The industry. Podcasts have always reflected our culture. Watch live Monday, March 11th on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel and listen on iHeartRadio stations across America. And the winner is... The winner. See all of the colonies now at iHeartPodcastAwards. Com. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Discover the best selection of audiobooks anywhere, plus, bingeworthy podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. There's more to imagine when you listen. Try Audible for free when you sign up at audible. Com. Hey, and welcome to the ShortStuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too, in this ShortStuff. 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 sows, or cheesy bugs. I have no idea what we're talking about, Chuck. We're talking about here in the American South, at least, rolypollies. Oh, rolypollies. Rolly's. Is that what you call them? Yeah, that's what I've always called them. It's funny. 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. I have no idea what their actual range is, but I can tell you in the south, everybody calls them Rolly Polies.

Well, if they call them something, that probably means they have them, right? Yeah, for sure. I mean, we have them. I've seen them before with my. That shows you the range if it's named. Boy, Chuck, I think I'm getting dumber by the month. But you never know. They might be like, Hey, they don't exist in Washington State, but we still call them grungers. Yeah, we like to say the word chiggy pigs. But we're talking about the little round... 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 prawn or an armadillo with legs. And in fact, the scientific name is armadillium, Alma, no. Alma d'Alidium vulgari. Very nice. Jeez.

That's why people shortened it to Chiggy Picks. Yeah. And that's a roly-poly. Yeah. Actually, strangely enough, even though, like I said, I've seen them with my own two eyes in Georgia, they are from the Mediterranean, initially, but they spread all over the world.

You can find them all over the place 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 one of the facts of the short stuff. You take it. Oh, thank you. They're not insects, Chuck. They're not mammals. They're not birds. They're crustace. Yeah, I mentioned shrimp. Cousins to crabs and lobsters and shrimp. Yeah. That's Right. And there are twelve species in the United States alone. It says northern and central parts of the country, but maybe they don't dwell in the deep deserts. Who knows? But I know I see them all over the place here. They're the only crustacea that has adapted to live entirely on land, and they breathe through gills, which is remarkable. Yeah. So the fact that they have adapted to live on land, the only crustacea that did, that's another fact of the podcast. Just amazing stuff But technically, it's a subfact 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 polys, a tight little ball, which, well, I guess marine biologists have determined was an evolutionary response to predators or to keep their 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, had I said it, I would have said conglobulation, but that's not correct. It's the better way to say it, but it's just not right. Yeah, you love adding things. Conglobation. Fancying up a word. That's the Josh Clark way. For sure. 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, so they don't urinate. They excrete waste through the shells. They eat all kinds of things in the garden. But one thing that they eat is their own poopoo, which is a practice called self-carprophagy. Capraffagy. Self-caparophagy. Capra-popophagy.

Yeah, I have an R in there, didn't I? Yeah. They're poop eaters. Yeah, they eat their own poop. And it's like, yeah, It's gross, but it also makes sense because you don't necessarily get all the nutrients out of your poop. 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. They can drink from their mouth or they can drink from their hindend.

They have a little tube-shaped structure in the back. It doesn't matter if the party's in 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 with themselves. That's even better. 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 to. Unless did you workshop it over a couple of days? Yeah. You'll be so tired of hearing that joke. You're like, Which one, Yumi? Shut up. Should I say milkshake or shape. How about one more factoid, and then we'll take a break? Okay, yeah. They're crustaceans, but they also have a marsupial pouch, essentially. Yeah. Those mamas carry their little eggs around for 2-3 months in their marsupium. They hatch, and then sometimes even those little youngens 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. 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 back. From Galway to Glasgow, New Ross to New York, or Portabello to Perth. Wherever you are and whenever you're jetting off, use the unpust money currency CurrencyCard, powered by MasterCard. Make your money matter more with 0% commission on transactions in 14 foreign currencies. Apply now with the OnPust Money app or visit your local post office today. T's and C's apply.

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Get ready for our 2024 iHeart Podcast Awards, presented by The Hartford, live at South by Southwest. Celebrating the best of the best.

We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year, and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry. Podcasts have always reflected our culture.

Watch live Monday, March 11th on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel, and listen on iHeartRadio stations across America. And... And the winner is... The winner. See all of the colonies now at iHeartPodcastAwards. Com.

Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Discover the best selection of audiobooks anywhere, plus, bingeworthy podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. There's more to imagine when you listen. Try Audible for free when you sign up at audible. Com.

Hey, and welcome to the ShortStuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and Jerry's here, too, and it's ShortStuff. Cute little bug edition.

That's right. We're talking about pill bugs, or for potato bugs or woodlice. What? Or for our English friends, chiggy pigs, penny sows, or cheesy bugs.

I have no idea what we're talking about, Chuck.

We're talking about here in the American South, at least, rolypollies.

Oh, rolypollies.

Is that what you call them?

Yeah, that's what I've always called them. It's funny. 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 I'm telling you, in the south, everybody calls them roly polys.

Well, if they call them something, that probably means they have them, right?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, we have them. I've seen them before with my two eyes.

That shows you the range if it's named.

Boy, Chuck, I think I'm getting dumber by the month. But you never know.

They might be like, Hey, they don't exist in Washington State, but we still call them grungers.

Yeah, we like to say the word chiggy pigs.

But we're talking about the little round 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 Prawn or an armadillo with legs. And in fact, the scientific name is armadillium, no, armadillidium vulgari. Very nice. That's why people shortened it to Chiggy Picks. Yeah, and that's a roly-poly.

Yeah, and actually, strangely enough, though, like I said, I've seen them with my own two eyes in Georgia. They are from the Mediterranean initially, but they spread all over the world. You can find them all over the place 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 one of the facts of the short stuff.

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. It says northern and central parts of the country, but maybe they don't dwell in the deep deserts. Who knows? But I know I see them all over the place here. They're the only crustacean has adapted to live entirely on land, and they breathe through gills, which is remarkable.

Yeah. So the fact that they have adapted to live on land, the only crustaceations that did, that's another fact of the podcast. Just amazing stuff, right? But technically, it's a subfact of the fact that they're crustaceations, I guess. Another fact of the podcast, though, is there's a word for them turning into roly polys, a tight little ball, which, well, I guess Marine biologists have determined was an evolutionary response to predators or to keep their gills moist. They curl up in a low 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, had I said it, I would have said conglobulation, but That's not correct. It's the better way to say it, but it's just not right.

Yeah, you love adding things.

Conglobation.

Fancying up a word. That's the Josh Clark way. For sure. 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, so they don't urinate. They excrete waste through the shells. They eat all kinds of things in the garden. But one thing that they eat is their own poopoo, which is a practice called self-carprophagy.

Caprophagy.

Self-caparophagy. Capripoophagy. Yeah, I have to an R in there, didn't I? Yeah.

They're poop eaters. Yeah, they eat their own poop. It's like, yeah, it's gross, but it also makes sense because you don't necessarily get all the nutrients out of your poop. 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.

They can drink from their mouth or they can drink from their hindend. They have a little tube-shaped structure in the back. It doesn't matter if the party is 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 with themselves.

That's even better.

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 It's better because it's off the cup.

Well, you just made yours up, too. You just wrote it down.

True to.

Unless did you workshop it over a couple of days?

Yeah. You'll be so tired of hearing that joke.

You're like, Which one, Yumi? Shut up.

Should I say milkshake or shake?

How about one more factoid, and then we'll take a break?

Okay, yeah. They're crustaceations, but they also have a marsupial pouch, essentially.

Yeah. Those mamas carry their little eggs for 2-3 months in their marsupium. They hatch, and then sometimes even those little youngens 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.

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 back.

From Galway to Glasgow, New Ross to New York, or Portabello to Perth. Wherever you are, and whenever you're jetting off, use the Unpussed Money Currency Card, powered by MasterCard. Make your money matter more, with zero % commission on transactions in 14 foreign currencies. Apply now with the Unpussed Money app, or visit your local post office today. T's and C's apply. Unpussed Money Currency MasterCard is issued by PPS EUSA, pursuant to license by MasterCard International. Pps EUSA is authorized by the National Bank of Belgium and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules.

Get ready for our 2024 iHeart podcast awards, presented by The Hartford, Live at South by Southwest.

Celebrating the best of the best.

We'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative talent and creators in the industry.

The podcasts have always reflected our culture.

Watch live Monday, March 11th on iHeartRadio's YouTube channel and listen on iHeartRadio stations across America.

And the winner is...

The winner.

See all of the colonies now at iHeartPodcastAwards. Com.

Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Discover the best selection of audiobooks anywhere, plus, bingeworthy podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. There's more to imagine when you listen. Try Audible for free when you sign up at audible. Com.

All right, we're back with some more amazing facts.

These little guys are arthropods, so they're going to molt. And if you ever see a little cheesy bog, what do they call them in England? Cheesy wig?

Chiggy pigs.Chiggy pigs? Or cheesy bugs. Yeah, you're close.

Cheesy bug? And if you find one that's like, Hey, that thing looks funny. It looks like it's got half a shell. It's because their shells are in two pieces. There's a front and 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 little fellow alone.

Yeah, he's porky pig in it.

Yeah, exactly.

There's some other things you should know about them, another reason to leave them alone, and even to invite them into your garden, as you'll see. 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're champions of your composting efforts because they get in there, they have what's called a detritivirus diet. Is that how you would say it?

Well, I would say detritivirus diet.

That it means they basically take anything that it'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 machines, which is pretty amazing. But to me, one of the most amazing facts is that they are into heavy metal.

Yeah, big time.

Crocus.

Sabbath.

Dio.

Daken.

Maiden.

White Lion.

Oh, God, what if we just name metal bands for the next six minutes?

Quiet Quiet? Oh, man. Bang Your Head?

That's hair metal.

It's still metal? All right. It's the most metal of hair metal, I would say Quiet Quiet is. At least some of their songs.

Yeah, I like Quiet Quiet. Yeah, they're great. That's good stuff.

What about Testament, 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 the kind where you could be like, I'm not at all religious, but I still like Testament.

Yeah, like my boys and Striper.

Queensreich? They were weird, but they were still metal.

All right, so they love heavy metal. They love all those bands except for White Lion. But what we really mean is they have a very unique ability to eat zinc and lead and copper and any other awful heavy metal that might be out in the wild and crystallize it in their bodies and thrive in these heavily polluted, awful areas. 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 don't know if they poop it out afterwards, and it's inert because it's been encased. But whatever they're doing there, they're remediating essentially superfund sites of heavy metals. If you just got a handful of them and said, I'll see you in 50 years.

Yeah, absolutely. So like you mentioned, they're great for your garden. The damage that they might be doing is pretty minimal. They might try and drink and get moisture from your plants and things, but they're not the landcrustation that's just going to eat through all of your garden vegetables. Right.

There are no landcrabs.

No, not a landcrab at all.

You got anything else about rolypollies?

No, this is short and sweet.

Well, I'm glad that we did a pretty good PSA to let everybody know, Leave the Rolypollies alone. And ShortStuff is out.

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