Kangatopia

I love public radio. Sometimes it’s a little boring, but for the most part - I love it. I especially love the Glenn Mitchell Show. This dude is darn charismatic, and he hosts a groovy call in talk show on a diverse range of topics. A lot of times the content has to do with an author who’s just published a new book on an esoteric subject, and sometimes he’ll have someone well known and super cool on the show, such as Umberto Eco or David Sedaris. (I missed both of these shows by the way. Insert big frowny face here.)

Anyhoo, today I listened to the segment he calls, “Anything You Ever Wanted to Know”, in which callers submit questions and offer answers. Almost no topic is off limits (I’m sure that you would never make it on the air if you wanted to ask why it is so tricky to swallow everything before your partner experiences the super sensitive after flush), so it’s a little like a crowd of adults asking questions like 3 year olds and answering them like 70 year olds. One person called in and asked about turkey vultures in Texas and why they seem to ignore road kill. Are they afraid of cars, or just more picky than commonly thought? This was pretty interesting to me since we saw a lot of vultures and a lot of carrion during the Big Bend Excursion - and oh, those vultures! they are just as creepy looking as you would think they would be if you happened to digest cartoons every Saturday morning and weekday afternoon and saw many a Warner Brothers depiction of said vultures.

Here’s what one caller answered: it’s because they have weak feet and this inhibits their ability to pick up larger chunks so they try to look for smaller ones that are easier to carry. Also, they repel their attackers by throwing up on them which - because of what they eat - generally accomplishes the task.