And then, of course, increasing the educational part of the zoo and the connection with the universities for science in the zoo. And for me personally, the most important part is the conservation part. And I think nowadays a zoo director should be active in the conservation side as well. Read More
Do you think many zoo directors are or should more be involved?… Read More
I see that more directors are managers and I don’t think that this is the right way. I think the final word should stay with the zoo biologist. Because it’s public opinion. You see, a zoo direction, in the public opinion, knows everything about animals. We can not know everything… Read More
I think sometimes it is quite good that the director is coming from another place than from inside the institution. And I, of course, learned a lot by my PhD supervisor, Heini Hediger, and brought probably some of his ideas to Frankfurt. Probably I have improved the zoo, I think. Read More
What skill set does a zoo director need today as compared to when you started?… Read More
I think some are exactly the same as ever. I think, and that’s a very emotional opinion, I think a love for animals is very important. Without it, you will never succeed. But then the very important thing as well is the knowledge of the animals, especially behavior of animals. Read More
What made you a good zoo director, in your opinion?… Read More
Well, I think that’s a question I really cannot answer myself. You have to ask colleagues what made me a good zoo director. I’m not even sure I was a good zoo director, but it’s very difficult to say this myself. I’m happy about several new, good exhibits, I think. Read More
What talents do you think you brought that you transferred from when you were at the Zurich Zoo?… Read More
Of course now it’s fashionable to speak of global breeding programs and I’ve been the EEP coordinator for gorillas, which is probably, beside elephant and dolphins, the most difficult one because every gorilla, or a lot of gorillas are known by the keeper, by the director, by the grader, by… Read More
And, for example, yes, we discussed vicuna international studbook and the EEP I’m keeping since 1985. We are, for example, now in the coming few months, sending six pair of vicunas to the states. And I hope that they will create an SSP, with which we will very closely work… Read More
How do I reach it?… Read More
And they’re playing with individual animals just for the attraction of the visitor. Maybe it’s harsh, mean. It’s probably too harsh this but I think we have to say it very clear to see the big differences. There are great exhibits in a lot of American zoos I really esteem… Read More
One last question, in this cooperation thing, has the EEP and the SSP tried to be cooperative with one another in the needs of each, not each zoo, but of zoos within those two different areas?… Read More
And a sloth shouldn’t be kept single. It can not reproduce being kept single. So I think we are going more from the animal side and look what the animals need and try to make it attractive to the visitor. Read More
And the American way is rather, how can I attract the visitor?… Read More
I already mentioned, if we planned a new exhibit, we first made a collection planning and then looked what is the requirement for each species?… Read More
How do they live in the wild and what habitat and so on?… Read More
And then we gave this to the architect. And I learned in a zoo I was very graciously welcomed, a totally different approach. It’s a huge, I do not call it a zoo. It’s a huge exhibit and the director said, and you know here, we needed some colors so… Read More
Is it just one-on-one, director-to-director or is there a relationship?… Read More