Just the Zoo of Us

Ellen 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 timelineSPEEDO FASTSKIN – A HISTORY OF THE WORLD’S FASTEST SWIMSUITSSwimSwam.comWhite Shark Bite Kinematics — Preliminary Exploration of a New AspectAn electrophysiological correlate of sleep in a sharkJournal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and PhysiologyFor five days in 1980, a great white shark named Sandy lived in Golden Gate ParkThe Great White WayLos Angeles TimesWhite Shark Café: The mysterious meeting spot for great whites in the middle of the Pacific OceanFirst-ever sighting of a live newborn great white”Shark Management Laws Links: maximumfun.org/joinwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo

It's MaxFunDrive. And here, for the first time, we give you an exclusive look (well, listen) at the craft of podcasting: presenting Casters on Casters. In this episode, Teylor Smirl (Still Buffering) and Ellen Weatherford (Just the Zoo of Us) bond over the media they consumed that shaped who they are today, and how that media informs their perspectives on their shows. Plus, each host reveals their dream guest. If this glamorous, in-depth journey into what makes your favorite hosts tick inspires you, support them by joining as a member at maximumfun.org/join. Edited by Laura Swisher and Produced by Hannah Muroz for Maximum Fun. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinjustthezoo

Join Ellen & special guest, co-founder and CEO of conservation organization Wildlife SOS Kartick Satyanarayan, for a review of Asian elephants. We discuss the harm caused by wildlife exploitation, how they protect animals by uplifting human communities, how education can help tourists make more ethical choices, and of course our guest shares some stories of what it’s like living and working alongside these beautiful giants. He’s got feel-good conservation success stories, workplace comedy, an adorable baby elephant, truly what more could you want from a podcast episode? Links: websiteYouTube channelRefuseToRide.orgwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

Follow Ellen down the jackrabbit hole. We discuss facial tilt, satellite dish ears, evolutionary ghosts of predators past, touchdown dances, jackalopes, Easter, and so much more. Works Cited: A Field Guide to JackrabbitsEcological correlates to cranial morphology in Leporids (Mammalia, Lagomorpha)PeerJJackrabbit Gets a Touchdown!Celebrating Easter, Christmas and their associated alien faunaWorld ArchaeologyThe Shifting Baselines of the British Hare GoddessOpen ArchaeologyWhat Do Eggs Have To Do With Easter?Meet Jack Links: MaxFun Meetup DaywebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

Join Ellen & the Cryptonaturalist (Jarod K. Anderson) to talk about the ways that nature and wildlife can inspire our creativity and shape our stories, particularly the enticingly unknowable cryptids. We discuss being raised by a witch, the natural poetry in scientific facts about starfish, the value of enthusiasm, caked up Mothman and the tragic Squonk, getting emoted on by skunks, the surprisingly complicated history of dandelions, a vulture named Potato, and so much more. Links: his websiteStrange AnimalsBookshopInstagramBlueskySubstackThe CryptoNaturalist PodcastwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

Don't call it a comeback, coelacanth's been here for years. We discuss life on Earth 400 million years ago, a military escort mission, our own fish ancestors, five year pregnancies, underwater handstands, an unnecessarily complicated puzzle in the third generation Pokémon games, and so much more. Works Cited: The CoelacanthThe DiscoveryEarliest known coelacanth skull extends the range of anatomically modern coelacanths to the Early DevonianNature CommunicationsAnimated Life: The Living Fossil Fish | HHMI BioInteractive VideoThe coelacanth rostral organ is a unique low-resolution electro-detector that facilitates the feeding strikeScientific ReportsNew scale analyses reveal centenarian African coelacanthsCurrent BiologyNeurocranial development of the coelacanth and the evolution of the sarcopterygian headNatureBuoyancy and hydrostatic balance in a West Indian Ocean coelacanth Latimeria chalumnaeBMC Biology Links: https://seattle.nerdnite.com/websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

Join Ellen & Dalton Mason, creator and bird parent behind Apollo and Frens, for a look into life alongside the world-famous African grey parrot. You may have seen their videos on social media showing off Apollo’s incredibly impressive vocabulary, answering questions and even speaking in full sentences, which have earned the bird a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2025 - on top of all the pistachios, of course. We discuss animal cognition and what makes parrots such great models for animal intelligence, the brain soup machine, bird-proofing a home, parrots video calling each other, and so much more. Works Cited: Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrainPNASBirds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical EnrichmentProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systemswww.xeno-canto.org/719450 Links: https://apolloandfrens.com/YouTubeInstagramTikTokwebsiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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 ExchangeCoevolution of Male and Female Genital Morphology in WaterfowlDucks, Geese, and SwansConspecific Brood Parasitism and Nesting Biology of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in Northeastern ChinaThe Wilson Journal of OrnithologyMolecular Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasitism and Successful Hatching by Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) on the Scaly-sided Merganser (Mergus squamatus)Will You Still Love the Hot Duck When He Looks Like This?Audubon Magazine Links: websiteBlueSkyFacebookInstagramDiscord!InstagramBlueSky

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