(24-09-10) A few kilometres far from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid we can enjoy penguins and manatees, thanks to the magic of Faunia: the Nature Theme Park.

    In the last years, the increasing interest in environment and Nature in general, along with tech innovations, has made flourish many institutions with zoo character in Spain. Either the classical animals exhibition in the zoos or in spectacular aquariums that show the great marine diversity, little know by the general public. Faunia is one of this new generation centres, located in the surroundings of countries capital Madrid.

HistorY

    Faunia was born in 2001, named “Parque Biológico de Madrid”. This Nature theme park is something new and different to the traditional zoo. It is create different ecosystems in which people can walk freely, in contact with animals. In this park there are no jails or wires. It is not observing exotic animals but knowing the interaction of living beings with their environment, in their own ecosystem.

    This way, the park has fourteen theme areas where we can be surrounded by butterflies in El Jardín del Edén, enjoy the nice meerkats in their facility, lean out to the night habitants in the Sombras Silenciosas or enjoy sharks in a huge tropical aquarium.

    But the great attraction is the recreation of four big, exotic and unknown ecosystems such as the poles, the jungle, African forest and warm forest. Is it really interesting, for instance, to walk inside a Malagasy forest surrounded by lemurs in complete freedom, as well as a bird list that wander around with no restrictions. An area about 2,000 m2 and 15 m long, close by an almost invisible net, allows the miracle.

    This new concept is also seen in the educational and informative character of all the facilities, with many activities dedicated especially to children. And everything with a clear conservation commitment, as it happens, for example, with the breeding program of the Humboldt penguin and programs to collaborate with different scientific institutions in different studies and programs.

The polar ecosystem

    One of the great emblems of Faunia is the recreation of the polar ecosystem; we could say that a piece of the Antarctic is close to the center of Madrid. Thanks to a full engineering development we have here the largest facility of this kind in Europe. Ice, snow and temperature are exactly the same as in the wild, developing an identical seasonal cycle as the produced in Nature.

    Because of this, along the year the ice layer changes, according to seasons, as well as external temperature, which changes from -2º C and 5º C, and also water or light conditions change. For example, the sophisticated system that surrounds this facility we can highlight that the air is cleaned of bacteria, mites and fungi, which make that purity is similar to what we can meet in the Everest.

    All this serves to house almost one hundred penguins of different species: seven in total: Adelie, Chinstrap, Humboldt (in other warmer facility in the same complex), Magallanes, Gentoo, Rockhopper and King, the biggest one. The acclimatization of the specimens is seen in the reproduction of most of them, now the King penguin is in the verge to do it, probably the most spectacular species that, so far, has not succeeded in reproduction. Currently is finishing the incubation of three eggs that we hope they get ahead.

Under the Pole

    The facility of the poles presents a spectacular set design where the spectator can see the animals in a frozen environment and also under the water, in two levels. All this creates a unique opportunity to see penguins under the sea. Buceo Virtual Team has had the chance to dive with these birds.

    Fortunately, we do it in southern summer and temperatures are not very extreme: water is 12º C. After disinfecting our equipment carefully we enter the Antarctic world. We firs feel cold: it is summer outside and about 5º C here. There is snow but not too much since it is summer. There are groups of penguins everywhere, although some species are breeding and do not move from their nests.

    We enter the icy water and descend to the 3.5 m depth of the tank. The underwater recreation is perfect; it seems that we are in a frozen environment of caves and icebergs. But what is really fascinating is to see animals in action. They are real bullets, or, better said, torpedoes. Their body, spindle shaped, allows them to move very fast, just moving their former winds today become into fins.

    At the beginning, until you get used to, it is difficult to locate them. They appear and disappear everywhere, as real ghosts of the Antarctic waters. But gradually their curiosity makes them approach; it is a wonderful feeling, as we don’t dive with penguins every day!

The jungle

    Another of the highlights of this park is the recreation of the Amazon jungle, where it really looks like if we were in such tropical latitudes. We are in a facility with constant temperature of 28º C and 80% of humidity, where thanks to technology from time to time there is a huge storm with its correspondent rain.

    If we add to all that the presence of fish, birds, reptiles and invertebrates of the area, we will understand these feelings. The jungle is located in a great pavilion of almost 3,000 m2 and 13 m high. The visit has three parts. From the tropical jungle and following a stretch of an Amazon River, we finally get the great aquarium crossed by a tunnel.

 

In the Amazon

    This great aquarium is home to different Amazon species, very exotic all of them. We can see big sheep head fish, relative of the famous piranhas (these are in a separated tank), cat fish and the impressive arapaima (Arapaima gigas), relatives to the largest freshwater fish family. In the wild, these animals are huge; the biggest one was 4.5 m long and weighted 200 kg.

    In the aquarium the animals have adapted very well, and they have almost doubled in size since they arrived. They are now about 2 m. long. Their design is exotic, with an elongated reddish body and a great tail that extends in the lower part of the body. They have a robust, big mouth with which they feed on fish and small mammals or even birds.

    Their prized meat and sports trophy have made their populations reduce. Here in Faunia we have a group of several specimens. They are not frightenet to divers, and present a quite indolent behaviour. The proximity is total and surprising.

 

The meeting with the sirens

    But apart from these Amazon giants, today the main stars in the aquarium, and almost of the park, are some new inhabitants that arrived in 2007. It is a pair of manatees, unique in Spain, which have contributed to risen the biological value of the facility. Their adaptation has been pretty good and two years later a baby was born.

    We are expecting to dive with these animals. Water is some green and with many particles. It is not a filtering problem, but for the habitats of the species that, literally, is eating all the day long. Here they are fed with about 70 kg of vegetables per day, such as lettuce and spinaches, what contributes to that “pollution” of the tank.

    We enter the water, which is almost 30ºC in this case. The animals are quite distrustful and stay in the opposite place to the one in which we are. The thing is not to pursue or corner them at any time. We must stay calm so that they get used to our presence. Some floating lettuces will calm them for sure.

    In fact, bit by bit although keeping the distances, we can enjoy their presence and they tolerate us. The absolute protection of the female towards her calf highlights. Her front fins act like loving hugs that attract the baby to the mother’s lap. Seeing these images we realize that we are not so far from these marine mammals.

    Their agility is surprising, in spite of their some robust body. They can move and go round very agile, and they get speed from the movement of the wide tail. We have already enjoyed their presence and it is time to leave the animals alone. We hope the species recovers in the wild and we can enjoy these “sirens” for much more time.

Some interesting data:

-Opened: July 10, 2001
-Built-up surface: 140,000 m2
-Over 500 different species
-4.000 animals
-15,000 plant specimens, more than 1,000 species
-First and only night park in Spain, with 28 species
-Salt lake of 1,500,000 l

More information www.faunia.es