The Animal Highlight

We follow koi fish from garden ponds to the global ornamental fish trade in Singapore, and we consider the impacts of treating these animals as “living jewels.” The episode discusses the social lives and vulnerability of Koi and raises bigger questions about the tensions between captivity and urban belonging.  Featured: Otters eat up nearly 100 fishes at Church of St Teresa in 4 days, leaving fish trail behind by Alfie Kwa‘It’s devastating’: Otters eat Bright Hill resident’s koi valued at under $10k by Calista WongKoi Fish Personality and Behavior: How Well Do You Really Know Your Living Jewels? By Coospider What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcomb Pheromones in Aquatic Animalsby Ninan Jacob and Ramesh Jamnadas PadodaraKoi (Cyprinus rubrofuscus) Seek Out Tactile Interaction with Humans: General Patterns and Individual Differences by Isabel Fife-Cook and Becca FranksThe Development of Singapore’s Koi Aquaculture by Tai Wei LimOrnamental Fish as Trans-Boundary of Viral Diseases by Ellen ArielGlobal Ornamental Fish Trade Overview by VK Dey An annotated Checklist of the Non-Native Freshwater Fish Species in the Reservoirs of Singapore by Heok Hee NG and Heok Hui TanWild caught ornamental fish: a perspective from the UK ornamental aquatic industry on the sustainability of aquatic organisms and livelihoods by Tracey A. KingMarketing for Ornamental Fish Aquarium Seller’s Business Service by A Sankaran and A SelvarasuHow Much Do Koi Fish Cost? By Kodama Koi FarmJapan’s King of Carp Breeds Million Dollar Koi Fish by Great Big StorySignal Group  Rebecca Shen joined The Animal Turn team in 2023 as a fellow interested in researching animals in design and podcast production. She is now an Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher. She is inspired by design as pursuits of worldmaking, especially to advance interspecies justice and collectivity during times of challenge. Rebecca graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2023, where she completed her design thesis, Sanctuary State: California’s Cowscape in Transition. Through her design work, she explores human-animal relationships in the built environment, ecological restoration, and regenerative food systems. Credits:Recorded: 7 July 2026Claudia Hirtenfelder: executive producer, editor and co-host Rebecca Shen: script writer, narrator and co-host, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke: bed musicSound effects: NParks, Japan King Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. Culture and Animals Foundation The Culture & Animals Foundation advances animal advocacy through intellectual & artistic expressionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

In this episode we trace the conservation success story of Singapore’s otters and how their territorial claims to urban space raise important questions about ethics in a city shaped by people. We follow the Otter Wars, the role of citizen science, and the emerging push for population control as conflict among otters raises debates about the possible limits of coexistence.  Featured: NParksThe urban Smooth-coated otters Lutrogale perspicillata of Singapore: a review of the reasons for success by M. D. Y. Khoo and B. P. Y.-H. LeeOtters on National Library (NLB)Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park on National Library (NLB)Otter Watch on FacebookOtter City on Facebook To help or not to help: Human intervention in otter family feud sparks online debate by Timothy GohMarina otters move to Singapore River after losing their original home to rival Bishan familyby Zhangxin ZhengLove blossoms between a Bishan female otter and a Marina male otter despite territorial rivalry by Zhangxin Zheng7 Zouk otters intrude 10 Marina otters' territory at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, fight ensues by Zhangxin ZhengMultispecies Commons with Marcus Baynes-Rock on The Animal Turn Relocation of otters from Seletar was 'last resort' given the presence of pups and location of burrow: Experts by CANSingapore: Man feared for life during otter attack on BBCNParks studying sterilising otters as part of long-term population control measures by Ian ChengLively Cities: Reconfiguring Urban Ecology by Maan Barua Compassionate Conservation with Daniel Rampon The Animal Turn Signal Group Rebecca Shen joined The Animal Turn team in 2023 as a fellow interested in researching animals in design and podcast production. She is now an Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher. She is inspired by design as pursuits of worldmaking, especially to advance interspecies justice and collectivity during times of challenge. Rebecca graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2023, where she completed her design thesis, Sanctuary State: California’s Cowscape in Transition. Through her design work, she explores human-animal relationships in the built environment, ecological restoration, and regenerative food systems. Credits:Recorded: 30 June 2026Claudia Hirtenfelder: executive producer, editor and co-host Rebecca Shen: script writer, narrator and co-host, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke: bed musicSound effects: BBC Sound Effects, Xeno-CantoSupport the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. Culture and Animals Foundation The Culture & Animals Foundation advances animal advocacy through intellectual & artistic expressionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

A lizard who looks like a small dinosaur steps out of the water a few metres from a footpath, and suddenly “urban nature” stops being an abstract idea. We’re talking about Singapore’s Asian water monitor, one of the island’s largest terrestrial predators and a surprisingly familiar neighbour in parks, wetlands, canals, and even near housing estates. We start with the honest reaction many people have, fear, then follow how that fear can turn into curiosity once you understand what these animals are doing in the city. Featured: ACRESNo need to be frightened of 'timid' monitor lizards in urban areas, say wildlife experts by CANWater brings life to Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park by State of Green Multispecies Commons with Marcus Baynes-Rock on The Animal Turn Unveiling the urban colonization of the Asian water monitor (Varanus salvator) across its distribution range using citizen science by Álvaro Luna​ and Armand Rausell-MorenoThe Water Monitor Complex, an Introduction by TetzooNotes on the burrows of the water monitor lizard, Varanus salvator by Carl TraeholtGarbage appeal: Relative abundance of water monitor lizards (Varanus salvator) correlates with presence of human food leftovers on Tinjil Island, Indonesia by Linda UyedaHow water monitors, or ‘kabaragoya’, can help locate dead bodies by The Morning A global assessment of reptiles in the skin trade by Timothy J Colston et al.Coordinated raids by NParks target illegal wildlife trade across Singaporeby NParksTwo Lizards Battle For Food by National Geographic The Eye of the Crocodile by Val PlumwoodSignal GroupRebecca Shen joined The Animal Turn team in 2023 as a fellow interested in researching animals in design and podcast production. She is now an Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher. She is inspired by design as pursuits of worldmaking, especially to advance interspecies justice and collectivity during times of challenge. Rebecca graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2023, where she completed her design thesis, Sanctuary State: California’s Cowscape in Transition. Through her design work, she explores human-animal relationships in the built environment, ecological restoration, and regenerative food systems. Credits:Recorded: 23 June 2026Claudia Hirtenfelder: executive producer, editor and co-host Rebecca Shen: script writer, narrator and co-host, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke: bed musicSound effects: Epidemic Sound, National Geographic  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. Culture and Animals Foundation The Culture & Animals Foundation advances animal advocacy through intellectual & artistic expressionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

A wild bird disappears for 140 years, then returns to one of the most urbanised places on Earth, not by accident, but because a city changes its mind about what nature is allowed to be. That’s the story we’re starting with as we launch a Singapore-focused season with landscape designer and artist Rebecca Shen, whose CAF-funded Atlas Animalia project maps the real, messy relationships between animals and urban life. Featured: Rebecca's Hornbill MapSingapore Hornbill ProjectDevoted Hornbill Delivers Food to Mate by Planet Earth III, BBC Earth The Ecology and Conservation of Asian Hornbills by F. Margaret et al. Hornbills are more like us than you may think! By Ariana LoehrLand use and oriental pied-hornbill occurrence in Singapore by Zaheedah Yahya et al. Signal GroupRebecca Shen joined The Animal Turn team in 2023 as a fellow interested in researching animals in design and podcast production. She is now an Assistant Content Producer and Designer. Rebecca is a landscape designer and researcher. She is inspired by design as pursuits of worldmaking, especially to advance interspecies justice and collectivity during times of challenge. Rebecca graduated with a Master in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2023, where she completed her design thesis, Sanctuary State: California’s Cowscape in Transition. Through her design work, she explores human-animal relationships in the built environment, ecological restoration, and regenerative food systems.Credits:Recorded: 16 June 2026Claudia Hirtenfelder: executive producer, editor and co-host Rebecca Shen: script writer, narrator and co-host, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke: bed musicSound effects: Epidemic Sound, BBC Sound Effects, Planet Earth III BBC, Pixabay, Xeno-CantoSupport the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. Culture and Animals Foundation The Culture & Animals Foundation advances animal advocacy through intellectual & artistic expressionDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

Herre de Bondt and Rebecca Shen are back on the show to discuss Rosa Dyer’s season “Animal Collections/’Objects”. We delve into some of the key themes and tensions to emerge in the season including questions of value, colonization, ethics, and practices of preservation. We revisit a season that follows birds, bodies, and objects across museums and beyond, asking how ethics, beauty, and decay shape what gets collected, displayed, and believed. The talk moves from drawers of parrots to a living hippo, mapping the gap between preservation and care. Natural history Museum in LondonSmithsonian MuseumPitt Rivers MuseumRe-Animalization with Krithika Srinivasan on The Animal TurnAnimals and Waste with Herre de Bondton The Animal Highlight The Complex Relationship Between Humans and Baboons by Claudia HirtenfelderThe Lion’s Historian by Sandra Swart Media Analysis of Racism and Speciesism (MARS) test finds Oscars so AnthropoScenic in contemporary animated films by Natalie Khazaal, Ellen Gorsevski, and Tobias Linné Animals and Media on The Animal TurnAnimapolis  Credits:Recorded: 10 June 2025Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logo, guestHerre de Bondt, guestGordon Clarke, bed musicLearn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

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 as achieved much in the way of the conservation goals for pygmy hippos. Meet Moo Deng, the baby pygmy hippo taking the internet by storm by The Today Show. Credits:Recorded: 3 June 2025Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke, bed musicOther sound effects from The Today ShowLearn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

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. 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.  Pitt Rivers MuseumSmithsonianNatural history Museum in LondonThe Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson Credits:Recorded: 28 May 2025Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke, bed musicOther sound effects from Pixabay, Epidemic Sound, and FreesoundLearn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

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. Pitt Rivers MuseumOxford University Natural History MuseumNational Trust launches pest-control trial combining wasps and moth pheromonesThe Lion’s Historian by Sandra Swart Credits:Recorded: 28 May 2025Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke, bed musicOther sound effects from Bill Hayes - I Know an Old Lady (Archie Bleyer, Internet Archive)Learn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

In this episode Rosa focuses on the Oxford Dodo, attempting to trace the life history of a bird whose only trace is a fragile head and foot in the Oxford University of Natural History. She unpacks some of the competing routes the bird might have taken – from being hunted and shipped from Mauritius to being kept in an urban menagerie. She also follows the afterlife of the museum object itself once again raising questions about the interconnections between power, possession, and knowledge. Pitt Rivers MuseumOxford University Natural History MuseumLewis Carroll’s Alice in WonderlandThe TradescantsMurder most fowl: Oxford dodo 'shot in the back of the head'  Credits:Recorded: 16 January 2024Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke, bed musicOther sound effects from Alice in wonderland Soundtrack, Epidemic Sound, PixabayLearn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/ Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook. 

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.Pitt Rivers MuseumCredits:Recorded: 9 November 2023 Claudia Hirtenfelder, executive producer, editor and co-host Rosa Dyer, script writer, narrator and co-hostRebecca Shen, episode artwork and logoGordon Clarke, bed musicOther sound effects from BBC Sound Effects, Pixabay, Epidemic SoundLearn more about the team here.  Support the podcast via: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/TheAnimalTurn Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theanimalturn Buzzsprout: https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/  Send us Fan MailThe Animal TurnThe Animal Turn is the sister podcast to The Animal Highlight. iROAR NetworkiROAR brings together podcasts that aim is to make the world a better place for animals. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showThe Animal Highlight is a spinoff and sister podcast to the award winning show, the Animal Turn Podcast.Connect with us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.