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Hosted by ellen weatherford
4 episodes with ellen weatherford
4 episodes with ellen weatherford
2 episodes with ellen weatherford
4 episodes with ellen weatherford
2 episodes with ellen weatherford
2 episodes with ellen weatherford
2 episodes with ellen weatherford
2 episodes with ellen weatherford
Ellen & special guest, science journalist and host of Radiolab and Terrestrials Lulu Miller, discuss the lifelong impact of science communication, review bald eagles, and share a very special podcast treat. Terrestrials: The Trio originally aired on July 26, 2024: https://radiolab.org/podcast/terrestrials-the-trio240726 From the original episode description: "High above the banks of the Mississippi River, a nest holds the secret life of one of America's most patriotic creatures. Their story puzzles scientists, reinforces Indigenous wisdom, and wows audiences—all thanks to a park ranger named Ed and a well-placed webcam. If you want to spoil the mystery, here ya go: it's a bald eagle. Actually, it's three bald eagles. A mama bird and daddies make a home together for over a decade and give new meaning to our national symbol." Links: Learn more about Terrestrials: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest science communicator, infectious disease researcher, and the Khaleesi of Mosquitos for a review of some of the animal kingdom's most controversial creatures. We discuss whether our guest would rather fight 10,000 mosquitos or a gorilla, evil squiggles and how malaria works, larval cannibalism and mosquito-on-mosquito crime, what the insectary is doing with all those soup cups and dental dams, and so much more. Links: Follow Cassandra on Instagram or YouTube! Learn more about the the Kaushansky Lab at Seattle Children's Hospital's Center for Global Infectious Disease Research! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest science communicator, infectious disease researcher, and the Khaleesi of Mosquitos for a review of some of the animal kingdom's most controversial creatures. We discuss whether our guest would rather fight 10,000 mosquitos or a gorilla, evil squiggles and how malaria works, larval cannibalism and mosquito-on-mosquito crime, what the insectary is doing with all those soup cups and dental dams, and so much more. Links: Follow Cassandra on Instagram or YouTube! Learn more about the the Kaushansky Lab at Seattle Children's Hospital's Center for Global Infectious Disease Research! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
We add another string to our bow by learning about the fiddler crab. We discuss the arc of history bending towards crab, the MogBot 2000, bad dating advice, non-orientable wormholes, and so much more. Works Cited: “The Design of a Beautiful Weapon” - John Christy, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History “On the Other Hand: The Myth of Fiddler Crab Claw Reversal” - Judith S. Weis, BioScience, April 2019 “Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms” - John H. Christy et al., Behavioral Ecology, May 2002 “Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review” - Patricia Ruth Yvonne Backwell, Current Zoology, July 2018 “Robotic crabs reveal that female fiddler crabs are sensitive to changes in male display rate” - Sophie L. Mowles et al., Biology Letters, January 2018 “Not what it looks like: mate-searching behaviour, mate preferences and clutch production in wandering and territory-holding female fiddler crabs” - M. Peso et al., R. Soc Open Sci.. August 2016 “Dishonest signalling of fighting ability and multiple performance traits in the fiddler crab Uca mjoebergi” - Simon P. Lailvaux et al., Functional Ecology, March 2009 “The effects of neighbor familiarity and size on cooperative defense of fiddler crab territories” - Isobel Booksmythe et al., Behavioral ecology, November 2011 “Beyond Abiotic Decay: Fiddler Crabs Accelerate Plastic Fragmentation in Pollution Hotspots” - Jose M. Riascos et al., Global Change Biology, December 2025 Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
We add another string to our bow by learning about the fiddler crab. We discuss the arc of history bending towards crab, the MogBot 2000, bad dating advice, non-orientable wormholes, and so much more. Works Cited: “The Design of a Beautiful Weapon” - John Christy, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History “On the Other Hand: The Myth of Fiddler Crab Claw Reversal” - Judith S. Weis, BioScience, April 2019 “Sexual selection for structure building by courting male fiddler crabs: an experimental study of behavioral mechanisms” - John H. Christy et al., Behavioral Ecology, May 2002 “Synchronous waving in fiddler crabs: a review” - Patricia Ruth Yvonne Backwell, Current Zoology, July 2018 “Robotic crabs reveal that female fiddler crabs are sensitive to changes in male display rate” - Sophie L. Mowles et al., Biology Letters, January 2018 “Not what it looks like: mate-searching behaviour, mate preferences and clutch production in wandering and territory-holding female fiddler crabs” - M. Peso et al., R. Soc Open Sci.. August 2016 “Dishonest signalling of fighting ability and multiple performance traits in the fiddler crab Uca mjoebergi” - Simon P. Lailvaux et al., Functional Ecology, March 2009 “The effects of neighbor familiarity and size on cooperative defense of fiddler crab territories” - Isobel Booksmythe et al., Behavioral ecology, November 2011 “Beyond Abiotic Decay: Fiddler Crabs Accelerate Plastic Fragmentation in Pollution Hotspots” - Jose M. Riascos et al., Global Change Biology, December 2025 Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest science communicator and ambassador for wildlife Rick Schwartz for a review of the wise old wizards of Asian forests: binturongs. We discuss career paths for yappers, monkey software on weasel hardware, the chemical coincidence that makes binturongs smell like snacks, the fulfilling experience of finally being considered one of the girls, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Rick's work on his website: www.zoologyrick.com Follow Animals, Nature and You: https://animalsnatureandyou.buzzsprout.com/ Follow Rick on social media: https://linktr.ee/ZoologyRick For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest science communicator and ambassador for wildlife Rick Schwartz for a review of the wise old wizards of Asian forests: binturongs. We discuss career paths for yappers, monkey software on weasel hardware, the chemical coincidence that makes binturongs smell like snacks, the fulfilling experience of finally being considered one of the girls, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Rick's work on his website: www.zoologyrick.com Follow Animals, Nature and You: https://animalsnatureandyou.buzzsprout.com/ Follow Rick on social media: https://linktr.ee/ZoologyRick For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest, senior conservation scientist at Woodland Park Zoo and founder of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Lisa Dabek, as we celebrate World Tree Kangaroo Day by putting these charming ghosts of the forest in the well-deserved spotlight. We discuss the diversity of Papua New Guinea's cloud forests where dinosaurs still have the run of the place, life as a joey in the towering treetops, a look at what went into designing a tree kangaroo habitat in Woodland Park Zoo's new Forest Trailhead exhibit, and so much more. Links: Learn more about the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program at their website: https://treekangaroo.org/ Learn more about the SAFE Program: https://www.aza.org/safe-species Check out the Woodland Park Zoo's new Forest Trailhead exhibit: https://zoo.org/foresttrailhead/ For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest, senior conservation scientist at Woodland Park Zoo and founder of the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Lisa Dabek, as we celebrate World Tree Kangaroo Day by putting these charming ghosts of the forest in the well-deserved spotlight. We discuss the diversity of Papua New Guinea's cloud forests where dinosaurs still have the run of the place, life as a joey in the towering treetops, a look at what went into designing a tree kangaroo habitat in Woodland Park Zoo's new Forest Trailhead exhibit, and so much more. Links: Learn more about the Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program at their website: https://treekangaroo.org/ Learn more about the SAFE Program: https://www.aza.org/safe-species Check out the Woodland Park Zoo's new Forest Trailhead exhibit: https://zoo.org/foresttrailhead/ For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest, technobiologist and professor Jack Koch, for a review of the iconic crustacean known and loved by many names: the crawfish. We discuss sea hare ink, a genetically modified super-soldier kaiju battle, the taxonomic classifications of rocks, bugs and squishy bags, the perils of growing up under the tail of a cannibal mom, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Jack's work at the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center Follow LSU Research on Instagram! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest, technobiologist and professor Jack Koch, for a review of the iconic crustacean known and loved by many names: the crawfish. We discuss sea hare ink, a genetically modified super-soldier kaiju battle, the taxonomic classifications of rocks, bugs and squishy bags, the perils of growing up under the tail of a cannibal mom, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Jack's work at the Aquatic Germplasm and Genetic Resources Center Follow LSU Research on Instagram! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Here's a taste of our trivia showdown with Ellen Weatherford, Austin Taylor, and Annie Savage. Find the full video here! Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's MaxFunDrive! Still want to get in on the action? Follow this link to support this show (and get in on our limited-time keychain sale to benefit the Center for Constitutional Rights): https://maximumfun.org/joinwgt
Ellen & special guests, Ella Hubber and Tom Lum of Let's Learn Everything, turn our gazes to the skies and talk animals in space. We discuss the fruit fly fan club, the great big farm on the moon, which earthlings were ACTUALLY the first to make the trip around the moon and back, a spider escape where you least want it, why dentistry researchers had a snake room, shooting tardigrades out of a gun, and so much more. This one is truly out of this world. Works Cited & Further Reading: "Bioastronautics Research" video "This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury" - Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, Charles C. Alexander, NASA SP-4201 "Judith's Web - Student Experiment Aboard Skylab 3" - NASA.gov “URODELEAN AMPHIBIANS IN STUDIES ON MICROGRAVITY: EFFECTS UPON ORGAN AND TISSUE REGENERATION” - E.N. Grigoryan et al., Adv. Space Res, 2002 "From Undersea to Outer Space: The STS-40 Jellyfish Experiment" - NASA STI Program "For water bears, the glass is all full" - Tina Hesman Saey, Science News, December 2015 "Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit" - K. Ingemar Jonsson et al., Current Biology, September 2008 "What happened to those tardigrades sent to the Moon?" - Laurent Palka, The Conversation, February 2024 "Tardigrade Survival Limits in High-Speed Impacts—Implications for Panspermia and Collection of Samples from Plumes Emitted by Ice Worlds" - Alejandra Traspas & Mark J. Burchell, Astrobiology, July 2021 Links: Support our shows with your membership during the MaxFunDrive! Check out Let's Learn Everything! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Ellen & special guests, Ella Hubber and Tom Lum of Let's Learn Everything, turn our gazes to the skies and talk animals in space. We discuss the fruit fly fan club, the great big farm on the moon, which earthlings were ACTUALLY the first to make the trip around the moon and back, a spider escape where you least want it, why dentistry researchers had a snake room, shooting tardigrades out of a gun, and so much more. This one is truly out of this world. Works Cited & Further Reading: "Bioastronautics Research" video "This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury" - Loyd S. Swenson, Jr., James M. Grimwood, Charles C. Alexander, NASA SP-4201 "Judith's Web - Student Experiment Aboard Skylab 3" - NASA.gov “URODELEAN AMPHIBIANS IN STUDIES ON MICROGRAVITY: EFFECTS UPON ORGAN AND TISSUE REGENERATION” - E.N. Grigoryan et al., Adv. Space Res, 2002 "From Undersea to Outer Space: The STS-40 Jellyfish Experiment" - NASA STI Program "For water bears, the glass is all full" - Tina Hesman Saey, Science News, December 2015 "Tardigrades survive exposure to space in low Earth orbit" - K. Ingemar Jonsson et al., Current Biology, September 2008 "What happened to those tardigrades sent to the Moon?" - Laurent Palka, The Conversation, February 2024 "Tardigrade Survival Limits in High-Speed Impacts—Implications for Panspermia and Collection of Samples from Plumes Emitted by Ice Worlds" - Alejandra Traspas & Mark J. Burchell, Astrobiology, July 2021 Links: Support our shows with your membership during the MaxFunDrive! Check out Let's Learn Everything! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's MaxFunDrive! Still want to get in on the action? Follow this link to support this show (and get in on our limited-time keychain sale to benefit the Center for Constitutional Rights): https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Ellen jaws away about the great white shark. We discuss making our own planetary rings, performance-enhancing Speedos, how sharks sleep, the White Shark Café, IRL baby shark, and so much more. Works Cited: “Shark evolution: a 450 million year timeline” - Josh Davis, Natural History Museum “SPEEDO FASTSKIN – A HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FASTEST SWIMSUITS” - SwimSwam.com, November 2023 “White Shark Bite Kinematics — Preliminary Exploration of a New Aspect” - R. Aidan Martin, ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research “An electrophysiological correlate of sleep in a shark” - John A. Lesku et al., Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology, July 2024 “For five days in 1980, a great white shark named Sandy lived in Golden Gate Park” - Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle, June 2024 “The Great White Way” - Pete Thomas, Los Angeles Times, September 2006 “White Shark Café: The mysterious meeting spot for great whites in the middle of the Pacific Ocean” – Sascha Pare, LiveScience, September 2024 “First-ever sighting of a live newborn great white” - Jules Bernstein, UC Riverside, February 2024 “Shark Management Laws” - NOAA Fisheries Links: Support our podcast by joining the Maximum Fun network at maximumfun.org/join For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Ellen jaws away about the great white shark. We discuss making our own planetary rings, performance-enhancing Speedos, how sharks sleep, the White Shark Café, IRL baby shark, and so much more. Works Cited: “Shark evolution: a 450 million year timeline” - Josh Davis, Natural History Museum “SPEEDO FASTSKIN – A HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FASTEST SWIMSUITS” - SwimSwam.com, November 2023 “White Shark Bite Kinematics — Preliminary Exploration of a New Aspect” - R. Aidan Martin, ReefQuest Centre for Shark Research “An electrophysiological correlate of sleep in a shark” - John A. Lesku et al., Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology, July 2024 “For five days in 1980, a great white shark named Sandy lived in Golden Gate Park” - Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle, June 2024 “The Great White Way” - Pete Thomas, Los Angeles Times, September 2006 “White Shark Café: The mysterious meeting spot for great whites in the middle of the Pacific Ocean” – Sascha Pare, LiveScience, September 2024 “First-ever sighting of a live newborn great white” - Jules Bernstein, UC Riverside, February 2024 “Shark Management Laws” - NOAA Fisheries Links: Support our podcast by joining the Maximum Fun network at maximumfun.org/join For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's MaxFunDrive! Still want to get in on the action? Follow this link to support this show (and get in on our limited-time keychain sale to benefit the Center for Constitutional Rights): https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
It's MaxFunDrive. And here, for the first time, we give you an exclusive look (well, listen) at the craft of podcasting: presenting Casters on Casters. In this episode, Teylor Smirl (Still Buffering) and Ellen Weatherford (Just the Zoo of Us) bond over the media they consumed that shaped who they are today, and how that media informs their perspectives on their shows. Plus, each host reveals their dream guest. If this glamorous, in-depth journey into what makes your favorite hosts tick inspires you, support them by joining as a member at maximumfun.org/join. Edited by Laura Swisher and Produced by Hannah Muroz for Maximum Fun. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinbuffering
It's MaxFunDrive. And here, for the first time, we give you an exclusive look (well, listen) at the craft of podcasting: presenting Casters on Casters. In this episode, Teylor Smirl (Still Buffering) and Ellen Weatherford (Just the Zoo of Us) bond over the media they consumed that shaped who they are today, and how that media informs their perspectives on their shows. Plus, each host reveals their dream guest. If this glamorous, in-depth journey into what makes your favorite hosts tick inspires you, support them by joining as a member at maximumfun.org/join. Edited by Laura Swisher and Produced by Hannah Muroz for Maximum Fun. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
It's MaxFunDrive. And here, for the first time, we give you an exclusive look (well, listen) at the craft of podcasting: presenting Casters on Casters. In this episode, Teylor Smirl (Still Buffering) and Ellen Weatherford (Just the Zoo of Us) bond over the media they consumed that shaped who they are today, and how that media informs their perspectives on their shows. Plus, each host reveals their dream guest. If this glamorous, in-depth journey into what makes your favorite hosts tick inspires you, support them by joining as a member at maximumfun.org/join. Edited by Laura Swisher and Produced by Hannah Muroz for Maximum Fun. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & special guest, co-founder and CEO of conservation organization Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan, for a review of Asian elephants. We discuss the harm caused by wildlife exploitation, how they protect animals by uplifting human communities, how education can help tourists make more ethical choices, and of course our guest shares some stories of what it's like living and working alongside these beautiful giants. He's got feel-good conservation success stories, workplace comedy, an adorable baby elephant, truly what more could you want from a podcast episode? Links: Learn more about Wildlife SOS's work on their website! See Baby Bani and more on Wildlife SOS's YouTube channel! Learn more about ethical tourism on RefuseToRide.org For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guest, co-founder and CEO of conservation organization Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan, for a review of Asian elephants. We discuss the harm caused by wildlife exploitation, how they protect animals by uplifting human communities, how education can help tourists make more ethical choices, and of course our guest shares some stories of what it's like living and working alongside these beautiful giants. He's got feel-good conservation success stories, workplace comedy, an adorable baby elephant, truly what more could you want from a podcast episode? Links: Learn more about Wildlife SOS's work on their website! See Baby Bani and more on Wildlife SOS's YouTube channel! Learn more about ethical tourism on RefuseToRide.org For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Follow Ellen down the jackrabbit hole. We discuss facial tilt, satellite dish ears, evolutionary ghosts of predators past, touchdown dances, jackalopes, Easter, and so much more. Works Cited: "A Field Guide to Jackrabbits" - Matthew L. Miller, The Nature Conservancy, Nov 2022 “Ecological correlates to cranial morphology in Leporids (Mammalia, Lagomorpha)” - Brian Kraatz et al., PeerJ, Dec 2014 "Jackrabbit Gets a Touchdown!" - YouTube “Celebrating Easter, Christmas and their associated alien fauna” – Malene Lauritsen et al., World Archaeology, Oct 2018 “The Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess” - Luke John Murphy & Carly Ameen, Open Archaeology, August 2020 “What Do Eggs Have To Do With Easter?” - Encyclopedia Britannica "Meet Jack" - City of Douglas, Wyoming's website Links: Check out your local MaxFun Meetup Day - Ellen will be at the Seattle meetup! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Follow Ellen down the jackrabbit hole. We discuss facial tilt, satellite dish ears, evolutionary ghosts of predators past, touchdown dances, jackalopes, Easter, and so much more. Works Cited: "A Field Guide to Jackrabbits" - Matthew L. Miller, The Nature Conservancy, Nov 2022 “Ecological correlates to cranial morphology in Leporids (Mammalia, Lagomorpha)” - Brian Kraatz et al., PeerJ, Dec 2014 "Jackrabbit Gets a Touchdown!" - YouTube “Celebrating Easter, Christmas and their associated alien fauna” – Malene Lauritsen et al., World Archaeology, Oct 2018 “The Shifting Baselines of the British Hare Goddess” - Luke John Murphy & Carly Ameen, Open Archaeology, August 2020 “What Do Eggs Have To Do With Easter?” - Encyclopedia Britannica "Meet Jack" - City of Douglas, Wyoming's website Links: Check out your local MaxFun Meetup Day - Ellen will be at the Seattle meetup! For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Join Ellen & the Cryptonaturalist (Jarod K. Anderson) to talk about the ways that nature and wildlife can inspire our creativity and shape our stories, particularly the enticingly unknowable cryptids. We discuss being raised by a witch, the natural poetry in scientific facts about starfish, the value of enthusiasm, caked up Mothman and the tragic Squonk, getting emoted on by skunks, the surprisingly complicated history of dandelions, a vulture named Potato, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Jarod's work on his website Find Strange Animals and Jarod's other books on his Bookshop Follow Jarod as The Cryptonaturalist on Instagram Follow Jarod on Bluesky or Substack Check out The CryptoNaturalist Podcast For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & the Cryptonaturalist (Jarod K. Anderson) to talk about the ways that nature and wildlife can inspire our creativity and shape our stories, particularly the enticingly unknowable cryptids. We discuss being raised by a witch, the natural poetry in scientific facts about starfish, the value of enthusiasm, caked up Mothman and the tragic Squonk, getting emoted on by skunks, the surprisingly complicated history of dandelions, a vulture named Potato, and so much more. Links: Learn more about Jarod's work on his website Find Strange Animals and Jarod's other books on his Bookshop Follow Jarod as The Cryptonaturalist on Instagram Follow Jarod on Bluesky or Substack Check out The CryptoNaturalist Podcast For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky! Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Don't call it a comeback, coelacanth's been here for years. We discuss life on Earth 400 million years ago, a military escort mission, our own fish ancestors, five year pregnancies, underwater handstands, an unnecessarily complicated puzzle in the third generation Pokémon games, and so much more. Works Cited: “The Coelacanth” - Knysna Museum “The Discovery” - UC Museum of Paleontology's website “Earliest known coelacanth skull extends the range of anatomically modern coelacanths to the Early Devonian” - Min Zhu et al., Nature Communications, April 2012 “Animated Life: The Living Fossil Fish | HHMI BioInteractive Video” “The coelacanth rostral organ is a unique low-resolution electro-detector that facilitates the feeding strike” - Rachel M. Berquist et al., Scientific Reports, March 2015 “New scale analyses reveal centenarian African coelacanths” - Kélig Mahé et al., Current Biology, August 2021 “Neurocranial development of the coelacanth and the evolution of the sarcopterygian head” - Hugo Dutel et al., Nature, May 2019 “Buoyancy and hydrostatic balance in a West Indian Ocean coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae” - Henrik Lauridsen et al., BMC Biology, August 2022 Links: Come hear Ellen talk about dragons LIVE at Nerd Nite Seattle! https://seattle.nerdnite.com/ For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Don't call it a comeback, coelacanth's been here for years. We discuss life on Earth 400 million years ago, a military escort mission, our own fish ancestors, five year pregnancies, underwater handstands, an unnecessarily complicated puzzle in the third generation Pokémon games, and so much more. Works Cited: “The Coelacanth” - Knysna Museum “The Discovery” - UC Museum of Paleontology's website “Earliest known coelacanth skull extends the range of anatomically modern coelacanths to the Early Devonian” - Min Zhu et al., Nature Communications, April 2012 “Animated Life: The Living Fossil Fish | HHMI BioInteractive Video” “The coelacanth rostral organ is a unique low-resolution electro-detector that facilitates the feeding strike” - Rachel M. Berquist et al., Scientific Reports, March 2015 “New scale analyses reveal centenarian African coelacanths” - Kélig Mahé et al., Current Biology, August 2021 “Neurocranial development of the coelacanth and the evolution of the sarcopterygian head” - Hugo Dutel et al., Nature, May 2019 “Buoyancy and hydrostatic balance in a West Indian Ocean coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae” - Henrik Lauridsen et al., BMC Biology, August 2022 Links: Come hear Ellen talk about dragons LIVE at Nerd Nite Seattle! https://seattle.nerdnite.com/ For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen falls in love with the Mandarin duck. We discuss why waterfowl's webbed feet don't freeze in the winter, the evolutionary arms race between male and female ducks, New York City's local celebrity Hot Duck, your new favorite coffee order, and more. Works Cited: "Countercurrent Exchange" - Dr. Roger Lederer, ornithology.org “Coevolution of Male and Female Genital Morphology in Waterfowl” - Patricia L. R. Brennan et al., PLOS One, May 2007 "Ducks, Geese, and Swans" - Ivan Phillipsen, scienceofbirds.com, December 2020 “Conspecific Brood Parasitism and Nesting Biology of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in Northeastern China” - Qiu-Ziang Deng et al., The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, September 2011 "Molecular Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasitism and Successful Hatching by Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) on the Scaly-sided Merganser (Mergus squamatus)" - Shu Liu et al., BMC Zoology (under review Feb 2026) "Will You Still Love the Hot Duck When He Looks Like This?" - Andy McGlashen, Audubon Magazine, February 2019 Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen falls in love with the Mandarin duck. We discuss why waterfowl's webbed feet don't freeze in the winter, the evolutionary arms race between male and female ducks, New York City's local celebrity Hot Duck, your new favorite coffee order, and more. Works Cited: "Countercurrent Exchange" - Dr. Roger Lederer, ornithology.org “Coevolution of Male and Female Genital Morphology in Waterfowl” - Patricia L. R. Brennan et al., PLOS One, May 2007 "Ducks, Geese, and Swans" - Ivan Phillipsen, scienceofbirds.com, December 2020 “Conspecific Brood Parasitism and Nesting Biology of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in Northeastern China” - Qiu-Ziang Deng et al., The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, September 2011 "Molecular Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasitism and Successful Hatching by Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) on the Scaly-sided Merganser (Mergus squamatus)" - Shu Liu et al., BMC Zoology (under review Feb 2026) "Will You Still Love the Hot Duck When He Looks Like This?" - Andy McGlashen, Audubon Magazine, February 2019 Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guests, power couple Shannon Hackett and John Bates from the Field Museum, here to talk about the intersection of science, history, and of course, birds in a love letter to the natural history museum. We discuss working alongside SUE the T. rex, specimen pickles, harlequin romance novels, and explore bigger questions like how museum collections can reveal evolution happening around us right now in real-time and help us look into the future, what the average everyday person can learn about themselves and what science actually looks like from a museum, and the hotly contested debate as to whether grey vireos are interesting or not.Links:Check out Birds of a Feather Talk Together on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Instagram!Learn more about the Field Museum on their website!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guests, power couple Shannon Hackett and John Bates from the Field Museum, here to talk about the intersection of science, history, and of course, birds in a love letter to the natural history museum. We discuss working alongside SUE the T. rex, specimen pickles, harlequin romance novels, and explore bigger questions like how museum collections can reveal evolution happening around us right now in real-time and help us look into the future, what the average everyday person can learn about themselves and what science actually looks like from a museum, and the hotly contested debate as to whether grey vireos are interesting or not.Links:Check out Birds of a Feather Talk Together on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Instagram!Learn more about the Field Museum on their website!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen sets the record straight on Norway lemmings, busting over 400 years of myths. We discuss rodent audacity, ecological impacts that can be seen from space, spontaneous generation, Ole Worm, Atlantis, a Disney lie, and so much more.Works Cited:“Genome analyses suggest recent speciation and postglacial isolation in the Norwegian lemming” - Edana Lord et al., PNAS, June 2025“Aposematism and crypsis in a rodent: antipredator defence of the Norwegian lemming” - Malte Andersson, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, April 2015"Vole and lemming activity observed from space" - Johan Olofsson et al, Nature Climate Change, May 2012"Ole Worm (1588-1654) - anatomist and antiquarian" - Rafael Romero Reveron & Luis A Arráez-Aybar, European Journal of Anatomy, July 2015"The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations" - W. Duppa Crotch, Popular Science Monthly, August 1877"Lemming Suicide Myth: Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior" - Riley Woodford, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, September 2003"Falling lemming populations" - Chris Smith, ScienceNorway.no, July 2012"Lemmings' loss is bounty for moss" - Bjørnar Kjensli, ScienceNorway.no, March 2012Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen sets the record straight on Norway lemmings, busting over 400 years of myths. We discuss rodent audacity, ecological impacts that can be seen from space, spontaneous generation, Ole Worm, Atlantis, a Disney lie, and so much more.Works Cited:“Genome analyses suggest recent speciation and postglacial isolation in the Norwegian lemming” - Edana Lord et al., PNAS, June 2025“Aposematism and crypsis in a rodent: antipredator defence of the Norwegian lemming” - Malte Andersson, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, April 2015"Vole and lemming activity observed from space" - Johan Olofsson et al, Nature Climate Change, May 2012"Ole Worm (1588-1654) - anatomist and antiquarian" - Rafael Romero Reveron & Luis A Arráez-Aybar, European Journal of Anatomy, July 2015"The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations" - W. Duppa Crotch, Popular Science Monthly, August 1877"Lemming Suicide Myth: Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior" - Riley Woodford, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, September 2003"Falling lemming populations" - Chris Smith, ScienceNorway.no, July 2012"Lemmings' loss is bounty for moss" - Bjørnar Kjensli, ScienceNorway.no, March 2012Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen gives the Tasmanian devil his due. We discuss mythbusters, cranial real estate, the masculine urge to bite your fingers off, which came first: the chicken or the egg, dump stats, contagious cancer, and so much more. Works Cited:"Too hot for the devil? Did climate change cause the mid-Holocene extinction of the Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii from mainland Australia?" - Shane D. Morris et al., Ecography, Dec 2021"Holocene Demographic Changes and the Emergence of Complex Societies in Prehistoric Australia" - Alan N. Williams et al., PLOS One, June 2015"Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa" - Stephen Wroe, Colin McHenry & Jeffrey Thomason, Proc Biol Sci, March 2005"Saving our darling devils", Esme Mathis, Australian Geographic, January 2026Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen gives the Tasmanian devil his due. We discuss mythbusters, cranial real estate, the masculine urge to bite your fingers off, which came first: the chicken or the egg, dump stats, contagious cancer, and so much more. Works Cited:"Too hot for the devil? Did climate change cause the mid-Holocene extinction of the Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii from mainland Australia?" - Shane D. Morris et al., Ecography, Dec 2021"Holocene Demographic Changes and the Emergence of Complex Societies in Prehistoric Australia" - Alan N. Williams et al., PLOS One, June 2015"Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa" - Stephen Wroe, Colin McHenry & Jeffrey Thomason, Proc Biol Sci, March 2005"Saving our darling devils", Esme Mathis, Australian Geographic, January 2026Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guest, wildlife educator and zookeeper Jungle Jordan, as we round up his top 3 friend-shaped carnivores, all the cutest critters that could absolutely wreck you. We discuss hidden mickeys, toxic friend groups, modern-day sabertooths, delicious hair, an unlikely pair of woodland best friends, and so much more.Links:Learn more about Jordan's work at his website: https://www.junglejordan.com/Follow him on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guest, wildlife educator and zookeeper Jungle Jordan, as we round up his top 3 friend-shaped carnivores, all the cutest critters that could absolutely wreck you. We discuss hidden mickeys, toxic friend groups, modern-day sabertooths, delicious hair, an unlikely pair of woodland best friends, and so much more.Links:Learn more about Jordan's work at his website: https://www.junglejordan.com/Follow him on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen gets into the festive spirit with sea angels. We discuss Christian's beachfront disaster, secret tentacles, teeny titan battles, undismissable companions, Hello Kitty merch, and so much more.Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Ellen gets into the festive spirit with sea angels. We discuss Christian's beachfront disaster, secret tentacles, teeny titan battles, undismissable companions, Hello Kitty merch, and so much more.Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Joined Ellen & special guest wildlife ambassador and care specialist Marco Wendt from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park for a review of the towering birds that are ready to literally rumble: cassowaries. We discuss short kings and feminine rage, a secret bird language humans can't hear, nature's best dads, getting a modern dinosaur to be brave for his shots, and so much more.Links:Cassowary rumble audio: Marc Anderson, XC337534. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/337534.Learn more about the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park!Follow Marco on Instagram and TikTok!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!
Happy Creaturekringletimes everyone! Today on the show I'm joined by Just the Zoo of Us host Ellen Weatherford, and we talk about animals who manage to keep their babies cold despite freezing temperature! Bears, walruses, snowy owls, and penguins, all who make great sacrifices to ensure their babies survive cold weather and don't become pup-sicles. And a personal announcement from me! Festive intro/outro music by Aaron Kenny. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ellen irons out the kinkajous. We discuss Thomas Jefferson's giant moose sidequest, the dessert hypothesis, bad pets, who the real Frankenstein monster is, and so much more.Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
This week we've got a seriously fun one for you. We are joined by the wonderful Ellen Weatherford from the podcast Just the Zoo of Us.John and Shannon are guests on her show later this month, so we asked Ellen to come chat with us about the bird of her choice. She came back with flamingos—and boy, were we thrilled.It turned into such a bright, lively, surprisingly deep conversation about one of the most iconic birds out there. From their wild social lives to their unbelievable color and biology, this episode is just pure joy from start to finish.Ellen joins John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Pole.Here are links to our social and YouTube pages, give us a follow: YouTube Instagram TikTok BlueSky
Join Ellen & host of Bizarre Beasts Sarah Suta for a lineup of some animals she'd like to see get a second chance, whether they're species we've already lost or ones that might still have a shot. We discuss foreign exchange student accents, the ecological impact of the invention of the telegraph, bird call sheet music, the scientific fumble of the century, bison where you least expect them, and so much more.Links:Watch Bizarre Beasts and Endlings on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizarreBeastsFollow Bizarre Beasts on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bizarrebeastsshow/Follow Sarah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.suta/For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
In this week's re-broadcast of an episode from November of 2022, Ellen goes on an odyssey through history with the wild turkey. We discuss their path alongside humans for thousands of years, from prehistoric America to praise from Benjamin Franklin, the brink of extinction and nets fired out of cannons. Further viewing:Rocket Netting Turkeys, a video demonstration by the LSU AgCenter Paul Kelly's Gobbling Demonstration
Join Ellen & special guest from the world of wildlife rehabilitation Emma Ratway for a review of the chompy rogues lurking at the bottom of ponds all over the country: snapping turtles. We discuss working with wildlife and getting to raise and release baby snapping turtles, a jury of one's deers, a cat named Crunch Wrap Supreme, butt breathing, magnets, simple English wikipedia, eating board game pieces, and so much more.Links:Follow Emma on Instagram!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
Ellen comes clean about the bluestreak cleaner wrasse. We discuss trust, cheating, fish patriarchy, manipulation, deception, game theory, the prisoner's dilemma, marketing, the mirror test, the horrors of self-awareness, and so much more. Christian drinks a Capri-Sun. Works Cited:“Testing the Low-density Hypothesis for Reversed Sex Change in Polygynous Fish: Experiments in Labroides dimidiatus” - Tetsuo Kuwamura et al., Scientific Reports, March 2014“Punishment and partner switching cause cooperative behavior in a cleaning mutualism” - Redouan Bshary & Alexandra Grutter, Biology Letters, July 2005“Power and temptation cause shifts between exploitation and cooperation in a cleaner wrasse mutualism” - Simon Gingins et al., Proc. Biol. Sci., June 2013“Male cleaner wrasses adjust punishment of female partners according to the stakes” by Nichola J Raihani et al., Proc. Biol. Sci., June 2011“Cleaner fish are sensitive to what their partners can and cannot see” - Katherine McAuliffe et al., Communications Biology, Sep 2021“Biting cleaner fish use altruism to deceive image-scoring client reef fish” by Redouan Bshary et al., Proc. Biol. Sci., Feb 2002“If a fish can pass the mark test, what are the implications for consciousness and selfawareness testing in animals?” - Masanori Kohda et al., PLOS Biol, Feb 2019“Further evidence for the capacity of mirror self-recognition in cleaner fish and the significance of ecologically relevant marks” - Masanori Kohda et al., PLOS Biol., Feb 2022“Cleaner fish recognize self in a mirror via self-face recognition like humans” - Masanori Kohda et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Feb 2023“Cleaner fish with mirror self-recognition capacity precisely realize their body size based on their mental image” - Taiga Kobayashi et al., Scientific Reports, Sep 2024“The false cleanerfish relies on aggressive mimicry to bite fish fins when benthic foods are scarce in their local habitat” - Misaki Fujisawa et al., Scientific Reports, May 2020Links:For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guest, writer and science journalist Cara Giaimo, for a highlight reel of some of the animal kingdom's biggest surprises. We discuss Lego trebuchets, the scifi potential of a projectile-based language, endangered relationships, biofluorescence, the great pacific garbage patch's number 1 fan, and so much more. Links:Find Atlas Obscura: Wild Life and Leaving the Ocean Was a Mistake where books are sold!Follow Cara on BlueSky!Get updates from Cara's newsletter, What's New in Animals & Plants!Find more of Cara's work on her website: https://caragiaimo.com/For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
Ellen jumps to conclusions about jack jumper ants. We discuss Metazooa, is it cake, a menace to public health, lime in the Coke, gamergate, casual abductions, learning walks, and so much more. Links:Play Metazooa: https://metazooa.com/For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
Join Ellen & special guest artist and science communicator behind Nature Disturbed for an appropriate kickoff to the month of all things wretched with a review of disgust. We talk about phobias and ways that we can relate and empathize with even our most feared animals, why we might want to move in to a termite colony, anatomical surprises, the uncanny valley, how to make a slime meringue, and so much more. Links:Learn more about Nature Disturbed at naturedisturbed.comFollow Nature Disturbed on Instagram and check out the podcast!For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!Follow Ellen on BlueSky!
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