Calling Australia’s wildlife ‘weird’ puts it at risk
To see Australia’s wildlife as weird or bizarre adopts the colonial framings of past naturalists – and puts animals at risk
by Jack Ashby
Jack Ashby is the assistant director of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, and the author of Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals (2022), which explores their amazing biology, their surprising role in the history of the world today, and why it matters how we talk about them.
Written by Jack Ashby