Just the Zoo of Us

Ellen explains what the red fox REALLY says. We discuss a chicken shakedown, the Siberian fox domestication experiment, aim assist, quantum entanglement, genetic surprises, 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!SOUND CREDIT: Fox screaming in the night.mp3 by craigsays -- https://freesound.org/s/537586/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Join Ellen & special guest, marine biologist and seabird wrangler Melina Watson, for a review of the ocean’s bravest little walkerwalkers: Leach’s storm petrel. We swap whalewatching stories, discuss snot gutters and lost feet and baby chicks that look like soot sprites, and get firsthand insight into life among the seabirds, from falling asleep to a lullaby of screams to a surprising assessment of the smell situation.Links:Follow Melina 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 pokes her nose into the giant anteater's business. We discuss Fun Dip, sleeper builds, optical illusions, blankies, the shirshu, and so much more.Links:Learn more about the ICAS on their website and follow them 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!

Join Ellen & special guest, digital artist and character designer Roxy Valdez, for a multimedia exploration of the intersection where real-world biology and ecology meets the imagination: speculative evolution! We discuss the world of the Amphiterra Project, the academic research and creative process that goes into designing creatures for science fiction and fantasy, and even team up to roll dice and make our very own creatures. Our guest provides illustrations and an interactive spec evo prompt generator that will be posted on our socials to accompany this episode!Links:Follow Roxy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/bighugefrog.bsky.socialFind more of Roxy's work and info: https://bighugefrog.carrd.co/Find the Amphiterra Project: https://amphiterra.weebly.com/Roxy's Recommendations:Serina: https://sites.google.com/site/worldofserina/homeRunaway to the Stars: https://www.runawaytothestars.com/The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhinogrades: https://archive.org/details/snoutersforml00stumDougal Dixon: htt

Christian takes charge of rhinoceroses & Ellen gives bird-eating tarantulas a hair-raising review. We discuss unicorns, mmwonk, dragon calls, Ace Ventura, becoming the Thumbtacks Guy, recipes for a bag of spiders, and 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!

Join Ellen and acclaimed naturalist Ivan Phillipsen to round up his top 3 weirdest birds. We discuss what makes a bird truly “weird,” the distinct silhouette of a style icon, never letting a perfectly good placenta go to waste, birds getting tipsy on fermented berries, and so much more.Links:Find more of Ivan's work at scienceofbirds.com!Go check out Ivan's podcast, The Science of Birds!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!Source of audio clip played at 42 minutes 17 seconds: Jacob Wijpkema, XC695095. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/695095.

Ellen & special guest Isaac answer questions from young listeners! We discuss albinism, whales and dinosaurs, what makes an organism an animal, raccoon stripes, the puppification of foxes, 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!

Join Ellen & special guest, veterinarian and rabbit parent Zoe Feigen, for an exposé on rabbits and the secret horrors they’re hiding underneath all that adorable fluff. We discuss biological warfare on an ecological menace, self-sharpening glass crunchers, eating poop, outie butts, flirting with pee, tearaway hair, haunting screams, and so much more. This truly eye-opening episode will forever change how you see those sweet little faces and cotton ball tails.Links:Follow Zoe on Bluesky!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 bites off more than she can chew with parrotfish. We discuss the Mohs scale, Korn corn, throat teeth, crystal chainmail, sleeping bags made of snot, being terminally male, 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!

Join Ellen & special guest, champion of the reef Jessie Palmer, as we try to save the world one polyp at a time. We discuss coral wars and neural nets, aliens from a different version of our own planet, literally re-inventing the wheel with coral-inspired biomimicry, what’s up with coral bleaching and how can we help, and even surprisingly philosophical questions, like “what is an individual?” “what is the self?” and “at what point do you have a new body?” This episode will change the way you look at a reef - and maybe even yourself. Hope you’re ready.Links:Follow Jessie 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!

Get your seeds and suet ready because it's time for a feed drop: Ellen joins birding musicians Tommy Siegel and Billy Libby for the debut episode of Extremely Accurate Bird Songs (The Podcast) on the mourning dove.Links:Follow along with Extremely Accurate Bird Songs (The Podcast)Find more of Tommy's work on his website!Find more of Billy's work on his 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 BlueSky!

Ellen's thinking about those Mexican jumping beans & Christian takes things slow with the slow worm. We discuss bean details, the strategic value of random movement, hair pencils, the difference between snakes and legless lizards, autotomy, and so much more.Links: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!

Join Ellen & special guest, evolutionary biologist and herpetologist Dr. Mark D. Scherz, for a look through the magnifying glass at miniaturized animals. Our guest studies species who have shrunk down to incredibly small sizes, like frogs and chameleons who could gather on the tip of your finger, and he has some fascinating insights into why and how animals get so darn itty bitty and what could be stopping them from getting any itty bittier. We discuss silliness in scientific names, assuming a spherical frog in a vacuum, chameleons called B. nana, whether jawbones spark joy, how many brain cells you really even need anyway, and so much more.Links:Learn more about Mark and his work on his website: http://www.markscherz.com/Check out Mark's podcast, SquaMates: http://squamatespod.com/Follow Mark on Tumblr: https://markscherz.tumblr.com/Follow Mark on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/markscherz.bsky.socialFor more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!Follow Just the Zoo of Us on 

Christian walks to the beat of the American woodcock & Ellen throws shade at camel spiders. We discuss peent, walking with rhythm to attract the worm, beak smooches, chain e-mails, girl dinner, ant massacres, 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!

Join Ellen & special guest, animal care educator and advocate Sarah Bessie (the "Hedge Chef") for a review of the prickly little roly polies: African pygmy hedgehogs. We discuss built-in hoodie strings, standing jeans, biomimicry in sports equipment, mobile charcuterie, what to do with your skirt when you gotta go fast, all the ways hedgehogs fail to beat the witchcraft allegations, and so much more.Links:Find more of Sarah's work and hedgehog care content at her website: https://www.hedgechef.co.uk/Follow Sarah and fill your feed with adorable hedgehogs 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! 

Christian is up a creek without a paddlefish & an unusual deep-sea worm becomes the butt of Ellen's jokes. We discuss a previous guest getting electrocuted for shark science, hot takes on the whole direwolf de-extinction thing, the unexpected hybridization of the sturddlefish, why pigbutt worms are like that, statistically insignificant haters, 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!

Join Ellen & special guest, author Brooke Hartman, for a look at some of the animal kingdom’s most deceptively adorable assassins. We discuss evolutionary arms race, hot ones for mice, Mr. Yuck, an insect isekai, a toxic honeypot, and so much more. These cuties are slaying more than just their prey.Links:Get your copy of Cute Animals That Could Kill You Dead wherever you buy books!Find more of Brooke's work at her website, brookeahartman.comFor 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 & Christian share stories, observations and inspiration from special guest: you! We discuss Benedict Cumberbatch's turkey gang, my squirrel mech grandma, Twitch plays deep sea ROV dives, hear me out cakes, smuggling budgies, house vultures, and more.Links:Get involved with the MaxFunDrive & check out this year's awesome gifts & bonus content!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! MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Ellen goes nuts for the eastern gray squirrel & a little bird told Christian about the budgerigar (AKA parakeet). We discuss the MaxFunDrive, Pikachu, the e-nut, squirrel crime, fluorescent feathers, spicy air, Bluey, and so much more. Links:Get involved with the MaxFunDrive & check out this year's awesome gifts & bonus content!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! MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

It’s not MaxFunDrive without a wild kickoff spectacular! Former real-life VJ and host of MTV's Spring Break 1999, Dave Holmes, takes your favorite MaxFun hosts through some wacky ‘90s- and Spring Break-themed mini games!!Featuring: Dave Holmes, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompée, Hal Lublin, Tom Lum, Ellen Weatherford, Alex Schmidt, Brenda Snell, Drea Clark, Alonso Duralde, Dan McCoy, Jordan Morris, Manolo Moreno, Ella Hubber, Caroline Roper, Ella McLeod, John-Luke Roberts, Justin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Mike Cabellon, Sierra Katow, Hal Lublin, Danielle Radford, John Moe, Christian Dueñas, Christian Duguay.Eurovision Dance Party Playlist on Spotify MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.