The Barcelona Zoo Foundation has opened the application process for the 2018 grants for research and conservation projects. These grants are meant to support those projects that share the Zoo’s values of conservation, education and awareness towards biodiversity.

This year’s grants are:

• 14th Edition of the Floquet de Neu Grant for research projects on primates, focusing on any of these disciplines: conservation, ecology, genetics, ethology, cognitive abilities, reproduction, communication, animal well-being, etc. both in captivity and in the wild.

• 10th Edition of the Grants of the Research and Conservation Programme for specific projects proposed by external researchers, in accordance with the general goals of the Barcelona Zoo Foundation in the field of research and conservation.

• 6th Edition of the Antoni Jonch Grant for projects focused on the research on the native fauna of Catalonia and its conservation.

Since 2009, the Zoo has granted a total of 827.242€ in scholarships, which, along with our research and conservation programs, constitute a proof of our commitment to the protection of endangered wildlife.

The deadline for the submission of applications and projects for all the calls of 2018 is June 3, 2018.  You can learn more about the guidelines of the calls by clicking on the links or on the Barcelona Zoo Foundarion website.

In addition to being devoted to wildlife knowledge, conservation and research, the Zoo is also a garden that is home to a wide diversity of urban animals. The trees, large number of shrubs and landscaped parterres that fill the park are home to many birds, several small mammals and a large number of invertebrates.

Traditional gardening is focused more on landscaping and ornamentation, not bearing in mind the wildlife that lives in our gardens and that use plant life as their habitats. Following the instructions of the Barcelona City Council’s Department of Ecology, City Planning and Mobility and in line with new sustainable gardening trends with a low environmental impact, we have started to make several changes in how we manage the flora in our park, creating more spaces to favour the development of urban wildlife species. All the city’s green points are necessary for these animals that seek shelter from more hostile areas, hiding among the leaves and ground cover, making nests in the treetops or in tree trunks, taking advantage of growing fruits and flowers to feed on and drinking from the water in ponds and fountains and lakes.

Thus, we have started a project we have baptised zoological gardening, a different way of defining a garden that favours biodiversity, especially with regard to invertebrates, and also incorporates the practice of more sustainable gardening that requires less watering and the dissemination of these best practices. The Zoo took its first steps in this direction several years ago now, creating the Garden of Biodiversity at the Farm, in complicity with some of its employees who are lovers of urban wildlife, although now the aim is to enhance and maximise resources for this concept of gardening as a home for wildlife species.

What are we doing to favour the presence of urban animals at the Zoo?

These are a few of the actions we have started up:

• Delimit areas of the Zoo to let existing grass grow freely and favour the free growth of spontaneous flora, grasses and other ‘weeds’ that could be suitable habitats for invertebrates

• Decrease pruning in other parterres to let the flowers grow

• Devote more space to native shrubs that require less watering and that have nutritious flowers and fruits for butterfly larvae and other insects. One example of this is a large 126m2 strip next to the bison, at the fence next to the Catalan Parliament

• Add more flowering plants as a source of nectar to favour the presence of pollinator insects. We planted them in the Farm’s Butterfly Garden, in the parterres across from the mongooses and shrikes, and next to the palm groves

• Create green corridors through which the urban wildlife species can move that are present in our gardens, such as hedgehogs and midwife toads

• Design signs that explain this type of gardening and the spaces we allocate to it so that everyone understands that although they may be less beautiful, they are actually areas with high biodiversity that can be very interesting to watch!

The results of some of these actions have been extremely fast and it is well worth taking your eyes off the larger animals that live inside the Zoo’s exhibits to also look around and see the bees, butterflies and other insects that follow, attracted to the new plants in the parterres and little prairies that fill the Zoo’s urban gardens with life and colour.

The results of some of these actions have been extremely fast and it is well worth taking your eyes off the larger animals that live inside the Zoo’s exhibits to also look around and see the bees, butterflies and other insects that follow, attracted to the new plants in the parterres and little prairies that fill the Zoo’s urban gardens with life and colour.

The news started to spread quickly yesterday in Montgat and on social networks: ‘Beached whale on Montgat beach!’ Protocols were activated immediately, and we received a request for materials to take samples of the fin whale from our partners on the EDMAKTUB project. Marine biologist and Zoo expert Dr Pablo Cermeño headed off to the beach quickly, where personnel from the Montgat Town Council were trying to figure out which species it was and what they should do with an animal that can weigh over 15 tonnes.

Pablo reported that it was a female fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) approximately 14 metres long, and that it wouldn’t be possible to do a necropsy due to her advanced state of decomposition (5-6 days). We also know that this species’ most common causes of death tend to be collisions with ships and respiratory diseases. As the waves were rocking the whale’s body, taking samples at that time was ruled out, deciding instead to first remove her to the port.

Although it is quite uncommon for these whales to appear dead on beaches, in recent years and through studies conducted by EDMAKTUB with the support of the Barcelona Zoo Foundation, their presence in Catalan waters has been proven to be significant during the springtime. During 2017, over 300 were glimpsed from the end of February to the beginning of June! The reason is that on our coastlines—specifically on the Garraf coast—there is an important feeding area that had been previously unknown.

During 2018, researchers on the Fin Whale Project will try to determine the origin of these whales—whether they are Mediterranean or Atlantic—by employing genetic techniques, stable isotopes and satellite markers. We will be waiting for their yearly visit this spring in order to continue our research and thus be able to better protect these lovely giants of the sea.

The Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) generally catalogues the fin whale as an ‘endangered’ and ‘vulnerable’ species with regard to its Mediterranean population.

In recent hours, numerous people have contacted the Zoo asking for and giving information about this whale on our coastline. A big thank you to everybody!