Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! This week, Ellen puts the spotted lanternfly in the spotlight & Christian spills his guts on the crown-of-thorns starfish. We discuss stinky trees, winged invaders, crunching up corals, and eyes where you least expect them.

Learn more about what to do if you see spotted lanternflies in the USA: https://www.phila.gov/2018-08-31-spotted-lanternfly-in-philadelphia/

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Cover photos: arlutz73 via Getty images (spotted lanternfly) & Velvetfish via Getty images (crown-of-thorns starfish)

Join Ellen & special guest, illustrator and author Alexander Vidal, for a review of a tiny bird with an ambitious itinerary: the rufous hummingbird. We discuss cottagecore nests, how wildlife moves all over our continent, birds that look like bugs and bugs that look like birds, and a lesson in confidence from the world’s littlest dinosaurs. 

Get Alexander's book, Wilds of the United States: The Animals' Survival Field Guide!

Follow Alexander on Twitter and Instagram!

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Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! This week, Christian gets salty over the marine iguana & Ellen glides along with the literally treehugging colugo. We discuss archipelagos, snot rockets, Darwin's garbage takes, Godzilla, skin parachutes and baby hammocks.

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Cover photos: Patrick_Gijsbers via Getty images (marine iguana) & Didasteph via Wikimedia commons (colugo)

Join Ellen & special guest, marine biologist Sophie Wolvin, for a review of the ocean's little jello casseroles full of live bees: moon jellyfish! We’re gonna talk about what to do if you get stung by a jellyfish, what it’s like to care for the delicate jellies, their vortex of death, jellybeans and blooms, and I confess to some heinous jellyfish crimes.

Follow Sophie on Twitter and learn more about her work at her website!

Listen to Sophie discuss young adult fiction with biologists on the Midlight Crisis podcast!

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Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! In this week's episode, Ellen lets Pallas's cat out of the bag & Christian probes into the world of the sensitive kiwi. We discuss grumpy cats, spawncamping, chilly beans, buff legs and giant eggs.

Check out Benjamin Lancer's paper on dragonfly attention in Nature!

Watch Wildlife Instincts: Pallas's Cat - Master of the Plains on YouTube!

Learn more about how you can help the kiwi!

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Cover photos: Radovan Zierik via Getty images (Pallas's cat), Lakeview Images via Getty (kiwi)

Join Ellen & special guest, podcaster and invertebrate enthusiast Tom Sharpe, as we leap into the world of the tiny menace: fleas! We discuss the intersection of entomology and Pokemon, blind leaps of faith, tiny little cowboys riding their trusty steeds up cave walls, the history of fleas on leashes, and more.

For more of Tom's invertebrate podcasting, check out Grubbing in the Filth: An Invertebrate Podcast! Follow along on Twitter & Instagram.

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Cover photo: Jugas via Getty images

Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! In this week's episode, Christian barks about the loud wet dog of the Pacific coast, the California sea lion, and Ellen gets to know her bottomfeeding best friend, the giant isopod. In this episode, we discuss our recent trip to Monterey Bay, pinniped evolution, whale falls, and Hello Kitty Darth Vader. 

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Cover photos: cwinegarden via Getty images (sea lion), Monterey Bay Aquarium via Twitter post (giant isopod)

Join Ellen & special guest, anthropologist & cetologist Drew Smith, for a review of the adorable little apex predators zipping through the waves: dolphins! We talked about animal charisma, dolphin culture and society and play, a West Side Story-style rivalry, a whale’s favorite ice cream flavor, and how these animals so different from us have flipped and whistled their way into our human hearts.

Follow Drew on Twitter!

Learn more about upcoming Paleolithic historical fiction novel Jih's Journey   here!

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Cover photo provided by Drew Smith

Join the Weatherfords for a weekly animal review! In this week's episode, Ellen brings a flair for drama with the hognose snake & Christian shatters expectations with the lightning-fast strike of the cone snail. We discuss feigning death, longleaf pine forests, and stealthy assassins of the reef.

For more information on longleaf pine forest conservation, check out the Longleaf Alliance.

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Cover photos: Mark Kostich (hognose snake) via Getty images, Richard Ling (cone snail) via Wikipedia

Audio from Don Giovanni via Wikimedia Commons

Join Ellen & special guest musician from Jukebox the Ghost, comic artist behind "Candy Hearts" and "I Hope This Helps," and birder Tommy Siegel for a review of the touring musicians of the North American skies: sandhill cranes. We talk about the mental health benefits of birding, how crane couples keep the romance alive, what a musical interpretation of their iconic call might sound like, and more.

Follow Tommy on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Learn more about his work on his website. Calendars, prints and stickers of Extremely Accurate Birds can be ordered here!

Learn more about Jukebox the Ghost at their website & listen to their new album Cheers wherever you get your music!

Follow Just the Zoo of Us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Discord & join Ellen for weekly video game streams on Twitch!

Tune in to Science & Sorcery at 2pm eastern on Friday, July 22nd for a D&D adventure!

Cover photo: bookguy via Getty images

Crane sound effect recorded by Tim Kahn, obtained via freesound.org