A Quest for African Herpetology

Frankfurt am Main März 2018, kt., 253 Seiten, 120 meist farbige Abbildungen. Herausgegeben von Jens Reissig und mit einem Vorwort von Prof. Aaron M. Bauer (Villanova University). Don Broadley is universally regarded as the “godfather” of modern African herpetology. With more than six decades of active research based in Zimbabwe, Don’s career has been at the nexus of the field since shortly after his arrival in Africa. In his autobiography, Don presents the many details that have made up his life in herpetology. His numerous field trips, their participants and the reptiles and amphibians collected are all outlined in the orderly fashion that has characterised his many technical publications. Documented too are his first contacts with herpetologists around the world. This reveals how central Don has been to research programs near and far, providing data, specimens and expertise to a tremendous number of researchers and facilitating the last half century’s growth in African herpetology. […]. In Umtali and then in Bulawayo, Don built one of the largest collections of amphibians and reptiles in Africa, with its greatest strengths in the Zambesiaca region, incorporating Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Botswana — areas where most of Don’s own field trips and those of his close associates generally took place. Today, because of Don, the collection in Bulawayo, one of the largest in Africa, it is rich in type material and the Museum’s journal Arnoldia is known to herpetologists around the world. Because of Don’s centrality to herpetology, this book is a chronicle of the discovery of the herpetofauna of southeastern Africa. Stories from many of Don’s field trips, such as his run-in with a lioness in Botswana, have become legendary. His snake bites are even more storied — from a stiletto snake bite only a few months after arriving in Rhodesia, to the 1960 puff adder bite that cost him his middle finger, to the boomslang bite that necessitated the transfusion of 13 pints of blood. All are documented in this book. […] Don was an unassuming man, yet his life was anything but uneventful and his contributions were many. And all of this was achieved against the backdrop of hardships that life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe have brought. From the war of independence to hyperinflation, Don persevered, driven by his abiding fascination with the African herpetofauna. Whether the reader is a longtime friend of Don’s or someone for whom the name Broadley is familiar only from the literature cited of innumerable papers, this book will provide new insights into an extraordinary life in herpetology.   

Chimaira Science Paperback Vol. 1

ISBN 978-3-89973-439-3

Don Broadleys Autobiographie berichtet kurz über Kindheit und Jugend im England der 1930er und 1940er. Vereinzelte Erinnerungen an den Zweiten Weltkrieg, ein abgeschossenes deutsches Kampfflugzeug etwa, sowie Begebenheiten aus der Schulzeit, seine universitäre Ausbildung in der Nachkriegszeit werden vergleichsweise kurz abgehandelt. Es folgt sein Dienst in der Air Force.

Erste Erkundungen in Dorset bezeugen das Interesse für die heimische Herpetofauna. Bald schon konkretisiert sich sein Plan, nach Afrika zu gehen.

A Quest for African Herpetology dokumentiert seine wissenschaftliche Tätigkeit seit Mitte der 1950er Jahr bis kurz vor seinem Tod im Jahr 2016.

Mit vielen Kollegen hat er über Jahrzehnte korrespondiert. Die Zahl der Personen, mit denen er in diesem Zeitraum in Kontakt gestanden hat und wovon er berichtet, liegt bei rund 400. Erwähnung finden dabei auch die wichtigen Personen seiner Schul- und Studienzeit. In der Folge sind es durchaus nicht nur Herpetologen, mit denen er korrespondiert. Die Zambia-Expedition kann hier exemplarisch genannt werden. Mit Woody Cotterill, einem Säugetierforscher, und Karen Esler, einer Botanikerin, ist er viele Wochen unterwegs. Gemeinsam erforscht man mehr als nur einen Ausschnitt der Flora und Fauna an der Quelle des Sambesi.

Wertvolle Funde und Hinweise gibt es auch von Wildhütern oder passionierten Laien, die sich für Schlangen interessieren. Das erklärt, warum nicht jeder Name in der untenstehende Liste auf der Teilnehmerliste eines herpetologischen Kongresses auftaucht.

Etwa zwei Drittel der Namen entsprechen dann allerdings schon diesem Kriterium. Man könnte durchaus sagen, dass es kaum Herpetologen der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts gegeben hat, die nicht mit Don Broadley korrespondiert haben, zumindest ist dies unwahrscheinlich, wenn die afrikanische Herpetofauna einer ihrer Forschungsschwerpunkte gewesen ist. Don Broadleys Radius reicht jedoch weit über die Region hinaus, die er selbst aktiv erforscht hat. 

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