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 Slime" for Mallory Pickett, KQED, February 2015
• "Mechanical Devices for Snail-like Locomotion" - Brian Chan et al., Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, February 2007
• "Tough adhesives for diverse wet surfaces" - J. Li et al., Science, July 2017
• "Emerging biotechnology promises to transform the materials we use to work and live" - L.G. Blanchard, University of Washington Magazine, September 1993
• "She studies slug sex by the seashore: UCSC researcher works to unlock secrets of banana slug sex" - Elise Overgaard, Lookout Santa Cruz, June 2023
• "Our Mascot: Sammy the Banana Slug", UC Santa Cruz (uscs.edu)

Links:

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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:

• Check out Birds of a Feather Talk Together on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Instagram!
• Learn more about the Field Museum on their website!
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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:

1. “Genome analyses suggest recent speciation and postglacial isolation in the Norwegian lemming” - Edana Lord et al., PNAS, June 2025
2. “Aposematism and crypsis in a rodent: antipredator defence of the Norwegian lemming” - Malte Andersson, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, April 2015
3. "Vole and lemming activity observed from space" - Johan Olofsson et al, Nature Climate Change, May 2012
4. "Ole Worm (1588-1654) - anatomist and antiquarian" - Rafael Romero Reveron & Luis A Arráez-Aybar, European Journal of Anatomy, July 2015
5. "The Norwegian Lemming and its Migrations" - W. Duppa Crotch, Popular Science Monthly, August 1877
6. "Lemming Suicide Myth: Disney Film Faked Bogus Behavior" - Riley Woodford, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, September 2003
7. "Falling lemming populations" - Chris Smith, ScienceNorway.no, July 2012
8. "Lemmings’ loss is bounty for moss" - Bjørnar Kjensli, ScienceNorway.no, March 2012

Links:

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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:

• Follow Vinny on Instagram, Threads, and TikTok!
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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?" - Shane D. Morris et al., Ecography, Dec 2021
• "Holocene Demographic Changes and the Emergence of Complex Societies in Prehistoric Australia" - Alan N. Williams et al., PLOS One, June 2015
• "Bite club: comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa" - Stephen Wroe, Colin McHenry & Jeffrey Thomason, Proc Biol Sci, March 2005
• "Saving our darling devils", Esme Mathis, Australian Geographic, January 2026

Links:

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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:

• Learn more about Jordan's work at his website: https://www.junglejordan.com/
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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:

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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:

• Cassowary rumble audio: Marc Anderson, XC337534. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/337534.
• Learn more about the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park!
• Follow Marco on Instagram and TikTok!
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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:

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Join Ellen & host of Bizarre Beasts Sarah Suta for a lineup of some animals she’d like to see get a second chance, whether they’re species we’ve already lost or ones that might still have a shot. We discuss foreign exchange student accents, the ecological impact of the invention of the telegraph, bird call sheet music, the scientific fumble of the century, bison where you least expect them, and so much more.

Links:

• Watch Bizarre Beasts and Endlings on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BizarreBeasts
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• Follow Sarah on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.suta/
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