What The Duck?!

In 2002 Gigoo became the world's wealthiest chicken when her owner left her £10 million in his will.
How does a chook even open a bank account?
Within legal limitations there are ways to provide your pets the lifestyle they're used to after you die.
But what about divorce?
Can you have visitation rights to see your goldfish?
And when a dog's day in court climbs though the tiers of the Australian legal system, it might surprise you how little the pet is mentioned.
Featuring:
Professor Katy Barnett, Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne, and co-author of Guilty Pigs
Professor Prue Vines, Faculty of Law and Justice, the University of New South Wales
Ian Charman, family law specialist, consultant solicitor, Adelta Legal
Production:
Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Isabella Tropiano, Sound Engineer
This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.
Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.

A lost monkey in an Ikea carpark is an illegally traded pet, so does he have a legal owner?
When it comes to animal ownership, courts turn to Roman-era laws to try and figure out if an animal is tame or wild.
It may work sometimes, but leaves out the modern idea of the animal's best interests.
And it doesn't explain how an elephant can have a criminal rap sheet.
Content warning: This program contains stories where animals are punished as if they are criminals. Some listeners may find this confronting.
Featuring:
Professor Katy Barnett, Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne, and co-author of Guilty Pigs
Dr Michelle Granden, psychologist
Mary Roach, author of Animal, Vegetable, Criminal
Professor Sindhu Radhakrishna, National Institute of Advanced studies in Bengaluru, India
With thanks to Dr Michelle Granden whose research inspired the title of this episode
And extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:
Mike Dooher, XC402422. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/402422 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Production:
Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer
This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.
Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.

How much booze does it take to intoxicate an elephant?
The answer isn't as much as you might expect, because not all guts are created equal when it comes to metabolising alcohol.
This explains why an elephant might be considered a lightweight and your donkey got into a fight last weekend.
But alcohol isn't the only cause of misbehaviour — so what motivated the legless serial doorbell pranksters?
Featuring:
Dr Mareike Janiak,  postdoctoral associate at the University of Calgary
Dr Christine Sutton, particle physicist and past editor of CERN Courier
Kate Connolly, Berlin correspondent for the Guardian Newspaper
Dr Imogen Cavadino, freelance malacologist
With news audio thanks to NPR
And extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:
Mike Dooher, XC355140. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/355140 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Lonnie Bregman, XC373738. Accessible at  www.xeno-canto.org/373738 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Mike Dooher, XC402422. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/402422 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Frank Lambert, XC1031363. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1031363 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0)
Production:
Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer
This episode of What the Duck?!  was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.
Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.

Forget feathered friends — these are our feathered foes.
They can wield knives, get involved in the world of organised crime and drug dealing, and even shut down the Large Hadron Collider.
But the most pressing question is, why did the duck cross the road at speeds so high local law enforcement was on the case?
Featuring:
Dr Christine Sutton, particle physicist and past editor of CERN Courier
Mary Roach, author of Animal, Vegetable, Criminal
Dr Laura Adams, psychology instructor at Langara College
Professor Dina Siegel, criminology at Utrecht University
Dr Amber Lee, avian & exotic animal veterinarian at The Unusual Pet Vets
Sven Montgomery, Police Inspectorate, municipality of Köniz
With extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:
David m, XC116357. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/116357 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0)
David m, XC164431. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/164431 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0)
Romuald Mikusek, XC912877. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/912877 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Daniel Parker, XC949456. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/949456 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Ray Cooke, XC1058578. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1058578 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Production:
Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Harvey O'Sullivan, Sound Engineer
This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.
Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.

The fear of being eaten by an animal is so visceral that a mass psychosis, featuring a monkey man, once swept across Delhi.
But in the event of an actual attack, investigators look for specific forensic clues to identify which predator was responsible.
Was the perpetrator human or animal? Or in one infamous case in the US, was it human … or owl?
Featuring:
Phoebe Judge, host of the podcast Criminal
Euan Ritchie, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at Deakin University
Mary Roach, author of Animal Vegetable Criminal
Professor Sindhu Radhakrishna, National Institute of Advanced studies in Bengaluru, India
Professor Satish Kr. Verma, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Amrita University in Faridabad, India
With extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:
Barry Edmonston, XC1001471. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1001471 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
Production:
Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
Rebecca McLaren, Producer
Hamish Camilleri, Sound Engineer
This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Taungurung people.
Find more episodes of the ABC podcast, What the Duck?! with the always curious Dr Ann Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.