Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer

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Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer (born September 28, 1859 in Ellikon an der Thur , † February 2, 1930 in St. Gallen ) was a Swiss ornithologist and taxidermist .

Life

Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer was born on September 28, 1859 as the illegitimate son of Maria Magdalena Zollikofer in Ellikon an der Thur . Little is known about his biological father. After primary school, he attended the cantonal schools in Frauenfeld and St. Gallen and also worked as assistant to director Friedrich Bernhard Wartmann in the newly opened Natural History Museum in St. Gallen .

From 1879 to 1881 he completed a three-year apprenticeship as a conservator with Friedrich Kerz at the Royal Natural History Cabinet in Stuttgart . After his return in 1881 he worked for a short time with the taxidermist Monhardt in St. Gallen , but soon became self-employed and opened his own preparation studio.

In 1894 he married Pauline Susanna Frieda Källi, the widow of a veterinarian. Zollikofer suffered from the consequences of the impregnation method with arsenic soap that was common in animal taxidermy at the time. He died after a long, serious work-related illness at the age of 71.

Act

An eagle owl prepared by EH Zollikofer in defensive posture with a stone hen. On display in the cafe of the St.Gallen Nature Museum, Switzerland.

Zollikofer had already dealt intensively with bird rearing and precise records of his animal observations in his childhood and adolescence. He is supported by his mother. He soon began taxidermy work too. In particular, he found valuable support from his teachers Heinrich Wegelin (Kantonsschule Frauenfeld) and Friedrich Bernhard Wartmann (Kantonsschule St. Gallen). With the ornithologist Carl Stölker, he acquired basic knowledge of animal taxidermy. Through his training with Friedrich Kerz, he acquired the forward-looking skills for his time to display specimens in a museum that was as naturalistic and effective as possible for the public, which in the 19th century increasingly developed from a collection point to an exhibition site with display collections for broader sections of the population.

As a taxidermist, Zollikofer paid particular attention to small animals. His specialty was the lifelike work that was unsurpassed in its apparent liveliness. Soon after completing his apprenticeship and starting his own business as a taxidermist, he expanded his customer base to include the canton of St. Gallen, Appenzell, Thurgau and Graubünden. His best customers included the St. Gallen Natural History Museum , the Thurgau Nature Museum , the Bündner Nature Museum in Chur , the Einsiedeln Abbey and numerous individuals and schools. The animal preparations created by Zollikofer soon enjoyed world fame and were shown in many museums in Switzerland, but also in Germany (especially the König Museum in Bonn), Vienna , London , Paris and Washington . Zollikofer had a close business relationship and friendship in particular with the hotelier and co-founder of the Peter and Paul Wildlife Park , Robert Mader . Together they built up a large collection of specimens that were bequeathed to the St. Gallen Nature Museum by Mader's descendants in the mid-20th century . This museum currently has around 530 specimens that were manufactured by Zollikofer alone. Further specimens in Switzerland are currently in the Thurgau Natural History Museum in Frauenfeld (160 specimens), in the Graubünden Nature Museum Chur (171 specimens) and in Einsiedeln Abbey (56 specimens).

In addition to his work as a taxidermist, Zollikofer devoted himself to keeping and breeding a large number of birds, especially in the second half of his life, and kept a detailed diary of their behavior from his youth on in the years from. Here he documented u. a. his successful breeding attempts on scops, pygmy owls, pine jays, alpine crows, alpine choughs, snow sparrows, rock swallows and the like. a. His research makes him an important Swiss ornithologist. Over the years Zollikofer published numerous publications in specialist journals, including a. in the annual reports of the St. Gall Science Society . He was also significantly involved in the establishment of the octagonal aviary in the city park of St. Gallen, built in 1892 by the Ornithological Society, in which wild birds were also kept. He was also one of the co-founders of the Peter and Paul Wildlife Park, founded in 1892, and dedicated himself a. a. Together with hotelier Mader and the archaeologist Emil Bächler , the reintroduction of the ibexes, which were almost extinct in this region, into the Weisstannental from 1911 .

On the occasion of his 150th birthday, the St. Gallen Nature Museum dedicated a special exhibition to Zollikofer in 2009/2010 under the title “Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer - Master of Taxidermy”. Several preparations by Zollikofer can be seen in the permanent exhibition in the St. Gallen Nature Museum, including a. a group of crows or an eagle owl with a stone hen.

The life and work of EH Zollikofer is currently hardly documented apart from the exhibition mentioned and the ornithological (but hardly biographical) processing by the Swiss ornithologist Hans Noll.

Fonts

(Selection)

  • Ornithological travel notes from Norway. In: Communications of the St. Gall Science Society . 1893.
  • Color aberrations in mammals and birds in the St. Gallen Museum. In: Communications of the St. Gall Science Society . 1893.
  • About an interesting breeding site for the goose swat Mergus merganser L. in Switzerland. St. Gallen, 1905.
  • Diaries of Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer (1872-1918), unpublished.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carsten Kretschmann: Spaces Open: Natural History Museums in 19th Century Germany . Akademie Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-05-004202-8 .
  2. ↑ Urs N. Glutz von Blosheim: Ornithological research in the 20th century in Switzerland - a successful collaboration between experts and lay ornithologists. In: The Ornithological Observer . 2009th edition. tape 106 , no. 1 . Ala. Swiss Society for Ornithology and Bird Protection.
  3. ^ Toni Bürgin: Ernst Heinrich Zollikofer: Master of Taxidermy. Naturmuseum St.Gallen, 2009, accessed on July 31, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Zollikofer, Ernst Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss ornithologist and taxidermist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Ellikon on the Thur
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1930
Place of death St. Gallen