As we see that the definition our dictionaries give for the word ‘zoo’ do not match reality, we've decided that we will try to change it.
Barcelona Zoo has a long experience in breeding birds and has always made efforts to conserve endangered birds - in particular scavengers such as vultures.
In the early 1970s, we developed the first initiative to create artificial feeding areas for vultures, which at that time were quite endangered in our country. A few years later in 1991, five griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) were sent to Montpellier as part of a reintroduction project led by "Groupe de Recherche et d’Information Sur les Vertebrés" in Cévennes National Park.
Following the instructions of the coordinator of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for the Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas osiris), last year in May a young male of this species arrived at the zoo from Africa, with the mission of renewing the genetic line of the population living in European zoos. The ‘Asturian’ as the caretakers call this new breeding male—because he was born at a breeding centre in Asturias—has done a great job and has already become a father to four males and two females.
The Barcelona Zoo and SOS Primates are sending clothing and work equipment from our facilities to the Primate Recovery Center (CRPL) in Lwiro, a city in the province of South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Zoo’s collaboration with CRPL started on 2010, through the grants awarded by the Barcelona Zoo Foundation, aimed at the conservation, research and reintroduction of endangered species.
Since a few days ago, in the Aquarama lobby you can see a new aquarium with a replica of the Reef Park of the eastern coast of Barcelona. As in the sea, the structure will be gradually colonized by native species. For now, thanks to the collaboration of The Aquarium of Barcelona, they already live a bank of cardinalfish (Apogon imberbis) and some Mediterranean rainbow wrasses (Coris julis).
The white-naped sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus Lunulatus) of the Zoo have a new facility! It is located next to the facility of orangutans and it is twice as large as the previous one. In this new 160 m2 area, the moat has been removed and the environment has been enriched with different structures, substrate and nets. Indoor areas have been extended up to 70m2, and they consist of 4 bedrooms with heating and a large lobby that can be seen by visitors, which enables to observe them even when there is bad weather and they decide to shelter from the cold.
The Barcelona Zoo Foundation has opened the application process for the 2017 grants for research and conservation projects. These grants are meant to support those projects that share the Zoo’s values of conservation, education and awareness towards biodiversity. This year’s grants are:
The Conservation project of the Montseny brook newt (Calotriton arnoldi), coordinated by the Provincial Government of Barcelona, with the support of the Zoo, the Regional Government of Catalonia, the Provincial Government of Girona and Forestal Catalana, has been selected as LIFE Project by the European Union. The LIFE Programme is the financial instrument of the European Union that is focused on the environment. This project will enable to improve, during the next years, the conservation situation of this critically endangered species and its riverside habitat.
