Education
Koepcke studied at the University of Kiel, Germany, earning a doctorate in Natural Sciences in 1947.
ornithologist university professor Zoologist
Koepcke studied at the University of Kiel, Germany, earning a doctorate in Natural Sciences in 1947.
He then traveled to Peru where he started work at the Javier Prado Museum of Natural History in Lima, an institution affiliated with the National University of San Marcos. He co-authored with Maria many scientific publications, mostly ornithological. According to François Vuilleumier, curator of the Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History in New York:
The number of topics covered in this monumental work (volume 1, pages 1–789.
Volume 2, pages 790–1,684) is simply astonishing, and includes the concept of adaptation, death of individuals and of species, homology, systematics, ecological specialization, teleology, convergences, social signalization, mimicry, sexuality, mating systems, and many others
Richly illustrated, this work draws its empirical examples from many forms of life, where birds, and Peruvian or South American birds especially, figure prominently. After returning from Peru to Germany, Koepcke lived in Hamburg, where he worked at the herpetology department and taught zoology at the Zoological Institute and Museum of the University of Hamburg.