How to confuse a puffin 

We demand to see the photograph that was sent alongside this story!!

My understanding is that it wasn't puffins being unsure of themselves, but that they are social enough to essentially not want they decoy to be self conscious.

This reminds me of that time that researchers had to stop tagging birds with ankle bracelets because those with bracelets were seen as better mates by the other birds

Imitation is the sincerest form of puffinery

Puffins are adorable. They kinda mimic what other creatures are doing as a way to socialize. So there's a lot of pictures/videos of them staring into the view finders of cameras when they join in with the photographers. "You do that thing? Ok, I do the thing too. We are friends now!" The pictures of them standing on one leg near the decoys are also adorable.

Kea ARE a large parrot. The Kakapo is sort of like an owl crossed with a parrot. If you're ever confused which you are facing, look for the whiskers. The Kakapo, as well as being completely flightless, has whiskers around its beak. The Kea can fly, but they spend a lot of time on the ground and nest in the roots of trees.

The puffins were only shown reruns of Miami Vice as rehabilitation. Nailed it!

This is definitely one of my fav lateral questions ever. Adorable answer

This story goes full circle. The flamingo lawn ornament was invented by Don Featherstone, a resident of Southwest Harbor, Maine. Every July there's a Flamingo Festival in the town, which is absolutely festooned with the plastic pink birds. It's incongruous seeing them among the rocky coast and pine trees and it's wonderful!

Unlike toucans, puffins are surprisingly small. Until I saw them in real life I thought they were seagull-sized, but they're actually thrush-sized.

I love Emily's facial expressions and gestures! She's so enthusiastic, I'm nostalgic for the Brain Scoop again!

"Why are we standing on one leg, dude?" "I don't know. It's tradition. We're basically too afraid to change."

NZ has two largish parrots, Kakapo (world's fattest parrot) are the flightless ones with no predator response, the other large parrot is the Kea which can fly & does like to try to pull parts off cars.

Guess we need a Prime Directive type thing for decoys! 😆

Feels good to be able to sit a question out, even as a viewer!

I was just at the Auckland Zoo back in August so I remember Kea facts! First off, yes! They are parrots. They’re adapted for cold weather and they live in the southern alps in New Zealand which means they’re the only alpine parrot species in the world! Also, yes, they do get very bored and they steal windshield wipers and blowout car tires. Also, they have a habit of killing sheep when they don’t have enough food. These birds aren’t very large so that’s pretty surprising!

Once again, I ask you, where is Chris Joel, Ornithologist?

Got the answer pretty late, when the SPOILER lawn flamingo was mentioned. I remember a sadder version of decoy birds story where someone recorded a lone bird (different species) trying to interact with the decoys. I don't remember if it was a happy ending where eventually the rest of the flock followed through or not. Edit: It was a bad ending. Nigel the gannet died beside its decoy mate while the island is still not repopulated. :(

This is the first question on this show I've immediately known the answer to. Puffins are truly adorable

Excellent typo on the "wringing the bird's legs" subtitle! Ringing the birds vs wringing their necks.

who could forget the story of the duck dealer in the parking lot

My very first thought was that they were mimicking lawn flamingos; glad I was so close

Emily's excitement is infectious! She's wonderful!

poor puffins were just polite and adopted the local customs

I’m from Maine and we visit the coast frequently. Puffins are a staple here, and there are all over our tourist brochures and they are a wonderful, native species - Literally never have seen one in the wild in my life 😂

Kea are the only alpine parrots and are more distinctive than bored teenagers, Kākāpō are the big flightless parrots that will hump anything.

I thought it was going to be that the reintroduced puffins were fostered by flamingos pre-reintroduction.

a country sized bird sounds scary indeed

They probably did it ironically at first and then just couldn't stop

My favorite highlight so far!

This is the first question I had seen the answer to online already! 😀 Cool to see Bernadette Banner here! Look forward to listening to the full podcast 😊

"From back in... the american equivalent of medieval times." So... 100 years ago? :D

I hear mentioned the hunting of wild birds to extinction and I have just echoing around the back of my head in Will Seawards voice “Panthers”.

i actually saw this exact island and the tour guides told us the same story. ahhh they are so so so cute

I listened to this full episode yesterday, and this story made me belly laugh

If you google "puffin maine one leg" you'll see plenty of adorable photos.

When I think of flamingos I don't think of standing on one leg. I think of eating with your head upside down.

Aww, this was the cutest Lateral question ever!!!

I see Emily of the brain scoop fame and I click every time.

We owe it to the world to spread the puffin meme to all puffins

The fact that Bernadette shook her head when Emily asks if they know the size of an American turkey xDDD. Her neck muscles were clearly on autopilot there.

You can google "puffin standing on one leg" and will probably find the mentioned photograph.

As a Scot who lived near York, ME, I used to get slightly concerned when carrying my crossbow.

Both Kea and Kakapo are parrots. Kea are the ones that fly, they're smart, cheeky and rip things off cars in alpine areas. Kakapo are a ground parrot, 64cm tall, nocturnal and highly intelligent.

BWAAAAAA!!! It's Emily! SHE IS THE BEST PERSON.

This reminds me of the story of the deer in Czechia who will not cross into Germany because of the iron curtain.

The puffins were wise to respect the ancient monuments left behind by their ancestors.

Danni's reaction at the end is just so cute!

Lol. Puffin imposter syndrome. I don't think I can even

let's gooo I love these

Maine commenter here! Loved this

Name a puffin Opus, tell him he’s a penguin, and put him in a comic strip!

This is one of those ones where I had the idea immediately, (I've seen tetras that learned how to swim from a puffer and they were really weird) just not the part about the bird they picked up the habit from being not a real bird.

lol, i wish we could watch the full podcast with video

I hope that Tom wasn't asking 'were they wringing the birds legs', as per the subtitles, as that seems a rather cruel thought.

Has someone a list of podcast episodes outside of Lateral where Tom Scott was a guest in?

They saw a bunch of plastic lawn flamingos and got jealous

Opus (of Bloom County in the 1980s comic strip) was reminded that he resembled a puffin more than he resembled a penguin.

awwww, the puffins got peer pressured by decoys into starting a trend

Oh no, the researchers introduced a meme into puffins. Next thing you know, we'll have IRL Unpopular Opinion Puffins! 😨

Wow, Puffin Fashion history is very interesting!

I wonder if the puffins that stood on one leg were less likely to be hunted.

500 years from now there will be a species of puffin evolved with 1 super powerful leg, only found in maine

Meanwhile, the Puffins are wondering why we keep changing our clocks twice a year for no damned reason

my first thought was that they were mimicking lawn flamingos, and then I thought about it some more and realized it didn't make sense (I think those plastic usually have two legs?), but very surprised to find out how warm I was

Having adapted to standing on one leg. Then, finding out that made them the geeks of the avian world, they were so mortified that they decided there was no other choice but to emulate lemmings.

So weird, I just released a vlog yesterday where we visited puffins in Wales! They really are as cute as they look in real life too.

*crosses off puffin from the list of birds I want to eat one day* *makes note* "too cute"

I know this one!!!

Did they reintroduce the decoys with 2 peg legs?

I wonder if someone introduced one-legged puffin decoys in their British breeding areas, would the British puffins also start to stand on one leg only? Or would the "traditional" puffins thanks to their large numbers prevent this?

Fun fact: Toucan eat as cheaply as one

I tried to verify this story and I could only find an article about the reintroduction project's success and the use of decoys and the picture used is a puffin which "appears to" mimic the decoy according to the figure text, but the article itself doesn't mention that behaviour occurring in general. The source of the claim appears to be an image with the same photo and a text caption saying this happened, which I'm inclined to take with a grain of salt.

I believe a lot of bird species stand/perch on one leg, not just water fowl.

Flamingo standing on one leg is a regulation thing - they get fined if they don't adequately fit the stereotype.

I was really hoping the answer was that they ate the same krill that turns flamingos pink.

Puffin looking at the flamingo... How do I get to Miami?!?

In one town in New Jersey, it's illegal to show a vasectomy scar to a nun while jaywalking.

I had a male dog who from a young age lived with female dogs, who squat when they pee. I saw the male dog squatting, so making sure he was looking at me, I bent over at the waist, lifted a leg. The male immediately understood and from that day forward lifted his leg to pee.

Fun fact about kea, they will land on the backs of sheep and use their sharp beaks to tear open the sheep’s skin to eat the subcutaneous fat underneath.

I remember this from Qi: Quite Interesting.

And hear was I thinking the researchers were using hand puppets to feed/teach the puffin hatchlings and they were noticing the arm as a single leg.

0:25 - Did some of them basically get adopted or raised by the flamingos?

This reminds me of the chimpanzee where they had bananas on a table and as soon as they went to grab one the set of sprinklers. After a while they learned to not touch the bananas and then the scientist introduced a new chimpanzee. When they (do we say they for animals?) went for the bananas the other chimpanzees tried to stop it. Eventually the scientist had replaced all chimpanzees with new ones one by one and the new ones had been learned to not touch the bananas but not why.

The Kea used to be one of my favorite birds until a farmer friend of mine angrily objected by explaining that they developed a taste for sheep meat as a result of farmers leaving carcasses hung out to drain the blood. The problem became so serious farmers killed approx. 150,000 of them before the government gave them full protection in 1986, though it was poorly enforced and numbers have now dropped down to less than 10,000. This, unfortunately, is what happens when a literal paradise for birds is invaded by humans less than 1,000 years ago who bring rabbits, stoats, rats, deer and other animals for recreational hunting and then get upset when the tables are turned after burning off as much forest as they can get their hands on. Since then NZ has created unprecedented reserves for native birds that are the envy of the world and entirely pest-free, though the struggle to prevent extinction of several species remains a real challenge due to the introduction of rats, stoats and other predators.

Yes! the *BIRD* species :P

The car / bird / kia connection?!? What are we not being told!?!

I want to see the photo. Tom edit in the video please

Now I wonder what other ways humans have been influencing puffin culture??

And here I thought the answer was going to be that they were fostered in zoos by flamingo families before being reintroduced.

Pop-Up Puffins on Maine?

So; given their observant nature, how many episodes of The Magic Roundabout must the average puffin sit (or stand?) through, before they learn to take-off like Zebedee? More tea! : )

currently at 5:12 and im gonna guess that they tuck the legs cos theyre mimicking the fake-animal/hidden-cameras that are all propped up on one shaft or something edit: okay i was almost right, but kinda missing crucial details. i'll take this as a 0.5. currently at 2.5 out of 62 on these im on fire🔥🔥

Hmmm, puffins. Surprised that nobody's mentioned that if you were to see a puffin today, at the onset of winter, you might not recognise it as a puffin. That's because the outer bill moults, or falls off, leaving a smaller and duller-coloured bill - also, the dark markings around their eyes disappear. Every day's a school day and I claim my five points 😉

"Imitation is the best compliment" (or something like that...)

Tom, even if there was no gymnasium, you could have shot some hot kea-on-Kia action.

I got it like halfway through.

A brief search proves that _humans_ are not averse to behaving oddly when stood next to a statue. 🙂

Mid video guess that was kinda in my brain from the start. They were raised by flamingos. Perhaps from the egg stage.

puffins are cute AF, but they are so tasty..... ;) yum :P