Jiří Janda (24 April 1865 – 25 August 1938) was a Czech ornithologist, zoologist and high school teacher. He was involved in the establishment of
Prague Zoo where he served as the founding director.
Life and work
Janda was born in
Prague where his father Bohumil Janda Cidlinský was a Land Committee official who was also a poet and writer. As a young boy, he raised a goldfinch at home and became interested in birds. When he was ten years old, his father died and he was raised by his maternal grandparents in
Poděbrady where he had more access to animals and wilderness. He attended Novoměstské gymnasium and graduated from
Prague University studying under
Antonín Frič between 1884 and 1889. He also studied at the
University of Graz in 1887–1888. He studied under
František Vejdovský
František Vejdovský (born 24 October 1849 in Kouřim - died 4 December 1939 in Prague) was a Czech zoologist.
In 2007 the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the family "Tubificidae" was a junior synonym of Naididae. ...
, with whom he worked on the systematics of chordates (
Gordiidae
''Gordiidae'' is a family of parasitic horsehair worms belonging to the order Gordioidea.
Description
To date only two genera have been identified in the Gordiidae. These horsehair worms are characterized by a post- cloacal crescent located at ...
), and was his assistant in 1892–1893.
After his studies, he taught at gymnasia around Moravia spending time in
Uherské Hradiště,
Kroměříž,
Valašské Meziříčí and
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
until 1904. During these periods he kept notes on the birds of the regions. He began to write popular articles in magazines and dailies. From 1926 to 1930, he translated the bird volumes of ''
Brehms Tierleben''. In 1919 he was involved in the conservation of natural monuments and became involved in conservation of the
Tatra National Park and the establishment of several bird reserves.
In 1928 he founded the Czechoslovak Ornithological Society and served as its chairman. Janda had a great love of zoos and had dreamt of a zoo in Prague for long and in 1936 his proposed the establishment of zoo was taken up only after 1926. Janda was made head of the committee to oversee it and it was opened on 28 September 1931 with him as the first director.
References
External links
Biography on ekolist.cz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janda, Jiri
1865 births
1938 deaths
Scientists from Prague
Czech zoologists
Charles University alumni
University of Graz alumni