Alfred Edmund Brehm (German pronunciation: [ˈalfʁeːt ˈʔɛtmʊnt ˈbʁeːm]; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist and writer. His multi-volume book Brehms Tierleben, which he co-authored with Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, Wilhelm Haacke, and Richard Schmidtlein, became a household word for popular zoological literature. He was the first director of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg.
Early life
Brehm grew up in the small Thuringian village of Unterrenthendorf as the son of the pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm, and of his second wife Bertha née Reiz. Christian Ludwig Brehm made a name for himself as an ornithologist by publications and through an extensive collection of stuffed birds. The collection, held in the parsonage and consisting of over 9,000 dead birds, offered a glimpse into the world of European birds. As a boy he helped expand his father by collecting specimens and became an excellent marksman. His father's research gave the younger Brehm an interest in zoology, but at first he wanted to become an architect. In the spring of 1844 he began to study with a builder in Altenburg. He continued his studies there until September 1846, when he left for Dresden in order to study architecture; however, he stopped after two semesters because Baron Johann Wilhelm von Müller, a well-known ornithologist, was looking for a companion for an African expedition. Brehm joined the expedition on 31 May 1847 as a secretary and as a collecting assistant to von Müller. The expedition took him to Egypt, the Sudan, and the Sinai Peninsula; the discoveries made were so important that, at age 20, Brehm was made a member of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina.
