Christian Jouanin (1925 – 8 November 2014) was a prominent French

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and expert on

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. Description The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (all except the albatross f ...

s. He worked for the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and is a former Vice President of the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. He has done many major projects in the field, notably with petrels in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and Madeiras, and has described a number of species. Jouanin began working professionally with birds in 1940 at the age of 15, when he started working for the

under the tutelage of

Jacques Berlioz Jacques Berlioz (9 December 1891, Paris – 21 December 1975) was a French zoologist and ornithologist, specializing in hummingbirds. He was a grand-nephew of composer Hector Berlioz (1803–1869). Berlioz was born in Paris, where the family home ...

, then the head of the ornithology department. At the age of 22 he married his wife, Nicole, with whom he has had two daughters. While working at the museum he, along with his colleague

Jean Dorst Jean Dorst (7 August 1924 – 8 August 2001) was a French ornithologist. Dorst was born at Mulhouse and studied biology and paleontology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris. In 1947 he joined the staff of the Muséum national d' ...

, who later replaced Berlioz as the head of the ornithology department, helped write the species description for the

Djibouti spurfowl The Djibouti spurfowl or Djibouti francolin (''Pternistis ochropectus'') is a bird species in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is critically endangered and found only in Djibouti, a nation in the Horn of Africa. This species is grayish-bro ...

, a critically endangered

spurfowl Spurfowl are two genera of birds: * ''Galloperdix'', from India and Sri Lanka * ''Pternistis ''Pternistis'' is a genus of galliform birds formerly classified in the spurfowl group of the Perdicinae, partridge subfamily of the Phasianidae, phea ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

whose type specimen was brought to the museum. He also developed a lifelong interest in two distinctly different bird families, the

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

s and the

In 1955 Jouanin published his first independent species description after realizing that the new species, named

Jouanin's petrel Jouanin's petrel (''Bulweria fallax'') is a species of seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is found throughout the northwestern Indian Ocean. Its natural habitats are open seas and shallow seas. It has been recorded breeding on Socotra ...

, differed significantly from the

Mascarene petrel The Mascarene petrel (''Pseudobulweria aterrima'') is a medium-sized, dark petrel. Also sometimes known as the Mascarene black petrel, this species was known from four specimens found in the nineteenth century on the island of Réunion. Two bird ...

. This description began a long period of his life dedicated to the research of petrels in the

. While his primary goal was to find the breeding grounds of the Mascarene petrel, he discovered another new species,

Barau's petrel Barau's petrel (''Pterodroma baraui'') is a medium-sized gadfly petrel from the family Procellariidae. Its main breeding site is the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. Etymology The name commemorates Armand Barau, an agricultural engineer a ...

, breeding on the island of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

. He also analyzed the differences between the

and

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

populations of

Audubon's shearwater Audubon's shearwater (''Puffinus lherminieri'') is a common tropical seabird in the petrel family. Sometimes known as the dusky-backed shearwater,Carboneras (1992) the specific epithet honours the French naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier. Cer ...

. In 1963 he switched his focus to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, participating with Francis Roux in an expedition to the

Savage Islands The Savage Islands or Selvagens Islands ( pt, Ilhas Selvagens ; also known as the Salvage Islands) are a small Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Madeira, and north of the Canary Islands.

. He then proceeded to study

Cory's shearwater Cory's shearwater (''Calonectris borealis'') is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially of rocky islands in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly ...

in the Madeiras with Alec Zino, a collaboration that has resulted in over eighty publications. Jouanin is recognized as an expert on the Order

Procellariiformes Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, the petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, procellariiforms are of ...

and co-wrote the section on those birds in

James Lee Peters James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American ornithologist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followed ...

's Check-list of Birds of the World. He served as the Vice President of the

from 1970 to 1975 and has been a member of the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

since 1954, serving on the Permanent Executive Committee from 1970 to 1978. He organized the exhibition ″L'Impératice Joséphine et les Sciences Naturelles″ presented at the National Museum of Château de Malmaison and Bois-Préau in Paris Rueil-Malmaison: 26 May - 6 October 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jouanin, Christian French ornithologists 1925 births 2014 deaths People associated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature 20th-century French zoologists 21st-century French scientists 21st-century French zoologists National Museum of Natural History (France) people