Leonardo da Pinchy is a literal cat burglar with more than 350 pieces of evidence against him — evidence that's easy to confirm because when he steals his neighbour's underwear, he brings it home with a satisfied look of great pride.

Steven Seagull is banned from the local corner store after a six-year beef-flavoured-chip-thieving spree.

Then there are the monkeys holding phones hostage for fruit juice.

These aren't the only creatures with a criminal record — far from it

So when animals steal, what is driving their behaviour?

Featuring:

• Dr Neeltje Boogert, associate professor in animal behaviour at the University of Exeter
• Helen North and Leonardo da Pinchy
• Julia Henning, PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide
• Professor Sindhu Radhakrishna, National Institute of Advanced studies in Bengaluru, India

With extra sounds from bird enthusiasts:

• Romuald Mikusek, XC912877. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/912877 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
• Мітла Андрій Володимирович, XC915767. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/915767 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
• Eetu Paljakka, XC1087274. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/1087274 (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)

And thanks to Dr Neeltje Boogert for sounds used in the study:

• Herring gulls respond to the acoustic properties of men's voices

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 Jones exploring the mysteries of nature on ABC Listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll learn more about the weird and unusual aspects of our natural world in a quirky, fun way with easy to understand science.