Erich Klinghammer
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = Erich Klinghammer
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|2|28}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|10|6|1930|2|28}}
|birth_place = Kassel, Germany
|death_place = Battle Ground, Indiana, United States
|nationality = American
|field = Wolf biology
Animal behaviour
|work_institution = Purdue University
Wolf Park
|alma_mater = University of Chicago
|known_for = Wolf behaviour research
|image = Erich_Klinghammer_and_Wolf_Park_Gray_Wolf.jpg
}}
Erich Klinghammer (February 28, 1930 – October 6, 2011) was a German and American wolf biologist best known for his contributions to the fields of ethology and behavioural ecology, particularly that of canids. He was the founder of Wolf Park in Indiana and a professor of animal behaviour at Purdue University.{{cite news|volume=114|number=3|url=http://mag.uchicago.edu/university-news/university-obituaries|author=University of Chicago Magazine Staff|year=2012|title=University Obituaries|periodical=University of Chicago Magazine}}
Education
Erich Klinghammer was born in Kassel, Germany, where he received high school education. During this time in Germany, Erich was a member of the Hitler Youth.{{cite web|title=Into The Light: Erich Klinghammer|url=https://www.blackfive.net/main/2011/10/into-the-light-erich-klinghammer.html|access-date=June 20, 2021|website=BlackFive}} He emigrated to United States in 1951 and served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, earning United States citizenship through military service, and returned to higher education at the University of Chicago with support from the G. I. Bill. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1958 and continued graduate education under animal behaviorist Eckhard Hess, studying imprinting in birds.{{cite web|url=http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/hess.htm|title=Psychology History|author=Jason Waite|year=1999|accessdate=August 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130929134315/http://muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/hess.htm|archive-date=September 29, 2013|url-status=dead}} After discovering he was allergic to birds, he switched the focal species of his research on animal behaviour to grey wolves donated by the Brookfield Zoo and housed in an enclosure on his property near Battle Ground, Indiana. He received his PhD in 1962 but would continue study on the captive wolves, expanding as more animals arrived.{{cite web|url=http://wolfpark.org/about/park-history/|title=Park History|author=Wolf Park|accessdate=August 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815022844/http://wolfpark.org/about/park-history/|archive-date=August 15, 2013|url-status=dead}}
Wolf research
Erich Klinghammer was appointed assistant professor at the University of Chicago in 1965, lecturing on ethology and animal psychology. In 1968, he transferred to the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University to hold the position of associate professor, continuing his pioneering study on wolf pack dynamics and social behaviour, including early analyses of wolf howls{{cite journal|last1=Klinghammer|first1=E.|last2=Laidlaw|first2=L.|title=Analysis of 23 months of daily howl records in a captive grey wolf pack (Canis lupus)|journal=The Behavior and Ecology of Wolves|year=1979|pages=153–181}} and developing the techniques of socialization for wildlife in captivity.{{cite journal|last1=Klinghammer|first1=E.|last2=Goodmann|first2=P.A.|title=The management and socialization of captive wolves (Canis lupus) at Wolf Park|year=1987|journal=Ethology Series|url=http://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search/display.do?f=2012/OV/OV201201853001853.xml;US19920025729}} His property developed into a wolf research and education facility eventually named Wolf Park, officially founded in 1972 with him as director. The resident study animal population would expand to include other species of canids such as coyotes and red foxes.
At the time, very little was known about wolves as their behaviour was difficult to observe for prolonged periods in the wild. Extended scientific observations of wolves in captivity allowed their complex social behaviours to be characterized, information which would later be corroborated or differences examined by more extensive and advanced field studies.Klinghammer, E. (ed.) 1979. The Behavior and Ecology of Wolves. New York: Garland.{{cite book|author1=Mech, L. David|author2=Boitani, Luigi|title=Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mXHuSSbiGgC|year=2003|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-51696-7}} Together with other scientific staff at the park, Klinghammer published and maintained the Wolf Ethogram, an encyclopedia of all wolf behaviours and vocalizations recorded.{{cite journal|last1=Goodmann|first1=P.A.|last2=Klinghammer|first2=E.|year=2002|title=Wolf Ethogram|series=Ethology Series}}
In his theoretical views, Klinghammer followed the approach of Jakob von Uexküll and used his concept of umwelt.Pat Goodmann. The Wolf Park News, 2012, p. 1–2.
In 1993, after teaching for 26 years, Erich Klinghammer retired from his position at Purdue as professor emeritus. He would continue his mission of wolf research and education at Wolf Park until passing on in 2011 at the age of 81.
Legacy
Through his activities at Wolf Park, Erich Klinghammer taught and inspired many budding biologists and conservationists who would later go on to conduct significant research and conservation work on wolves and other species, including Douglas Smith, leader of the Yellowstone National Park Wolf Project and Roger Pallmer, founder of the UK Wolf Conservation Trust.{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Douglas|title=Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone|year=2006|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=1592288863|pages=256|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3m1B8XEoiyUC&dq=purdue+university+erich+klinghammer&pg=PA11}}{{cite thesis|url=http://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1652&context=utk_graddiss|author=Davis, Karen M.|year=2009|title=Sociality, Cognition and Social Learning in Turtles (Emydidae)|publisher=University of Tennessee}}{{cite web|url=http://ukwct.org.uk/index.php?page=history|title=History - UK Wolf Conservation Trust|accessdate=June 9, 2022|author=UK Wolf Conservation Trust}}
The Erich Klinghammer Award is given in his memory for outstanding contributions in the fields of wolf behaviour, ecology, and conservation.{{cite web|url=http://ohfortheloveofscience.com/2009/11/16/carnivore-conservation-in-a-changing-world/|year=2009|title=Carnivore Conservation in the Changing World|accessdate=August 31, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026104201/http://ohfortheloveofscience.com/2009/11/16/carnivore-conservation-in-a-changing-world/|archive-date=October 26, 2011|url-status=dead}}
See also
References
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Category:20th-century American zoologists
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:Emigrants from West Germany to the United States
Category:Scientists from Kassel