Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 266 of Just the Zoo of Us. This week I am joined by

researcher and science communicator Thomas Green for a look at some of the fascinating ways

that animals get close to each other. We'll talk about the diversity of affections between

animals, lessons we should learn from the ways animals made, and some lessons we probably shouldn't,

bust some myths, make a really good pun about cricket song frequencies, and so much more.

Just as a heads up, this episode is about courtship and mating behaviors, so naturally, a lot of

this conversation is about sex. As usual for this podcast, the discussion isn't graphic

or explicit or anything, but sex is mentioned frequently throughout the episode. So please

join us for this one, only if that is something you are comfortable hearing about. Just the

Zoo of Us presents Thomas Green's top three animal mating relationships.

Music three animal mating relationships. Hello, everybody. This is Ellen Weatherford with Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. And I am really excited this week to be talking about, I think, a seasonally appropriate topic as the weather is getting chilly. It's getting to be sweater weather. We're getting cuddled up on the couch. We're getting our warm, fluffy blankets out to talk about some of the relationships between animals as we get into the sort of a little bit of a romantic season. To talk to us here, this is a brand new friend this week. This is Tom Green. Say hi, Tom. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. Tom,

what are your pronouns real quick? My pronouns are he, him, and lay them. Thank you so much.

And I am really, really excited to talk about something we talk a lot about on the show. Like,

it comes up pretty often. It's getting to be that time of year. You know, people are getting awfully clothes. Do people still call it cuffing season? Is that? I have, I would have no way of knowing, but maybe, hopefully. It's a good word. Well, it's also like, you know, sweater weather. This is the time when everyone's stealing their partner's sweaters. It's a real badge of honor. Before we talk about some of the really interesting animal relationships we have for today, I would like to get to know you a little bit. Tom, you have worked with some really interesting animals and done some really interesting research into these critters. Could you tell us a little bit about what that journey has been like for you? Yeah, sure. I am a PhD student. Actually, I've got like a year left until I'm done, so closing in on the end.

It's the home stretch.

Terrifying. I have to write so much. But part of my work has been with crickets.

So I look at same-sex sexual behavior or homosexual behavior in animals and how that evolved. And I've worked

with crickets to look at when males decide to be aggressive towards each other versus when they

decide to court each other. And we found the first instance of same-sex sexual behavior in

females and crickets, one of the few records of female same-sex sexual behavior in insects at all.

And then also I've been working on how did it evolve overall.

I'm looking at how same-sex sexual behavior is expressed in primates right now

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