Page 31 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW - ISSUE 13

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 3 1

The Basenji, however, was bred out of ten individuals from southern Sudan by the
English, as Johan Gallant tells us. Originally, the Mpoa or Congo Terrier is a landrace
breed that lives among the pygmies of the Congo jungles. The Basenji was first exhibited
at Crufts in 1895. The prick ears and tightly curled tail only became a recognisable feature
of the Basenji through selective breeding in England [18].

Basenji, bred according to FCI or AKC standard.
© Niko Herlin, Wikimedia Commons

Charles Darwin (1809 to 1882) searched for an explanatory model for his observations and
found it in the selection that makes man succeed “if he would breed adapted races.”
Against the background of the supply of food as presented in the theories of Thomas R.

Malthus (1766 to 1834), “.. man's access to food and other resources was limited ...” (from:
Zimen).

Charles Darwin thus saw the need to breed “adapted races” and this idea of feeding
humans may have inspired and influenced the idea of “The Origin of Species”.

Until Darwin's time, the idea prevailed that divine providence had created fauna and flora

perfectly, which was called “teleology”. Such a goal-orientation of all becoming can be
justified by an order of being, whereby it is inherent in every thing to unfold towards its
immanent purpose and to reach perfection in it. Such a conception can be found
following Aristotle: every being strives to become partaker of the good according to its
capacity. This goal orientation can also be founded in a divine purpose, as was decisive
for Christian philosophy following Augustine.