Episode: Cute Animals, with Special Guest 9 year old Maggie

What cute animal is making you happy today? You’ll hear Laura and Robert pick what cute animals are making them happy, a dance song about axolotls, awesome animal clues from 11 year old Luke, plus an interview with special guest 9 year old Maggie from Michigan. What animal is making Maggie happy today? Here are some clues: It lives in trees, it can grow algae on its fur and it has two or three toes on its feet.

(Animals include an axolotl, sloth, Honduran white bat)

Here is a full transcript of the episode (partly done by AI, so please forgive typos).

And now for an animal joke. What is a bunny? Rabbits. Favorite kind of music? What is a bunny rabbit? My favorite kind of music. The answer is going to be revealed at the end of the episode. But first, get your ears ready Because it's the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. The Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. You want to be sad? No! Do you want to be glad? No. Wait. Yes. Well, it’s the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth.

Well, it's the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth. Hello and welcome to the Happiest Animal Show on Planet Earth, the podcast that asks the very important question. What animal is making you happy today? Not yesterday, not last week, but today. I'm Rob and I'm Laura, and we are a sister brother pair of zoologists, filmmakers and songwriters.

We are here to explore the wonderful world of wildlife and discover why animals make us happy. On today's episode, you'll hear a song about an animal that forgot to grow up, and we had planned on speaking with international soccer superstar Lionel Messi, but we canceled that because we were able to book a very special guest, nine year old Maggie from Michigan, who talks about an incredible animal with claws.

You won't want to miss it. What animal is making you happy today? I want to know. Today Rob and I gave ourselves the theme of cute animals. Rob, what cute animal is making you happy today? Okay, so this animal it. I'll be surprised if you get this one quickly. Challenge accepted. All right. Like many cute animals, this one is small.

It weighs, is much, is about two nickels. If you are holding two nickels in your hand. Okay, that's about how much this animal weighs. That same small. Okay. So it weighs a little bit more than a hummingbird. Yeah. Good point. Yes okay. For it weighs almost as much is two hummingbirds. Any. Did you have any guesses. No.

You just like. Is it a bird? It is not a bird, is it furry? Oh, yes, it is furry. Yeah. You're off to a good start. Okay. It's cute. According to you, it's small. It doesn't weigh very much. It's furry. Is it something you could see when you're walking around in the woods? Depending on where you live.

Yeah. Okay. Does it crawl around on the ground? No, you're not likely to see it on the ground. Can you see it in a tree? You can see it in a tree. Is it a caterpillar? No, it's not a caterpillar. Okay, I'll give you another hint. It eats fruit.

Is it a bat? It is a bat, yes. Yeah. This is a bat that I'd heard about. I've never seen one in the wild. But I saw a close relative of this. The bat I'm thinking of is called the Honduran white bat. The wife. But if you look it up, it is adorable. So why does it make you happy?

Oh, I'm looking at pictures. And it is cute. It is white. It is white. It has this yellow nose. It looks like a teardrop that's sticking up. Yeah. Leaf nose like a leaf nose. It's got these yellow ears that stick out. It's got yellow wings. Oh, wow. It is cute. It looks like a toy. It is so adorable.

And so I was reading about these bats recently because I took a trip to Costa Rica in December, and, I was with a guide in the forest at night, and, the guide noticed that there was an oddly shaped palm leaf and in shined a light up underneath it, and there was a little brown, bat and it is a type of bat.

They call them tent making bats because they, and I guess there are several different types of bats that do this, actually will take the leaf of a plant like a palm tree, and they will cut it with their teeth and it turns into like a little tent. They make the leaf in the shape of a tent so that it can hang out in its own private little tent.

And so a lot of these basil, like, take a piece of fruit that they can find, and they'll bring it back to their tent and they'll just hang out in their little, their little tent neat. And their fruit. So these Honduran, white bats, they eat figs. And so they'll grab a fig and bring it back to their their little leaf tent and hang out.

How adorable is that? I'm looking at pictures. It looks like they got a lot of friends. All these cute little white fluffy bats. Yeah, I read that sometimes they can be in groups up to maybe about 18 and, so yeah, how funny to to look under a leaf and see 18 of these little adorable fuzzball staring back at you.

I gotta say, I'm never expecting to turn over a leaf and see a bat. It's kind of exciting that that can happen. Okay, so a bat is making me happy. We'll find out what Laura chooses right after this. Today's episode is brought to you by waterfalls. If you're tired of water that's sitting still, try water that's falling!Waterfalls, I highly recommend them.

And we're back. So, Laura, what cute animal is making you happy today? Okay, I'm going to give you some clues. It's an animal that never really grows up, okay? It's an animal that lives in the water. It stays kind of in like a tadpole form of itself. It has really gills that stick out on the side of its head.

It's so cute that my daughter has a stuffed animal of this particular animal. What else has got? Big mouth, tiny wide set eyes? Do you have a guess? I think I know the answer is it's an axolotl. Yes, it is an axolotl I do love. So why are axolotls making you happy? I think they make me happy because they look so cute and they really don't move much.

I was looking at axolotls yesterday at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry with my daughter, and and it made me so happy just to watch them hang in the water and like, right on the bottom and just not move. Yeah. And have so many people walk by and go, oh, look at it like, I mean, that's an amazing creature.

Yeah. It's like the living version of a Pokemon character. So you said they never grow up. Why do they never grow up? Yeah. So axolotls are salamanders and all baby salamanders start out in the water. Kind of like tadpoles. Like frogs do. Yeah, and they have a tail and they have gills, and they breathe underwater. And then eventually they get legs and arms.

And most salamanders lose their gills and come out of the water, live on the land, but not axolotls. They stay underwater and they keep their gills, so they kind of never grow up. They're like the Peter Pan of animals. And amphibian Peter Pan. So these are great pics. We had a Honduran white bat and an axolotl, and I really think it's so hilarious that axolotls don't move very much that I wrote a song about it

And it is a dance song. Here it is. There's an animal that makes me want to dance every time I see it. I don't have a chance, It has tiny eyes and it has frilly gills and it's an axolotl. AXOLOTL! Let's do the axolotl! The world's smallest dance. Just like an axolotl, you barely move.

Just like you're in a trance. Let's break it down. Lift your arms. Hold still. Look really cute. Like you've got those frilly gills. Glance to the left. Glance to the right. Right. That's the whole dance. Let's do it all night. One, two three four. Let's do the axolotl, the world's smallest dance, Just like an axolotl, you barely move.

Just like you're in a trance. It's a salamander with the big bod. It's got its name from an ancient Aztec god. It lives in rivers, way down in Mexico, it's like a stufy that came to life. Whoa. Oh oh oh oh, Let's do the axolotl, Oh oh oh oh, The world's smallest dance, Just like an axolotl, you barely move,

Just like you're in a trance. Let's break it down. Lift your arms. Hold still. Look really cute. Like you've got those frilly gills. Glance to the left. Glance to the right. Right. That's the whole dance. Let's do it all night! . Oh oh oh oh. Let's do the axolotl. The world's smallest dance.

Just like an axolotl. You barely move. Just like you're in a trance. Before we get on with the show, here's a quick message for the grown ups. And we're back. It's that time in the show for the happiest fan of all. We're a fan like you. Gives us clues to an animal that is making them happy. Today's submission is from 11 year old Luke from Smyrna, Georgia.

Clue number one. This animal is small enough to fit in a shoe box. Clue number two. This animal has big ears. Clue number three. This animal has nice, tidy poops that Luke sometimes has to clean up. Clue number four. When this animal gets scared, it thumps its foot loudly. And the answer is Luke's pet rescue bunny, mochi mochi.

The bunny makes Luke happy because he's so soft and adorable and has these big, fluffy furry cheeks. Thanks for your submission, Luke. Grown ups. If you or your family would like to submit the Happiest animal, visit our website at Happiest Animal Show. Com now it's time for our special guest, Maggie. She's nine years old. She likes to ride bikes and she also likes to do weaving.

She's been weaving bracelets and recently sold a custom headband to her mom for $4. Maggie, thanks for coming on the happiest animal show. Hi, Maggie. What animal is making you happy today? They are broad and fuzzy and they live in trees. Does it live in North America? South America? It lives in South America. Does it move slowly? Yes.

In the trees. Ooh, ooh. Is it a sloth? Yeah, it's a swan. Yes, a sloth. Sloth. Why do they make you happy? Because they're really fuzzy. So fuzzy. What about their claws. Did you, do you like their toes and their curved claws. I bet if they like grabbed on to my back I bet they can each it.

Yeah. Sloths. Nature's back scratchers. How did you learn about sloths? I'm actually doing an animal report at my school about socks. Do you know what they eat? I'm pretty sure they eat like twigs. Flowers at. So they eat plants. I've seen what they eat. Like. Like peppers. Yeah. Did you see a, have you seen this loss in real life.

Yes. That's where I saw the peppers. Oh where did you see the sloth. Was it at the zoo? No. There was like an animal guy coming into our class in like second grade, and he brought a snake, schlong and a chinchilla. Whoa. In your class, you had a sloth in your class. That's incredible. I can honestly say no one ever brought a sloth to my school.

Ever. When I was growing up. And now I'm angry about it. We did have assemblies about bike safety, though. Where do they live? Most of their lives. Things. But trees. Sometimes they can swear and go oddly. Yes, they are good swimmers. That's right. I think a lot of people don't know that about them. Yeah. I'm not. I wouldn't say they're fast swimmers, but they're.

They're good swimmers. They can swim. Yeah. You know, Rob and I filmed a sloth at our science museum not too long ago. And their keeper let us go into the cage, into the enclosure with the sloth, and she got out some plants for the sauce to eat. And I was so surprised at how fast the sloth could move when it wanted to, because it kind of woke up.

And then it reached out to get the what was it feeding it? Rob, do you remember peppers? Peppers? Peppers. You're right Maggie. So it's feeding it peppers. And it would go wherever those peppers were. It would go. And then the other thing, what's interesting is that the sloth was super interested in Rob's camera. It wanted to know what it was.

So yeah, it that's hilarious. And I think maybe the microphone on my camera too. So everywhere I went, the sloth was just crawling after me, trying to grab my camera and my microphone. Yeah, I mean, it's cool to have a sloth coming at you, but the keeper warned us that it actually has a really strong bite. So she told us to be careful because loss of really, really strong teeth say that one day you wake up Maggie and you've been turned into a sloth.

What do you think would be the most fun part about being a sloth? Getting to climb trees? Yeah, they're amazingly good climbers. I guess those hooked claws they have just do the do the perfect job. I think I read that they even have their babies in trees. I mean, they hang out there, they take naps hanging upside down.

What do you think it'd be like to hang upside down all the time? Maggie I've done it before on a tree, and it hurt my to is like, all the stuff that goes to your head. Yeah. All the all the blood goes to your head. Yeah. We are not made for hanging upside down like sloths are. Yeah, that's for sure.

Well, Maggie, thank you for joining us on the Happiest Animal Show. Thanks for having me on the podcast. Bye. I hear Maggie is going to go get a donut with her dad. A Long John donut. I hope it's delicious. And now is the time we have all been waiting for on pins and needles to find out the answer to our animal joke of the day.

What is a bunny's favorite type of music? Do you have your guesses? What's a bunny's favorite type of music? The answer is hip hop.

Thanks so much for listening. And before we go, remember, we live on a beautiful planet. So go out and find what makes you happy today. Oh, hey, Grown-Ups, we know you're busy, but if you like our show, we'd love for you to tell your friends and family about it. It is the best way for our podcast to grow and Grown-Ups.

You can also follow us on our social media accounts at Happiest Animal Show, or check out other fun things on our website, like how to submit an animal or how to get merch. Visit Happiest Animal show.com. The Happiest Animal Show is created by Laura Sams, Robert Sams, and Dave Cain produced by Sisbro Studios, hosted and directed by Laura Sams and Robert Sams, and written by Laura Sams.

Robert Sams with story editor Dave Cain. And with only a little help from our cat walking across the keyboard. Now let's talk music. Original music is written and performed by zero time Grammy Award winning songwriters Laura Sams and Robert Sams, except for the end credits music which was written by Laura and Rob's grandma max, and the joke answer suspense music was written by David Schultz.

The theme song was written and performed by Laura and Rob and mixed by Jason Wells of Audio Wells. Thanks for listening. You are the best.