Animal Expert David Mizejewski: Wallaby, Black Palm Cockatoo & More | CONAN on TBS

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]What do we have here?

[00:00:01]>> So, this little girl is called a Bennett's walabe, and she is a little kangaroo species. You want to hold her?

[00:00:06]>> Yeah. May I hold her?

[00:00:07]>> Pass her off. Just like that. Just hold her just like a baby.

[00:00:09]>> Just like Well, I'm not good with my babies.

[00:00:12]Dropped both of them. Here we go.

[00:00:15]>> There you go.

[00:00:16]>> Now, Conan, I've got her in this little pouch because she's a kangaroo species.

[00:00:20]She's a marsupial. So, that's what they do when they're babies. They hang out in their mom's pouch, and that keeps them safe. And they go in there and they nurse. And they actually are born almost like fetuses. They don't have fur. They don't have eyes. They just have two little legs. And they are born. They have to crawl into the pouch where they nurse.

[00:00:36]>> She's eating my microphone. Is that >> Well, you know, >> is that part of the natural uh order for these? Uh >> it's about the same size and the shape as her mother's nipple. So that's kind of what she thinks is going on there.

[00:00:47]>> That's so sad. She was like, "Mama's nipple." And it was a microphone.

[00:00:51]>> Well, it didn't get it didn't give her anything, so she gave up on it.

[00:00:53]>> That's the crulest prank of all. What a sweetie pie. And this is >> really sweet. So that so you can >> these are little claw foot.

[00:00:59]>> These are her her big old kangaroo feet.

[00:01:01]That's that's her ankle right there.

[00:01:03]>> This is the ankle.

[00:01:03]>> This is you know her toes. So you know these animals have to be able to hop at really really fast speeds.

[00:01:11]>> Do you like that? Are you into that? Are you kinky? Oh.

[00:01:14]>> So this animal lives in a pouch.

[00:01:16]>> Well when they're babies she's about 5 months old. Um anywhere from you know 6 months to almost almost a year they'll stay in that pouch.

[00:01:22]>> Do they ever if they don't if they fail in the world move back into their pouch?

[00:01:26]You know what? Actually, believe it or not, >> put out their posters again from college.

[00:01:29]>> Yeah. Believe it or not, the older the older babies once the the you know their their siblings come along, the older ones still try to get back in there for as long as they possibly can. Cuz why not? I mean, it's safe. It's warm. They get >> free transportation. Yeah. Free grub.

[00:01:41]That's what everybody wants. But um but yeah, you know, the females um as as cute as these these guys are, >> Am I making the right sounds, by the way? Ah, I'm just randomly picking noises. I don't know what will be the most soothing.

[00:01:54]I think it's working because she's totally relaxed in your arms there, right sweetie? Yeah.

[00:01:58]>> So, yeah, but these these, you know, the mothers when they are being threatened, they actually do something a little bit gruesome and that is um say if a dingo is chasing after, you know, one of these walabbees um to make a meal of it and the mother gets really stretched, she will actually push the baby out of her pouch as kind of a sacrificial lamb and then she gets to go on and have another baby. So, nature, you know, red and tooth and claw. So, wait a minute. The the the mom says, "Uh-oh, dingo gaining on me. Have my baby."

[00:02:26]>> Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much. Yeah.

[00:02:28]>> Oh my god. What kind of creep?

[00:02:30]>> I know. Cover her ears, right?

[00:02:31]>> No. No. No.

[00:02:36]>> Uh, what a beautiful animal. Really sweet.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah. Very, very sweet.

[00:02:39]>> Does this animal have a pouch?

[00:02:40]>> She does, actually. This is a female.

[00:02:42]>> Females have pouches.

[00:02:43]>> Females have pouches. Males don't. And actually, if you want to feel around in there, you might be able to find it.

[00:02:50]>> Did you read my Craigslist ad? What's your problem?

[00:02:53]>> Is that what you do? You walk around this thing, you want to feel around in there. Give me five bucks to let you feel around in there. All right.

[00:03:00]>> You seem curious.

[00:03:01]>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. I was real curious.

[00:03:02]Let's move on. We got other animals to get to. Who's next?

[00:03:05]>> Okay. Our next animal is a beautiful, gorgeous cat.

[00:03:08]>> Oh my goodness.

[00:03:09]>> This is a caracal.

[00:03:10]>> Oh, I was told this was just going to be a cat.

[00:03:13]>> It is a cat. It's >> I brought yarn and everything. This is quite a surprise.

[00:03:18]>> Let's see.

[00:03:18]>> What kind of animal is this again?

[00:03:20]>> It's called a caracel. Looks like a lynx. Am I wrong to say that?

[00:03:23]>> You know what? It's actually it's related, you know, it's it's a cat. So, it is related to a lynx. These guys live in Africa and Asia. Lynx live in, you know, Europe and Asia and North America.

[00:03:31]>> Can we just pretend it's a lynx so I look smart?

[00:03:33]>> Okay. You can call it an African lynx if you want. It actually that's what these cats used to be called, but they are actually a separate species. They have the same kind of ear tuft um at the top of their ears there. Um which, you know, kind of helps them be camouflaged in the, you know, in sort of the dry grassy environments.

[00:03:48]>> I'm speaking to it. I'm telling it you're on Conan.

[00:03:53]>> He's liking some smell that's down there on the carpet. And believe it or not, that's where Andy urinates.

[00:03:56]>> Yeah. Well, you know what? I was just going to say a lot of people a lot of people see these the you know these gorgeous mediumsized cats and they think, "Wow, what an amazing pet it would make." But these guys have musk glands and they pee and it's just really not a good animal that you ever want around in your house. Stick with your domesticated cats. But these guys are are predators. They can actually leap, you know, 12 15 feet in the air and they actually catch birds out of the sky.

[00:04:18]They jump in the air and catch a bird out of the sky and then land and it's cooked by the time they hit the bottom.

[00:04:22]>> They don't even need to cook it. They just eat it.

[00:04:24]>> What is going on with the tip of the ears? Is that like you did that with moose or is that something that happens?

[00:04:29]Does that happen in the wild?

[00:04:30]>> You know, again, a lot of these small cat species have these ear toughs and, you know, it's, you know, potential camouflage. Um, you know, kind of breaks up their silhouette. It makes them almost look like grasses when they're hiding so that prey doesn't actually kind of see them.

[00:04:40]>> I don't think that would give them away.

[00:04:41]You know, they're in the grass, no one sees me, and two crazy ears sticking out.

[00:04:45]>> Kill me. Kill me. You'd be surprised.

[00:04:48]Oh, sorry. Yeah, he's got a little sneaky.

[00:04:51]>> Let's see if we can get him to move a little bit.

[00:04:53]>> Just realize what show it was on.

[00:04:55]>> Come on. Let's see if we can walk.

[00:04:56]>> I thought this was Ellen. Uh, >> no. Maybe not. Maybe not. So, anyway, yeah, these guys are just, you know, amazing predators. Totally beautiful.

[00:05:05]They're actually doing okay in the wild unlike many other species. And again, you know, I bring all these animals on just really to get the message out that so many wildlife species need our help.

[00:05:13]The National Wildlife Federation is all about protecting wildlife. So, you know, we can use all the help we can get.

[00:05:18]>> Terrific. All right, let's bring out the next animal. And uh let's do our next guy.

[00:05:21]>> And uh we probably these two probably shouldn't cohabitate.

[00:05:23]>> They should They should not cohabitate.

[00:05:25]>> This is basically you're bringing out his breakfast. Uh I believe. There we go.

[00:05:28]>> We'll get him out. Yeah. All right. So, Conan, we're going to put this guy on your shoulder.

[00:05:32]>> Oh, okay.

[00:05:32]>> Once he's on there, you just want to kind of relax a little bit. Let him relax the shoulders. Yeah.

[00:05:37]>> This is a black.

[00:05:42]>> You're perfect. You're just like his perch.

[00:05:46]I wonder why we He's wondering who's got the weirder hairstyle.

[00:05:50]He's like, "Ah, impressive."

[00:05:54]He's He's checking out your hair, though.

[00:05:57]I'm going to let you feed him that walnut.

[00:06:00]And the reason for that is that check out the massive >> Whoa. Okay. And that's a powerful jaw right there.

[00:06:08]>> Yes. I was just going to say, check out that massive beak on this bird. This This It's a kind of parrot. It's it's a black palm cockatu native to Australia, parts of Southeast Asia. That giant bill is designed to do what it's doing right now, which is which is crush nuts.

[00:06:22]And they can take palm nuts, which are super super hard, and exert 1500 lb of pressure with that beak, and just crush right through them.

[00:06:34]>> I think your skulls probably sounds.

[00:06:38]>> Sorry. Didn't mean it. Didn't mean it.

[00:06:40]It's cool. You just keep doing what?

[00:06:41]Look how delicate he is with the tongue, you know, and getting the nut out of there. And >> they use that tongue. It's almost like like a finger. And this this species bill is so big, that beak is so big that they actually can't even shut their mouth completely. So that tongue kind of almost works in the same way that, you know, like your your thumb would work.

[00:06:58]And if you can see that, that's exactly what he's doing. He's reaching in and he's actually able to pull that walnut right out of that shell just with his tongue. It's pretty fascinating.

[00:07:06]>> Incredible. Uh this is a very strange experience. Uh >> but I'm very calm. And he seems calm.

[00:07:12]>> He is. He is. And you know what? He likes you because his crest is is totally up. Um >> Yeah.

[00:07:17]>> I was going to say another one.

[00:07:19]>> He may win in height, but look at that, pal.

[00:07:24]>> He's like, "Huh?" Yeah.

[00:07:26]>> Yeah.

[00:07:27]>> All right. I think we have uh We have What do you think, Jeff? Should we just do >> What do you think? One more. We got one more quick one right here in the performance area.

[00:07:35]>> Yeah. And this one is going to require this. Okay. Okay, >> this animal is >> it's a balloon.

[00:07:41]>> It's not a balloon.

[00:07:43]>> This animal is a kind of reptile. And >> hello.

[00:07:47]>> It is actually a species. I'm going to step over here. Conor, if you just want to stay behind me.

[00:07:52]>> Yeah, I'll stay behind you.

[00:07:55]>> This is a Nile crocodile.

[00:07:56]>> Okay. Do we want to let that thing go?

[00:08:00]>> She'll be okay once we get her.

[00:08:01]>> Oh, she'll be fine. It's us I'm worried about.

[00:08:03]>> So, you can see this is even as a juvenile. This is only about a 5ft animal. This is a species that can get to be that this animal can get to be 15 to even 20 ft long. And you know, they're crocodiles. Most people know that crocodiles are, you know, a tremendous predators. When they get to their full growth, they're actually able to take down, you know, animals as big as zebras. So, >> look at that hate stare at you.

[00:08:27]>> She's just going to hang out there.

[00:08:29]>> It's just like, you son of a >> Let's see. Let's see if we can get her to show those teeth. We loaned you $20 four years ago.

[00:08:37]>> Yeah.

[00:08:38]>> I don't think she's going to work work for us. You know, she's not going to open up her mouth too big there.

[00:08:42]>> Well, she looks really mad. So, the whole poking it with a stick thing might I'm going to let on poking her with a stick. But, you know, check her out. I mean, she is beautifully adapted to live in the environments. These guys are found in Africa. It's the largest reptile in Africa. It's only smaller than the saltwater crocodiles of of >> full length. Is this the kind of animal that could, you know, eat us?

[00:09:00]>> It absolutely could. Unfortunately, in some instances, these animals do prey on people in Africa. Although they do prefer natural prey, but you know, sometimes, you know, when predators and people, you know, cross paths, um, you know, there there is a conflict. But >> thanks for bringing it here to the television show.

[00:09:14]>> If you look at the fourth tooth >> down there, >> yeah, get in there with your finger and show me.

[00:09:19]>> Yeah. No, I'm not going to do that. That fourth tooth, >> I can't tell. I need to see specifically which tooth >> sticks up from the bottom there. That's one one really good way to tell alligators or crocodiles. Alligators are also kind of like a dark blackish color and they have a big wide fat head and they're actually a lot more chill than crocodiles are. And she for a crocodile is actually doing really well. She's she's almost just kind of going into a little trance there. But uh but crocodiles they have attitude. You don't really want to little bit of a trance with them, but >> I'd hate to see this thing when it's in a trance.

[00:09:48]>> It is so stoned right now. Look at it.

[00:09:51]Oh man, he's just thinking about the late60s.

[00:09:56]Some crazy stuff went down on the Nile.

[00:10:00]>> All right, we're going to get some smelling salts and some coffee for this guy.

[00:10:04]>> Uh, and take a break. David Mizooki, thanks so much. We'll be right back.