Just the Zoo of Us

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: InstagramYouTubemoreEntomology BoxwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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” conceptPaläontologische ZeitschriftSurvival of dormant organisms after long-term exposure to the space environmentActa AstronauticaFrom antibiotics to yeast: Latest student science heads for spaceScience DailyHundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' emerge after Arizona monsoonLiveScienceWhat are the three-eyed ‘dinosaur shrimp’ resurfacing after Burning Man?The IndependentTriops Has Three EyesAdult Triops cancriformis (Pancrustacea: Notostraca) mediates the hatching rate of its resting eggsHydrobiologiaTadpole Shrimp Are Coming for Your Rice Links: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: Lyn's artcomic snake shed jewelry & painting workshopwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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 SlimeKQED,Mechanical Devices for Snail-like LocomotionJournal of Intelligent Material Systems and StructuresTough adhesives for diverse wet surfacesScienceEmerging biotechnology promises to transform the materials we use to work and liveUniversity of Washington MagazineShe studies slug sex by the seashore: UCSC researcher works to unlock secrets of banana slug sexLookout Santa CruzOur Mascot: Sammy the Banana SlugLinks: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: YouTubeApple PodcastsInstagramwebsitewebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: InstagramThreadsTikTokwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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?"Ecography"Holocene Demographic Changes and the Emergence of Complex Societies in Prehistoric Australia"PLOS One"Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa"Proc Biol Sci"Saving our darling devils"Australian GeographicLinks: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: InstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebookwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: San Diego Zoo Wildlife AllianceSan Diego Zoo Safari ParkInstagramTikTokwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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: InstagramwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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”Scientific ReportsPunishment and partner switching cause cooperative behavior in a cleaning mutualismBiology LettersPower and temptation cause shifts between exploitation and cooperation in a cleaner wrasse mutualismProc. Biol. Sci.Male cleaner wrasses adjust punishment of female partners according to the stakesProc. Biol. Sci.Cleaner fish are sensitive to what their partners can and cannot seeBiting cleaner fish use altruism to deceive image-scoring client reef fishProc. Biol. Sci.If a fish can pass the mark test, what are the implications for consciousness and selfawareness testing in animals?Further evidence for the capacity of mirror self-recognition in cleaner fish and the significance of ecologically relevant marksCleaner fish recognize self in a mirror via self-face recognition like humansProceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCleaner fish with mirror self-recognition capacity precisely realize their body size based on their mental imageScientific ReportsThe false cleanerfish relies on aggressive mimicry to bite fish fins when benthic foods are scarce in their local habitatScientific ReportsLinks: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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: Epic EarthInstagramYouTubeTikTokwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!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: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!BlueSky

Join Ellen & special guest, writer and science journalist Cara Giaimo, for a highlight reel of some of the animal kingdom’s biggest surprises. We discuss Lego trebuchets, the scifi potential of a projectile-based language, endangered relationships, biofluorescence, the great pacific garbage patch’s number 1 fan, and so much more. Links: Atlas Obscura: Wild LifeLeaving the Ocean Was a MistakeBlueSkyWhat's New in Animals & Plantshttps://caragiaimo.com/websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!BlueSky