Cowie, Helen Louise orcid.org/0000-0003-1485-8350 (2022) A Tale of Two Anteaters: Madrid 1776 and London 1853. Centarus. pp. 591-614. ISSN 1600-0498
Abstract
In 1776, the first living giant anteater to reach Europe arrived in Madrid from Buenos Aires. It survived 6 months in the Real Sitio del Buen Retiro before being transferred to the newly founded Real Gabinete de Historia Natural. In 1853,77 years later, a second anteater was brought to London by two German showmen and exhibited at a shop in Bloomsbury, where it was visited by the novelist Charles Dickens. The animal was subsequently purchased by the Zoological Society of London,which classed it as one of the most important additions to the menagerie since its formation in 1828. Drawing on recent work in animal biography, this article assesses the reception of the two anteaters and considers their cultural and scientific significance. I examine the logistics of the exotic animal trade and trace the transatlantic networks that permitted anteaters—and knowledge about them—to move between continents. I also study the modes of representation, from painting to taxidermy, that enabled the anteaters to reach new audiences. By focusing in detail on the lives of two exceptional anteaters, the article illuminates understandings of the species more broadly and shows how different spaces and places shaped the creation and dissemination of zoological knowledge. I emphasise, in particular, the tensions that emerged between imperial and colonial science and the competing knowledge regimes of the natural history museum, the menagerie,and the field.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022, The Author(s). |
Keywords: | anteater, circulation of knowledge, 18th-century science, 19th-century science, zoological garden, menagerie, museum Spain Britain |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > History (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2022 11:40 |
Last Modified: | 18 Dec 2024 00:22 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1484/J.CNT.5.132101 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1484/J.CNT.5.132101 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:192891 |