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Animals

The REAL history behind 'All Creatures Great and Small'.

Author/veterinarian Dr. James Alfred Wight (pen name James Herriot) holding up a black cat that he is examining at his veterinary surgery. (Photo by Ian Cook/Getty Images)

Who was the real James Herriot?The true story behind All Creatures Great and Small

A close up image of the eye of a black horse

Medieval warhorses: 5 moments horsepower changed the course of history.

"Dog poo was valuable": 5 things you (probably) didn't know about dogs.

A Japanese woodblock print, c1855, depicting the mythological giant catfish Namazu, and the god Takemikazuchi subduing it with the kaname-ishi stone (Photo by Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

General History

Why is a mythical catfish to blame for earthquakes in Japan?

How pigs caused a stink in medieval England.

Pigs in the medieval city.

Visitors promenade alongside a lake with Surrey Zoological Gardens in the background, 1844 (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Victorian zoosAnimal attraction in the 19th century.

Manchester dog show, c1909

The surprising history of Victorian dog shows.

The race to identify all living creatures.

Video podcastBeastly Victorians: preventing animal cruelty in the 19th century.

Beastly Victorians: preventing animal cruelty in the 19th century.

Beastly Victorians.

Cat crazy: the Victorian mania for moggies.

Jonah being devoured by a whale

QuizMedieval manuscript animals.

A horse ambulance in the 19th century, and (inset, above) an advert for an RSPCA fund for horses. The number of beasts of burden working in cities rose rapidly in the Victorian era. (Photo by Alamy)

Beastly Victorians: the 19th-century fight for animal rights.

Close up of grey and red squirrels in autumn

Britain’s squirrel wars: the 150-year battle between reds and greys.

Ravenmaster Chris Skaife at the Tower of London with a Raven

General History

What's it like to be Ravenmaster at the Tower of London?

A photo of a giant tortoise, with branches in the background.

General History

9 extinct animals you should know about

Gravestones displaying the names of pets

Pet cemeteries: where have beloved animals been laid to rest through the centuries?.

General History

Cat history: everything you wanted to know.

Dog history: everything you wanted to know.

A goat pokes its head over the fence at a city farm near Greenland Dock, London, which is still home to the Surrey Docks Farm

Urban animals: the growth of city farms in 20th-century Britain.

Parachuting monkeys & volcanic eruptions: an extraordinary Victorian zoo.

City of fur and feather: the animals of medieval London.

St George lances a dragon

Tips from historyHow do you really kill a dragon?

Saint Michael and the DragonSaint Michael and the Dragon

DragonsFrom mythological beasts of history to the firebreathers of fantasy.

David Attenborough with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, in a famous scene from 1979’s Life on Earth

BBC at 100The rise of natural history television and David Attenborough.

An emu stares into the camera

Q&AWhat was the Emu War?

Mowgli is surrounded by wolves in a 1937 illustration from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book

General History

Raised by wolves: the history of feral children