The German Society for Mammalian Biology e.V. is launching the competition for the

Fritz-Frank-Award 2026.

 

The award is endowed with 3,000,- € and is intended to promote excellent scientific research in the field of mammalian biology.

 

Candidates may submit articles or doctoral theses published within the last three calendar years. There is no age restriction. Only members of the German Society for Mammalian Biology e.V. can apply. All zoological disciplines are eligible as long as mammalian research was the focus of the study.

 

Please send an electronic version of the publications or thesis together with a curriculum vitae

by 15 April 2026 to Dr. Philip Dammann.

In addition, please send us the names of three referees with expertise in the relevant field, with whom you have not published or collaborated in the last five years. A jury will decide the winner.

 

 

1988

Volker Sommer, Göttingen: "Infanticide among free-ranging langurs in Jodhpur: recent observations and a reconsideration of hypotheses"

1992

Elisabeth Kalko, Tübingen: "Das Echoortungs- und Jagdverhalten von drei europäischen Zwergfledermausarten"

1993

Thomas Martin, Berlin: "Schmelzmikrostrukturen in den Inzisiven alt- und neuweltlicher hystricognather Nagetiere"

1994

Ulrich Zöphel, Halle: "Populations- und ethoökologische Untersuchungen an der Steppenwühlmaus Microtus brandti (Radde, 1861) in der Mongolei"

1995

Werner Haberl, Wien: "Zur Ökologie einheimischer Spitzmäuse (Soricidae, Insectivora) und ihres Lebensraumes am Beispiel eines Waldvierteler Feuchtbiotops und experimentelle Bearbeitung ausgewählter ökologischer Fragestellungen"
Jean Steve Maia, Neuchatel: " Organisation sociale d´une population de renards (Vulpes vulpes) en milieu montagnard"

1998

Simone Sommer, Hamburg: "Populationsökologie und -genetik von Hypogeomys antimena, einer endemischen Nagerart im Trockenwald Westmadagaskars"

2001

Sabine Begall, Essen: "Verhaltensökologische und genetische Analysen der Sozial- und Populationsstruktur von Coruros (Spalacopus cyanus, Octodontidae, Rodentia) aus Chile"

2003

Silke Hauer, Halle: „Populationsanalysen am Fischotter Lutra lutra (Linnaeus, 1758)“
Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra, Tübingen: „Craniale ontogenetische und phylogenetische Transformationen bei Marsupialia.“

 

2004
Robert Asher, Berlin: „Cranial anatomy in tenrecid insectivorans: Character evolution across competing phylogenies"
Cornelia Kraus, Bielefeld: „Spacing behaviour and its implications for the mating system of a precocial small mammal: an almost asocial cavy Cavia magna?"

2005

Carsten Schradin, Johannesburg: „Väterliches Pflegeverhalten und soziale Organisation der Südafrikanischen Streifenmaus Rhabdomys pumilio“

Robert Sommer, Rostock: „Late- and Postglacial History of the Mustelidae in Europe”

2006

Frank E. Zachos, Kiel: „Genetische und morphologische Untersuchungen zur Entwicklungshomöostase bei Säugetieren am Beispiel des Europäischen Rehs (Capreolus capreolus)

2008

Jochen B.W. Wolf, Plön: „Behavioral ecology of the Galapogos sea lion“

2010

Mirjam Knörnschild, Ulm: „Vocal repertoire ontogeny in Saccopteryx bilineata - evidence for vocal learning in a bat”

2011

Karin Lebl, Wien: “The reproductive decision in edible dormice and resulting consequences on their survival probability”

2012

John A. Nyakatura, Jena: “On the functional morphology and locomotion of the two toed sloth (Choloepus didactylus, Xenarthra)”

2013   

Nina Becker, Gießen: “Regulatory mechanisms of the energy budget in bats“
Daisuke Koyabu, Zürich/Tokyo: “Evolutionary embryology of the mammalian skull: macroevolution and homology“

2014

Hannes Lerp: “The phylogeny of the genus Gazella and phylogeography and population genetics of Arabian species”

2015

E. Pascal Malkemper: „The sensory biology of the red fox – hearing, vision, magnetoreception”

2016

Anja Günther: “Seasonality in wild cavies (Cavia aperea): effects on physiology, reproduction and behaviour in a highly precocial rodent“

2017

Stephan Drewes: “Reservoir-driven inhomogeneous distribution of human Puumala virus cases in Central Europe”
Arash Ghoddousi: “Prey preferences of the Persian leopard and trophic competition with human hunters in Iran”

2018

Kristof Veitschegger: “Life history evolution in extant and extinct Laurasiatheria – Case studies elucidating the junctions among selective forces, disparity, and trait evolution”
Yoshiyuki Henning: “Cone opsin expression in Ansell’s mole-rats (Fukomys anselli) - An ecophysiological perspective on thyroid hormones”

2019

Oliver Lindecke: “Navigation and orientation of long-distance migratory bats” 
Stephanie Kalberer: “Life history strategies and population dynamics in Galápagos sea lions – from individuals to populations”

2020/2021

Asunción Semper-Pascual: “Understanding the immediate and time-delayed effects of deforestation on biodiversity in the Gran Chaco”
Marcia Sittenthaler: “Faecal samples as a tool to study otter (Lutra lutra) diet, density and marking behaviour in salmonid streams”

2022   

Stephanie Reher, Hamburg: “Coping with environmental change: the importance of intraspecific physiological flexibility for Malagasy bats“

2023

Kai Robert Caspar: Sensory ecology and correlates of sociality in common mole-rats (Fukomys spp.) and other subterranean rodents

2024

Elisabeth Hempel: “Resolving the evolutionary history of two hippotragin
antelopes using archival and ancient DNA”