Animalcentral

Legs, hair and poison. This edition of AnimalCentral is all about our 8-legged friends who are found on every continent on Earth except one. Arno Naude and Rosanne, bring in two tarantulas to educate us on the true beauty of these creatures. From their survival instincts and methods, their strange breeding habits, to their sometimes carnivorous tendencies, we get the full story surrounding these amazing, yet often misunderstood creatures. www.cliffcentral.com

Jonathan and Sharon speak to Tracy McQuarrie the founder of Dogtown SA and Barking Mad shelter, she tells us about her passion for rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing South Africa's abandoned pets. www.cliffcentral.com

Sharon Dale has one of the very best animal behaviourists, Carole O'Leary, in studio to discuss cat and dog behaviour. www.cliffcentral.com

With all the craziness of New Year's Eve and thousands of animals lost, injured or killed, Tarryn Coghlan from Concerned Citizens Against Fireworks tells us about their fight to protect domestic animals and wildlife from the devastating effects of fireworks. www.cliffcentral.com

Animal Behaviourist Paula Jordi joins us to discuss the best ways to deal with your pet who is sensitive to fireworks, storms and any other loud noises. We also learn the truth behind being the "pack leader" and what this actually means for pet owners. Finally we discover how to deal with different breeds, and the best way to deal with breeds that use their eyes more and breeds that use their noses more, the differences might surprise you! www.cliffcentral.com

Is it a mouse? Is it a rat? No, it's a chinchilla! On this edition of AnimalCentral we find out all about these little creatures, we have chinchilla expert Shaun Naude who brings with him Jack the chinchilla. We find out how to take care of a chinchilla, where to find reputable breeders, as well as what kind of pets they make. You may be surprised to realise that they can live up to 25 years if taken care of properly. We also have the difficult discussion surrounding the fur trade of these beautiful creatures, they have 70 hairs per follicle as opposed to humans who only have one hair per follicle, this is the reason they have one of the softest furs in the animal kingdom. www.cliffcentral.com

Arno Naude - Chairman of the Herpetologist Society of SA - chats snakes, snake bites and snake keeping. He brings in his lavender albino reticulated python and tells us about her and all his other snakes. www.cliffcentral.com

Wildlife videographer Peter Lamberti tells us some of the highlights of his career spanning more than 25 years in the business. See Peter Lamberti's work at www.youtube.com/user/aquavisiontv/videos. Then we have rescued pitbull Liefie in studio along with her handler Estelle Smith and an animal behaviourist to tell us how it's done. www.cliffcentral.com

Over the last decade there have been more people keeping pigs as pets inside their homes. People are charmed by their intelligence and personality. Jono and Sharon chat with Leslie Giles who runs Pigs 'n' Paws, a sanctuary for abandoned pet pigs. www.cliffcentral.com

Did you know that each year 40 million animals are killed for their fur, or that up to 40 animals will die to make just one fur coat? Anneke Malan from Fur Free South Africa joins us to help fight this problem. www.cliffcentral.com

Jonathan and Sharon have some interesting news from the world of animals and our in-studio guest is animal wrangler and animal behaviourist Julie Bezuidenhout. Together we chat about the importance of socialising your puppy or dog and just what her job as an animal wrangler entails. www.cliffcentral.com

Today Sharon Dale and Jonathan Sinclair chat with animal behaviourist Scotty Valado who tells us how to cope with pets who get highly stressed from loud noises and fireworks. We also discover how to ensure you are the pack leader and how to ensure that your energy influences your pet as opposed to the other way around. www.cliffcentral.com

Have you ever noticed that the most affectionate animal in the world is a wet dog? Have you ever thought about trying to be the person that your dog sees you as? Well if these are things that you think about and you love animals, then this is your show. Today we find out more about Boston Terrier Rescue and Sharon and Jono talk to Linda Parks about the very controversial subject of canned lion hunting. www.cliffcentral.com

Sharon Dale and Jono Sinclair present a new show for animal lovers. They're joined in studio by Smaragda Louw from Ban Animal Trading, and find out how to eradicate the problem of puppy mills and dogs being born to be bred. www.cliffcentral.com

It's Leigh-Ann's last show as she's moving to Cape Town. What will she do with her five pets? Dr Guy Fyvie answers that question for us as he tells us what to expect, how pets adjust to new homes and how you can make the move easier and more comfortable for them. Then we get some dog training 101 tips from Paula Jordi. We also discover why cheetahs are killing themselves. www.cliffcentral.com

Leigh-Ann is joined by world famous animal psychic Amelia Kinkade who teaches us to understand our pets’ thoughts and we find out about a missing parrot that returned home after four years speaking Spanish. www.cliffcentral.com

The lost chihuahua has been found! Is a chimp a person? How and why are cheetahs killing themselves? Leigh-Ann and her guests answer these questions and more. www.cliffcentral.com

Leigh-Ann is joined in studio by Idols winner Jason Hartman, who tells us about the Global March planned for elephants and rhinos. We chat to the man who risked his life to save 25 dogs from bees, as tragedy struck Husky Rescue SA. The latest on Milo the tiny chihuahua-cross who escaped onto the OR Tambo runway; an alleged rhino poaching kingpin remanded into custody; and the man who tried to smuggle 51 live turtles under his clothes. www.cliffcentral.com

Leigh-Ann has 15-year-old Nadav Ossendryver who started the Kruger Sightings website and has the most viewed YouTube views in South Africa. She also speaks to Adine Roode, MD of Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre about the heartwarming story of Gertjie the Rhino and Lammie the Pedi Lamb. www.cliffcentral.com

Leigh-Ann celebrates all creatures – great and small – once again with topics that include interviewing a honeybee farmer, John Moody who's been passionate about what he does for the past 40-50 years. She also spoke to CliffCentral.com's very own Geoffrey who recently adopted a Pomeranian pup and shone light on the fossil of possibly the largest land animal that's ever lived. Sounds crazy, right? Listen to the podcast for more info! www.cliffcentral.com