Case Study One Staff Go Wild!

Mission: to establish how the zoo could best participate in a project linking the zoo’s orchid collection with threatened orchid conservation in the wild.

Name: Mark Sparrow
Job Title: Curator of Horticulture and Botany

Country: Brazil
All of the species in this group originate from South America and many are found in the Atlantic Rainforests of Brazil. Brazil’s Atlantic Rainforest is a critically important hotspot and the biodiversity in the Serra do Mar mountain range, with its climate and physical characteristics, is unique.  In April, Mark travelled to the Atlantic Rainforest to meet with REGUA (Reserva Ecologica de GuapiAssu), an NGO that buys up large areas of forest to create reserves free from hunting and logging.  The aim is for Chester Zoo to become involved in a project which links our orchid collection with conservation of these species in South America.