Pfeilstorch

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Pfeilstorch (German for "arrow stork") is a stork which is injured by an arrow while wintering in Africa, and then returns to Europe with the arrow stuck in its body.

The first and most famous Pfeilstorch was a White Stork found in 1822 near the German village of Klütz, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was carrying an arrow from central Africa in its neck. The specimen was stuffed and can be seen today in the zoological collection of the University of Rostock. It is therefore referred to as the Rostocker Pfeilstorch.^{[1] [2]}

This Pfeilstorch was crucial in understanding the migration of European birds. Before migration was understood, people had no other explanation for the sudden annual disappearance of birds like the White Stork and Barn Swallow. Some theories of the time held that they turned into mice, or hibernated at the bottom of the sea, during the winter^{[citation needed]}, and were even propagated by zoologists of the time^{[citation needed]}. The Rostocker Pfeilstorch in particular proved that birds migrate long distances to wintering grounds.^[3]

To date, around 25 Pfeilstörche have been documented.

[edit] References

1. ^ Rostocker Pfeilstorch (German) article with picture
2. ^ Zoological Collection of the University of Rostock
3. ^ Ragnar K. Kinzelbach: Das Buch vom Pfeilstorch, Basilisken-Presse 2005, ISBN 3-925347-78-X

[edit] Further reading

(German) Hagen, H. (1975). "Beobachtung eines Pfeilstorches in Ost-Afrika [White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) with arrow protruding from its body seen in East Africa]." Ornithologische Mitteilungen. 27(5): 111-112.