Introduction and background
The WAZA Conservation strategy states that a zoo’s mission statement should include a declaration that the institution in question exists for a higher purpose, a pledge that the institution will commit resources to this effort and a plan for cultivating a culture of conservation in staff, communities, and governing bodies. All the work relating to conservation activity should have a measurable difference. With that in mind, this document aims to outline what Tropical World has been doing to contribute to conservation, as well as setting out its goals to improve that contribution to conservation in the future.
Conservation – our achievements (2024 updates)
Wildflower meadows in Roundhay park – Restoring native butterfly habitat
In partnership with Butterfly Conservation, Tropical World has developed two areas of nearby Roundhay park as dedicated wildflower meadows, providing habitat for native butterfly species in the area.
This is a collaborative project which started in earnest in early 2023 and the project has the full support of Roundhay Park’s management structure.
In addition to developing these wild spaces for native butterfly species, Tropical World has set up a survey area (including the newly developed wildflower meadows) following the UK Butterfly Monitoring scheme standard and has been performing pollard walks before submitting the data to the UKBMS. We are now recording data on species richness and abundance allowing us to monitor the impact the project is having on native butterfly numbers within Roundhay Park on an annual basis. The information we gather contributes to the overall analysis of native butterfly populations throughout the UK.
It should be noted that the success of this project has had an additional positive effect – Butterfly Conservation have appointed a project co-ordinator to oversee the development of further wildflower meadows in the Leeds Area.
EEP participation & Site Development
Tropical World is currently participant in two European Endangered Species Breeding Programmes (EEP’s) for callitrichids – Pygmy marmosets and Emperor tamarins. Tropical World is a non-EAZA institution currently, so we had to formally apply to join these programmes and pay annual participation fees. We now hold groups of five male Pygmy marmosets and two female Emperor tamarins. While these are non-breeding, same sex groups, we assist with the overall effort to breed these species in captivity by holding these animals and providing excellent levels of care until they are required by the EEP for breeding purposes. Holding these animals also frees up space and resources for other institutions to breed their animals in line with the EEP’s recommendations.
Additionally, we still have a group of Elongated tortoises in the collection, including a breeding pair and their offspring. TW has applied to sign up our animals for the EEP which is being set up for the species; we intend to be a fully active participant as we have a proven track record of being able to provide high standards of welfare for the species and can demonstrate success in the species’ captive breeding.
In terms of site development, in 2023 we developed our South America house into a new exhibit – Rainforest Canopy. We exhibit the EEP species in this area of the zoo and have developed new signage including strong conservation messaging in order to raise awareness with our visitors.
Riverfly Partnership: Kick sampling surveys
In 2024 Tropical World has been participating in the Riverfly Monitoring initiative, run by the Riverfly partnership. The initiative ensures that angling and conservation groups can take action to conserve river environments by monitoring river quality. This is done by using a standardised methodology to collect materials from sample sites in rivers, with surveyors analysing, identifying, and counting eight invertebrate target groups. The sample sites are monitored on a monthly basis The presence or absence of these pollution-sensitive invertebrates reflect the water quality of the surveyed rivers. The data collected is then entered into the national riverfly database and once verified, are freely and publicly available. If results collected by the TW team show a decline in water quality in any of the survey sites, then it is flagged by the Ecology Contact at the Riverfly initiative and quick action can be taken to identify the potential source of pollution and deal with it.
Three members of the TW animal keeping team attended a training workshop in April 2024 and are now certified Riverfly surveyors. Since June three sites have been surveyed monthly – Wyke Beck, Horsforth Beck and Meanwood Beck. The results from these surveys have been uploaded to the Riverfly Initiative Cartographer site. The intention is to train additional TW staff members to be Riverfly surveyors so they can participate in the conservation effort of our local rivers as well.
iNaturalist – Tropical World and Roundhay park updates
Tropical World staff have been recording and uploading data using the iNaturalist app in 2024, recording one hundred and fifty observations of sixty-eight native species in the area surrounding Tropical World and Roundhay Park as of late October. These recorded observations of native species create research-quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. The data collected by Tropical World is available to be used by researchers via the iNaturalist website.
In line with BIAZA’s Spotted on Site Bioblitz campaigns we also encourage our visitors and members of the public to download the app and start recording native species so they too can contribute to conservation through citizen science data collection. For example, between the 14th and 20th October 2024 Tropical World participated in BIAZA’s SoS Autumn BioBlitz campaign. We advertised to our visitors through social media that they could participate by using the iNaturalist app to record native species during their visit to the zoo and the surrounding parkland. This campaign gathered almost 15,000 sightings across all the participating zoos, and the intention going forward is to continue to contribute to this campaign.
Signage
Animal enclosure signage has been revamped and updated across site, and a specific area at the entrance of the zoo has been designated as the “conservation wall” where conservation-specific interpretation is displayed. This informs visitors of the conservation work TW has been involved with. Currently there is signage up regarding the butterfly meadow project, but signage about our other conservation work will follow in late 2024/early 2025. Additionally, sections of the wall will be devoted to EEP projects (such as the Elongated tortoises, Pygmy marmosets, and Emperor tamarins) to keep our visitors updated on TW’s role in those projects. Signage will also be displayed informing visitors of the projects the zoo has supported with donations, these projects’ purposes, and how they can donate to support the projects themselves.
Fundraising: Financial contribution to the Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB)
In May 2023 Tropical World donated £500 to the ACCB to support the organisation and its work in protecting wild populations of the Elongated tortoise (Indotestudo elongata). The ACCB is raising money to fund a pilot project to assess the feasibility of augmentation translocation of captive-bred and head-started Elongated tortoises into a secure protected area in Cambodia. Tropical World houses a breeding pair of these critically endangered tortoises and have successfully bred and are rearing young tortoises currently. As the ACCB is running this project focused on a species we house at TW, we hope to be able to continue to financially support their reintroduction project further in the future and will advertise the project to our visitors through signage on our Conservation wall as well as social media so they can support the project as well.
Sustainable products
The Tropical World café continues to use paper bags and has introduced paper-based takeaway containers for food and drink. Efforts continue to replace existing for-sale items with more sustainable alternatives – for example, the café will soon stock ‘Wild Waters’ soft drinks which supports the BIAZA Rainforest Conservation Initiative with each bottle sold.
The Tropical World Gift Shop still uses paper bags for the sale of gifts, toys, and other goods in place of plastic bags. The shop is sells bamboo-based products such as personalised cups and dishes and also eco-friendly soft toys and other gifts. A regular dialogue is being maintained with all the retail suppliers on reduction and alternative material sourcing for products in the shops.
Additionally, we are planning on advertising examples of the products available on the Proyecto titi website which when sold will financially support the Proyecto titi Cotton-top tamarin conservation effort (see 2025 – Forward planning).
As more products come online, we will ensure we inform our visitors through interpretation, signage, and social media that the food/products they are purchasing are from ethical sources, we will undertake awareness raising about the difference this makes to wildlife worldwide and what visitors can do to support this.
Education
Tropical World’s education team also contributes to its conservation output through formal school workshops. In addition to meeting National Curriculum objectives, the workshops relate to real-world conservation issues and what the children can do themselves at home and school to reduce their carbon footprint, recycle their waste goods and protect the environment in which endangered animals live. The launch of a new Butterfly Scientist workshop also provides the opportunity for the education team to promote the conservation work taking place in the wildflower meadows, with the children using spotter sheets and keys to identify the butterfly species themselves. See the TW Education Policy and specific detailed workshop plans for more information.
Additionally, the Tropical World animal keeping team have begun offering advertised animal talks during school holidays, focusing on a wide range of taxa. The main information included in these talks refers to the natural history of these species, as well as specific information about the individual animals at Tropical World. The keeper talks also contain conservation messaging informing the visitors what they can do at home to protect the natural world.
2025 – Forward planning
Further development of wildflower meadows
Tropical World intends to continually develop our wildflower meadows in terms of size, providing further habitat for native butterfly species and invertebrates. We continue to collaborate closely with our colleagues in the parks department to discuss logistics and timeframes of potential seeding, with the intention being to develop the meadows annually.
Riverfly initiative
In 2025 Tropical World will send additional staff to a training workshop to allow them to become certified Riverfly surveyors, allowing us to safeguard our monitoring efforts against any unforeseen issues such as staff shortage, illness etc. This will allow us to continue monitoring our designated river sites without any interruptions in terms of data collection.
Bumblebee Conservation/Surveys
In 2025 Tropical World will sign up to participate in the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s BeeWalk Survey Scheme. This involves staff at Tropical World setting up a transect (similar to the UKBMS) and this fixed route on a monthly basis to monitor the abundance of bumblebees. The plan currently is for the transect route to run start in Canal Gardens outside Tropical World then on into Roundhay park, including the wildflower meadows which already hosts a large number of pollinators in spring/summer. This data will then be uploaded to the BeeWalk scheme website and will help the Bumblebee Conservation Trust monitor changes in bumblebee populations, detect any warning signs of decline as well as direct future conservation activities. The intention is to train 2-3 members of staff initially as BeeWalkers with additional staff being given the opportunity to get involved in future.
Fundraising: Financial contribution to Proyecto titi, Colombia, and further donations to the ACCB for their elongated tortoise release program
In 2025 Tropical World intends to send a financial donation of £500 to support Proyecto titi in Colombia, and their mission in protecting the critically-endangered cotton-top tamarin and their habitat. Tropical World holds two cotton-top tamarins currently and as such it makes sense for us to support Proyecto titi’s work protecting the species in the wild. Once our financial support of this project has begun, we will advertise the work of Proyecto titi through in-house signage and social media to our visitors, encouraging them to donate to the project if they can.
Additionally, we intend to continue our financial support to the ACCB’s elongated tortoise project as mentioned previously – for the moment, these two projects will be our main focus in terms of overseas conservation funding.
Natural England: TW participation in autumn/winter conservation project
We are aware that our current conservation output is heavily focused on the spring/summer months of the year. As Tropical World wants to be able to contribute to conservation all year round, we intend to reach out to Natural England to see if any projects occur outside of April – October that we may be able to participate in. This will be a major focus in late 2024/early 2025, and this strategy will be updated with more information soon.
Local programme of protection
Tropical World are looking to install “Bug hotels’’ that can provide shelter for a myriad of local species, from insects to small mammals. These bug hotels will be monitored for activity allowing us to document which native species we have in the area, and if we do this consistently year by year, we can build a database of species and their numbers allowing us to monitor populations annually. This would also give the animal keepers and education team a fantastic opportunity to train young conservationists in basic conservations skills, such as building the bug hotels and monitoring species numbers/populations levels.
Recycling
While Tropical World does recycle its waste, our intention is to roll this out across all aspects of the zoo giving us the opportunity to provide information on why recycling is necessary and its benefits to the natural world as the visitors dispose of their rubbish.
