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Hello, and good morning, Jennifer. How are you doing today? I'm

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doing great. How are you?
Absolutely fantastic. I think that this book

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should have come with like some sort
of soundtrack dun dun, dun, dun,

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and and a narrator that goes,
meanwhile, we're gonna check out this

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next animal that is not looked upon
as being a safe animal. I think

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that would absolutely enhance the experience of
the rear if there was such a soundtrack.

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It had to be fun to put
this together because in reality, so

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many of us want to We want
to buddy up with all shapes of animals

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and their sizes, because I mean, we have a zoo just right down

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the road here that that saves wild
you know, the big cats, but

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they're not so friendly. That is
correct, And I think that that's you

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started with a really brilliant point that
we do because of the Internet and different

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names and social media, we think
that a lot of animals are really cute,

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and they may be really cute,
but they also have a fear side,

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and you know, by and large
we should leave them alone. Well

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see see I feel the same way
about the deer that are in my forest

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here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean those bucks, I swear

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that they want to come up and
kick my butt is what they want to

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do with that rack on their head. And it's like, Okay, I

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respect you. You do what you
got to do, but please don't attack

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me. That's correct. You know, they they need and they deserve their

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space, and should we decide to
intrude in that space, a lot of

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animals will absolutely come after you and
remind you that they need to have that

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bit of territory for their own.
I thought the crocodile was just a US

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kind of thing, only to learn
that what they're in the nile as well.

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Oh yes, yes, the nile
crocodile is actually one of the more

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fierce reptiles that lives on our planet. You know, all of the crocodiles

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I would definitely leave alone. I
would never I would never bother any of

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them. But yeah, the saltwater
crocodile is definitely right up there. That's

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one of the things that when when
you walk through Charleston, you go back

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into some of the parks and things
like that. I mean, they they

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they've got signs and actually say watch
out and be aware of the alligators and

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and that just you know, you
sit there you think, really, is

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this a movie? What's going on? But this book really does identify with

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with a younger generation that hey,
look you got to pay attention wherever you

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go. Absolutely absolutely. I have
a friend who lives in Florida, and

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their take is that if you see
a you know, a standing body of

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water, whether that is a runoff
ditch or whether that's a pond, you

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should assume that there is an alligator
in it, you know. And I

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think that that's really an important thing
for kids and quite frankly adults to understand.

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I'm a big elephant fan. Of
fact, if you saw this studio,

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you would see amazing elephants inside this
room. They're all over the place

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because they're so positive. And yet
I'm learning in this book the elephant roar

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is is not exactly your best friend. No, No, if you hear

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an elephant roar, you are in
trouble. Yeah. So again, that's

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another animal that we tend to,
you know, just have as sort of

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you know, it's a stuffed animal, it's online. But yeah, if

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you hear that roar, you should
watch out because it does have that tusks

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those tusks and that trunk which it
will use to strike a blow, Oh

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my god. Yeah. And protective, Oh my god, when the elephants

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are together, who the bull is
unbelievably protective. Absolutely, yes, as

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is the matriarch of the herd.
Those are very very when it comes to

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offspring. Just in general, that's
when animals tend to be their most fierce

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and protective. Again, even animals
that you don't necessarily think that would be

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protective or that could you know,
do a lot of damage. Absolutely,

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if they're protecting young or eggs.
The book we're talking about is Deadliest Animals

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on the Planet. I study animal
behavior as well as spirituality, and I've

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always believed that we can learn the
art of survival just by watching the animals.

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I think that that is a great
take. I think that all animals

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do have physical adaptations that help them
to survive in their environment. But I

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think the lesson that we can learn
from that is how important our environment is

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for us, and how important it
is that we be able to share that

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with other people or with other people, of course, with other people on

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the planet, but also other creatures. Is you know, there's might the

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the weird guy inside me. He
wants to ask a stupid question in the

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way of are you going to put
this in animal speak so that you can

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call it. The deadliest animal on
the planet is the human? So that

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is true, And you know,
that was one of the things that actually

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struck me as so interesting when I
was a kid our zoo. I'm from

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near Pittsburgh, when the last thing
you saw before you left the zoo is,

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you know, come close to see
the deadliest animal on the planet,

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And it was a mirror. Yes, and you know that I mean,

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and you know I'm not I'm not
particularly young. So for a long time

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that has been, you know ingrained
in my thinking of the humans place on

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the planet, that we really are
the deadliest animal on the planet. For

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so many reasons. I was such
a big hippo fan for the longest time

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until they were they were basically transferred
into the country of column And now the

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hippo has taken over that entire environment. They're trying to figure out how to

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end that. So I'm glad that
you put focus on the hippo is not

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always the cutest animal on the planet. No, they are another one where

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you know, if you're in their
territory. They are very territorial, and

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there have been so many accounts of
people who you know, are in a

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boat and you know, again,
big animal, big animal, twenty inch

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teeth, you know. And I
know they're sort of famous for being vegetarians,

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but they can weigh up to two
tons and they will heave that bult

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against the boat and tip it right
over. The photographs are really special because

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I guess I grew up looking at
so many books with the beautiful photographs,

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so when I see that, it
brings out the inner child. But it's

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such a major part of this book, Deadliest Animals on the Planet. Absolutely.

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I was so lucky to work with
an amazing team of photo editors that

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I wrote the text and then it
was the job to comb through what I

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can only imagine must be one of
the most formidable photo archives on the planet

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to come up with some pictures that
really speak to what the text is saying.

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And they just did an amazing job. And you also put focus on

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the animals in the sea or the
ocean, because I mean, so many

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times we just think of those that
are just on land right and again,

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and I think that you know,
that's a lot of the animals in the

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sea aren't necessarily as photogenic or for
the reasons that they would do. A

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lot of the animals online, say, are the lamprey for example, It's

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it's basically a parasite and it has
just this you know, alien looking mouth

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full of teeth that it uses to
attach itself onto it onto its post.

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And to me, getting to see
that the picture that they chose for that

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one is just marvelous. It just
shows how really range that the mouth of

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that animal is. Well, it's
like a modern day monster, is what

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it is. It's like, man, this was not created in Hollywood,

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right right. Wow. And and
for the billion and one cat people that

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are listening, your house cat can
be very deadly as well. Yep,

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absolutely they that's another you know their
internet superstars, right. Everyone loves the

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cat mean in theory anyway. But
they are really good predators. They are

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good at what they do. They
are still cats, and they will take

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down their prey about thirty percent of
the time, which may not sound,

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you know, too impressive until you
start to think about lions and tigers.

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I mean they may only make a
kill ten percent of the time. So

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you know, the little guys are
definitely deadly also, and dogs aren't so

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friendly either. I mean because I
mean my own wild dog here has has

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done a lot of damage and we've
just got on. You know, sometimes

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we have to understand the animal before
we sit there and judge the animal.

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Absolutely, I you know, I
have again my path to working for National

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Geographic Kids has just been filled with
wonderful people and they have taught me so

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many different things. And one of
them is, you know, someone struck

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me. It told me at one
point that it really struck me, is

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that you know, if your cat, your healthcat or dog was large enough,

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it would absolutely have the ability to
you know, take you out and

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might you know, we like we
tend to trust animals, but you know

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that's not a perfect system for sure. What is the fascination with the eel?

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And the reason why I bring that
up is because if you go and

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you see these gigantic aquariums, the
eel is always part of it. But

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they're not so friendly. No,
they are absolutely not friendly. They tend

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to be very shy, you know, they're not as most animals do not

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choose aggression as their first right,
you know me means of defense. Most

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you know, of all my research, I found that almost all animals,

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even you know, snakes and ones
that we really think of as being quite

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deadly, they would they would much
rather hide for numerous reasons. But the

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electric eels don't really don't see very
well, so it's very you know,

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they don't have the ability to discern
whether you're swimming by just to take a

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good look at it, or whether
you're swimming by to you know, make

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a meal out of it. So
they tend to be a little less you

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know, discerning when they let go
of that current, you know, you

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talk about their environment and things,
and right away I started thinking about our

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own copperhead snakes here, and it's
it's like, okay, if you don't

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walk in the backyard and not think
about the copperhead snake being back there,

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then something's really wrong. And I
think that's what we need to do,

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is we need to understand the environment
of the story as well. Yes,

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absolutely. You know one of my
friends who is she's a naturalist in here

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in Pennsylvania, and she her specially
is her pology, and you know,

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she says, you know, rattlesnakes, we have the Eastern timber rattlers,

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and you know, she said,
it's always the second hiker that gets bitten

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because it's the first one that startles
them and the second one that's falling behind

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that that you know, sort of
takes the fall for the for the first

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hiker's transgression. Oh my god,
when you talked about that about the second

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person, because that I got a
bull constrictor because we ran into a rattlesnake

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out in Montana and I thought,
well, I got to learn to love

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the snake. Well, that bulk
constrictor was just as bad. It bites

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absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, we
may love them, but they don't They

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don't reciprocate that love right in the
in the same way. And oh so

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true. Where can people go to
find out more about the book and find

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out how how National Geographic Kids is
constantly in contact with educating our little ones.

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Well, I obviously they could definitely
go to the nat GIO Kids site.

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The book is available, or we'll
be available at you know, a

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local bookstore or you're online retailer.
But you know, you brought up something

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that I think is so important is
that I think kids are naturally scientists,

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right, I mean, we say
kids are naturally curious, but we don't

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always frame that is that they are
scientists and I really think that they are.

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Ye, And just by turning back
a question on them, you know,

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kids go through a WY phase,
but asking them questions that start with

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all, well why do you think
this? And why do you think that?

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And then and then figuring that out
together, I mean to me,

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I think that really encourages kids to
keep that natural curiosity as they grow.

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Oh so true. Will you be
brilliant today? Merry Christmas and Happy New

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Year. Thank you so much and
I appreciate the time you bet be brilliant today