Just the Zoo of Us

Ellen & special guest Isaac answer questions from young listeners! We discuss bug guts, milking squids, the blobfish's secret Final Form, getting upped, ancient sharks with table saws for faces, and so much more.

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Join Ellen & special guest, writer and scientist Dan Werb, for a look at the animal neighbors that have made themselves at home in our own backyards: synanthropes. The word means a wild, undomesticated animal that lives closely alongside humans, whether that means scurrying through subway tunnels or curling up in an old refrigerator at the bottom of the sea or quietly roosting right over your head, all of which we discuss in this episode. We also talk about a university campus turf war between dogs and baboons, the genetically enhanced Super Soldiers of New York City, villainous plants, the ancient prehistoric roots of our spiritual relationship with ravens, and other fascinating stories featured in Dan’s book, Our Wild Familiars, which has just released this week.   

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Pick up Our Wild Familiars where books are sold!

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Ellen and Christian return from their travels to review the good, the bad, and the ugly of the mongooses. We discuss the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum, historical plurals, neurotoxin Darth Vader, checking in with Pliny the Elder, the most "mean girls" scientific study ever, mysteriously weird pupils, the global issue of mongoose-induced ecological destruction, and so much more. 

Works Cited:

"Mongoose" - Etymonline

“How the mongoose can fight the snake: The binding site of the mongoose acetylcholine receptor” - Dora Barchan et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, August 1992

“Why the honey badger don't care: Convergent evolution of venom-targeted nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in mammals that survive venomous snake bites” - Danielle Drabeck et al., Toxicon, March 2015

Book 8, chapter 36 of Natural History - Pliny the Elder, 77 CE

“Experimental evidence for delayed postconflict management behaviour in wild dwarf mongooses”  - Amy Morris-Drake et al, eLife, September 2021

Hawaii Invasive Species Council - Mongoose (Urva auropunctata)

“Negative Impact of an Invasive Small Indian Mongoose Herpestes javanicus on Native Wildlife Species and Evaluation of a Control Project in Amami-Ohshima and Okinawa Islands, Japan” - Fumio Yamada & Ken Sugimura, Global Environmental Research, December 2004

Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, Schedule 2 - New Zealand government

Links:

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Ellen & special guest, science journalist and host of Radiolab and Terrestrials Lulu Miller, discuss the lifelong impact of science communication, review bald eagles, and share a very special podcast treat. Terrestrials: The Trio originally aired on July 26, 2024: https://radiolab.org/podcast/terrestrials-the-trio240726

From the original episode description:

"High above the banks of the Mississippi River, a nest holds the secret life of one of America’s most patriotic creatures. Their story puzzles scientists, reinforces Indigenous wisdom, and wows audiences—all thanks to a park ranger named Ed and a well-placed webcam. If you want to spoil the mystery, here ya go: it’s a bald eagle. Actually, it’s three bald eagles. A mama bird and daddies make a home together for over a decade and give new meaning to our national symbol."

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Learn more about Terrestrials: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab-kids

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Join Ellen & special guest science communicator, infectious disease researcher, and the Khaleesi of Mosquitos for a review of some of the animal kingdom’s most controversial creatures. We discuss whether our guest would rather fight 10,000 mosquitos or a gorilla, evil squiggles and how malaria works, larval cannibalism and mosquito-on-mosquito crime, what the insectary is doing with all those soup cups and dental dams, and so much more. 

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Learn more about the the Kaushansky Lab at Seattle Children's Hospital's Center for Global Infectious Disease Research!

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