A plague of weasels and ticks: animal introduction, ecological disaster, and the balance of nature in Jamaica, 1870-1900.

IF 0.7 1区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE British Journal for the History of Science Pub Date : 2023-09-01 DOI:10.1017/S0007087423000286
Matthew Holmes
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Abstract

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, British colonists in Jamaica became increasingly exasperated by the damage caused to their sugar plantations by rats. In 1872, a British planter attempted to solve this problem by introducing the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata). The animals, however, turned on Jamaica's insectivorous birds and reptiles, leading to an explosion in the tick population. This paper situates the mongoose catastrophe as a closing chapter in the history of the nineteenth-century acclimatization movement. While foreign observers saw the introduction of the mongoose as a cautionary tale, caricaturing British Jamaica as overrun by a plague of weasels and ticks, British colonists, administrators and naturalists - identifying a gradual decline of both populations - argued that the 'balance of nature' would eventually reassert itself. As this paper argues, through this dubious claim they were attempting to retrospectively rationalize or justify the introductions and their disastrous aftermath. This strategy enabled them to gloss over the lasting ecological damage caused by the mongoose, and allowed its adherents to continue their uncritical support of both the Jamaican plantation economy and animal introductions in the British Empire.

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黄鼠狼和蜱虫的瘟疫:1870-1900年牙买加的动物引入、生态灾难和自然平衡。
19世纪末,牙买加的英国殖民者对老鼠对他们的甘蔗种植园造成的破坏越来越愤怒。1872年,一位英国种植园主试图通过引进小型印度猫鼬来解决这个问题。然而,这些动物转而攻击牙买加的食虫鸟类和爬行动物,导致蜱虫数量激增。本文将猫鼬灾难视为19世纪适应运动历史的最后一章。虽然外国观察家认为猫鼬的引入是一个警示故事,讽刺英属牙买加被黄鼠狼和蜱虫的瘟疫所淹没,但英国殖民者、行政人员和博物学家认为,这两种种群都在逐渐减少,他们认为“自然平衡”最终会重新确立。正如本文所说,通过这种可疑的说法,他们试图追溯性地合理化或证明这些介绍及其灾难性后果的合理性。这一策略使他们能够掩盖猫鼬造成的持久生态破坏,并使猫鼬的追随者能够继续不加批判地支持牙买加种植园经济和大英帝国的动物引进。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
0.80
自引率
12.50%
发文量
59
期刊介绍: This leading international journal publishes scholarly papers and review articles on all aspects of the history of science. History of science is interpreted widely to include medicine, technology and social studies of science. BJHS papers make important and lively contributions to scholarship and the journal has been an essential library resource for more than thirty years. It is also used extensively by historians and scholars in related fields. A substantial book review section is a central feature. There are four issues a year, comprising an annual volume of over 600 pages. Published for the British Society for the History of Science
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