Nature's Most Wanted: Murder (but not crows)

Nature's Most Wanted: Murder (but not crows)

From What The Duck?! by ABC Australia

April 2, 2026 · 26 min

About this episode

This episode explores the forensic investigation of animal attacks and the psychological impact of fear related to being preyed upon.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Ann Jones

Guests: Phoebe Judge, Euan Ritchie, Mary Roach, Sindhu Radhakrishna, Satish Kr. Verma

Topics covered

  • wildlife
  • forensics
  • animal attacks
  • psychology
  • ecology

Keywords

  • forensic clues
  • animal attacks
  • mass psychosis
  • wildlife ecology
  • human-animal interaction

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ABC Australia

Places: Delhi, Bengaluru, Faridabad, Wadawarrung, Taungurung

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