Yoshimaro Yamashina

Yamashina Yoshimaro (Japanese山 阶 芳 麿; born July 5, 1900 in Kojimachi, Tokyo (now Chiyoda, Tokyo ); † January 28, 1989 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese ornithologist. He is the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.

Life and work

Yamashina was the second son of Kōshaku ( prince) Yamashina Kikumaro. Even as a child he was fascinated by the birds. On his sixth birthday he was given a stuffed Mandarin duck.

Yamashina was initially trained at the elite Gakushuin school. On adoption of the Meiji Tenno, he joined then into the Imperial Japanese Army. The 33rd class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy of he graduated in focus artillery. Due to a revision of the law on the imperial household in 1889 he lost in 1920, the status of a Kōshakus. Instead, he received the noble title of a Shishaku ( Viscount ) and the military rank of lieutenant. In 1929 he retired from the army, to study at the Imperial University of Tokyo Zoology, where he graduated in 1931.

1932 founded Yamashina at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology. It houses extensive collections of birds, ornithological libraries and research institutions. Yamashinas research focused on the avifaunae Japan, East Asia and the Pacific. In 1942 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the cell biology of birds to the Ph.D. at the University of Hokkaido. In the following years, Yamashina devoted to genetic research in birds, specializing in DNA analysis for differentiation of species of birds.

1984 the Yamashina Institute was moved to its present location in Abiko in Chiba Prefecture.

In the course of his career Yamashina has authored numerous scientific articles and several books. He was the co -author of the Hand List of Japanese Birds ( 1942) work and the author of Birds in Japan ( 1961).

One of the first descriptions of scientific Yamashinas include the Okinawa Rail, the Rota White-eye, the long -billed white-eye, the Borodino Wren, the Tinianmonarch and the genus Pyrroglaux.

Yamashina 1927 became a member of the American Ornithologists ' Union. In 1949 he became a member korrespondieres and 1953 honorary member. In 1977 he was awarded for his contribution in the field of ornithology the Jean Delacour Prize and in 1978 he was honored for his conservation work by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands with the Order of Merit Order of the Golden Ark.

Dedikationsnamen

1935 named Nagamichi Kuroda the Taiwan stubby tail shrew ( Anourosorex yamashinai ) in honor of Yamashina.

Works (selection)

  • The Birds of the Shizuoka Prefecture (1924 )
  • How to Breed Fancy Birds ( 1926)
  • A natural history of Japanese birds (1933 )
  • Birds of Japan and Their Ecology (1934 )
  • Hand List of Japanese Birds ( 1942)
  • Bird Calendar (1948 )
  • Animal taxonomy based on Cytology (1949 )
  • Save these birds. The Red Book of Endangered Japanese Birds ( 1975)
  • Birds in Japan: A Field Guide (1982 )
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