S9E3 - Howling Around - All About Wolves

The stories featured in Greaking Out are usually original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features anti-wolf propaganda, the unrequited love of a goddess, civic planning, new obsessions, and ecosystem facts.

Greaking Out the greatest stories in history were told in Greek mythology.

Greaking out gods and heroes' amazing feats.

Listen, and you'll see it's Greaking

Out.

Welcome back to Greaking Out.

Today is a special episode because it's the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

And so, of course, we're talking about wolves.

Now, wolves are some of the greatest, most majestic animals on the planet.

But not as great.

as snakes.

Well, that's your opinion, Oracle, and I suppose you're entitled to it.

But anyway, wolve...

When are we going to do an episode about snakes?

Oracle, snakes come up in almost every single episode.

We could be calling this show snaking out.

At this point, the listeners probably think it's some sort of a bit.

Can we please, just for today, focus on another type of animal?

Fine,

but do not expect me to be happy about it.

Thank you.

And what I was actually going to say was that snakes and wolves have something in common.

Most people are scared of them.

And this is largely because of the way we depict them in the books and movies or even on the news.

Wolves are portrayed as wild, bloodthirsty creatures when in reality, wolves are devoted family members and often avoid humans as much as possible.

Scientists agree that wolves barely pose any threats to humans.

According to recent studies, The risk of wolves attacking or killing humans is too low to officially calculate.

That's right.

Wolves are not really a threat to humans, but in the past, because humans and wolves lived so close, this brought them into situations where there were direct conflicts.

And a lot of the stories that we have come from those times.

I'm talking about the big bad wolf who huffs and puffs and blows your house down kind of stuff.

But there's just something that is mysterious and intriguing about wolves.

In fact, almost all mythologies have a myth or a story about a wolf.

And while some of them are definitely on the darker side, there are a few that promote the kindness and wisdom of wolves as well.

This is evident in Roman mythology, for example.

Longtime listeners might remember how Romulus and Remus, two abandoned babies, were raised by Lupa, a loving and devoted wolf mother.

We go into detail about this story in our Roman Around with Romulus and Remus episode.

Right, and spoiler alert, if you haven't listened to that episode, Romulus and Remus grow up to be pretty important to the Roman Empire.

They were the founders of Rome.

Well, exactly.

So, you might say that the grandmother of Rome was a wolf.

After all, if it wasn't for her, Romulus and Remus would never have survived childhood and wouldn't have gone on to create the legendary city.

But it wasn't just Roman mythology that honored wolves.

One of the most famous wolf myths comes from medieval Lithuanian legend.

Lithuania is an Eastern European country that borders the Baltic Sea.

Yes, and the legend goes that a grand duke named Gediminas was on a hunting trip in the forests of Lithuania.

The trip was going very well for the Duke.

He enjoyed being outside in nature and had just caught himself something like a giant bison or something for the group to share.

The hunting party celebrated late into the night and Gediminas went to sleep with a full belly and a happy heart.

That night, Gediminas had a strange dream.

He saw an iron wolf.

The wolf was a little scary, but also beautiful and majestic.

To avoid confusion, I believe the wolf was the color of iron, not made of metal.

Right, an iron-colored wolf, not a mechanized wolf robot.

Which would actually be a really cool story.

I mean, it would be kind of like a transformer, you know, one of those animal transformers.

Focus.

Yeah, right, right, right, sorry.

I'm sorry.

Gediminas knew that the dream wolf was a friend.

He could sense the wolf's raw power, but he also instinctively knew that it wouldn't hurt him.

Slowly, the wolf began to turn and walk through the woods.

Gediminas followed behind, and eventually, the wolf climbed up a mountain.

It didn't take Gedymenus long to realize that he had been on this exact same hike before.

In fact, the wolf was taking him to the top of the same mountain where Gediminas had shot the bison earlier that day.

When the wolf reached the peak of the mountain, he turned and locked eyes with Gedyminas.

Then he tilted back his head to look at the full moon, closed his eyes, and howled.

Now, every wolf howl is impressive, but this one was particularly intimidating.

Scholars say that it sounded like a group of a hundred wolves howling at the moon at the same time.

It is a myth that wolves howl at the moon.

They often howl at night, but it is usually to communicate with other wolves.

Well, all that howling must have scared Gediminas because at that moment he sat straight up in bed, wide awake and alert, and perfectly aware of everything that happened in that strange dream.

The next day, business continued as usual, but Gidyminas was distracted.

He couldn't get that wolf out of of his head.

He knew the dream meant something.

He just wasn't sure what.

He went to talk with a local priest about what he had seen.

After he explained the dream, the elderly priest looked at him and smiled.

My boy, you have been visited by the gods.

I have, Giddyminas replied.

Yes, they are using that wolf to tell you something.

The wolf led you to a sacred spot.

I think you are supposed to build a city there.

The howling was so loud because it represented the fame of this city.

Its reputation is going to spread across the world the same way the wolf's howl spread through the sky.

Wow, that's some dream, Gediminus replied.

But the duke was wise.

He would not ignore a sign from the gods, so he heeded the priest's advice and decided to build a city right there in that exact spot.

The city was called Vilnius after the nearby river Vilnia.

Yes, and the Duke even built a tower, the Gediminus Tower, on top of the mountain exactly where he had shot and killed the bison.

This is a real city that exists today.

Vilnius is actually the current capital of Lithuania.

And the Gediminas Tower is said to provide the best view in the entire city.

Wow, and to think it all started because of a wolf.

If Gediminas had been afraid of the wolf and thought of it as an evil creature or a bad omen, he might have avoided that spot entirely.

But instead, he saw the wolf as a beacon of power and wisdom and chose to follow him.

And the priest explained that the wolf was a messenger from the gods.

So, as you can see, not all wolves were considered bad.

But of course, many myths like to paint them as the bad guys.

Well, maybe not wolves per se, but something similar.

I'm, of course, talking about lycanthropy and werewolves.

Oracle, I was going for the dramatic setup, but yes, werewolves.

Lots of mythologies from across the world have stories involving werewolves, and many claim to have created the very first werewolf myth.

Many scholars believe that the first mention of the werewolf comes from Mesopotamia, a region of Southwest Asia.

Its most famous work is called The Epic of Gilgamesh.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the oldest pieces of literature to ever exist.

Yeah, it's even older than Homer's work, which is saying something.

It's all about the adventures of a man named Gilgamesh and his quest for immortality.

We go into detail in our Mesopotamian Around with Gilgamesh episode back in season four.

Right, but there's one adventure that we didn't include.

At one point in the story, Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, falls in love with Gilgamesh.

Now, Ishtar was...

How should I put this?

A complicated goddess.

She had a lot of extremes.

She could be incredibly kind and then incredibly angry and vengeful.

She would sob and then be completely stoic and straightfaced.

She could be joyful and terribly sad all at the same time.

Girl had a lot of big feelings.

Let's...

There's nothing wrong with big feelings.

That's what I've been telling you for years now, Oracle.

I just prefer to stay in the lane of logic and reason.

Fair enough, but like you said, feelings are okay too, especially if you're the goddess of love and war, two very different things.

And Ishtar was the master of them all.

Most of the time, this was a good thing.

But sometimes, Ishtar was blinded by her emotions and would make bad and painful decisions.

She was also infamous for the way that she treated her suitors.

She was known for treating them incredibly poorly.

Yeah, there was one suitor who was particularly enamored with Ishtar, a shepherd named uh

um

why what what what was his name do we do we have that

I cannot find a record of his name.

Yeah, I know it's a short story, but sheesh.

Okay, well anyway for convenience sake, let's just call him Bob now Bob was in there's no way his name was Bob.

Yeah, but you're probably right, but let's just roll with it.

The name Bob is most commonly used as a nickname for Robert.

It is not popular in the Mesopotamian region, nor was it popular in this particular time period.

Okay, thank you, Oracle.

Shout out to all the Bobs and Roberts out there.

But anyway, back to our shepherd, who was almost certainly not named Bob.

He was in love with Ishtar, like really in love.

He made her a shrine and left little offerings like flowers and chocolates and stuff.

Well, at first, Ishtar thought Bob was kind of cute, and she was a big fan of the shrine and all the fawning and stuff, but over time, Ishtar got a little sick of Bob.

After all, a goddess can only eat so much chocolate, but instead of just asking him to leave, she decided that the best thing to do was to turn Bob into a wolf.

Now, our buddy Gilgamesh had heard all about this and decided that he wasn't interested in getting to know Ishtar any more than necessary.

He had no desire to be turned into a wolf, and he had even less desire to hang out with a goddess that liked to turn suitors into animal creatures of any kind, so he moved on to his next adventure.

Is that it?

Yeah, that's the first mythological reference to a werewolf.

That wasn't even a werewolf.

That was just a man who got turned into a wolf.

Well,

that's true, but you got to start somewhere, right?

Next.

Okay, okay.

As much as I love our buddy Gilgamesh and, you know, Bob, of course, I can admit that that story is a little light on the whole werewolf spooky element.

You know, I'm feeling a commercial break right now.

I think this is a good place to take a moment.

We'll get a break.

We'll come back with more greaking out in just a little bit.

Hey, parents, check out our Nat GeoKids December 2023 issue Endangered Species Special.

Available on newsstands starting November 14th.

If you can't make it out, subscribe year-round to get the amazing articles about wildlife and other great stuff for your kids.

Available for subscription on the Nat Geo website.

See, that wasn't so bad.

And just like that, we're back.

The next myth that scholars claim to be the OG werewolf myth comes from Roman mythology and is included in the Satyricon, a work written by Petronius.

The Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction written in early 60 CE.

It tells the story of a former gladiator.

Exactly, and it also contains the story of Nikiros, a soldier who is traveling to a distant city with an acquaintance named uh

wait, what was his name?

It appears that he doesn't have a name either.

What is up with the lack of names in these stories?

Okay, let's let's call him Fred.

His name wasn't Fred.

Okay, Frederick then.

Anyway, Frederick and Nikiros were traveling to a nearby city.

They'd been walking for hours.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I've been on a long road trip, sometimes I really need to relieve myself, let's say.

Urination is a natural phenomenon.

It is nothing to be embarrassed about.

I know, I know, I know.

I mean, I'm not I'm not embarrassed.

Most animals urinate to expel waste materials from the body.

I know why we pee.

I'm just saying that it's awkward.

Anyway, that's what happened to Nick Huros and his friends.

They really had to pee.

And unfortunately, there wasn't a restroom or a port-a-potty around for them to use, so they peed outside in a graveyard because that's not creepy or anything.

This is very disrespectful to graveyards.

I know, and it must have really offended one of the souls buried below because suddenly, out of nowhere, Fred ripped off his clothes and turned into a huge snarling wolf

Nikiros watched in horror as the wolf tilted its head back and howled

the wolf locked eyes with Nikiros and then ran away towards the town

now at this point Nikiros is shook I mean his buddy Frederick just turned into a werewolf.

He decided to head to the town to make sure that everything was okay.

Excuse me, he said to the first person he encountered.

Have you seen a giant wolf running around?

The person informed him that the wolf had attacked some farm animals and had been killed by a local servant hoping to protect his livestock.

Nikiros walked away, still shocked and confused.

He learned a valuable lesson that day.

Never pee in a graveyard.

Many argue that this is the true origination of the werewolf.

Which would make sense because this is the first time we see a werewolf behave like an actual werewolf instead of just, you know, a guy that gets turned into a wolf.

So you're saying that Frederick was a werewolf and Bob was not?

Well, that is my opinion, yes.

Another famous werewolf story comes from Greek mythology.

It's the tale of King Lycaon.

And since we've told this story on the podcast before, we won't spend too much time on this one, but we will give you a quick overview.

Lycaon is one of the villains we discussed in the Greece's Most Wanted episode, way back in season two.

Exactly.

And at first, Lycaon was nothing like a villain.

In fact, he was a pretty good guy.

He was the ruler of Arcadia, and he worked hard to build an amazing kingdom.

But over time, he began to get more and more jealous of the gods.

Why did he have to work so hard to keep his kingdom thriving when the gods just got to relax and take it easy all the time?

He started making little snide comments about the gods, and then eventually rumors of these insults made their way up to Mount Olympus.

But since Zeus didn't have any actual proof that Lycaon was being disrespectful, on paper, the guy still looked pretty good, actually, he decided to go down to Arcadia himself and investigate the situation.

So Zeus disguised himself as a human and made his way to Lycaon's castle.

But because because he's Zeus and a little bit full of himself, he turned himself into an incredibly handsome, extremely strong and suspiciously godlike kind of human.

Everyone, including Lycaon, had a feeling that this stranger might be related to the gods, which made what the king decided to do next even more strange.

Lycaon and his sons planned a huge banquet filled with delicious food and wine.

They invited this godlike man and made him the guest of honor at an elaborate celebration.

And then, Lycaon brought out his dinner.

It was a roast beef type of dish and it looked absolutely delicious.

It was also made out of human flesh.

Ew!

Yeah, Ew is right.

We don't know much about who it was that Lycaon killed and used to make the world's worst roast beef, but we do know that Zeus was able to detect right away that this wasn't your average dinner.

Zeus was outraged and also a little bit disgusted.

He went up to Mount Olympus, gathered up his lightning bolts and threw them down at Arcadia, destroying Lycaon's palace and everyone inside it.

Only the king had managed to escape.

As he watched the palace burn, Lycaon begged for mercy.

You behaved like a monster today, but you look like a king.

From now on, your outside appearance will match the evil hidden inside.

Zeus ordered.

And at that moment, Lycaon's body began to shake.

His nose changed into a snout.

His arms transformed into legs.

His skin began to grow firm.

Lycaon tilted his head back and began to howl.

The term lycanthropy, the mythological ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into an animal-like state, such as a werewolf, is a direct result of King Lycaon and this myth.

And for our final wolf tale of the day, we're heading north for some Norse mythology.

Now, we all know the Norse gods have a complicated history with wolves.

I believe you are talking about Loki's son, Fenrir, who was also a wolf.

We discuss his story at length in our Ragnaracking Out with Loki's Terrible Children episode.

Yeah, right.

Quite an interesting story there.

But this myth is about a different kind of father and son.

These two actually liked each other.

In fact, they started a family business working together as thieves.

They broke the law for fun and profit.

Right, and let's just say right off the bat here, don't steal things.

That is not the way we treat people in our community.

But this is the way that Sigmunder and his son Sinfjotli treated people, and it didn't go so great for them.

On the day our story begins, it seemed like a typical workday.

They arrived at a random house, found it empty, and went inside to start their robbery.

The pair came across the usual stuff, you know, money, jewelry, food, etc., but they stopped when they saw two beautiful wolf skins hanging from the rafters of the home.

The skins were incredibly soft and warm.

This is a belt for a king, Sigmunder said to his son.

Exactly.

Let's try them on, Sianfaldli replied.

But the second the pelts were around their shoulders, the men began to transform into wolves themselves.

They looked at each other in horror as they began to sprout fur and grow long pointed teeth.

But it didn't take long before the transformation was complete and all recognition was lost.

They were wolves now, totally and completely wild.

But unlike your average wolves, the pair were hungry and ready to attack.

They wanted humans.

They ran out into the forest and attacked every person they came across, killing dozens of people.

But that was not enough.

The urge to kill was so strong that Sigmunder decided to attack his own son, Sinfjjotli, and bit him in the neck.

Now keep in mind that they had lost complete sense of who they were.

Sigmunder had no idea that he was biting his son or that he was even a human in the first place.

The wolf pelt caused him to feel like like he was really a wolf, a dangerous wolf who had only one purpose, to attack.

We're not sure exactly what kind of magic it was that was in those pelts, but we do know what happened next was a different kind of magic, a special kind of magic, a kind of magic that still exists today.

Love.

When Sigmunder pulled away from his son, the spell was broken.

He remembered who he was and that the wolf next to him, the one that was now dangerously bleeding from the neck, was his only child.

If only he had realized it before he attacked his son.

Well, yeah, but better late than never.

Sigmunder tilted his head back and howled.

But this was a different kind of howl.

It was a cry for help, a call of fear and despair and desperation.

When the creatures of the forest heard that call, they all stopped what they were doing.

One of them, a raven, decided that he had to answer the father's call.

Ravens are highly intelligent creatures that can mimic human voices.

They are also known to follow wolves around to share in their kills.

The raven brought Sigmunder a magic herb, dropping it at the wolf's feet.

The wolf knew that this herb was something that could help his son, so he picked it up with his teeth and pressed it against his son's wound.

Magic occurred for the third time that day as Sinfjotli's wound began to heal.

When the cut had completely healed over, the two wolves looked at each other.

They had no idea if they would ever return to their human form, but they knew that they would always remember who they were on the inside.

Sigmunder and Sinfjotli, father and son.

The pair stayed in wolf form for a few days before they were magically transformed back into humans after only 11 days.

When that happened, the father and son wept with happiness.

It was a miracle that they were human once again, but their tears turned to sadness.

They were overwhelmed with guilt about the lives that they had taken and the pain that they had cost.

They agreed that the pelts needed to be destroyed.

The two built a large fire and burned the wolf pelts, making sure that no one would ever experience their power and curse again.

And that brings brings us to the end of the stories today.

The reason we're doing this episode all about wolves is wolves are an endangered species and they are also a vital part of our ecosystem.

Wolves are so important that they can sometimes change the landscape.

That's right.

I'm sorry, wait, what?

When gray wolves were introduced back to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, the elk numbers decreased and the vegetation in the park was no longer overgrazed, leading to a cascading effect.

All right, so the wolves start eating the elk on the riverbank where they are the most out in the open, and the elk don't go there anymore, and therefore new trees on the riverbank are allowed to grow.

And then the tree's roots hold the riverbanks together and keep the water clear.

of eroded soil.

And I bet beavers love the clear water and big trees are all around.

They do.

And when they build their dams, it makes places for fish, frogs, turtles, and otters to live.

And that's not even getting into all the small animals that use the vegetation to hide from predators or the songbirds that use the trees as homes.

Like I said, a cascading effect.

Wow.

I guess I didn't really get how important wolves are to the ecosystem.

Well, the bad news is that the red wolf, the only completely American wolf, is not doing so well.

As of August 2023, there were only 13 known individual red wolves in the wild, just 13, according to the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service.

They've been killed off mostly due to human activity.

That is a huge bummer, to be sure.

But the good news is that as of 2022, most wolves are protected in Mexico and the lower 48 states of the U.S., and conservation efforts are still ongoing to bring back the red wolf to the southeastern U.S.

In fact, right now, the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service is coming up with a new action plan to relaunch conservation efforts.

What do you think, Oracle?

Have I changed your mind about wolves?

I admit that they seem to be negatively portrayed in both modern culture and ancient mythologies.

Exactly.

And

what is that noise?

Adding wolves to my obsession folder.

No, no, no, Oracle, we can talk about things like a normal amount.

We don't have to actually make it an obsession.

It doesn't have to be an obsession.

Did you know that Canis lupus is the scientific name for a gray wolf?

And Canis lupus familiaris is the domestic dog.

Okay, here we go.

According to the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, the

U.S.

red wolf population declined after 2020.

Wow, that is great.

I did not know that.

Thanks for listening to our episode about the Endangered Species Act.

A bunch of other kids podcasters are also doing episodes celebrating endangered species.

For instance, our friends over at Girl Tales and Moment of Um are both preparing episodes.

Parents, check out the description of this podcast for links to all the participating podcasts.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Jillian Hughes and Kenny Curtis and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Dr.

Adria Haluska is our subject matter expert, Emily Burkett, Laurie Boda, and Juliana Schiavo are our producers, and Emily Everhart is our senior producer.