Comfort Creatures

As 2025 comes to an end, Ella has put together her list of the top animal moments of the year! Featuring Orangutans, Pika, and even some shocked dolphins. Meanwhile, Alexis learns all about her new favorite Christmas pests, the Kallikantzaros! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all! Thanks for listening! 

What has two massive teeth, a chunky body and a mouth like a hoover? THESE GUYS. Walruses people. In all their blubbery glory. Plus a myth from Greenland about the creation of all our favourite wintery marine creatures. If it's cold where you are, wrap up warm with a hot drink to keep Ella's lurgy at bay -- if it's not cold... well, aren't you lucky?

To ease you into the holiday season, we've decided to look into Christmas Island and more specifically, some of the really cool creatures that live there. Did you know there are thousands of bright red crabs that live there and cover the island once a year? Did you know about the Brown Booby? Will Ella be able to tell you about the Brown Booby without laughing? Tune in and find out! We also have a wonderful Ready Pet Go from Laura!

Gobble gobble! It's Thanksgiving AKA Turkey Day in the US today and there's no better way to celebrate than to learn all about the Wild Turkey! Ella has some fun Turkey myths and a perfect turkey poem: Talking Turkeys by Benjamin Zephaniah.

It's November and we've accidentally done a Discomfort Creatures episode! This week we discuss scorpions and their unusual mating habits, the mythology behind the zodiac sign, and of course... worms! Tune in!

Ella and Alexis haven't seen each other in a month so they have a LOT to catch-up on. They discuss Halloween costumes, European animal spotting, and plenty of well fed street cats. Plus, as good journalists, we also have some breaking whale fashion news! We also pay or respects to the wonderful Jane Goodall.

We absolutely love it when a mythical (allegedly) creature pops up across cultures and this week we've hit the jackpot! A firebird that continually reincarnates? A chick born from the ashes? Or a very misunderstood pheasant? Tune in for some phoenix chat! Plus, a beautiful Ready Pet Go from Alex and Daisy!

Another classic that we've ignored too long! The canine cousins of our dear friends Crumb, Cricket and Simba. Get ready to howl at the moon, run with the pack and have your patriarchal notions of alpha and betas totally eradicated!

It's happened! It's finally happened! Ella watched 'Over The Garden Wall!' We chat the elite vibes of this excellent show, talk about our favourite characters and and break down why this series is an October classic for the ages. Plus, we have an excellent RPG from Jordan and Newton! Good on you, Newton!

It's our favourite time of year and we're leaning in! It's time for black cats and Jack-o-lanterns! Can you believe these two classics have gone as of yet undiscussed by us? We chat gourds, rutabagas and the elusive cat sí!

Tea time comfies! We're concluding our read along discussion of T.J. Klune's 'A House in the Cerulean Sea'. We chat Arthur's reveal, expectations of the sequel and how/why we relate to our favourite characters. What are your favourite parts of this book? Let us know! Also apologies for the technical difficulties! But hopefully they are somewhat amusing!

It's October!! AKA Halloween month! AKA spooky season! So who better to kick us off then one of the classic creepy critters: The Death's Head Hawkmoth! You know the one that looks like it has a skull on its back? Well it turns out that these moths really capture the Halloween spirit so we learn all about it! We also discuss some moth myths and some extremly relevant Greek mythology!Reminder! Our Livestream for part 2 of the House in Cerulean Sea will be THIS Sunday, October 5th, at 1pm PST. Link to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ComfortCreaturesPodcast

Hello! We just wanted to let you know that our Read-A-Long for the second (and final) part for The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune will be on Sunday, October 5th at 1pm PST. You'll be able to find it on our youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ComfortCreaturesPodcast

In honor of the House in the Cerulean Sea and all of the fun cratures in it, we thought we should discuss Wyverns! We discuss what makes them unique, family crests, and preferred amounts of limbs on a dragon-like creature. Then, Alexis discusses the history of the Chihuahua and their magical ancestors!

We hope you enjoy our discussion on the first half of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune! Thank you for tuning in to the livestream if you were able, but if not, here it is! We had so much fun and can't wait to finish the book and see if our predictions come true!

Ella had a Scottish adventure and may have seen a mythical beast! Alexis has stumbled across a creature that really SHOULD be a mythical beast. We're back at it this week, as well as ramping up for our Read-A-Long! The live stream for the first half of The House on The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune will be on Sunday September 14th! Hope to see you there!You can find the livestream on our youtube channel! https://www.youtube.com/@ComfortCreaturesPodcast

Ella was trapped in Scotland for longer than expected, so we will be back with our regular animal content next week. We wanted to remind everyone that we are doing our Read-A-Long this month! We'll be reading The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune! The livestream for the first half of the book (up to chapter 11) will be on Sunday, September 14th! We hope you can all join!

While we do love chatting about how gorgeous certain creatures are -- check out our crossover episode with the gang from Reading Smut if that sounds like a bit of you -- today we mean hot as in temperate. Toasty. Real life phoenixes, if you will. Alexis teaches us about bugs in balmy climes and Ella explains that when people say "camels store water in their humps" they don't mean they attach straws to their humps and have a drink like hikers. Who knew? Plus a Ready Pet Go from Shannon, Vesper and Percy (a great name). Don't forget, September will be our Read-A-Long month! We'll be reading House of the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune! Get your hands on the book now, and we'll loop you in with our schedule soon!

We're not discussing scouse boys with funny hair in the '60s (greatest band of all time etc etc yes we know) but we ARE talking about June bugs, Ancient Egyptian amulets and the existential question of life and death. Beetles, folks! Beetles! We also have an excellent Ready Pet Go from Aly and the unruly mob! As ever, we want to hear from you, so do get in touch with your thoughts, feelings and animal anecdotes.We're taking a break next week because Ella is heading off to do her best chipmunk impression, but exciting news - September will be our Read-A-Long month! We'll be reading House of the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune! Get your hands on the book now, and we'll loop you in with our schedule soon!

Nothing in the ocean should be bigger than a Megladon or a Blue Whale. You heard it here first: we're dying on this hill. And did you know that Zebra sharks can be partial to a belly rub? All this plus talk of banana-sized teeth, hidden mouths and more Titanic hot takes on this week's ep! Send us YOUR pet stories (Ready, Pet, Go!) at comfortcreatures@maximumfun.org and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe! Follow us @comfortcreaturespodcast on Instagram! Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/PFVQXgMYWB