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Talking about animals

Episode 260123 / 23 Jan 2026

(Photo: Getty)

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Introduction

Neil and Beth have a real conversation in easy English about animals – the creatures that walk, crawl, swim, slither and soar around planet Earth. Learn to talk about wild animals, and what you would like to see living in the wild.

Vocabulary

wild animal
animals which live without the help of humans

the wild
places that are natural, where humans don't help animals or other organisms

would like to (+ infinitive)
want to 

Transcript

Neil
Hello, welcome to Real Easy English. We're back with another conversation in easy English to help you learn. I'm Neil.
 
Beth
And I'm Beth. You can find a video of this podcast with subtitles over on our website. Go to bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Neil
Hi, Beth. How are you?
 
Beth
I'm good, thank you, Neil. How are you?
 
Neil
I'm very well.
 
Beth
Good.
 
Neil
Today, we're talking about animals. Not pets, though – we're talking about wild animals. And wild animals are animals that live without the help of humans.
 
Beth
Do you have a favourite wild animal then?
 
Neil
Well, I think I like the gazelle.
 
Beth
I was not expecting that answer. Why a gazelle?
 
Neil
Because they are so elegant. You know, they, kind of, float and bounce when they're running, and I think they just look really beautiful.
 
Beth
OK. Have you seen a gazelle in the wild?
 
Neil
I haven't, no.
 
Beth
OK.
 
Neil
We don't... we don't have many interesting wild animals in the UK.
 
Beth
We do! I mean, they're all small. We have squirrels.
 
Neil
Yes.
 
Beth
And foxes.
 
Neil
And rats!
 
Beth
Well, yeah! Everywhere has rats. Hedgehogs! Hedgehogs are cute.
 
Neil
Yes. And I have seen deer.
 
Beth
Oh yeah, same. I have a squirrel story, actually.
 
Neil
Go on.
 
Beth
I was asleep the other day. I heard a noise. It woke me up and I went into the bathroom... and there was a squirrel on the floor in my bathroom! And it saw me and it jumped out the window. And I thought, "Have I gone crazy? Am I dreaming?" But there was a squirrel in my bathroom. Thankfully, it didn't come into the house.
 
Neil
Have you ever seen a really interesting or unusual animal?
 
Beth
I have. I saw blue whales. Many years ago, I was travelling with a friend and we went on a boat to try and see whales, and we did see blue whales. There were quite a lot of them, and we saw a mother and her baby. So, even a baby blue whale is absolutely huge, and we were in a very small boat. It wasn't a tourist big boat. It was just us. And when you're on a small boat and you can see these huge whales, it's... It was quite amazing.
 
Neil
Yeah, I'm a bit jealous.
 
Beth
What wild animals have you seen?
 
Neil
I saw an animal called a vicuna.
 
Beth
A vicuna? I've never heard of that. What animal is that?
 
Neil
It's like a llama or an alpaca, but it's smaller. And I was in South America, out in the middle of nowhere...
 
Beth
Right.
 
Neil
...in the countryside. And I went to a cafe and there was a vicuna in the cafe!
 
Beth
Inside the cafe?
 
Neil
Yeah. And that was really surprising, but also really cute.
 
Beth
Was it a wild animal or, like, a pet of the cafe?
 
Neil
I'm not really sure. I don't know if vicunas make pets.
 
Beth
Are there any animals that you would like tosee in the wild?
 
Neil
Yeah, I think... I think I would like tosee a lion in the wild, but also I wouldn't like to see a lion in the wild because that could be the end of your life, so it depends on the circumstances.
 
Beth
Yes. I was thinking about tigers – that I would like tosee a tiger in the wild. But again, I don't want to just be walking up a mountain and suddenly... "Oh, a tiger is right in front of me." I would not like that.
 
Neil
No. So, would you like to go on a safari, for example?
 
Beth
I would, yes. I would really like to go on safari because you can see so many animals in the wild there. All the lions and elephants, hippos. Sounds amazing.
 
Neil
OK. It's time to recap the vocabulary that we used in this podcast. We talked about wild animals. If an animal is wild, it means it lives without the help of humans.
 
Beth
And we also use wild as a noun – the wild. So, this means places that are natural, where humans don't help animals or plants.
 
Neil
And we talked about some of the animals we want to see, using the structure would like to, plus the infinitive. So, for example, I would like tosee lions.
 
Beth
And I would like togo on safari.
 
Neil
That's it for this episode of Real Easy English. Don't forget to go to our website, where you can find a free worksheet to download. That's at bbclearningenglish.com.
 
Beth
And we'll be back next week with another conversation in easy English. Goodbye for now!
 
Neil
Goodbye!

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