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Is This the Cutest Animal Noise?

2019-12-13 · explainer · Hank, Jessi Knudsen Castañeda · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: recurring series, self promotion, guest or collab

In his monthly Bizarre Beasts, Hank features Kemosabe, a Brazilian prehensile-tailed porcupine at his friends' Animal Wonders whose human-like cooing may be the cutest animal sound, explains that New and Old World porcupines evolved their quills separately, plugs the Animal Wonders channel and thanks viewers for a record P4A.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Bizarre Beasts introduced; Kemosabe, who inspired it, once visited Hank on SciShow

  • ★★ Hank introduces another Bizarre Beasts, his project of talking about one weird animal every month for twelve months; this time an animal he knows personally. — 00:00:02 · Bizarre Beasts
  • ★★ Hank says Kemosabe, an Animal Wonders porcupine, inspired the idea: years ago it visited Hank on SciShow and he freaked out, joking it would seem normal for it to step out of a spaceship. (playful) — 00:00:10 · SciShow

00:00:33 — Kemosabe the Brazilian porcupine at Animal Wonders and his cute, human-like cooing

  • ★★ Hank says Kemosabe is a prehensile-tailed porcupine, a group of many species, and specifically a Brazilian porcupine. — 00:00:33
  • ★★ Kemosabe lives with Hank's friends Jessi and Augusto in Montana at Animal Wonders, a permanent home and safe haven for exotic and native animals that can't return to the wild. — 00:00:43 · Montana, Animal Wonders
  • ★★ Hank says Kemo is a bit of an internet celebrity, partly for his looks (giant tail, spines, weird marshmallow nose) and partly for how he sounds. — 00:00:55
  • ★★★ Hank grants there are cuter animals but doubts there are cuter-sounding ones, and plays Kemosabe's cooing. (hedged) — 00:01:06
  • ★★ Hank says the sound recalls a baby cooing but also sounds kind of human, a noise he could easily make himself. — 00:01:23
  • ★★ Hank finds a human sound from such a non-human-looking organism exhilarating, very cute and a little unsettling, emotions that rarely come together. — 00:01:38

00:01:54 — Animal Wonders' YouTube channel, produced with Complexly

  • ★★ Hank says Animal Wonders has a YouTube channel, Animal Wonders Montana, which Complexly helps produce; it is wonderful and educational, so subscribe. — 00:01:54 · Animal Wonders, Complexly, Montana

00:02:08 — Porcupines: separately evolved quills, the 'spine pig' name, tree-climbing porcupettes

  • ★★ Hank says 'porcupine' covers many species: those of the US and Central and South America, and the unrelated Old World porcupines of Europe, Africa and Asia. — 00:02:08
  • ★★★ Both groups are rodents, but their quills evolved separately from a common ancestor without quills. — 00:02:28
  • ★★ Hank says both are called porcupines because the name means 'spine pig' (pork plus spine): they are thorn pigs. (playful) — 00:02:36
  • ★★ Because their quills evolved separately, they work completely differently; hedgehogs and echidnas also evolved spines separately, since being unpleasant to bite is a good idea. — 00:02:51
  • ★★ Prehensile-tailed porcupines live in trees, which is why they have prehensile tails, and are very good climbers. — 00:03:04
  • ★★ Baby porcupines, properly called porcupettes, are soft and can't be carried by their thorny mothers, so they have muscular tails and working claws and climb from day one. — 00:03:10

00:03:29 — Subscribe to Animal Wonders

  • ★★ Hank praises Animal Wonders' work, people and videos, admitting he is biased because his company produces them. (playful) — 00:03:29 · Animal Wonders, Complexly

00:03:43 — Thanks for a record Project for Awesome; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank thanks viewers for the Project for Awesome: it had over a thousand more donors than previous years and beat every previous P4A. — 00:03:43 · Project for Awesome

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says prehensile-tailed porcupines live in Central and South American canopies eating fruit and leaves; wild ones stay quiet to avoid notice, and Kemo is apparently more vocal than most captive ones. (hedged) — video description
  • ★ Replying in a channel comment to a viewer who felt the video was setting up a longer lesson, Hank says this is life under the four-minute rule. (playful) — creator comment · Four-minute rule
  • ★ Asked in the comments whether this beast gets a pin, Hank says it does; he just didn't have time to mention it. — creator comment · Bizarre Beasts

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Animal Wonders · Bizarre Beasts · Brazilian porcupine · Kemosabe · porcupine

Also: People: Augusto · Jessi Knudsen Castañeda

Projects: Project for Awesome · SciShow

Concepts: convergent evolution · cuteness · echidna · hedgehog · Old World porcupine

Places: Montana

Characters: Yoshi

Only in the description or credits: Complexly · Four-minute rule

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