00:00.00 Alex And we're back with archeo animals episode 59 we're talking about the folklore of paleontology and zooareology I guess but it's probably more heavily towards paleontology just basically what did the people in the past think of fossils when they found it. And we are finally kind of moving away from where we've been the last? Ah ah, part of the episode you know in Europe mainly in Greece and Rome and we're moving to Japan to talk about the tangu. Now the tanggu is a japanese creature or yokai found in shinto and buddhist beliefs. It's depicted as a high-rich creature with human avian and monkey features and more commonly at least today. Depicted as a creature with a red face and a long nose. It was originally kind of seen as a demon but nowadays is kind of more like a trickster that can you know Shapeshift and cause pranks or maybe a bit more nefariously kidnap kids and create nationals. Disasters like avalanches so mixed bag I guess but what is more interesting for us at least is the tangu noume also known as the tanoo clause which have been identified as shark chief which includes. 01:29.44 Alex Species such as the pliocene Great white shark. 01:35.10 Cpt Granarius Carcaron Carcaras Isauro species. 01:35.39 Alex Who the mayocene mackerel sharks and of course even the Meglodon that's a great way to pronounce Meglodon um, which has. 01:47.31 Cpt Granarius Carcaroles mcalloon. 01:54.38 Alex Because they're so big have been identified as claws of the king of the tangoo and this was actually really interesting because I've never really thought of looking at sharktif which I feel like is a very common like if you go to natural history museums and go to their gifts shops. I feel like shark teeth for a very common thing they sell there but and I don't I would never would have thought about them as being claws I mean this is me reaching back to like the 1990 s which was about a billion years ago now so 02:19.28 Cpt Granarius Do they still sell worlds. 02:30.50 Cpt Granarius Um, ah remember definitely those being about in the 90 s. 02:32.35 Alex Yeah I don't know if they do it now but they did when I was a kicks I definitely had some which explains a lot about me. Sorry. 02:40.58 Cpt Granarius Is um, they are um, well next creature is ah um it What is a creature called the Bunyip which is ah absolutely not. 02:45.33 Alex I date' do it now. But. 02:57.68 Cpt Granarius Just the cutesy name for a rabbit. 02:58.10 Alex Did you think it was a cuting name for rabbit like did you know what the bunyip was before. Okay. 03:04.57 Cpt Granarius No, no, but bunyip is ah, not sure if whether it's youth speak or what but I believe that a cutesy name for rabbits is bunyip as well. Which is ah not at all related. To the australian creature from aboriginal mythology that is the bunyip. It is actually an amphibious creature which is set to lurks that are in Riverbeds Swamps creeks waterholes ah and you get records about the creature so throughout Australia so there's actually several different regional varieties. Which go on hand in hand with a wide array of physical descriptions. So some accounts describe it as a seal-like creature or like a doglike creature that lives in water which is basically a seal again. Um or a long necked creature with a small head. Um. The interesting thing about this creature is that this is sort of where because like ah is where mythology and crypted sort of intersect because you have sort of sort of in the grahams queue of things fairly recent accounts of citing sort of in the nineteenth century by european settlers that recorded. Citing the bunyip. 04:19.66 Alex Yeah, it's really interesting because actually I had heard of the bunyip and this is going to be me really exposing myself for the kind of weird nerd I am as a a theme park nerd who likes animatronics and if he watched a video. About really creepy water analmatrotics please don't judge me I'm allowed I'm allowed to have hobbies but 1 of the things on this like list. You know, obviously love people love making those top 10 videos and I am a sucker for them. Folks. 04:43.98 Cpt Granarius Yeah, but but that that's that's just a Tuesday for me. Yeah. 04:59.30 Alex Um, but 1 of the kind of things mentioned on the list was bunyip animatronics which is apparently there's more than one throughout Australia and I get what they why? they'd be there. They're very horrifying if you feel like going to. Give yourself nightmares look it up on Youtube there's still some and they're in various states of rotting because people have just forgotten about them. But it's like ah you know it is. It's a krypted that's kind of still in the pop culture there in Australia. It's. You know it's being made into animatronics. It's really It's an interesting one to talk about in this episode because I don't think you really say the same for a lot of these obviously a lot of these mythical creatures. We're talking about are well known they're in stories and fantasy but I wouldn't so. Call them. Kryptids. 05:55.16 Cpt Granarius Or the Pendagon who talk to I guess. 05:59.16 Alex Yeah, true true. But yeah, um, feel free to look that up on Youtube if you'd like to really freak yourself out a bit but a bit more seriously though is the Bunyip's also a bit of a kind of. 06:16.57 Alex Representation almost for the colonialism that has occurred in Australia in particularly there is a bunyip head at the macley museum that I believe is in Sydney that was quote unquote found in 1841 turns out it was actually a fetal horse cranium and when there was originally found ah european sellers thought that it was a megafauna creature that was actually what the bunyip was so this was put on display but you know it was actually a horse. Cranium that had clearly had some kind of genetic disorder. So it was a bit ah deformed and so it looked didn't look like a horse at all. But interestingly horses were a colonial import into Australia. So. It's this weird kind of poignant clash that represents that whole horrible ah and continuing state of colonialism in that it's a colonial import made to be a part of aboriginal mythology in a way so that's. Apparently still on display at the mactley museum and they also have a version that they've made that's like taxidermied as well. But yeah, it's really well yeah, that 1 is pretty horrible to look at but still, it's ah again, it's a less serious note. It's. 07:40.75 Cpt Granarius Um, oh. 07:50.96 Alex Also the representative of thatrypted thing where as we've talked about in a previous episode. You know people making fakecrypteds and we'll actually talk a bit more about this in a second with our next bit of this episode because we are going to talk about. 08:09.37 Cpt Granarius Oh don't think so. 08:10.45 Alex Unicorn and how we talked about unicorns on the show. There's so I guess we haven't really done an episode on beastiearies yet haveway. 08:19.29 archpodnet And you mean the national animal of Scotland very proud of it up here. Very proud of it. It's a legit animal. Yeah, but have you seen sorry have you seen some of the state animals and state. 08:19.66 Cpt Granarius Um, but. 08:28.40 Alex You're really why it's not. It's not real. It's not. It's not real. 08:38.11 archpodnet Minerals and state whatevers in America like I think we can. 08:40.77 Alex I think ours is ah I think ours is a blue Jay and no, that's a state bird. What is the state animal. 08:44.12 archpodnet Well look. It's not what I'm saying is there's no nothing in the rules to say that state animal or a country's animal or you know it has to be real. There's no, there's no, there's nothing in the rules. So. 08:57.64 Cpt Granarius I Thought your your natural animal was the wild haggis. 09:02.49 archpodnet No, that's the national dish. 09:05.22 Cpt Granarius Oh is it. 09:08.57 archpodnet But I would love to eat unicorn as well. If I had a chance. 09:12.13 Alex Did you know that in America each state. We don't have like a state animal we have like a state bird mammal fish insect mollusk tree wildflower fossil and mineral. 09:14.14 Cpt Granarius Um. 09:25.64 archpodnet Mollusk like what about that does Idaho her. 09:27.50 Alex The the base scout the the Bay Scallo by the way is the New York mollusk who cares about ida idaho stay. We're not a very serious country. 09:33.80 archpodnet Um, well, what's Idaho's mollusk yeah I'm just saying how can you have an high a landlocked country with a state mollusk. 09:45.90 archpodnet The State Mollus Ski know is a potato net. 09:46.77 Alex It is the no I believe it might be the Bruno hot springsnail I mean it's a mollusk. It's mollusk. 10:01.16 archpodnet Ah, of course. Ah I do Ho know idahoa about that. Oh no, but come on. Okay, right playing back to the show back to the show. 10:07.76 Cpt Granarius Um, no, no, no, no, no, no, um well. 10:08.36 Alex Ah, you know, no well, no unicorns not real, but their horse would a horn I mean it's not really much else to it. Is there. 10:25.54 Alex What those ones are you're kind of like I can see how someone made that. 10:31.57 Cpt Granarius It's like oh but this horse is pretty neat. Let's add this Naal Tusk perfection. What. 10:35.31 Alex Yeah, and that is basically kind of what they did so unicorns again kind of found in a lot of other folklore the way that we kind of understand unicorns in the western countries seems to have originated with the greeks who. Actually didn't believe them to be kind of mythological creatures. But they sawar them as actual animals found mainly in India and like I said they're found basically and lots of other folklore I believe Japan has a unicorn ah equivalent. Ah, but I think unicorns are probably most famous perhaps in european folklore particularly medieval ah and post medieval kind of mythology. 11:27.89 Cpt Granarius Aka hey out to swindle someone of the out of their money. 11:30.84 Alex I Mean you gotta respect the grift. You know. 11:37.91 Cpt Granarius Of course, um, Paul the myths surrounding unicorns were in fact, the medicinal properties of its horn referred to as the aicorn which was originally described by the ancient Greek Physician Cthesius in 400 bc as a remedy against. Poison. Ah, although you know like in folklore other powers soon grew out of the unicorn horn which includes disease resistance and water purification to mention a few. 12:08.78 Alex Eventually powdered quote unquote unicorn horn or alicorn would be lucratively traded in European Marketplaces apparently this went for big bucks. It was very. Well sought out for and finally in sixteen thirty Eight which feels a bit late for this ah danish zoologist ola worm. Yes, that's his name we respect ollewarm for doing this important work. He. 12:26.62 Cpt Granarius Um. 12:37.10 Alex Recognized hey guys this is a not a unicorn this is actually powdered narwal tusk and apparently no yeah I mean apparently he did like literallyly like examine it and everything. But apparently no one really listened to him for like another hundred years like it kept. 12:41.92 Cpt Granarius I Also want to see how it worked it out. 12:56.25 Alex Being very much traded in European Marketplaces and it also did not stop german naturalist Autotto Von Gerik from attempting to reconstruct the unicorn verrum the true unicorn by using you know. Variety of plesoceneic mammals like Maifs and a woolly rhinoceros so you know yeah yeah I did not know how powerful the myth of the unicorn was to be completely on us. Feel like I kind of heard that like in reading various texts and alchemy as you do when you're in your early 20 s I feel like I'd seen that mention but I don't think ever really thought it was a literal thing. 13:47.39 Cpt Granarius I'm I'm still going back on how um o aor worked out that it was a nab or Tusk and not a unicorn horn so that I don't know did he taste it. It's like oh no, this doesn't taste like power unicorn horn this tastes like an na war tusk. 14:00.95 Alex I I don't want the resource I looked at didn't go too much into detail. But I think it was more of him tracking down people who were trading in narwhall tusks and then were like just powdering it down. And selling it off so probably less of a you know, intensive chemical kind of investigation of properties and more of like oh what's that guy doing with Narwhale tusks. 14:32.80 Cpt Granarius Um, yeah I mean to fair in archeology people were sort of licking the artifacts until very scaringly recently to work out whether it was a pot or a stone. Oh. 14:40.10 Alex Listen Simona we don't make fun of me just because I was tricked into doing that on my first dig. 14:44.48 Cpt Granarius 6 14:49.97 archpodnet Tricked. Yeah, sure like we have to keep this secret from the public if they find diet imagine the up. 14:54.70 Alex Okay, listen it sounds completely when you are on site for the first time. It's so hot in the Orkneys and someone says hey you know what be you don't make your time easier is if you just lick it. 15:03.35 archpodnet Oh yes, absolutely absolutely blistering in Scotland yes, a country known for its true. 15:11.95 Cpt Granarius Um, is this tropical trouble. 15:12.65 Alex How dare you it was actually it gets really warm in the Orkneys in the summer I got so sunburned. Yeah well that was before I moved to a. 15:16.61 archpodnet Yeah, yeah, yeah Cue telling yourself that Wow I mean you you need you need to use sunscreen. You know. 15:32.30 Alex Notoriously cloudy rainy place and it's just kind of destroyed my skin. That's how science works. 15:38.61 archpodnet Ah, the shame I mean yeah, but no I mean the bone thing I mean we all joke about it but like I think a lot of people have accidentally or done it on Purpose. It's just our little secret isn't it as ah as a group. As a group of archaeologists don't do it people and you don't know what you're putting your mouth and. 15:57.92 Cpt Granarius But but though to don't lick the artifacts. No no, no, no, no, no, no, um, right to move swiftly away from not licking artifacts. Ah our last mythical creature are. 15:58.21 Alex Yeah. 16:17.45 Cpt Granarius Several in a way. Ah, all known as divine chickens. Um. 16:19.94 Alex Yes, the divine chickens also known as the luan they are mythological birds in China and I was trying to figure out if because. The words for chicken is like and rooster kind of interchangeable when you translated it from chinese to english but I think it's funnier to refer to them as chickens I think that they're technically they're closer to like a rooster. But yes the lu are mythological birds in China and they include Jinji. Which is the golden chicken and tiandi which is the heavenly chicken or the celestial chicken so folklore from the yuan the guizho and the younding provinces point to. Ancient secret pathways that are made by these chickens and you can see them in the ground in the stone themselves that the pathways they made walking around when in actuality, they're basically dinosaur tracks which you know you can see in some sites. Ah, there's. Famously places in England where you can see dinosaur tracks really well and obviously people who are unfamiliar with how kind of these tracks are made you know unsurprisingly you would think with something so very strong and very powerful must have imprinted into stone. 17:51.48 Alex So that kind of instituted the logic leap into thinking these were probably divine beings and the way that dinosaur feet look you know again, they're chickens. So yes, divine chicken tracks and they are actually used in certain rights. Um, depending on which region you're in 1 of them in particular is a local rightte with diser tracts that are believed to be from ah Gingy where you would actually follow the the track during a funeral procession as it believed that. The tracks led to heaven. So yeah, chickens are dinosaurs and dinosaurs are chickens confirmed. 18:38.40 Cpt Granarius Only truths on Archeo animals. 18:41.18 Alex Yeah, this is a kind of hot hitting. You know, breaking news stories you hear from archaeo animals and this is why people tune in to listen about divine chickens and hilariously when I was looking up about the divine chickens. Ah, kept getting chicken recipes. No yeah, they did look Divine. So as we think about eating I'm sorry I don't want to say eating the Golden Chicken I feel like that's going to insult my ancestors. Um. 19:00.53 archpodnet They were they divine. 19:16.77 Alex We respectfully think about Jinji and tianji we will take a break and be back with our final segment of case studies.