Antal Festetics

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Antal Festetics (actually: Antal-Erwin Festetics ; born June 12, 1937 in Budapest ) is an Austrian zoologist , behavioral scientist , wildlife biologist and conservationist from the Festetics de Tolna family . He became known to a wider public as a long-time presenter of the ORF nature film series Wildtiere und Wir .

Life

As an Austrian citizen, born in Budapest on June 12, 1937, Antal Festetics went to school there. By his own admission he was already aged three ornithologists are and roamed as students often birding through the riparian forest .

When the communists came to power, they declared his family to be " class enemies " because of their earl title , expropriated and deported them to a labor camp in 1951 and sentenced them to forced labor in what is now socialist agriculture. During his attempts to get to the West anyway, Antal Festetics was imprisoned three times as a youth for "attempting to flee the republic". When the popular uprising broke out in 1956 , he joined the freedom fighters and received orders to arrest the ÁVO secret police who wanted to leave for Austria. During a nightly action he also met the US Senator Claiborne Pell by chance . He asked Festetics to act as an interpreter in a conversation with Cardinal József Mindszenty, who had just been released from prison . It was a great pleasure for Festetics, because the cardinal personally confirmed him in 1948 before he and Festetics' uncle, Prince Paul Esterházy , were sentenced to life imprisonment in a show trial by the Communist People's Court.

After this meeting, Festetics finally made a new start in 1956 as a refugee in Vienna , where he studied zoology at the university there . His teachers included Wilhelm Marinelli and, above all, Konrad Lorenz , who shaped him deeply and with whom he was a close friend. From 1980 Festetics was President of the Konrad Lorenz Society for Environmental and Behavioral Science and in 1983 also presented a biography of the important behavioral scientist and Nobel Prize winner.

After completing his studies, Festetics was a lecturer in animal ecology at the International Zoological Institute of the University of Vienna from 1963, where he received distinction in 1965 with a thesis on the western blind mouse , contributions to the ethology, ecology and geographical distribution of the Spalax leucodon <Nordmann 1840> to the Dr. phil. received his doctorate and then worked as a research assistant.

In 1972 he followed the call of the Georg-August University of Göttingen to take over as a full professor at its forestry faculty, succeeding Fritz Nüßlein as a representative of the subject of hunting and director of the Institute for Hunting - the only one of its kind in Germany. Festetics added wildlife biology as a new focus . As a result, the research facility, now called the Institute for Wildlife Biology and Hunting, was particularly concerned with the possible reintroduction of the lynx , initially in Austria. Festetics initiated the first international lynx colloquium in Murau in Styria in 1978 , chose the big cat as the “heraldic animal” of his institute and, together with his employees, devised a real campaign for their reintroduction. To do this, he had glowing yellow stickers printed with the inscription “I am for the lynx in our forests!”, Which soon found widespread use not only in the forestry faculty.

Further scientific work focuses of the Wildlife Biology Institute were the testing of radio telemetry for monitoring game and its migration via satellite , the development of game exits on the Mittelland Canal and the design of game bridges over motorways and other busy roads. Festetics also fought against the use of cast iron and is considered a sharp critic of show jumping and bullfighting .

The wildlife biology seminars started by Festetics in 1972, which were mostly held in the lecture hall of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen- Nikolausberg , have become known far beyond scientific life in Göttingen . The range of this interdisciplinary and freely accessible series of lectures and discussions, also known as the Göttingen “Festetics Seminar”, spanned from behavioral research and ecology to bird protection and environmental policy to wildlife and human sociology . In 2005 there was the 300th edition of the wildlife biology seminar, later the series of events was discontinued. The numerous well-known speakers who have accepted Festetics' invitation to Göttingen so far include Ernst Albrecht , Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt , Heinz Ellenberg , Manfred Eigen , Bernhard Hassenstein , Dietrich von Holst (* 1937), Konrad Lorenz , Erwin Neher , Josef Reichholf , Heinz Sielmann , Georg Sperber , Rita Süssmuth , Michael Succow and Wolfgang Wickler .

From 1981 Festetics was also an honorary professor at the University of Vienna. In 2005 he retired , but continues to teach at the University of Göttingen.

From a scientific point of view, Antal Festetics is committed to solving ecological issues as well as protecting species and nature . As early as the 1950s, he was active as an official nature conservation warden in Seewinkel during the summer holidays , was co-founder of WWF Austria in 1963 and was instrumental in the establishment of nature reserves and national parks in Austria, Germany and Hungary. In 1968 he initiated the Hortobágy National Park , in 1971 laid the foundation stone for the two-state National Park Neusiedler See - Seewinkel and in 1984 was one of the leading fighters against the power plant in the Hainburger Au . In 1996 the Donau-Auen National Park was established in place of the planned power plant . Festetics has been a member of the scientific advisory board of Nationalpark Donau-Auen GmbH since 1997.

Festetics has a talent for rhetoric, with which he not only captivates the students in the lecture hall, but which he also used with great success as a long-time presenter of the ORF nature film series Wildtiere und Wir . In addition, there were unusual and humorous settings in these documentaries, for example when Festetics appeared in a contribution about rats moderating from the sewer system or from a dumpster while watching raccoons . Such scenes added a lot to Festetics' popularity. Especially in Austria, where he likes to hang his medals and wear binoculars at the Vienna Opera Ball , according to his motto “Man is the most exciting cattle” , he enjoys great popularity. In autumn 1999 he was briefly discussed as a possible new Austrian Science Minister. Festetics shot a total of 35 television documentaries, wrote around 100 specialist publications and guest articles in daily newspapers, for example in the Austrian press .

Festetics has received numerous awards in Austria and beyond for its broad commitment, which goes far beyond the actual specialist area. Antal Festetics lives in Adelebsen and Vienna.

Awards

In addition, Antal Festetics was appointed to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts .

When the Austrian daily Kurier asked its readers in August 2004 about the “50 most important Austrians of the last 50 years”, Festetics was one of them.

Relationships

Quotes

  • “Our often disturbed relationship with animals manifests itself in two extreme positions. On the one hand we humanize and on the other hand we often demonize our fellow creatures. Both points of view indicate a lack of biological knowledge. Animals are not criminal when they eat others, nor are they noble when they care for one another. Inadmissible human-animal comparisons are often made, particularly in the sexual area. The biological roots of our behavior are unmistakable. But nature is not a moral model for us. "
  • “We are biologists by inclination and conservationists out of necessity. We are biologists because we are enthusiastic about the evolutionary diversity of shapes and behaviors. And we have to do nature conservation by necessity, because this diversity is threatened worldwide in the worst possible way. "
  • “The question is often asked: 'Do animals have a soul?' - Yes, of course! But do all humans also have one? When I think of bullfighting or punching irons, I want to doubt it. "
  • “Konrad Lorenz left the deepest mark on the biology of this century. I was incredibly lucky to be one of his students. Lorenz not only taught us to interpret animal behavior, but he also opened our eyes to harmony, the beauty of nature. I should have been a stone not to be infected by his enthusiasm. "
  • “We don't need Biber or Mozart . But I don't want to live in a world like that! Natural beauty and cultural impressions satisfy our emotional needs. They are just as important as eating and drinking. "

Fonts (selection)

  • Contributions to the ethology, ecology and geographical distribution of the Spalax leucodon <Nordmann 1840>. 2 volumes, Vienna 1963 (as dissertation Vienna 1965).
  • with Otto Guglia : Plants and Animals of Burgenland . 80 remarkable or endangered species in words and pictures. Austrian Federal Publishing House for Education, Science and Art, Vienna 1969.
  • with Bernd Leisler: Ecology of the swimming birds of the Danube, especially in Lower Austria. Arch. Hydrobiol. (Suppl. 4, pp. 307-351), Stuttgart 1971.
  • et al. (Ed.): The lynx in Europe. Contributions from the 1st International Lynx Colloquium in Murau / Styria, May 7th - 9th, 1978 (Topics of the Time, Issue 3). Kilda, Greven 1980, ISBN 3-921427-43-6 .
  • with Claus Reuther et al. (Ed.): The otter in Europe. Results of the 1st International Otter Colloquium from October 28 to 31, 1979 in Göttingen. Self-published, Oderhaus / Göttingen 1980.
  • Konrad Lorenz. From the world of the great natural scientist. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-492-02855-1 .
  • et al. (Ed.): Born to see. The work of the century by Konrad Lorenz. Orac, Vienna / Munich / Zurich 2000, ISBN 3-7015-0432-6 .

literature

  • Antal Graf Festetics from Tolna. In: Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar 2003. 19th edition. Volume I: A-J. Bio-bibliographical directory of contemporary German-speaking scientists. K. G. Saur, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-598-23607-7 , p. 759.
  • Konrad-Lorenz-Gesellschaft (Ed.): Antal-Festetics-Festschrift: What is life? Creation, research, conservation. Verlag J. Neumann-Neudamm, Melsungen, 240 pages, hardcover, over 350 color images & graphics, format: 22.6 × 31 cm, ISBN 978-3-7888-1355-0 , € 49.90

Documentary film

  • Critters are only human too. The best of Antal Festetics from 25 years of 'Wildtiere und Wir', documentary by Franz Leopold Schmelzer , Goess film for ORF , Austria 1997, 90 minutes - broadcast collage with interviews on the occasion of Festetics' 60th birthday.

Web links

Wikiquote: Antal Festetics  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Antal Festetics in: Critters are only humans. The best from Antal Festetics from 25 years of 'Wildlife and Us'. (ORF, 1997)
  2. ↑ a b Antal Festetics: "Thank you, Austria!" In: Die Presse , October 21, 2006. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  3. ↑ Festetics article with criticism of bullfighting in derStandard.at , October 25, 2004. Retrieved October 11, 2015
  4. ^ Information on the 300th Wildlife Biology Seminar 2005. Website of the University of Göttingen. Retrieved September 4, 2007.
  5. ↑ Performance report of the Donau-Auen National Park, 2007–2011. (PDF, p. 68.)
  6. ↑ ots press release from September 22, 1999 ; Retrieved November 29, 2009
  7. ↑ Prof. Antal Festetics receives the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art 1st Class. APA / OTS press release, May 26, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  8. ↑ a b Antal Festetics in an interview with Eva Bakos . In: eat & drink, 2/1992, p. 58 u. 63.
personal data
SURNAME Festetics, Antal
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Festetics, Antal-Erwin (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian zoologist, ethnologist, conservationist and forest scientist
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest