Dudley Le Souëf

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William Henry Dudley Le Souëf (1856–1923)

William Henry Dudley Le Souëf (born September 28, 1856 in Brighton , Melbourne , Victoria , † September 6, 1923 in Royal Park, Melbourne) was an Australian zoologist, zoo director and wildlife photographer.

Life

Le Souëf was the son of Albert Alexander Cochrane Le Souëf (1828-1902), then director of Melbourne Zoo, and his wife Caroline, nee Cotton. He had nine siblings, of which Ernest Albert Le Souëf (1869–1937) and Albert Sherbourne Le Souëf (1877–1951) were also zoo directors.

Le Souëf was educated at the Credition Grammar School in Devonshire , England. In 1874, at the age of 18, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Zoological and Acclimatization Society of Victoria, which founded the Melbourne Zoological Garden . Between 1880 and 1888 he completed many collective expeditions overseas, including in India, the United States of America, Singapore, Sumatra, England, Europe, Japan and New Guinea. In September 1888 he married Edith Evelyn Wadeson in London, with whom he had six children. When his father went to Europe in 1890, Le Souëf received the post of assistant director. After the death of his father in 1902 he was appointed director of the Melbourne Zoo.

On a tour of various zoological gardens, Le Souëf was particularly impressed by the innovative arrangements that Carl Hagenbeck had developed for the Berlin Zoo . Here, the perch bars were replaced by high walls and ditches that were hidden by simulated rocks and tree trunks. Le Souëf began to replace the buildings developed by his father with rock-like concrete structures. His designs were based on photographs of the large rocks in the Mount Buffalo region about 200 km northeast of Melbourne, which were taken during excursions with his friend Edward John Dunn (1844–1937), the director of the Geological Survey of Victoria .

Le Souëf was also active as a nature photographer, who presented his lectures both in Australia and in many parts of the world with the magic lantern . He was known as a fluent and inexhaustible storyteller, with a rich treasure trove of anecdotes. He also campaigned for the importation of Zebu breeds into Northern Australia.

Le Souëf published the three books Wildlife in Australia (1907), Animals of Australia (1909) and Birds of Australia (1911) as well as numerous articles in scientific journals and daily newspapers. Le Souëf was a founding member in 1901 and twice President and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union between 1907 and 1909 . He was a member of the Field Naturalists' Club, the Royal Geographical Society , the Royal Society of New South Wales, and the National Parks Association.

Le Souëf's main interest was ornithology. In 1898 he described the subspecies Alectura lathami purpureicollis of the grouse . In 1907 he published the first description of the extinct Tasmanian Emu . In addition, he brought together a large collection of eggs, which was later sold to the egg and bird collector Henry Luke White (1860-1927) and finally bequeathed to the National Museum of Victoria .

Dedication names

1911 named Gregory Mathews subspecies Gallirallus philippensis lesouefi the binding Rail in honor of Dudley Le Souëf.

Works

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gregory Mathews: Birds of Australia , vol. 1, 1911. p. 198. (as Eulabeornis philippensis lesouefi )
personal data
SURNAME Le Souëf, Dudley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Le Souëf, William Henry Dudley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian zoologist, zoo director and wildlife photographer
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Brighton , Melbourne , Victoria
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1923
Place of death Royal Park, Melbourne , Victoria