The Red Canary: The Story of the First Genetically Engineered Animal

by Tim Birkhead

The creation of Dolly the sheep in the 1990s was for many people the start of a new era: the age of genetically modified animals. However, the idea was not new, for in the 1920s an amateur scientist, Hans Duncker, decided to genetically engineer a red canary.

Favored originally for their voice, by the middle of the nineteenth century canaries had become so popular that millions were exported from Europe to the United States to satisfy demand. During the 1870s, English canary breeders caused a scandal by feeding their birds red peppers to turn them orange. In the 1930s, Duncker’s genetics efforts caught the attention of the Nazi regime who saw him as a champion of their eugenic policies, even though his ingenious experiments were not successful.


Nonetheless, Duncker’s work paved the way thirty years later for an Englishman, Anthony Gill, and an American, Charles Bennett, to succeed, after recognizing that the red canary would need to be a product of both nature and nurture. In Tim Birkhead’s masterful hands, this highly original narrative reveals how the obsession of bird keepers turned the wild canary from green to red, and in the process, heralded exciting but controversial developments in genetic manipulation.

Genres: Science, Birds, Nonfiction, History, Animals, Wildlife, Natural History

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2003

About the author

Tim Birkhead is an award-winning author and one of the world’s leading bird biologists. He is the coauthor of Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology since Darwin (Princeton) and the author of The Wonderful Mr. Willughby: The First True Ornithologist, The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg, and Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird, among other books. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Sheffield.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. This is not just the story of the first genetically engineered animal, but also a history book of sorts taking us from the world of bird fanciers os the XVI century up to present times.

I particularly enjoyed the discussion about the way the field of genetics evolved following WWII and the more recent debates on the interactions between genes and the environment.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few interesting facts about breeding canaries and other birds, a subject about which I was completely ignorant before reading this. Too bad about the venezualan red siskin that is critically endangered now due to the pet trade and trying to breed it with canaries.

Spoiler Alert:
I don't know, maybe it is supposed to be common knowledge to everyone who would read this book that red canaries exist...but I didn't know it and I was in suspense for the entire book about whether or not they would succeed in creating a red canary. And then it is just sort of glossed over in the last chapter that, oh, yeah, then there were lots of red canaries. I guess I was expecting a more exuberant climax or something.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love all of Tim Birkhead’s books and this one is no exception. The book traces the development of red canaries and has an interesting cast of characters , both Nazis and Martha Stewart make an appearance.One of the parts that was fascinating to me was how hard the breeders worked to see examples of different color birds, visiting libraries or museums, looking through manuscripts and paintings for examples of rare color forms.
I think Birkhead struggled with how to present his protagonist, after finding out midway through researching his project that his main character was a suspected nazi, but I think he managed to be fairly even handed in dealing with the issue.

[Lesley Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unputdownable, especially if you know the background of genetics.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of the development of the red canary by crossing it with a red breed of finch. Along the way it covers a lot of canary history as well as bird keeping in Europe, song birds, early genetic engineers, and concepts of eugenics. Though it is non-fiction the author is able to create a story to hold the reader's interest instead of just laying down a bunch of boring facts. He is able to make the two Germans who did most of the research into the red canary come alive into real people with real interests.

The author touches on the very delicate topics of eugenics in pre-WWII Germany without making the players out to be Nazi demons or scientific saints. He is able to remain relatively objective about a very emotionally charged subject which I thought was admirable. I feel that I learned a lot of information about a range of related topics from this book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in popular scientific reading.

One thing I think that was very interesting in this book is that a red canary is only possible with a combination of nurture and nature. They red genes must be present, but the bird must also have the correct diet. Even today when there is a lot of evidence that a creature is fully the combination of nature and nurture together, it seems people want to argue which one has the most effect. I think the red canary is an excellent example of why that type of argument is flawed.

[Artslyz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this one. I don't read much biology and this is presented very well - it's entertaining and I've learned a lot about genetics. (Given that I started with very little background knowledge relating to genetics!)