Old MacDonald had a farm...

A review of "The Encyclopedia of Historic and Endangered Livestock and Poultry Breeds" by Janet Vorwald Dohner.

This massive book is a fascinating encyclopaedia of rare and endangered domestic animals. Included are breeds of goats, sheep, swine, cattle, equines and poultry.

Each group of animals is introduced by extensive chapters on natural history, domestication and husbandry. More detailed presentations of the various breeds follow. Some are well known, such as Lipizzan horses or Przewalski horses. Others are down right weird, such as Fainting Goats and four-horned sheep! A few Swedish breeds are also included, but unfortunately the funny-looking Blue and Yellow Ducks aren't illustrated.

The book contains colour photographs of most described breeds. One problem is that most of the photos are very small. There are also photos in black and white. Further, the work contains drawings of unusual farm animals, some of them taken from old books and newspapers. While the encyclopaedia does contain a bibliography, there are no footnotes to the actual articles. Thus, it cannot be considered fully referenced. Still, it does give the impression of being well researched. The author, Janet Vorwald Dohner, is both a librarian and (surprise) a breeder of rare domestic animals!

The purpose of the encyclopaedia is ideological. Dohner believes that humanity should save rare domestic breeds of various animals from extinction. One reason is preserving genetic diversity. Cultural or purely aesthetic reasons are also considered. But at bottom, Dohner believes that humans aren't really the masters of the animal world, but only their stewards. Only a few animal species can be fully domesticated. From an evolutionary viewpoint, these animals "choose" us, as much as we "choose" them. The horse "choose" to become a partner of humanity. The zebra didn't. (Attempts to domesticate zebras have failed.) From a moral viewpoint, we owe something even to domesticated animals. It's an interesting thought, and it's obvious that this is the real reason behind this exceptional book.

Finally, we know what Old MacDonald really had on his farm!