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I Did Not Get Leprosy!

2020-03-06 · explainer · Hank · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Personal life) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: recurring series, self promotion

Recalling his lonely first job alone in a Florida fungicide lab and the group of armadillos he photographed there in 2003, Hank tells John he did not get leprosy (which jumped from humans to armadillos, not their fault) and shares nine-banded armadillo facts: identical quadruplets, delayed pregnancies, two ways of crossing water and thriving in human landscapes.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank's lonely job alone in a Florida fungicide quality-control lab and the armadillos outside his window

  • ★★ After college Hank worked alone in a fungicide quality-control lab: running the whole lab was exciting, but it was awful, as he saw no living thing all day but mold. — 00:00:00 · Florida
  • ★ The job was so boring and lonely that Hank, with his first digital camera, took pictures of himself wearing produce bags on his head. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ One day Hank saw a little group of armadillos outside his window and decided to take a bunch of pictures of them with his new camera. — 00:00:46

00:00:58 — Photographing the armadillos that snuffled his head; leprosy from armadillos, 'turtle rabbit', leprosy jumping from humans to armadillos

  • ★★ Hank says you can get diseases from animals, including leprosy from armadillos; the official advice is not to handle them unnecessarily, and he did not. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ When Hank listened to punk rock on headphones the armadillos came over and snuffled his head, he thinks because they took the music for a bug, since they listen for prey. (hedged) — 00:01:10
  • ★★ Hank says the Aztec word for armadillo translates to 'turtle rabbit'. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank did not get leprosy from the armadillos. — 00:01:32
  • ★★ Hank says leprosy is fairly treatable now. — 00:01:32
  • ★★★ Hank says diseases sometimes cross from animals to humans, but leprosy actually jumped from humans to armadillos, so it is not the armadillos' fault. — 00:01:38
  • ★★ Hank says armadillos are most closely related to anteaters and there are many species, such as pink fairy, three-banded, nine-banded and giant armadillos. — 00:01:50

00:01:56 — Armadillo facts: species and glyptodons, the nine-banded armadillo's range, quadruplets, the roll, crossing water, delayed pregnancy, jumping

  • ★★ Hank says the glyptodons of the past are now extinct, probably because of humans. (hedged) — 00:02:02
  • ★★ Hank says the nine-banded armadillo is the only armadillo native to the US and also lives elsewhere in North, Central and South America. — 00:02:09 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says the US subspecies are all genetically very similar, suggesting only a few made it this far north before establishing a population. — 00:02:16 · United States
  • ★★ Hank says these armadillos always have litters of identical quadruplets, so the group he hung out with were probably genetically identical siblings. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Hank says 'roll' is the collective noun for armadillos. — 00:02:33
  • ★★ Hank says armadillos have two ways to cross water: walk under it, sinking under their heavy plates, or inflate their digestive systems and swim on top. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ Hank says a female armadillo can decide after mating to postpone her babies: if stressed, for up to two years before the embryos start developing. — 00:02:58
  • ★★ Hank says threatened armadillos jump high in the air, which scares predators but not cars, which is why many end up dead by the road. (playful) — 00:03:12

00:03:24 — Roadside deaths, thriving in human landscapes, his 2003 photos, an armadillo pin for the pin club and sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says nine-banded armadillos survive well in human-created landscapes, even an office park outside Orlando: they are abundant and doing very well as a species. — 00:03:30
  • ★★ Hank loves armadillos and loved looking back through his old pictures from 2003. — 00:03:40
  • ★★ Members of the Bizarre Beasts Pin Club will be getting an armadillo pin soon. — 00:03:46

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description invites viewers interested in the Bizarre Beasts pin club to sign up to be emailed when or if it relaunches. — video description
  • ★ In a comment John says that whenever he thinks humans are the best species he learns something like armadillos delaying pregnancies by up to two years. (playful) — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John invites viewers to come see him and Hank on tour next week (week of 9 March 2020) in Indianapolis, Columbus or Ann Arbor. — creator comment · Indianapolis, Hank Green

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: armadillo · nine-banded armadillo

Also: Projects: Bizarre Beasts Pin Club

Groups: Aztecs

Concepts: anteater · collective noun · embryonic diapause · giant armadillo · glyptodon · leprosy · pink fairy armadillo · three-banded armadillo · Zoonosis

Places: Florida · Orlando, Florida · South America · United States

Only in the description or credits: Ann Arbor, Michigan · Columbus, Ohio · Indianapolis

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