Jan Stanisław Sztolcman (sometimes referred to as Jean Stanislaus Stolzmann) (19 November 1854,

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

– 28 April 1928,

) was a Polish

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 ...

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

and collector naturalist who travelled extensively in South America. He was also a promoter of conservation and worked to prevent the

European bison The European bison (: bison) (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bi ...

from going extinct.

Biography

Sztolcman was born in Warsaw and went to the 3rd Gymnasium. At an early age he was influenced by the travel writings of Gustave Aymard,

Thomas Mayne Reid Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish British novelist who fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave ...

and the fiction of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

. Beginning in 1872, Sztolcman studied

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the Imperial University of Warsaw. He worked on the cabinet of

Władysław Taczanowski Władysław Taczanowski (; 17 March 1819, in Jabłonna, Lublin Voivodeship – 17 January 1890, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist and collector of natural history who explored the Russian Far East and northern Africa. He specialized mainly in orn ...

and from 1875 to 1882, he joined Konstanty Jelski to collect zoological specimens in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, primarily in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and from 1882 to 1884, he lived and worked in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. He collected several hundred species of birds from South America, with some of the specimens being little known or entirely unknown to European ornithologists. In 1884, he returned to Warsaw, where in 1887 he was appointed director of the newly founded Branicki zoological museum. He also held the position of professor of geology and paleontology. In 1899 he founded the periodical ''Łowiec Polski'' that he edited until his death. In 1901 he went to Sudan with Jozef Potocki. From 1924 he lectured on hunting at the

Warsaw University of Life Sciences The Warsaw University of Life Sciences (, SGGW) is the largest agricultural university in Poland, established in 1816 in Warsaw. It employs over 2,600 staff including over 1,200 academic educators. The University is since 2005 a member of the Eu ...

and at the Forestry school in Łowicz. At the International Congress for Nature Conservation in 1923 he proposed a Polish project to save the European bison which was based on the American Bison Society and its work.

Eponyms

Sztolcman described a number of bird taxa but many other specimens he collected in other groups were named by specialists in his honour with the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of ''stolzmanni''. For example, two species of lizard are named in his honor: ''

Liolaemus stolzmanni ''Liolaemus stolzmanni'', commonly known as Stolzmann's Pacific iguana, is a species of lizard in the family Liolaemidae. Etymology The specific name, ''stolzmanni'', is in honor of Polish zoologist Jean Stanislas Stolzmann.Beolens, Bo; Watkins ...

'' and ''

Microlophus stolzmanni ''Microlophus arenarius'' is a species of South American lava lizard in the family Tropiduridae. The species is endemic to Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ec ...

''. Other taxa include '' Chlorothraupis stolzmanni,'' '' Catharus dryas sztolcmani'', '' Oreotrochilus stolzmanni'', ''

Papilio glaucolaus sztolcmani ''Eurytides agesilaus'', the short-lined kite swallowtail, is a medium-sized species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. Description ''Eurytides agesilaus'' has a wingspan of about . The forewings are triangular shaped and the hindwings are ...

'', ''Mustela stolzmanni'', ''Hydrometra sztolcmani'', ''Nenia sztolcmani'', and ''Campylaea sztolcmani''.

Written works

Among Sztolcman's written works is a 1926 treatise on the

, titled
Żubr, jego historia, obyczaje i przyszłość
' (The wisent, its history, behavior and future). He was the founding editor of the magazine Łowiec Polski. Other significant works by Sztolcman are: *
Ornitologia łowiecka
' (1905) – Ornithological hunting. *''Wspomnienia z podróży'' (volumes 1, 2); (1912) – Memoirs of the journey. *
Szkice ornitologiczne
' (1916) – Ornithological sketches."List of published works copied from an equivalent article at the

Polish Wikipedia The Polish Wikipedia () is the Polish language, Polish-language edition of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. Founded on 26 September 2001, it now has articles, making it the -largest Wikipedia edition overall. It is also the second-largest ...

References

External links

Works by Sztolcman

Polish digital library
*
Łowiec Polski
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sztolcman, Jan 1854 births 1928 deaths Scientists from Warsaw Polish ornithologists Ornithologists from the Russian Empire Scientists from Congress Poland 19th-century Polish zoologists University of Warsaw alumni 20th-century Polish zoologists