And now it's time for Who Smarted?
Hey, smarty pants, I'm on a boat about to jump into the ocean to meet some friends of mine who also happen to be the biggest fish in the sea.
Any ideas what kind of animal they are?
Did you say a whale or even a blue whale?
Well, that's a good guess. but not quite right.
As you know, whales are the biggest animal in the ocean and on the planet.
But I didn't say the biggest animal.
I said the biggest fish.
Do you know what the biggest fish is?
I'll give you a hint.
It has the word whale as part of its name.
Ah, that's better.
I hear lots of you saying it now.
Why?
It's the whale shark.
Ah, it's good to be in the ocean.
It's also good to have this special underwater equipment that only exists in Who Smarted Land that allows me to breathe and podcast underwater.
Where are my friends?
Hey, trustee!
Over here!
Good to see you, trustee.
Hiya, Smarty Pants.
Oh, there you are.
I didn't see you swimming up behind me.
Smarty Pants, say hey to my whale shark friends, Rio Lady and Mr. Facey.
Smarty Pants, any idea where on the planet you can find most whale sharks?
Care to give them a hint, Rio Lady?
Sure.
Whale sharks like to live in temperate waters.
Hmm, smarty pants.
Do you know what temperate means?
It sounds like it has to do with temperature.
So, does it mean warm or cold?
If you said warm, nice.
Yep, whale sharks prefer warm waters.
You can often find us living near the equator.
You know, the center of the Earth.
We can be found in deep oceans and sometimes near land.
Fantastic.
And now that we've found our whale shark friends, we can ask them questions to learn more about them.
Things like, how big do whale sharks grow?
What do they eat?
And how can you tell the difference between a whale shark and a whale?
Get ready for another whiff of science on... Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who's Smart?
You know when I was a kid the times I learned the most weren't in school.
They were when I was building or making something new.
I still remember the joy of creating something with my own two hands.
That's exactly what KiwiCo brings to kids today.
With KiwiCo every crate is a chance for your child to tinker, create and innovate.
They'll learn the fundamentals of science technology engineering, art and math, while actually having fun.
I love that these projects build skills over time.
One month it's learning to design a working bow and arrow, and the next it's building a robot.
And what makes KiwiCo special is that these aren't one-and-done projects.
They're built to last so kids can play, experiment, and keep discovering long after the box is open.
KiwiCo makes it easy to give your child the gift of curiosity and confidence, delivered right to your door.
Tinker, create, innovate.
Get up to 50% off your first crate at KiwiCo.com with promo code SMARTED.
That's K-I-W-I-C-O.com, promo code SMARTED.
Okay, smarty pants, like I said, whale sharks are the biggest fish in the ocean.
So how long can a whale shark grow?
Is it 20 feet long, like the height of two basketball hoops stacked on top of each other?
40 feet long, about the length of a school bus?
Or 100 feet long, the size of a 10-story building?
So, Mr. Facey, real lady, what is it?
If you said 40 feet long, you're right.
Although some whale sharks can grow up to 65 feet long, and whale sharks can weigh up to 18 tons.
Wow, that's heavy.
Now, wait a sec.
You're called whale sharks.
So, which is it?
Are you whales or sharks?
We are definitely sharks.
And obviously, we're the biggest of all sharks, including the great white.
We are called whale sharks because we're about the same size as most whales and we look kind of similar.
Except our tails are vertical instead of horizontal.
Our scientific name is Rincodon typus.
Yeah, I'll just stick with whale shark.
We're the only sharks in the Rincodon family.
And like all sharks, our skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bones.
Cartilage is a connective tissue that humans have too.
Go ahead, gently squeeze your ears or your nose.
That's made of cartilage.
Whoa.
Say, how many kinds of sharks are swimming in the oceans on Earth?
Is it A, over 100?
B, over 300?
Or C, over 400?
If you said over 400, you're right.
But whale sharks don't resemble what you're probably thinking of when I say shark.
Maybe you two can describe yourselves for our smarty pants listening.
Sure.
We have flat, broad heads.
And our mouths are at the front of our heads instead of underneath, like most sharks have them.
Our mouths are as big as our heads.
We are usually dark reddish brown or gray on top and white underneath.
And we have yellowish or white spots and stripes on our heads, bodies, and tails.
I hate to bring this up, but a lot of humans are scared of sharks.
Are whale sharks dangerous?
Nah, we're gentle giants.
We don't attack people.
Plus, our tiny teeth aren't very good for biting.
In fact, human divers often grab onto our backs and swim with us.
The most dangerous thing about us is our big flapping tails.
Whoa, incoming.
Sorry.
It's okay.
I have lightning fast reflex.
Ow!
Sorry about that.
It didn't hurt.
Much.
Speaking of speed, I know sharks swim fast.
But what about whale sharks?
Eh, not so much.
We tend to take things slow.
We only swim about three to five miles per hour.
Most scuba divers can easily keep up with us.
Even me?
Before you mention having tiny teeth, how many tiny teeth do you have?
Our giant mouths can have between 3,000 and 6,000 teeth.
Whoa, that'll keep the tooth fairy busy.
You also said your teeth wouldn't be very good for biting a human.
So with that many teeth, what do whale sharks eat, smarty pants?
Do they like to eat A, big fish, B, small sea creatures, or C, pizza?
If you said pizza, you're thinking of me.
But surprisingly, giant whale sharks like to eat small sea creatures.
Yep.
We can eat entire schools of anchovies at once.
Me too.
Well, when they're on a pizza.
The reason our big mouths are filled with tiny teeth is because we're filter feeders.
We eat by swimming with our mouths open to catch small fish, crustaceans and tiny organisms like plankton.
We tend to look for large schools of fish swimming close together.
When we find one, we rise up out of the ocean to drain the water out of our mouths.
Then we drop back into the ocean next to the school of fish.
And then swallow them all up.
If you ever see video of whale sharks, you might see us swinging our heads from side to side to suck in all the creatures we can catch.
Ooh!
We have long, rough strips in our mouths that plankton stick to when they float in.
Oh, I see.
Well, you certainly don't need big sharp, pointy teeth when your menu is mostly small fish and plankton.
Nope, but you do need a big mouth.
Our mouths are usually around six feet wide.
Whoa, your mouth is bigger than me.
I guess you need all that room to hold all the plankton and other small creatures you need to eat.
You got that right, trusty.
And again, don't worry, we would never eat you.
Oh, I wasn't worried.
So where do you go to look for plankton?
We usually like to swim at the surface, but we can also dive deep.
We're not picky about where we swim.
We follow our food source as plankton drifts with the warm ocean currents.
Gotcha.
Hey, Smarty Pants, how often do you think whale sharks take in a mouthful of plankton?
Is it A, three times a day, B, every hour, or C, every 20 seconds?
While humans tend to eat three meals a day, a whale shark actually takes a mouthful of water and plankton every 20 seconds.
Wow, that's a lot.
It takes a lot to feed the biggest fish in the ocean.
I'll say, even more than feeding a hungry, trusty narrator.
Yeah, enough about food for a second.
Tell me about your cool-looking stripes and spots.
It might surprise you to know our patterns of stripes and spots are as unique as human fingerprints.
They're also used to help us hide from predators because they help camouflage us in the water.
Our spots reflect light and make it harder to make out our giant shape.
Wow, but wait a minute.
If you're the biggest fish in the ocean, who is your predator?
Is it other sharks, other whales, or something else?
We'll have the answer right after this quick break.
October 10th is World Mental Health Day, and this year we're saying thank you to therapists.
Behind every person who takes a step forward on their mental health journey is a therapist who showed up, asked the right question or created a moment that changed everything.
BetterHelp therapists have supported more than 5 million people worldwide.
That's millions of stories and millions of small wins that add up to big change.
Personally, I'll never forget the first time in therapy when my therapist really helped me see a challenge from a new angle.
It was like a light bulb went on.
That's why I'm so grateful for the therapists who help people every day.
BetterHelp makes it easier to begin your own journey by matching you with a licensed therapist online.
With 12 plus years of experience and thousands of therapists, chances are they'll find the right match for you.
This World Mental Health Day, celebrate the therapists making a difference.
Our listeners get 10% off the first month at betterhelp.com slash usmarted.
That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash usmarted.
Who Smarted is brought to you by Squarespace.
Now, you know I'm good about creating new adventures and episodes of Who Smarted, but you don't know that I procrastinate on other stuff, like a website for one of our new projects.
Oops.
When the website builder Squarespace reached out about sponsoring Who Smarted, I decided to test it out.
And now I feel silly for putting off building that website.
Squarespace's Blueprint AI thing literally built me a custom website in minutes.
I just told it a few details about the project and boom, it generated everything.
And everything you need is right there.
I can schedule guest interviews, send email campaigns, even sell merch all from one dashboard.
Now it's your turn to stop procrastinating and start building.
You can use Squarespace to launch that business site or any site that you've been dreaming about but putting off today.
There's no excuse anymore, especially since you can head to squarespacecom slash smarted for a free trial.
And when you're ready to launch, you can use code smarted to save 10 on your first purchase of a website or domain.
That's squarespace.com slash smarted.
Code smarted.
Autumn is in full swing and, if your homeschool is anything like the ones I know, fall is a time to get back into routines, while still juggling field trips, co-ops and even prepping for the holidays.
That's where IXL comes in.
It keeps your lessons structured and steady, while giving you the flexibility that homeschool families need.
What I love most about IXL is how personalized it is.
IXL adapts so kids can move forward when they're ready or revisit a topic until it really clicks.
IXL is an award-winning online learning platform with interactive practice across math, language arts, science and social studies for every grade, from pre-K through 12.
It gives kids the right challenge at the right time, keeps them motivated and gives parents real-time feedback and progress tracking.
Over 15 million students already use IXL and more than 75 research studies prove that it really works.
There's real peace of mind for homeschool parents.
Make an impact on your child's learning and get IXL now.
Who Smarted listeners get an exclusive 20 off IXL membership when you sign up today at ixlcom slash smarted.
That's 20% off at ixl.com slash smarted.
Now back to Who Smarted.
Despite being 40 feet long, a whale shark still has predators.
Yep.
Gray whites, of course, will attack pretty much anything.
And tiger and blue sharks are also on the list of fish to avoid.
Don't forget dolphins.
Dolphins?
Dolphins attack whale sharks?
Well, it's a member of the dolphin family.
Smarty Pants, do you know what Rio Lady is talking about?
Call it out if you know.
Why, of course, it's the orca, otherwise known as the killer whale.
Of course, like with most sea creatures, the most dangerous predator is humans.
I knew you were going to say that.
Not all humans, of course.
Many humans travel the world to swim with us.
And we are very curious about them.
Fun fact, the bigger a whale shark is, the more tolerant of people it will be.
Of course, all whale sharks are much, much bigger than people.
Yep.
People love to hold on to our fin and let us take them for a ride through the ocean.
Want to try, trusty?
Um, maybe a little later.
I've also heard that whale sharks are considered good luck.
How so?
In Japan, fishermen believe seeing a whale shark means there are lots of plankton around.
And if there's lots of plankton, there should be lots of other fish, too.
Makes sense.
Listen, I'm sure you both want to eat, but I have one more question.
Go for it.
Yeah, just make it quick.
I'm starving.
Is it true that you both worked with human scientists and helped them make important discoveries about whale sharks?
It's true.
When I worked with a human scientist, I wouldn't leave her alone.
I liked to nudge her tummy, and I even became her companion for an entire dive at Gladden Spit in Belize.
And I was part of a group of whale sharks at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula that come every year from May to September to feed on plankton.
Scientists put satellite tags on us to see where we go the rest of the year.
Most of my dining companions, scattered through the Gulf of Mexico, Straits of Florida and Caribbean Sea.
But I swam all the way to the North Atlantic Ocean, headed south, and crossed the equator.
Just before my tag fell off, I was somewhere between South America and Africa.
Scientists don't know what I was doing.
But maybe someday one of you smarty pants will make a new discovery and find out.
That's right.
As much as we know about whale sharks, there's still plenty more to discover, smarty pants.
Which is why you should never stop smarting.
Also, you can look up Rio Lady and Mr Facey and read more about their adventures and what they taught scientists about whale sharks.
Yob.
I feel much better.
Bye, trustee.
Bye, trustee.
See you again soon, I hope.
Actually, before I go, can I have that ride now?
Sure thing.
Hold on tight.
Whee!
A super smarty shout out to Grace in Overland Park, Kansas.
We hear that if you're in the car, then you're listening to Who Smarted?
And you love everything from the wild characters and sound effects to all the amazing facts.
Now that's what we call a true smarty pants.
This episode, Whale Sharks, was written by Sarah Sweetick and voiced by Kierna Conner, Chris Okawa and Jerry Kolber.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Who Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
We'll give you a chance to win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards.
Fair deal?
Check out the survey at StarGlowSurvey.com.
That's StarGlowSurvey.com.
