Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Austrian ethologist (1928–2018)
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (German pronunciation: [irɛˈnɛːʊs ˌaɪ̯bl̩ʔˈaɪ̯bəsfɛlt] ; 15 June 1928 – 2 June 2018) was an Austrian zoologist, evolutionary biologist, behavioral scientist, and ethologist in the field of human ethology. In authoring the book titled "Human Ethology," he applied ethology to humans by studying them in a perspective more common to volumes studying animal behavior.
Together with Konrad Lorenz, Hans Hass and Otto Koenig, he studied animal and human behavior and was a passionate advocate for nature conservation. He was the first to describe the cleaning symbiosis of reef groupers, the tournament behavior of marine iguanas and the schooling behavior of fish, as well as the behavior of certain species such as the cleaner wrasse ("Labroides dimidiatus") and the cleaner mimic Aspidontus taeniatus. On the Galapagos, he described several subspecies of the sea iguana ("Amblyrhynchus cristatus") and, in the Indian Ocean, several species of tube eels.
Among the achievements of his work are the creation of the world's largest film documentary series on human behavior in a cross-cultural context, the discovery of universals in human biological and cultural behavior, the establishment of a research station on the Galapagos Islands, and the establishment of human ethology as an independent branch of science.
Early life
Born in Vienna, Austria, Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt was a descendant of the ancient Regensburg knightly family Eibl von Eibesfeldt. His father, Anton Eibl-Eibesfeldt, held a doctorate in botany and taught as a professor of botany at the Federal Higher Teaching and Research Station for Viticulture, Fruit Growing, and Horticulture in Klosterneuburg, and his mother was a trained art historian. Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt grew up in Kierling (now a district of Klosterneuburg), and in 1939, the family returned to Vienna. He began taking an interest in zoology as early as the age of ten and, thanks to his parents, had access to magazines such as Kosmos.
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