Zurich's Rainforest
by Hanny Heim
Title
Zurich's Rainforest
Artist
Hanny Heim
Medium
Photograph - Art Photography
Description
Red ruffed lemur in Zurich's rainforest at the Masoala hall Zurich Switzerland
The red ruffed lemur (Varecia rubra) is one of two species in the genus Varecia, the ruffed lemurs; the other is the black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata). Like alllemurs, it is native to Madagascar and occurs only in the rainforests of Masoala, in the northeast of the island. It is one of the largest primates of Madagascar with a body length of 53 cm, a tail length of 60 cm and a weight of 3.3�3.6 kg. Its soft, thick fur is red and black in colour and sports a buff or cream colored spot at the nape, but a few are known to have a white or pink patch on the back of the limbs or digits and a ring on the base of the tail in a similar color.
A Madagascan rain forest in downtown Zurich
Zurich is about the last place in the world you'd expect to see a red-ruffed lemur or panther chameleon - in the middle of the alpine winter, no less. But the city's zoo on Zurichbergstrasse is a tropical jungle all year round. The 10,000-sq-m greenhouse is one of the world's largest man-made rain forests: its humidity and temperature faithfully re-create the climate and ecosystem of the endangered rain forest on Madagascar's Masoala Peninsula.
Zurich Zoo decided 1991 to build a system that is based on the World Zoo Conservation Strategy of World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and provides the basis for close cooperation with a conservation project in the wilderness. Zurich Zoo is traditionally on the exotic wildlife and 1994, the choice of Madagascar and Masoala was hit.
9 years later, on 29 June 2003, the hall was officially opened by Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger in the presence of a delegation from Madagascar under the leadership of the Minister for the Environment, Forests and Water, Charles Sylvain Rabotoarison.
Uploaded
May 18th, 2015
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