Sidney: How would I clean when a porn set gets dirty? What should I use to build stilts that are sturdy? Where could I breed

Lindsay: a

Sidney: new species of birdie? Ah, Hey, everybody, welcome to the 12th and final episode of this season of Explain Like I'm 30. Thank you so much for listening to this entire series. It has been an absolute blast talking to all of these amazing, amazing, amazing people. Today, we have a very special guest, a friend of mine, Lindsey, the zoologist.

You might have seen her on TikTok. We actually talked about Uh, a lot of fun things, uh, fear of spiders being one of them. So if you're a little bit of a ragnophobe, um, keep listening because it's actually very helpful. Just saying. We also talked about past episodes, which is cool. Um, we talked about things like, I don't know how I was hypnotized in this season, how I played, uh, which scariest creature is scary from horror films with, uh,

And I had a lot of fun talking to Lindsay about sort of like the importance of animal conservation and how terrible certain shows about big cats are. So I'm really excited about that and I'm excited for y'all to listen to this. Thank you again for listening to this entire season. And Lindsay being the final guest for this season is pretty fantastic and I couldn't Couldn't ask for a better guest to wrap this all up.

Um, yeah, let's just, let's just get into it.

Hey, friend. What's up,

Lindsay: dude? How are you? I'm good. How are you? So good to see you. I know. It's great to see you.

Sidney: We go way back. I know it's wild. So Lindsey, please introduce yourself. Uh, I'm very excited that you're here. It's like kind of a very surreal moment for me. But yeah, please introduce yourself.

Lindsay: Hell yeah.

My name is Lindsay Nicole. I'm a zoologist and content creator or zoology content creator. I make videos about animals and evolution using my zoology degree. That's

Sidney: so cool. And we know each other because we were in a commercial together for TikTok. Yes,

Lindsay: TikTok. Hashtag

Sidney: TikTok taught me. That's what it was, yes.

Yeah. It was such a crazy thing too because, so then I saw you, we're in the very kind of like similar information y space. Right. And um, I had seen you around a little bit before and then Uh, I'd also seen our mutual friend, who's another animal creator, and it's just like, this weird thing of like, Wait, oh, hey, what's up?

And then we were in that commercial together, and then we saw each other this year at VidCon, And then the Patreon event, and I was like, Hey, Lindsey, do you want to be on a podcast? You're a zoologist. That's

Lindsay: crazy. Yeah, dude, it's awesome that we just like keep crossing paths more frequently now. I love it.

Sidney: Seriously, I love it too. Um, but okay, so explain you, you know, you make fantastic content on TikTok. So thank you for that. And then what exactly you say you're a zoologist, and you became a zoologist content creator. I mean, what is the A to B there? Like what is from from, I guess, college degree? Master's degree, question mark?

All that kind of stuff. And then just like, interest? How did it happen?

Lindsay: So, I mean, if we go way back, um, I started to get involved in zoology, uh, by working with big cats. Yes. Then I went to school for zoology, and I graduated in 2020. And so when it comes to animal care and all the jobs for animal care, they were not hiring any people because of COVID.

Um, and so I just had nothing to do. And my friend who I was quarantined with was like, why don't you take all the stuff that you just keep like rambling to me about from college, talk about it on TikTok. So I downloaded TikTok and I started making videos about animals. And, you know, I, I got jobs with different, Organizations after that working with big cats and all I wanted to do was keep making content and so um, it was kind of like a Balancing act for a little bit and I just realized that I really like teaching in this format I think it's really fun and yeah seeing people be like, oh, whoa.

I didn't know that and Being able to provide that information is so cool. Yeah. So I'm doing this full time now. Yeah,

Sidney: which is so much fun because I think we both sort of came up in the same time frame and then we both got to be like creators at the same time, which is really cool. Yes. But I, I kind of, it's interesting you said Big Cats because was that in California or was that in another state?

Because I know that California has like big cat laws that you can't really do it here.

Lindsay: Well, so I've only worked, I've only, you know, done work with sanctuaries, so there are sanctuaries here that I could have worked with, but I just so happened to have worked in Minnesota. I worked in Namibia. in Southern Africa.

Wow. And the first big cat sanctuary I was involved with, I was volunteering at one in South Africa near Johannesburg. So, uh, yeah, never in California. I've moved around a lot for my job. Um, and now I'm back in LA. I grew up here and I always wanted to find my way back here and there's no sanctuaries here anyway.

So, um, it worked out that I found this, you know, to do instead.

Sidney: So you said that you grad, you said you graduated in 2020. Okay. So you graduated in 2020 and then for your job you were moving around a lot. And I guess did you start talking about big cats because of Tiger King and then you were like, I bet I know more than this.

So let's all, let's like post the videos about how Tiger King's wrong.

Lindsay: Right, right. So what's actually funny is like, Tiger King, because it came out like right at the beginning of the pandemic, right? That's how it got so big is everyone because everyone

Sidney: was just there. Yeah. Yeah. And such a ridiculous show to get big, by the way.

Ridiculous.

Lindsay: Like what was that? I know it was, it was so ridiculous. And it was also so frustrating because they were They really skewed the narrative of what actually happens, you know, like painting Joe Exotica as the good guy and Carole Baskin as the bad guy. Turns out her husband didn't even die. He's in Costa Rica.

Like all of that was just,

Sidney: you know, um, which breaking news to me. So thank you. Good to know.

Lindsay: Yeah. Yeah. No problem. Um, but, um, yeah, I got, I got involved with big cats before that. Um, I actually. because of Tiger King, I have a hard time talking about big cats on TikTok because Carole Baskin is used as a slur now.

Wow. And so if you kind of like say, you know, wild animals shouldn't be pets. People just come at your throat because that is very popular content on TikTok is like, you know, somebody with a tiger as a pet. Um, and so I have been trying to figure out how to approach those topics because that is what I got involved with.

in Zoology 4. Um, and I think it's just about finding the right language to use, like finding the right way to approach a problem where you're telling a lot of people that the content they consume is wrong. Yeah, right. It's, it just gets really

Sidney: tricky. That's what Mbamba does too though, I mean he's... Very good about proving everyone wrong.

Like one of my favorite things that you and he do, which is just like prove people, like stop thinking this about pandas. Like they're not, that's like my favorite thing that he did at VidCon. He, well, you know, I'm sure. I'm sure that you would do this too, is like, how many people like pandas? Raise your hand.

And then everyone raises their hand is like, you're wrong. That's like, yeah, pandas suck. Yeah.

Lindsay: Yeah. No, he, Mamadou does a great job.

Sidney: Mamadou. God, I always get his name wrong. I'm so sorry. Mamadou. I thought I said it right.

Lindsay: Thank you. Mom, I do. Yeah. No problem. Um, yeah, he, he does a fantastic job. He actually just posted a video a couple of weeks ago about some woman who had a lion as a pet in somewhere in the Middle East, but he, he does a good job at like, I don't know how to explain it.

Like the way that he set it up was so great because he, you know, introduced like, Okay, yeah, it would be crazy to have a lion as a pet and kind of spent most of the video kind of learning in people Like it would be crazy to have a lion as a pet and then at the end was like, but it's a beast And like just you know, like slam dunk at the end and like it was the perfect execution, I think that I, he's totally nailed for sure.

Yeah.

Sidney: Yeah. Do you find like you've been wanting to try to get more into it now? I mean, you said you do, but do you think that it's a little bit harder for you to do it or, um, easier now if you see like other sort of counterparts do the same thing? I think

Lindsay: it's is easier when I see other people doing it.

Um, I think it is a bit difficult because like, I mean, there's, there's so much traffic that you get onto your page and it's already difficult to like, not read too much into it. But because I've worked with these animals that have been rescued from these situations and seen, like, had, had to work with those, you know, like the Arthritis that they have from being just horrifically declawed and like, it would be really hard for me to like, go through my comment sections and seeing people disagree with me, like it would, it would totally get to my head and I'm worried I would like, not be professional about it.

Yeah, sure.

Sidney: Yeah. It's a very fine line to just like read a comment and be like, I can't respond the way I want to. Cool. Right.

Lindsay: It gets really tough. Yeah. So I think what I'm hoping to do is approach these topics like in the field. Go to a sanctuary and like show what I'm talking about. Um, so that I can also highlight all of these amazing sanctuaries that are rescuing these animals.

Um, and so that's my next step for YouTube is like. More, more going into conservation and rescue and stuff and highlighting these groups that just don't get enough, um, traffic, I

Sidney: guess. I mean, that, that's a very good next step. I mean, it seems like that's one of those things where you could easily, I mean, as a content creator, get a lot of, get, get a lot of, Good stuff out of that, right?

Like you go there and you're like, Oh, like this is actually what's happening when someone actually has a lion as a pet or a tiger as a pet or something that is just like a terrible, terrible thing that, I mean, I think one of the things that I learned from that dumb show, Tiger King, was that these animals like are only cute for about And I think that's really important.

Six months, maybe less. And after that, they should not be in places like that. Like you just, that's bad. So I guess maybe like, it's interesting because as a zoologist, are there other animals that you've found that are sort of like treated the same way or um, sort of like these other, but, or is it just like these big cats just like, are the only thing that people somehow, for some reason, care about?

It's,

Lindsay: it's also primates for sure. Um, people who have like monkeys as pets. Um, I mean, it, it just gets tricky no matter what when you're dealing with like the exotic pet trade. Um, the, the wildlife trade. It's tricky because like it goes viral on social media. You get tons of people who want to do the same thing because it'll give them clout.

Or like suddenly they're, they have a monkey as a pet. Like, whoa, that's so cool. Like, but the reality is like. Where are you going to find a vet in your town to, you know, bring the monkey to? How do you figure out what kind of diet it needs? How are you going to afford that? Especially with tigers and stuff, dude, like, like there were some tigers that I was working with that I was feeding 15 pounds of meat a day.

Like that, that's a lot, that's really expensive. And on top of that, like, that's like, the meat doesn't include all of the nutrients that they need. And like. to get those nutrients like it's it's just like it's practically impossible to take care of exotic animals exotic animals correctly because we like we just don't have the resources to do so unless you're getting a ton of money and because you know how to take care of them

Sidney: yeah um i guess you know what honestly lindsey i wasn't expecting this conversation to go this way.

Because when I see your content, I think of the cool, fun animal facts that you have, where you explain to me that that's not an alien, that's a type of fish. And to get more of an insight like this is a very interesting... Side of you that yeah, I wasn't expecting today. Like this is sort of like the animal conservationist is I mean super important and I guess Yeah, wow.

I didn't I didn't realize that that was so much of your background. So cool It's

Lindsay: so easy to like get me down this rabbit hole. Yeah, it's just like can you bring up Tiger King? It's like, all right, let's

Sidney: yeah, like let's let's destroy them Well, I mean it's and it's very true, right? Like it's a very tough thing for someone like you that has worked in animal conservation to see something like that and see it get so popular and now you have to see Joe Exotic on t shirts at Urban Outfitters every five seconds or like walk down Venice Pier in Long Beach and you're like, God damn it, like he's not a Tiger King.

He's a total asshole and I fucking hate him. Like, right. So yeah, no, I get it. I get it. I mean, and, and to hear that, how many, how many countries have you been to to, to, for, for this cause, I guess? Um,

Lindsay: Two other countries. Two other countries, yeah. Just Namibia and South Africa to work with animals. I mean, I'm hoping to increase that, you know, with YouTube and travel around and kind of go to different conservation groups.

But, um, yeah, the, the work that I was doing in other countries was while I was in college. Right. Um, so, Yeah, um, I, we'll, we'll see what happens from here.

Sidney: Yeah, well was that, so, so when, so while you were getting your zoology degree, you got a chance to go to these different countries and see this stuff. So was your focus big animals and big cats and then you sort of like transferred that during the start of the pandemic into all of the other animals?

I mean some of my favorite content that you post is like how to hit on girls at a, at a club and talking about. Um, weird animal, different animal facts.

Lindsay: Yeah. . Yeah. That happened my junior year of my zoology degree. Um, cool. Because I went, I went into zoology, like I'm just doing this for lions. I don't care about anything else.

Like, wow. Everything else that they talk about. Like, I, I'm just gonna mute it out and Yeah. Like, and I really regret that about my first two years in college. Yeah. Um, I just didn't absorb. What I should have been absorbing because I was like, whatever, this doesn't, you know, and I got the opportunity to go to Namibia and work at Cheetah Conservation Fund.

And while I was there, I was living in just the middle of nowhere. I was an hour from the nearest gas station, convenience store, like hospital, anything, um, just on this like compound where we rescued cheetahs. On top of, you know, working with the captive cheetahs, there were baboons that would watch me eat breakfast every morning.

There were, you know, like jackals that we would just see out and about. There were snakes that we had to worry about and, um, it just really opens me up to like... I'm seeing these really, really big animals for the first time and hearing about them for the first time at the same time, like, with that, like, that was just so bizarre to me.

I was like, I'm, I'm limiting myself. And so when I went back to. My college and I started taking invertebrate classes and like evolution classes, prehistory classes. I was like, holy shit, like the world is super big. The world is too big for me to limit what I want to learn. And so that's when I got into it.

Sidney: What was your favorite? fact that you learned outside of Big Cats that like, you, I mean, maybe you have shared or haven't shared, right? Like what's something that, um, that you maybe you wish you could share?

Lindsay: I have right when he said that I have a big one. And I've, I've talked about it a lot because I'm so obsessed with it.

My I was having a lecture. on mollusks, you know, like, yeah, octopuses and slugs and stuff. And at the end of my lecture, my professor was like, Oh, and by the way, there are these sea slugs that can steal their prey's defenses. Like they eat a jellyfish and then suddenly they get Like, they absorb the stingers from the jellyfish and can use them later on.

And I was like, what, am I, like, high right now? Like, what, like, what's happening? And he said that so fast while I was like, you know, everyone was closing up. So I didn't get to write it down. And so then I went, like, probably, like, six or seven months just being like, was I, like, making that up? And then I brought it up in another one of my classes and I was like, um, My professor from this class mentioned this, like, do you know what he was talking about?

And they were like, oh, nudibranchs. I was like, holy shit, I didn't make that up. Um, I, I thought it was so cool. I was like, what the, like, invertebrates are insane, dude. And so, like, that definitely, like, that created the spiral into the invertebrate content that I make

Sidney: today. No, that's interesting that you said that too, because I think so much of our worldview, especially as Western society, we're just like, so there's a cat, there's a dog, there's some birds, and bugs are bad.

And then I actually got super into spiders because I'm afraid of spiders. So I think the best way that I found was like, Hey, every time you see a spider, just, just look it up, just look it up, learn about it. And I started doing that and I was just like, Oh, whoa, there are so many spiders. Also, none of these are bad.

None of these can hurt you.

Lindsay: Right. It's, it's always the friendly ones that are the scary looking ones. Like, um, I've done some content on like whip spiders and whip scorpions, which are just like the gnarliest looking things in the entire world. Like they look like death is looking at you and they're just so friendly and they're chill.

Like they could just hang out on your hand and you know, like people who work with them are like, they are so shy and so timid. And it's like, dude, what are you talking? Like that shit looks like. You know, they used them in Harry Potter. Like, that's how you know

Sidney: that's crazy. Oh, really? Is that what it was?

Is that the whip spider? Was that spider? Yep, the whip spider. No, so actually, speaking of Harry Potter, um, and my fear of spiders, I thought I had been over it, right? I thought I was good, right? I thought, and this was actually before, in this podcast, I was hypnotized to not be scared of spiders anymore. And it actually still kind of works, because now every time I see a spider, I'm like, Hey, buddy.

Okay. What?

Lindsay: We're good. What do you can you like? Can you go more in depth on that? Like, what are you talking about?

Sidney: So in an earlier episode of this podcast, we had a hypnotherapist on Glenn. And basically, what we did was we, I was like, Hey, listen, I'm afraid of spiders. Can you please hypnotize me into making me think that I'm not afraid of spiders.

He goes, yeah, okay. So then we spent like 15 minutes of the podcast, like me being hypnotized, like, Hey, so now when you, when you see spiders, you're going to think they're friendly and cute and everything. And like went into details about how mosquitoes are more harmful than spiders in America, because mosquitoes actually carry disease because they transfer blood and all this stuff.

And, um, now when I see a black widow or like really any sort of like household spider, um, I'll see them and I'm like, okay. Hey, buddy. How are you? And like, I was actually at an event like a couple of weeks ago and there was like a brown spider. It must have been like some, I don't know, some sort of grass outdoor spider.

And um, I was the only one that wasn't afraid of it. It's just like, this is dope. And I feel like your content is very helpful in that regard because you see something like a whip spider and When I was talking about Harry Potter, because I went on the Universal ride here in Los Angeles with my nephew and holy sh I mean, eyes closed for like 10 minutes.

I was like, absolutely not. Like, giant spiders crawling on the f Like, this, this is, this is the problem, right? Like, like, Aragog in front of me, that's, that's the thing, right? Like, I am, I am actually Ron Weasley when it comes to this. I'm like, absolutely not. No, thank you. I don't have any powers to get away from these.

And like, so anyway, so that was bad. But knowing that they're called whip spiders, that's super helpful to me because now I can look

Lindsay: them up. Yes, you can look them up. You can see that they're actually harmless. Yeah. Um, that's

Sidney: sad though, that you would see a whip spider in something like Harry Potter.

Were you sad when you saw that? I guess maybe you were a kid like I was, but like, yeah,

Lindsay: I had no idea. I had no idea. Yeah. But I, I do think like, I mean, I never expected my content to go in the direction that it did, to be honest. Um, I just realized after analyzing what videos were doing well, that people really like to learn about creepy shit.

And so now most of my content is about creepy shit.

Sidney: It's the most shared content,

Lindsay: too. Yes, it's the most shared content. And so it's been a lot of like... I'm learning how to properly communicate this information, um, because, like, yes, I have a zoology degree, but I'm also a human being, and spiders scare the fuck out of me, too.

Like, I didn't go to school to, like, not be afraid of spiders. Like, you know, like, that's just not what it's for. And so I, I think, like, I saw, I've seen a progression of the types of content that I make where it went from, like, I was, I was sharing like, what's reproductive selection and evolution, you know, like starting really like wholesome.

Then it went to, I'm, I'm scared to shit of this thing and here's why. And then realizing, wait, that's actually not the right way to. You know, talk about these animals when I could potentially be reaching a massive audience that could impact this animal that's not doing anything wrong. And so I try now to like make sure that if I am talking about how scary something looks and it's harmless, I, I definitely say that at some point, um, because it's just, it's Like, people, people take it really

Sidney: seriously.

What's the, uh, I mean, the whip spider and the whip scorpion sound like the scariest, but what's the scariest creature that you, that is not harmful that you've, that you've communicated? Whip scorpion.

Lindsay: Whip scorpion? Whip scorpion. Dude, I, I think, like, If I have arachnophobia, it's of that thing. Like it's, uh, something about it, if you look at a picture of it for some, like, it makes my back itch in a very sinister way.

Like it is just, it's horrific. Um, something about how, like, it's very chunky and it's a, it's something that you don't want to see chunky. And. I just really hate it, but it's harmless. Yeah. And I'm like, how, how did this happen? Like, it doesn't

Sidney: have a stinger or anything. Yeah. It doesn't have a stinger or anything.

Lindsay: It doesn't. It can't hurt humans. I mean, I, It's an arachnid, it must, like, all I've really said about it is, like, I'm scared to shit of this, but it's harmless. I haven't really gone any further in research because I don't like looking at pictures of it, but it is

Sidney: an arachnid, so... Okay, well, okay, so I'm gonna do something.

I'm on a computer desktop right now, I'm going to the internet, and I am looking up... So, whip Good luck, bro. Whip scorpion.

Lindsay: Yeah, this is not gonna qualify in your Okay, here we go. Spider hypnotic state. Oh!

Sidney: Oh! Oh! Not okay! Yeah. That's not harmful?

Lindsay: It's not harmful, bro.

Sidney: Wow, that is one big motherfucker that I don't like to look at. Look at it! Okay, well, that, everyone listening to this podcast, join me. And I'm not sorry, because now we're in it together, okay? Yes.

Lindsay: Yes. So, what happened a couple months ago is, because I started responding to, like, DMs that I get of people saying, Hey, what is this?

Right. And so, um, I kind of opened the gates for Like, arachnophobia stuff after I made a video about the whip spider, which is also creepy, but to me isn't as creepy as the whip scorpion, and so all of a sudden everyone was aware that I don't like looking at arachnids very much, and I got this message like, hey, girly, what the fuck is this?

And I, like, you know how when you open up your Instagram DMs, it doesn't show you the whole picture? Yeah, you had to tap on it. And so I was like, yeah, I was like, I know, I know, I know it's gonna be horrible and it was a whipped scorpion. And I was like, I knew this was gonna happen. No. Yeah, I have people terrorizing me in my DMs every single day trying to scare me.

Oh,

Sidney: 100%. 100%. Yeah. I think that, um, I am very lucky. Thank you. Knock on wood, that my DMs have not been terrible, um, and I think that is, uh, playing into the patriarchy, so I apologize for that, um, that's, hey listen, that's on me, and I understand that. Hey,

Lindsay: Sid, you gotta do something about this.

Sidney: Sorry about that, um, but yeah, I think DMs, especially for people that are in the, um, Zoology space would probably be terrible because once you open up, it's like if I were to say, yeah, I'm afraid of spiders, I would absolutely get nothing but spider content.

Like, I, I, I'm afraid of saying it around my phone right now because I'm just going to get like the spider crawling out of the ear content and like, no, thank you. You know, no, thank you. I'm happy that you're afraid of spiders too, even with all of your information. Oh yeah. The household ones are fine. Did you see the stuff in San Diego recently where like the tarantulas are just like coming out of the ground?

I didn't. Well, sorry. Now you're going

Lindsay: to. I'm going to look that up and you know what? I'm going to turn that into

Sidney: content. Dude, you actually, actually, that is a great content. That is a great content. Like, I think apparently they're, they're kind of like some sort of like giant tarantula that come out and they're fine.

And it's, it's close to the spiders that you would see in, um, just general like bird eating spider stuff, but they're like popping up in, uh, San Diego and like people's closets and stuff like we're in Australia. And it's just like, yeah, can you fucking imagine? I can't. Because those motherfuckers I actually have a story to tell me the story.

Oh my gosh. Podcast exclusive story time, y'all.

Lindsay: Um, when I was in Namibia, um, I, I had this bed, like a little twin bed right next to the door that led directly outside, and there were cracks All over the place. You know, we had beetles, like, coming out of the sink, like. Sure. Just, it, it, it was, you know, that's what it was.

And one, one night I woke up to, like, ants all over me. And one day, so I kept my laundry bag under the bed. Yeah. And I went to do laundry. As one does, I grabbed the laundry bag. I, like, kind of, like, went underneath my bed and grabbed it. Mm hmm. And there was a tarantula underneath it. Right under my bed, bro.

Like, like, you didn't ask how long I was there. At least since the last time I did laundry. Yeah. And I, luckily, like, actually, no, I was about to say, luckily, I don't scream, but I actually take that back. I definitely scream. Um, but in this case, I just kind of froze. walked out of the room, left, left the laundry back there.

Sure. Absolutely. Yeah. I grabbed somebody who had already been living there much longer than me. Yeah. To come sweep the tarantula out. Cause I was like, I'm not like you, you do it. I know that you're used to this now. Yeah. It was just, I couldn't, I couldn't sleep well for a couple

days

Sidney: for sure. Oh yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I was the same way. So I once woke up in Mexico, uh, in, uh, Baja with ants all over me. And it was a crazy experience. It was truly an insane experience to just be like, this is actually not okay. Because then, and then of course you follow the trail and you're like, why are ants everywhere? And I wasn't alone in the room.

So like, Two or three other people also woke up with ants all over them. So we were just like, Oh, this is a hell world. And Oh no. Um, so I, I mean, I used to be the same way with tarantulas that you were with tarantulas with tiny little, those like tiny little trapdoor spiders. Like now I actually pulled up one of my, uh, daughters like, um, stuffed animal baskets or something.

And my wife went, Oh no. A big ol spider just crawled out, and I was like, what color was it? I think it was like, black. Great. Did it have any insignia on its back? No? Okay, so we're probably fine. Like, and like, that kind of thing. But like, now just thinking about, I, I think the pro Okay, I think the problem with spiders is this.

They live in a 3D space, right? Yes. So, Arachn Like, scorpions. don't as much. But spiders can just literally appear. Drop down. Just drop down out of nowhere. And I think that's the scary thing about them.

Lindsay: Yes. I, I mean, I've had a daddy longleg drop right on my face at 5am while I'm on my phone. Like, can't see it until it's right there.

Like, that's, hey, that shouldn't happen. This,

Sidney: this episode of this podcast is brought to you by Fear. Thanks. Also, it's brought to you by, uh, Zoology, which is what we are, what we did go into talking about, but now I just want to get into more about, like, our horrifying spider stories. And I know we shouldn't.

So we'll save that for more, but we're gonna pivot. We're gonna pivot even though. Okay, I will tell you this one story. So this one time I was on the bus, right? I was going to work and it was one of the city buses. Um, L. A. Transit is actually fantastic. If no one knows about it, you should actually try it anyway.

So I saw a true like Peter Parker spider moment where I was watching this happen and I'm sorry that I didn't help. But I saw a spider dropped down from like a bar and like Get into a guy's collar. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. For, for anyone listening at home, Lindsay just said a very surprised shift backwards and I agree with her.

So, so the spider got down and then the guy even like did a brush it away movement and the spider was still in his collar. Like, and I couldn't do anything and then he got off and I was like, Oh no. Did

Lindsay: anyone else see it happen? No,

Sidney: I was, I literally watched like the, the, the, the mythos be created for Spider Man.

And like, I just couldn't, I didn't, I didn't know what to do. It was a very, uh, I'm sorry moment for sure.

Lindsay: I hope that the spider exited his shirt before he ever realized what

Sidney: was happening. So do I. So do I. Because if I ever just found a spider, actually I found a spider once on my leg. Okay, so we're gonna, we're gonna move away from this.

All right, we're gonna pivot. Because we are gonna pivot. We do need to move away from it. I do kind of want to ask, I mean, I asked, I think we already kind of got into this, but like The best part and the worst part about your job, which is I guess now content creator or would you call yourself a zoologist first and then a content creator?

It's

Lindsay: tough to say, I usually say like content creator that does zoology content or a zoology content creator, um, because I mean I'm still like, I'm doing research for all of my videos but I'm not. in an active zoology position? I don't know. So, I mean, I could answer that in a couple different ways. Like, do you, do you want me to do content creation or do you want

Sidney: me to do No, I mean, I guess, I guess, I shouldn't have asked, I shouldn't have asked that follow up question.

I'm, I'm bad at interviewing. I should, I should have just stuck with what's your favorite part about your, your job and then what's your least favorite part about your job? Okay,

Lindsay: so my favorite part Well, there's a couple. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. Same,

Sidney: same, same.

Lindsay: Glad we agree. Um, I think, I mean, obviously I love being able to connect with people and kind of share a common passion through, you know, content.

Um, I would say, like uniquely to the position I'm in. I love the research that I do for my videos. Um, I loved being able to continuously learn new things in college. And when I graduated, I was like absolutely devastated that that was ending and like reading research papers was coming to an end. So I was gonna have a different job.

And so being able to continue that to make these videos is incre I love. I love reading these research papers to learn something new and then put it into a script to teach other people. Like, that whole process is so fun for me.

Sidney: That's cool. That's really cool. Then the worst part, then the worst one is getting pictures of the scariest bug in the world.

Lindsay: Yeah. Um, I, I would probably say the, God, it's, it's hard to say because I, I do love the research, but it's also, I do it all on my own right now. Sure. So, I would also say that maybe that is also depending on my

Sidney: mindset. Yeah. Yeah. Like sitting down and taking four hours to read a research paper is actually difficult.

Lindsay: It's, it's, well, the difficult part of it is like. I'm a human being doing the whole, like, research, writing the script, all on my own. Like I have an editor that edits my videos, but in terms of like the, the information that I'm using, I'm finding it on my own. Yeah. Um, and I'm learning most of it through researching for the video and there's like It seems like there's a collective assumption, at least, especially on TikTok, that I just know all of this, that I'm an expert in everything that I'm talking about, and that's just not true at all.

And like, making sure that I'm getting everything right is very stressful because I don't want to put out information that's wrong, um, and trying to like... Hit that standard. Yeah. It like, it'd be easier if it was like a team, you know? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Um, and so I'm working on like building that out. I'm looking for a research assistant.

Got it. Um, which will definitely help. But yeah, I would say, I would say that adds a lot of, um,

Sidney: stress. Yeah. I mean, I think that I'm lucky to start a video every time saying, I don't know this thing, or, I didn't know this. Right. And I think that, I think that, It's, um, it's really tough, especially being an information content creator.

I guess I'll con oh, whatever. But it's like, you don't want to say the wrong thing because especially in your comments you're just gonna get railed. Like it's just bad. It's a shred. Just like fucking destroyed. And that does not feel good, after spending so much time about learning about this thing and then some idiot's like, actually, you're wrong.

Zebras are black with white stripes. It's like, guys, shut the fuck up.

Lindsay: Right, yeah, and just like, like, there, how do I want to say this? In terms of like, a 10 minute video, you know, you have all this information for 10 minutes, and then if you get one picture wrong, that's up for half a second, it's like,

Sidney: you're done.

Yeah, it's like when I learned possum and possum were spelled differently, or a bison isn't a buffalo and a buffalo isn't a bison, or all kinds of different weird shit. It's like, actually, I put up the wrong image. Of a bison, I think, and everyone was like, LOL, you fucking moron. Luckily, that's my whole thing.

Um, alright, well, we are gonna take a little bit of a break. And then we'll be right back with Lindsey. Yay! Ba la la la la la la la! Hey, everybody! Thank you so much for listening. I hope you're enjoying this talk with Lindsey Nicole as much as I am. I'm having... An absolute fantastic time. But while I have you here, please spread the love, rate and review this podcast so that more people can hear it.

It's the best way to get this podcast out there, to spread it, to find it, to do all the things by rating and reviewing it. Also listening to it all the way through. Thanks so much for doing that. All right. All right. All right. All right. Back to Lindsey. We're going to play a fun game. Hey everybody. Welcome back.

Lindsey, are you ready to play? Are you ready to play a game? Whoa. Yeah. Yes. It's like Jigsaw. I just thought about Jigsaw.

Lindsay: That's my favorite movie series.

Sidney: Really? Love Saw. Can I ask you a question? That we actually played, uh, we played a different game in a different podcast. I was, um, talking to a scare actress out of Orlando.

She's fantastic, by the way. You should definitely look her up, uh, Ashley. Um. We played a game where basically we tried to figure out who the scariest, uh, horror villain is. And between the two, Pennywise or Jigsaw, who's scarier?

Lindsay: Probably Jigsaw because all of a sudden you're forced to do all of this

Sidney: shit.

Interesting. Interesting. See, we said Pennywise because he's like... the embodiment of fear and also terri like he's, for me, he's the original like terrifying creature. Also they're both clowns, which I thought was interesting. Yeah,

Lindsay: yeah, people don't like clowns.

Sidney: People don't like clowns. Yep. People don't, I'm sorry clowns, you just got a bad rap.

Yep. Alright, well let's play your game, okay? Alright, so today we are playing The Best and the Worst, and why? We'll be giving you a couple of scenarios and you tell us what the best and the worst animal to do this with is and why. You ready? Okay. Alright. The best and the worst animal to give a teeth cleaning to.

Which one and why? Okay.

Lindsay: Oh,

Sidney: you're not giving me options? Oh, I'm not going to give you options. I just want you to tell me. Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Because I'm assuming you've done some teeth cleaning with some big ol animals. You know what? I haven't. Ooh. Well then, what do you think would be?

Lindsay: I would, I would guess that some sort of viper would be the worst to give a teeth cleaning to.

Cause you're, you know, getting real, real close to death there. Maybe a, maybe a black mamba. Yeah. Yeah. Um. The best would probably, uh, a bunny. A

Sidney: bunny. A bunny would be fun. Sure. Also, a bunny's front teeth are darling. Yes. Um, I would say probably, uh, for some reason I was like, what has the most teeth? And I was like, oh, sharks have lots of rows of teeth, but also snapping turtles have a lot of pressure in their teeth.

Yes. So that might be it. Yes.

Lindsay: Hippos also have a lot of pressure. And their teeth are, yeah. Kind of, kind of gnarly in the way that they're

Sidney: arranged. Hippos are terrifying. Yes, they're cute little water puppies when they start, but they're not cute little water puppies, y'all. No.

Lindsay: Mm hmm. Hippos on lands. No, thanks too.

Sidney: No, thank you. Okay. So, Viper. Viper was your answer. Good to know, good to know, good to know, okay? Stay away from vipers y'all. Alright, so, the best and the worst animal to play fetch with... Now, I think we all know what the best animal to play fetch with is. Gotta be a dog. Gotta be a dog. Yeah. Right? What type of dog?

Or a cat that plays fetch. Oh, dude. Cats that act like dogs are amazing. The best kind of cats. The best kind of cats. I have been in the presence of some of those cats. Holy shit did I love that cat. Oh yeah. Oh my god.

Lindsay: Those cats are interested in nothing but fun, and I love it. I know,

Sidney: exactly. Um, alright, so the best one is dog, sure, or cat that plays fetch.

And what's the worst, do you think? Hippo? Probably.

Lindsay: Probably a hippo, yeah. It would just crush whatever you're trying to play fetch with, and then come eat you. Or like

Sidney: some sort of, uh, ooh, maybe like some sort of like... water creature that you can't see? I was thinking like alligator because they would like spin you around.

Spin

Lindsay: you around? Right? Aren't we aren't but wouldn't you stay out of the water? I'm imagining if you played fetch with an alligator, you're like taking one of those dive toys and like throwing it from from land into the lake. I feel like that would be kind of fun to watch.

Sidney: Yeah, that would be actually pretty rad.

Yeah. Yeah. But then would they come and get you because they think you're the one? that has the thing that they need to play with? I

Lindsay: guess maybe that depends on the alligator or crocodile.

Sidney: Alright, well, what's another one? Depends on the individual. What's another terrible one to play fetch with?

Lindsay: A bear, like a grizzly bear.

Yeah. Yeah, because they would, again, crush whatever you're trying to throw, and they're just gnarly. I know somebody who, like, like, a nasty bite from a bear threw a fence, a bear that she was working with. Yeah. I'm good. I'm

Sidney: good. Bears are terrifying. I have actually a tattoo of a bear on my thigh and I hope it's intimidating to people But it is very cute and cuddly having a great time riding its bike through the hills of California Okay, so a bear a grizzly bear, yeah I saw a video recently of a photographer you probably saw this too of like just screaming at the bear and the bear just ran Away, is that a thing?

Does that actually real?

Lindsay: Yeah with any sort of like large Carnivores, what you, if they're approaching you, you have to make yourself seem as big and loud as possible. Oh man, okay. And that goes for like if they're stalking you or if they're fighting you. If they're like running up at you, charging at you, that's a better scenario than them stalking you because if they're charging at you, they see you as a threat, so then you could, you know, Just be threatening.

If they're stalking you, they see you as food, and so then you gotta flip the switch. Oh no.

Sidney: Make yourself threatening. Oh no. And then assuming you don't see them stalking you until you're being chased at or eaten by a bear. Right. Which like, they don't, let's just debunk this myth really quick. That's probably not gonna happen.

Okay, they're actually searching for the, for the nice thing that you have and just maybe, okay, fine. Cool. Great. Say it either way. Um, okay. So next, I think we actually might've answered this question in just, just now. What's the best and the worst animal to wrestle?

Lindsay: Okay. Because it would be very easy to wrestle an ant, you know, like, but are we, are we, are we going to try and do animals that are like of the same size so there's at least like A competition.

Sidney: Yeah. Because in the Russell, if you think about it that way, the worst animal to give a teeth cleaning to would be like an ant or like a a, a tri, like a a tri Trilobyte. Was it the, the, yeah, yeah. The Char Trilobyte. Yeah, trilobyte. Those little, little space hippos. Um, oh, you're thinking of Its harder grade char degrade.

Yeah. What did I say? Trilobites

Lindsay: were, yeah, those are, uh, prehistoric arthropods from like 300

Sidney: million years ago. Trilobite's a real thing that I just said? I just made that word up and it's a real thing?

Lindsay: Yes. Whoa, dude. It's, it's like one of the most commonly found

Sidney: fossils. Oh, oh, the fuck, the Pokemon looking motherfuckers.

They, yeah, they look

Lindsay: like shells or whatever, like between a roach and an isopod. Yeah.

Sidney: Like, got it. Yeah. Okay, cool. Good. I'm good that I didn't, that was a subconscious word makeup. Yeah. And I did it. You had it in there. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. Um, yeah. All right. So, so let's not do that. So like the easiest one would be, yes, a creature smaller than you, but let's say like, I would maybe say like the best.

Animal to wrestle would be also a dog because they're fun. Yes,

Lindsay: yes. Or maybe like an octopus would be a challenge. Would be kind of fun and a challenge. Yeah. If they were being friendly and not trying to, um, hurt you.

Sidney: Suck, suck your intestines out. Yeah, like

Lindsay: trying to like, like rip the tent. Whoa, you know, like that would be kind of fun.

Yeah. Or it would be terrible. I don't know. It could also be the worst. I would say the worst would be like a shark, uh, like a pajama shark that spins around and stuff,

Sidney: you know, when they latch on. For some reason I thought the worst would be like a big gorilla. Yeah, definitely. Like a

Lindsay: silverback.

Definitely a gorilla.

Sidney: Don't listen to me. Yeah, I was thinking like, I was thinking like what's... An animal that is similar to me that would be much better at ripping me apart and I was thinking bear might be it or gorilla or giraffe maybe because they're real tall and it's hard to really get them off their feet.

And they

Lindsay: swing their necks like

Sidney: nobody's business. Like, real hard, y'all. Real hard. Um, okay, so... Pajama shark actually is a really good answer, though, because that's one I didn't think about. Like, I thought about the basic ones. You thought about the zoology ones, and that's why you're on the podcast, Lindsay.

That's why. Thank you. You're welcome. But

Lindsay: I really think that you killed it with the opposable thumbs, though. The gorilla, I think, I think it's the gorilla.

Sidney: Yeah, I mean, yeah. Um, if you've seen Baby's Day Out, you get it. Uh, there's a, there's a part in there with the gorilla. Um, you should watch that movie if you haven't, by the way.

I will. Alright, so the best and the worst animal to give CPR to. Have you ever given CPR to a big cat? Mm mm. Hmm. So what's the best one? That would be

Lindsay: tough. That would be tough to do. Yeah? Because then they get up and they, yeah, like, I never had any contact with the animals that I was working with.

Because they're

Sidney: apex predators. Sure. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Lindsay: Um, best animal to give CPR to would probably be like... You know, one that you could just kind of use two fingers and... Probably like a hamster. Like a hamster, or again, a bunny. Oh yeah, a bunny. Or a

Sidney: kitten. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, and then the worst one?

Lindsay: An elephant. That would take a

Sidney: crew. Which you need like actual huge things to. Okay, so the last question we have, the best and worst animal to give a colonoscopy to. Hmm,

Lindsay: um. Is there really a best animal

Sidney: to give a colonoscopy to? I don't even want to give humans a colonoscopy.

Lindsay: Yeah, um, I'm, I'm actually going to say probably humans, so you can at least tell them what's going on.

Yeah, that's

Sidney: the best one. Yeah. Um,

Lindsay: the worst would probably be, um, uh, I would say a cougar. Cougar. Yep. Like if, if we're pretending that, um, anesthesia doesn't exist. Uh huh. Um, yeah, a cougar for sure. Yeah. I've, I've been spit on by a cougar through a fence. Like, cougars are gnarly, dude. Giving a colonoscopy to a cougar?

No. I'll quit my job before I have to do that.

Sidney: That's incredible. Um, all right. Well, I think that that Is an excellent way to wrap up this episode. Um, , do you, uh, you know, do you have any products coming up that you want to talk about? Do you, uh, I don't know anything, anything at all. Uh, let the audience know what you have going on, Lindsay.

Lindsay: Oh, yeah. So, um, on my YouTube channel, I'm gonna be, um, doing a long form version of my History of Life on Earth series that I did about a year ago on TikTok.

Nice. Where I go through each of the periods in its history, starting from the Cambrian period and essentially, build out how things evolved over time. So I'm doing it in a long form format. It's going to take me like eight months to a year to complete. And I'm really, really excited. Gonna have a full picture of how the earth changed

Sidney: over time.

That's so freaking cool. Any other sort of like last words or final life tips that you want to give the audience? Respect

Lindsay: species on this planet by giving them Distance. Hell yes!

Sidney: And then where can everyone find you?

Lindsay: You can find me on TikTok and YouTube at Lindsay Nicole, which is spelled with an A in Lindsay and K in Nicole.

I know it's confused, both of the Names are unusual. And then on Instagram at lindsey underscore

Sidney: Nicole. Yeah All right, Lindsey. Well, thank you so so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. This has been so much fun and yeah, thank you so much and Yeah, and I'll talk to you again on the internet real soon.

Hell. Yeah. Thanks

Lindsay: for having me. Bye y'all. Bye

Sidney: Well, that's it The final episode of season one of Explain Like I'm 30 with the amazing Lindsey Nicole. Thank you so much for being on the episode, Lindsey. So much fun to talk to you. And I'm glad that we found out the best and worst animals to, uh, to wrestle, to play fetch with, to perform CPR on. That was important.

I think that's an important thing to end this season with. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. If you have a question for us and you'd... like somebody to be on this show, please let us know. Shoot us an email at eli30 at human content. com. And if you just want to chat, come hang out. Chat with me at Sidney Raz across all social media platforms and hang out with the Human Content Podcast crew.

On Instagram and TikTok, Human Content Pods. We would really, really, really appreciate it if you left a review. Uh, wherever you listen to podcasts, it really helps the show grow. And if you subscribe and comment on your favorite podcasting app, or on YouTube, I might give you a shoutout. And don't forget, every single Thursday we upload these.

episodes in video form. So if you love hearing my beautiful voice, but you want to see my handsome face, please consider giving me a subscribe over there on YouTube every single Thursday at Sydney Raz. Thank you so, so much for listening. I'm your host, Sydney Raskine. Special thanks to our professional zoologist, Lindsay Nicole.

Our executive producers are Sydney Raskine, Aron Reuben Korney. Rob Goldman and Shahnti Brooke. Our editor is Andrew Sims. Our engineer is Jason Portizzo. Our music is by Omer Ben Zvi and our theme song is by Dr. Music. Explain Like I'm 30 is a human content production. Remember hydration equals happiness.

Bye everyone. Explain Like I'm 30.