Rosl Kirchshofer

Rosl Kirchshofer (born December 2, 1928 in Vienna , † 2020 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist. She was the first zoo teacher in continental Europe.

Life

From 1942 to 1947 Rosl Kirchshofer was trained as a primary school teacher in her hometown, after which she worked there at primary and secondary schools until 1960. She also studied zoology and psychology . At the Wilhelminenberg Biological Station in Vienna, she dealt with comparative behavioral research , which at that time was not yet taught at the university. There she worked as a freelancer from 1949 to 1954 and also prepared her dissertation on the action system of the mouth breeder Haplochromis desfontaineesi , with which she received her doctorate in 1955. The work for this dissertation was the first field study on a cichlid and the first such behavioral study. Rosl Kirchshofer used free-living fish in waters in Tunisia and bred these animals.

From 1958 to 1960 Rosl Kirchshofer studied with a scholarship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Freiburg and carried out behavioral studies on the Great Mara and the Black and White Guereza in the Frankfurt Zoo .

Bernhard Grzimek hired Rosl Kirchshofer as the first zoo pedagogue for the Frankfurt Zoo in 1960, after which she quit school in Austria. Until 1993 she practiced this profession in Frankfurt and designed the messages from the Frankfurt Zoo , which came out in editions of up to 8000 copies and were sent to schools. She trained teachers in cooperation with the Hessian Institute for Teacher Training. From 1963 she also had a teaching position at the Institute for Biology Didactics at the University of Education and later at the University of Frankfurt. In 1970 she received a teaching position for behavioral research in Heidelberg, in 1971 she completed her habilitation and in 1975 she received the Venia legendi .

In 1972 she was one of the founding members of the International Association of Zoo Educators, which she headed as President for the first four years of its existence. From 1986 to 1993 she led the European Conservation Breeding Program (EEP) for gorillas.

Works (selection)

• Keeping and breeding of Haplochromis desfontainesii. In: Aquarien- und Terrarium-Zeitschrift, 7th vol., No. 4, 1954, pp. 83–85
• Field and captive observations of the North African gerbil. In: Zeitschrift für Mammaliankunde 23, 1958, pp. 33-49
• Something about the behavior of Leiocassis brashnikowi Berg. In: Aquarien- und Terrarium-Zeitschrift, 12th year, No. 11, 1959, pp. 323–327
• About the urination of the Great Mara (Dolichotis patagonum). In: Z. f. Mammaliankunde 25, 1960, pp. 112-127
• Animals in the house , Bern 1964
• The natural scientist , Vienna 1966
• Zoological Gardens of the World , Frankfurt 1966
• The World of Zoos , London / New York 1968
• Forest mammals of our homeland , Frankfurt 1969
• From animals in the zoo , Innsbruck 1971
• Steppes and their inhabitants , Frankfurt 1972
• The zoo, an institution of our city , Frankfurt 1974
• Foreign animals in the zoological garden. The large animals of Africa , Frankfurt 1975
• How far can visits to the zoo be included in the work of the pre-primary school? , Frankfurt 1977
• Limb construction and locomotion of mammals , Frankfurt 1978
• Ancient bony fish in the Exotarium , Frankfurt 1978
• Keeping and behavior of great apes , Frankfurt 1978
• Behavioral biology for teachers in grades 5-10 , Frankfurt 1985

literature

• Maria Mizzaro: Kirchshofer, Rosl. In: Brigitta Keintzel, Ilse Korotin (Ed.): Scientists in and from Austria. Life - work - work. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2002, ISBN 3-205-99467-1 , pp. 368–373.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mourning for the pioneer of Frankfurt zoo education - Frankfurt Zoo. Retrieved April 27, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt
3. ↑ Focus