Herbert Lang (March 24, 1879 – May 29, 1957) was a German

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

. Lang was born in Oehringen, Württemberg, Germany. His childhood interest in nature led to a job as a

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the process ...

and later work at the natural history museum at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

. In 1903, Lang, then 24, emigrated to the U.S. and began working at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

. He made his first field expedition to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in 1906, returning with 178 mammal and 232 avian samples. After his successful expedition, Lang was put in charge of the museum's Congo expedition, accompanied by ornithologist

James Chapin James Paul Chapin (July 9, 1889 – April 5, 1964) was an American ornithologist and curator of the American Museum of Natural History. Biography Chapin is one of the highest-regarded ornithologists of the twentieth century. He was joint leader ...

. Lang led the expedition, until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. In 1919, he became the assistant curator in the museum's Department of Mammalogy. Lang returned to Africa, accompanied by Rudyerd Boulton, in 1925 and collected 1,200 mammal specimens, including the rare giant sable antelope. In 1935, he married the widow of a close friend. He died in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

in 1957. A

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of African lizard, '' Pseudocordylus langi'', is named in his honor,Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Lang, H.", p. 150). as is the

combtooth blenny Combtooth blennies are blenny, blenniiformids; Percomorpha, percomorph marine fish of the family Blenniidae, part of the Order (biology), order Blenniiformes. They are the largest family of blennies with around 401 known species in 58 genera. Com ...

, ''

Hypleurochilus langi ''Hypleurochilus langi'' is a species of combtooth blenny found in the eastern Atlantic ocean, from Senegal to the mouth of the Congo River. This species grows to a length of SL. This blenny is euryhaline and it enters mouths of large rivers a ...

References

External links

Objects and photographs from Lang-Chapin Congo expedition (1909–1915)
at the

, Division of Anthropology
A series of Herbert Lang's wildlife photographs taken in South Africa during the 1930s
* 1879 births 1957 deaths People associated with the American Museum of Natural History 20th-century German zoologists German mammalogists German explorers of Africa {{Germany-zoologist-stub