Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T13:02:32.362Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gyrfalcons to Germany: Herdemerten's expedition to west Greenland, 1938

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2010

William Barr
William Barr*
Affiliation:
Arctic Institute of North America, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary AB T2N 1N4, Canada ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the summer of 1938 the Hermann-Göring-Stiftung [Hermann Göring Foundation], located at the Reichsjägerhof Riddagshausen near Braunschweig, dispatched a two man expedition to west Greenland, primarily in order to capture gyrfalcons. Although nowhere stated in the expedition account, the aim appears to have been to acclimatise the birds to a German environment for the purpose of falconry. Five birds were captured and transported to Germany, four juveniles from a nest near Godhavn and an adult bird from near Uummannaq. After a brief sojourn at Riddagshausen the birds were transferred to Goldhöhe (Zlaté návr_í) in the Riesengebirge (Krkono_e) as being a more appropriate environment. The results of the experiment and the fate of the birds are not stated in the expedition account. Secondary aims of the expedition were geological, meteorological and botanical investigations and bird banding.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 113 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bertelsen, A. 1923. Fuglene i Umanaq district. Meddelelser om Grønland 62:139–214.Google Scholar
Burnham, W.A., and Mattox, W.G.. 1984. Biology of the peregrine and gyrfalcon in Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland Biology 14Google Scholar
Dege, W. 2004. War north of 80. The last German arctic weather station of World War II, (W. Barr translator and editor). Calgary: University of Calgary Press and Arctic Institute of North America.Google Scholar
Drever, H.J., and Carmichael, D.M.. 1939. The Cambridge expedition to west Greenland, 1938. Geographical Journal 94 (5):388–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Georgi, J. 1935. Mid-ice. The story of the Wegener expedition to Greenland. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co.Google Scholar
Guspietsch, T. 1945. Hans-Robert Knoespel zum Gedächtnis. Polarforschung 15 (1/2): 25–27.Google Scholar
Herdemerten, K. 1939. Jakunguaq. Das Grönlandbuch der Hermann-Göring-Stiftung. Braunschweig: Georg Westermann.Google Scholar
Krüger, H.K.E. 1930. Zur Geologie von Westgrönland, besonders der Umgebung der Diskobugt und des Umanak-Fjordes. Meddelelser om Grønland 74: 97–136.Google Scholar
Mattox, W.G. 1970. Bird-banding in Greenland. Arctic 23 (4): 217–228.Google Scholar
Neumärker, U., and Knopf, V.. 2007. Görings Revier: Jagd und Politik in der Rominter Heide. Berlin: Links.Google Scholar
Nickel, H. 1992. Reichsjägerhof. In: Camerer, L.(editor). Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Braunschweig: Meyer:190.Google Scholar
Polar Record. 1939. German expedition to west Greenland. Polar Record 3 (17): 31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selinger, F. 2001. Von ‘Nanok’ bis ‘Eismitte. Meteorologische Unternehmungen in der Arktis, 1940–1945. Bremerhaven: Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum; Hamburg: Convent Verlag.Google Scholar