Hi everybody !

     We are now well in November and the zoo visiting season is nearly over in Europe, but not for Pierre Wildlife! I spent an extended weekend at the end of november in north-eastern Italy and neighbouring western Austria to visit some great zoos and private collections. Amongst the zoos, Parco Natura Viva and Alpenzoo Innsbruck stand out as being very interesting for the quality of their exhibits and, concerning Alpenzoo, for the many new rare species provided ! Alpenzoo Innsbruck, alone, brought me more than 20 new species !

One of the numerous European kingfishers (Alcedo atthis ispida) bred at Oasi di Sant’Alessio, in a fantastic natural exhibit.

But the public collection I was most amazed by was Oasi di Sant’Alessio, located near Pavia, in northern Italy (close to Milano). The park houses a great number of very rare species, many of them being native to the area, and the others are mostly South American. Animals under human care are not the only interesting thing in this park as wild species, including very rare treats such as the Pygmy cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus) can be found on the park’s grounds year round. Many European species such as European black stork, European bee-eater, Common kingfishers and others have been reintroduced in the wild after being bred on regular basis at Oasi di Sant’Alessio so hats off to the owners and workers of this amazing structure ! I strongly urge you all to check it out and support their great work !

     I also spent time in private collections, the most memorable being the amazing Monticello breeding center, located north of Milano, close to the mountains. There is found one of the world’s biggest private collections of owls and nocturnal birds of prey, featuring many rare species (a few of which I had never seen before). The center isn’t open to public and an appointment must be scheduled before visiting. The owner and director, Enrico, is passionate and very welcoming. I had a blast there and was really amazed by the surroundings, the collection, the beauty of these animals and the awesome breeding work (a Pel’s fish owl hatched while I visited the facility).

The very rare and distinctive Band-bellied owl (Pulsatrix melanota), kept and bred at Monticello breeding center !

     Finally, I would like to give my sincere congratulations to the team working for Spider’s nest company, organizing spider expos around Europe. I was lucky to visit the expo in Bolzano’s nature museum and I must say it is by far the best spider expo I have ever seen. The collection is impressive (over 50 species displayed, many rare ones), the exhibits are way better than average and the signeage and posters very instructive and educational. So hats off to Spider’s Nest for the great work !

Photographer Joel Sartore, founder of the National Geographic Photo Ark, and myself, during a Photo Ark photoshoot at the Bolzano Nature Museum, for the great Spider’s Nest expo.

     Now is time to go back to Asia for a three weeks trip, mostly for lectures and conferences but also for photography. I will give a presentation on National Geographic Photo Ark at the SEAZA conference in Manila and then will tour mainland Malaysia to give lectures about wildlife conservation and education on conservation in zoos and universities. This trip has been made possible thanks to the support of the Green Teen Team Foundation so a great big thanks to them for their support and generosity !

More updates to come when I will be back from Asia, in early December ! Until then, don’t forget to browse the updates zoo and species pages on the website !

Cheers,

Pierre de Chabannes
Founder, Pierre Wildlife

Hi everybody !

     This month of september has been very busy for me with the visit of about 20 new animal collections in 4 countries I had never been to, namely Italy, Luxemburg, Poland and Portugal. Amongst these zoos, Wroclaw Zoo (in Poland) stands out as being Europe’s second biggest animal collection (and still growing). This zoo alone brought me more than 100 new animal taxa for Pierre Wildlife (a really rare occurence nowadays), raising my total number of animal taxa photographed to more than 10400.

One of Europe’s only breeding group of Angolan giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis) in Lisbon zoo.

     I also got the opportunity to take better pictures of many taxa including Angolan giraffes in Lisbon Zoo (Lisbon zoo houses a very interesting collection of species from former Portuguese colonies), Ocean sunfish in Oceanario Lisbonne and many more. My visits in Rome, Lisbonne and Wroclaw were done to prepare Joel Sartore’s upcoming European tour for the National Geographic Photo Ark project. Joel will be attending events and giving lectures throughout Europe during the last two weeks of October. You can find more about the National Geographic Photo Ark project by clicking HERE. For those of you who would like to see Joel working, a series of small movies called “Rare – Creatures of the Photo Ark” have been released by PBS and can be viewed on National Geographic Channels throughout the world and on different streaming websites.

One of the great surprises of my Polish scouting trip: This Red-knobbed imperial pigeon (Ducula rubricera) treated me with perfect views (the species is usually very shy and lives high in the canopy of trees), in Warsaw Zoo.

     Later in September, I spent two full weeks to scout most bigger zoos and aquariums in Poland for future National Geographic Photo Ark scoutings and in order to add more collections from this country in Pierre Wildlife. I was amazed by Warsaw zoo’s impressive bird collection featuring many European species, a few rare tropical birds and some great breeding successes recorded (amongst them one of the only captive breeding for Congo peafowl in Europe this year).

The impressive Ocean sunfish (Mola mola), star of Lisbon’s Oceanario. This specimen can still grow much bigger but weighs already 90 kilos. The species (and many other fishes from the main tank) has been trained to get food directly from its keepers so that its feeding habits can be monitored.

     Concerning the Pierre Wildlife website, I have added a few new species pages in the reptiles section, particularly monitors and pitvipers. Feel free to check them out as some are quite rare in captivity and in the wild ! You will also notice a new format for species pages ; I still have to update the already-published pages and turn them into this new format. This will require time and patience but I will, of course, keep you all posted !

     More exciting events are being currently scheduled so stay tuned for future updates ! Until then, take care and, as always, thanks a lot for your support !

Cheers,

Pierre de Chabannes
Founder, Pierre Wildlife