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A Brand New Bird: How Two Amateur Scientists Created the First Genetically Engineered Animal

A Brand New Bird: How Two Amateur Scientists Created the First Genetically Engineered Animal
By Tim Birkhead

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Product Description

Long before Dolly the Sheep or bioengineered corn, there was the Red Canary-the first organism to be manipulated by genetic technology, back in the 1920s. The effort to produce a red canary invoked all of the deep issues that troubled genetic engineering decades later: the nature of genes and how they work, the specter of eugenics, and the relative roles of nature and nurture in determining what an organism is. Behavioral ecologist Tim Birkhead describes how a sweet-voiced green bird discovered by Spanish explorers in the 1300s became a craze in Renaissance Europe, how breeders gradually turned its green plumage to yellow, and how a pair of German scientists used the first bit of gene technology in the 1920s to produce an almost-red canary. But the true red canary would not come until the 1960s, when British scientists successfully bred one, and genes alone would not be sufficient to create one. A Brand New Bird is a compelling tale of a fascinating episode in the history of genetics.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #812138 in Books
  • Published on: 2003-07-30
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: 1.00" h x 5.40" w x 9.30" l, .99 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
The phrase "genetic engineering" conjures up images of test tubes, in vitro fertilization, and scientific laboratories. However, attempts at genetic engineering have been made since animals and plants were domesticated, only then it was simply called "breeding." Farmers and fanciers bred the best with the best, and occasionally crossed different species, in order to get offspring that might improve on their parents. When Spanish explorers discovered a little green bird with a lovely song, it set the stage for the formation of a new domestic animal, the canary. By the 1920s the familiar yellow canaries were common, but a pair of German bird enthusiasts wanted a red canary. The exciting story of how a scientist and an amateur bird breeder created an almost red one makes for fascinating reading. Birkhead, a behavioral ecologist and author, places this achievement in the context of scientific knowledge of the day. Birkhead's treatise on the canary as an example of the interaction between genes and environment is a terrific example of popular-science writing. Nancy Bent
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About the Author

Tim Birkhead trained in behavioral ecology at Oxford University under Richard Dawkins and is now Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Sheffield. He contributes regularly to the Independent, New Scientist, Natural History, and BBC Wildlife. His previous books include Promiscuity and Great Auk Islands, and he is co-editor of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Ornithology.