Just the Zoo of Us

Join Ellen & Dalton Mason, creator and bird parent behind Apollo and Frens, for a look into life alongside the world-famous African grey parrot. You may have seen their videos on social media showing off Apollo’s incredibly impressive vocabulary, answering questions and even speaking in full sentences, which have earned the bird a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2025 - on top of all the pistachios, of course. We discuss animal cognition and what makes parrots such great models for animal intelligence, the brain soup machine, bird-proofing a home, parrots video calling each other, and so much more.

Works Cited:

"Birds have primate-like numbers of neurons in the forebrain" - Seweryn Olkowicz et al., PNAS, June 2016

"Birds of a Feather Video-Flock Together: Design and Evaluation of an Agency-Based Parrot-to-Parrot Video-Calling System for Interspecies Ethical Enrichment" - Rebecca Kleinberger et al., Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 2023

African Grey Parrot flight calls: Peter Boesman, XC719450. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/719450

Links:

Learn more about Apollo and Frens on their website: https://apolloandfrens.com/

Follow Apollo and Frens on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok!

For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!

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Ellen falls in love with the Mandarin duck. We discuss why waterfowl's webbed feet don't freeze in the winter, the evolutionary arms race between male and female ducks, New York City's local celebrity Hot Duck, your new favorite coffee order, and more.

Works Cited:

"Countercurrent Exchange" - Dr. Roger Lederer, ornithology.org

“Coevolution of Male and Female Genital Morphology in Waterfowl” - Patricia L. R. Brennan et al., PLOS One, May 2007

"Ducks, Geese, and Swans" - Ivan Phillipsen, scienceofbirds.com, December 2020

“Conspecific Brood Parasitism and Nesting Biology of Mandarin Ducks (Aix galericulata) in Northeastern China” - Qiu-Ziang Deng et al., The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, September 2011

"Molecular Evidence for Interspecific Brood Parasitism and Successful Hatching by Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) on the Scaly-sided Merganser (Mergus squamatus)" - Shu Liu et al., BMC Zoology (under review Feb 2026)

"Will You Still Love the Hot Duck When He Looks Like This?" - Andy McGlashen, Audubon Magazine, February 2019

Links:

For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!

Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!

Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!

Join Ellen & special guest, science communicator and Certified Bug Friend Emily, for a review of the tiny little bugs that fly around your nearest kitchen sink. We discuss what Big Pest doesn’t want you to know, convergent evolution between bugs and fish, the drain gods, secret spy languages that only bugs can read, and so much more.

Links:

Follow Emily on Instagram, YouTube, and more!

Learn more about the Entomology Box!

For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!

Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!

Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!

Ellen goes on a journey through time and space with Triops, the tadpole shrimp. We discuss book fairs, vernal pools, whether saltwater or freshwater came first, trips to space, prehistoric scampi, surprise guests at Burning Man, and so much more.

Sources:

"Ontogenetic sequence comparison of extant and fossil tadpole shrimps: no support for the “living fossil” concept" - Philipp Wagner et al., Paläontologische Zeitschrift, August 2017

“Survival of dormant organisms after long-term exposure to the space environment” - N. Novikova et al., Acta Astronautica, June 2010

“From antibiotics to yeast: Latest student science heads for space” - NASA, Science Daily, July 2014

“Hundreds of three-eyed 'dinosaur shrimp' emerge after Arizona monsoon” - Laura Geggel, LiveScience, October 2021

“What are the three-eyed ‘dinosaur shrimp’ resurfacing after Burning Man?” - Faiza Saqib, The Independent, September 2023

They Might Be Giants song “Triops Has Three Eyes”

“Adult Triops cancriformis (Pancrustacea: Notostraca) mediates the hatching rate of its resting eggs” - Alžbeta Devánová et al., Hydrobiologia, March 2022

“Tadpole Shrimp Are Coming for Your Rice” - PBS Deep Look

Links:

For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!

Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!

Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!

Join Ellen & special guest artist and reptile keeper Lyn for an up close and personal look at a little snake with a big appetite. We discuss how it feels to handle a snake, stress dreams specific to pet owners, gastoning it, spine teeth, snacktivities, how snakes flirt with each other, and so much more.
Links:
Check out Lyn's art and comic on Instagram! 
Denver folks, check out Lyn's upcoming snake shed jewelry & painting workshop!
For more information about us & our podcast, head over to our website!
Follow Just the Zoo of Us on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram & Discord!
Follow Ellen on Instagram or BlueSky!