ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

The Kiwi and the Sheep Went to Sea: Avian Conservation Science and the British Imagination

• In Event: Controlling and Conserving Animals

English Abstract

Apteryx owenii, or the little spotted kiwi nearly went extinct in 1938. Extensive efforts and resources have been employed to assure its survival, if only in limited preserves and eco-sanctuaries. The kiwi bird family, is one of several endemic New Zealand avian species put under immense pressure from logging and the swift expansion of the British pastoral enterprise. This paper explores the interrelationship between the efforts to save the species from extinction, the emergence and development of conservation science in Britain and her commonwealth, and animal life within the British imagination. The scientific and cultural influences that shaped New Zealand’s emergence as a leader in conservation science are discussed. This paper draws on primary source research of New Zealand and British popular science publications, mass media publications, as well the work of Rebecca Wood’s 2017 monograph The Herds Shot Around The World, and Robert McCracken Peck’s monograph The Natural History of Edward Lear, New Edition.

Author

• Hillary Loomis, Southern Illinois University