Werner Kraus (taxidermist)

Werner Hubert Kraus (born June 25, 1956 in Haunritz , Upper Palatinate ) is a German taxidermist who achieved international fame for his life-size reconstructions of extinct giant insects.

Life

After training as a geoscientific taxidermist at the taxidermy school in Bochum , Kraus was employed at RWTH Aachen University in 1984 . Since then he has been researching palaeontological topics such as ammonite animals, fossil forgeries, and methods in the field of preparation technology. In 1987 he began to reconstruct extinct life forms on the basis of current scientific knowledge on a 1: 1 scale. He initially focused on giant insects from the Paleozoic , later reptiles and the basking shark megalodon also emerged .

Exhibited objects (selection)

• Megalodon : Castle Museum Linz
• Eifelosaurus triadicus : a rare reptile from the Triassic period , exhibited in the Eifelmuseum Mayen on the Genoveva Castle
• Namurotypus sippeli : oldest known member of the Protodonata , in the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, Wasserschloss Werdringen
• Scepasma mediomatricorum : largest known primeval networm from the Upper Carboniferous , exhibited at Clausthal University
• Meganeuropsis permiana : largest known dragonfly, from the Permian , exhibited at Clausthal University
• Arthropleura armata : with a length of 2 meters, the largest known arthropod living in the countryside, in the Augsburg Nature Museum

Honors

• 1999 Karl Heinrich Heitfeld Prize of RWTH Aachen University
• 2002 René Lanooy Prize for Preparation Technology
• 2010 René Lanooy Förderpreis medal in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of preparation technology

Web links

• Homepage at RWTH Aachen
• Short portrait with picture and list of scriptures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Life-size Reconstructions of Palaeozoic Arthropods by Werner Kraus (Engl.) Accessed on May 10, 2010
2. ^ W. Kraus: A real-hypothetical model, the ammonite. In: The taxidermist. 1989, 35 (3), pp. 105-117.
3. ↑ W. Kraus: Fossil counterfeiting. In: The taxidermist. 1990, 36 (2), pp. 45-76
4. ↑ W. Kraus: ATP reagent and Lamipeel. Two new preparation methods for the improved representation of carbonate structures in reflected-light and transmitted-light preparations . In: The taxidermist. 2002, 48 (2), pp. 51-75
5. ↑ Frank Thadeusz: Fierce Biter . In: Der Spiegel . 2/2010.
6. ↑ National Geographic Germany: Evolution: Camouflaged Monster.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   Retrieved May 18, 2010.
7. ↑ Paleontology: The dinosaur with two faces. In: Geo . 2/2004.
8. ↑ hagen-58.de: Fossils from world-famous sites. May 3, 2006.
9. ↑ Jürgen Nakott: Horror at the Baggersee. The original dragonfly Meganeuropsis reconstructed life-size. In: National Geographic Germany , April 2001, pp. 8-11.
10. ↑ Carsten Brauckmann and Elke Gröning: Unraveling a giant arthropod. Press release Clausthal University of Technology, August 19, 1997, via uni-protocol.de.
11. ↑ Paläontologie aktuell No. 41 ( Memento from March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
12. ↑ Renè Lanooy Prize Medal for Werner Kraus. Announcement on the website of the teaching and research area Neotectonics & Geohazards, accessed on December 30, 2010