Join Jill Haley and Craig Bunt for this fascinating talk about a dog biscuit!
During the early years of Antarctic exploration, dog sledging was an essential form of transportation. Good nutrition was key to a dog’s health, performance and survival. The British Antarctic expeditions of the early twentieth century led by Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton included in their provisions large quantities of Spratt’s Dog Cakes, a commercially manufactured dog biscuit similar to nineteenth century hardtack.
Why did expeditions take Dog Cakes down to the Ice when seal meat and blubber was abundantly available? How nutritious was this novel new pet food for high-performance working sledge dogs? Investigation of the historical records combined with scientific analysis of the Dog Cakes themselves offers some answers.
Jill Haley is former Curator Human History at Canterbury Museum (New Zealand) and Craig Bunt is Professor of Agricultural Innovation at the University of Otago
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Photo from the collection of Canterbury Museum
