Leopold von Schrenck should not be confused with Leopold Schenk.
| Peter Leopold von Schrenck | |
| Native Name: | Леопольд Иванович фон Шренк |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Birth Date: | 1826 |
| Birth Place: | Sumsky Uyezd, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Death Date: | 8 January 1894 |
| Death Place: | Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
| Occupation: | Zoologist, geographer, ethnographer |
Peter Leopold von Schrenck (ru|Леопольд Иванович фон Шренк; 1826 - 8 January 1894) was a Russian zoologist, geographer and ethnographer.
Schrenck came from a Baltic German family, and was born and raised in the, Sumsky Uyezd, Kharkov Governorate. He received his doctorate from the Imperial University of Dorpat, and then studied natural science in Berlin and Königsberg. He joined the crew of the Aurora (Russian Imperial Navy frigate)[1] in the circumnavigation of the world.
In 1853 Schrenck was sent by the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences to explore the Amurland on board the schooner Vostok. He reached the mouth of the Amur in September 1854 with the botanist Carl Maximowicz. In February 1855 he visited Sakhalin and then explored the Amur in the spring and summer. In 1856 he returned overland to Europe, via Lake Baykal. He published his findings in his Reisen und Forschungen im Amur-Lande in den Jahren 1854-56, in two quarto volumes, 1858–60, with more than 350 pages on birds.[2] In later years Schrenck turned his attention to the study of the native peoples of Russia.[3] On 10 November, 1879 he was appointed director of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St Petersburg.
A number of animals are named after Schrenck, including the following species.