In this solo outing, Brandon bravely confronts America's fear and hatred of ... the cassowary, "the world's deadliest bird."
There's a great study out from Penn State on how humans 18,000 years ago harvested cassowary eggs. It shines a light on how ancient, indigenous humans shaped their environment. News media went nuts over the bird's resemblance to velociraptors, which is a problem not just with media, but with our own dumb brains.
Brandon (again, very bravely) looks into how our evolutionary wiring makes us susceptible to fearing non-existent dangers and ignoring the really big ones right in front of us. It's a whole "conquering the wilderness" narrative.
Don't worry, he also answers the question: What bird is really the world's deadliest?
It's a real Man vs. (Human) Nature tale.
A version of this story first ran at WhoWhatWhy. Music by Nathan "The True Wilderness is Within" Readey.
