Favorite place instead of favorite animal

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“Mr. Dressen, what is your favorite animal?” I get asked this question over and over again. I don’t have it. But I have a favorite place in the zoo. On a tower in the Masoala rainforest that still dominates almost all the treetops and offers a beautiful panoramic view. The best time is early morning or dusk. Then you are almost always alone, and there is a lot going on with the animals. The red ruff ruffled from branch to branch, loudly acknowledging its presence. Numerous birds and flying foxes wake up (or fall asleep) and fill the air space above the treetops with life.

Not only do I love the Masoala rainforest, many of our guests love it here too. This is one of the most popular habitats in our zoo. The media also wants to keep reporting on our rainforests. In the past few weeks alone, Masoala has featured prominently on RAI’s science program and CH Media has been on the set. But what makes our Masoala rainforest so breathtaking? For me personally, this is a great example of how a zoo can simultaneously fulfill its four ideal missions: species protection, education, research and conservation.

The protection of animal species in Madagascar is relevant, the situation on the ground is difficult – more than 90 percent of Madagascar’s forests have been cut down, and many species of animals are endangered. This also applies to many animal species in our Masoala rainforests. Of great importance is the European protection of breeds of Madagascar animals, in which the Zurich Zoo participates. In the future, we will try to include even more endangered bird species from Madagascar.

In our educational work, we try to acquaint our guests with the beauty of the Masoala rainforest and its inhabitants. We abduct our guests right into the living space, where you should feel it with all your senses. You stand in the forest, you see, you smell, you feel and you hear it. You get the feeling that this is a real Masoala rainforest. If we can use this enthusiasm to draw attention to the fact that the rainforest is worth protecting, then we have achieved a lot in our educational work.

At the same time, our Masoala rainforest is an ideal place to conduct a wide variety of research aimed at improving our understanding of the forest and its inhabitants. Our Goodman’s mouse lemurs, a species of monkey, have been described here only as a separate species, and many finds about these monkeys do not come from Madagascar, but from Zurichberg. Deciphering the genome of our giant tortoises helps protect animals locally. And ETH is testing its drones to collect samples from the rainforests, our rainforest. This is just a small part of the various projects that are currently being implemented here.

After all, our rainforest is connected to our commitment to nature conservation like no other place in the zoo. We have been active on the Masoala Peninsula in the National Park and beyond for decades. We finance 25 percent of the national park’s budget and, in addition to biodiversity research, also support long-term and large-scale reforestation efforts. Over 100,000 endemic trees are planted annually to counter deforestation. But conservation only works when we humans see the added value. Therefore, we finance further projects in the field of education and agriculture in order to be able to improve the living conditions of the local population. In recent weeks, my predecessor, Alex Rübel, will be taking the Swiss to Masoala, organized in conjunction with the zoo, which not only supports our commitment to nature conservation, but also aims to show participants the need for protection in this region. .

If the trip to Madagascar is too long for you, hopefully our Masoala rainforest will be enough for you. With all these missions – species protection, education, research and conservation – it symbolizes the mission of modern zoos and, as I said, offers a phenomenal view from the tower.

Source: Blick