QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ZOOS AND AQUARIA SUZMMER 2013OO QUARIAISSUE 82 Lynx up THE ZOO WORLD’S FIRST IBERIAN LYNX EXHIBIT Swiss watch ZURICH’S TIES WITH MADAGASCAR Management speak HOW TO MANAGE LEADERSHIP FOR CHANGE Stars with stripes LONDON’S BRAND NEW TIGER TERRITORY 1 1 Rays the profile NEW MEASURES FOR SHARKS AND RAYS www.southeastasiacampaign.org SUPPORT THE SOUTHEAST ASIA CAMPAIGN ORDER CAMPAIGN MERCHANDISE! SUMATRAN RHINO T-SHIRT 100% PROFITS GO TO THE CAUSE • 100% Organic Cotton certified FairTrade & GOTS • Unisex cut • Adult: XXL,XL,L,M,S & Kids: 2,4, 6,8,10 Yrs Old • A minimum total order of 500 pieces is required to make this project viable, so order your T-shirts today! CHROMIUM KEYRINGS • Every keyring supplied with a smart and functional ‘EAZA’ branded header card. • Made from high quality, chromium coated metal with proven retail sales potential. • Range includes saola, Mekong giant catfish, Sumatran rhino, proboscis monkey, clouded leopard, Siamese crocodile and rufous-headed hornbill Can be assorted – minimum of 125 pieces per design TIGER: LORD OF THE JUNGLE This book presents what we know about the tiger today; its history, its astonishing ability to adapt, from the snowy Siberian taiga to the Malaysian rainforest by way of the Indian jungle, and its tumultuous relationship with its human neighbours. In this book, text and photographs bring the tiger to life and hope to play a part in ensuring its survival. That is why Empreinte & Territoires is happy to donate 10% of the book royalties to EAZA to support its Southeast Asia Campaign. PLUSH SAOLA • This beautiful saola soft toy was designed SOUTHEAST ASIA CAMPAIGN by craftsmen and handmade with the SILICONE WRISTBANDS highest quality materials exclusively for Silicone wristbands are as popular and Dowman Imports Ltd and the Dowman fashionable as ever and still one of the most Soft Touch brand. widely-used fundraising tools. You can • minimum order requirement is one pack stimulate awareness about the Southeast (consisting of 48 saola toys) Asia Campaign in a very easy, accessible and • conforms to all European safety standards effective way by selling campaign wristbands. EN71. All products are fairly traded with the By selling wristbands in your zoo shop you people and countries of manufacture. are actively promoting the Campaign and helping in meeting our fundraising target. FOR INFO ON ORDERING, PRICES AND QUANTITIES GO TO: WWW.SOUTHEASTASIACAMPAIGN.ORG/RESOURCES/MERCHANDISE OR CONTACT [email protected] Contents Zooquaria Summer 2013 7 10 12 16 24 4 From the Director’s chair 19 Breeding programmes Making a song and dance of conservation A close look at the Indian rhinoceros and the Iberian lynx 5 Announcements A round-up of news from the European zoo world 21 Aquariums Why we need a new focus on sharks and rays 7 Births and Hatchings Some of the stories behind the headlines 22 Interview Nigel Collar of BirdLife International, plus an 10 Campaigns overview of his report on conservation breeding The final update from the Southeast Asia of Asian passerines Campaign focuses on the rufous-headed hornbill 24 Photo story 12 Endangered animals Behind the scenes at ZSL London Zoo’s brand new How a cooperative approach could help to save Tiger Territory the Owston’s palm civet 28 Education 14 Opinion Reporting back on the EAZA educators meeting at Horst Abraham on the challenges of change Burgers’ Zoo 16 Conservation 30 Academy How Zurich’s Masoala Rainforest exhibit is helping A look at the social and emotional aspects of to support Malagasy habitat learning programmes Zooquaria EDITORIAL BOARD: EAZA Executive Office, PO Box 20164, 1000 HD Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Executive Director Lesley Dickie ([email protected]) Email: [email protected] ISSN 2210-3392 Cover image: Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris Managing Editor Michael Sullivan ([email protected]) sumatrae) © mlorenz. Bluespotted ribbontail ray (Taeniura lymma) © Frank Spandl Editor Malcolm Tait ([email protected]) For information on print subscriptions to Zooquaria visit: http://tinyurl.com/zooquaria. Editorial Staff Danny de Man, William van Lint The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of EAZA. Designer Louise Tait Printed using vegetable inks on paper containing 50% recycled waste and 50% Zooquaria is the quarterly magazine of the sustainably sourced virgin fibre; bleached using an Elemental Chlorine Free process. European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Printed by Drukkerij Valkenstadt 3 From the Director’s Chair The Eurovision song contest is a peculiar tradition indeed. neighbours, the animals that live with and around us. Is Started in 1956, this yearly celebration of song, bizarre it because we have now become so jaded that we expect costumes, pyrotechnic display, weird dance moves and, biodiversity to be in decline, that it seems inevitable in our a more modern phenomenon, the rhinestone encrusted crowded continent? There is a well-documented phenomenon demonstration of European political alliances, is a curious called the ‘Broken Window’ effect. Simply put, it suggests creature to those not brought up in this complex continent. that toleration of small amounts of graffiti, a few broken It is watched live by 125 million people and has spawned the windows, a little litter in a neighbourhood and so on, will careers of many a famous singer or group… and who could lead to a spiral downward into social decline of that same not love an event that led to the worldwide domination of neighbourhood. Where one graffiti tag is tolerated another music in the 1970s and early 1980s by the Swedish supergroup will soon follow; where one piece of litter remains on the Abba, winners in 1974, Eurovision’s glorious pinnacle. ground, it seems to multiply. To combat this many cities and The song contest is feverishly fought and vast sums of regions worldwide have ‘zero tolerance’ approaches to this money are spent on the event – an estimated €20 million type of social disorder to prevent decline becoming inevitable. on the recent contest in Malmo in May, with Azerbaijan in The research suggests this approach has much to commend it. 2012 spending €35 million on the evening spectacular and This led me to thinking why on earth are we not taking a a further €100 million to build the venue. Yet it was also in zero-tolerance approach to wildlife here in Europe? What if May that another European ‘event’ was quietly announced. every city, every region, every country really committed to It was the IUCN analysis of the state of European wildlife, no more declines – zero tolerance that species will just go country by country. It made for both uplifting and depressing because of human activity, not acceptance that this is just one reading in equal measure. Uplifting in that the diversity of of those things. And what if alongside the Eurovision Song European wildlife is still broad and fascinating, even if we do Contest we had the Eurovision Biodiversity Contest where not have the spectacular giants of our neighbours in Africa countries competed to ensure that they had been the most or Asia. Depressing in that the trend is ever downwards with able and victorious in protecting the wildlife and habitats in thousands of species in decline. their own lands. This would visualise the value of biodiversity Some 6,000 European species have been assessed for the (Aichi Target 1), a committment of EU Member States, ti Red List with the Mediterranean region home to most of the the vast audience in Europe. And if it helped, the best new continent’s biodiversity. But it is also the southern countries biodiversity song, complete with flamboyant outfits, could of Europe that are facing the biggest problems in tackling accompany the visuals of projects that are saving species: our biodiversity loss: of 2,032 species assessed in Spain, 21% are European species. Let’s have cheering crowds, all happy to pay threatened; of 1,215 species in Portugal assessed, 15% face an entry fee to offset the costs of the event plus a tariff on top the same problem; and a further 14% of the 1,684 species in to put towards conservation, packing a stadium to whoop and Greece. Italy and Cyprus are the countries that next ‘top’ this cheer as we see a species brought back from the brink, so that dubious statistic. These are also the countries that face the it is not just another broken window along the way. Let’s have most pressing economic hardships in austerity-hit Europe. the best loved species highlighted and then twinned with the Yet, we do seem to, as a species, spend vast sums of money lesser known creatures that make our lands unique. on other topics, such as Eurovision (fun as the event is) or EAZA zoos and aquariums are taking action for European the $1.75 trillion spent on armaments worldwide that Nigel species (see Zooquaria 81) – but let’s see if we can do even Collar notes in his interview on page 22. Presumably we more – let’s make sure that every EAZA member has a native deem these very important? It is acknowledged that Europe’s species project that they are involved in and highlight this to governments spent funds on species and habitat conservation our visitors. – but clearly not enough as the IUCN’s report demonstrates. And my favourite European species? Dear wolverine – you Europe plc would certainly be doing very badly as a company are my Abba. if it were judged on our protection of the natural places, animals and plants that make our continent unique. I wonder why we do not demand from our leaders that we spend more on protecting the fabulous outfits, the amazing Dr Lesley Dickie 4 singers, even the weird dance moves, of our other European Executive Director, EAZA ANNOUNCEMENTS NoticeBoarD AB Aqua Medic GmbH (www.aqua-medic.de) AQUA-TEKNIK A/S (www.aqua-teknik.com) Base Structures Ltd (www.basestructures.com) Billings Productions (www.billingsproductions.com) Brogaarden (www.brogaarden.eu) CelsiusPro AG (www.celsiuspro.com) Claxitalia (www.claxitalia.com) Doublecheck Oy (www.doublezoo.com) Dowman Soft Touch (www.dowman.com) ED couNT EKIPA (www.ekipa.nl) Fachjan Project Plants (www.fachjan.nl) ON 2 MAY BIRDPARK AVIFAUNA HOSTED since the 1990s.