Ernst Kullmann

Ernst Josef Kullmann (born June 13, 1931 in Schneppenbaum ; † May 6, 1996 in Cologne ) was a German zoologist and director of the Cologne Zoo .

Kullmann was born as the youngest of four children in Schneppenbaum , Kleve district. His father Ignatz Kullmann was the director of the local elementary school. Kullmann had a difficult childhood. When he was 12 years old, his brother died in the war and in 1945 his father was killed in a mine explosion.

After obtaining his higher education entrance qualification in Kleve, he studied medicine and anatomy at the University of Bonn from 1952 to 1955 . With his dissertation on the biology of Cyrtophora citricola FORSKAL (Araneae, Araneidae) [at the same time a contribution to the phylogeny of orb web spiders] he received his doctorate in July 1957. rer. nat. The field of arachnology became his main field of research. In 1961 he became a scientific assistant at the Parasitological Department of the Zoological Institute of the University of Bonn. In 1970 he obtained the title of professor at the University of Bonn.

In 1962 the partnership between the universities of Bonn and Kabul took him to Afghanistan. By 1966 he built the Zoological Museum at the University of Kabul and he was involved in setting up the Kabul Zoological Garden . Travels led him a. a. to Indonesia, Madagascar, Colombia, Paraguay and Costa Rica.

In 1972 he took over the chair for general zoology as successor to Adolf Remane at the University of Kiel . Here he met Horst Stern . Since Kullmann was now one of Germany's leading arachnologists, Stern chose him as the author for his documentary Life by a Thread. The puzzling world of spiders , which was broadcast in 1975 in the ARD series Sterns Stunden . The book of the same name from 1981, which Kullmann published with Horst Stern, was also a great success.

In 1975 he took over the post of director of the Cologne Zoological Garden from Wilhelm Windecker . Under his leadership u. a. the outdoor area of ​​the lemur house . After six years he resigned and handed over the office to Gunther Nogge .

In the following years Kullmann undertook several trips, the last of which he fell seriously ill in Costa Rica and died in Cologne in May 1996.

Works

• On the biology of Cytophora citricola Forskal (Araneae. Araneidae) . Dissertation, University of Bonn 1957.
• Life by a thread: the enigmatic world of spiders . Kindler 1981, ISBN 3570005976 (with Horst Stern).

Web links

• Ernst Kullmann in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography ( Memento from June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )