Are they good swimmers? What are they doing with those gaping jaws? Why are there wild hippos in Colombia? What’s up with pygmy hippos? Actual real life Hippopotomologist Dr. Rebecca Lewison chats about pet hippos, subspecies, daily diets, poo helicopters, terrifying sunscreen, their role as ecosystem engineers, what’s up with their nostrils, and their surprising evolutionary cousins.

Visit the Lewison Lab at SDSU and follow Dr. Lewison on Google Scholar

A donation went to The Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary (WCHS)

Full-length (*not* G-rated) Hippopotomology episode + tons of science links

More kid-friendly Smologies episodes!

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions & Jake Chaffee

Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert

Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The what, where, and who of native plants! The wonderful ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph shares how she includes her Squamish First Nation community in her research and how we relate to plants – both native and invasive. She’ll chat about how to identify plants, how knowledge is passed down or silenced, the chilling history that inspired some of her work, uses for barks and berries and saps and teas, pharmaceuticals derived from Indigenous knowledge, the dos and do-nots of harvesting, skin remedies, and so much more.

Visit Leigh Joseph’s website and follow her on Instagram

Buy her book Held by the Land: A Guide to Indigenous Plants for Wellness

Shop Leigh’s plant-based beauty brand: Skwálwen Botanicals

Donations went to Indigenous Climate Action and Seeding Sovereignty

Full-length (*not* G-rated) Ethnoecology episode + tons of science links

More kid-friendly Smologies episodes!

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake Chaffee

Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert

Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

RATS: They love pizza. They invade taquerias at midnight. They scurry. They cuddle. They outsmart. Proving that not just woodsy megafauna can be charismatic, rats have lives we would never suspect. Globally-lauded Urban Rodentologist Dr. Robert Corrigan, or Bobby if you like, has been studying these animals in their big-city ecosystem for decades and he is a wonder-filled joy. Learn about rats’ origin story, their chompers, their scaly tails, how they communicate, where they live, and what cuisines they prefer. Might as well start to love and respect them, because we’re not-too-distantly related and one day… they may be steering the ship.

Find Dr. Corrigan’s publications on ResearchGate

A donation went to the Yash Gandhi Foundation

Full-length (*not* G-rated) Urban Rodentology episode + tons of science links

More kid-friendly Smologies episodes!

Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month

OlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!

Follow Ologies on Instagram and Bluesky

Follow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTok

Sound editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions, Jake Chaffee, Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media & Steven Ray Morris

Made possible by work from Noel Dilworth, Susan Hale, Kelly R. Dwyer, Aveline Malek and Erin Talbert

Smologies theme song by Harold Malcolm

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.