Camels in America? That Was an Epic Fail

In 1890, a New York bird enthusiast released several dozen starlings in Central Park. No one knows for sure why Eugene Schieffelin set the birds aloft, but he may have been motivated by a sentimental desire to make the American Northeast more like the English countryside.

The consequences of his action were unintentionally massive. Today, there are nearly 200 million starlings in North America. Schieffelin was a member of the American Acclimatization Society, a worldwide effort to diversify local fauna and flora. Similar organizations existed in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. As the British acclimatization society put it, these organizations aspired to introduce “all innocuous animals, birds, fishes, insects, and vegetables, whether useful or ornamental.”