Just the Zoo of Us

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 guest, science communicator and Certified Bug Friend Emily, for a review of the tiny little bugs that fly around your nearest kitchen sink. We discuss what Big Pest doesn’t want you to know, convergent evolution between bugs and fish, the drain gods, secret spy languages that only bugs can read, and so much more. Links: Follow Emily on Instagram, YouTube, and more! Learn more about the Entomology Box! 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 goes on a journey through time and space with Triops, the tadpole shrimp. We discuss book fairs, vernal pools, whether saltwater or freshwater came first, trips to space, prehistoric scampi, surprise guests at Burning Man, and so much more. Sources: "Ontogenetic sequence comparison of extant and fossil tadpole shrimps: no support for the “living fossil” concept" - Philipp Wagner et al., Paläontologische Zeitschrift, August 2017 “Survival of dormant organisms after long-term exposure to the space environment” - N. Novikova et al., Acta Astronautica, June 2010 “From antibiotics to yeast: Latest student science heads for space” - NASA, Science Daily, July 2014 “Hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' emerge after Arizona monsoon” - Laura Geggel, LiveScience, October 2021 “What are the three-eyed ‘dinosaur shrimp’ resurfacing after Burning Man?” - Faiza Saqib, The Independent, September 2023 They Might Be Giants song “Triops Has Three Eyes” “Adult Triops cancriformis (Pancrustacea: Notostraca) mediates the hatching rate of its resting eggs” - Alžbeta Devánová et al., Hydrobiologia, March 2022 “Tadpole Shrimp Are Coming for Your Rice” - PBS Deep Look 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 guest artist and reptile keeper Lyn for an up close and personal look at a little snake with a big appetite. We discuss how it feels to handle a snake, stress dreams specific to pet owners, gastoning it, spine teeth, snacktivities, how snakes flirt with each other, and so much more.Links:Check out Lyn's art and comic on Instagram! Denver folks, check out Lyn's upcoming snake shed jewelry & painting workshop!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 takes things slow with the iconic banana slug. We discuss mobile slip 'n' slides, recreationally poisoning yourself, liquid crystals, oobleck, robosnail, slime trains, moisture farming, apophallation, college mascots, and so much more.Works Cited:"Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime" for Mallory Pickett, KQED, February 2015"Mechanical Devices for Snail-like Locomotion" - Brian Chan et al., Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, February 2007"Tough adhesives for diverse wet surfaces" - J. Li et al., Science, July 2017"Emerging biotechnology promises to transform the materials we use to work and live" - L.G. Blanchard, University of Washington Magazine, September 1993"She studies slug sex by the seashore: UCSC researcher works to unlock secrets of banana slug sex" - Elise Overgaard, Lookout Santa Cruz, June 2023"Our Mascot: Sammy the Banana Slug", UC Santa Cruz (uscs.edu)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!

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!

Join Ellen & special guest comedian, writer, and nature enthusiast Vinny Thomas for a review of some of the furry, feathered, and scaly neighbors making themselves at home right in our very own cities. We discuss domestication, dogs with human feet, inflatable snoods, ostriches for self-defense, kaiju battles at the park, life in a shipwreck, and so much more.Links:Follow Vinny on Instagram, Threads, 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!

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!

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!

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!

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

Ellen has a bone to pick with turkey vultures. We discuss aura farming, our gripes with the pH scale, a check-in with our resident Dragon Ball Z correspodent, screaming inside your heart, laser harassment campaigns, 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 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, zoology and science communication powerhouse Lindsay Nikole, for a review of some of the animal kingdom’s greatest hits throughout the history of the Earth. We discuss ecological gossip, mass extinctions, the Cambrian explosion and evolution’s “experimental” phase, swimming potatoes with googly eyes, giant bugs, bizarre prehistoric sharks, imaginary friend lore, and so much more.Links:Pre-order your copy of Lindsay's book, Epic Earth!Follow Lindsay on Instagram, YouTube, 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 BlueSky!

Ellen gets her claws out for the hairy frog. We discuss what the tooth fairy dispatch system is doing with all those teeth, frog gigging, Wolverine lore, the scariest horror of all: Chytridiomycosis, 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!