Unfortunately, there is hardly an official training for zoo biologists. Usually, zoo directors have the training of zoology and/or vet. But that’s usually not enough for zoo biology. So in Zurich, and later in Frankfurt, we offered short courses of one to two weeks for zoologists or vets, training in… Read More
What do you think Dr. Heidegger would say about the changes that are taking place in European zoos today?… Read More
Is this the case also in Europe or is it different?… Read More
Well, I think not more European remembers the name of Heini Hediger, and that’s, of course, a pity. And, therefore, I’m very glad that a long, long interview taken about 25 years ago with Heini Hediger will be published in these days. Which hopefully will remember younger colleagues who Heini… Read More
And in 1942, he wrote a book, (speaking in foreign language) It was translated into English only 14 years later, “Wild Animals in Captivity”. And this is the important start of scientific zoo biology. So this is probably his main achievement. And there, the main thing he proved is that… Read More
In the wild, keeping family of lions or whatever you consider have to consume food within the territory. So enough food has to grow or to be produced for prey animals, whereas in zoos, the animal keeper is bringing the food. And, therefore, the quantity of space can be much… Read More
What would you consider then to be his major contribution to the zoo world?… Read More
Is it his writings, his books?… Read More
Well, Heini Hediger has had more or less two professions. On one side, he was an animal psychologist and probably his main achievement in this field was the distances, the biological distances. As individual distance, social distance, flight distance, and so on, he discovered these biological facts, which are very… Read More
Well, it was very strange. A mutual colleague came and that was Terry Maple, who was a great fan of Heini Hediger. And in front of the restaurant, Heini told me, please call me Heini. He didn’t wait until we were in the restaurant and had a glass of red… Read More
Was it difficult for you to do that?… Read More
I think for me, it was not difficult to change from Professor Hediger to Heini. When- I felt very honored that he asked it and still feel honored by this. Read More
Is that a fair statement?… Read More
Well, I lost my father when I was 17 and I mentioned that Heini Hediger was my hero. And I remember exactly when he told me, please call me Heini and that was maybe a turning point for me. And it was really a relationship like a fatherly friend to… Read More
What were the circumstances when he said that to you?… Read More
I did my PhD on social behavior of colored peccaries and only in Zurich Zoo. And I discovered some quite interesting things. For example, there is an inhibition in inbreeding in the species, so the father isn’t mating with the daughters. Or the other thing is helpers. That the elder… Read More
So as a scientific assistant, you were working on your PhD. Yes, mainly. And Heini Hediger, he hold in winter a lecture at the university and in summer he usually had to repeat the lecture twice because there were over 150 students attending his lectures at the zoo. And here… Read More
Whatever the director wanted them to do?… Read More
I was scientific assistant of a department with a huge name. It was Animal Psychology Department of the University of Zurich at Zurich Zoo. And we have had, since Heini Hediger was such a famous zoo biologist, we have had a lot of famous animal psychologists visiting us and they… Read More
What kind of projects did you work on?… Read More