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animalhistories.bsky.social
Animal History Group
@animalhistories.bsky.social
890 followers 950 following 19 posts
The Animal History Group (🌐 animalhistorygroup.org) is an independent international research network for students, academics and other professionals whose work engages with animals in history.
Posts currently by leafyhistory.bsky.social.
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animalhistories.bsky.social
Our second event of the year is next Wednesday at 8pm! Come along to a book release talk for @s-pooley.bsky.social's DISCOVERING THE OKAPI
Attendance is free, all are welcome, sign up on the Eventbrite link below. 📗🦓💚
The book cover for Simon Pooley's Discovering the Okapi. The front cover seems to be an old plate from Proceedings of the Zoological Society 2(1), 1808. There are two okapi on the front cover with giraffe like heads, brown upper bodies and zebra stripes on their legs. The title says: 'Discovering the Okapi: western science, Indigenous knowledge and the search for a rainforest enigma'
November 5, 2025 at 4:28 PM
animalhistories.bsky.social
Our first online Animal History seminar this term is 8pm next Wed:
Miriam Borgia - 'Defining Animal Well-Being: Sciences and Practices of Care in Italian Animal Husbandry'.
Free entry, all welcome. 🐮💚
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ahg-semina...?
#AnimalHistory #VeterinaryHistory #RuralHistory
"Defining Animal Well-Being: Sciences and Practices of Care in Italian Animal Husbandry Miriam Borgia, University of Bologna and EHESS-CRH, Paris At the end of the eighteenth century in parts of Italian territory, following the French model, the first veterinary medicine schools were established to address the recurrent epizootics. This constituted not only a hygienic concern, but also an economic imperative. Within this context, and with increasing emphasis throughout the nineteenth century, it became progressively evident that a productive animal, particularly in the case of cattle, was primarily a healthy animal. However, how was one to define a healthy animal? And what was the tension between care and exploitation? In this contribution, I will examine how veterinarians, small-scale farmers, and zootechnics sought to establish this definition through considerations of nutrition, reproduction, and behavior. Knowledge and practices concerning animal well-being were experimented with in the stables, with particular attention to illumination, ventilation, and temperature control. They also emerged through veterinary care, administered by empirical practitioners or trained veterinarians, and through the challenges inherent in selecting and improving local breeds. Ultimately, the treatment provided to animals directly influenced the quality of derived products (most notably milk and meat). Throughout the nineteenth century, animal husbandry became distinct from agriculture and by century's end some zootechnics asserted that livestock farming was no longer merely a "necessary evil" – that is, an enterprise fraught with sanitary and economic risks yet essential to agricultural practice – but rather an autonomous economic sector and a legitimate scientific discipline, whose success depended entirely upon the care accorded to animals and the application of knowledge from zootechnical and veterinary sciences."
October 8, 2025 at 7:16 AM
animalhistories.bsky.social
📣 Join us online on Wednesday 16 April for a reading group led by @leafyhistory.bsky.social on the #AnimalHistory of South Africa!

All welcome, register via our website: animalhistorygroup.org/seminar-seri...
Advert with archive image of a quagga in black and white, overlaid with white text: AHG Reading Group. On the right, blue text on a white background: Reading Group. Animal History in South Africa. Led by Dr Lee Raye, The Open University. 16 April. Online 7pm (UK time).
April 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
animalhistories.bsky.social
The AHG has moved to Bluesky! We're a predominantly online, international network, running a varied programme of seminars, conferences and other events since 2016.

We're looking forward to connecting and reconnecting here with all who are interested in animals in history!

animalhistorygroup.org
Banner with a blue circle and white text reading 'Animal History Group'. In the background is a cropped image of blue and white William de Morgan animal tiles.
January 24, 2025 at 12:00 PM