Beetles make up a quarter of all known animal life on Earth. A QUARTER! Beetles are everywhere, doing almost everything. From eating flesh off skeletons to making poop disappear, these little buggers make the world a lot less gross for the rest of us… and look cool doing it. With a little help from the Smithsonian’s beetle experts, we’ll discover why these tiny powerhouses are so wildly diverse, why Ancient Egyptians considered them sacred, and what makes a dung beetle beautiful. (Yes, really.) Get ready to see beetles in a whole new light. Just watch where you step.

Guests:
Inger Toraason, osteological specimen preparator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of National History's Osteo Prep Lab

Floyd Shockley, entomologist and collections manager for the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

Frank Krell, coleopterist and curator of beetles at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

When baby Asian elephant Linh Mai was born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, her mother rejected her. Then things got worse. Linh Mai couldn’t digest her formula, she was losing weight, and her care team was running out of time.

Join us behind the scenes at the National Zoo to learn how curators and "turd nerds" race to save Linh Mai with an unusual treatment: a fecal microbiota transplant. But not just any poop will do!

Roll up your sleeves (and pinch your nose) as we explore the extraordinary lengths people will go to save one very big baby.

Guests:

Sally Bornbusch, Microbial Ecologist with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Center for Conservation Genomics and Department of Nutrition Science

Robbie Clark, Curator and Manager for Elephant Trails at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Erin Kendrick, Clinical Nutritionist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Season 13 of Sidedoor is almost here! Follow us behind the scenes at the National Zoo to meet the new baby elephant, Linh Mai. We open the vaults to see some of the weirdest beetles in the collection. And we track the wild journey of the Declaration of Independence after it was signed (which was actually not on July 4, 1776). New episodes begin next week!