Short Stuff: Roly Poly...Bugs? | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. too and it's short stuff cute cute. little bug. Edition that's right we're talking about. pill bugs or potato bugs or woodlice. what or for our English friends chiggy. pigs Penny SS or cheesy bugs I have no. idea what we're talking about Chuck. we're talking about here in the American. South at least roly poliy oh roly poly.

is that what you called them yeah that's. what I've always called them um it's. funny I I was trying to look up a map of. their range in the United States and all. I could find was dialect maps of what. people called them around the United. States so I have no idea what their. actual range is but I can tell you in. the South everybody calls them roly. poliy well if they call them something. that probably means they have them right. yeah for sure I mean we have them i'. I've seen them before with my that kind. of shows you the range I got um if it's. named boy Chuck I I think I'm getting.

Dumber by the month oh but you never. know they might be like hey they don't. exist in Washington state but we still. call them grunger yeah we we like to say. the word chicky. pigs but we're talking about the little. round uh well not round round if they're. threatened we'll get to that but the. little thing that you probably think is. an insect that looks like a little uh. prawn or an armadillo with legs uh and. in fact the scientific name is AR. armadillian arm no Arma delium yeah.

bulgare very nice geez uh shortened it. to chiggy. pigs yeah and that's a roly poly yeah. and actually strangely enough even. though like I said I've seen them with. my own two eyes in Georgia um they are. from the Mediterranean initially but. they spread all over the world you can. find them all over the place um because. they were basically carried over through. the plant trade the International Plant.

trade that's right you want some plants. they're going to come with some well. they're going to come with insects but I. keep saying insect they're not insects. should we go ahead and spoil what these. things are yeah totally it's a it's a. one of the facts of the short stuff you. you take it oh thank you so they're not. insects Chuck they're not mammals. they're not. Birds they're. Crustaceans yeah I mentioned shrimp. cousins to crabs and lobsters and shrimp. yeah that's right and there are 12.

species in the United States alone uh it. says Northern and Central parts of the. country but um maybe they don't dwell in. like the the Deep deserts who knows but. I know I see them all over the place. here they're the only crustation that. has adapted to live entirely on land and. they breathe through gills which is. remarkable yeah so the the fact that. they um have adapted to live on land the. only Crustaceans that did that's another. fact of the podcast just amazing stuff. right but technically it's a Suba of the.

fact that they're Crustaceans I guess. another fact of the podcast though is. there's a word for them turning into. roly poliy a tight little ball which um. by which well I guess um marine. biologists. have have determined was a evolutionary. response to um Predators or to keep. their um gills moist they curl up in a. little ball hence the name roly poly but.

there's a term for that and I think you. should tell everybody what that is all. right it is. conglobation yeah now I had I said it I. would have said conglobation but right. that's not correct it's the better way. to say it but it's just not right yeah. you love adding things conglobation. fancing up a word that's Josh Clark the. Josh Clark way for sure so there's a lot. of remarkable things here we're going to. take off a couple of them and then take. a break but one of them is they do not.

urinate they have a very high tolerance. for ammonia uh so they don't urinate. they excrete waste through the shells uh. they eat all kinds of things in the. garden but one thing that they eat is. their own poo poo uh which is a practice. called self. caragi cagi self. cagi cap in there didn't I yeah they're. poop eaters yeah they eat their own poop. and it's like it's gross but it also.

makes sense because you don't. necessarily get all the nutrients out of. your. poop so if you eat your poop you have. another shot at extracting more of the. nutrients that were left over yeah like. you missed something try again yeah. there's a piece of shrimp in there. ironically. uh uh they can drink from their mouth uh. or they can drink from their hind in. they have a little tube shaped structure. in the back and so it doesn't matter if. the parties in the front or in the rear.

they can still get their drink on that's. funny the joke I came up with is that. they could use them both at the same. time and share a milkshake withs oh. that's even better no I think they're. equally good well I just thought of mine. it's not as good well mine's written. down so technically yours is better. because it's off the cup well you just. made yours up too you just wrote it down. true that unless did you Workshop it. over a couple of days yeah you so tired. of hearing that joke you're like uh. which one Yi shut up should I say milk. shake or.

Shake uh how about one more factoid and. then we'll take a break okay yeah. they're crustations but they also have a. marsupio pouch. essentially yeah those mamas carry their. little eggs around for two to three. months in their. marsupium they hatch and then sometimes. even those little youngans will go back. in that pouch and say mama I still want. to stick around for a little while until. I'm ready hey. Mama like Elvis uh okay now it's time.

for a break because the facts are coming. so fast and hard that I'm crying tears. out of my eyes right now of Joy all. right we'll be right. [Music]. back all right we're back back uh with.

some more amazing facts uh these little. guys are arthropods so they're going to. Mt and if you ever see a little um. cheesy what do they call them in. England cheesy wig CH chiggy pigs chiy. pig or cheesy bugs yeah you're cheesy. cheesy bug uh and if you find one that's. like hey that thing looks funny looks. like it's got half a shell it's cuz. their shells are in two pieces there's a. front in a back they drop that back one. first so you may see one missing its. back and you just got to be just leave. that that little little fell alone yeah.

he's Porky Pig in it yeah he is exactly. um there's some other things you should. know about him another reason to leave. them alone and even to invite them into. your garden as you'll see um they don't. sting they don't bite they don't carry. diseases and not only do they not mess. up your plants they actually help your. garden grow even better because these. guys are. soil maniacs yeah they they are.

champions of uh your composting efforts. because they get in there they have. what's called a uh detritivorous diet is. that how you would say it well I would. say. detritivorous. diet that it means they uh basically. take anything that's from a decomposing. plant or if there's a dead animal or. other poop they can absorb all those. nutrients poop it out themselves and. they're just little composting machine. means which is pretty amazing but to me.

one of the most amazing facts is that. they are into heavy metal yeah like big. time like crocus Sabbath Doo Dawan. Maiden white. lion oh. boo God what if we just name metal bands. for the next six minutes Quiet. Riot oh man bang your head that's hair. metal it's still metal all right the.

most metal of hair metal I would say. Quiet Riot is at least some of their. songs yeah I like quite right yeah. they're great those good. stuff uh what about um Testament the the. other Christian metal. band I don't think I knew about them. yeah there's Testament that sounds. familiar though I'm pretty sure they. were Christian they talked a lot about. Christianity did they rock hard for. Jesus oh dude they rocked super hard. they were like the kind where you could. be like I'm not at all religious but I.

still like Testament yeah kind of like. my boys and striper uh Queens. Reich they were weird but they were. still. metal all right so they love heavy metal. they love all those bands except for. white. lion uh but what we really mean is they. are they have a very unique ability to. eat zinc and lead and copper and any. other kind of like awful heavy metal. that might be out in the wild and. crystallize it in their body. and thrive in these heavily polluted.

awful areas uh they crystallize it in. their guts and can remediate it. essentially yeah if you crystallize. something you're essentially encasing it. in glass and it becomes inert as far as. I can tell so I I don't know if they. poop it out afterward and it's inert. because it's been. encased but how whatever they're doing. there they're they're yeah they're. remediating essentially super fun sites. of heavy metals if if you just got a.

handful of them and said I'll I'll see. you in 50 years yeah absolutely so like. you mentioned they're great for your. garden uh they may I mean the damage. that they might be do is pretty minimal. they might try and drink and get. moisture from your plants and things but. they're not the kind of um uh land. crustation that's just going to eat. through all of your garden vegetables. right they're no land crabs no not a. land crab at all you got anything else. about roly poliy no this is short and.

sweet well I'm glad that we did a pretty. good PSA to let everybody know leave the. rly poliy. alone and short stuff is. out stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite. [Music]. shows.