{{Short description|Polish zoologist}} thumb|Dehnel with a falcon, c. 1930 '''August Gustaw Dehnel s. Michała'''<ref name=cm/> (June 25, 1903, in Warsaw – November 22, 1962, in Warsaw) was a Polish zoologist, Ph.D. (1926), professor.<ref name=epb>[http://www.encyklopedia.puszcza-bialowieska.eu/index.php?dzial=haslo&id=62 "Dehnel August, prof. nadzw. (1903-1962)"] ([http://www.pan-ol.lublin.pl/biul_3/AD.htm article mirror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421031922/http://www.pan-ol.lublin.pl/biul_3/AD.htm |date=2009-04-21 }})</ref> Until 1949 he signed his popular science and embryology works with the name '''Gustaw Dehnel'''.<ref>Zdzislaw Pucek, [http://www.ibs.bialowieza.pl/g2/pdf/233.pdf "August Dehnel"], ''Przegląd Zoologiczny'', 1963, vil. VII, no.4 (retrieved November 16, 2017)</ref>
Dehnel was born in Warsaw, the son of Maria née Sliwicka and physician Michael Dehnel. After school he was conscripted and served in Upper Silesia for which he received a medal of valour. He became a student of Jan Korczak Tur in the Institute of Comparative Anatomy from 1922.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Zimmermann, Klaus|year=1963|title=Zum Gedenken an August Dehnel|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/45366777|journal=Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde|volume=28|pages=187–188|language=de}}</ref> He obtained his doctorate in 1926 and became a senior assistant. He took an interest in teratological monstrosities in ''Emys orbicularis'' and later studied avian embryology. Along with Tur, they examined experimental approaches to embryonic development in fowl eggs and discovered that growth and development was highly regulated.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Pucek|first=Zdzisław|date=1964-10-15|title=August Dehnel, his life and work|url=http://rcin.org.pl/ibs/dlibra/docmetadata?id=9252&from=publication|journal=Acta Theriologica|volume=8|pages=1–10|doi=10.4098/AT.arch.64-1|doi-access=free}}</ref>
In 1935 he left work at Warsaw University and began to study the mammal fauna of Poland at the State Zoological Museum. He also worked on the management of beaver habitats. During World War II he was conscripted and taken prisoner by the Germans. He gave biology lectures at the prisoner-of-war camp in Grosborn. He returned to the Museum in May 1946 and a year later joined the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University at Lublin as an assistant professor. It was here that he conducted studies on ''Sorex'' shrews and seasonal variations in the size of their braincase. He found that it shrinks significantly over the winter and expands again in the spring.<ref>{{cite book|title=Poland: a handbook|page=358|publisher=Interpress Publishers|location=Warsaw}}</ref> This has come to be known as the '''Dehnel phenomenon'''.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/23/small-minded-shrews-shrink-their-skulls-to-survive-winter-study-shows "Small-minded? Shrews shrink their skulls to survive winter, study shows"], Nicola Davis, ''The Guardian'', October 23, 2017</ref> It affects not only the brain, but also other major organs such as the liver and kidneys. This factor explains why such small animals can survive harsh winters with associated reduction in food availability. The phenomenon may be responsible for the preservation of certain rare populations such as the Suisun Shrew. For this discovery, reported in his habilitation thesis (1949) at the University of Warsaw, he received the State Award.<ref name="epb" /><ref name=":0" />
Dehnel also took a special interest in falconry and was among the last falconers in Poland. He admired the writings of Anatole France and Mikhail Sholohov.<ref name=":0" /> He founded the journal ''Acta Theriologica'' in 1955, which is published today by Springer under the name ''Mammal Research''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zub |first=Karol |date=2015 |title=Sixty years of Acta Theriologica—transition to Mammal Research |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13364-014-0206-9 |journal=Mammal Research |language=en |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1007/s13364-014-0206-9 |issn=2199-2401|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Books == * 1960: "Maleńki ssak o dużej przyszłości" (popular science, about shrews) * 1949: "Zamki na wodzie" (popular science, about beavers) * 1947: "Najpospolitsze gryzonie i ich zwalczanie" ("Cost Common Rodents and the Fight against Them") (with E. Kaminski) * 1939: "O sztuce układania ptaków drapieżnych do łowów" ("About the Art of Upbringing of Birds of Prey for Hunting")
==Decorations== *1920: Cross of Valour, for the participation in the Polish-Soviet War (1918-1920)<ref name=epb/> *1950: {{ill|State Award of the Polish People's Republic|pl|Odznaka Nagrody Państwowej}} of III degree<ref name=epb/> *1954: Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta<ref name=epb/> *1954: Golden Cross of Merit (Poland)<ref name=cm>{{Cite web|url=http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WMP19541121588|title = Uchwała Rady Państwa z dnia 28 września 1954 r. O nadaniu odznaczeń państwowych}}</ref> *1954: Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland<ref name=epb/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dehnel, August}} Category:1903 births Category:1962 deaths Category:20th-century Polish zoologists Category:Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:University of Warsaw alumni <!-- ref name=epb/--> Category:Academic staff of the University of Warsaw <!-- ref name=epb/--> Category:Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland