The surprising culture of the animal kingdom

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We discuss the incredible science of the animal kingdom, focusing on the latest fascinating research into animal culture, society and communication.

Victoria Gill is joined by a panel of experts in front of a live audience at the Hay Festival to hear about their research all over the world into animal behaviour.

Taking part are:

Jemima Scrase, who is currently finishing her PhD at the University of Sussex investigating matriarchal leadership in African elephants, and has spent most of the last few years out in the field in Kenya, working in collaboration with the charity Save the Elephants.

Dr Manon Schweinfurth, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, who runs a lab investigating the evolutionary and psychological origins of cooperation.

And Andy Radford, a Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bristol, who studies social behaviour and communication, and particularly how vocalisations are used to mediate cooperation and conflict.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.
0:09.0	In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?
0:16.0	Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.
0:20.0	A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by
0:23.1	their own light and that light is to be recognized by others. The long history of heroism with me,
0:28.6	Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to the BBC Inside Science podcast, you lovely curious-minded listeners.
0:41.7	I'm Victoria Gill and today I am with a live audience at the Hay Festival in Powys Wales.
0:50.1	Thank you very much.
0:51.4	And while this event celebrates an incredible range of human culture, we are here to discuss the cultures of very different kind. Thank you very much. And while this event celebrates an incredible range of human culture,
0:55.1	we are here to discuss the cultures of very different kind, the culture, society and communication
1:00.2	in the animal kingdom. And with the help of an expert panel of scientists, each of whom have
1:05.7	travelled the world and their efforts to understand the inner lives of species that we share
1:09.2	our planet with, we will be finding
1:11.2	out some of the latest intriguing behavioral discoveries and what they tell us about the world that
1:16.6	we live in and the species we share it with. So let me introduce you to the people who are going to
1:21.1	bring us these multi-species insights. We have Dr. Manon Schweinfoot. It is a senior lecturer in
1:27.2	the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St. Andrews and runs a laboratory investigating the evolutionary and psychological origins of cooperation. Hello, Manon.
1:35.6	Hello, thank you for inviting me. Well, you are very, very welcome. Came all the way down from St. Andrews to Hay. Thank you so much. We have Jamimraise, who is finishing her PhD at the University of Sussex,
1:46.7	investigating the matriarchal leadership in African elephants. She spent most of the last few years
1:52.1	out in the field in Kenya, but is here in Hay today, just in the UK for a couple of months. She's
1:56.7	working in collaboration with the charity Save the Elephants. Hi, Jemarim. Hello.
2:04.9	And Andy Radford is Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bristol,
	...

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