Just the Zoo of Us
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 đ 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! đ Cover art by Mrs. Brainbow (Taylor Gordon-Wood). Theme music by Louie Zong.
Episodes
Join Ellen & special guest, digital artist and character designer Roxy Valdez, for a multimedia exploration of the intersection where real-world biology and ecology meets the imagination: speculative evolution! We discuss the world of the Amphiterra Project, the academic research and creative process that goes into designing creatures for science fiction and fantasy, and even team up to roll dice and make our very own creatures. Ou...
Christian takes charge of rhinoceroses & Ellen gives bird-eating tarantulas a hair-raising review. We discuss unicorns, mmwonk, dragon calls, Ace Ventura, becoming the Thumbtacks Guy, recipes for a bag of spiders, and more.Â
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Join Ellen and acclaimed naturalist Ivan Phillipsen to round up his top 3 weirdest birds. We discuss what makes a bird truly âweird,â the distinct silhouette of a style icon, never letting a perfectly good placenta go to waste, birds getting tipsy on fermented berries, and so much more.
Links:
- Find more of Ivan's work at scienceofbirds.com!
- Go check out Ivan's podcast, The Science of Birds!
- For more information about us & our podca...
Ellen & special guest Isaac answer questions from young listeners! We discuss albinism, whales and dinosaurs, what makes an organism an animal, raccoon stripes, the puppification of foxes, and so much more.
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Join Ellen & special guest, veterinarian and rabbit parent Zoe Feigen, for an exposĂ© on rabbits and the secret horrors theyâre hiding underneath all that adorable fluff. We discuss biological warfare on an ecological menace, self-sharpening glass crunchers, eating poop, outie butts, flirting with pee, tearaway hair, haunting screams, and so much more. This truly eye-opening episode will forever change how you see those sweet little...
Ellen bites off more than she can chew with parrotfish. We discuss the Mohs scale, Korn corn, throat teeth, crystal chainmail, sleeping bags made of snot, being terminally male, and so much more.Â
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Join Ellen & special guest, champion of the reef Jessie Palmer, as we try to save the world one polyp at a time. We discuss coral wars and neural nets, aliens from a different version of our own planet, literally re-inventing the wheel with coral-inspired biomimicry, whatâs up with coral bleaching and how can we help, and even surprisingly philosophical questions, like âwhat is an individual?â âwhat is the self?â and âat what point...
Get your seeds and suet ready because it's time for a feed drop: Ellen joins birding musicians Tommy Siegel and Billy Libby for the debut episode of Extremely Accurate Bird Songs (The Podcast) on the mourning dove.
Links:
- Follow along with Extremely Accurate Bird Songs (The Podcast)
- Find more of Tommy's work on his website!
- Find more of Billy's work on his website!
- For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our websit...
Ellen's thinking about those Mexican jumping beans & Christian takes things slow with the slow worm. We discuss bean details, the strategic value of random movement, hair pencils, the difference between snakes and legless lizards, autotomy, and so much more.
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Join Ellen & special guest, evolutionary biologist and herpetologist Dr. Mark D. Scherz, for a look through the magnifying glass at miniaturized animals. Our guest studies species who have shrunk down to incredibly small sizes, like frogs and chameleons who could gather on the tip of your finger, and he has some fascinating insights into why and how animals get so darn itty bitty and what could be stopping them from getting any itt...
Christian walks to the beat of the American woodcock & Ellen throws shade at camel spiders. We discuss peent, walking with rhythm to attract the worm, beak smooches, chain e-mails, girl dinner, ant massacres, and so much more.Â
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Join Ellen & special guest, animal care educator and advocate Sarah Bessie (the "Hedge Chef") for a review of the prickly little roly polies: African pygmy hedgehogs. We discuss built-in hoodie strings, standing jeans, biomimicry in sports equipment, mobile charcuterie, what to do with your skirt when you gotta go fast, all the ways hedgehogs fail to beat the witchcraft allegations, and so much more.
Links:
- Find more of Sarah's w...
Christian is up a creek without a paddlefish & an unusual deep-sea worm becomes the butt of Ellen's jokes. We discuss a previous guest getting electrocuted for shark science, hot takes on the whole direwolf de-extinction thing, the unexpected hybridization of the sturddlefish, why pigbutt worms are like that, statistically insignificant haters, and so much more.Â
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Join Ellen & special guest, author Brooke Hartman, for a look at some of the animal kingdomâs most deceptively adorable assassins. We discuss evolutionary arms race, hot ones for mice, Mr. Yuck, an insect isekai, a toxic honeypot, and so much more. These cuties are slaying more than just their prey.
Links:
- Get your copy of Cute Animals That Could Kill You Dead wherever you buy books!
- Find more of Brooke's work at her website, broo...
Ellen & Christian share stories, observations and inspiration from special guest: you! We discuss Benedict Cumberbatch's turkey gang, my squirrel mech grandma, Twitch plays deep sea ROV dives, hear me out cakes, smuggling budgies, house vultures, and more.
Links:
- Get involved with the MaxFunDrive & check out this year's awesome gifts & bonus content!
- For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
- Follow Just...
Ellen goes nuts for the eastern gray squirrel & a little bird told Christian about the budgerigar (AKA parakeet). We discuss the MaxFunDrive, Pikachu, the e-nut, squirrel crime, fluorescent feathers, spicy air, Bluey, and so much more.Â
Links:
- Get involved with the MaxFunDrive & check out this year's awesome gifts & bonus content!
- For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
- Follow Just the Zoo of Us on Bl...
Itâs not MaxFunDrive without a wild kickoff spectacular! Former real-life VJ and host of MTV's Spring Break 1999, Dave Holmes, takes your favorite MaxFun hosts through some wacky â90s- and Spring Break-themed mini games!!
Featuring: Dave Holmes, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompée, Hal Lublin, Tom Lum, Ellen Weatherford, Alex Schmidt, Brenda Snell, Drea Clark, Alonso Duralde, Dan McCoy, Jordan Morris, Manolo Moreno, Ella Hubb...
In a continuation of our dinosaur double-feature, Ellen is joined by a paleoartist and marine biologist for a review of the ancient giants that towered over the late Jurassic world: Brachiosaurus.
We discuss bringing ancient dinosaurs to life with art, puking on company time, paleontology patch notes, the pros and cons of having an inflatable noggin, skibidi gorillas, and so much more.
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Ellen & special guest, paleontology educator Christian Flores, review the towering icons of the dinosaur world: Tyrannosaurus rex. We discuss what we can learn about T. rex from the fossils they left behind and the similarities we can see in their modern dinosaur cousins, as well as bringing T. rex to life through art and narrative, Project Paleozoo, and so much more.
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Christian gives a hoot about the owl-faced kÄkÄpĆ & Ellen draws a line in the ocean over flying fish. We discuss ghosts of selection past, jug band beats, Pliny the Elder, pyramid eyeballs, Rihanna's nod to an international maritime dispute, and so much more.Â
Links:
- KÄkÄpĆ sounds from: https://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/kakapo
- For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
- Follow Just the Zoo of Us on...
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