354: Shingleback Skink

Ellen Weatherford (0:32)

Hi there, everybody, it's Ellen Weatherford.

Christian Weatherford (0:33)

And Christian Weatherford.

Ellen Weatherford (0:35)

And this is Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast where we rate to your favorite animals out of 10 in the categories of effectiveness, ingenuity, and aesthetics.

Christian Weatherford (0:43)

We are not zoological experts, but we try our best to bring the best and most interesting information that we can.

Ellen Weatherford (0:48)

I would even put us in the rankings for the most hydrated podcast.

Christian Weatherford (0:53)

We are.

Ellen Weatherford (0:54)

What's the roll call looking like for these beverages we got right now?

Christian Weatherford (0:57)

I've got iced water and iced coffee.

Ellen Weatherford (1:00)

Have you heard the mind, body, and spirit theory of the beverages you should have on your desk at any given moment?

Christian Weatherford (1:06)

No, I haven't.

Ellen Weatherford (1:07)

You've got to have one for the mind, that's the coffee. You've got to have one for the body, that's the water.

Christian Weatherford (1:13)

Okay.

Ellen Weatherford (1:13)

And then you've got to have one for the soul.

Christian Weatherford (1:15)

Oh.

Ellen Weatherford (1:15)

And that's a Coke Zero perhaps.

Christian Weatherford (1:18)

I see. For you.

Ellen Weatherford (1:21)

That's your like a juice or if you're a sparkling water person, you have to have the trinity of beverages for all three types of nourishment.

Christian Weatherford (1:31)

But I feel like, I don't know, lots of things will check more than one box.

Ellen Weatherford (1:35)

That's true. What do you think is hitting all three for you? Do you think there's like a perfect beverage that's nourishing you in all three capacities?

SPEAKER_3 (1:42)

Probably Gatorade.

Ellen Weatherford (1:43)

I was thinking Gatorade too. Nectar of the Gods, Gatorade.

Christian Weatherford (1:51)

Which color?

Ellen Weatherford (1:53)

It doesn't matter. You take any Gatorade?

Christian Weatherford (1:55)

Yeah. I think the only flavor I don't mess with... Cucumber mint.

Ellen Weatherford (1:59)

The best flavor. My favorite.

SPEAKER_3 (2:01)

I love cucumber mint.

Ellen Weatherford (2:02)

I don't even know if they make that anymore.

I love the cucumber mint one. It's so good. Best Gatorade, whatever. You're a hater. You don't deserve cucumber gatorade.

Christian Weatherford (2:13)

It's okay. Not everything is for me.

Ellen Weatherford (2:16)

It's true.

Some of it's for me. I have an animal to talk about this week that I'm very excited about. What is it? I don't know if you've ever heard of this one. This one's called the Shingleback Skink.

Christian Weatherford (2:27)

Sounds familiar.

Ellen Weatherford (2:29)

Really?

SPEAKER_3 (2:29)

Yeah.

Ellen Weatherford (2:30)

Is it just the skink part that is...

Christian Weatherford (2:32)

No. This isn't the one that grabs its own tail, is it?

SPEAKER_3 (2:36)

No.

Ellen Weatherford (2:36)

That is the Armadillo girdled lizard. Oh, okay. They do like an Ouroboros sort of thing.

But I could see the similarities here, because both of them are kind of bumpy and spiky.

SPEAKER_3 (2:47)

Sure.

Ellen Weatherford (2:48)

But this one, I don't think it could pull that acrobatics move if it tried. I don't think it has the flexibility for it.

SPEAKER_3 (2:55)

Okay.

Ellen Weatherford (2:56)

Do you think you could? Do you think you could do an Ouroboros move?

Christian Weatherford (2:58)

I don't have a tail, babe.

Ellen Weatherford (2:59)

Okay, but what...

Use some imagination. Imagine maybe if it's like your toes or something. Yuck. Defensively, if you were being chased by a predator, do you think you could do it?

Christian Weatherford (3:13)

I have much better tools at my disposal.

Ellen Weatherford (3:19)

It's not really the last resort for you?

Christian Weatherford (3:21)

No. We're taking it to the mat.

Ellen Weatherford (3:28)

Yeah, you're throwing hands first before contorting yourself into a shape, I suppose. When in doubt, become circle.

Christian Weatherford (3:36)

Turn the opponent into Ouroboros.

Ellen Weatherford (3:38)

Oh, there you go. Now you're talking. I was like, listen, babe, one of us is turning into a pretzel. It's your choice which one that is.

No, this is the Shingleback Skink. The scientific name is Tiliqua rugosa. And this species was submitted by a listener named Henry Roy, whose parents write, We are big fans and have listened to all your episodes since Henry was very little.

And I love that. That's very sweet to me. Thinking about like a kid growing up, listening to our show, you know what I mean? Because so many, you think of like Steve Irwin and stuff, like Jeff Corwin and like the Crat brothers and people who like, you know, kids grow up watching their show or in this case, listening to their show. And I just feel like that's like a very special place that people get to have. It's very nice to imagine that I get to hold a place like that in someone's life.