Richard Alexis Zann (27 November 1944 – 7 February 2009) ^[2] was an Australian ornithologist.

Early life and career

Zann was born on 27 November 1944, and grew up in the town of Casino, New South Wales, where he developed a boyhood interest in wildlife. ^[2] He graduated from the University of New England in 1965, with a First Class Honours degree. He completed his PhD in 1972 at the University of Queensland, studying the behaviour of grassfinches under the supervision of Jiro Kikkawa. ^{[1] [2]} He moved to La Trobe University in Melbourne, Victoria in 1972, where he remained until his death in 2009. ^[2]

The main focus of Zann's ornithological research was the zebra finch,. ^[2] This work was synthesised in the 1996 book Zebra Finch: A Synthesis of Field and Laboratory Studies, which has been described as his magnum opus. ^[2] Zann was also known for his studies on the island biogeography of the volcanic island of Krakatau, Indonesia. ^{[3] [4]} Zann was killed, along with his wife Eileen and daughter Eva, at Kinglake, Victoria in the 2009 Victorian bushfires. ^{[2] [5]}

Honours

In 1998, Zann was awarded the D. L. Serventy Medal by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union for outstanding published work on birds in the Australasian region. ^{[6] [7]} In an obituary published in 2009, colleague Mike Clarke described Zann as "a reserved, humble, self-effacing man with a particularly dry sense of humour, who often made fun of his own shortcomings." ^[2] In 2010, the scientific journal Emu published a special issue in Zann's memory, dedicated to the zebra finch. ^[6]

References

Sources

• Zann, Richard A. (1996). Zebra Finch: A Synthesis of Field and Laboratory Studies. (Illustrated by Michael Bamford). Oxford University Press. ISBN  978-0-19-854079-3.