Vratislav Mazák

Vratislav Mazák (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvracɪslaf ˈmazaːk]; June 22, 1937 – September 9, 1987) was a Czech biologist. He specialised in paleoanthropology, mammalogy and taxonomy, and he was also a painter, often illustrating his books about animals and men.

Born at Kutná Hora, he was a professor at the Charles University's Faculty of Science and also worked as a zoologist at the Prague National Museum. With Colin Groves, Mazák described, named, and classified the early hominin Homo ergaster. He also described the tiger subspecies Panthera tigris corbetti.

He died in Prague.

Major publications

In Czech

• Naši savci (1970), Our Mammals
• Kostra velryby v Národním muzeu v Praze a krátký pohled do světa kytovců (1976), The skeleton of the whale in the Prague National Museum and a brief look into the world of cetaceans
• Jak vznikl člověk: Sága rodu Homo (1977), The Origin of Man - Saga of the Homo genus; with Zdeněk Burian
• Velké kočky a gepardi (1980), Big cats and cheetahs
• Jak vznikl člověk: (Sága rodu Homo) (1986), The Origin of Man—Saga of the Homo genus, a revised and enlarged edition; with Zdeněk Burian
• Kytovci (1988), Cetaceans
• Pravěký člověk (1992), Prehistoric Man; with Zdeněk Burian

In German

• Der Tiger: Panthera tigris Linnaeus, 1758 (1965)
• Die Namen der Pelztiere und ihrer Felle (1974)
• Der Tiger: Panthera tigris (1979)
• Der Urmensch und seine Vorfahren (1983)

External links

• Photo of (left to right) Ing. Vágner, Zdeněk Burian and dr. Vratislav Mazák at the Dvůr Králové Zoo