Well, the reality is that usually a master plan lasts as long as the director is director and the new director starts a new master plan. That’s, unfortunately, the reality. But I think a master plan should last for about 20 years, probably with checking it after about 10 years… Read More
And can you explain about a master plan?… Read More
Well, the master planning in Zurich was done under the directorship of Alex Ruble. And in Frankfurt, I did, I was a head of the team for the master plan. And by the way, I think it was the first zoo master plan in any German zoo in Frankfurt. I… Read More
And then that’s probably the most important part, that you guide the architect and you tell the architect what is needed. I think Sean de la Croix, who’s a famous agriculturist once said the most dangerous animal in the zoo is an architect. And therefore architects either need to have… Read More
And when you were doing this master plan, number one, who was the director then, when this master plan was initiated?… Read More
First you look for what species do you have in the collection already?… Read More
What species need new exhibits, better exhibits?… Read More
What species do you want to retain for educational reasons, for conservation reasons, to attract visitors, that’s an important point as well. I think you couldn’t run a zoo just with mallard ducks that looks like a mallard. And then I was always keen to start mixed exhibits for species… Read More
What was your involvement in putting together the exotarium, the cloud forest for the spectacled bears, the ape house. Read More
How were you involved there?… Read More
Well, in Zurich, I was part of the team doing the master plan and then I was part of the team in realization of different enclosures. You mentioned exoterium, which was a difficult building because it contains aquarium terrarium for which Rene Honecker is credited and was responsible and I… Read More
And so I thought I could use a similar kind of ear notch, just much, much smaller. And so I introduced it in zoos. And Jim Dolan, during one of his visits in Zurich, saw the ear notches. And I made him a drawing and he took it over to… Read More
Okay. You talked about animal programs that you helped to develop. Read More
What about the physical buildings and exhibits?… Read More
Did you use ear notching?… Read More
Did you, how were you able to identify many of these species?… Read More
I’m a behaviorist. And nowadays rather conservationist but, at that time, behavior was very important for me. And of course you need to individually know each specimen and, therefore, chips do not help in identifying animals from a distance because when a pair is mating, you cannot capture them and… Read More
Or do you keep it open, as in all Tanzanian national parks?… Read More
They are never, ever fenced in. And the fencing in is a very dangerous thing because migrating animals can no longer migrate. For example, we visited the Karoo National Park in South Africa and wanted to see the black wildebeest that occurred there. And when we arrived, there was none… Read More
Did you, how did you identify animals at the zoo?… Read More