A Greenhouse Research Talk by Matthew Holmes, Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental History, University of Stavanger, and Visiting Researcher, University of Maastricht.
In 1896 the British zoologist Alfred Newton declared that the seasonal migration of birds remained one of the greatest mysteries of the animal kingdom. In this paper, I argue that nineteenth-century discussions on migration were shaped by wider scientific debates over the presence of “reason” and “instinct” in animals. Drawing upon contemporary archives, books, and periodicals, I explore how Anglo-American naturalists attempted to explain the ability of birds to time their movements and successfully navigate across great distances through concepts such as natural selection, inherited knowledge, and even animal telepathy.
Matthew Holmes (he/him) is a historian of science and the environment and the author of The Graft Hybrid: Challenging Twentieth-Century Genetics (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024). He publishes on biotechnology, animal history, and colonial environmental history. He is currently working on the interaction of birds and technology in the nineteenth-century United States and its consequences for perceptions of "natural" hierarchies and animal minds.