When Charles Darwin (1809—82) was working on both The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex (1871) and its ‘sequel’ The expression of the emotions in man and animals (1872), he asked questions of animal breeders, farmers, menagerie owners, friends, family members, zoologists, physicians, writers and clergymen. He received replies, detailing examples of animal intelligence in dogs, cats, horses, parrots and starlings. Many of these found their way into the first editions and, after these were published, he received a plethora of new examples from correspondents both known and unknown to him, often responding on spec to what they had read. Darwin proceeded to use some of these in the subsequent new printings and editions to reinforce his arguments, and to expand the remit of mental and moral faculties attributed to animals.

Through looking at the letters, Darwin’s annotations and his manuscript notes, and comparing the published editions, I will investigate the decision-making process of which examples were used and why. In revealing insights into Darwin’s working practices and his networks of correspondence, I address the more general question of why these types of domestic animal case study have been dismissed as anecdotal and anthropocentric. I explore whether their status should be re-evaluated in terms of disciplinary contexts of the 1870s, their significance in early studies of animal psychology, and recent scholarship that points away from seeing animals as objects of study and models to think with; and towards companionship, co-evolution, and the multiple ways we live, with animals.