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

by Tim Birkhead

At the turn of the 20th century canary mania spread from the US and South Africa to Europe, with 150,000 males being raised each year to satisfy demand. Hans Duncker, a German bird enthusiast, was fascinated by the fact that in the 1870s English canary breeders had caused a scandal by feeding their Norwich canaries with red peppers to turn them orange. Duncker spent the rest of his life (1881-1961) using breeding rather than feeding to try and produce a red canary. Duncker's ultimately unsuccessful work was picked up by an Englishman, Anthony Gill, and an American, Charles Bennett, in the 1930s. This was all long before genetically modified organisms and Dolly the sheep, but this amazing story (with its backdrop of the rise of Nazism and eugenic policies) has huge contemporary relevance. This is a highly original narrative revealing how an amateur obsession heralded the inherent dangers of genetic manipulation.

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

320 pages, Hardcover

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!)