Loro Parque
| Loro Parque | ||
|---|---|---|
| motto | The "must" de Canarias | |
| place | Avenida Loro Parque 38400 Puerto de la Cruz |
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| surface | 13.5 hectares | |
| opening | 17th December 1972 | |
| Animal species | 570 | |
| Individuals | 4500 | |
| Species focus | Parrots | |
| organization | ||
| management | Wolfgang Kiessling (President and Founder), Tony Greenwoods (Zoological Director) | |
| Funding organizations | Loro Parque Foundation | |
| Member of | WAZA , EAZA , AIZA , VdZ | |
 Entrance to Loro Parque |
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| www.loroparque.com | ||
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Coordinates: 28 ° 24 '28 " N , 16 ° 33' 53" W.
The Loro Parque is a zoo in Puerto de la Cruz , north of the Canary Island of Tenerife .
history
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Loro Parque was founded in the 1970s by Wolfgang Kiessling , who came from Cologne and was 33 years old at the time, and his father. On December 17, 1972, Loro Parque was officially opened. At that time it comprised an area of approx. 13,000 m² and around 150 parrots, as well as a Loro show.
It was originally created as a parrot park, which is what gave it its name, because Loro is the Spanish word for "parrot". Over 3000 palm trees were planted on the entire area. In 1984 the first parrot free flight show in Europe took place in Loro Parque.
In the years to come, the world's largest parrot collection with more than 300 parrot species and subspecies was built up in the park's private breeding station called “la vera”. This collection represents the largest genetic reserve in the world. This station has achieved numerous breeding successes of rare species, for example the world's first breeding of the blue-throated macaw . For this achievement, Wolfgang Kiessling was awarded the gold medal of the bird magazine Gefiederte Welt in 1986 . The papapgeien collection is used today as a source of information for professionals and students from all over the world and to clarify scientific questions, u. a. for diploma theses and dissertations . Otherwise, access is only permitted to members of the Loro Parque Foundation . The keeping, breeding and protection of the various parrot species have remained an essential focus of Loro Parque to this day.
In 1986 the first International Parrot Congress took place with 600 participants. This was one of the milestones that shaped the history of the zoo and made it a worldwide reference in the breeding and conservation of parrots. Since then, the event has been held every four years.
In 1987 the dolphinarium was opened with 7,000,000 liters of purified sea water. In 1989 the orchid house and caiman tank opened. In 1992 the gorilla facility was opened as part of the EEP for gorillas of the EAZA . The Pinguinarium was opened in 1999.
In 1994 the Loro Parque Foundation was established, which has saved 10 species from extinction since its inception. Since then, the management of the park has transferred part of its income to the foundation.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, the park received the Travelers' Choice award . This award recognizes Loro Parque as the best zoo in the world. It was also the first zoo in Europe to be awarded the Humane Conservation Certificate from the American Humane Association.
The total area of Loro Parque today covers approx. 135,000 m² with a total population of approx. 4500 animals in 570 species.
organization
The founder and president of Loro Parque is Wolfgang Kiessling . The curator until December 2010 was the biologist Matthias Reinschmidt , from January 2011 he was the zoological director. Reinschmidt left Loro Parque in June 2015 and became the zoological director of the Karlsruhe zoological garden . From December 15, 2015, Wolfgang Rades, who had previously been the head of the Herborn zoo , took over the duties of Matthias Reinschmidt. After Wolfgang Rades left the park, New Zealander Tony Greenwoods became the zoological director of the park in April 2018, who had previously helped set up nature parks and zoos in Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia. Wolfgang Rades returned in January 2019 as species protection officer and therefore in a new role.
Attractions
Parrots
The Loro Parque was best known for the world's largest parrot collection. The animals were given to the Loro Parque Foundation in 1994. Of the around 800 species and subspecies of parrots worldwide, around 350 are found in Loro-Parque. Many of the species are threatened with extinction , some no longer exist in the wild, including the Spix's Macaw , which has been bred several times. The last baby to be born is the 69th worldwide. In total there are over 3000 parrots in the breeding station. The aviaries in which the animals are kept are built with special care: Each aviary is free-standing and surrounded by plants that are intended to shield them from each other. Some of the parrots appear in the daily parrot shows. The hatchery for young parrots is also open to the public.
Animal Embassy
The seat of the species protection foundation Loro Parque Foundation is in the Animal Embassy directly in Loro Parque. There is also a research station of the Max Planck Institute and the baby station. Here young birds, which z. B. were not properly cared for by their parents, reared by hand and thus you can see young birds of different ages. The visitor can look at them through a protective pane so that the animals are not endangered. Hand rearing may be essential for species conservation. The baby station had previously been in a different part of the park.
Katandra Treetops
This attraction, which opened in 2010, is a large aviary with many different tropical bird species from Asia and Australia, especially parrots such as lories , but z. B. also the Australian ratite Emu . Visitors can walk up to the height of the treetops in the aviary.
Planet Penguin
The planet Penguin is the largest penguinarium in the world. Inside, the Antarctic habitat was reproduced as naturally as possible. A peninsula surrounded by water is sprinkled with around twelve tons of snow every day. There are 250 penguins in the facility, including king penguins , gentoo penguins , chinstrap penguins and rockhopper penguins . On a treadmill, visitors circle the glazed front of the penguinarium and can see numerous starfish in addition to the penguins on land and in the water . There is also an area for Humboldt penguins in the area, a facility for puffins , and an 8.5 meter high glass cylinder in which various fish species swim.
Thai village
In 1913, Prince Mahidol of Siam , the father of the former King of Thailand , Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) , visited the island of Tenerife . He was so enthusiastic about the island that he painted many landscape pictures of Tenerife in his diary. Due to the ties between Tenerife and Thailand, the Thai village was inaugurated in Loro Parque in 1993. The inauguration was carried out by King Bhumibol's sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana , who gave the village her name. In Thailand she spoke enthusiastically about Loro Parque and the Thai village, so that in 1996 Queen Sirikit traveled to Loro Parque with a large retinue and erected a bust of Prince Mahidol.
All components of the six Thai houses are made of wood. The roof gables are decorated with gold leaf . The building elements were made by craftsmen in Thailand and assembled by Thai experts in Loro Parque. The Thai village is built over a lake in which several hundred Kois swim.
Aquarium with underwater tunnel (shark tunnel)
In the “Acuario” there is coral reefs and exotic fish as well as an underwater tunnel, where some sharks and rays can be seen.
Dolphin and sea lion shows
The dolphin and sea lion shows are particularly popular, although such shows are controversial among animal rights activists and other zoo opponents. In Loro Parque, the animals live in pools, in which there are areas that are inaccessible to tourists and thus offer opportunities for the animals to retreat. The shows are usually very well attended. The water in the basin is pumped from the Atlantic through filter systems.
Orca show
In February 2006 the Orca Ocean , a stadium for four orcas (killer whales), was inaugurated. The animals are bred by the SeaWorld marine theme park in San Diego in California and Florida and are named Keto , Tekoa , Kohana and Skyla . In April 2006 the Orca Stadium was temporarily closed because the orcas had damaged the poor quality interior coating of the pool. It reopened on June 3, 2006 after repairs.
On October 6, 2007, the trainer Claudia Vollhardt was attacked by Tekoa. After this attack, Tekoa was no longer used from the water. Since the spring of 2009, Skyla has not been working from the water anymore because she pushed the trainer Rafa Sanchez with her nose against the wall during a show.
On the morning of December 24, 2009, the orca trainer Alexis Martinez was killed by one of the four animals (keto) during a training session. After spending two and a half minutes at the 12 meter deep pool, Martinez could not be resuscitated. He was taken to the BelleVue Medical Center in Puerto de la Cruz and pronounced dead. The autopsy revealed that Martinez had sustained severe internal injuries as well as bite wounds. The fatal accident of orca trainer Alexis Martinez is viewed critically in the documentary film Blackfish, which was released in January 2013, and relatives of the trainer who died in the accident and former SeaWorld waltrainers have their say.
On October 12, 2010, Kohana gave birth to her first calf Adán , the father is Keto. The eight-year-old inexperienced Kohana is supported by the trainers during the rearing. In 2012, the second youngster from Kohana and Keto was born. The female was christened Vicky and also raised by the trainers because the mother did not accept this calf either. However, it died unexpectedly on June 16, 2013.
The animals are monitored and kept busy by their trainers around the clock. The size of the pools is described by the management as sufficient and the water comes from the Atlantic directly into the pools after cleaning. Animal rights activists complain, however, that artificial tanks are generally too narrow to be kept in a species-appropriate manner.
Morgan
In June 2010, a young, wild female orca was found completely exhausted, half starved and alone in the shallow water near the Dutch coast. It was Morgan baptized and the Dolfinarium Harderwijk brought to be nursed. No orca group could be found within a radius of more than 100 km from the site. No serious health problems were diagnosed. The young animal, estimated at a year and a half, was unable to feed. Young orcas are dependent on family support for a very long time before they can feed themselves independently. However, Morgan's family could not be located. Since a young whale cannot survive in the wild without its family, both the experts involved and the Dutch court, which ultimately had to decide on Morgan, are of the opinion that a release into the wild is not possible and would mean the rapid death of the animal. Since the Dutch dolphinarium has neither an adequate tank nor conspecifics, Morgan was transported to Loro Parque.
The Canadian John Ford, one of the seven experts who unanimously advised Morgan to remain in human custody in 2010, wrote in 2011 that a group of whales has since been found that resides near the coast in the summer (a requirement for reintroduction) and that may is related to Morgan. Under these new conditions, after clarifying the family situation of Morgan, he considers the attempt to reintroduce into the wild as possibly feasible and desirable from the point of view of research, as this would allow new knowledge to be gained. The last sighting of a member of the family (P118) is dated June 22, 2012 by the Free Morgan Foundation . This foundation is committed to reintroducing Morgan to the wild. The reason is that Morgan would not be accepted by the other orcas in Loro Parque. In addition, since the stay at Loro Parque, Morgan has seen serious health problems. Loro Parque contradicts this representation. Morgan more than tripled her weight in the first two years of her captivity.
In contrast, two studies confirmed both the severe hearing loss of the animal and the successful integration of the animal into the group living in Loro Parque, so that there is a disagreement between animal rights activists and scientists. The hearing loss was checked both through behavioral observation and with a test developed specifically for this purpose, similar to the BERA test in humans. The measurements were carried out in direct comparison between Morgan and the other animals in Loro Parque in order to exclude possible measurement errors due to the peculiarities of the large whales (very thick bubbler layer etc.).
Morgan is older than initially thought due to her small size and light weight. Morgan gave birth to a healthy Ula calf on September 22, 2018 .
Tiger Island
Two tigers lived in this enclosure, a male " white tiger " named Prince and a normal colored Bengali female named Saba. Loro Parque got it from a circus that wanted to offer the animals a better home. After these were brought into an enclosure at the La Vera breeding station , the enclosure is now inhabited by two white tigers with black stripes.
Roller coaster
In the “Kinderlandia” area there is a small roller coaster with an orca train.
Others
The Loro Parque 2007/2008 was the subject of the TV documentary humans, animals & Doctors radio station VOX .
In September 2010 the documentary Parrots, Palms & Co. about Loro Parque started on ARD . A total of 40 episodes were broadcast.
Loro Parque annually awards the Gorilla Prize, a bronze sculpture in the shape of a gorilla, for unwavering commitment to promoting responsible tourism and loyalty to Tenerife. In 2014 the 11th Gorilla Prize was awarded to the British Travel Industry Association ABTA.
The dolphin scenes from the film adaptation of the Douglas Adams novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy were created in Loro Parque .
literature
(in chronological order)
- Loro Parque (Ed.): Loro Parque News. Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz 1986-1995, DNB 011781742 .
- Loro Parque (Ed.): Cyanopsitta - The magazine of the Loro Parque Fundacion . Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz since 1995, DNB 01802792X ( online ).
- Matthias Reinschmidt: Investigations into the breeding biology of the Inca Cockatoo (Cacatua leadbeateri) in Loro Parque, Tenerife. VVB Laufersweiler Verlag, Giessen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8359-5131-0 .
- Ulrich Brodde, Matthias Reinschmidt: Animal personalities in Loro Parque. Brodde, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-032449-9 .
- Loro Parque (Ed.): Loro Parque - A natural paradise. Translated from the Spanish by Heike Monz and Alice Lorch. Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz 2011, ISBN 978-84-93012-80-9 .
Web links
- Official website of Loro Parque
- Official website of the Loro Parque Fundación
- Loro Parque . In: Teneriffa.de
- Loro Parque . In: KanarenZeit.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Loro Parque Tenerife. In: Spanien-Reisemagazin.de. Retrieved August 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Franz Robiller (ed.): The great lexicon of bird care . 2nd Edition. tape 1 : A - K. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3195-1 .
- ↑ Natalya Romashko: The Loro Parque Foundation saves 10 species of parrots from extinction. In: Morgenpost. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ^ Philipp J. Kroiß: Loro Parque: First zoo in Europe with humane certificate. In: zoos.media. May 14, 2017, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Vogelpark Herborn: Rades changes to Loro-Park Tenerife. In: Mittelhessen.de. December 4, 2015, accessed January 14, 2018 (registration required).
- ↑ Loro Parque introduces its new zoo director. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Wolfgang Rades again in Loro Parque. January 5, 2019, accessed June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Lydia Bilharz: Whale accident survived: Why the Karlsruhe Zoo employs an orca trainer. In: ka-news.de. December 20, 2015, accessed April 29, 2018 .
- ^ Moisés Á. Montero: Uno de los responsables de las orcas reconoce la "agresión" de "Tekoa" en 2007. In: abc.es. November 1, 2010, accessed January 25, 2018 (Spanish).
- ^ Moisés Á. Montero: La orca "Keto" sí atacó y causó la muerte de Alexis, el adiestrador del Loro Parque. Article about the results of the autopsy performed on the killed orca trainer Alexis Martínez. In: abc.es . October 4, 2010, Retrieved March 27, 2019 (Spanish).
- ^ Blood in the Water , Outside Magazine , accessed February 13, 2013.
- ↑ Announcement of the park on the death of Vicky
- ^ Niels van Elk: Expert advice on the releasability of the rescued killer whale (Orcinus orca) Morgan. (PDF; 1.6 MB) Expert opinion on behalf of the Harderwijk Dolphinarium . In: loroparque.com. November 14, 2010, accessed January 18, 2020 .
- ^ Morgan's Story , Loro Parque, accessed February 10, 2017.
- ^ Change in Opinion. (PDF; 2.1 MB) Selected parts of a correspondence regarding John Ford's assessment of the discussed release of Morgan. In: loroparque.com. 2011, accessed on October 12, 2019 .
- ^ Morgan's Family Has Been Found. Retrieved May 8, 2020 .
- ↑ CHRONOLOGY OF RESCUE, REHABILITATION RECOVERY AND INTEGRATION OF MORGAN. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
- ↑ Report on the Physical & Behavioral Status of Morgan, the Wild-Born Orca held in Captivity, at Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain (PDF; 3.4 MB) - Ingrid N. Visser ©, 2012, accessed on June 22, 2013 .
- ↑ Dorian S. Houser et al. 2013
- ↑ Javier Almunia et al. 2013 FU Berlin
- ↑ Morgan - an orca with a handicap. Short info of the show HundKatzeMaus on VOX from July 4th, 2013.
- ↑ Free Morgan Foundation - Can Morgan be released?
- ↑ Pancras Dijk: "Orka Morgan was veel ouder". In: nationalgeographic.nl. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017 ; Retrieved April 30, 2019 (Dutch).
- ↑ "Orca Morgan cares for offspring in Loro Parque" , accessed on February 11, 2019.
- ↑ Loro Parque awards the Gorilla Prize to ABTA . In: Wochenblatt . No. 218 , November 5, 2014 ( wochenblatt.es [accessed August 10, 2019]).