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clock-iconPUBLISHEDMarch 23, 2026

IFLScience We Have Questions: Which Animals Have The Worst Table Manners?

And why you really don’t want to have dinner with an anteater.

Rachael Funnell headshot

Rachael Funnell

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment.

Senior Science Writer

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment.View full profile

Rachael has a degree in Zoology from the University of Southampton, and specializes in animal behavior, evolution, palaeontology, and the environment.

View full profile
A smartphone showing an episode of IFLScience's We Have Questions podcast about which animals have the worst table manners.

Meeting animals’ diverse feeding needs requires some creativity on the part of zoos.

Image credit: photka/Puttachat Kumkrong/schankz/Toeizuza Thailand/urfin/woopics/Boonchuay1970/Shutterstock.com; modified by IFLScience

Imagine yourself in a restaurant like no other: at the table beside you, two owls are on a date. There’s an anteater dining solo over in the corner, and a family of leeches sitting around a table just behind you. There’s a lot on the menu, but some of the dining etiquette might just put you off your food.

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This is the imaginary scenario we put to Chester Zoo’s Assistant Manager for Visitor Engagement, Ashleigh Marshall, when we invited her to discuss: Which animal has the worst table manners? Of course, animals have no need for etiquette, and they have all evolved these feeding strategies for a reason, but indulge us as we get a bit silver service about it all. There’s some seriously questionable eating going on in the animal kingdom.

You can listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more.

This interview first appeared in Issue 39 of our digital magazineCURIOUS.


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