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Just the Zoo of Us

342: Mongoose

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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…

© Ellen & Christian Weatherford Length 1 hr 1 min 9 July 2026 Season 1 Episode 342 NatureTalkAnimals USA Episodic

Full episode description

© Ellen & Christian Weatherford Length 1 hr 1 min 9 July 2026 Season 1 Episode 342 NatureTalkAnimals USA Episodic

1: American Alligator & Florida Manatee

1: American Alligator & Florida Manatee

This is an episodic podcast, so you can listen to it in any order, but episode one is a great place to start.

Listen to episode one here

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

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© Ellen & Christian Weatherford | 1 hr 1 min

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