Just the Zoo of Us

Join Ellen & special guest, bat biologist Dr. Alyson Brokaw, for an up-close look at some of the furry friends fluttering through our night skies. We discuss tortilla chip aroma, anatomically accurate Edward Cullen, screaming into the void, butt blankies, and so much more. Links: Get your copy of Alyson's book, The Weird and Wonderful World of Bats , available for pre-order now! On sale February 1...

Christian takes to the skies with flying snakes. We discuss the beginning of the Year of the Snake, collapsible teeth, the physics of flight, Dragonology, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on BlueSky ! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! B...

Join Ellen & parasite ecologist Dr. Chelsea L. Wood for a review of some bizarre and fascinating creatures that, despite their tiny size, impact our world and even our very selves in more surprising ways than you might expect. We discuss Osmosis Jones, frogs with too many legs, disco-eyed snails, mind control, an existential crisis, a ghost from Cretaceous oceans, fossil poop, and so much more. Li...

Ellen pulls no punches with the box jellyfish. We discuss jellyfish venom, kingslayers, emergency vinegar, what not to do when you get stung, Snell's window, learning, balance, ocean jellification, and so much more.  Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Help sup...

Join Ellen & special guest, ecologist and wildlife photographer Holly Daniels, for a review of a real small wonder: the hazel dormouse. This extra-cozy episode pairs well with curling up in a soft comfy nest as we discuss fluffy tails, treetop snoozing, charming little forest bridges, exploding nests, the joy of finding beauty in your own backyard, and so much more. Links: Follow Holly on Instagra...

Christian leaves out milk and cookies for the Christmas Island red crab & Ellen goes for a silent night flight with elf owls. We discuss inside-out lungs, crab plows, yellow crazy ants, special eyes, silent feathers, TikTok trends, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord!...

Join Ellen & sea turtle ecologist Rushan bin Abdul Rahman for a review of everyone’s favorite hamburger-shaped reptiles. We discuss the life of a sea turtle nurse at a beach resort in the Maldives, planes that shoot lasers for science, D&D character ideas, questionable parenting, turtle exorcism, cool scars, a surprise appearance from Kylo Ren, candy corn, and a great big compliment sandwich for s...

Ellen chills out with the wood frog & Christian goes ballistic with the titan triggerfish. We discuss cryostasis, the dark forest hypothesis, going Super Saiyan, a toxic mystery, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Help support this show and u...

Join Ellen & special guest, behavioral zoologist and science communicator Thomas Green, for a look at some of the fascinating ways animals get close to each other. We’ll talk about the diversity of affections between animals, lessons we should learn from the way animals mate and some lessons we probably shouldn’t, bust some myths, make a REALLY good pun about cricket song frequencies, and so much...

Ellen gets carried away by leafcutter ants. We discuss Disney mistakes, power scaling, farming, domestication, obligate symbiosis, air conditioning, existential crisis, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Help support this show and unlock bonu...

In this week’s episode, we are joined by science communicator Fred the Orca Man for a review of the iconic wolves of the sea. We discuss whale taxonomy, menopause and motherhood, hunting strategies using fluid dynamics and straight-up lying, what’s up with the yacht thing, the dead fish fashion trend that’s taking the marine world by storm, and so much more. Links: Fred's website: https://www.theo...

Christian gets snippy with the American lobster.  We discuss New England, split colors, immortality, flirting with pee, big meaty claws, grocery store tanks, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Help support this show and unlock bonus content!...

In this week's re-broadcast of an episode from May of 2021, Ellen reviews the ocean's most adorable monsters, sea otters, & Christian rates the dazzling blue-ringed octopus. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Be...

Ellen is joined by biologist/paleontologist Meaghan Wetherell for a review of the slimiest breakdancers in the world: jumping slugs. We discuss science communication through video games, how slugs flirt, confusing Darwin, why a biologist’s fridge might be filled with mossy little salsa containers, and so much more.  Links: Listen to Meaghan's podcast, Weird and Dead ! (Heads up: explicit language...

A free sample of October's bonus episode: a review of vampires!  Head over to https://maximumfun.org/join/ to sign up and get ALL of our bonus content! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo

Ellen gets a really good look at the ogre-faced spider & Christian gets cozy with Honduran white bats. In this festively themed episode, we discuss ephemeral eyes, hearing with legs, casting nets, rowing through the air, huddling under leaves, navigating with sound, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Thread...

In this week’s episode, we are joined by comedy podcasting and tabletop roleplaying legend Griffin McElroy for a review of the squishy pugs of the Antarctic seas: Ross seals. We discuss which ninja turtle we are, the Victorian era magnetic crusades, haunting siren calls below the ice, bagpipes, thick raptors, and so much more. Links: Source of Ross seal vocalization audio: https://blogs.helmholtz....

Christian gets toxic with strawberry poison dart frogs & Ellen just keeps swimming with clownfish. We discuss the final evolution of oof,  extreme motherhood, matching blue jeans, the conservation status of clowns, fact checking Finding Nemo, and so much more. Links: The Great Barrier Reef Foundation For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us...

Join Ellen & special guest, podcasting powerhouse Steven Ray Morris, for a long-anticipated review of those furry little predators that have inspired devotion and admiration for thousands of years: the cat. We discuss the history of humans’ relationship to cats, ancient Egypt, fluid dynamics, how they manipulate the laws of physics, the future of cats in space, what makes each cat special to us, a...

Ellen fawns over the viral pygmy hippopotamus & Christian goes big with the harpy eagle. We discuss the evolution of hippos, blood sweat, poocoptering, Moo Deng, smooch breaks, sloth staredowns, and so much more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Facebook , Instagram & Discord! Follow Ellen on TikTok! Source for h...

Spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Echeverri returns to share with us his top 3 favorite spiders. We discuss spiders who go from moving like shadows to soaring through the air, spider cowboys with sick lasso moves, wife guy spiders who move in on the first date, how spiders appear in video games and movies and how they could be so much cooler, and of course so much more. Links: Check out Sebastian's b...

Christian hoots with siamangs & Ellen hollers with laughing kookaburras.  We discuss defying gravity, how screaming fits into any good morning routine, birds' double-barreled voices, the true identity behind the SpongeBob dolphin sound, and more. Links: Audio source for siamang calls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Symphalangus_syndactylus_20170623_Dou%C3%A9-la-Fontaine.ogg Audio source for ko...

Join Ellen & special guest, science communicator Lucca of Lucca's  BioHub, for a look back on the half-a-billion year history of bugs. We discuss ancient millipedes as long as a horse, whether we’d rather fight 2 million ant-sized humans or one human-sized ant, the arms races and tiny empires and intertwined symbiotic relationships that have shaped the very planet into the world we know today, and...

Ellen gets the ball rolling with dung beetles & Christian jaws away about the giant moray eel. We discuss tiny boots, field trips to the planetarium, The Mummy (1999), secret jaws, why moray eels make that face, teamwork on the reef, fact checking The Little Mermaid , and more. Links: For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website ! Follow Just the Zoo of Us on  Threads , Fa...

We're out traveling this week! In the meantime, please enjoy this episode of Bugs Need Heroes, in which Ellen joined hosts Amanda Niday and Kelly Zimmerman to settle a debate: are shrimps bugs? Are mantis shrimps shrimps? We discuss how they may or may not be turning into crabs and what they might think of sunsets. Tangents include Godzilla, weddings, pet store stories, internet memes, Sailor Moon...