Madagascar, in the Bronx
Jun 22nd, 2008 by Jervey
[Photo from gbNYC]
From Andy Revkin’s dot earth:
Lemurs roared and screamed. A young fossa, resembling a stretched-out mash-up of a cat and a mongoose, stalked along a branch. A hundred thousand hissing cockroaches prepared to invade a hollow tree. All of these creatures are from Madagascar, the giant island east of Africa that has spawned a variegated assemblage of unique life forms since it was biologically isolated from the other continents some 70 million years ago.
But this was the Bronx, more specifically the 105-year-old former lion house at the Bronx Zoo, which I visited last week during final preparations for the opening of an ambitious new exhibition. It’s open now. Edward Rothstein’s “zoo review” is online.
The Wildlife Conservation Society spent nearly $50 million over six years to create a small patch of Madagascar in the city, and to draw attention to the plight of an island with an extraordinary ecological bounty that has been relentlessly destroyed by a struggling, poor population trying to expand rice farming and find wood for fuel and construction. The organization has also teamed up with the Madagascar government to sell carbon dioxide credits and help finance forest preservation.
Read on about this carbon scheme (and check out Revkin’s “video postcard” from the exhibit)….
In related news, gbNYC has word that the Madagascar exhibit is being powered entirely by clean energy:
The New York Power Authority announced yesterday that it will install a fuel cell at the FXFOWLE-designed Lion House at the Bronx Zoo. The installation will offset 200 kilowatts of electrical demand at the landmarked, Beaux-Arts Lion House, which is on track for a LEED Gold rating from USGBC.
More here.