Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 262 of Just the Zoo of Us. In this week's episode, we are

joined by a biologist with a passion for all things weird and dead for a review of the slimyest

breakdancers in the world, jumping slugs. We discuss science communication through video games,

how slugs flirt, confusing Darwin, why a biologist's fridge might be filled with mossy little salsa containers, and so much more. Also, just in case you missed it, October's bonus episode is up, and it is all about vampires. So maximum Fund members, you can go listen to that now.

A free preview of the first 10 minutes of the bonus episode went up in this feed yesterday,

so anyone can go check that out.

Anyway, time for this week's episode.

Just The Zoo of Us presents Jumping Slugs with Megan Weatherill.

Music with Megan Weatherill. Hello, everybody. This is Ellen Weatherford with Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. I am so excited this week to talk about an animal that I had literally never heard of in my life as soon as you told me about it. I was like, I've been fighting the urge to Google it this whole time because I'm a, I'm a clean slate, a blank canvas for this. Awesome. We have a brand new friend this week. This is Megan Wetherill. Say

Hi, Megan. Hi, Megan. Megan, what are your pronouns? Uh, she, her. Thank you so much. I'm very

excited about our new animal for this week, but before we talk about our new animal, I would like to get

to know you a little bit because you have had a pretty fascinating journey alongside these and other very cool animals.

Talk to us a little bit about your animal science journey.

Sure.

So the animals that we're talking about today, I first encountered when I was working as a field biologist,

and I did that for a couple of years and then decided that I wanted to go back to graduate school.

And I wanted to actually do some of the research.

But I didn't want to do it on that animal.

So we're going to make a real strong turn in my career from slugs, which is what I studied as a biologist, to dead animals with backbones because I'm a vertebrate paleontologist. But then I studied too much

math and too much computer coding. You flew too close to the sun. For real, for real, so close to the sun.

And once you take too much computer coding, you realize that that's just such an applicable skill.

That's what you do now, unfortunately. I'm a professor of data science at University of Arizona.

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