Isabella Rossellini Consorts with Wildlife at the Cal Academy of Sciences

Isabella Rossellini recently published a book about chicken farming—not a thing that most people would necessarily expect of Hollywood Royalty.

The daughter of Oscar-winning actor Ingrid Bergman, Rossellini starred in movies like "Big Night" and "Blue Velvet," was the longtime face of luxury perfume and cosmetics house Lancôme, and served as a muse to filmmakers David Lynch and Martin Scorsese.

But Rossellini's interest in the animal kingdom has become as prominent a feature of her career in recent years as her longstanding work in film and fashion.

In addition to raising chickens on her farm in Long Island and supporting various wildlife-related causes, Rossellini is studying for a master's degree in animal behavior at Hunter College in New York, and has created a series of short experimental films and live performances about the mating and parenting habits of various animals like spiders, hamsters and bees.

Her latest theatrical production, "Link Link Circus," is about animal intelligence and the links connecting members of the animal kingdom, including ourselves.

The idea was initially popularized by the British naturalist Charles Darwin. "The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind," Darwin famously wrote of evolutionary theory as it relates to human development  in his 1871 book, The Descent of Man.

KQED's Chloe Veltman recently caught up with Rossellini at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, where they hung out with the wildlife, and chatted about human evolution, chicken farming, and performing on stage with a dog.

Listen to an edited version of their conversation by clicking the play button at the top of this page.

"Link Link Circus" plays Thursday, Jan. 17 through Monday, Jan. 21 at The Chapel in San Francisco. The production then transfers to Santa Monica (Jan. 25-27) and San Diego (Jan. 29).  Find out more here. 

Thanks to Kelly Mendez and Bart Shepherd of the California Academy of Sciences for their assistance on this story.