Jessi: Welcome back to Animal Wonders.  We're in the studio today and I'm so excited because we are joined by the beautiful and insightful Tessa Violet.  

Tessa: Thanks!

J: So, you're passionate about music, correct?

T: Yes.  

J: I'm passionate about animals, and I would love to share some of my animal friends with you, but I want to do it in kind of an unusual way.  

(Intro)

So this is actually the first time that we've met so I have some important questions for you.  

T: I'm ready.

J: Okay.  Do you trust me?

T: Yes.  

J: Are you feeling insightful today?

T: Yes?  

J: 'Cause you're about to lose your sight.  

T: EYE get it.

J: Oh no, double pun.  

T: The pupil becomes the master.  

J: Triple!  

T: Sorry guys.  Sorry to lash out at you.  

J: Okay, so what I'd like to do is help you really get to know these animals at a deeper level.  Alright, so you usually judge an animal by their physical characteristics, but I don't want to do that today.  I want you to judge them by their smell.

T: Excellent.  I guess that makes...scents.  

J: Okay, so you can't--you can't look at them.  You just have to smell them.  So that handy dandy little prop right there is gonna help you not cheat.  

T: Perfect, I'm ready.

J: So, you're going to tell me what they smell like, like what the smell actually smells like and then you're going to try and guess what animal it is.  

T: Let's do it.

J: Let's do it.  

T: I hope I don't hurt any of these animals' feelings.  I don't want to be too...in-scent-sitive.  

J: This is Gaia and wait, wait, wait, now smell.  

T: Wow.  She smells so strongly of like, cheese fries?  Let me smell again.

J: Okay.  

T: Hmm.  Cheese fries mixed with hampster is her smell.

J: Interesting...

T: Is she a ferret?  

J: Not a ferret, not a ferret.   Would you like to see her?

T: I do.  Can I touch her before I see her?  

J: Sure.

T: Aaaah!  She's a turtle or something!  Aaah, she's an armadillo!  Weird!

J: Good job!  This is Gaia.  She's a three-banded armadillo and you can hold her if you cup your little hands around her.

T: Oh my gosh, she's so beautif--oh, weird.  Yeah, you'd think that like, her shell would feel so hard, but it feels so alive.

J: This is actually her bones.  

T: Weird.

J: It's her backbone and her ribs that have fused together and it's covered by keratin, so the same stuff that  makes our fingernails, and the smell you're smelling, can you guess what, I mean, why she smells so bad?

T: 'Cause she's an animal?

J: She has a scent gland right underneath her tail and the sides of her tail so it's like, right by her bum, and she kind of pees on herself a little bit, too, and then she makes a little bed for herself and curls up in it and it smells horrible just like she does.

T: Aww.  You're sweet.

J: But I guess maybe that's not bad if it's cheese fries.

T: Yeah.

J: Alright, are you ready for the next one?

T: Ready.

J: Get comfortable.  

T: I'm comft.  This is gonna be hard, 'cause I can't think of many animals.  

J: I'm really excited about this one because you guys can all see what she is, and Tessa has no idea what she is.  Alright, smell.  

T: Whoa!  I can hear her moving.  Um, she smells like wildflowers to me.  Yeah.  Or not.  Like, wildflowers on one hand and on the other hand, I'm like, possum?  

J: Hmm.  

T: I'm gonna guess possum.  

J: Okay.  Good guess.  Go ahead and take your blindfold off.  

T: You're a skunk!  Ah!  Hello!

J: You can give her some treats here.  You can pet her on her back.  

T: Oh my gosh.  

J: This is Lollipop.  

T: You're so cute!  

J: I love that you said that she smelled like wildflowers because Bambi and Flower and like, I love that.  

T: This is the best ever.

I'm so happy.  

J: She's a good girl, would you like to hold her?

T: Yes.

J: Alright.  Have you ever held a cat before?

T: Yes.  

J: It's just like holding a cat.  Just slide your hand underneath her and then hug her.  

T: Hi.  Oh my gosh, this is the best ever.  This is the best day of my life.  I love you.

J: Skunks are amazing.  Well, not in the wild, so don't go out there and try and pick up a wild skunk because you'll get the full force of their awful smell at you.  Lollipop is a rescue.  She came from a fur farm, so she does not have her scent glands anymore and she--

T: Were they gonna skin her?

J: Yep.  They were going to turn her into a coat but she gets to live out her life at Animal Wonders not being a coat.  She gets to keep her coat for herself, which looks much much better on her than it could ever look on somebody else.

T: I agree.  You're perfect.  Wow.  

J: Are you ready for our next one?

T: Ready.

J: Okay.  She's a clinger.

T: Bye.  We're friends.  I love you.  Bye.  

J: Alright, blindfold.  

T: Alright, I'm ready.

J: Okay.  Umm, I need a Band-Aid, because I just--

Augusto: Okay.  Uh.  That's very bad.  

J: opened the door into my foot.  

A: Let's pause everything.

J: Hey!  So, we are back after a short hiatus.  

T: Indeed.

J: Some drama happened.

T: What happened?

J: Um, I got in a fight with a door and the door won.  

T: Yes.  It was scary.  But we're back now.

J: Yeah, we're back and I want to share some more animals with you.

T: I'd love to see some more animals.

J: So my next animals, their names are--

T: Animals?!

J: Rick and Su--

T: Ahhh.  I think I have a guess.

J: Are you nervous?

T: Yes.  

J: Why?

T: Uh, I heard some hissing, and I guess in my experience, hissing normally means a stay back sort of.

J: Oh, sure, yeah, it is.  It's a stay away, yeah.

T: Cool.  Can't wait to put my nose closer to this.

J: Blindfolded.  Really close to your face.  Here he is.  

T: Ready.

J: He's there.

T: Okay. He smells like nothing. Um, lemme smell again.

J: Okay.

T: Okay I mean may- oh *groans* I mean when I hear like hissing sounds, I have to think snake, maybe not a snake.

J: Okay.

T: Hmm, what else hisses? Are bugs animals?  

J: Yes.  

T: Is it bugs?

J: Go ahead and take off your mask.

T: Aww!  It's a cockroach.  I've met you before.

J: Good job.  Would you like to hold him?

T: Nope.  Can I touch him though?

J: You can.  

T: Eugh.  Bleh.  Nyeer.  Aaaah!  It's like, I know there's nothing to be scared of, but it's just--

J: He was more scared of you than--

T: I know, I'm sorry I yelled, buddy.

J: You had matching scares.  Here, here's Sue.  Sue is just hanging out in here.  Hey, buddies.  She moved.  Hi.  

T: There's nothing to be afraid of.  

J: Would you like to meet one of their babies?  

T: Yes?

J: I think she's really cute. 

T: Aw, she is cute!

J: There she is.  Hi.  She doesn't have a name.  Do you want to name her?

T: Ahh, oh, so much pressure.  Um, what about Billy?  

J: Oh, Billy, I love it.  That's so cute.

T: Hi.

J: Do you wanna hold Billy?  

T: Ohh, I mean, sure.  Ahh.  Ahh. 

J: Yay!

T: Whoo.  I'm doing it.  

J: What does she feel like?

T: Mostly nothing.  

J: Yeah.  

T: Very light.  Um, dainty.  I'm still afraid of--

J: Creepy creepy crawlie.  Done?  

T: Done.  Ahh, haha.

J: You did so  good!

T: I know!

J: That was awesome, you did great.  So I have had Hank Green meet these guys before and he can't even touch them.

T: Yes!  

J: You did better than Hank.

T: I am superior to Hank Green.  Excellent.

J: Alright, my next guy is quite a big bigger.

T: Fun.

J: So just keep your hands back.

T: Okay.  

J: Okay.  Can you smell him already?  

T: Mm, yes, a little bit.  

T: He sounds so cute.  

J: Wanna come on out, buddy?  

T: I know.  What makes that sound?  

J: There you go.  This is Kemosabe.  

T: Ohh, ahh, I've seen your video wth Kemosabe!

J: Oh no, yay!  Go ahead and take your, take your blindfold off.

T: Oh my gosh.

J: What does he smell like?

T: Um, hmm, what is that smell?  I mean, it's not unpleasant.  It sorta smells like cleaner to me.   Is that crazy?

J: Okay, okay.  Sure.  

T: (?~8:46)

J: Do you want that?  He's like, I don't know if I want that.

T: He's so cute.  Tell me about him.

J: Kemosabe's a prehensile tailed porcupine and you can see he has one tooth under there, that's because he only has one tooth left.  

T: Aww.

J: He's our special one toothed porcupine.  They should have 20 teeth.

T: Oh no.  

J: But he's had some challenges with his teeth, but we are working really hard to keep him happy and healthy, giving him all his favorite treats.

T: You are so cute, I can't believe I'm getting to meet you.  I'm your biggest fan.  I've seen your YouTube video.

J: So you are, like, a foot away from 30,000 quills.

T: Wow.  

J: How does that make you feel?

T: Um, safe because you seem okay.  

J: Yeah.

T: Does he stick 'em in to you or does he throw--

J: He cannot shoot his quills, so they are modified hair, so it's just like our hair but modified to be pointy, so you'll see that he just goes right in once he notices it's there.  

T: Bye.  Nice meeting you.  Bye.  

J: Good job, buddy.

T: Wow, he's so good.  That was the best.

J: Yay!  

T: That was--yes!

J: Alright.  Making sure you're all blindfolded up.

T: I am blindfolded.

J: Actually.  She might get scared of the blindfold.

T: Oh.

J: So do you wanna just take the blindfold off and then promise to close your eyes?

T: Yeah, I'll just close my eyes.  Eyes closed.  Okay.

J: Alright.  I'll go get her.  So she doesn't like strangers.

T: Alright.

J: So I'm actually going to have you smell a part of her.

T: Alright.

J: Here you go.  

T: Hmm.  It is a strong smell?

J: Is it?  

T: I mean, it--it's hard to place it.  It's an animal smell.  A lizard?  

J: Oh, that's a good guess.  

T: Is it--no, wait.

J: Yeah, you heard a noise, didn't you?

T: It's a bird.

J: Yes!  Good job.  Open your eyes.

T: Hi!  

J: This is Zoe.  You were smelling these.  

T: Ohh.  

J: So do you think it's better to judge an animal or judge a thing by vision, sight or do you think it's more insightful to judge them by smell?

T: Hmm, I mean, I don't want to be in-scent-sitive here.  I know, I made that joke yesterday, but you weren't in the room for it.  I definitely think I learned more about an animal by looking at them.  Maybe.  What do you think?

J: Yeah!  Would you ever have thought to smell a cockroach?

T: No.  Definitely not.  

J: Do you think that you may be biased to what a skunk smells like?

T: Yes, definitely.  

J: Okay, well, you know what?  Zoe is a huge fan of music.  Do you mind if we listen to a little bit of music right now?

T: Yes!  That'd be great.

J: Ohh, okay.  Come here, Zoe-zo.

(Tessa's 'Crush')

I can't focus on what needs to get done
I'm on notice hoping that you don't run,
You think I'm tepid but I'm misdiagnosed,
'Cause I'm a stalker, I seen all of your posts.

Aah-a-a.  And I'm just trying to play it cool, ow.
But that's not what I wanna do now,
And I'm not trying to be with you now, you now,

But I could be your crush, 
Iike throw you for a rush, like,
Hoping you'll text me so I could tell you 
I've been thinking about your touch like
Touch, touch, touch, touch, touch
I could be your crush, crush, crush, crush.  

T: Alright.  

J: Zoe enjoys Tessa's music.  You guys should, too, and if you would like to join us on more adventures with animals, sub--zubzubzub.  Wow.  

T: Smash that like button.

J: Whoo!  Subscribe.  Yeah.  Thanks, guys, I hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you next week.  

(Outro/Credits)