Jürgen Rottmann (born October 8, 1941) is a Chilean ornithologist and conservationist. He is a founding member of the Chilean Committee for the Defence of Flora and Fauna and director of the Chilean Union of Ornithologists. He is the founder of the Raptor Rehabilitation Center located at his own farm in

Talagante Talagante () is a commune and the capital city of the province of the same name in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of central Chile. The word ''Talagante'' in Quechua comes from ''talacanta'', meaning "Lazo de Hechicero", which was the proper na ...

and scientific director of the Gaviotin Chico Sustainability Foundation.

Early life and career

Born in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

in 1941, Jurgen Rottmann is the son of the German immigrants Kurt Rottmann and Greta Sylvester. The middle sibling of two sisters: Katarina and Veronica Rottmann, he grew up in

Las Condes Las Condes is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. The area is inhabited primarily by upper-mid- to high income families, and known in the Chilean collective consciousness as home to the country's economi ...

when it was a rural area, now a borough of

close to the Cordillera de los Andes. Married to Rebeca Chavez, his lifelong partner, with whom he has two daughters and two sons. Jürgen Rottmann showed marked interest in nature from a young age and studied veterinary sciences at University of Chile as the only option open to him to become a naturalist in Chile in the 1960s. In 1972 he became the director of the

National Forest Corporation The National Forest Corporation or CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal) is a Chilean private, non-profit organization, through which the Chilean state contributes to the development and sustainable management of the country's forest resources. C ...

. Soon after assuming the directorship, he published the first list of endangered birds in Chile. In 1978 he extended the list to mammals. The revised list used as a starting point the report he presented at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in 1973.

Author of wildlife books

Jürgen Rottmann is the author and collaboration of numerous wildlife publications including a 1986 book about Chilean birds titled "''Aves de Chile"'', where he a collaborated with the photographer Thomas Daskam. He also authored a Chilean wildlife series published in 1995. In 1989, 300 copies of his book ''Bosques de Chile'' were donated to the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. The book and its detailed description of the Chilean forest was the result of extensive travel to remote locations in Chile. His 1990 bilingual book ''The Chilean Altiplano in collaboration'' with the wildlife photographer Nicolás Piwonka, was also donated to the Chilean National Library. Earnings from sales of the book were donated to the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

Promotion of environmental awareness

Jürgen Rottmann was part of the team of the nature documentary ''La Tierra en que Vivimos ,'' made in Chile by the Televisión Nacional de Chile shown in the 1980s. Also during the eighties, the Chilean newspaper ''

El Mercurio ''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in t ...

'' published a popular Sunday column titled "Chile: cosas de mirar" with text by Jürgen Rottmann and photography by his friend Thomas Daskam. The National Geographic Magazine called Jürgen Rottmann "the

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...

of Chile" in a featured article about is conservation efforts as the Director of the Gaviotin Chico Sustainability Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to the preservation of the tiny desert bird called Gaviotin Chico or

Peruvian Tern The Peruvian tern (''Sternula lorata'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. Found in northern Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, its natural habitats are hot deserts, sandy shores, and coastal saline lagoons. It is threatened by habitat loss. In ...

whose habitat is the coastline from northern Chile to Peru where the Atacama Desert meets the

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low- salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pr ...

at the Pacific Ocean. Jürgen Rottmann won the ''Premio Naturaleza Ladera Sur'' in 2023, an award given to people who have dedicated their lives to educate, raise awareness and promote the care of nature and the environment in Chile, the same year he participated in a nature conservation podcast series talking about his lifelong conservation efforts. and in an interview about the behaviour of urban birds.

References

External links

CODEFFUNORCH: Chilean Union of OrnithologistsCRAR: Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in TalaganteFundación de Sustentabilidad del Gaviotín Chico
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rottmann, Jurgen 1941 births Living people People from Santiago Chilean people of German descent University of Chile alumni Chilean ornithologists