Wolfgang Makatsch (16 February 1906, Zittau – 23 February 1983, Bautzen) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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

oologist Oology (or oölogy) is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour. The word is derived from the Greek ''oion'', meaning egg. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called egg c ...

. He wrote numerous books about birds and bird identification. Many of his works were translated into other languages and he contributed to

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia __NOTOC__ ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia'' is a large comprehensive encyclopedia of animal life. It is named after its original editor in chief, Bernhard Grzimek ().{{Cite web, title=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia act sheet, publishe ...

Life and work

Makatsch was a staff member at both the

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

and

Rossitten Rybachy (russian: Рыба́чий, from ''Рыба́к'', "Fisherman", german: Rossitten, pl, Rosity, lt, Rasytė) is a rural settlement in Zelenogradsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Curonian Spit. As of 2010 it has a ...

Bird Observatories Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

. In 1967 he presented in his work ''Kein Ei gleicht dem anderen'', "No egg is like another", the surmise, that the colour white is the colour of the evolutionarily oldest eggs (white is the colour of reptile eggs). Only the need to camouflage the eggs against predators led to a change in colour of the eggs. Wolfgang Makatsch traveled extensively, collecting on his expeditions more than 30,000 eggs. This collection is one of the largest in Germany and currently in the

Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden The State Museum of Zoology (german: Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde) in Dresden is a natural history museum that houses 10,000–50,000 specimens, including skeletons and large insect collections. Many are types. The collection suffered war d ...

Works

(selection) *''Unser Kuckuck'', ("Our cuckoo"). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg, 1949. *''Der Vogel und sein Ei'', ("The bird and its egg"). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg, 1949. *''Die Vogelwelt Macedoniens'', ("The avifauna of Macedonia"). Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 1950. *''Die Vögel der Seen und Teiche'', ("The birds of lakes and ponds"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1952. *''Die Vögel in Feld und Flur'', ("The birds of fields and meadows"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1954. *''Die Vögel der Erde. Systematische Übersicht'', ("The birds of the world. Systematic review"). Duncker u. Humblot Verlag, Berlin, 1954. *''Die Vögel in Haus, Hof und Garten'', ("The birds of the house, yard and garden"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1957. *''Der Vogel und seine Jungen'', ("The bird and its young"). Neue Brehm Bücherei 41, 1959. *''Die Vögel in Wald und Heide'', ("The birds in forest and heath"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1959. *''Die Vögel an Strand und Watt'', ("The birds on the beach and coastal strip"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1962. *''Wir bestimmen die Vögel Europas'', ("The identification of the birds of Europe"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1966. *''Kein Ei gleicht dem anderen. Unterhaltsames und Lehrreiches über die Vögel und ihre Eier'', ("No egg is like another. Entertaining and instructive facts about the birds and their eggs"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1967. *''Die Eier der Vögel Europas. Eine Darstellung der Brutbiologie aller in Europa brütenden Vogelarten'', ("The eggs of birds in Europe. An account of the breeding biology of birds breeding in Europe"). 2 Bände (Volumes). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1974. *''Verzeichnis der Vögel der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik'', ("List of birds of the German Democratic Republic"). Neumann Verlag, Leipzig, Radebeul, 1981.

References

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Tierlexikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makatsch, Wolfgang German ornithologists 1906 births 1983 deaths Scientists from Saxony 20th-century German zoologists People from Bautzen