The Fur Real Podcast with Mark A Kyle

What did it mean to care for an animal in the Middle Ages?
Long before modern veterinary medicine, medieval people developed detailed systems for healing horses, hounds, livestock, and even household pets. Treatments ranged from practical wound care and herbal remedies to bloodletting, lunar timing, and deeply held spiritual beliefs about the body.
Medieval historian Kathleen Walker-Meikle explores how animals were understood, valued, and treated in a world where science, faith, folklore, and lived experience were inseparable. From war horses essential to power and survival, to beloved companion animals inside the home, care was not just medical — it was cultural.
How did people decide when to treat an animal?
What role did astrology and religion play?
Were medieval healers more sophisticated than we assume?
This episode uncovers a surprisingly complex world of animal medicine — where healing meant far more than technique, and where belief shaped the care animals received.
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Books:
Kathleen Walker-Meikle, Medieval Pets (Boydell and Brewer, 2012; paperback 2019)
Ibid, Dogs in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library Publications, 2020)
Ibid, Cats in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library Publications, 2019)
Ibid, The Horse Book: Horses of Historical Distinction (London: Bloomsbury, 2017);
Ibid, The Cat Book: Cats of Historical Distinction (London: Bloomsbury, 2015)
Ibid, The Dog Book: Dogs of Historical Distinction (London: Bloomsbury, 2014)

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They tower above the African savannah — silent, watchful, and impossible to ignore. Giraffes are the tallest animals on Earth, yet their conservation story is far more complex than most people realize. While some populations have declined sharply, others are stabilizing and even growing. So what’s really happening with the world’s most iconic giants?
In this episode, we explore the full giraffe story with Stephanie Fennessy, co-founder of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, the only organization in the world dedicated solely to the conservation and management of giraffes in the wild.
From habitat loss and human expansion to groundbreaking translocations and science-driven population management, this conversation dives into what it truly takes to protect the world’s tallest land mammal. We unpack the surprising complexity of giraffe species, the realities of conservation across multiple African countries, and the hopeful signs emerging from long-term, strategic protection efforts.
This isn’t just a story about vulnerability. It’s a story about protecting gentle giants — and what it means to stand tall for a species’ future.
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Dingos have been called pests. Predators. Even villains.
But what if we’ve been telling the wrong story?
In this episode, Kylie Cairns takes us deep into the Australian outback to uncover the truth about one of the world’s most misunderstood canines. Are dingos wild dogs? A separate species? A missing evolutionary link? And what role do they really play in balancing fragile ecosystems?
We explore the science behind their intelligence, the controversy surrounding their protection, and the powerful bond that can exist between humans and truly wild animals. From ancient DNA to modern conservation battles, this conversation challenges what we think we know about “man’s best friend.”
Dingos aren’t just survivors of the harsh Australian landscape — they’re architects of it.
Wild. Wise. And far more complex than most of us realize.
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Recent articles...
https://theconversation.com/dingoes-are-not-domestic-dogs-new-evidence-shows-these-native-canines-are-on-their-own-evolutionary-path-262938
https://theconversation.com/impacts-of-colonisation-on-dingoes-are-written-in-their-bones-new-research-finds-270082
https://theconversation.com/the-boss-of-country-not-wild-dogs-to-kill-living-with-dingoes-can-unite-communities-214212
https://theconversation.com/new-dna-testing-shatters-wild-dog-myth-most-dingoes-are-pure-206397
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What if intelligence isn’t what we’ve always assumed it is?
In this episode, corvid researcher Kaeli Swift invites us to reconsider how intelligence is defined by exploring the inner lives of crows and their relatives. Drawing from her groundbreaking work on crow funerals—where crows gather silently around their dead to observe, learn, and assess danger—she reveals how these birds use memory, reasoning, and social awareness in ways that don’t fit traditional human benchmarks, yet are deeply sophisticated.
From recognizing individual human faces to communicating risk across generations, crows demonstrate intelligence shaped by survival, community, and experience rather than language or tools. This conversation challenges the idea that intelligence must look human to be meaningful—and asks what we might learn if we paid closer attention to the forms of intelligence we’ve been overlooking all along.
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What began as playful Super Bowl counter-programming has grown into one of the most successful adoption platforms in television history. Now in its 22nd year, the Puppy Bowl has helped prove that joy, storytelling, and animal rescue can coexist — and work.
In this episode, we go inside the Puppy Bowl with Dan Schachner, the longtime “Rufferee” who has been part of the event’s evolution into a cultural phenomenon. Dan shares how the Puppy Bowl actually comes together behind the scenes, how puppies are selected from shelters and rescues, and why adoption has always been the true goal.
A remarkable 100% of the dogs featured on the Puppy Bowl have been adopted, and Dan opens up about what that impact really looks like — from unforgettable on-set moments to the quieter success stories viewers never see. We also talk about what’s new this year, the growing focus on senior and special-needs dogs, and how fostering and adoption have shaped Dan’s own life.
It’s funny, heartfelt, and a reminder that sometimes the most joyful things on TV can also change lives.
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