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The Animal Turn A podcast focused on concepts in animal studies

26/05/2026
11/05/2026

A scientific abstract can tell you a species is declining. A story can make you feel what that loss means and why it should change how you live. In this episode Claudia talks to Lucy Spelman, Susan Tacent, and Christopher Kondrich, the co-editors behind Creature Needs, a striking book that juxtaposes conservation science with poems, essays, and fiction written in response. They discuss the book, writing as a means of connection, and the politics of conservation.

03/05/2026

In this highlight, Rosa questions whether zoos could be thought of as “living collections” that objectifying animals in ways that are similar to the animal objects one finds in a museum or archive. She considers the internet sensation Moo Deng and asks whether her fame has achieved much in the way of the conservation goals for pygmy hippos.

28/04/2026

Rosa returns to feathers in this episode, this time to discuss the infamous 2009 “feather heist”, in which Edwin Rist stole an invaluable collection of bright-coloured feathers from tropical birds for the hobby of fly-tyibg. She uses the heist to open a deeper consideration of the value of feather collections for science and the ethics of collecting and maintaining such collections.

21/04/2026

S6E5: Moths and Wasps – Tasty Collections and ‘Confused’ Insects

In this episode Rosa steps away from feathered objects to consider how museum collections and archives should be thought of as living ecosystems. She discusses how webbing clothes moths are understood as ‘pests’ and some of the strategies curators are trying to employ to manage them: including sexual confusion and the introduction of parasitoid wasps.

Read/Listen to more here: https://www.theanimalturnpodcast.com/post/munching-moths-and-parasitoid-wasps

03/04/2026

Rosa traces a Munduruku feather cap from Brazil to the museum case and discuss how tapirage was a process used to turned green parrots feathers a blazing yellow by using frog toxins, dyes and time. Beauty and pain sit side by side as we weigh Indigenous innovation, care and the cost to animals.

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