The Animal Show- Seahorse and Platypus Part 2

Jake: And now, let’s see what’s cooking in the kitchen with Yves St. La Roche.

Stinky: I just hope it doesn’t include eggs.

(cuts to Yves in his kitchen)

Yves: Bonjour, bonjour little animals out there! Today, since our episode is about animal babies, I decided to show you how to milk a cow. (blows whistle, and a cow arrives) As you know, babies drink lots of milk, and the best milk comes from cows. The pink things here are the udders, and that’s where a cow’s milk comes from. You yank the udders, and the milk comes out! (pulls on the cow’s udder, and milk gets squirted into the bucket) Simple, no? (continues milking the cow)

Cow: This is so degrading. Milking for a bug? I’m better off at a rodeo! (runs away)

Yves: Will you look at that? No cow means no more milk. (picks up the bucket) But at least I have enough to give to a mouse!

(cuts back to Stinky and Jake)

Jake: And now, all the way from Australia…

Stinky: Australia.

Jake: Please welcome Bill the Platypus!

Bill: Hi, Stinky. Hi, Jake. (looks at Stinky’s egg) Hey, I didn’t know skunks laid eggs.

Stinky: I’m gonna be the first skunk to ever hatch an egg!

Bill: Sorry, but only platypuses and echidnas lay eggs.

Jake: Do you have any movies of platypuses you brought from home!

Bill: Of course I do!

As you see, we platypuses love to swim.

Stinky: Did you get that from your parents?

Bill: What are you talking about?

Stinky: If a beaver and a duck have a baby, they’ll get a platypus!

Bill: Sorry, but that’s false! Ducks are birds. Platypuses and beavers are mammals. Beavers are rodents, while I’m a monotreme, a group of mammals that lays eggs.

Jake: Also, there are absolutely no beavers in Australia. They’re native to North America. Have you not been listening to Tizzy?

Stinky: I was trying to hatch my egg!

Jake: Sorry you had to hear that, Bill.

Bill: That’s okay, Jake. I get that a lot. Want to know something else about platypuses?

Jake: That you can actually sweat milk, and it’s healthy for humans?

Bill: That, and we are also poisonous.

Stinky: A poisonous mammal? Get out of here!

Bill: It’s true. Look at my friend Perry here.

We males have a poisonous claw at the end of our back-feet. This is used to hurt predators, but we never use it on food.

Jake: And what do you eat?

Bill: Crayfish, shrimp, bugs, worms, tadpoles, and fish.

Stinky: Do you suppose you could sing us a song?

Bill: I never sang on camera before, but I’ll try.

Jake: And now, here’s Bill singing ‘The Platypus Rap’.

Bill: If you're looking for a bird, then you're out of luck

Aside from the bill, do I look like a duck?

With the tail of a beaver and the feet like an otter

I do very well underwater!

Even though I'm a mammal, my kind lays eggs

We even have toxic spines on our legs!

Now that you know a bit about platypuses from down under

Please visit us in Australia, by thunder!

Bunnie: And now it’s time for the Animal Awards! Today, the animal with the longest pregnancy.

Armstrong: What?

Bunnie: That means a baby animal grows inside its mom until it’s ready to come out. It’s a mammalian thing.

Armstrong: Good thing birds lay eggs. It’s much quicker and less painful, except for maybe laying the egg.

Bunnie: Anyway, could the animal with the longest pregnancy be… the elephant?

Armstrong: The camel?

Bunnie: The velvet worm?

Armstrong: Or the giraffe?

Bunnie: And the winner is… The elephant, which can be pregnant for up to 22 months! That’s nearly two whole years!

Armstrong: How can a worm get pregnant? I thought they lay eggs!

Bunnie: Well, Armstrong. When a mommy velvet worm and a daddy velvet worm love each other very much…

(cuts back to Stinky and Jake, with Stinky still sitting on his egg)

Jake: And now, it’s time for a story. It’s an old favorite with Kiki the Cuckoo Wrasse! “Once upon a time, there was a lovely pink cuckoo wrasse. A cuckoo wrasse may sound like it’s supposed to be a bird, but it’s actually a fish. Anyway, because this cuckoo wrasse was pink, she knew she was a girl, because girl cuckoo wrasses are pink. ‘I think I’ll call myself Kiki,’ She said. ‘Hey, what do you think of the name Kiki?’ You can’t have it, ‘cause I want it!’ Said a bigger cuckoo wrasse. ‘Kiki should be my name.’ Calvin Cuckoo Wrasse, the only boy fish in the shoal, overheard the girl fish talking. ‘Uh-oh.’ He said to himself. ‘Sounds like there’s going to be a fight.’ Since Calvin hated fights, he left. Now, a funny thing happens to cuckoo wrasses when the only boy fish in the shoal swims away. One of the girls turns into a boy! Now that may sound strange, but it’s absolutely true. So, when Kiki found herself turning blue, she knew it was happening to her. She was turning into a boy. ‘You can’t call yourself Kiki now!’ Said the other cuckoo wrasses. ‘No, I guess you’re right,’ Said Kiki. ‘So, what should I call myself? How about Kevin? Yes, Kevin Cuckoo Wrasse! That’s a good name for a boy cuckoo wrasse.’ ‘So now I can call myself Kiki, can’t I?’ Said the fish who’d wanted the name Kiki. But thinking about it, she decided she preferred the name Coral. ‘Coral, that’s a good name for a cuckoo wrasse.’ So Kevin, Coral, and all the other cuckoo wrasses lived happily ever after. The end.”

Stinky: That was a good story, Jake! My egg liked it, too.

(cut to Armstrong and Bunnie in front of the habitat door)

Bunnie: Okay, Armstrong. It’s Habitat Time, and today, we’re going to the beach!

Armstrong: Finally, a habitat that I want to visit.

Bunnie: Then let’s go! (opens the door, and they end up at a beach)

Even though beaches are popular tourist spots for humans, there are also several animals you can find here.

Armstrong: Now, what in the world are those things?

Bunnie: Those are starfish, Armstrong. These guys usually live on ocean floors, but sometimes they wash up on beaches. And want to know how they eat their food?

Armstrong: Not really.

Bunnie: They turn their stomachs inside-out!

Armstrong: Hey, I found a shell!

Bunnie: Not just a shell, Armstrong! That’s a clam. Some species can live up to 400 years!

And here are animals that eat clams, snails!

Armstrong: That thing eats clams?

Bunnie: Maybe not this specimen, but there are snails that can eat clams whole!

Armstrong: Talk about a ravenous appetite.

And look, hermit crabs! I saw these guys when Ollie and I visited the seabed in the tusk episode.

Bunnie: You went to a seabed and you never told me? That’s amazing, Armstrong!

Armstrong: What are all those specks swimming around the seaweed?

Bunnie: Those are shrimp. Similar to how insects are important to land ecosystems, shrimp are very important to those under the sea, especially since a lot of animals eat them!

Armstrong: Can we search for more animals here? Maybe we can find a guest animal from an older episode! Maybe a pelican or a crab!

Bunnie: Sorry Armstrong, but we need to head home.

Armstrong: Home?! But we just got here!

(Bunnie and Armstrong leave the beach and head back to the Animal Show studio)

Bunnie: For Habitat Time, it’s Bunnie Bear-

Armstrong: And Armstrong the chickenhawk.

Bunnie: Just back from the beach.

(Tizzy flies around Stinky and Jake again)

Tizzy: Quiz time!

Jake: And what’s the quiz this time?

Tizzy: Well, here it is! (cuts to the screen below)

The question is can seahorses change color? Give it a think. Back in a buzz!

Stinky: What do you think the answer is, Jake?

Jake: Maybe we should ask the egg.

Tizzy: Maybe you should hear the question again. Can seahorses change color? Well, take a look!

Bee-lieve it, because it’s true!

Jake: Thanks for the quiz, Tizzy! That's all the time we have for today, and until next time, keep seeing… (Stinky’s egg started hatching)

Stinky: My egg! It’s hatching! (the egg hatches to reveal a baby chickenhawk)

Baby: (looking at Stinky) Mama. (looking at Jake) Not the mama.

Jake: Not the mama?

Stinky: A hawk? Like Armstrong?

(Armstrong flies over to see the chick)

Armstrong: Oh, this is my niece. I was wondering where she went. Thanks for taking care of her, Stinky.

Jake: Anyway, until next time, keep seeing the world through the eyes of animals. Bye!

Author's Notes: Perry, one of Bill's friends, is named after Perry the Platypus on Phineas and Ferb.

The story of Kiki the Cuckoo Wrasse was previously told in the Animal Show episode 'Chimpanzee and Hyena'.

'Kiki' after turning into Kevin.

Four of the five beach photos were all taken by me on Long Beach, Massachusetts. Can you guess which one (starfish, clam, crab, snail, and shrimp) is not found on Long Beach?

Armstrong's niece calling Jake 'not the mama' is a reference to how Baby Sinclair on Dinosaurs (a show that was best described as The Simpsons but with Dinosaurs) would call Earl 'not the mama' instead of daddy.

Armstrong and Ollie (a tapir who took Bunnie's place in the first season) actually encountered a hermit crab in the episode 'Walrus and Warthog', when the habitat was a seabed. The link to the episode will be supplied below.

Animal Show | Walrus / Warthog 🐗 | Jim Henson Family Hub - YouTube

Next week, you'll learn about regeneration when the guest stars are an axolotl and a lobster!