James Cossar Ewart facts for kids

James Cossar Ewart, a Scottish zoologist.

One of the unique animals created during Ewart's famous Penycuik Experiments.

James Cossar Ewart (born November 26, 1851 – died December 31, 1933) was an important Scottish zoologist. He is best known for his special breeding experiments with horses and zebras. These experiments helped to prove that some old ideas about how traits are passed down from parents to offspring were wrong.

Life and Discoveries

Early Life and Education

James Cossar Ewart was born in Penicuik, Scotland. His father, John Ewart, was a joiner, which is someone who builds things with wood. From 1871 to 1874, James studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He earned his degree and then worked as an anatomy demonstrator, helping students learn about the body.

Later, he became the Curator of the Zoological Museum at University College, London. Here, he helped another famous scientist, Ray Lankester, by preparing animal specimens for the museum and helping with teaching. In 1878, Ewart moved back to Scotland. He became a professor at the University of Aberdeen and then at the University of Edinburgh in 1882, where he taught until 1927.

Amazing Experiments

One of Ewart's most famous contributions was his work on heredity, which is how living things inherit features from their parents. He did many breeding experiments with horses and zebras at a place called "The Bungalow" in Penicuik.

Ewart crossed a male zebra with a female pony. He wanted to test an old idea called telegony. This idea, which came from ancient Greece, suggested that if a female animal mated with different males, her future offspring would show traits from all her previous partners, even if they weren't the father of that specific offspring.

To test this, Ewart later bred the same female pony (which had previously had zebra-horse hybrids) with a male pony. The new offspring showed absolutely no zebra traits, either in their stripes or their behavior. This proved that the old theory of telegony was incorrect.

Ewart also hoped his experiments could create a new type of animal. He wanted a strong animal that could work in South Africa, be resistant to African diseases, and be easier to handle than a mule.

Later Life

In 1883, James Cossar Ewart asked an architect named George Washington Browne to design a large new house for him in Penicuik. This house was finished in 1885 and is where Ewart lived until he passed away on New Year's Eve in 1933. Today, this house is known as the Craigiebield House Hotel.

Ewart's house in Penicuik, now the Craigiebield House Hotel.

Images for kids

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  The Diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, awarded to James Cossar Ewart in 1878.