Terrestrials: Stumpisode

Summary

Radiolab – Terrestrials: Stumpisode Summary

Radiolab, hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser, delves deep into the often-overlooked world of tree stumps in the Terrestrials season. This episode, aptly titled "Stumpisode," explores the hidden lives of stumps and their pivotal roles in ecosystems, human history, and even folklore. Through investigative journalism and captivating storytelling, the hosts uncover the multifaceted significance of these seemingly lifeless remnants.

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1. Introduction to Terrestrials: Stumpisode

Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser kick off the episode by announcing the return of Terrestrials, their family-friendly nature show. With seven new episodes, each promises to explore different facets of nature through scientific, historical, and musical lenses.

Notable Quote:

• Lulu Miller (02:29): "If you like nature and how often... where do they find it and how often does it come out?"

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2. The Enigmatic World of Tree Stumps

The episode centers around tree stumps, exploring their ecological importance and the surprising vitality they harbor. Amanda Thompson, a Scottish artist, writer, and tree enthusiast, serves as the expert guide, sharing her two-decade-long fascination with stumps.

Notable Quote:

• Amanda Thompson (05:05): "I don't see myself as being an expert in trees, maybe more a lover of trees."

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3. Stump One: The Magic Stump in Illinois

Location: Southern Illinois

Amanda introduces Tyler Funk, a firefighter in rural Illinois, who discovered a singular stump that became a hub for various wildlife, including rare raptors like the prairie falcon. This "Magic Stump" attracted a diverse array of creatures, transforming a barren agricultural landscape into a vibrant microhabitat.

Key Points:

• Ecological Impact: The stump supports saproxylic species—organisms that depend on deadwood for survival.
• Wildlife Diversity: From snowy owls to coyotes and even a rare sighting of a bobcat (16:02).
• Human Interaction: Tyler set up cameras to monitor the stump, capturing the dynamic interactions of wildlife.

Notable Quote:

• Tyler Funk (15:50): "It was almost like a fairy tale where the stump was a kind of magnet that pulled rare beasts from the sky and below."

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4. Stump Two: The Pringle Stump in West Virginia

Location: Buchanan, West Virginia

Jean Thorne, a wildlife biologist, narrates the historical tale of the Pringle brothers—Sam and John—who sought refuge in a massive hollow sycamore stump during the turbulent 1700s. This stump became a sanctuary for the brothers and eventually a nucleus for the burgeoning town of Buchanan.

Key Points:

• Historical Significance: The stump served as a hideout and later as a communal living space for settlers.
• Community Development: The Pringle Stump facilitated the establishment of cabins, evolving into a town of over 5,000 residents.
• Cultural Legacy: The stump is commemorated in a local park and the "Pringle Tree," celebrating its role in the town's history.

Notable Quote:

• Jean Thorne (19:26): "They use their hides for blankets... custom made tan skins to keep the winter weather out."

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5. Stump Three: Fossilized Stumps in Wales

Location: Coastal Wales

Amanda takes listeners to Wales, where a tempest in 2014 unearthed petrified stumps from an ancient underwater civilization. These fossilized remnants not only provide scientific insights but also resonate with local legends of a lost town swallowed by the ocean.

Key Points:

• Archaeological Discovery: Footprints of humans over 5,000 years old were found intertwined with the fossilized stumps.
• Myth Meets Science: The stumps offered tangible evidence supporting local fairy tales about submerged settlements.
• Tourism and Education: The site attracts visitors eager to explore the ghostly forest and its historical narratives.

Notable Quote:

• Amanda Thompson (24:01): "Scientists analyzed the footprints and learned that this area, which was deep underwater, used to be a human civilization."

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6. Ecological Importance of Tree Stumps

Tree stumps are more than just remnants of fallen trees; they are vibrant ecosystems in their own right. The episode highlights their role in supporting biodiversity, fostering nutrient cycling, and maintaining forest health.

Key Points:

• Saproxylic Species: Organisms like fungi, beetles, and wasps rely on deadwood for habitat and sustenance.
• Nutrient Recycling: Decomposers break down the wood, enriching the soil and supporting plant growth.
• Ecosystem Stability: Studies indicate that a healthy forest requires approximately 30% deadwood to sustain its ecological balance.

Notable Quote:

• Amanda Thompson (08:21): "Saproxylic? It means they would die without dead wood."

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7. Engaging Listener Questions

The episode features a segment where listeners pose intriguing questions about trees and stumps, fostering a deeper connection between the audience and the subject matter.

Sample Questions and Answers:

• Joe (27:52): "Does the stump know that the rest of the tree is gone?"
  Amanda Thompson (28:00): "Maybe it's just living its own moment."

• Elise (28:07): "Can trees get bandaids for snags?"
  Jean Thorne (28:17): "Yes, tree surgeons can wrap broken branches to prevent rot."

• Sia (28:38): "Do bears scratch themselves on deadwood or only on trees that are alive?"
  Jean Thorne (28:51): "For the most part, they choose live trees. They use them to rid themselves of their winter coats and as tick repellents."

• Mark (29:19): "Why do we say we are stumped when we run into a question we can't answer?"
  Amanda Thompson (29:34): "Is it because of the shape of the stump? You can't see a way to branch off into your thinking?"

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8. Conclusion and Future of Terrestrials

As the episode wraps up, Lulu and Latif reflect on the myriad secrets held by tree stumps worldwide. Amanda expresses her ongoing quest to uncover more about these fascinating structures, hinting at future explorations into redwood stumps, bat nurseries, and stumps in Tanzania that perpetuate new life.

Notable Quote:

• Lulu Miller (25:30): "There are probably so many more secrets and powers waiting in the dead looking parts of the forest."

The hosts encourage listeners to engage with their Terrestrials content, including free teaching materials for educators and promotional content for documentaries like "The Magic Stump," which chronicles Tyler Funk's discoveries.

Closing Remarks:

• Lulu Miller (32:14): "If you want to hear more Terrestrials episodes, new ones are dropping for the next few months. Check out the Radiolab for Kids feed..."

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Key Takeaways

• Tree Stumps as Ecosystems: Stumps play a critical role in sustaining various species, contributing to forest health and biodiversity.
• Historical and Cultural Significance: Beyond ecology, stumps have been central to human stories, from survival tales to the foundation of communities.
• Interconnectedness of Nature: The episode underscores the intricate connections between seemingly dead elements and the vibrant life they support.

Radiolab's "Terrestrials: Stumpisode" masterfully blends science, history, and storytelling to illuminate the hidden lives of tree stumps, inviting listeners to appreciate the depth and vitality embedded in the natural world.

Transcript

[Latif Nasser]

Radiolab is supported by Dell Shop Dell Technologies Black Friday event for their lowest prices of the year. The future is on sale today with limited time deals on select PCs like the XPS 16 that accelerate AI with Intel Core Ultra processors. Black Friday is their biggest sale of the year and the best time to upgrade. But it's only here for a limited time. Shop now at Dell.com deals that's Dell.com/deals. Radiolab is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.

[Lulu Miller]

So many options for toilet paper, quintuple ply. This roll is titanium in forest. This one is made from elderly trees. Is that good? Just grab Angel Soft. It's simple, soft and strong. And for any budget. Angelsoft soft and strong. Simple.

[Latif Nasser]

Listener supported WNYC Studios.

[Lulu Miller]

We're starting to get our groove and the boys are. Yeah. I will tell you more about it when we don't have a clock running, but it's good.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay.

[Lulu Miller]

Okay. So. Okay.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah. Okay. Oh, well, we should say this is Radio Lab. I'm Latif Nasser.

[Lulu Miller]

And I'm Lulu Miller.

[Latif Nasser]

And you have been on maternity leave and you still are on maternity leave but for some reason you have come back for a minute.

[Lulu Miller]

I'm emerging from the pajama land of maternity leave because I have some news. I have some exciting news which is that terrestrials is back. Yeah. We've got, we've got a whole new season of our, of our family friendly nature show just dropped. It is just out. Seven new episodes. Seven new romps through nature. Seven new wild stories.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah. With like, but like with animal and historical and scientific detours that are. And musical detours and musical detours most.

[Lulu Miller]

Of all through all kinds of. You know, we've got an episode about squirrels coming up. We got an episode about deep dwelling sharks. We got an episode about lichen.

[Latif Nasser]

I'm liking it.

[Lulu Miller]

So yeah, that's what I'm here to tell you. If you like nature and how often.

[Latif Nasser]

And where do they find it and how often does it come out? Yes.

[Lulu Miller]

Okay, you head on over to the Radio Lab for kids feed where there is stuff coming out all the time basically every other week right now. We've got that ramped up a little. We got stuff coming out every week and you just look for the Terrestrials episodes. And if you make your way through those, there's other goodies waiting there. And that again, the Radiolab for kids feed. And there will be stuff on all year and all kinds of surprises coming out throughout the year.

[Latif Nasser]

That's so great. I'm so excited. Congratulations. But also you have something you are presenting to us right now.

[Lulu Miller]

Yeah, no, right. I guess to celebrate we are gonna give you a taste of the first one which just came out.

[Latif Nasser]

It's so fun. It's such a fun episode. I mean, it's like you've made something dead alive, which I think is like, is so fun to listen to.

[Lulu Miller]

It's a thing that seems dead, but maybe is less dead than we think. Yeah. So take a listen.

[Latif Nasser]

Wait, you're listening.

[Amanda Thompson]

Okay.

[Lulu Miller]

All right. Okay.

[Latif Nasser]

All right.

[Lulu Miller]

You're listening to Radiolab.

[Latif Nasser]

Radiolab from wnyc, See? Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

Three, two, one.

[Amanda Thompson]

Imagine you standing in the middle of a forest. Your arms break off and your insides hollow out.

[Lulu Miller]

Your skin turns hard and rough.

[Amanda Thompson]

Humans think of you as being dead, like a ghost.

[Lulu Miller]

But the birds and insects and rodents know the truth about you.

[Amanda Thompson]

Inside, you're brimming with life. You birth babies, you fight fire.

[Lulu Miller]

You can even catch time.

[Amanda Thompson]

You have become a stump.

[Lulu Miller]

Now is the part where I make you sing the theme song with me.

[Amanda Thompson]

Oh, God. Okay.

[Lulu Miller]

Terrestrials, Terrestrials we are not the worst.

[Amanda Thompson]

We are the best.

[Lulu Miller]

Best. Yeah, you got it. Terrestrials is a show where we uncover the strangeness waiting right here on Earth. I am your host, Lulu Miller, joined as always by my songbud. Woo hoo hoo. Alan.

[Latif Nasser]

It's the Stuff episode.

[Lulu Miller]

And this season we are looking at things that are usually over the. And today's guide through the wild world of tree stumps is Scottish artist, writer and tree expert, Amanda Thompson.

[Amanda Thompson]

I don't see myself as being an expert in trees, maybe more a lover of trees.

[Lulu Miller]

Now, Amanda grew up like most of us, not really noticing stumps, or if she did, noticing what they weren't.

[Amanda Thompson]

Trees are for climbing, aren't they?

[Lulu Miller]

Can't build a treehouse in a stump. Can't get shade from a stump.

[Amanda Thompson]

No.

[Lulu Miller]

So stumps seemed like broken things, sad things, dead things. Until one day she happened across a. That would cast a sort of spell on her, that would make her see these quiet, dead seeming stumps completely differently.

[Amanda Thompson]

They don't look like they're doing anything, but they're doing so much.

[Lulu Miller]

All right. So like most good fairy tales, this one begins in the woods. The deep, dark woods of Scotland. Amanda is Staying in a friend's cottage, taking care of the chickens. And one day she decides to go for a walk in the ancient pines. And she walks deeper and deeper into the dark until suddenly a stump catches her eye.

[Amanda Thompson]

It was very pale. A lot of the bark had fallen off of it, so it was almost silver.

[Lulu Miller]

It was a kind of stump called a snag where part of the tree still stands, but it's hollow inside.

[Amanda Thompson]

All of the upper branches had snapped.

[Lulu Miller]

And as she studied its kind of spooky form, the giant stump began casting its spell.

[Amanda Thompson]

I just started to notice all these dead trees in the middle of all the life that was going on.

[Lulu Miller]

And without really knowing why, she got out her camera and began taking pictures.

[Amanda Thompson]

They're almost like skeletons.

[Lulu Miller]

Can you say any more about what drew you to them?

[Amanda Thompson]

At the beginning, I was just drawn to their difference.

[Lulu Miller]

She related to that feeling.

[Amanda Thompson]

So when I was growing up, I was about the only black kid in a small town. I had such a lovely childhood. But there's moments where you are made to feel different, you know, and you experience racism and whether it's intentional or unintentional, you still feel it. So when I was starting to look at the dead trees and trying to think about what they meant for me.

[Lulu Miller]

They reminded her a little of her. And she wanted to extend a kind of care to them that she didn't always get as a kid.

[Amanda Thompson]

There's a lot of kindness that comes when people start to understand the value of difference and what difference can contribute, if that makes sense, huh?

[Lulu Miller]

And so she kept spending time with these dead trees, trying to get to know them by taking pictures of them.

[Amanda Thompson]

They're beautiful shapes.

[Lulu Miller]

And drawing them made some films of dead trees, etchings of dead trees, sound recordings of, you guessed it, dead trees. But her understanding of the value of stumps really clicked in when she started following scientists on walks through the woods. They peeled back the bark, so to speak, and showed her just how many.

[Amanda Thompson]

Different beasties that are there.

[Lulu Miller]

Beasties like beetles and wasps and mushrooms and flies.

[Amanda Thompson]

They hold so much life within them.

[Lulu Miller]

The scientists taught her there's a whole class of creatures that need stumps to live.

[Amanda Thompson]

They're what's called sapro silic.

[Lulu Miller]

Saproxylic?

[Amanda Thompson]

Uh huh.

[Lulu Miller]

It means they would die without dead wood. These are creatures like fungi that slurp up crucial nutrients out of stumps, kind of like a wood smoothie, or beetles that lay their babies inside, or wasps that chew stumps to create nests. And sometimes stumps break apart to create whole new worlds.

[Amanda Thompson]

Sometimes in the holes, like, you can get water as well. So that creates another microhabitat, like a.

[Lulu Miller]

Little pool, a little pond in the dead tree.

[Amanda Thompson]

Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

And while wasps and beetles might sound kind of annoying, without them you'd lose pollinators and little magicians that turn rot into crucial nutrients for the forest floor. And you'd lose food. Crunchy snacks for bigger creatures. In short, without stumps and deadwood, the forest ecosystem would pretty quickly collapse.

[Amanda Thompson]

Studies reckon that a healthy forest needs 30% deadwood in order to be a healthy forest.

[Lulu Miller]

Wow. That is so much of the forest.

[Amanda Thompson]

Absolutely.

[Lulu Miller]

But Amanda was just getting started. She would go on to spend the next 20 years studying stumps.

[Amanda Thompson]

Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

And is now going to take us on a tour. Tour de Stumps. A world tour of stumps. Doing things I would never dream they could. Saving lives, creating cities, and even changing the sky.

[Amanda Thompson]

That's brilliant, isn't it?

[Lulu Miller]

The tour departs the station right after this short break.

[Latif Nasser]

Radiolab is supported by Made in Cookware. As a Radiolab listener, you know we like to nerd out and explore things like how seagulls from the 1970s shook up our understanding of what's natural in all of us animals and how far the moon actually is. The usual Made In Cookware is into exploration too, creating products that help us answer questions like have you wanted to cook lobster but balked because the process seemed too intimidating? When it comes to picking the right ones and what tools you need to dig in, it can seem like a lot. Armed with Made In's Stainless Clad stockpot and their how to Cook Lobster blog post, there's no need to be afraid. With their professional grade stainless clad, carbon steel, nonstick and enameled cast iron cookware collections, Made in lets you focus on memorable meals. Cook like a pro with Made In. For full details, visit madeincookware.com that's M A D E I N cookware.com hey, Jon Favreau here. There's no shortage of political takes in 2024, but quantity doesn't cut it. We need a better conversation about the latest, biggest election of our lives. On Pod Save America, me and my co host cut through the noise to help you figure out what matters and how you can help. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, Pod Save America is breaking down the political news that makes us laugh, cry, and snap our laptops in half. Expensive year for laptops. Make sure to check out new episodes of Pod Save America on your favorite podcast platform or our YouTube channel. Now.

[Lulu Miller]

Terrestrials is back and I am lacing up my hiking boots for etoile de stumps. Three stumps hidden on our planet that aren't famous but totally should be.

[Amanda Thompson]

Uh huh.

[Lulu Miller]

That's our stump lover, Amanda Thompson. Okay, Amanda, where are you taking us for stump one?

[Amanda Thompson]

We're going to Illinois, rural Illinois to.

[Lulu Miller]

Meet a stump that changed the sky. I am somewhere in southern Illinois. I'm looking out at a bunch of windmills. Just do, do, do, do do. Once Amanda revealed the location, I hopped in my car and drove for hours. A lot of fields through flat, kind of dry looking industrial bean farms and corn farms until, oh, I turned off onto a little dirt road to meet with a firefighter. Hey, it's great to meet you. Named Tyler Funk, who, well discovered this stump. So we are approaching stump.

[Tyler Funk]

We're close.

[Lulu Miller]

We walk for a while on the mud and sprouts of a bean farm until. Yeah, it's kind of gnarled and almost black, really dark brown. We reach a huge stump up to my shoulders. Very typical. Like pretty flat top, little bit of bird poop on it. Now, Tyler, like Amanda, didn't think he cared about stumps. He was way more into. It's a lot of birding gear.

[Jean Thorne]

Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

Do you have Banox birding?

[Tyler Funk]

They're in here.

[Lulu Miller]

Oh, yeah. Big ones.

[Amanda Thompson]

Cool.

[Lulu Miller]

On his way to the fire station, many mornings he would get up early and pull off onto the side of the road to quietly observe the little birds that came out of the brush.

[Latif Nasser]

Sparrows and sweet little warblers and finches flitting about in their natural habitat.

[Lulu Miller]

And then one day in 2010, he saw something very out of place. A prairie falcon. Now, allow me a brief aside to tell you how prairie falcons are the goblins of the sky. Most raptors shoot down from above and grab their prey in their talons. But a prairie falcon, it's going so.

[Tyler Funk]

Fast and it punches something with its fists and it can just. I don't want to be morbid, but it can just basically disintegrate. You know what it hits?

[Lulu Miller]

Oh, so it doesn't grab, it just punches?

[Jean Thorne]

Yes.

[Tyler Funk]

It's just like hitting it with a hammer.

[Latif Nasser]

Gnarly.

[Lulu Miller]

Now for Tyler's half a century of birding. He had never seen a prairie falcon in Illinois before. Those birds preferred the American west, where there were tons of jagged cliffs and boulders off of which they could perch and hunt prey. So for years, Tyler and some other birders kept scanning the sky, wondering if they'd ever see it again. And every now and then over the years, they did. And slowly Carefully, they tracked it to its home base, which was this stump, this huge stump in the middle of a farmer's field. In early mornings, Tyler would sit in his car near the stump and like magic, the falcon, so rarely seen in these parts, would appear from the sky.

[Tyler Funk]

You could just watch him just stretching his wings, you know, yawning and hunting.

[Lulu Miller]

The stump made the perfect perch for the falcon to scan for prey.

[Tyler Funk]

Oh, yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

Tyler was amazed by the stump, but he had, you know, fires to fight. So he asked the farmer if he could set up a camera so he could monitor the stump 24 7. And that's when things got even weirder, because it wasn't just a falcon coming.

[Tyler Funk]

I have footage of a snowy owl sitting on the stump. Raptor, Kestrels, Cooper's hawk, Red tailed hawk, Rough legged hawk.

[Lulu Miller]

Whoa. And it didn't stop there.

[Tyler Funk]

Coyotes have been up there, so they've had pretty good jump to get up there. I think I've had skunk up there, a weasel, mink, rats, opossums, and there's mice that come out and crawl around on that stump.

[Lulu Miller]

It was almost like a fairy tale where the stump was a kind of magnet that pulled rare beasts from the sky and below.

[Tyler Funk]

Actually, this winter, I had a bobcat on top of that.

[Lulu Miller]

What?

[Tyler Funk]

Yeah, I really didn't expect to see that.

[Lulu Miller]

Tyler's theory is that those huge flat bean and corn farms in southern Illinois, well, as much food as they might produce for us, they don't have much to offer the other critters of the earth.

[Tyler Funk]

We're looking at basically scarred earth. That's all you can see is dirt. There's really no biodiversity out here.

[Lulu Miller]

Huh. Is this kind of like a desert out here?

[Tyler Funk]

I think actually a desert probably has better biodiversity than this does, to be honest.

[Lulu Miller]

It's worse than a desert.

[Tyler Funk]

It's worse than a desert. Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

But the stump, in its way, is bringing life back. Its wood feeds bugs, which attract rodents, which hide in the roots, which attract bobcats and coyotes, and even those rare raptors which are now darkening the sky with wings that hadn't been seen in decades. Which is why Tyler and others now.

[Amanda Thompson]

Call it the magic stump.

[Lulu Miller]

Okay, so that was stump number one. Amanda, where is the next stump on our tour?

[Amanda Thompson]

We are going to Buchanan, West Virginia.

[Lulu Miller]

West Virginia. And now, apparently, we are going to up the ante. We're going to meet a stump that is not just a hotel for rodents and birds and coyotes, but humans.

[Amanda Thompson]

Humans, yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

So we're walking across a field. It's kind of like A soccer field. There's a little river to our right. We sent the song bud Alan and producer Anna to go check it out. There it is. Straight ahead is this large, big, wiry, wiry white.

[Latif Nasser]

I love how this tree looks like. It looks old.

[Lulu Miller]

All right, so we are going to roll back to the 1700s. The forest was dense with ancient oaks and spruces and maples.

[Jean Thorne]

It was the absolute wilderness. Huge trees.

[Lulu Miller]

This is Jean Thorne, a wildlife biologist who is probably the world expert on this one particular stump. Yeah, and the story goes that running through that forest were two brothers who were trying to escape. Now, this was way back before the United States was a country and the British were trying to colonize the land. And those two brothers were scouts in the British army. But they didn't want to fight anymore, so they'd abandoned their posts and ran into the forest as fugitives. And as they ran, they were looking for a place to hide from copperheads, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and of course, the British Army. They would be in huge trouble, like executed trouble if they were caught. And one day, these brothers, Sam and John Pringle, they came to the banks of a river and they saw, well.

[Jean Thorne]

That'S where they found the hollow sycamore tree.

[Lulu Miller]

A massive hollow stump with bright white bark.

[Jean Thorne]

It was over 11 foot high, 11 foot wide. It's the size of a bedroom in an apartment.

[Lulu Miller]

Wow. So tentatively they climbed inside.

[Latif Nasser]

I can't believe how deep that goes.

[Lulu Miller]

I can't believe you're standing up right now.

[Latif Nasser]

Oh, easy too. Like I can put my arms straight up in the air and. And I am not touching the top.

[Lulu Miller]

And they liked it. It was warm, cozy. It smells like a fresh forest floor.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah, well, it is.

[Lulu Miller]

So they decided to move in and almost immediately began tricking out their stump. Welcome to MTV Crib Stumps edition.

[Latif Nasser]

Today we got the Pringle brothers.

[Lulu Miller]

Let's check out this stump first. We got the bed mattress made a leave. Layers of fur, hides. Fuzzy.

[Jean Thorne]

They use their hides for blankets.

[Latif Nasser]

Mad cozy.

[Lulu Miller]

And check door made out of bark.

[Jean Thorne]

Custom made tan skins to keep the winter weather out.

[Lulu Miller]

Yo.

[Latif Nasser]

And no stump is complete without a lit fireplace for cooking up gamey stew.

[Lulu Miller]

Ooh, where's all that smoke gonna go?

[Jean Thorne]

A little opening at the top where the smoke went up and out. It's just like a chimney.

[Lulu Miller]

See you next time. Wait, but. So if you were to like walk through the forest and you come across this kind of giant 11 foot tall stump and there'd be like a little, a little trail of smoke Coming out the top. Yeah.

[Jean Thorne]

So you'd have a smoky smell.

[Lulu Miller]

Okay. I mean, I'm picturing them in there. They've got, like, meat jerky hanging on the walls. Are wolves and bears and other critters not drawn to that smell?

[Jean Thorne]

And now, that's a really interesting question.

[Lulu Miller]

Because apparently one day, a bear did attack. Well, after salmon tried to shoot it.

[Jean Thorne]

He had big red eyes, and there was these snarls of saliva coming out of his mouth.

[Lulu Miller]

Gene, it turns out, is also a historical reenactor who will sometimes dress up as Sam Pringle and tell the legend of that bear attack as though he was Sam himself.

[Jean Thorne]

So I drew my knife out, and by that time, he had hit me and got me down on the ground, and he was chewing on me, and I sunk that knife behind his shoulder, and I blacked out. Right then.

[Lulu Miller]

A few hours later, John.

[Jean Thorne]

He found me, Samuel, laying on the ground. And he had to literally carry me down off of the hill and into our tree. And he laid me down and put a blanket on me and tucked me up good.

[Lulu Miller]

Brother John, great brother Sam's little brother knew he was going to have to hike hundreds of miles to the nearest town to find supplies. So he left Sam there all winter long, vulnerable, aching, the snow swirling outside, protected by the stump.

[Jean Thorne]

And after months, I was running out of food. It was getting critical.

[Lulu Miller]

But then, one glorious day, back over.

[Jean Thorne]

The mountains, here came John. And he was refreshed with good news. The war was over, and so the British army was no longer looking for.

[Lulu Miller]

Us, so they were safe to move to a nearby town. Sam got married. They moved into a house. But after just a little bit of time, he realized he missed his stump. So he convinced his wife and some friends to return.

[Jean Thorne]

Pioneers came over the mountain with him, and they all lived in that tree till they got their cabins built.

[Lulu Miller]

Wow.

[Jean Thorne]

So there were several families, actually, that lived in there for a time period.

[Lulu Miller]

Oh. So, like, how many people do you think in that one stump?

[Jean Thorne]

About 10 to 12 people that would have been inside there. Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

That's a tight pack. The stump sheltered them as Sam Pringle and his friends built cabin after cabin which would eventually turn into the city of Buchanan, which now has over 5,000 people. And alongside the river that flows through the town is a park where the stump used to be. And right near it is a hollow sycamore tree that they have named the pringle tree. Pass me a pringle. Pringle.

[Latif Nasser]

All right. We are in the pringle tree, and we are eating pringles Pringles. Cheers.

[Lulu Miller]

Cheers. They taste better in the tree.

[Latif Nasser]

They taste better in the tree. They sound better in the tree.

[Lulu Miller]

All right. We have visited the magic stump that changed the sky. The Pringle stump that birthed the city. Amanda, where are we going for our final stump stop?

[Amanda Thompson]

We're going to Wales.

[Lulu Miller]

Wales, A small seaside nation in the UK, where in 2014, a mighty tempest rolled through. There was wind and fog and lightning. The waves swelled high into the sky, very choppy. But when the storm finally passed, there.

[Amanda Thompson]

Arose from the water all these mysterious structures. Dozens of black pointy protrusions that looked like sharks fins.

[Lulu Miller]

But upon closer inspection, it turned out they were stumps.

[Amanda Thompson]

Petrified snags and stumps.

[Lulu Miller]

Petrified, meaning hardened, fossilized into this forest of preserved deadwood poking out from the sea. People came from all over to wander through these ghost trees. And as they did, they noticed that in the fossilized dirt, there were human.

[Amanda Thompson]

Footprints of children and adults from more.

[Lulu Miller]

Than 5,000 years ago.

[Amanda Thompson]

Scientists analyzed the footprints and learned that this area, which was deep underwater, used to be a human civilization.

[Lulu Miller]

And the wild part is this scientific data held in the stumps echoed an ancient legend from Wales, A sort of local fairy tale about a great town that was swallowed up by the ocean. Now, no one really knew if that story was true or not, but the stumps offered up a pretty good guess.

[Amanda Thompson]

I think there's a lot of histories if you start to pay attention to looking at a tree and what you see in them. Hmm.

[Latif Nasser]

Toot.

[Lulu Miller]

Well, that concludes Amanda's tour to stumps.

[Amanda Thompson]

Just been so lovely to spend time talking about stumps with you, Lulu.

[Lulu Miller]

Oh, it's been the best. And that was only three stumps. Out of all the stumps you've written about? Out of all the stumps on the planet.

[Amanda Thompson]

Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

There are also redwood stumps that kind of fight forest fire with their special thick bark. And stumps that shelter baby bats like woody nurseries. And a stump in Tanzania that keeps shooting out new life. Yeah, and there are probably so many more secrets and powers waiting in the dead looking parts of the forest.

[Amanda Thompson]

Absolutely. I'm still learning. I haven't finished yet, but I don't know where I'm gonna go next.

[Lulu Miller]

S t u n p S G u n p s if you're a.

[Latif Nasser]

Stump or a snag your fabulous deadwood you make me glide the way only a snub could I know there's more to you than meets the eye no lie, you sure got me mystified I.

[Lulu Miller]

Tried to get to the root of it. Oh, I'm out on a limb. I can't leaf it alone. Hot shot. I wanna know what you got. Deadwood. Aha. I wanna watch you rot. S G U n P S G.

[Latif Nasser]

U L P 1, 2, 3, 4. Hardcore Arbor. A tree corpse on the forest floor. Check out the stump.

[Lulu Miller]

Thump thump.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. They say you're dead wood, but I think you're kind of not because you're full.

[Lulu Miller]

Alive.

[Amanda Thompson]

Yeah, you're so alive.

[Latif Nasser]

What more could anybody want from me? One and only.

[Lulu Miller]

S T U M P G U M P S G U S P S G P U S G P U P A L A and G Alan Gofinski, everyone. Breaking down the house with the materials that make the house. The wood, the stumps, the planks, the snags. And that's it. That is all that terrestrials has to offer you today. There is nothing else cool about to have it. What's that?

[Amanda Thompson]

Excuse me, I have a question.

[Lulu Miller]

Me two, me three, the badgers. Listeners with badgering questions for the expert. Are you ready?

[Amanda Thompson]

Yeah.

[Lulu Miller]

Hey, my name is Joe.

[Latif Nasser]

I am 29 years old. My question is, does the stump know that the rest of the tree is gone?

[Amanda Thompson]

That's quite sad and quite existential. Maybe it's just living its own moment.

[Lulu Miller]

My name is Elise, I'm six years old. Can trees get bandaids for snags?

[Amanda Thompson]

You're gonna have to ask a scientist about that question.

[Lulu Miller]

Okay, Gene?

[Jean Thorne]

Yeah, they can. There's people that make a living, they call themselves tree surgeons. And if you get a broken branch off, you can actually go and wrap it up with a bandaid and kind of a tarry like substance goes underneath to keep the moisture from getting inside and causing rot.

[Amanda Thompson]

Wow.

[Lulu Miller]

I wonder if those tree surgeons had to take a hippocratic oak. Hi, my name is Sia, I'm 12 years old. My question is, do bears scratch themselves on deadwood or only on trees that are alive?

[Jean Thorne]

For the most part, they choose live trees. They're getting rid of their winter coat so they'll rub up and down the tree and take that fur off. The other thing that happens, they're trying to rub and get ticks dislodged and off of themselves. And there's been some research that the oils off of birch trees and pine resin are actually a tick repellent.

[Lulu Miller]

Smart.

[Latif Nasser]

Hi, my name is Mark, I'm 33 years old and I'm joined by and ages 5 and 2 and we'd like to know why do we say we are stumped when we run into a question we can't answer?

[Amanda Thompson]

Hmm. Is it because of the shape of the stump? You can't see the kind of a way to branch off into your thinking? I have been stumped.

[Lulu Miller]

Well, that is the most perfect place to leave it. Biggest thanks again to Amanda Thompson. If you would like to read her beautiful writing, check out her book Belonging. There is a lot in there about tree stumps, other overlooked things and people. And it's got a gorgeous painting of a hollow stumpy snag on the front. Again, that's Belonging by Amanda Thompson. Terrestrials was created by me, Lulu Miller with WNYC Studios. This episode was produced by Ana Gonzalez, Mira Burtwintonik, Alan Gafinski, Jo Plord and me, with help from Tanya Chawla, Sarah Sambach and Valentina Powers. Fact checking by Natalie Middleton. Support for Terrestrials is provided by the Simons foundation, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the Calliopea foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Thank you and also wanted to give a big shout out to the documentary the Magic Stump. That is how I learned about Tyler Funk's stump. Tyler Funk Stump in Illinois. It's a great documentary. Bob Dolgan is the filmmaker. You should go watch it. See all the raptors and beasts and humans that you know. Come pay homage to this stump that again is called the Magic Stump. Finally, teachers, we have free, free, free, free teaching materials on our websites that go along with many of the episodes. We worked with PBS Learning Media to make sure everything aligns with national standards. We've got them for grades K through 8 and they are free and they are fun and you can find them and print them [e-mail] if you are liking what you're hearing over here in Terrestrials, please like and subscribe to the podcast. It helps our chances of continuing on like a tree stump, giving more life and audio stories to you. All right, that'll do it. Thanks so much for listening. Catch you in a couple spins of this dirty old planet of ours.

[Amanda Thompson]

Bye.

[Jean Thorne]

Then. In the summer, there's almost always a barred owl that you can hear from right here and they make a sound. That is who cooks for you, who cooks for you all. And I'll do you a little rendition of that.

[Lulu Miller]

All right, that is all from me this week on here. I'm headed back to maternity leave, but if you want to hear more Terrestrials episodes, new ones are dropping for the next few months. Check out the Radiolab for Kids feed and you'll see the Terrestrials episodes. You can listen to those. And if you make your way through those, there's other stuff. There's old radio labs about nature and about animals and it's a family friendly place you can go where you know it's going to be G rated and you're going to get a story that will take you into the natural world and kind of hopefully make you see it really anew and where you might.

[Latif Nasser]

Have some fun and where you might get a song stuck in your head that you can't get. Out in the deep cold ocean we.

[Lulu Miller]

Swim alone Alone, alone A little misunderstood but we're at home yeah, we may seem gross. Yeah. And what's really fun this season, I actually don't know if you know this Latif. You might, but Alan, the song bud, Alan Gafinski, who writes all the songs, he got really into collaboration and there are all these like rock stars on the songs this season. There's different episodes have different people. So like a punk, if you're into punk at all. Laura Jane Grace is a pretty big name. She's on one of them. Tasha, who's in the Sufjan Stevens musical that's out right now, Illinois is one of the main people, this really cool harpist timbre. But yeah, so there's all kinds of different genres, gorgeous voices, gorgeous instruments coming in on the songs. I still, unfortunately for listeners, sing on a couple of them, but mostly it's talented musicians. So, yeah, there's good, there's great music, there's wild stories and we are very excited to share them with everybody.

[Latif Nasser]

And you are, after this studio session, you are going back to my baby, right?

[Lulu Miller]

The baby, yes, the baby. Yeah. I'm going back. I'm on maternity leave.

[Latif Nasser]

And when do you come back?

[Lulu Miller]

And I come back in January.

[Latif Nasser]

Yep, that'll do it for today and.

[Lulu Miller]

Then right on here. We will return you to your regularly scheduled Radiolab. More of that next week.

[Latif Nasser]

Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm David and I'm from Baltimore, Maryland. Radiolab was created by Jad Abumrad and is edited by Soren Wheeler. Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser are our co hosts. Dylan Keefe is our director of sound design. Our staff includes Simon Adler, Jeremy Bloom, Becca Bressler, W. Harry Fortuna, David Gable, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Sindhu Nyanam, Sambandan, Matt Kielty, Annie McEwen, Rebecca Lax, Alex Neeson, Sarah Kari, Sarah Sandbach, Arianne Wack, Pat Walters and Molly Webster. Our fact checkers are Diane Kelly, Emily Krieger and Natalie Middleton.

[Lulu Miller]

Hi. This is Ellie from Cleveland, Ohio. Leadership support for Radiolab science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Science Sandbox Assignments Foundation Initiative and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. You come to the New Yorker Radio Hour for conversations that go deeper with people you really want to hear from, whether it's Bruce Springsteen or Questlove or Olivia Rodrigo, Liz Cheney or the godfather of artificial intelligence, Geoffrey Hinton, or some of my extraordinarily well informed colleagues at the New Yorker. So join us every week on the New Yorker Radio Hour wherever you listen to podcasts.