Hello there, friends, and welcome to episode 281 of Just the Zoo of Us. This week, I am joined by a

children's author for a look at some of the animal kingdom's most deceptively adorable assassins.

We discuss evolutionary arms races, hot ones for mice, Mr. Yuck, an insect Isakai, a toxic honeypot, and so much more.

These cuties are slaying more than just their prey.

Just the Zoo of Us presents Brooke Hartman's top three cutest killers. The

The Hello, everybody. It's just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. I am so excited to talk about some animals that I feel like are perfect in that Venn diagram spot of being,

oh, it's so cute. And also, ooh, it's spooky. Like, it's really going to hit on a lot of things

that I love about animals. So this is Brooke Hartman. Say hi, Brooke. Hey, everybody. I'm so excited to talk to you.

Before we talk about a really cool animals, I would like to talk about you.

Brooke, you are a writer who writes about cool stuff about animals. How did you, how did you get into this work?

Well, writing, I'm one of those people who always has to be creating something and writing, drawing,

that kind of thing that's always been a part of my life. I get really grouchy if I don't write.

And I just love puns.

I love animals.

Oh, so you're right at home here on Just the Zoo of Us.

I know, everything we've been talking about, your podcast, I'm like, oh, man, this is awesome.

So, yeah, I started writing for kids a couple years ago when I had kids.

And actually, when I was even pregnant with my first daughter, I started having some fun story ideas.

And before that, I had been working on some novels and all my stories just started boiling down to this fun picture book format.

And it just went from there.

I have kids too. And I do feel like a lot of times kids in play or in storytelling with kids,

that can be a real creative muse, I feel like. 100%. And the things that they bring home and

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