Wolfgang Makatsch
Wolfgang Makatsch (born February 16, 1906 in Zittau , † February 23, 1983 in Bautzen ) was a German ornithologist and author of bird identification books. Many of his works have been translated into other languages.
Live and act
Makatsch grew up in Bautzen and studied zoology, botany and geography in Leipzig and Munich from 1926 to 1928. Later he was a study assessor at the Leipzig Thomas School , elementary school teacher in Probstheida and from September 1938 high school teacher at the German School in Saloniki . In 1941 he was called up for military service and received his doctorate in the same year with the thesis "Contribution to the knowledge of the bird world of Macedonia ". After the war and internment in a British camp in Austria, he returned to Bautzen and worked there as a draftsman in a surveying office.
He was an employee of the ornithological stations Helgoland and Rossitten (today Rybatschi ). In 1967 in his work “ No egg is like another ” , he suggested that the color white is the oldest color of bird eggs in terms of evolutionary history . He justifies this with the white color of the reptile eggs . Only the need to camouflage the eggs against predators led to a change in egg color.
Wolfgang Makatsch went on extensive journeys, during which he collected over 30,000 eggs . This collection is one of the most extensive in Germany today and is located in the Museum für Tierkunde Dresden .
Works (selection)
- Our cuckoo. A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg 1949.
- The bird and its egg. A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg 1949.
- The bird world of Macedonia. Academic Publishing Company, Leipzig 1950.
- The birds of the lakes and ponds. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1952.
- The birds in the fields and meadows. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1954.
- The birds of the earth. Systematic overview. Duncker & Humblot Verlag, Berlin, 1954.
- The birds in the house, yard and garden. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1957.
- The bird and its young. Neue Brehm Bücherei 41, 1959.
- The birds in the forest and the heather. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1959.
- The birds on the beach and the mudflats. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1962.
- We determine the birds of Europe. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1966.
- No two eggs are the same. Entertaining and instructive information about birds and their eggs. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1967.
- The eggs of the birds of Europe. A representation of the breeding biology of all breeding bird species in Europe. 2 volumes. Neumann Verlag, Radebeul 1974.
- Directory of the birds of the German Democratic Republic. Neumann Verlag, Leipzig / Radebeul 1981.
literature
- Hans-Dietrich Haemmerlein: Obituary Wolfgang Makatsch 1906–1983 In: Mauritiana (Altenburg) 12 (1987) 1, pp. 25–28
- Joachim Neumann: Makatsch, Wolfgang. In: Joachim Neumann et al .: Life pictures of Saxon ornithologists. Communications from the Saxon Ornithologists' Association. Volume 10, special issue 3, 2010, pp. 130-133.
Web links
- Literature by and about Wolfgang Makatsch in the catalog of the German National Library
- Bird eggs and bird nests. (PDF 1.10 MB)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Makatsch, Wolfgang |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German ornithologist and author of bird identification books |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 16, 1906 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Zittau |
DATE OF DEATH | February 23, 1983 |
Place of death | Bautzen |