Early explorers of the birds of Ethiopia

Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg *1795 +1876

A brief but fascinating insight into the scientific discovery of the birdlife of Ethiopia and Eritrea give Ash and Atkins (2009). Only one special aspect is to be discussed here in more detail: the role of German scientists and travelers. German researchers have discovered and described 29 of the 67 taxa listed in the Endemic Breeding Birds table, that is about 45% of the Horn of Africa endemic bird species.

The earliest description of an Ethiopia/Eritrea endemic species, still recognized today, was written by Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1789). It concerned the Dark-headed Oriole (Oriolus monacha) and goes back to an entry in the famous book "Histoire naturelle des oiseaux," written by the Frenchman Buffon. But in this book, the binary nomenclature has not been used. Thus, the Göttingen scholar had the honor of having described the first Horn of Africa endemic species according to scientific standards.

The first German field researchers on the Red Sea coast and hinterland were Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg and Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich. After extensive research travels in the Middle East and North Africa, another expedition led them to Southern Arabia and finally 1824/25 to Ethiopia (Eritrea).