Primates | Talking Animals

Joshua Zeman, director of “Checkpoint Zoo”

Duncan — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 16:49:26 +0000

Joshua Zeman–award-winning filmmaker whose new documentary, “Checkpoint Zoo,” arrives in timely fashion, providing a distinctive window into the Russian-Ukraine war, chronicling efforts to care for, then evacuate, some 5000 animals at a Ukrainian zoo called Feldman Ecopark, while bombing was underway—recounts the path from his previous doc, “The Loneliest Whale” to his new film. Zeman […]

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Kari Bagnall, founder of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary

Duncan — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 04:00:58 +0000

Kari Bagnall–founder and executive director of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, which offers permanent care to nearly 200 monkeys retired from laboratory research, who are former pets, or have been confiscated by the authorities—recalls the first monkey that entered her world, and forever altered her life. As part of this account, Bagnall describes creating the earliest […]

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Mark Devries, documentary filmmaker, “Humans and Other Animals”

Duncan — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 04:00:34 +0000

Mark Devries–the documentary filmmaker (https://markdevries.com/) who specializes in exploring the realm of animals and animal welfare—expands on the final line (the fate of our kin is up to us) of his new film, “Humans and Other Animals.” Laying out an eloquent and philosophical operating principle—which permeates his new film, as it did his debut doc, […]

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Josh Fox, founder of The Brady Hunter Foundation

Duncan — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 01:16:57 +0000

Josh Fox–founder of the Brady Hunter Foundation, a Miami-based nonprofit whose mission reflects a commitment to helping end animal cruelty, protecting wildlife, and making a positive impact in the lives of children—observes his love of animals is truly lifelong, citing a photo of Fox as an infant in his crib being happily licked by the […]

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20th Anniversary Show (sort of)

Duncan — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 04:00:44 +0000

We did things a little differently on today’s show—an understated, somewhat belated, acknowledgment that June marks the 20th anniversary of “Talking Animals.” I launched the program in June of 2003 at KUCI in Irvine, CA, moving to WMNF not quite three years later. Twenty seems like kind of a big anniversary. But owing to a […]

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Jane O’Hara, animal advocate and artist

Duncan — Wed, 24 May 2023 04:00:13 +0000

Jane O’Hara, the animal advocate and artist–whose paintings tend to celebrate animals or explore animal issues—recalls a regular upbringing, amidst conventional companion animals. Only some years later, O’Hara adds, did she start researching animals, reading some influential books, becoming steeped in the good, the bad, and the ugly of eating and otherwise mistreating animals. It […]

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Diana Goodrich, co-director of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Duncan — Wed, 10 May 2023 04:00:56 +0000

Diana Goodrich–co-director of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, located not far from Seattle, and housing 15 chimps—says she can’t recall a time she didn’t want to work with animals. Goodrich traces the winding path, academically and professionally, that led her to helping lead the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, addressing the qualities she finds captivating about chimps. When […]

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Dr. Jane Goodall

Duncan — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 04:00:13 +0000

Dr. Jane Goodall–the ethologist, activist, and conservationist who rose to international attention in the 1960s, propelled by her pioneering work studying chimpanzees in Gombe, Tanzania—offers her current impressions of young people’s attitudes about animals and the environment. She recalls the beginnings of Roots & Shoots, a youth program of the Jane Goodall Institute, launched in […]

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Steven M. Wise, founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project

Duncan — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 05:00:50 +0000

Steven M. Wise—founder and president of the Nonhuman Rights Project (NhRP); an attorney, author, and legal scholar, Wise is leading NhRP’s pioneering effort to free an elephant named Happy from the Bronx Zoo through a writ of habeas corpus, aiming to change her status from “thing” to “legal person”—reviews NhRP’s legal gambit when we previously […]

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Kitty Block, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States

Duncan — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 04:00:21 +0000

Kitty Block—President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), as well as CEO of Humane Society International, HSUS’ global division—discusses getting a precocious start working in animal welfare, in that her Mom was an animal activist. Block recalls how, as a second grader, she went on a school field trip to […]

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Caitlin O’Connell, author of “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”

Duncan — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 05:00:34 +0000

Caitlin O’Connell—a noted scientist who’s spent much of her career studying elephants and their communication, and author of several books, most recently “Wild Rituals: 10 Lessons Animals Can Teach Us about Connection, Community, and Ourselves”—addresses some of her varied professional pursuits, including a NASA project that involved the Space Station, that had prompted me, tongue […]

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Brian Hare, co-author of “Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity”

Duncan — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Brian Hare —a professor in Evolutionary Anthropology, Psychology, and Neuroscience at Duke University, where he founded the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and co-author (with Vanessa Woods) of “Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity”—explains why, as a self-described “dog guy,” creator of the Canine Cognition Center, and who’s previous book […]

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Carl Safina, ecologist, author of “Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace”

Duncan — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 04:00:28 +0000

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Stay at Home order, I produced and recorded this show remotely from home, the ninth program prepared this way at the Talking Animals corporate headquarters in Jupiter Farms, Florida, and likely the way the broadcasts will come together thru mid-June. Tentatively, we’re due back in studio on […]

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Patti Ragan, founder of The Center for Great Apes

Duncan — Wed, 13 May 2020 04:00:56 +0000

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing Stay at Home order, I produced and recorded this show remotely from home, the fifth program prepared this way at the Talking Animals corporate headquarters in Jupiter Farms, Florida, and likely the way the broadcast will come together for the next few weeks. Patti Ragan—the founder of […]

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Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder & president of PETA

Duncan — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 05:00:31 +0000

Ingrid Newkirk—the co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and co-author (with Gene Stone) of “animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion”—recalls how she decided on the book’s format. Newkirk outlines some of the things she learned over the course of working on “animalkind. […]

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Barbara Natterson-Horowitz & Kathryn Bowers, authors of “Wildhood: The Epic Journey from Adolescence To Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals”

Duncan — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 04:00:36 +0000

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers–New York Times bestselling authors of “Zoobiquity,” whose new book is “Wildhood: The Epic Journey from Adolescence to Adulthood in Humans and Other Animals”—in recalling that they both were raising adolescents while working on “Wildhood,” address how much those adolescents shaped the direction of the book and its core concept. Noting […]

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Natasha Daly, author of National Geographic story “The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism”

Duncan — Wed, 22 May 2019 04:00:21 +0000

Natasha Daly—a staff writer for the National Geographic, where she wrote the June cover story, “The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism”—addresses her role as the magazine’s “wildlife crime reporter,” how she landed on that beat, and what sort of stories she’s written in that capacity. Daly outlines the approach that she and photojournalist Kirsten Luce […]

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Frans de Waal, primatologist and author, most recently, of “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves”

Duncan — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 04:00:33 +0000

Dr. Frans de Waal—the primatologist, ethologist, and prolific author, most recently of “Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves”—cites some stories from the new book, in response to a question about a hypothetical person who’s heard about “Mama’s Last Hug,” and remains deeply skeptical about its core premise: that animals […]

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Dave Du Toit, founder of The Vervet Monkey Foundation

Duncan — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 05:00:12 +0000

Dave Du Toit—founder and co-director of the Vervet Monkey Foundation, a 57-acre sanctuary in South Africa dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of not just Vervet Monkeys, but other primates who’ve been orphaned, injured, abused, were used in lab testing, or former pets—provides an overview of Vervets and what traits distinguish them. He addresses how […]

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Patti Ragan, founder of The Center For Great Apes

Duncan — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 04:00:24 +0000

Patti Ragan—the founder of The Center For Great Apes, a 120-acre sanctuary in Wauchula, FL that houses nearly 50 chimpanzees and orangutans—recalls how she first became interested in great apes. That history, Ragan explains, dates back to 1984, when he volunteered on a rehabilitation project for orangutans in the rain forests of Indonesian Borneo. That […]

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Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals

Duncan — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 04:00:36 +0000

Priscilla Feral—the president of Friends of Animals, an international animal advocacy organization founded in 1957—discusses FoA’s late founder, Alice Herrington, outlining the characteristics that helped account for her pioneering inroads. Feral also addresses her circumstances, as a young woman, that deposited her at the Friends of Animals offices in 1974 (when she commuted each day […]

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Sarah Baeckler Davis, president & CEO of Project Chimps

Duncan — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 05:00:10 +0000

Sarah Baeckler Davis—a primatologist and lawyer who is president and CEO of Project Chimps, a relatively new chimpanzee sanctuary in Northern Georgia—discusses how, at eight years old, reading a book about Jane Goodall absolutely fascinated her, and she decided right then that she wanted to do the same kind of work. That objective, and the […]

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Chris Hegedus, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker

Duncan — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 04:00:46 +0000

Chris Hegedus—co-director of the new documentary, “Unlocking The Cage”—explains the criteria she and her partner of 40 years, D.A. Pennebaker, use when deciding on the films to make, an eclectic body of work that includes the Oscar-nominated “The War Room,” which examined Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, and 2009’s “Kings of Pastry,” providing a front-row […]

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Carl Safina, author, scientist, MacArthur Fellow

Duncan — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 04:00:17 +0000

Dr. Carl Safina — a prize-winning author, scientist and MacArthur Fellow—discusses his new book, “Beyond Words: What Animals Think And Feel,” which in the broadest of strokes, involves three big sections, in which Safina is observing the behavior of elephants at Amboseli National Park, wolves in Yellowstone National Park and killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, […]

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Harry Hmura, composer of “I Am, I Am”

Duncan — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 13:22:53 +0000

Harry Hmura —musician-composer whose album “I Am, I Am” integrates original songs and instrumental pieces with the vocalizations of great apes—discusses his formative years as a musician, including a pivotal backstage meeting with B. B. King as a 15-year-old and becoming the guitarist in James Cotton’s touring band at 21. He recounts how a televised […]

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Dr. Vint Virga, veterinarian and animal behaviorist

Duncan — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 01:49:09 +0000

Dr. Vint Virga—veterinarian, animal behaviorist and author of “The Soul of All Living Creatures: What Animals Can Teach Us About Being Human”—explains how the anti-zoo view he held earlier in his career evolved into seeing zoos in a more positive light. He also assesses whether there’s been a parallel shift in the public perception of […]

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Liz Marshall, Director of “The Ghosts In Our Machine”

Duncan — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 05:00:11 +0000

Liz Marshall—an award-winning filmmaker whose latest project is directing the acclaimed documentary “The Ghosts In Our Machine,” which chiefly examines the work and life of photographer Jo-Anne McArthur—discusses the meaning behind the film’s titular ghosts. She also explains the rationale behind making a full-length documentary about McArthur as she photographs an array of abused and […]

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Claudine André, bonobo partisan

Duncan — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 04:00:54 +0000

Claudine André—a Belgian conservationist who in 1994 founded Lola Ya Bonobo, the world’s only sanctuary for orphaned bonobos, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—provides an overview of bonobos… What they are (great apes with a much lower profile than the others: chimpanzees, gorillas or orangutans), and how they typically live (peaceful, matriarchal and […]

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Kari Bagnall, founder of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary

Duncan — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 04:00:36 +0000

Kari Bagnall—founder and director of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary—recounts the history of how she launched this facility in Gainesville, FL that houses for more than 100 monkeys that were formerly part of the exotic pet trade or had been used in laboratory research. She explains the rationale behind Jungle Friends deciding to concentrate on […]

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Adam Roberts, Executive Vice-President Born Free USA

Duncan — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 04:00:41 +0000

Adam Roberts—executive vice president and co-founder of Born Free USA—outlines the chief categories of animal welfare that Born Free USA concerns itself with, noting where those efforts overlap and differ from those of the Born Free Foundation, which gave rise to and shares DNA with the American organization. He also addresses the extensive databases that Born […]

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Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers, co-authors of “Zoobiquity”

Duncan — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:23:59 +0000

Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers–co-authors of “Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human And Animal Health,” a New York Times bestseller recently issued in paperback—discuss the genesis of the “zoobiquity” philosophy and the term itself. Natterson-Horowitz–a cardiologist at the UCLA Medical Center and professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA—explains how she […]

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Amy Fultz, co-founder of Chimp Haven

Duncan — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:04:10 +0000

Amy Fultz–a co-founder of Chimp Haven, the 200-acre Louisiana sanctuary for chimpanzees who had been used for biomedical research (and other purposes) before retiring to the facility–discusses the history of the facility, including the years of planning and research before they broke ground on the sanctuary. She also recounts her own history, growing up in Michigan, […]

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