Podcast
Just the Zoo of Us
Hosted by Ellen & Christian Weatherford · EN
Join us, Ellen and Christian Weatherford, while we review your favorite species of animals and rate them out of ten in the categories of effectiveness, ingenuity and aesthetics.
More information can be found at justthezooofus.com 😊
Got a species you want us to review? Submit your animal friend to us at ellen@justthezooofus.com and when we review your animal we'll give you a shoutout! 😊
Cover art by Mrs. Brainbow (Taylor Gordon-Wood). Theme music by Louie Zong.
22episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
341: Elephant Mosquito w/ Cassandra Fieldson!
4d ago00:57:24Tap to summarizeJoin 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
Transcribe →340: Fiddler Crab
1w ago00:52:14Tap to summarizeWe 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
Transcribe →339: Binturong w/ Rick Schwartz!
3w ago01:05:26Tap to summarizeJoin 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
Transcribe →338: Seriema
4w ago00:48:34Tap to summarizeEllen gets her claws out for seriemas. We discuss terror birds, reverse mullets, sickle claws, weird scenes from Jurassic Park, golf ball physics, and so much more. Works Cited: “Observation of Claw Use and Feeding Behavior of the Red-Legged Seriema and Its Implication for Claw Use in Deinonychosaurs” - Oswald et al., Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, January 2023 "Seriema - modern day Velociraptor?" - Dr. Brian Curtice, fossilcrates.com November 2022 “Bird bounces golf ball on the cart path!” - Alex Baggett, YouTube Audio: Guilherme de Barros Brandão, XC417496. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/417496 “Commentary: Defining Raptors and Birds of Prey” - McClure et al., Journal of Raptor Research, November 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! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Transcribe →337: Tree Kangaroos w/ Lisa Dabek!
May 2100:59:49Tap to summarizeJoin 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
Transcribe →336: Crawfish w/ Jack Koch!
May 1500:46:22Tap to summarizeJoin 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
Transcribe →335: Sand Cat
May 600:58:27Tap to summarizeEllen lets the sand cat out of the bag. We discuss dangerously approaching Hey Arnold, refusal to poop on unfamiliar toilets, blood gushers, a myth of dirty underwear, Cat Premium, and so much more. Works Cited: “The Carnivores of West Africa” - Donovan Reginald Rosevear, 1974. Page 396 “Mammalian ear specializations in arid habitats: structural and functional evidence from sand cat (Felis margarita)” - G. T. Huang et al, Journal of Comparative Physiology A, June 2002 “Sand cat in Iran - present status, distribution and conservation challenges” - Taher Ghadirian et al., CATnews (newsletter of the IUCN’s Cat Specialist Group), 2016 "Sand Cat" - International Society of Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada “Home ranges of African sand cats (Felis margarita margarita)” - Alexander Sliwa et al., Journal of Arid Environments, March 2023 “Isabelline” - Paul Anthony Jones, HaggardHawks.com IUCN Red List: Sand Cat (Felis margarita) "DOMESTIC X SAND CAT AND PALLAS'S CAT HYBRIDS" - Sarah Hartwell, messybeast.com 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
Transcribe →Bonus Content Free Samples! (2026)
Apr 3000:55:12Tap to summarizeCurious about the exclusive bonus content for Maximum Fun members? Enjoy some free samples from special episodes: "All Fun and Games with Isaac," "Just the Two of Us," and Let's Learn Everything's "Frogs! II A Royal Rescue" If you like what you hear, head over to https://maximumfun.org/join and sign up to get access to the entire bonus content library and SO much more! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Transcribe →334: Animals in Space w/ Let's Learn Everything!
Apr 2901:08:54Tap to summarizeEllen & 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! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
Transcribe →333: Great White Shark
Apr 2301:23:57Tap to summarizeEllen 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! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo
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