In the ’60s, ’70s, it was quite difficult to get in contact with fellow curators. And in fact, in the German-speaking countries, most curators attended the annual meeting of the German Society of Mammalogists. And so we formed the Bamberg Rebels during one of these mammalogy meetings. But, of course,… Read More
Did you communicate as a curator of mammals and birds?… Read More
Did you communicate easily with your counterparts in other parts of Europe?… Read More
How did you share ideas?… Read More
But at that time, we had a lot of old-fashioned fellows and so we were excluded. So in, I think, 1977, what was later on called, we founded the Bamberg Rebellion, it was in the German Bamberg and we were about seven, eight, nine curators who thought, we should be… Read More
And I think, in 1991, we were for the first time invited as part of the German zoo directors association. There are still two different memberships. It’s a full membership for directors and associate membership for curators. And the name was retained. There were several trials to change the name… Read More
Can you explain a little about the connect, how connected at the time you were working at Zurich were the European zoos connected to each other?… Read More
What was their significance?… Read More
What was the group able to accomplish?… Read More
Germany, especially Germany, is a very specific country. The zoo organization in Germany is the oldest worldwide, and it’s called (speak in foreign language). It’s the Association of German Zoo Directors and since this, how it was actually done, it was zoo directors only. But the zoo directors couldn’t produce… Read More
Lions sleep and rest about 83% of their time. And if this would be shown in the TV, the viewer would sleep after three, four minutes. In the zoo, we try to present a good natural background, but the visitor has the normal behavior. 63% of time lions rest and… Read More
Why was it important to establish the group?… Read More
Are there any personalities, like the Hedigers or the Grzimeks that capture a large audience?… Read More
So a lot of nature productions and we can now get, I think, over 100 programs. And in the time of Heini Hediger and Grzimek, there were two or three TV stations, so it’s totally different. At that time, I think Grzimek had a coverage of 30% or even more. Read More
How do you think those programs impact zoos, positively or negatively?… Read More
My original fear is that they might replace zoos. And of course, that’s a reasoning of animal rights people. We can travel to far countries, we have excellent films. But the cinema didn’t replace the theater. And it’s a totally different thing, a good animal film and a zoo. In… Read More
And more than the visitors, of all humans. Read More
What type of television or radio now occurs in Europe that relates around zoos or zoo animals?… Read More
Did something bite you while you were talking?… Read More
The only bite, and that was, in fact, the only accident I have had, was when a plains wiscotcha, a South American rodent, bit me in the right hand. I couldn’t write anymore for a few weeks. But this was off scene. But there is one incident during my Frankfurt… Read More