NB: This talk will be held at Unitec, Carrington Road, Mt Albert. Gate 4, Building 115, Ground Floor Room 1023. Doors open 6:15pm.
A koha to support catering is welcomed.
We are delighted to invite you to our next Zoological Society of Auckland talk:
Creating a Tropical 'Swamp Forest' in Tāmaki Makaurau
presented by Richard Gibson, Head of Animal Care & Conservation at Auckland Zoo.
Richard will reveal the motivation, inspiration, complex design and construction explaining how and why the zoo built their most technically challenging and most immersive habitat yet; the hot and humid 'swamp forest' !
We are very fortunate to have Richard speak to us. His journey as a zoologist and conservationist is inspirational. Starting out in 1992 at the Durrell Wildlife zoo on the island of Jersey, Richard became head of Herpetology and was responsible for several world first breeding successes along with delivering numerous field research and conservation initiatives; including work with fresh water turtles in Madagascar. From Jersey Richard moved to Mauritius where he was fauna manager for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation overseeing work on conservation projects for threatened birds and reptiles. In 2003 he retuned to the UK as Curator of Herpetology at the Zoological Society of London. Here he oversaw the first UK breeding of Komodo dragons and carried out fieldwork in Flores where he helped establish an in situ organisation dedicated to Komodo dragon conservation. Between 2005 and 2011 Richard was involved in the establishment of the global Amphibian Ark (AARK). In 2008 Richard re-located to Chester Zoo where he developed several bio-secure conservation and breeding units for critically endangered amphibians.
Richard came to NZ and Auckland Zoo in 2011 drawn by the prospect of building a cross-disciplinary team of keeper conservationists. Since 2019 he has been Head of Animal Care & Conservation and has overall responsibility for: all animal care teams, the veterinary hospital and the zoo's international and domestic field conservation programmes.
Following Richard's presentation, we invite you to connect and network with fellow attendees over tea/coffee.
Following up Richard's talk we are arranging a visit to the Swamp Forest and surrounds. This zoo visit will provide an opportunity to learn about and discuss zoo habitat design, and to look at it from multiple perspectives. The visit will be run by Dr Caralyn Kemp, who teaches and studies zoo and enclosure design at Unitec. We will focus our visit on a number of different zoo spaces, including the gharial dome, and will run through some activities and discussions. If you are interested, please follow this link and complete the survey to express your interest;
https://survey.zohopublic.com/zs/OBCIdk
*Expressions of interest in this activity close on June 13th.
Also check out other Nonprofit events in Auckland.
