Johannes Hildebrandt
Encyclopedia
Johannes Maria Hildebrandt, born 13 or 19 March 1847, died 29 May 1881, was a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 explorer and collector. He was born in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 to a family of painters. Originally a machine maker, he lost an eye after an accident and became a gardener, eventually starting work in 1869 for the Berlin Botanical Garden. Between 1872 and 1881 he made a number of expeditions to East Africa, collecting a large number of botanical and zoological specimens. His expeditions were modest affairs but he discovered a number of new species. He also lectured widely and wrote about many aspects of the places he visited. He died of a fever and bleeding stomach whilst on an expedition to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 and was buried in the Norwegian Cemetery in Ambatovinaky. He gave his name to a number of species, including the Hildebrandt's Starling
Hildebrandt's Starling
Hildebrandt's Starling is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It forms a superspecies with and has previously been included in the same species as Shelley's Starling, which is a migratory species ranging from Ethiopia and Somalia to Kenya...

 and Hildebrandt's Francolin
Hildebrandt's Francolin
The Hildebrandt's Francolin is a species of bird in the Phasianidae family.It is found in Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. The species is named for Johannes Hildebrandt, who collected the first specimens in Kenya.-References:*...

, both of which he discovered in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

.
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