Threshold Conversations | Feminism in the Wild with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer

Threshold Conversations | Feminism in the Wild with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer

From Threshold by Auricle Productions

February 17, 2026 · 32 min

About this episode

The episode explores how human biases shape our understanding of animal behavior through a conversation with Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer.

How much of what we know about animals is actually just an assumption? From dominant males and passive females to stigmas around same-sex sexual behavior, ideas from our human world influence our understanding of the nonhuman one. Ambika Kamath is a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist, and Melina Packer is a scholar of race, gender and sexuality. Together they wrote the book Feminism in the Wild: How Human Biases Shape Our Understanding of Animal Behavior . They join us to unpack some long-held ideas in biology, explain why these ideas are so powerful, and imagine how we might open our eyes to animal behavior that defies our expectations. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today . To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter . Credits: Threshold Conversations is produced by Sam Moore. Our music is by Todd Sickafoose. Amy Martin is our host and executive producer. Resources and Links: Episode transcript Feminism in the Wild from MIT Press The paper on female birdsong by Michelle Hall and colleagues Amy’s Substack, Letters to Earthlings

People in this episode

Host: Amy Martin

Guests: Ambika Kamath, Melina Packer

Topics covered

  • animal behavior
  • feminism
  • human biases
  • biology
  • gender studies

Keywords

  • animal behavior
  • feminism
  • human biases
  • gender
  • evolutionary biology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: MIT Press

Books & works: Feminism in the Wild

More episodes of Threshold

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Threshold podcast page.