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.
269 Available Episodes (269 Total)Average duration: 00:52:22
Oct 09, 2024
259: Strawberry Poison Dart Frog & Clownfish
00:55:36
Christian gets toxic with strawberry poison dart frogs & Ellen just keeps swimming with clownfish. We discuss the final evolution of oof, extreme motherhood, matching blue jeans, the conservation status of clowns, fact checking Finding Nemo, and so much more.
Join Ellen & special guest, podcasting powerhouse Steven Ray Morris, for a long-anticipated review of those furry little predators that have inspired devotion and admiration for thousands of years: the cat. We discuss the history of humans’ relationship to cats, ancient Egypt, fluid dynamics, how they manipulate the laws of physics, the future of cats in space, what makes each cat special to us, and so much more.
Ellen fawns over the viral pygmy hippopotamus & Christian goes big with the harpy eagle. We discuss the evolution of hippos, blood sweat, poocoptering, Moo Deng, smooch breaks, sloth staredowns, and so much more.
Links:
For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
Spider scientist Dr. Sebastian Echeverri returns to share with us his top 3 favorite spiders. We discuss spiders who go from moving like shadows to soaring through the air, spider cowboys with sick lasso moves, wife guy spiders who move in on the first date, how spiders appear in video games and movies and how they could be so much cooler, and of course so much more.
Christian hoots with siamangs & Ellen hollers with laughing kookaburras. We discuss defying gravity, how screaming fits into any good morning routine, birds' double-barreled voices, the true identity behind the SpongeBob dolphin sound, and more.
Links:
Audio source for siamang calls: la-Fontaine.ogg">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Symphalangus_syndactylus_20170623_Dou%C3%A9-la-Fontaine.ogg
Join Ellen & special guest, science communicator Lucca of Lucca's BioHub, for a look back on the half-a-billion year history of bugs. We discuss ancient millipedes as long as a horse, whether we’d rather fight 2 million ant-sized humans or one human-sized ant, the arms races and tiny empires and intertwined symbiotic relationships that have shaped the very planet into the world we know today, and so much more.
Ellen gets the ball rolling with dung beetles & Christian jaws away about the giant moray eel. We discuss tiny boots, field trips to the planetarium, The Mummy (1999), secret jaws, why moray eels make that face, teamwork on the reef, fact checking The Little Mermaid, and more.
Links:
For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
We're out traveling this week! In the meantime, please enjoy this episode of Bugs Need Heroes, in which Ellen joined hosts Amanda Niday and Kelly Zimmerman to settle a debate: are shrimps bugs? Are mantis shrimps shrimps? We discuss how they may or may not be turning into crabs and what they might think of sunsets. Tangents include Godzilla, weddings, pet store stories, internet memes, Sailor Moon and anime translations. Originally aired on the Bugs Need Heroes podcast on June 23, 2024.
Links:
Find the original version of this episode, episode notes and links over at the Bugs Need Heroes podcast!
Join Ellen & special guest, biodiversity champion Kai Gómez D'hers, for a journey through the skies of Argentina on some of the biggest wings in the world. We’re talking about the important role of scavengers as nature’s sanitation engineers, the cascading impacts of poison on entire ecosystems, how communities can work together to make ecological miracles happen, what’s up with the puppets, and so much more.
Links:
Learn more about the Andean Condor Integral Conservation Plan at the PCCA's website: English / Español
Christian chews on the Gila monster & Ellen struts her stuff with the Indian peacock. We discuss Christian's Duolingo streak, lizard venom, yet another hot take from Charles Darwin, how to haze a peacock, and so much more. Real G's move in silence like the Gila monster.
Links:
For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!