fun.
EMILY: Molly, why does this whale remind me of my grandma?
OLGA: Because I am a grandma. I'm the oldest orca in my pod. I've been hunting skates, halibut, and our favorite, salmon, since Molly wore a diaper.
MOLLY BLOOM: That was one time! Oh, you mean when I was a baby. [CLEARS THROAT] Carry on.
OLGA: And we orcas have very good memories. That means I've got decades worth of salmon-hiding spots stored up in the old noggin. That's super helpful in years when there aren't many salmon around. I just remember a spot that might still have fish and lead my family there.
MOLLY BLOOM: Scientists call this the grandmother effect. They found that young orca whales with a living grandmother were almost five times more likely to survive than whales without one.
EMILY: That makes sense. Female orcas live about 20 years longer than males. Scientists think the oldest ever lived to 105 years old.
OLGA: That's right. I'm not that old, but I've been the oldest in the pod for some time, and it's my responsibility to show everyone where the salmon are hiding. But it's true what they say-- all my grandbabies really do keep me young. Speaking of, I should get back to them. I want to show them how to do a backflip. Check it out.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
EMILY: Whoa!
OLGA: Still got it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Bye, Olga.
EMILY: Nice to meet you.
OLGA: Take care you two. Don't forget to eat your sea vegetables.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Olga, the orca whale, was very cool.
EMILY: Grandma goals, for sure. I have one question, though. How did the doors of Brains On! headquarters grow to fit an orca whale?
MOLLY BLOOM: It will forever remain a mystery. And speaking of mysteries, it's time for the--
[EERIE MUSIC]
SPEAKER: (WHISPERS) Mystery sound.
MOLLY BLOOM: Are you ready to hear it, Emily?
EMILY: Maybe. I don't know.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
MOLLY BLOOM: I think you're ready.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here it is.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
Hmm. I don't know what it is either. What do you think? What do you think it is?
EMILY: It sounds like maybe an airplane, or maybe like mowing the lawn, or like an engine, or maybe like the streets, the cars, it sounds. Like I heard some rustling noises there. Maybe the cars?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. I feel like you're hearing engines--
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: --is kind of what you're hearing? I agree with you. Should we hear it again and see what else we hear?
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
EMILY: I shouted more the lawnmower.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
EMILY: Ooh. Maybe like when they're cleaning the cars. I saw kind of like the-- poo! Maybe like that when they're cleaning cars?
MOLLY BLOOM: Cleaning cars? I could see that. Yeah, I mean, it definitely sounds like there's a machine involved in some way.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's got to be a machine. I don't think that's an animal making that sound.
EMILY: No, definitely not. If there is, my mind is going to blow out. All these mystery sounds make my mind blow out.
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. Me, too. I'm always like, what? What? OK. So my guess is-- I was going to say sewing machine.
EMILY: Ooh, yeah. That could be a good one. Yeah, maybe--
MOLLY BLOOM: But I don't know. It did kind of sound outside. And I feel like you're not going to use a sewing machine outside. Like that would be not a common thing to do. So I'm going to go with someone outside using a sewing machine to sew together leaves to make a quilt for the squirrels.
EMILY: [LAUGHS] Good.
MOLLY BLOOM: Possible? Maybe?
EMILY: Yeah, possibly.
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll hear it again after the credits. Get another chance to guess and hear the answer. So stick around.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: We're working on an episode all about sneezing. Every sneeze is a little different-- from big, loud achoos to polite little sneezes like acchii! So we want to hear from you. If your sneeze had a name, what would it be? Record yourself doing your best sneezing impression, and tell us what you'd named that sneeze. Emily, what does your sneeze sound like and what would you name it?
EMILY: Maybe like sneeze-a-lawnmower. [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: Ooh. Sneeze-a-lawnmower, I love it.
EMILY: Like, achoo!
MOLLY BLOOM: I like that one a lot. Listeners, record your sneeze's name and sound, and send it to us at brainson.org/contact. While you're there, send us your mystery sounds, drawings, and questions.
EMILY: Like this one. What's more common to be, right-handed or left-handed?
MOLLY BLOOM: You can find answers to questions like these on the Moment of Um podcast, a short dose of facts and fun every weekday. Find Moment of Um and more at brainson.org.
EMILY: So keep listening.
[POUNDING MUSIC]
PRESENTER 3: Brains On! universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Brains On!, we know you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
ROBOTIC VOICE: Here we are in Brains On! universe, home to my favorite podcasts. Brains On!
[BEEPS]
Smash Boom Best.
[BEEPS]
Forever Ago. [GASPS] I found one. Smash Boom Best, the smart, funny debate show.
MOLLY BLOOM: Please give us the skinny on why seashells are superior.
PRESENTER 3: Ultimately, seashells are great because beach.
[LAUGHTER]
ROBOTIC VOICE: Ah! What a great show. Need more Smash Boom Best now!
PRESENTER 3: Listen to Smash Boom Best wherever you get your podcasts.
MEN: (SINGING) Brains on, on, on
EMILY: You're listening to Brains On! I'm Emily.
MOLLY BLOOM: And I'm Molly.
EMILY: Today we're talking about leadership in the animal kingdom.
MOLLY BLOOM: Animals don't have elections like we do, but leadership is still really important for lots of them.
EMILY: We invited a few animal leaders to the studio to tell us about it. Next up is Heidi, an alpha spotted hyena. I wonder when she'll--
HEIDI: (SINGING) The fun has arrived
365, party girl, ready for her close up. Wait, where's the camera?
EMILY: Uh, this is a podcast interview. There are no cameras.
HEIDI: What? Argh! But I got a perm just for this interview. Look. It looks great, really. Listeners, let it be known that I have gorgeous curly fur. You've never seen anything like it, and I guess you never will.
EMILY: So you're an alpha hyena. What does that mean?
HEIDI: Being an alpha means I'm the top dog-- err, hyena. Alphas are like the low key boss of the group. I've got the most power of any hyena in my clan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Whoa. How did you manage that?
HEIDI: [LAUGHS] I was a born leader. Literally. My mom was the alpha before me. You see, my sisters and I were born with our eyes wide open, and--
MOLLY BLOOM: Ah! So you could see what each other looked like?
HEIDI: What? No! So we could fight for dominance. We also had all of our teeth.
EMILY: Whoa! Talk about sibling rivals.
MOLLY BLOOM: Seriously, but yeah. Unlike most other furry predators, spotted hyenas are born with their eyes open and little tiny teeth poking through their gums.
EMILY: And they're also pretty much born into their social position.
HEIDI: Yep. Our society is matrilineal, which means females are in charge. Males might be born high ranking if their mother was also high ranking, but they usually leave the clan after a few years to find a mate. Then, they're at the bottom of the social order in their new clan. Ah!
EMILY: What do you do as an alpha hyena?
HEIDI: I hunt with the rest of the females. Teamwork makes the dream work. And then, I get to eat first. Everyone else has to wait until I decide I'm full.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a pretty big privilege.
HEIDI: Yup. But I've got to stay strong to stay on top. Whew! All this talking has made me hungry. Say, do you any zebras coming by the studio? I could help-- interview them-- if you know what I mean. [CHUCKLES]
EMILY: Nice try. No zebras here.
HEIDI: Rats! Well, guess I have to go find my own, you know, interview. [LAUGHS]
EMILY: Bye, Heidi.
HEIDI: Ta ta.
MOLLY BLOOM: Bye, Heidi.
EMILY: Who knew hyena groups were led by alpha females? So cool.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. Leadership looks pretty different across the animal kingdom.
EMILY: As far as we know, though, we humans are the only ones that elect presidents.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. Year after year, we keep electing the same type of leader, a human one. But what if a parrot was president, or a penguin?
EMILY: We asked you to tell us what animal you think would make a good leader. And your responses were totally wild.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- My name is Griffin, and I live in Austin, Texas. I think a meerkat would be a great leader because they already know how to vote, so they would probably be very smart and fair about how people are voting for them. And they like to protect other people because they like mob at an object they're unfamiliar with.
- Hi, my name is Arjun from Nashville, Tennessee. And I think lions should be a leader because they're smart. They can sense danger really fast, and they're strong.
- My name is Samuel. I live in Trenton, New Jersey. And I think my great animal in the animal kingdom could be an elephant. Elephants are known for their intelligence, strong social bonds, and empathy. They exhibit leadership's qualities by guiding their herds, protecting their young, and showing a deep understanding of their environment.
- Hi, my name is CeCe. I'm from Canada. I think cats and dogs should rule the world. Dogs would help us be smarter and make more friends. Cats would help us be more alert and faster.
- I think an elephant would be a good leader because they're smart, kind, and they have feelings.
- I'm Vera, and I think an animal leader should be a chimp because they live in communities, too, like us.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks to Griffin, Arjun, Samuel, CeCe, Elia, and Vera for sending in those great ideas. We loved hearing from you. And stick around until the end of this episode to hear even more awesome animal leader ideas. Emily, I'm wondering, what animal would you want to run for president?
EMILY: I think I'll choose a penguin because they're my favorite animal, and they're really loyal, and they're really good parents, and they take care of their chicks really good.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ah! I love that idea. Can you imagine a little cute penguin wearing an "I voted" sticker?
EMILY: So cute. Even though animals don't have elections, some of them do vote-- sort of.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, like Tonkean macaque monkeys.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- When deciding when and where to move, Tonkean macaques have a process that looks a lot like voting.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's Erin Riley, a scientist at San Diego State University who has studied Tonkean macaques.
EMILY: Erin says that these monkeys are only found on one island near Indonesia.
MOLLY BLOOM: And unlike some other animals, they don't have a leader who makes decisions for them. They vote.
EMILY: Like Erin said, usually, the monkeys are voting on whether or not to move their group to a new spot.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- So generally, what it would look like is that maybe you would have a group that's been in an area for a while, or let's say they had a feeding fest, and then, often what happens is that they eat a bunch, and then they're like, ah, it's time to relax.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Imagine you've got a group of about 30 macaque monkeys. They've all just filled up on figs, and now they're lying around in the sun. Some are grooming each other, some are napping.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- And then some start to get antsy, so to speak. Hey, maybe it's time to move on.
[END PLAYBACK]
EMILY: All of a sudden, that monkey who is ready to move gets up. She walks away from the group until she's about 30 feet away.
MOLLY BLOOM: Then, she stops, and looks back to see if any of her friends are following her.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- And then, maybe moments later, we have another individual that is going in a completely different direction. And then the rest of the group has to make a decision, OK, who are we going to follow?
[END PLAYBACK]
EMILY: These two monkeys keep up this dance, one walking one way, and the other going the other way.
MOLLY BLOOM: They each take a few steps and glance back to see how many of the other monkeys are following.
EMILY: A few monkeys get up and follow the first monkey who walked away.
MOLLY BLOOM: Maybe one or two go after the other monkey who's walking the other direction.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- It seems like what ends up happening a lot of cases, not just for the Tonkean macaques, is a quorum. It's like once a certain number of individuals have gone, it's kind of like, OK, I guess I'll go along, too.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: So let's imagine that in the end, the second monkey to move has a much bigger group following him. In that case, the rest of the monkeys would get up or walk over to follow him, too.
EMILY: It's like that expression, vote with your feet, literally.
MOLLY BLOOM: And one cool thing about these macaques is that there's not just one type of monkey that can start a move like this.
EMILY: It's not just the older ones, or the females, or the ones with the longest eyelashes. Any member of the group can start a movement.
MOLLY BLOOM: Speaking of which, how about we start a movement out to the water to wash Olga the orca teach her grand wheelies to flip? I've always wanted to see that!
EMILY: Let's go!
[WAVES SPLASHING]
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: Other animals don't have elections like humans do.
EMILY: But for lots of animals, leadership is still really important.
MOLLY BLOOM: Some animals, like orca whales, rely on the oldest group members to lead everyone to food.
EMILY: Others, like hyenas, have leaders that are born into the role.
MOLLY BLOOM: And some animals, like ants, don't have any leader at all.
EMILY: That's it for this episode of Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: This episode was written by--
NICO WISLER: Nico Gonzalez Wisler.
MOLLY BLOOM: It was produced by Molly Bloom and--
ROSE DUPONT: Rose Dupont.
MOLLY BLOOM: Our editors are--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Sanden Totten--
MOLLY BLOOM: And--
SHAHLA FARZAN: Shahla Farzan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Fact checking by--
JESS MILLER: Jess Miller.
MOLLY BLOOM: We had engineering help from Alex Simpson and Jermaine Hamilton with sound design by--
RACHEL BREES: Rachel Brees.
MOLLY BLOOM: Original theme music by--
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
MOLLY BLOOM: We had production help from the rest of the Brains On! universe team--
ANNA GOLDFIELD: Anna Goldfield.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ruby Guthrie.
LAUREN HUMPERT: Lauren Humpert.
JOSHUA RAY: Joshua Ray.
MARCH SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
CHARLOTTE TRAVER: Charlotte Traver.
ANNA WEGGEL: Anna Weggel.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Aron Woldeslassie.
MOLLY BLOOM: Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Beatriz Mendoza, Fernando [? Covar, ?] Ana Paula, Lucy, and Maya.
EMILY: Brains On! is a non-profit public radio program.
MOLLY BLOOM: There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brains On! universe on YouTube, where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes, or head to brainson.org.
EMILY: While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right, Emily, are you ready to hear that mystery sound again?
EMILY: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here it is.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
EMILY: I will stick with my same answers, but I'm going to add one more.
MOLLY BLOOM: Let me hear.
EMILY: Maybe like an engine or like a really big car.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ooh, yeah.
EMILY: Like one of the garbage can cars, maybe lifting up all the trash, maybe like that?
MOLLY BLOOM: Hmm. I love all your guesses. I'm going to stick with mine. Making the blanket for the squirrels outside.
EMILY: [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: Should we see if either of us are correct?
EMILY: Yeah. I want to see.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
REYAN: Hello, my name is Reyan, and I'm from Lebanon. This was the sound of me using a cake mixer.
MOLLY BLOOM: A cake mixer?
EMILY: Wow, a cake mixer.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, I'm going to give us both partial credit because we both said there was a motor involved.
EMILY: That was a motor, kind of.
MOLLY BLOOM: There was a motor in the cake mixer. It's like, I think, one of those hand mixers.
EMILY: Oh, yeah, those are the ones. But that it always blows my mind out. [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. [LAUGHS] Picture like a hand mixer. So it's like when you hold in your hand, and there's two like little silver beaters.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: And when you hold them in the bowl-- yeah, yeah, yeah. I use that. I can't believe I didn't know. So you're holding the bowl, and it makes that noise when it hits the bottom of the bowl.
EMILY: I've used them before, I just--
MOLLY BLOOM: [SIGHS] Man.
EMILY: These mystery sounds always trick you up.
MOLLY BLOOM: I know! They're so tricky.
EMILY: Yup.
MOLLY BLOOM: But we were close. We were close. Partial credit.
EMILY: Yeah.
[CAKE MIXER WHIRRING]
MOLLY BLOOM: And now here are more of your ideas about which animals would make great leaders.
MARLEY: My name is Marley from Maryland. And I think a good animal leader is a crow because crows are one of the only animals who use tools, and they are great problem solvers.
DEREK: My name is Derek, and I'm from Maryland. I think the leader should be an octopus because it has eight arms and nine brains, which lets it do eight things at once. That's exactly what a leader needs.
[? REILLY: ?] Hi, my name is [? Reilly. ?] I live in Okinawa, Japan. And I think a raccoon would be a good leader because they are super resourceful because they eat trash.
VERNON: I think ants would be good leaders because when they're fighting termites and other things for food, they carry injured ants back to the nest so they can rehabilitate and stay alive. And I think that working together and helping others are good leadership qualities.
JOEY: My name is Joey and I'm from the Bronx. I think jellyfish would make great leaders because they sting so they can protect their group.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks so much to Marley, Derek, Reilly, Vernon, and Joey for sending in these excellent ideas. Now it's time for the Brains Honor Roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
We'll be back next week with an episode all about how people who are blind or have low vision navigate the world.
EMILY: Thanks for listening!
PRESENTER 2: Brains On! is supported in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
[DOG BARKING]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Oh. Hey, Penelope Poodle. What's up, girl?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Do you want to go for a walk? Is that it?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Do you need another hot dog?
[PENELOPE GROWLS]
Oh, belly rub?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Huh. [SIGHS] If only you could just tell me what you want.
[PENELOPE BARKS]
PENELOPE: Argh! These humans. Haven't they ever heard of dog lingo? Yes, it is I, Queen Penelope, the poodle, and I can definitely talk. Things in human society have seemed a little rough lately, and I think it's time for some new leadership. Therefore, I've decided to promote myself to top dog.
I know it won't be easy being queen. The paparazzi has already been hounding me to no end. I can't even chase a squirrel without flashing cameras in my face. But I know I'm up to the job. Sanden's been treating me like a queen since I was just a pup. And trust me, he is not easy to be in charge of.
Stop one on my "paw-sitive" improvement world tour is cleaning up Brains On! headquarters. It is pure chaos in here. Someone's always leaving their dirty dishes in the lab or kitchen. Molly's office is full of chocolate-covered cottage cheese clusters that she won't share with me. Rude. And what kind of office building has a taco farm?
Plus, it always smells like farts. Hey. Hello?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Attention.
[PENELOPE BARKS]
SANDEN TOTTEN: Ha ha ha She's so cute with the barking. I think you need another hot dog.
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
Don't you, Penelope?
[PENELOPE BARKS]
Who's a good little "puppoo?" Who's a good little pup?
[PENELOPE SNARLS]
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: You're listening to Brains On! from APM Studios. I'm Molly Bloom, and my co-host today is Emily from Redwood City, California. Hi, Emily.
EMILY: Hi, Molly.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here in the US, we've got election fever. We're about to vote to pick a new president and choose other leaders, too. Maybe you've seen campaign ads on TV or yard signs for different candidates or overheard people talking about it. And it got us wondering-- how do other animals pick their leaders? Emily, you had a question about this, right?
EMILY: Yeah. I wanted to know how ants picked their queens.
MOLLY BLOOM: Incredible question. What made you think of it?
EMILY: I was thinking about this question when me and my mom were laying in bed and talking about how many ants we have in our house.
MOLLY BLOOM: So where do the ants live in your house?
EMILY: We actually don't know, but we see them everywhere in the house.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] Oh, man. Do you feel like they're like friendly, or are you like, please, could you just live somewhere that's not my house?
EMILY: Please, do not.
MOLLY BLOOM: [LAUGHS] So you're like, you know, guys, I'm sure you're really nice, but maybe you should go outside, find your own house.
EMILY: I remember the day when me and my dad were taking a walk and my mom called and said, oh, there's a big problem in the house! We ran because we thought my sister was like something happening to my sister, and there was just ants all over the chicken.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, no!
EMILY: Yeah, and it was very funny.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, so you live with ants, so you got curious about their queens. So we're going to be talking today about all different kinds of animal leaders, not just ants. But your question is a great place to start. There are more than 10,000 ant species out there from teeny tiny Argentine ants to big, beefy bullet ants.
EMILY: And tons of new ants are being discovered all the time.
MOLLY BLOOM: But one thing almost all ants have in common? They live in groups called colonies.
EMILY: And in each colony, there's at least one queen ant.
MOLLY BLOOM: The queen is usually bigger than the rest of the ants. And sometimes, she even has wings.
EMILY: Fancy!
MOLLY BLOOM: Very fancy. But back to your question, how do ants pick their queens? The answer is--
[DRUM ROLL]
--they don't. Queens are born into the job.
EMILY: Wait, what?
MOLLY BLOOM: Well, not too long ago, scientists discovered that some baby ants are naturally able to absorb more nutrients from the food they eat. These ants grow bigger than their siblings, and eventually, become queens.
EMILY: So ants don't actually pick who becomes queen. Some ants are just born to be queens. I guess it's kind of like how human kings and queens are born into power, not elected.
MOLLY BLOOM: But wouldn't it be cute if there were ants elections? Think of all the tiny campaign signs and the tiny little speeches spoken into tiny little microphones. The tiny election buttons!
EMILY: Molly, keep it together.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, sorry. So some baby ants naturally grow bigger and become queens. But these queens don't rule over the colony or make decisions.
EMILY: Yeah. Their main job is to lay eggs.
MOLLY BLOOM: Right. All of the worker ants you see in a colony are females, but they're not able to lay eggs. That's up to the queen. We did a whole episode of Brains On! about this called Ants, Who's in Charge Here? Here's a clip from that episode. This is ant expert Deborah Gordon describing how ant colonies actually run.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- Even though we call them the queens, they're not in charge. They don't tell anybody what to do. They don't give any instructions. In fact, in an ant colony, no ant gives any other ant instructions. And so, it's a really interesting question, how do they ever figure out how to get anything done?
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Deborah explained that most ants communicate with each other by smell.
EMILY: But ants don't have noses. They smell through their antennas.
MOLLY BLOOM: Oh, good one. I love it. Those are the two boingy sticks on top of their heads.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- So when one ant touches another ant with its antennae, it's smelling it. So if you start watching ants, you'll see them approach each other and touch each other with their antennae. And it turns out that they're smelling this layer kind of a grease that they have on their bodies. And that grease has a smell that tells the other ant what job it's been doing and whether it belongs to the same colony.
And they also put out chemicals from glands in their body that have a smell. The most famous kind is called trail pheromone, and that's a chemical that one ant puts down on the ground where it's walking. And then another ant that comes along tends to be attracted to that smell. And so it goes in the direction of the smell.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: So the ants smell each other to see what each ant is up to. And sometimes, they'll make little smelly trails to tell other ants what to do.
EMILY: Like if one ant finds a tasty snack, it'll make a little scent trail to lead other ants to it.
MOLLY BLOOM: So each individual ant is making decisions based on the ants around them. If you want to listen to the rest of our ant episode, we've linked it in the show notes.
MEN: (SINGING) Bah ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba brains on
EMILY: So even though we call queen ants queens, they aren't the leaders. Turns out the animal world is very different from our world. And it doesn't always work to use our ideas to describe animal societies.
MOLLY BLOOM: Exactly. Some animals do pretty much everything by themselves, like adult snow leopards or desert tortoises. Other animals do live in groups with leaders, but they don't have elections like the one that's happening in the US this year.
EMILY: Even though you won't see any animal campaign commercials--
MOLLY BLOOM: Like, I'm a pony, and I approve this message.
EMILY: --leadership is still important to them.
MOLLY BLOOM: We invited a few very special guests from across the animal kingdom to explain how it's done in their groups.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
Ops, sounds like our first guest is here. Emily, this is Olga. She's an orca whale.
OLGA: Well, hello there. Aren't you just the cutest little thing? Here, I brought my famous mackerel upside down cake. Let me get you a big slice. Oh, this is going to be oceans of fun.
EMILY: Molly, why does this whale remind me of my grandma?
OLGA: Because I am a grandma. I'm the oldest orca in my pod. I've been hunting skates, halibut, and our favorite, salmon, since Molly wore a diaper.
MOLLY BLOOM: That was one time! Oh, you mean when I was a baby. [CLEARS THROAT] Carry on.
OLGA: And we orcas have very good memories. That means I've got decades worth of salmon-hiding spots stored up in the old noggin. That's super helpful in years when there aren't many salmon around. I just remember a spot that might still have fish and lead my family there.
MOLLY BLOOM: Scientists call this the grandmother effect. They found that young orca whales with a living grandmother were almost five times more likely to survive than whales without one.
EMILY: That makes sense. Female orcas live about 20 years longer than males. Scientists think the oldest ever lived to 105 years old.
OLGA: That's right. I'm not that old, but I've been the oldest in the pod for some time, and it's my responsibility to show everyone where the salmon are hiding. But it's true what they say-- all my grandbabies really do keep me young. Speaking of, I should get back to them. I want to show them how to do a backflip. Check it out.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
EMILY: Whoa!
OLGA: Still got it.
MOLLY BLOOM: Bye, Olga.
EMILY: Nice to meet you.
OLGA: Take care you two. Don't forget to eat your sea vegetables.
[WAVES SPLASHING]
MOLLY BLOOM: Olga, the orca whale, was very cool.
EMILY: Grandma goals, for sure. I have one question, though. How did the doors of Brains On! headquarters grow to fit an orca whale?
MOLLY BLOOM: It will forever remain a mystery. And speaking of mysteries, it's time for the--
[EERIE MUSIC]
SPEAKER: (WHISPERS) Mystery sound.
MOLLY BLOOM: Are you ready to hear it, Emily?
EMILY: Maybe. I don't know.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
MOLLY BLOOM: I think you're ready.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here it is.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
Hmm. I don't know what it is either. What do you think? What do you think it is?
EMILY: It sounds like maybe an airplane, or maybe like mowing the lawn, or like an engine, or maybe like the streets, the cars, it sounds. Like I heard some rustling noises there. Maybe the cars?
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. I feel like you're hearing engines--
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: --is kind of what you're hearing? I agree with you. Should we hear it again and see what else we hear?
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
EMILY: I shouted more the lawnmower.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
EMILY: Ooh. Maybe like when they're cleaning the cars. I saw kind of like the-- poo! Maybe like that when they're cleaning cars?
MOLLY BLOOM: Cleaning cars? I could see that. Yeah, I mean, it definitely sounds like there's a machine involved in some way.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: It's got to be a machine. I don't think that's an animal making that sound.
EMILY: No, definitely not. If there is, my mind is going to blow out. All these mystery sounds make my mind blow out.
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. Me, too. I'm always like, what? What? OK. So my guess is-- I was going to say sewing machine.
EMILY: Ooh, yeah. That could be a good one. Yeah, maybe--
MOLLY BLOOM: But I don't know. It did kind of sound outside. And I feel like you're not going to use a sewing machine outside. Like that would be not a common thing to do. So I'm going to go with someone outside using a sewing machine to sew together leaves to make a quilt for the squirrels.
EMILY: [LAUGHS] Good.
MOLLY BLOOM: Possible? Maybe?
EMILY: Yeah, possibly.
MOLLY BLOOM: We'll hear it again after the credits. Get another chance to guess and hear the answer. So stick around.
[UPBEAT MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: We're working on an episode all about sneezing. Every sneeze is a little different-- from big, loud achoos to polite little sneezes like acchii! So we want to hear from you. If your sneeze had a name, what would it be? Record yourself doing your best sneezing impression, and tell us what you'd named that sneeze. Emily, what does your sneeze sound like and what would you name it?
EMILY: Maybe like sneeze-a-lawnmower. [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: Ooh. Sneeze-a-lawnmower, I love it.
EMILY: Like, achoo!
MOLLY BLOOM: I like that one a lot. Listeners, record your sneeze's name and sound, and send it to us at brainson.org/contact. While you're there, send us your mystery sounds, drawings, and questions.
EMILY: Like this one. What's more common to be, right-handed or left-handed?
MOLLY BLOOM: You can find answers to questions like these on the Moment of Um podcast, a short dose of facts and fun every weekday. Find Moment of Um and more at brainson.org.
EMILY: So keep listening.
[POUNDING MUSIC]
PRESENTER 3: Brains On! universe is a family of podcasts for kids and their adults. Since you're a fan of Brains On!, we know you'll love the other shows in our universe. Come on, let's explore.
ROBOTIC VOICE: Here we are in Brains On! universe, home to my favorite podcasts. Brains On!
[BEEPS]
Smash Boom Best.
[BEEPS]
Forever Ago. [GASPS] I found one. Smash Boom Best, the smart, funny debate show.
MOLLY BLOOM: Please give us the skinny on why seashells are superior.
PRESENTER 3: Ultimately, seashells are great because beach.
[LAUGHTER]
ROBOTIC VOICE: Ah! What a great show. Need more Smash Boom Best now!
PRESENTER 3: Listen to Smash Boom Best wherever you get your podcasts.
MEN: (SINGING) Brains on, on, on
EMILY: You're listening to Brains On! I'm Emily.
MOLLY BLOOM: And I'm Molly.
EMILY: Today we're talking about leadership in the animal kingdom.
MOLLY BLOOM: Animals don't have elections like we do, but leadership is still really important for lots of them.
EMILY: We invited a few animal leaders to the studio to tell us about it. Next up is Heidi, an alpha spotted hyena. I wonder when she'll--
HEIDI: (SINGING) The fun has arrived
365, party girl, ready for her close up. Wait, where's the camera?
EMILY: Uh, this is a podcast interview. There are no cameras.
HEIDI: What? Argh! But I got a perm just for this interview. Look. It looks great, really. Listeners, let it be known that I have gorgeous curly fur. You've never seen anything like it, and I guess you never will.
EMILY: So you're an alpha hyena. What does that mean?
HEIDI: Being an alpha means I'm the top dog-- err, hyena. Alphas are like the low key boss of the group. I've got the most power of any hyena in my clan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Whoa. How did you manage that?
HEIDI: [LAUGHS] I was a born leader. Literally. My mom was the alpha before me. You see, my sisters and I were born with our eyes wide open, and--
MOLLY BLOOM: Ah! So you could see what each other looked like?
HEIDI: What? No! So we could fight for dominance. We also had all of our teeth.
EMILY: Whoa! Talk about sibling rivals.
MOLLY BLOOM: Seriously, but yeah. Unlike most other furry predators, spotted hyenas are born with their eyes open and little tiny teeth poking through their gums.
EMILY: And they're also pretty much born into their social position.
HEIDI: Yep. Our society is matrilineal, which means females are in charge. Males might be born high ranking if their mother was also high ranking, but they usually leave the clan after a few years to find a mate. Then, they're at the bottom of the social order in their new clan. Ah!
EMILY: What do you do as an alpha hyena?
HEIDI: I hunt with the rest of the females. Teamwork makes the dream work. And then, I get to eat first. Everyone else has to wait until I decide I'm full.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's a pretty big privilege.
HEIDI: Yup. But I've got to stay strong to stay on top. Whew! All this talking has made me hungry. Say, do you any zebras coming by the studio? I could help-- interview them-- if you know what I mean. [CHUCKLES]
EMILY: Nice try. No zebras here.
HEIDI: Rats! Well, guess I have to go find my own, you know, interview. [LAUGHS]
EMILY: Bye, Heidi.
HEIDI: Ta ta.
MOLLY BLOOM: Bye, Heidi.
EMILY: Who knew hyena groups were led by alpha females? So cool.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. Leadership looks pretty different across the animal kingdom.
EMILY: As far as we know, though, we humans are the only ones that elect presidents.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah. Year after year, we keep electing the same type of leader, a human one. But what if a parrot was president, or a penguin?
EMILY: We asked you to tell us what animal you think would make a good leader. And your responses were totally wild.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- My name is Griffin, and I live in Austin, Texas. I think a meerkat would be a great leader because they already know how to vote, so they would probably be very smart and fair about how people are voting for them. And they like to protect other people because they like mob at an object they're unfamiliar with.
- Hi, my name is Arjun from Nashville, Tennessee. And I think lions should be a leader because they're smart. They can sense danger really fast, and they're strong.
- My name is Samuel. I live in Trenton, New Jersey. And I think my great animal in the animal kingdom could be an elephant. Elephants are known for their intelligence, strong social bonds, and empathy. They exhibit leadership's qualities by guiding their herds, protecting their young, and showing a deep understanding of their environment.
- Hi, my name is CeCe. I'm from Canada. I think cats and dogs should rule the world. Dogs would help us be smarter and make more friends. Cats would help us be more alert and faster.
- I think an elephant would be a good leader because they're smart, kind, and they have feelings.
- I'm Vera, and I think an animal leader should be a chimp because they live in communities, too, like us.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks to Griffin, Arjun, Samuel, CeCe, Elia, and Vera for sending in those great ideas. We loved hearing from you. And stick around until the end of this episode to hear even more awesome animal leader ideas. Emily, I'm wondering, what animal would you want to run for president?
EMILY: I think I'll choose a penguin because they're my favorite animal, and they're really loyal, and they're really good parents, and they take care of their chicks really good.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ah! I love that idea. Can you imagine a little cute penguin wearing an "I voted" sticker?
EMILY: So cute. Even though animals don't have elections, some of them do vote-- sort of.
MOLLY BLOOM: Yeah, like Tonkean macaque monkeys.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- When deciding when and where to move, Tonkean macaques have a process that looks a lot like voting.
MOLLY BLOOM: That's Erin Riley, a scientist at San Diego State University who has studied Tonkean macaques.
EMILY: Erin says that these monkeys are only found on one island near Indonesia.
MOLLY BLOOM: And unlike some other animals, they don't have a leader who makes decisions for them. They vote.
EMILY: Like Erin said, usually, the monkeys are voting on whether or not to move their group to a new spot.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- So generally, what it would look like is that maybe you would have a group that's been in an area for a while, or let's say they had a feeding fest, and then, often what happens is that they eat a bunch, and then they're like, ah, it's time to relax.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: Imagine you've got a group of about 30 macaque monkeys. They've all just filled up on figs, and now they're lying around in the sun. Some are grooming each other, some are napping.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- And then some start to get antsy, so to speak. Hey, maybe it's time to move on.
[END PLAYBACK]
EMILY: All of a sudden, that monkey who is ready to move gets up. She walks away from the group until she's about 30 feet away.
MOLLY BLOOM: Then, she stops, and looks back to see if any of her friends are following her.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- And then, maybe moments later, we have another individual that is going in a completely different direction. And then the rest of the group has to make a decision, OK, who are we going to follow?
[END PLAYBACK]
EMILY: These two monkeys keep up this dance, one walking one way, and the other going the other way.
MOLLY BLOOM: They each take a few steps and glance back to see how many of the other monkeys are following.
EMILY: A few monkeys get up and follow the first monkey who walked away.
MOLLY BLOOM: Maybe one or two go after the other monkey who's walking the other direction.
[AUDIO PLAYBACK]
- It seems like what ends up happening a lot of cases, not just for the Tonkean macaques, is a quorum. It's like once a certain number of individuals have gone, it's kind of like, OK, I guess I'll go along, too.
[END PLAYBACK]
MOLLY BLOOM: So let's imagine that in the end, the second monkey to move has a much bigger group following him. In that case, the rest of the monkeys would get up or walk over to follow him, too.
EMILY: It's like that expression, vote with your feet, literally.
MOLLY BLOOM: And one cool thing about these macaques is that there's not just one type of monkey that can start a move like this.
EMILY: It's not just the older ones, or the females, or the ones with the longest eyelashes. Any member of the group can start a movement.
MOLLY BLOOM: Speaking of which, how about we start a movement out to the water to wash Olga the orca teach her grand wheelies to flip? I've always wanted to see that!
EMILY: Let's go!
[WAVES SPLASHING]
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC]
MOLLY BLOOM: Other animals don't have elections like humans do.
EMILY: But for lots of animals, leadership is still really important.
MOLLY BLOOM: Some animals, like orca whales, rely on the oldest group members to lead everyone to food.
EMILY: Others, like hyenas, have leaders that are born into the role.
MOLLY BLOOM: And some animals, like ants, don't have any leader at all.
EMILY: That's it for this episode of Brains On!
MOLLY BLOOM: This episode was written by--
NICO WISLER: Nico Gonzalez Wisler.
MOLLY BLOOM: It was produced by Molly Bloom and--
ROSE DUPONT: Rose Dupont.
MOLLY BLOOM: Our editors are--
SANDEN TOTTEN: Sanden Totten--
MOLLY BLOOM: And--
SHAHLA FARZAN: Shahla Farzan.
MOLLY BLOOM: Fact checking by--
JESS MILLER: Jess Miller.
MOLLY BLOOM: We had engineering help from Alex Simpson and Jermaine Hamilton with sound design by--
RACHEL BREES: Rachel Brees.
MOLLY BLOOM: Original theme music by--
MARC SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
MOLLY BLOOM: We had production help from the rest of the Brains On! universe team--
ANNA GOLDFIELD: Anna Goldfield.
RUBY GUTHRIE: Ruby Guthrie.
LAUREN HUMPERT: Lauren Humpert.
JOSHUA RAY: Joshua Ray.
MARCH SANCHEZ: Marc Sanchez.
CHARLOTTE TRAVER: Charlotte Traver.
ANNA WEGGEL: Anna Weggel.
ARON WOLDESLASSIE: Aron Woldeslassie.
MOLLY BLOOM: Beth Perlman is our executive producer, and the executives in charge of APM Studios are Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith. Special thanks to Beatriz Mendoza, Fernando [? Covar, ?] Ana Paula, Lucy, and Maya.
EMILY: Brains On! is a non-profit public radio program.
MOLLY BLOOM: There are lots of ways to support the show. Subscribe to Brains On! universe on YouTube, where you can watch animated versions of some of your favorite episodes, or head to brainson.org.
EMILY: While you're there, you can send us mystery sounds, drawings, and questions.
MOLLY BLOOM: All right, Emily, are you ready to hear that mystery sound again?
EMILY: Yes.
MOLLY BLOOM: Here it is.
[MYSTERY WHIRRING]
EMILY: I will stick with my same answers, but I'm going to add one more.
MOLLY BLOOM: Let me hear.
EMILY: Maybe like an engine or like a really big car.
MOLLY BLOOM: Ooh, yeah.
EMILY: Like one of the garbage can cars, maybe lifting up all the trash, maybe like that?
MOLLY BLOOM: Hmm. I love all your guesses. I'm going to stick with mine. Making the blanket for the squirrels outside.
EMILY: [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: Should we see if either of us are correct?
EMILY: Yeah. I want to see.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK.
REYAN: Hello, my name is Reyan, and I'm from Lebanon. This was the sound of me using a cake mixer.
MOLLY BLOOM: A cake mixer?
EMILY: Wow, a cake mixer.
MOLLY BLOOM: OK, I'm going to give us both partial credit because we both said there was a motor involved.
EMILY: That was a motor, kind of.
MOLLY BLOOM: There was a motor in the cake mixer. It's like, I think, one of those hand mixers.
EMILY: Oh, yeah, those are the ones. But that it always blows my mind out. [LAUGHS]
MOLLY BLOOM: I know. [LAUGHS] Picture like a hand mixer. So it's like when you hold in your hand, and there's two like little silver beaters.
EMILY: Yeah.
MOLLY BLOOM: And when you hold them in the bowl-- yeah, yeah, yeah. I use that. I can't believe I didn't know. So you're holding the bowl, and it makes that noise when it hits the bottom of the bowl.
EMILY: I've used them before, I just--
MOLLY BLOOM: [SIGHS] Man.
EMILY: These mystery sounds always trick you up.
MOLLY BLOOM: I know! They're so tricky.
EMILY: Yup.
MOLLY BLOOM: But we were close. We were close. Partial credit.
EMILY: Yeah.
[CAKE MIXER WHIRRING]
MOLLY BLOOM: And now here are more of your ideas about which animals would make great leaders.
MARLEY: My name is Marley from Maryland. And I think a good animal leader is a crow because crows are one of the only animals who use tools, and they are great problem solvers.
DEREK: My name is Derek, and I'm from Maryland. I think the leader should be an octopus because it has eight arms and nine brains, which lets it do eight things at once. That's exactly what a leader needs.
[? REILLY: ?] Hi, my name is [? Reilly. ?] I live in Okinawa, Japan. And I think a raccoon would be a good leader because they are super resourceful because they eat trash.
VERNON: I think ants would be good leaders because when they're fighting termites and other things for food, they carry injured ants back to the nest so they can rehabilitate and stay alive. And I think that working together and helping others are good leadership qualities.
JOEY: My name is Joey and I'm from the Bronx. I think jellyfish would make great leaders because they sting so they can protect their group.
MOLLY BLOOM: Thanks so much to Marley, Derek, Reilly, Vernon, and Joey for sending in these excellent ideas. Now it's time for the Brains Honor Roll. These are the incredible kids who keep the show going with their questions, ideas, mystery sounds, drawings, and high fives.
[LISTING HONOR ROLL]
We'll be back next week with an episode all about how people who are blind or have low vision navigate the world.
EMILY: Thanks for listening!
Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.
