Transcript[]
Numerous or several silhouettes of Tim, Moby, animals and birds are shown walking, crawling and flying against a gray background.
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby
An animation shows Tim and Moby looking up at the top shelf at a store. Tim is pointing up.
TIM: Hey, can you reach those pretzels way up there?
Moby's arm extends upward, grabs a bag off the top shelf, and then extends back down and hands the bag to Tim. The view changes to show Tim holding a bag of pretzels.
TIM: Thanks.
The view changes to show Moby and Tim in a grocery store. Tim has one hand on a shopping cart in front of them. Moby holds up a letter.
TIM: What would I do without you?
Tim reads from a typed letter.
TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, what's up with those birds that hang out in a crocodile's mouth? From, Benson. Ah, that's one of my favorite symbiotic relationships.
Tim has one hand on a shopping cart in front of them.
Text reads: symbiotic relationships (symbiosis).
TIM: A symbiotic relationship, or symbiosis, occurs when two species live in close contact with one another.
Moby puts his arm around Tim.
TIM: Ahem.
Moby removes his arm.
TIM: There are three main categories of symbiosis: distinguished by whether the relationship is harmful or helpful to one or both of the species.
The animation shows a crocodile on a beach. There are two birds on the sand in front of it, pecking the ground.
TIM: Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship that benefits both species.
The crocodile and birds move to the left, and out of the frame.
(camera shutter noise)
The animation zooms in on one of the birds behind the crocodile. It is mostly white, with a black beak, black stripe on its face under its eye, black across its back, gray on its wing, and black legs and feet.
TIM: Those crocodile birds, Egyptian plovers, are an example of mutualism.
The animation shows an image of a crocodile with its mouth open. One of the birds is standing in his mouth.
TIM: According to legend, they hang out in crocodiles' mouths to pick food from their teeth.
The animation zooms in towards the bird. The bird begins pecking.
BIRD: It's a living.
The animation changes to show Moby in the store.
MOBY: Beep?
The animation then focuses on Tim in the store. He is looking to the left.
TIM: The plover gets to eat, and the crocodile gets his teeth cleaned.
MOBY: Beep?
TIM: Before you get all squeamish about mutualism, you should know that I am a living example of mutual symbiosis. Inside my intestines, bacteria are helping me digest my food.
His forearm expands and a black rectangle appears in it. Moby's forearm has transformed into an X-ray machine. In the rectangle, a long, pink, winding tube appears. Over this tube is a blueish puffy tube, starting in the bottom left, making a rectangle around the pink tube, and stopping in the bottom middle of the rectangle. Through the center of this tube is a smaller tube.
MOBY: Beep!
TIM: No, I don't need a doctor. Everybody has them. Those bacteria have a food supply, and I get to eat a wider range of things.
The screen is split vertically in two sections. In the section on the left is a group of eleven, blueish pill-shaped objects. They move around slightly, bouncing from left to right. In the section on the right, a carton of milk, two eggs, and some cheese appear. Above these, a drumstick and slab of steak appear. Above these, two fish appear. One of the fish has a cross for an eye.
Tim has one hand on a shopping cart in front of them. Moby is drinking from a can. On the can, text reads: Bacteria. There is a hazard symbol on the can.
TIM: Um, not all types of symbiosis are beneficial.
(Moby burps)
TIM: In parasitism, one species grows stronger by harming another species.
The animation shows Tim and Moby standing outside between some bushes and under some palm trees. Behind them a stream runs through the background and behind the stream are mountains.
(buzzing)
Tim and Moby are looking up at an insect that is flying around.
TIM: Take the botfly. This nasty little bugger spends the first part of its life inside the bodies of mammals. Once a botfly egg gets under an animal’s skin, it hatches and burrows into the flesh.
The animation shows a worm-like insect lounging in a chair and reading a book. The insect is inside an oval area with an opening on the right side. The outside of this area is pink, with a layer of light brown at the top.
TIM: A botfly larva grows to maturity inside its animal host, totally safe from predators.
The animation changes to show a dark, cocoon-shaped object mostly on top of a wavy, pink area. The tip of it is just poking into a layer of light brown above the pink area. Above and along the light brown layer are long, vertical brown pieces.
TIM: When it's all grown, it crawls to the surface and hops away!
The cocoon shaped object wiggles upwards, making its way through the light brown layer.
The animation changes to show a small animal on a tree branch.
TIM: As for the host, she'll usually develop a big old lump, and experience some serious pain.
On the side of the animal, a red lump appears. The animal frowns.
TIM: And after the larva crawls out, its hole can become infected!
The animation changes back to show Tim and Moby in the store. Tim has one hand on a shopping cart in front of them.
MOBY: Beep?
TIM: Don't worry—it's pretty rare for them to bite humans. And I don't think it can burrow through metal. Anyway, there's also a third type of symbiosis: commensalism. That's where one species benefits, while the other is unaffected.
MOBY: Beep?
TIM: It's pretty common.
The animation changes to show a tree trunk with palm trees in the background. The trunk divides near the top. There are white flowers growing where it divides.
TIM: For example, some tropical orchids grow in trees.
The animation focuses on the flowers.
TIM: By positioning itself on a branch, the orchid can get the sunlight it needs to live and grow. It doesn't hurt the tree at all, but it doesn’t help it, either.
Tim has one hand on a shopping cart in front of them.
MOBY: Beep?
TIM: Hm… yeah, I guess you and I sort of live in symbiosis, too. I give you a house to live in, food, energy, and friendship, and you give me… Um…
Tim looks at Moby, then back, and then the animation focuses on Moby. He is frowning.
TIM: Wait, what exactly do you do for me again?
Moby looks up and then down and smiles.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby looks at Tim. The animation zooms out to show Tim and Moby. Moby opens a bag of pretzels.
TIM: Oh, right, the pretzels.
The animation focuses on Tim.
TIM: I forgot about the pretzels.
Tim grabs a pretzels and bites into it.