Wolfgang Makatsch


Wolfgang Makatsch was a German ornithologist and oologist. He wrote numerous books about birds and bird identification. Many of his works were translated into other languages and he contributed to Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia.

Life and work

Makatsch was a staff member at both the Heligoland and Rossitten Bird Observatories. In 1967 he presented in his work Kein Ei gleicht dem anderen, "No egg is like another", the surmise, that the colour white is the colour of the evolutionarily oldest eggs. Only the need to camouflage the eggs against predators led to a change in colour of the eggs.
Wolfgang Makatsch traveled extensively, collecting on his expeditions more than 30,000 eggs. This collection is one of the largest in Germany and currently in the Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden.

Works