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Manufactured Animals

Making man’s best friend even better

From the moment humans and wolves first decided to play nice with one another, humans have been directing the development of other animals. After 30,000 years, we have tiny chihuahuas, angora rabbits puffed like pompoms, and Belgian blue cattle with ‘double-muscling’. Our best friends are just as carefully designed as the latest piece of technology. There’s no doubt that we will bring whole ecosystems of manufactured animals into the world. Where selective breeding stops, genetic modification begins. Next nature will be overrun with next animals.

Staff Picks

Dyed chicks are the ultimate in disposable life: who wants them after they've turned into a regular chicken?
‘Call it a Konik, Heck or Hegardt, the modern tarpan is still, fundamentally, a fake’
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Inventing an Extinct Horse

Allison Guy

Along with the  Heck cattle and Scottish Highlanders , another reconstructed species roams the Dutch dunes . The …

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

In the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill, Banksy's animals have a strange afterlife as consumer products.

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GloFish

Rolf Coppens

  A tropical fish that fluoresces bright red is set to become the first genetically modified pet to go on sale in …

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Engineering Mosquitoes into Flying Vaccinators

Van Mensvoort

Scientists have developed a mosquito that spreads vaccine instead of disease. The researchers, led by molecular …

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Birdfeeders spit Blackcaps in two species

Van Mensvoort

Until now, most people have likely regarded bird-feeders as merely a pleasant addition to their gardens. But scientists …