Rudolph Carl Bigalke was a

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 ...

, a director of the

McGregor Museum The McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa, originally known as the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, is a multidisciplinary museum which serves Kimberley and the Northern Cape, established in 1907. Overview Housed at first in a purp ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, subsequently heading the Department of

nature conservation Nature conservation is the ethic/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. A range of values ...

at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

and serving for several terms as Dean of the Faculty of

Forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

at that university. He was born in Kimberley on 24 February 1932 and died on 28 November 2002 at his home in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.
Thomas Baldwin ...

.Hart, R. 2007. Dr Rudolph Carl Bigalke: 1932-2002. In Jacobson & Hart, R. (ed) ''Chapters from the past: 100 years of the McGregor Museum, 1907-2007'' He was affectionately known as 'Rudi' and also had the nickname 'Loxodonta africana'.

Early life and education

Growing up on a farm outside Kimberley, his interest in zoology originated early in life. Schooled at

Kimberley Boys' High School Kimberley Boys' High School is a state secondary school or high school situated adjacent to the Honoured Dead Memorial, in the arc between Dalham and Memorial Roads, Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa – a site it has occupied since January ...

, he went on to

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

where he graduated with a BSc Honours in zoology and a university education diploma. Bigalke continued his studies under

Gustav Kramer Gustav Kramer (11 March 1910 – 19 April 1959) was a German zoologist and ornithologist who specialised in allometry. He described ''Xenopus laevis'', the African clawed frog, for the first time in his doctoral thesis. Near the end of the 1 ...

at J.W. Goethe University at

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, where he was awarded a PhD in 1956.Obituary: R.C. Bigalke
by Roy Siegfried, 17 Jan 2003, Wildnews, South African Journal of Wildlife Research.

McGregor Museum

Following an initial appointment at the

Etosha National Park Etosha National Park is a national park in northwestern Namibia and one of the largest national parks in Africa. It was proclaimed a game reserve in March 1907 in Ordinance 88 by the Governor of German South West Africa, Friedrich von Lindequist. ...

in what was then

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

(now

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

), Bigalke joined the staff of the

in his home town of Kimberley in 1958.

Natal Parks and Stellenbosch University

Bigalke left Kimberley in 1964 to take up the position as Principal Research Officer for the Natal Parks Board in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

. In 1970 Bigalke was appointed to head the Department of Nature Conservation at the

, serving also as Dean of the Faculty of Forestry for several terms.

Personal life

In 1957 Bigalke married Ingebord Gaber whom he had met in Windhoek the previous year and they had two sons, Michael and Martin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigalke, Rudolph Carl 1932 births 2002 deaths 20th-century South African zoologists South African museologists Alumni of Kimberley Boys' High School