Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe facts for kids
Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe (12 November 1894 in Kristiania – 8 June 1976 in Oslo) was a Norwegian zoologist and comparative psychologist. He was the first person to describe a pecking order of hens.
Life and work
Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe the son of sculptors Axel Emil Ebbe (1868–1941) and Menga Schjelderup (1871–1945). At the age of 19, in 1913, he described a pecking order of hens. The findings were based on observing chickens at a farm during his summer holidays. The dominance hierarchy of chickens and other birds that he studied led him to the observation that hens had an established social order determining who-dared-to-peck-whom in a fight. This order was, Schjelderup-Ebbe concluded, not necessarily dependent on the strength or age of the hens, and not necessarily a strict ranking as he even observed triangles of dominance. Schjelderup-Ebbe studied for a Ph.D. in Germany, tried to present his thesis in Oslo, but was rejected.
Personal life
Schjelderup-Ebbe was married to Torbjørg Brekke. Their son was Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe, a musicologist, composer, music critic and biographer.
