Vratislav Mazák (; 22 June 1937 – 9 September 1987) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

who specialized in

paleoanthropology Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinsh ...

mammalogy In zoology, mammalogy is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems. The archive of number of mammals on earth is constantly growi ...

and

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

. He was also a painter, often illustrating his books about animals and men. Born at

Kutná Hora Kutná Hora (; ) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. The history of Kutná Hora is linked to silver mining, which made it a rich and rapidly developing town. The centre of Kutná Hora, i ...

, he was a professor at the

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

's Faculty of ScienceCharles University
/ref> and worked as a zoologist at the Prague National Museum. With Colin Groves, Mazák described, named and classified the early

hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...

Homo ergaster ''Homo ergaster'' is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether ''H. ergaster'' constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into '' H. erectus'' is an ongoing and unresol ...

''. He also described the

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

subspecies '' Panthera tigris corbetti''. He died in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Major publications

In Czech

* ''Naši savci'' (1970), Our Mammals * ''Kostra velryby v Národním muzeu v Praze a krátký pohled do světa kytovců'' (1976), The skeleton of the whale in the Prague National Museum and a brief look into the world of

cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively c ...

s * ''Jak vznikl člověk: Sága rodu

Homo ''Homo'' () is a genus of great ape (family Hominidae) that emerged from the genus ''Australopithecus'' and encompasses only a single extant species, ''Homo sapiens'' (modern humans), along with a number of extinct species (collectively called ...

'' (1977), The Origin of Man - Saga of the genus ''Homo''; with Zdeněk Burian * ''Velké kočky a gepardi'' (1980),

Big cat The term "big cat" is typically used to refer to any of the five living members of the genus ''Panthera'', namely the tiger, lion, jaguar, leopard, and snow leopard. All cats descend from the ''Felidae'' family, sharing similar musculature, c ...

s and

cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large Felidae, cat and the Fastest animals, fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, wit ...

s * ''Jak vznikl člověk: (Sága rodu

)'' (1986), The Origin of Man—Saga of the genus ''Homo'', a revised and enlarged edition; with Zdeněk Burian * ''Kytovci'' (1988), Cetaceans * ''Pravěký člověk'' (1992), Prehistoric Man; with Zdeněk Burian

In German

* ''Der Tiger: Panthera tigris Linnaeus, 1758'' (1965) * ''Die Namen der Pelztiere und ihrer Felle'' (1974) * ''Der Tiger: Panthera tigris'' (1979) * ''Der Urmensch und seine Vorfahren'' (1983)

References

External links

Biography, photo and bibliography (mostly in Czech)
1937 births 1987 deaths Czech paleontologists Czechoslovak zoologists {{Zoologist-stub

Major publications

In Czech

In German

See also

References

External links