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Carlo von Erlanger
Hans von Berlepsch
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The earliest specimen is a pathological goose skull from 1664.
The ornithological collection itself dates back into the early 19th century. The earliest skins stem from the collection of Bernhard Meyer and came to the Senckenberg museum in 1819. From 1823 on numerous North African bird species reached Frankfurt through the journeys of Eduard Rüppell. Already in the 19th century many of these were exchanged with other museums.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the bird collection significantly increased through the acquisition of two private collections: in 1916 the collection of count Grafen Hans von Berlepsch was bought which included more than 55000 bird skins - one of the largest bird collections ever assembled by a private collector. In 1918, after the early death of Carlo Freiherr von Erlanger, 12589 birds skins from his collection also came into the Senckenberg museum.
Additional important acquisitions in the 20th century were birds collected by Heinrich Bregulla (mainly in the tropical Pacific) and Francisco Behn (Chile).
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