Glamorous Feathers for the Metropolis. Promises and Failures in the Acclimatisation of the Ostrich in colonised Algeria (1854–1914)

Since the mid-nineteenth century until World War I, France attempted to acclimatise the ostrich in Algeria and other French colonies in Africa. The goal was to establish a feather production centre that could compete with the British in the global market for feathers. But for more than half a century the French failed to raise ostriches on a large scale and thus to truly position themselves as a world feather producer. This paper analyses the Algerian initiative as an occasion for understanding the nature of acclimatisation in action, and the limitations that this form of colonialism through animals actually had. Its failed nature allows us to examine the various factors involved in the acclimatisation of the ostrich, which did not depend only on having the appropriate knowledge and technology.