Erik Zimen

Erik Zimen ( born May 12, 1941 in Sweden, † 19 May 2003 in Grillenöd in hair brook in Lower Bavaria ) was a behavioral scientist who has worked in particular on the domestication and the behavior genetics of wolves and domestic dogs. In the Bavarian Forest National Park and in the Abruzzi, he oversaw research projects with wolves. Erik became popular Zimen as a book author and documentary filmmaker.

He was considered the greatest wolf expert and one of the most knowledgeable dog experts in Germany. In an obituary, the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper compared him to the " chimpanzee mother " Jane Goodall and the "gray goose father " Konrad Lorenz.

Research Projects

Erik Zimen lived since 1971 in Germany and studied in Zurich zoology and anthropology and a doctorate at the pet expert Professor Wolf Herre at the Institute of Pet Science at the Christian -Albrechts -University of Kiel on the behavior of poodles and wolves ( Comparative behavioral observations of wolves and royal poodles, Diss. 1970). At times, he was also responsible for the " Tiergarten " of the Institute. For his doctoral thesis, begun in early 1967, bred Zimen wolves and poodle since he and the behavior of their offspring - wanted to investigate - the so-called Puwos. Was investigated in Kiel also the behavior of the next generation from the mating of Puwos with each other. Zimen and his first wife Dagmar lived at that time " for a few years in the middle of a wolf pack and a poodle group ". As a result of his studies held Zimen determined, inter alia, that the behavior of the dogs not as "a negative result of species-specific behavior " of the wolves should be interpreted. It is rather very likely that the domestication of the wolf had produced " a new quality " of the behavior of the domestic dog. He suspected that the ancestral form of today's dogs was less shy than today's wolves, but more shy than our dogs: "Today we know only the two extreme forms of development. The wild wolf and the domesticated dog " The relative ease of shaping the behavior characteristic familiarity - shyness " therefore was not only the requirement that the wolf could survive until today in spite of all persecution, but also that he once was the dog. "

In 1971 Erik Zimen employees of Konrad Lorenz was at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen. However, his wolves were not housed in deference to the many wild geese and ducks in their immediate vicinity, but in the newly founded Bavarian Forest National Park. There Zimen could study for seven years, the social behavior of animals in the herd in nearly optimal conditions. In addition, he repeatedly traveled to Italy to study in Abruzzo commissioned by WWF, the ecology of the last living there wolves and develop measures for their protection.

In 2002, Zimen in Grillenöd together with Michael Grewe the Canis Center for kennel club as an academy for dog trainers. In 2003, he died at the age of 62 years due to a brain tumor. At his request, following, was set up in the yard Grillenöd a meeting place for children and young people.

Publications

  • The Wolf: behavior, ecology and myth. The legacy of the famous wolf researcher Erik Zimen. New edition, cosmos, 2003, ISBN 3-4400-9742-0.
  • The dog. Appearance, behavior, humans and dogs. Goldmann, 1992, ISBN 3-4421-2397-6.
  • Wolves. Tessloff Verlag (Series: What's What, Volume 104), revised edition 2010, ISBN 978-3-7886-0667-1.
  • Wolves and poodle. Comparative behavioral observations. Piper, 1971, ISBN 3-4920-1921-8.
  • The Red Fox. Symposium on Behaviour and Ecology. Springer, 1980, ISBN 9-0619-3219- X.

Movies

  • " Wild ways"
  • "Wolf Tracks"
  • " The Long Road "
  • " A stable full of animals"
  • " The Wolf of Lillehammer "
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