>> Promo Cat here with a look at the next episode of the "Friday Zone."

♪ Oooooo oooo ♪ Oooooo oooo >> So how can you tell that he's a corn snake?

>> He is a corn snake.

We can tell by his coloring and the patterns on his scales.

>> I'm nervous, but, yes, I'm ready!

>> So check out the next episode of the "Friday Zone," right now!

>> Production support for the "Friday Zone" is provided by: >> The WTIU Children's Programming Endowment, ensuring quality children's programming for future generations of Hoosiers.

Learn more at IndianaPublicMedia.org/kidsfund.

WFYI Public Media, inspiring Indiana with high-quality educational content since 1970.

By sharing stories and connecting people, WFYI inspires the best in our community.

And these Indiana Public Television Stations.

Thank you!

♪ Friday, Friday ♪ The week is done and it's time for fun ♪ ♪ There's room for everyone ♪ In the "Friday Zone" ♪ So much to see, who will we meet ♪ ♪ It all happens magically ♪ In the "Friday Zone" ♪ Open your eyes, there's a surprise ♪ ♪ You never know what adventure might arise ♪ ♪ The "Friday Zone" ♪ "Friday Zone" ♪ The "Friday Zone" ♪ Friday >> Welcome to the "Friday Zone," everyone.

I'm Maya.

>> And I'm Matt.

Hey, Maya, what do you get when you cross a cow with a trampoline?

A milk shake!

What do you get when you cross a centipede with a parrot?

A walkie-talkie.

What do you get when you cross a porcupine with a balloon?

>> Oh, I know this one!

And now, a song about a totally different kind of animal, a jackalope, on the "Friday Zone" playlist!

♪ In the "Friday Zone" ♪ ♪ In the "Friday Zone" Friday ♪ ♪ Ooooo oooo ♪ Ooooo oooo ♪ ♪ There's a mysterious animal I'm looking for ♪ ♪ They call it the jackalope ♪ ♪ It's got the body of a jackrabbit ♪ ♪ And the antlers of an antelope ♪ ♪ Some say they're fast ♪ And some say they're slow ♪ ♪ I've heard they're big ♪ I've heard they're small ♪ ♪ Seems like no one can ever agree ♪ ♪ It's almost like they don't exist at all ♪ ♪ Ooooooo ooooo ♪ Ooooooo ooooo ♪ It's almost like they don't exist at all ♪ ♪ They're only seen between midnight and two ♪ ♪ On leap years beneath the blue moon ♪ ♪ When it's hot on the tundra and snowing in the desert ♪ ♪ On the 31st of June ♪ Well, I've seen 'em in books and taxidermy shops ♪ ♪ I've seen them hanging on the wall ♪ ♪ But I ain't never seen one in the living light of day ♪ ♪ It's almost like they don't exist at all ♪ ♪ Oooooo oooo ♪ Oooooo oooo ♪ Yeah, it's almost like they don't exist at all ♪ ♪ ♪ So when you're searching for the truth ♪ ♪ And you're at the end of your rope ♪ ♪ You might find you don't need no proof ♪ ♪ To believe in the thing that gives you hope ♪ ♪ And for me, that's the jackalope ♪ ♪ Ooooooo oooo ♪ Ooooooo oooo ♪ >> Greetings!

I'm your host, Leo D. Cook, and welcome to "Masterpieces of Children's Literature in Less Than a Minute."

Let me start out today's show by saying... brrrrrr!

You may be wondering why I'm in the arctic.

Well, it has something to do with today's novel.

It's called "Call of the Wild," by Jack London, and it was published in 1903.

Now, this book takes place in the 1890s and concerns the story of a dog named Buck, a powerful animal who was part St. Bernard and collie.

Buck is dognapped and sent to the Klondike when folks discover gold up there!

Now, the Klondike is located in the northwest part of Canada, also called the Yukon.

Buck becomes a sled dog, which is the main form of transportation because of all the snow.

I wish I was sledding, but I gotta do this show.

Now, life in the Klondike is pretty challenging for both dogs and humans alike.

There's snow everywhere!

And it's super cold!

This was a pretty simpler time, meaning there was no space heaters, cable TV, Internet, or even cell phones!

My cell phone is not working up here at all.

I've been waiting on a pizza delivery for over a week!

So now I am having a real tough time myself.

I've got to eat snow for breakfast, snow for lunch, and snow for dinner!

And if I'm lucky, I might get a light snack of ice in the afternoon, but enough about me.

So Buck has to learn how to fight, scavenge and sleep in the snow on the bitterly cold nights.

One day he meets up with another dog named Spitz, who is the top dog of the sled team, but they have a falling out.

Then Buck becomes the leader of the sled team, but there are lots of problems!

Eventually Buck gets a new master, and they become devoted to one another.

Buck has many more adventures and becomes a legend of the Klondike.

I skipped over a bunch of exciting stuff.

So if you want to know more about "Call of the Wild" by Jack London, I suggest you read it yourself.

You will be glad you did.

I'm Leo "0 Degrees" Cook, and I will see you next time on "Masterpieces of Children's Literature in Less Than a Minute!"

♪ >> Up next, it's a time to get wild!

>> We're checking out endangered species right now in our own backyards.

>> On this "Friday Zone" field trip!

>> Rrrar!

♪ >> Hey, guys.

I'm Savannah, and we're at the Brown County State Park to learn about endangered animals.

Let's go!

♪ >> Hey, guys, I'm here with my friend Brad, and he's a nongame mammalogist.

So, Brad, could you tell us what a nongame mammalogist is?

>> So a nongame mammalogist may sound like a mouthful, but it's actually someone who studies mammals.

And the nongame portion of it includes all the mammals that you don't hunt or pursue for recreation.

So things like your bats, bears in Indiana, rats, mice, things like that.

>> Crazy.

♪ >> Can you tell us what animals are endangered in Indiana?

>> Well, that would be a long list.

There's about 144 endangered and special concerned species in Indiana.

>> Wow.

>> That's a lot.

I know.

Some of the ones that we have around here in Bloomington include the Indiana bat, the northern-long haired bat, snuffbox, which is a mussel that lives in streams and rivers, the barn owl, and the timber rattlesnake.

>> Cool!

And so what can we do to help out these animals that are endangered?

>> Well, one thing you can do to help out these animals is habitat loss is a major factor that's impacting a lot of them.

Now, some of us might not have the means to go out and save vast amounts of property to protect these species, but what you can do is become interested in them.

So you can educate yourself and your friends.

So the timber rattlesnake gets a lot of bad press.

And what you don't want to do is go out and tell people, oh, that's a scary snake.

You don't want to tell people to kill those snakes because they are endangered.

So what you want to do is tell your friends the good things the snakes do.

They can reduce the rodent population around your house.

Not all the rodents are endangered in the state, and there's a balance between predators and prey, and so it will naturally fluctuate.

As the snakes keep the rodent populations down, the rodent population will decrease, then so will the snakes.

Eventually the rodents will rebound and so will the snakes.

>> Cool.

>> Yeah.

So education is a huge thing.

And something else that everyone can do is donate to the Nongame Wildlife Fund.

The cool thing about the Nongame Wildlife Fund is for every $5 that you donate, there's $9 that gets matched from federal programs.

>> Oh.

>> So your money goes a long way, even if you can only donate $1 to $5 at a time.

>> That's super cool.

♪ >> It's fun to learn about endangered animals with ya.

We'll see you next time.

♪ >> Welcome back.

We're connecting with our friend Sara from WildCare, an animal rescue group that provides professional care to sick, injured and orphaned wildlife, so that they may be returned to the wild.

Hi, Sara.

>> Hi.

>> How are you?

>> Happy Friday.

>> Yes, happy Friday.

Who are you introducing us to today?

>> Today, I'm introducing you to Jasper, the corn snake.

>> Oh, my gosh!

Oh, wow.

That's awesome.

He's so cute!

>> There we go.

>> Oh, wow!

He's so pretty!

>> He is -- >> How can we tell that he's a corn snake?

>> He's a corn snake.

We can tell by his coloring and the patterns on his scales.

Corn snakes are very similar to many of the snakes that are native to Indiana.

We rehabilitate native snakes here, and most of the native snakes in Indiana are non-venomous.

So they are not in any way harmful to people.

In fact, they are very beneficial.

Snakes like corn snakes got their name because they are often found in corn cribs.

>> Oh, wow!

>> And people used to think that they ate corn, but, of course, they don't.

They eat mice that infest barns and corn cribs.

So what Jasper is demonstrating for us right now is how he uses his sense of touch to explore the world.

Snakes don't really have a very strong sense of vision.

They can see, but it's not their primary way of exploring.

They actually use their sense of smell.

You can see he uses his tongue to kind of smell things.

>> Wow!

>> But he also uses his sense of touch.

As you can see, he's all kind of balled up in my hand like this, and that makes him feel secure.

He knows who I am, but he's a little bit confused about the -- about you guys, about the screen that's in front of us and why it's sitting there.

He's really interested in what the screen is sitting on.

>> Wow!

That's so cool!

>> He's a really cool snake and a very cute little guy.

>> Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

He likes the camera now.

He's camera ready.

>> He is.

He's always camera ready.

>> Mm-hmm.

That's so cool.

I would love to visit sometime and get to hold him.

That would be awesome.

>> Yes.

You are more than welcome.

>> Do you have any other snakes?

>> We do.

I can go get Yindi the snake.

>> Oh, awesome.

>> I will be right back.

>> Perfect.

>> So this is our little snake area here at WildCare.

>> Oh, that's awesome.

>> So what's this snake's name?

>> This is Yindi.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> It's spelled y-i-n-d-i.

>> Nice to meet you.

Wow!

>>> She's bigger round, and she's about 5 feet long.

>> Oh, my gosh!

That's my height.

[ Laughter ] >> Yeah, she doesn't quite have the muscles to stand up and compare, but I'm sure if you guys laid down.

Yindi loves to be on the floor.

And that's something that's unique to her species.

Woma pythons are actually from Australia, and they're unique among pythons because -- I don't know if you have ever seen pictures of a ball python.

That's a popular pet species.

But they have these little holes in the top of their jaw.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Those are called heat pits, and those are typical for pythons.

But for a woma python, like Yindi, there's no heat pit.

>> Hmm.

What are those for?

>> Those are for seeking out their prey.

So it's like a heat detection system.

>> Wow!

>> So that they can find warm-blooded animals to eat.

But Yindi doesn't have those, and it's part of her overall -- she's just kind of chilling.

>> She is so chill.

>> She is very chill.

It's part of their overall strategy, and part of why she is so chill, is because she doesn't seek out prey.

She actually lures it to her.

>> Hmm.

>> And she uses the edge of her tail.

It looks a little bit like a worm.

She buries herself in the ground, one of the reasons she likes the floor.

She buries herself, and just leaves this out as a little piece of bait.

>> Oh!

>> Yeah, and when a bird or a small mammal comes along to eat this delicious looking worm, she will take just one brief moment to incapacitate her prey and eat them.

>> Oh, wow.

>> So she's a very -- her species is a very passive -- passive hunter.

So that ends up influencing their overall temperament, even in snakes that have never been in the wild.

They still have that same temperament of, I'm just going to lay back, aren't you?

>> Wow!

That's awesome.

>> Like we learned with Jasper, they do use their sense of touch to explore the world, because their vision is not quite as useful to them as it is to us.

But Yindi is also kind of showing us -- are you going to do it again?

She doesn't sniff as much as Jasper does.

But the reason why they flick their tongue is actually for smell.

>> Wow.

>> They have a little organ on the top of their mouth -- on the roof of their mouth, I should say.

And when they flick their tongue, they are getting little particles from the air, and then rubbing them up on the roof of their mouth to sort of taste the air, and that's basically them smelling.

>> Wow!

That's so cool.

>> So we actually -- yeah.

We actually have rules about where we can take the snakes in our facility because we don't want them near where food is prepared, because they can smell it, and we don't want them to get confused and smell, hmm, tasty mouse.

It's time to chomp on something.

>> That makes sense.

>> Yes.

I would always -- having been bitten by many things in my life, I would always much rather be bitten by a snake than any kind of cat.

>> Oh, wow!

That's surprising.

>> It does surprise most people.

Snakes' teeth are very, very small.

So the holes are very, very small.

It doesn't hurt too terribly much.

Oftentimes when people are bitten, they don't realize it until they see a little bit of blood.

>> Ah.

>> And like we said at the beginning, the snakes that you will find in the wild in Indiana are -- I believe there's 34 species, and only three of them are venomous.

And the ones that are venomous are very, very rare.

So you could win many bets, betting that any snake that you see out in the wild in Indiana is perfectly safe.

>> How can you tell the difference between a venomous snake and a non-venomous snake?

>> Well, really the only way to know is to identify the individual species.

Because while there are some general patterns and trends, they aren't foolproof.

>> Hmm.

>> There is a strategy that our native snakes use to imitate venomous snakes so that they can scare away something that might eat them.

So we think of snakes as predators, but they are also prey.

So our native mammals and birds, depending on their size and their strategies, might also prey on snakes.

So they are, in some ways, afraid of people and afraid of larger animals.

So they will -- for instance, a rat snake, will take the end of its tail, the smallest bit right there, even though there's no rattle, a rat snake will vibrate their tail to make it look like they are a rattlesnake.

>> Wow!

>> And they don't know that they are doing that, but that's just something that deters a predator when they hear that noise.

So they can also flatten their head.

They change the shape of their head momentarily by flexing certain muscles in their jaw and on the sides of their head to look more diamond shaped.

>> Wow!

>> And the more diamond shape is generally an indicator of a venomous species, but like I said, unless you can identify the actual species that you are looking at, there's no foolproof way to know with 100% certainty that it is venomous or non-venomous.

>> Gotcha.

>> Basically, what we want people to do is if you see a snake in the wild, or in your house, or your yard, just leave it alone.

>> Mm-hmm.

Gotcha.

>> Snakes are not at all interested in or looking to -- oh, there we go.

Are we smelling a little bit?

Yes.

>> Oh, my gosh.

That's so cool.

>> You can't smell through the camera Yindi, but she'll try.

>> Thank you so much for all this information.

>> You're welcome.

>> Awesome.

Thank you so much for sharing your snakes with us.

We'll be right back.

♪ >> Peggy.

>> Yes, Zarg?

>> Do you remember when you read me EAP's "Dream Within a Dream"?

>> What about Edgar Allan po -- >> Ah-hah.

>> -- poem.

I was going to say poem, Zarg.

>> Oh.

>> What about EAP's poem?

>> Well, you see, Peggy girl, things aren't always as they seem.

>> What do you mean?

>> Zarg is trying to say.

>> Yes, Zarg?

>> Zarg is trying to say -- what Zarg is trying to say -- oh, it might be easier if Zarg just read the poem.

Zarg is not a poet, and the dark lord said it so much better than Zarg.

>> Okay, Zarg, I'm listening.

>> Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now; thus much let me avow -- You are not wrong, who deem that my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away, in a night, or in a day, in a vision, or in none, is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream?

>> What are you trying to tell me, Zarg?

>> Sometimes -- sometimes we need something so bad, like a friend.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Like, when Peggy first moved here and lost all of her friends.

>> Yes, Zarg.

Then I met you and we became fast friends.

>> Yes.

Yes.

Zarg is Peggy's friend.

Imagine, though, Peggy, soon you will make new friends, real friends with real boys and girls and Peggy's new school.

>> Oh, I see.

You are afraid my new friends will replace you.

Oh!

Don't be silly, Zarg!

We will always be friends.

>> This is hard for Zarg.

>> What?

What is it, Zarg?

>> Sometimes -- >> Mm-hmm.

>> Sometimes we imagine things that aren't really there.

It is easier than facing our fears.

Easier than being all alone.

>> But I'm not alone, silly.

You are here!

And so are the dust bunnies.

>> Yeah, Zarg will always be Peggy's friend.

>> And I will always be your friend, Zarg.

>> Peggy girl will not forget Zarg?

>> No, of course not!

>> Is Peggy ready to go to school?

Ready to face her fears and make new friends?

>> I'm nervous, but, yes, I'm ready.

>> Think of all the cool new things you will get to do.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Slides on the playground, birthday parties, tag, hide-and-go seek and -- and Peggy will get to learn many new things!

>> Yes, it is exciting!

>> Zarg has another poem he would like to share with Peggy.

>> Okay, Zarg.

>> Mm-hmm.

Remember me when I am gone away, gone far away into the silent land; When you can no more hold me by the hand, nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day, you tell me of our future that you plann'd: Only remember me; you understand It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while and afterwards remember, do not grieve: For if the darkness and corruption leave a vestige of the thoughts that once I had, better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.

>> Oh, Zarg!

I'll never forget you.

♪ Friday ♪ In the "Friday Zone" Friday ♪ >> Welcome to animal yoga.

My name is Priscilla, and I'm here to practice yoga together with you.

Let's take a deep belly breath in, and check how are we feeling in this very moment.

[ Deep breath ] Now bring our hands in front of our hearts.

Namaste.

Ready to begin?

♪ >> Today, we are going to be a super fun animal, the monkey!

Oh, yeah, let's stand up.

So we are going to open our legs like this, and we are going to go down and up, and down and up, and down and up.

And what's the sound a monkey does?

[ Monkey sounds ] So now one hand will stay down, and the other one is going to go up, up, and try to reach like as if this was your tail.

Reach, reach, reach, reach to that branch on the tree.

And then let's try the other side.

Let's try the other side.

Good reach, reach, reach, reach, very good.

Now we're going to stand up.

And we can jump like monkeys!

Can you jump like monkeys?

Jump, jump, jump.

Good job.

Now let's stop.

Let's put our hands on our heart.

Close your eyes and feel your heart beating.

Isn't it wonderful?

It's wonderful to be alive!

Thank you for joining me!

May all be peaceful.

May all be well and may all be happy.

Namaste.

>> Thanks for joining us on the "Friday Zone."

>> Remember to check out our website, Fridayzone.org to see past episodes and clips from the show.

>> Yeah!

You can also send us an email at zone@indiana.edu.

Or find us on social media @thefridayzone.

>> But for now, remember to live, learn and play, the "Friday Zone" way!

Let's stack these blocks!

>> Let's do it!

♪ >> Production support for the "Friday Zone" is provided by: The WTIU Children's Programming Endowment, ensuring quality children's programming for future generations of Hoosiers.

Learn more at IndianaPublicMedia.org/kidsfund.

WFYI Public Media, inspiring Indiana with high-quality educational content since 1970.

By sharing stories and connecting people, WFYI inspires the best in our community.

And these Indiana Public Television Stations.

Thank you!

♪ >> Do you cool cats have the purr-fect idea for the "Friday Zone"?

Want to share a hobby or let us know what's happening in your town?

Then contact us on our website at Fridayzone.org or send an email to zone@indiana.edu, right now!