Hey, Wowzer fams, Mindy here.
And before we start the show, Happy New Year!
Thank you for helping to make our 2025 so full of wow.
This year we celebrated our 10th season of Wow in the World with our 250th episode, special guests, a new book, New toys, out into the world.
Live events listening parties.
Oh my, so many things.
Whether you shared our podcast with a friend or teacher, joined our WOW membership called our WOW hotline, wrote a review on Apple or Spotify, watched us on WOWtube or just tuned into an episode.
This year would not have been possible without your support.
So thank you for wowing with us in 2025.
And here's to even more in 2026.
That's it.
And now let's get back to the show.
Happy New Year!
Nature.
Lush rainforests teeming with life.
Ocean depths filled with mystery.
Barren tundras where something happens.
Probably.
The natural world is fascinating, with so much to uncover.
This week, we will be exploring none of that.
Instead, we will venture inside the dwelling of nosy neighbor Dennis.
Oh, it's so cozy-wozy in here.
We'll snoop on Earth's greatest snooper in hopes of learning more about him and perhaps more about ourselves.
I'm Stan Pellegrino, and this is WeWow.
The Great Indoors.
La la la, la la la, some tinsel over here.
Some over there, some over here.
Today, Dennis is in high spirits.
Put the candy canes around the tree.
Put one also in my mouth.
Despite the weather outside being frightful, inside of doors, Dennis' behavior is delightful.
Hi, cute little snow globe.
I'll put you right over here.
Hi, cute little plushie snowman.
Let's put you right over here.
He's decorating his home.
Hello, stockings.
You're going over by the chimney with care.
It is a fascinating behavior.
Dennis is compelled to adorn his habitat with cute little gnomes bright, shiny ornaments, garlands and plastic plants.
Ooh!
Ooh, mistletoe.
Where should we put you?
Despite their uselessness, Dennis is drawn to the objects.
The shinier, the better.
Ah, my sparkly glass snowflake.
So pretty.
This collection of winter decorations is large.
Alright.
During the spring, summer, and fall, all the objects are kept in boxes.
Okay, let's do this one next.
And now, Dennis appears bewildered at which box contains which decoration.
I found a box down in the basement, and I'm gonna find out what's in that box.
Ooh, string lights.
Over and over again, he is delighted to rediscover what he so carefully tucked away last year.
Oh, they're all tangled.
Come here, lights.
I'll untangle you.
Or something's not so carefully.
They're all knotted.
This is going to take forever.
Okay, I think this end goes under here.
No, no, that goes over here.
No, wait.
Dennis' spirits begin to slip.
Why is this so hard?
Oh, no.
Now they're tangled around my legs.
It's beginning to look like more than he bargained for.
Dennis is down.
But he remains determined.
Okay, whatever.
I'm just going to plug him in.
There we go.
Ah, look, it's like I'm the tree.
Like a moth to flame, Dennis is drawn to the colorful lights.
So pretty.
Mother, come look how pretty the lights are.
And now, covered in lights, he is quickly soothed.
Twinkle, twinkle little Dennis how I wonder how I'm gonna untangle myself so I can keep decorating and also I have to pee.
These winter decorations are neither food nor shelter.
They appear to be inessential for surviving the long winter months.
I'm free!
Don't worry, Mother!
I untangled myself!
In fact, the whole thing appears to be a bit of a hassle.
And Mother, I think we need more lights.
No, thank you.
But it is clear that this decorating ritual is essential.
I'm just so happy.
Right you are, Dennis.
Right you are.
Thank you for joining us on WeWow, the great indoors.
Tune in tomorrow for another adventure with our subject, Dennis.
Next on Wow TV is an episode of Wow in the World.
It's season four, episode six, good habitat keeping.
But first, a message from our sponsors.
WeWow is brought to you in part by a grant from the Mind Your Own Beeswax Foundation.
Support the bees and their wax.
WeWow will be right back.
Grown-ups, this message is for you.
That's it.
Now back to the show.
What in the world?
Hello.
Oh, sorry.
Oops.
That's better.
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Animal Architecture Neighborhood Tour.
Today, I shall lead you through a curated, diverse animal neighborhood.
This tour will focus on the animal art of home building.
Animal homes take many forms.
Nests, burrows, dens, webs, hives, holes, caves, and hollows.
Come on, Mindy.
Where are you?
Five, five, five.
Five, five, five.
Five, five, five.
One.
Come on.
Come on.
Pick up.
Mindy, where are you?
The tour is about to start and... Gotcha!
You reached my voicemail.
Sorry I can't get to the phone right now.
If you leave me a message, I'll be sure to get back to you in two to three months.
What?
Mindy, where are you?
The neighborhood tour is about to start and I don't see you anywhere.
Weren't you supposed to be coming here with... What in the...
Mindy, take your hands off my eyes.
I can't see anything.
Oh, sorry.
Dennis?
Dennis, watch out!
Don't worry, Mindy.
That small group of amateur architecture enthusiasts will stop us.
Oh, yeah, good idea.
Uh-oh.
Oh, look, it's Guy Raz.
Hi, Guy.
Watch out!
Oh, did it work?
Are we stopped?
Did we miss it?
What in the wow was that?
What do you mean?
What do I mean?
Dennis just came barreling down that hill on a pair of rollerblades with you on his back.
Oh, right.
Yeah, about that.
So I was running late for our tour and I asked Dennis for his rollerblades and he said, hop on.
No, what I said was I'd rather skate 20 miles with a dolphin on my back than give you my blades.
And you said, I've always wanted to be a dolphin and jumped on my back.
Eh, tomato, tomato.
Okay, is that everyone?
No more last minute arrivals.
We're all here now.
Sorry.
Excellent.
Let's begin the tour.
Whether it's a nest, a burrow, or a den, there's no place like home.
Our first stop is a beautiful structure built by the Australian bowerbird.
Now... Well, I sure am glad you made it, Mindy.
I've been looking forward to this tour for weeks.
Me too.
I'm hoping I can get a couple of ideas for my newest expansion of my gingerbread mansion.
Expansion?
Yeah, I'm building an Olympic-sized ball pit in the bathroom arcade.
Uh-huh.
And I'm here against my will.
Of course.
Oh, I think we're at our first stop.
There are many reasons for an animal to roll up their sleeves and build their own domicile.
Wompf. shelter, and boosting the local economy by hiring neighborhood contractors.
Huh?
But perhaps one of the strongest reasons of all is love.
Love?
That's right, love.
It happens all over the animal kingdom.
But nobody builds a home to impress quite like our feathered friend, the bowerbird.
Wow, take a look at this nest, Mindy.
It looks like a modern art sculpture.
Yeah, what's it made of?
Well, it looks like it's made out of twigs.
Yeah, but they're all twisted together in this fancy-looking shape.
Like many birds in the animal kingdom, the bowerbird builds these extravagant nests to attract a mate.
Oh, I get it, Guy Raz.
These bowerbirds build these structures to show off to their potential mates, to prove that they're ready to settle down, make a home and raise all of their future bowerbird babies.
Exactly.
And look at this one.
Wow, this guy really went all out.
As you can see, the architect of this nest has decided to adorn it in the traditional Bowerbird fashion by placing objects of great color around the house.
Look at all of these things the Bowerbird has collected, Mindy.
It's so colorful.
The Bowerbird collects colorful objects from its surroundings in hope those bright colors will attract a mate.
That's right, Guy Raz.
Look at all of these colorful objects.
Here's a lemon and a colorful ribbon.
And hey, Guy Raz, aren't those your highlighter markers?
Hey, my limited edition 2012 signature highlighters.
I've been looking for those for weeks.
Looks like this little birdie thought that they would make a great addition to his front yard.
Yeah, looks like it.
I think I'm just going to...
Okay, fine.
You keep them.
Excuse me, Mr. Tour Guide, sir.
Yes?
When will these bowler birds begin bowling?
No, they're not bowler birds.
They're bower birds.
They build bowers like a room or a cottage or a boudoir.
Oh.
Now, we'll be leaving the avian world behind and looking at an abode that is causing quite a buzz.
I wonder what he means by that.
I think it might have something to do with bees, Mindy.
Bees?
No spoilers.
Okay, so some animals build a home to attract a mate.
But what about after that?
I mean, surely the main reason to build a home is so that these animals can have somewhere nice and cozy for them and their family to live, right?
Well, yeah.
In fact, one of the main reasons animals build nests or burrows or hives is to raise their young somewhere that's warm and cozy and protected from predators and easy to store food.
Right, and nothing is a better example of that than... The beehive.
One of nature's architectural marvels.
Although many commercial hives are built by humans, the homes you see in front of you were constructed entirely by bees.
For bees.
Whoa, look at the size of this thing, Guy Raz.
It must be more than 40 inches tall.
Yeah, that's like a meter over three feet.
Yeah, but I think this beehive might be on the bigger side of things.
Beehives in the wild usually grow to about 20 inches or half a meter tall.
Wow.
Must be a pretty big family to feed and keep warm in there.
You can say that again.
With a hive this size, Mindy, that could be up to 60,000 bees living in here.
60,000 bees?
That's like a sold-out Dodgers stadium all crammed into one house.
And that's not even the craziest part, Mindy.
Imagine that all of those people crammed into that stadium were all related.
What?
Well, that's how hives work.
It's a family business.
Uh, hold the phone, Guy Raz.
You're telling me that all the bees in this hive have the same mom?
Yeah, and not only that, but all of the bees that live in this hive are females, which means they are all sisters because they share the same mom, who's known as the queen bee.
Queen Bee?
Oh, I love her.
Dennis, we're not talking about Beyonce.
We're talking about actual honey bees.
You know, like the ones we're looking at right now.
Sorry, Mindy.
I can't hear you from all the way over here in 2008.
As I was saying, these queen bees can lay up to 1,500 eggs every single day.
And those little worker bees will go on to make that honey that will feed the colony for the rest of the winter.
Ah, so this hive provides a safe place for all the bees who live in it.
It's also a place to store food, and it's somewhere isolated from the outside world.
Yeah, isn't that amazing?
Everything you could possibly want in a dream home, minus the ball pit.
Better bee-lieve it.
It looks as though these bees are getting a little agitated by our presence.
Let's move from their territory and toward the final home of the tour.
Guy Raz, this last stop on the tour is the one I've been waiting all week to see.
It's the whole reason I came along in the first place.
What do you mean?
Well, as I was flipping through the latest issue of Good Habitat Keeping... Good Habitat Keeping?
Yeah, it's like that Good Housekeeping magazine, but for animals.
Reggie got a subscription after they did this special on Nests of the North.
Anywho, I flip through it sometimes when I'm waiting in the dentist office.
Right.
And last month's issue featured this place, and all I can say is it's pretty special.
Whoa, what do you mean?
Here we are, the final stop of our tour.
But rest assured, we've saved the best until last.
Say hello to the home of the Spittlebug.
What?
What are we looking at?
That foamy white stuff?
It just looks like soap or... Oh, gross.
There's a bug in it.
Although it may look like someone's saliva, it's plastered all over this plant.
What you're looking at is, in fact, a home.
The spittlebug?
I don't...
I don't think I've heard of that insect before, Mindy.
Well, you might know it better by its adult name, the frog hopper.
Isn't that the name of that turbocharged pogo stick you designed last year?
You strapped in?
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Hi!
My invention worked!
That invention was actually inspired by this very insect.
That insect inside that pile of spit right now?
Well, not exactly.
It hasn't become a frog hopper yet.
Huh?
What do you mean?
Well, in the same way that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, the spittlebug Turns into a frog hopper.
You got it.
And I'm guessing it's called a spittlebug because its home kind of looks like A giant pile of spit.
Yes.
Uh-huh.
But if you ask me, a better name for it would have been the pittlebug.
The piddle bug?
Uh-huh.
Uh, what do you mean, Mindy?
Well, do you want to know how this insect makes its protective little bubble house?
Yes?
It pees it out.
What?
It pees it out.
It pees it out?
Is there an echo in here?
Maybe he's hard of hearing.
She said the little bug's house is made of pee-pee, Guy Raz.
Oh.
And Guy Raz, what's really bonker balls is that it's all because of the spittlebug's favorite food.
Which is?
Plant sap.
Plant sap?
You mean the watery stuff that runs through the plant's stem?
You know it.
The spittlebug attaches itself to the plant, sticks its little beak into the stem, and...
All the sap.
Huh, kind of like a juice box.
Yeah, only the problem is this plant sap is not very nutritious.
Meaning it's not very filling.
Mm-hmm, which means that the spittlebug has to drink a lot of this plant sap.
And a lot of plant sap means... A lot of plants.
Exact Doritos.
And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.
On an average day, the spittlebug can pee up to 280 times its own body weight in urine.
What?
I told you it was a lot of pee.
Mindy.
There's a lot, and then there's 280 times your own body weight.
That would be like you or me peeing out 2,700 gallons or 10,000 liters of urine every single day.
Yep, like 14 hot tubs full of pee.
And when the spittlebug pees, it doesn't pee out a nice steady stream.
It pees out bubbles.
Gross!
You mean this spittlebug's home is made out of bubbles that it peed out?
Yeah, pretty cool, huh?
Cool, Mindy?
It's really gross.
I mean, what reason could you possibly have for wrapping yourself up in thousands of tiny pee bubbles?
Well, before we get to that, I should mention that it doesn't taste very nice.
Doesn't taste very nice?
Yeah, apparently it's pretty bitter tasting.
Nice.
Hey, maybe they could serve it at the spit-take restaurant.
And what does pee bubbles being bitter have to do with anything?
Well, as it turns out, the spittlebug is a favorite food for a lot of different animals like wasps and spiders and small birds.
I think I'm starting to understand.
If it's surrounded by these bitter pee bubbles, then predators are less likely to chow down on the spittlebug.
Exactoritos.
And by protecting it from predators.
Those bitter pee bubbles give the spittlebug time to go through its transformation into a frog hopper.
Huh.
So the spittlebug uses this bubble house as a sort of cocoon, I guess.
Sort of like in the way that a caterpillar wraps itself up to transform into a butterfly.
Yes, but unlike a caterpillar's cocoon, the spittlebug's housing is airtight, meaning that it's had to find a pretty ingenious way to breathe.
And what's that, Mindy?
Oh, through its butt.
Its butt?
Uh-huh.
Mindy, are you making this up?
Not this time, Guy Raz.
The spittlebug uses its butt as a snorkel.
As a snorkel?
Mindy, what are you talking about?
Well, the spittlebug, like many insects in the animal kingdom, breathes out of its butt.
So when it's in its bubble home, it simply sticks its butt outside and takes a deep breath.
Ah!
Then, when it gets threatened say, by a natural predator, it simply brings its butt back inside, waits for the threat to pass and then sticks its butt back outside and keeps breathing.
That's incredible, Mindy.
Even if it's a little gross.
I wish I could breathe out of my butt.
What?
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our tour of the animal architecture neighborhood.
If you're interested in more of our neighborhood tours, next week we'll be making mountains out of molehills with our burrow and bunks tour.
Thanks, fake David Attenborough.
Indeed.
Wow, what a tour, Mindy.
Who knew we had all of these incredible animal neighbors just down the street from us?
I know.
What an eclectic group of animals.
Guy Raz!
What?
These little spittle bugs just gave me a new idea for my bathroom ball pit arcade.
Uh, what's that, Mindy?
Pea bubble-wrapped walls.
Huh?
Yeah, just think about it.
It's perfect.
It'll keep us protected if we fall down the stairs and it'll help keep Dennis from eating the walls off my gingerbread mansion.
Sure.
Speaking of which, where is Dennis?
It looks like the tour guide is narrating his behavior over there.
Here we have a common North American busybody.
Sir, sir, your shoe is untied.
The busybody, also known as a nosy parker, derives pleasure in knowing everybody's business.
Also, your socks don't match.
Are you meaning to do laundry?
Watch now as this specimen transforms from meddler to killjoy.
I was only trying to help.
It's not my fault you don't have basic organization skills.
Dennis!
Hey, everyone.
Thank you so much for hanging out with us this week on Wow in the World.
And to keep the wow rolling, check out this week's scientific conversation starters at our website wowintheworldcom.
And grownups.
There you can find more info on how your kids can become members of the World Organization of Wowzers shop, our wow shop.
Upload photos and videos to us and check dates for our upcoming live events.
That's wowintheworld.com.
Our show is produced by Jed Anderson.
Who provides the bells, whistles, and silly characters.
Say hello, Jed.
Hello.
Our show is written by me, Guy Raz, and Thomas Van Kalken, who also provides silly characters.
Tom?
Hello there.
Thanks also to Jessica Bode, Anna Zagorski, Rebecca Caban, Kit Ballinger, and Alex Curley.
Meredith Halpern-Ranzer powers the WOW at Tinkercast.
Our theme song was composed and performed by The Pop-Ups.
For more on their three-time Grammy-nominated all-ages music, find them at thepopups.com.
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Thanks again for listening, and until next time, keep on wowing.
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