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Aepyornis as moa: giant birds and global connections in nineteenth-century science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2012

THOMAS J. ANDERSON
THOMAS J. ANDERSON*
Affiliation:
Postdoctoral Fellow in World History, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh, 3702 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

This essay explores how the scientific community interpreted the discoveries of extinct giant birds during the mid-nineteenth century on the islands of New Zealand and Madagascar. It argues that the Aepyornis of Madagascar was understood through the moa of New Zealand because of the rise of global networks and theories. Indeed, their global connections made giant birds a sensation among the scientific community and together forged theories and associations not possible in isolation. In this way, this paper argues for a closer look at how the creation of science emerged from a world framework that involved multiple sites of discovery and interpretation that continually influenced and reshaped scientific theories. It also stresses the importance of local naturalists in participating in this global exchange of knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 675 - 693
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 2012 

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References

1 For simplicity, I will refer to these birds as the moa and Aepyornis, as they were often called during the nineteenth century. However, it was quickly realized that there were multiple species of both birds. The common name ‘moa’ today includes eleven species from eight genera of extinct, flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The Aepyornis, sometimes referred to by its common name, the elephant bird, is a genus with four generally accepted species today, although by the end of the nineteenth century naturalists counted eleven species.

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