Just the Zoo of Us

Join Ellen & special guest, wildlife veterinarian, filmmaker and science communicator Dr César Puechmarin, for a review of Australia’s masters of song: the lyrebird.  We discuss birdwatching drama, the ancient origins of songbirds, vocal anatomy, secret passwords, oral history and cultural memory passed down through generations and the ghosts remembered in birdsong, and so much more.Links:Learn more about César and find more of his work on his website!Check out César's podcasts: Death By Birding & Every Animal Ever!Pre-order César's book, Nature People!Follow César 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!Sound Credit:Superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae) call: Greg McLachlan, XC368459. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/368459.

Ellen & Christian team up as a coyote and badger in a cozy duet TTRPG adventure. When a family of skunks accuse a reclusive bobcat of disturbing their peaceful home, the woodland's finest pair of peacekeepers are on the case. We use the Badger + Coyote game system by Pandion Games to improvise a collaborative story of mystery, fire, a waterfall cave, legend of stalking predators in the night, devious traps, and even romance.Links:Check out Badger + Coyote, the cozy duet TTRPG of mischief and survival from Pandion Games!Check out more of the games and resources from Pandion Games!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 gives the mysterious wing-clapping nightjars a round of applause. We discuss Pliny the Elder, bird whiskers, what it really means to "raise one's standards," ecologically accurate sound effects in The Legend of Zelda, an acoustic mystery, El Chupacabra, 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 CREDITS: Eastern Whip-poor-will call: Jonathon Jongsma, via Wikimedia Commons - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Antrostomus_vociferus_-_Eastern_Whip-poor-will_-_XC103418.oggChuck-wills-widow call: Wikimedia Commons user Jordgette - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chuck-wills-widow_call_01.oggNightjar wing clapping: Chris Packham and Wild Finca, via Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1125878613362748

Join Ellen & returning guest, science communicator and comedy writer Katie Goldin, for a roundup of her 3 weirdest facts about sharks. We discuss cage-free uranium, possible mermaid configurations, why sometimes people poop themselves when they’re scared, how fomo can conquer phobia, eye teeth, and so much more. Heads up: part of this episode’s conversation is about cocaine. When it comes up I will have edited in some guidance for skipping ahead for anyone who might not find that suitable. As always, there’s no profanity or anything graphic, but it is a topic of discussion.Links:Listen to Katie's podcast, Secretly Incredibly Fascinating!Listen to Katie's other podcast, Creature Feature!Follow Katie 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!

In this week's re-broadcast of an episode from September of 2022, Ellen lets Pallas's cat out of the bag & Christian probes into the world of the sensitive kiwi. We discuss grumpy cats, spawncamping, chilly beans, buff legs and giant eggs.Links:Check out Benjamin Lancer's paper on dragonfly attention in Nature!Watch Wildlife Instincts: Pallas's Cat - Master of the Plains on YouTube!Learn more about how you can help the kiwi!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 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!