Theodor von Heuglin

Martin Theodor von Heuglin (Ditzingen, March 20, 1824 – November 5, 1876) was a German explorer and ornithologist.

Biography

Heuglin was born in Hirschlanden near Leonberg in Württemberg. His father was a Protestant pastor. He received education as a mining engineer. However, his ambition to be a scientist and investigate unknown regions led him to study natural sciences and in particular zoology.

In 1850 he traveled to Egypt, where he learned Arabic and visited the Red Sea and the Sinai. In 1852 he accompanied Dr Christian Reitz, Austrian consul in Khartoum, on a trip to Abyssinia. After Reitz's death he was appointed his successor in the consulate. While in this position he traveled to Abyssinia and Kordofan, collecting valuable specimens for the natural sciences. In 1857 he traveled along the African Red Sea coast and the Somali coast.

In 1860 he was chosen to lead an expedition to search for Eduard Vogel, his companions being Werner Munzinger, Gottlob Kinzelbach, and Dr Hermann Steudner.

In June 1861 the expedition landed at Massawa, with instructions to go directly to Khartoum and then to Ouaddai, where Vogel was supposed to be detained. Heuglin, accompanied by Dr. Steudner, made a wide circuit through Abyssinia and through the country of Galla, and in consequence of this the leadership of the expedition was withdrawn from him. He and Steudner reached Khartoum in 1862 and there joined an expedition organized by Alexandrine Tinné. With her or at her expense, they traveled up the White Nile to Gondokoro, exploring a large part of Bahr-el-Ghazal, where Steudner died of fever on April 10, 1863.

Heuglin returned to Europe at the end of 1864. In 1870 and 1871 he made several explorations of the Svalbard archipelago and New Zealand; but in 1875 he was again in northeast Africa, in Beni, Amer and northern Abyssinia. When he died in Stuttgart he was preparing an expedition to the island of Socotra.

Work

• Systematische Übersicht der Vögel Nordost-Afrikas 1855
• Die deutsche Expedition in Ost-Afrika 1861 und 1862. Justus Perthes, Gotha 1864 (with Gottlob Theodor Kinzelbach, Werner Munzinger, Hermann Steudner
• Reisen in Nordost-Afrika, 1852-1853 Gotha, 1857
• Syst. Übersicht der Säugetiere Nordost-Afrikas Vienna, 1867
• Reise nach Abessinien, den Gala-Landern, &c., 1861-1862 Jena, 1868
• Reise in das Gebiet des Weissen Nil, &c. 1862-1864 Leipzig, 1869
• Reisen nach dem Nordpolarmeer, 1870-1871 Brunswick, 1872-1874
• Die Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika’s, der Nilquellen- und Küsten-Gebiete des Rothrn Meeres und des nördlichen Somal-Landes. Theodor Fischer, Kassel 1869–73 vv. 1-1, vv 1-2, vv 2-1, vv 2-2
• Reise in Nordost-Afrika Brunswick, 1877, 2 vv

Eponymy

Plant species

• (Fabaceae) Philenoptera heuglini Pritz.

Animal species

• avutarda Somali Neotis heuglinii
• ojiblanco anteojito Zosterops poliogastrus