- Pfeilstorch
A "Pfeilstorch" (German for "arrow stork") is a
stork which is injured by an arrow while wintering inAfrica , and then returns toEurope with the arrow stuck in its body.The first and most famous "Pfeilstorch" was a
White Stork found in 1822 near the German village ofKlütz , in the state ofMecklenburg-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 theUniversity of Rostock . It is therefore referred to as the "Rostocker Pfeilstorch". [ [http://www.biologie.uni-rostock.de/fachscha/Sproessling/3/pfeilstorch.htm Rostocker Pfeilstorch] de icon article with picture] [ [http://www.biologie.uni-rostock.de/zoologie/sammlung.html Zoological Collection] of theUniversity of Rostock ]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 Fact|date=March 2007, and were even propagated byzoologist s of the timeFact|date=March 2007. The "Rostocker Pfeilstorch" in particular proved that birds migrate long distances to wintering grounds. [ Ragnar K. Kinzelbach: "Das Buch vom Pfeilstorch", Basilisken-Presse 2005, ISBN 3-925347-78-X]To date, around 25 "Pfeilstörche" have been documented.
References
Further reading
de icon 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.
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