Hans Strahl’s pioneering studies in comparative placentation

Hans Strahl, a contemporary of Duval and Hubrecht, made many important contributions to comparative placentation. Despite this he is not well known and some of his original observations tend to be attributed to later authors. Strahl published a classification of placental types based on their shape and relationship to maternal tissues. This greatly influenced the work of Otto Grosser, who became better known in part because his work was more accessible to other scientists and clinicians. Strahl described the development of the fetal membranes across a broad range of mammalian orders extending his observations beyond parturition to the post partum involution of the uterus. He paid close attention to structures designed for histotrophic nutrition including the areolae of moles, haemophagous organs of carnivores and tenrecs and chorionic vesicles of lemurs and lorises. We here provide a summary of some of the most important findings made by Strahl including work on placentation in carnivores and higher primates that remains unsurpassed.