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PODCAST

The Animal Highlight

Claudia Hirtenfelder

Set around specific themes, The Animal Highlight offers glimpses into the wonderful and complex worlds of animals. This is a spinoff of The Animal Turn Podcast, a podcast that unpacks important concepts in animal studies.

science social sciences

All Episodes

15:06

S5E10: Heck Cattle - Where Nazi Eugenics Meets Modern...

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/08/04

Fierce, controversial, and caught between worlds—Heck cattle embody the complex intersection of dark history and modern conservation. This final episode of Season 5 of the Animal Highlight explores how these bovines were deliberately bred by Nazi zoologists in the 1920s and now find themselves at the center of rewilding debates across Europe. Recorded: 14 December 2023 Featured: Season 6 Grad Review on The Animal TurnThe Cow with Ear Tag #1389 by Kathryn Gillespie From...

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13:38

S5E9: Red Kites - Conservation and The Ethical...

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/07/28

Virginia explores how the recovery of red kites in Britain has been shaped by international efforts and cross-border collaborations between governments and NGOs. Thinking about these birds, Virginia raises questions and concerns about translocation, culture, and species conservation. Recorded: 14 December 2023 Featured: International Relations with Andrea Schapper on The Animal TurnNatural EnglandRoyal Society for Protection of Birds Animal Culture with Carl Safinao...

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12:56

S5E8: Wolf Rewilding - Rethinking Risk and Coexistence

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/07/21

Virginia tells us how grey wolves are reclaiming territories across Europe and North America through a process known as auto-rewilding—autonomously returning to lands from which humans once drove them out. This powerful expression of nonhuman agency challenges our conventional approach to wildlife management and invites us to reconsider what coexistence means in the Anthropocene. Recorded: 22 November 2023 Featured: S6E8: Re-Animalization with Krithika Srinivasan on ...

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10:32

S5E7: European Wildcat

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/07/14

In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas uses one of Jo-Anne McArthur’s images as her inspiration. She compares and contrasts the lives of mink kept for fur with those of wild mink before reflecting on some of the ethical and environmental concerns that emerge from using mink for fur. Recorded: 12 October 2023 Featured: S6E7: Animal Photojournalism with Jo-Anne McArthur on The Animal Turn. We Animals MediaCovid Outbreaks On Mink Farms Stir Controversy Am...

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16:50

S5E6 - Brown Dog

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/07/07

In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas talks about Brown Dog, a canine who in 1903 was subjected to vivisection at University College London. Two activists brought his plight to the attention of the International Antivivisection Society and what ensued was a series lengthy legal and social battles commonly referred to as "The Brown Dog Affair." Recorded: 26 October 2023 Featured: S6E6: Social Movement Mobilization and Feminism with Corey Lee Wrenn on The Animal ...

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10:32

S5E5 - Exploited Honeybees

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/06/30

In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas discusses honeybees and the ways in which they are exploited for their honey. She notes how much labour goes into making honey and the scale of the industry that relies on it. Because of the violence and exploitation in the industry vegans do not eat honey. Recorded: 26 October 2023 Featured: S6E5: Abolition with Gary Francione on The Animal Turn. The Bees of the World by Charles D Michener.World Bee Day by the FAO. ...

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14:29

S5E4 - European Wildcat

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/06/23

In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas discusses the European Wild Cat and their entangled relationships with domesticated cats. She notes how the interbreeding between these two species has conservationists worried and has resulted in a range of, oftentimes, violent interventions into their animals’ lives. Recorded: 12 October 2023 Featured: S5E3: Feral and Invasive Species with Lauren van Patter on The Animal Turn.S6E4: Violence with Dinesh Wadiwel on The Animal...

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12:54

S5E3 - Pale Male

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/06/16

Virginia Thomas tells us about a red-tailed hawk named Pale Male who sparked controversy and admiration when he built his nest on a luxury Fifth Avenue apartment building in New York City. Pale Male is a celebrity whose story illuminates questions about animal habitat rights in urban environments. Recorded: 12 October 2023 Featured: Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog.S6E3: Moral Imagination and Habitat Rights with Steve Cooke on The Animal Turn.The Lege...

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16:00

S5E2 - Misunderstood Magueys

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/06/09

Virginia Thomas introduces the red maguey worm; a caterpillar often mistakenly called the "tequila worm.” She explores their biology and ethical implications of using these metamorphosing creatures as novelty ‘items’ in alcoholic beverages. Recorded: 18 September 2023 Featured: Cosmopolitanism with Angie Pepper on The Animal Turn.Perdido Street Station by China Melville.The Life Cycle of Butterflies and Moths by Butterfly Conservation.Cosmopolitan 'Worms' by Virginia Thomas...

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18:26

S5E1 - Citizen Dogs

The Animal Highlight ·

2025/06/02

In this Animal Highlight, fellow Virginia Thomas focuses on the domestic dog and the ways in which they might be thought of as citizens. She thinks about some of dogs' history and discusses the work of Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka. Recorded: 18 September 2023 Featured: Zoopolis: A Political Theory of Animal Rightsby Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka.Biosecurity with Steve Hinchliffe on The Animal Turn.Politics with Will Kymlicka on The Animal Turn.Cosmopolitanism wit...

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37:24

S4E8: Animals and Waste Review

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/11/18

The last episode of Season 4 is a review of the season “Animals and Waste.” Herre de Bondt, Rebecca Shen, and Claudia Hirtenfelder touch on some of the common themes to emerge in the season. These include how animals are valued as well as the mobility and accumulation of waste. Recorded: 14 August 2024. Herre de Bondt has done research on rats in Amsterdam, crows in Tokyo, and gulls in The Hague. His work has now brought him to London where his PhD project is concerned w...

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18:23

S4E7 - Radioactive Boars

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/11/11

In this Highlight, Herre looks at how nuclear waste has impacted the lives of wild boars living in Japan. More specifically, he discusses how, following the 2011 triple disaster, boars responded to the departure of humans from the Fukushima area and how the animals are being impacted by their slow return. Recorded: 15 May 2024. Featured: Evaluation of DNA damage and stress in wildlife chronically exposed to low-dose, low-dose rate radiation from the Fukushima Dai-i...

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15:36

S4E6: Metropolitan Macaques

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/11/04

In this episode Herre de Bondt discusses Singapore’s metropolitan macaques and how they use the city and its waste as a valuable resource that is not only important for their survival but contributes to the design of the city. Recorded: 15 May 2024. Featured: Purity and Danger by Mary DouglasCatastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore by Barry W. Brook et al. Characterizing human–macaque interactions in Singapore by Agustín Fuentes et al. Macaque–human inter...

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16:47

S4E5: Entangled Sea Turtles

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/10/28

When it comes to talking about waste and its impacts on animals it is hard to not think about plastic. In this episode, Herre de Bondt tells us how sea turtles have been entangled with the politics of plastic. Recorded: 27 November 2023. Featured: Dave the DiverSea Turtle with straw in nostril Credits:Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer and host Herre de Bondt, co-host and co-editorChristiaan Mentz, sound editor and producer Rebecca Shen, content producer a...

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13:13

S4E4 - Engineering Fiddler Crabs

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/10/21

Fiddler crabs, with their one giant claw, are considered ecosystem engineers in mangrove environments. Herre de Bondt gives us a glimpse into the world of these incredible crustaceans. Recorded: 27 November 2023. Featured: Fiddler Crabs by Jochen Zeil et al. Burrow-Morphological Characters of the Fiddler Crab and Ecological Correlates in a Lagoonal Beach on Pulau Hantu, Singapore by Shirley S. L. Lim and C. H. Diong.Effects of Fiddler Crab Burrows on Sediment Properties i...

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14:29

S4E3 - Pre-Emptive House Finches

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/10/14

House finches in Mexico City use discarded cigarette butts in the lining of their nests to fend of parasites, Herre de Bondt tells us more abut this interesting behaviour and some of its potentially worrisome impacts. Recorded: 30 October 2023. Featured: All that breathesLively Cities by Maan Barua.Killer Cities by Nigel Thrift.An experimental demonstration that house finches add cigarette butts in response to ectoparasites by Monserrat Suárez-Rodríguez, Constantino Macías Gar...

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17:13

S4E2 - Composting Worms

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/10/07

Wormeries are becoming increasingly popular in cities so in this episode Herre de Bondt considers a creature at the center of this trend, worms, and how their lives are entwined with practices of composting.Recorded: 2 October 2023. Featured: Vermicomposting makes your garden grow on HomegrownEarthworms are more important than pandas (if you want to save the planet) by Sarah Johnson.Waste recycling: Utilization of coffee grounds and kitchen waste in vermicomposting by A.J. Adi...

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18:31

S4E1: Stringed Pigeons

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/10/01

Herre de Bondt joins the show as a co-host of Season 4 of the Animal Highlight to discuss the intricate relationships of animals and waste. He kicks off the season looking at pigeons considering how urban waste impacts them, particularly their feet. Recorded: 21 September 2023. Featured: Unseen City by Nathanael Johnson.Urban pigeons losing toes due to human activities by Frédéric Jiguet et al. Pigeon Rescue NetherlandsLondon Pigeon Stringfoot and RescueInteresting Pigeons on T...

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16:53

S3E10: Transgressive Jellyfish

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/09/17

In this highlight Amanda talks about jellyfish and the many ways in which they are thought to be transgressive potential threats to biosecurity. Amanda reminds us to try and thinking sensitively about creatures who seem vastly different to us and to also be amazed by the feats they can accomplish. This content was originally aired in Season 5 of The Animal Turn Podcast. Featured: Jellyfish by Peter Williams; March of the Jellies by Tamar Stelling; Comparative genomics of m...

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14:44

S3E9 - Imperiled Pangolins

The Animal Highlight ·

2024/09/10

In this animal highlight Amanda talks about pangolins, one of the most trafficked animals in the world. She speaks about some of her concerns with One health flattening complexities before talking a bit about Stevie, a pangolin saved in South Africa. This content was originally aired in Season 5 of The Animal Turn Podcast. Featured: Nicole Shukin, Animal CapitalStevie in a video on the Dodo rescued from the illegal wildlife tradeZimbabwe and Pangolins photoshoot Helping to Save...

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