The day of 14 July 1960 Dr Jane Goodall, the world famous primatologist specialising in chimpanzees, stepped into what is now Gombe Stream National Park, in Tanzania, for the very first time to study this species in their natural habitat. This is why all the organisations working in chimpanzee conservation selected this date to celebrate World Chimpanzee Day, joining forces to cry out in favour of conserving our primate cousins, our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, and to alert people on the problems they are facing and that threaten their survival in the jungle.

To celebrate this very special day, we have brought together the organisations working on chimpanzee conservation in our home to jointly issue a stronger and unified message.

We encourage everybody who wants to share this day with us at the Zoo and to participate in all the activities we have organised! For a world in which we can all live together! Come and collect your souvenir badge! Come and collect your souvenir badge!

Programme for World Chimpanzee Day at the Barcelona Zoo:

#DiaMundialXimpanzé #WordChimpanzeeDay

Starting at 10.00 am

Tents and diverse activities with SOS Primates (all day), the Spanish Jane Goodall Institute, the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary and the Mona Foundation (morning).

Lady with the Umbrella Square

10.30 am to 1.30 pm and 3.00 to 4.30 pm 

The Zoo educators present our chimpanzees to visitors and explain their status in nature and how we can help them.  Ongoing family activity in sessions of approximately 20 minutes. In front of their exhibit.

11.00   

Presentation of the exhibition ‘Jane Goodall Institute: Protecting the Chimpanzees’ on the scientific career of Dr Goodall.

120th anniversary classroom in the Aviary (open until 24 September).

11.30   

Round table with representatives from all the organisations present at the Zoo so that each one of us can explain the work we are doing.

120th anniversary classroom in the Aviary. Approximate length of 1 hour.

12.00 (Lady with the Umbrella square), 1.30 (Lady with the Umbrella square) and 4.30 (Zoo Farm)

In collaboration with SOS Primates, we have prepared a very special activity for the youngest kids!: Our entertainer Quim will read us the letters that Mussa and Tibé wrote each other, two chimpanzees that live respectively at the Lwiro Primate Rehabilitation Sanctuary (Congo) and at the Barcelona Zoo.

We hope that World Chimpanzee Day will be marked on your planner every year as an important meeting for all lovers of nature and animals and that it will help us to feel more united to these wonderful primates so close to us.

There are few shelters for urban wildlife in gardens. After pruning and the need to leave them clean and tidy obliges gardeners to remove all old trunks and branches from trees. At the Zoo we have started to change this trend and we are now leaving old tree trunks and standing or fallen dead trees in gardens in order to create spaces that urban wildlife can occupy: we call them bio-trunks.

Old wood is perfect for bats to use the holes; bats make their nests in them, and hedgehogs, lizards, geckos, and small Passeriformes can take cover during rains, and it is the perfect substratum for ants, bees and other insects and spiders that are part of the Zoo's biodiversity.

Photo captions: Cut tree in front of the hyena exhibit

This spring we have distributed the old trunks of two poplars, a Judas tree, two Japanese maples and a plane tree, and we have made different sized holes in them to make them rain shelters, nests and perfect dens for the garden’s wildlife. Take a look at these animal hotels when you are in the Zoo!

For the ninth consecutive year, next weekend (9 and 10 June) we are celebrating A Day of Clown Noses with the NGO  Pallapupas with the aim of showcasing the important work these hospital clowns are doing, and to raise funds. The Zoo will fill up with clowns and laughter simultaneously, with five educational and leisure centres, as well as offering half price tickets. Part of the funds raised will be donated to help the Pallapupas in their work.

Tickets can only be bought in advance at the Pallapupas website except for members of the Super3 Club, whose entry is free with the purchase of a solidarity nose for €4 and showing your Super3 card on the 9th or 10th at Zoo entrances.

The Pallapupas will visit all the spaces where we are celebrating Clown Day and will surely make both young and old have an unforgettable and incredible day!

To publicise this great festival, the Pallapupas encourage everybody to create a huge ‘wave of noses’ on social media, sharing your photos wearing a clown nose and the hashtags #nasvermell and #mareadenassos.

The Pallapupas, hospital clowns, think humour is the fundamental tool to handle the adverse situations that people live during their struggles with diseases, and they accompany patients of all ages going through very difficult times in the hospital, showcasing their strength: theatre.

This weekend come to the Zoo and put on your red nose in solidarity with the children hospitalised in our city!