Since the beginning of the year, 80 animals of different species have been born at the Paris zoo, some of them in danger of extinction such as the deer dog, the fossa or the Mhorr’s gazelle, extinct in the wild since 1970 and which had never been seen before. pups born in the institution of the gala capital.
“This year more rare animals have been born,” says Alexis Lecu, deputy director of the Paris Zoological Park, who gives the case of the fossa as an example.
The fossas “are endangered animals in the natural environment -he explains- and there is a conservation effort to increase their population in captivity. There are around 80 fossas outside of Madagascar, where there are only between 2,000 and 2,500 specimens, and four babies are very important “.
This has been possible thanks to the transfer of a male specimen from Hungary to the Paris zoo, within the framework of a European conservation program for this species.
In the case of the Mhorr’s gazelle, a subspecies of the dama gazelle, it is the first time that the Paris Zoo, which opened in 1934, has had a birth of this species. Specifically, it was on April 23. Since 1970 they have not existed in the natural environment and this species survives thanks to specimens bred in captivity in North Africa, Europe and the United States.
About the lady gazelles, there are only 175 left in the wild, spread between Chad and Niger, in Africa. That is why this species is critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“The first to be happy are their keepers, because they see the animals every day and see that their work has results. Also the zoological community, the coordinators who draw up the breeding plans for these species in Europe. And the visitors are also rejoice, because it is interesting to see this vital stage”, argues Lecu, who is also the chief veterinarian of this zoo.
One of the objectives of the Paris Zoo is the reintroduction of captive-bred animals to their natural environment. “There are species that do not need it, such as meerkats,” Lecu points out.
In any case, it is not always easy: “It does not depend only on us, it also depends on the receiving countries, because sometimes the conditions in the natural environment are not good,” he says.
This establishment is characterized by its division into biozones, so that the fauna and vegetation similar and typical of a specific place coexist in harmony, throughout the 14 and a half hectares of space available to it. “The gazelles are with the giraffes”, exemplifies Lecu.
The Paris Zoo welcomes more than 700,000 visitors each year, according to the latest published data, and is the second most visited in France, only behind the Beauval Zoo, which is privately owned.
