History Wildlife Conservation Society

1 history

1.1 founding
1.2 work
1.3 welikia project
1.4 makira national park

history
founding


tour through bronx zoo, 1950

the wildlife conservation society chartered state of new york on april 26, 1895. known new york zoological society, organization embraced mandate advance wildlife conservation, promote study of zoology, , create first-class zoological park. name changed wildlife conservation society in 1993. among founders of wcs andrew h. green, best known father of greater new york city, henry fairfield osborn, columbia university professor , curator of american museum of natural history, , george bird grinnell, founder of audubon society , editor of forest , stream magazine. theodore roosevelt, members of boone , crockett club, , other notable new yorkers involved in society s creation.

the bronx zoo (formerly new york zoological park) designed along lines of other cultural institutions in new york city, such american museum of natural history. city provided land new zoo , funding buildings , annual operating costs. wcs raised of funds construction , operations private donors, , selected scientific , administrative personnel.

work

in late nineteenth century william temple hornaday, director of new york zoological park (now bronx zoo), carried out direct-mail survey of wildlife conditions through united states, , publicized decline of birds , mammals in organization s annual reports. in 1897 hornaday hired field researcher andrew j. stone survey condition of wildlife in territory of alaska. on basis of these studies, hornaday led campaign new laws protect wildlife there , united states whole. in 1901, small herd of american bison gathered in 20-acre meadow off pelham parkway roadway. starting in 1905, hornaday led national campaign reintroduce extinct bison government sponsored refuges. hornaday, theodore roosevelt , others formed american bison society in 1905. bronx zoo sent 15 bison wichita reserve in 1907 , additional bison in later years. saving of uniquely american symbol 1 of great success stories in history of wildlife conservation. hornaday campaigned wildlife protection throughout thirty years director of bronx zoo.

william beebe, first curator of birds @ bronx zoo, began program of field research after bronx zoo opened. research on wild pheasants took him asia 1908 1911 , resulted in series of books on pheasants. beebe s field work resulted in creation of society’s department of tropical research, beebe directed 1922 until retirement in 1948. beebe’s research in undersea vessel called bathysphere took him half mile under ocean floor off bermuda in 1934 record first time human observations of bottom of deep sea. bathysphere displayed @ new york aquarium.

the war years marked arrival of henry fairfield osborn, jr nyzs president , laurance rockefeller executive committee chairman. best selling writer on conservation , son of wcs founder henry fairfield osborn, osborn embraced changes signaled new thinking in organization. guests allowed bring own cameras bronx zoo, while animals grouped continents , ecosystems rather genetic orders , families, beginning african plains exhibit in 1941.

after world war ii, under leadership of osborn, organization extended programs in field biology , conservation. in 1946 wcs helped found jackson hole wildlife park, became part of grand teton national park in 1962. in late 1950s wcs began series of wildlife surveys , projects in kenya, tanganyika (now tanzania), uganda, ethiopia, sudan, burma, , malay peninsula. in 1959 sponsored george schaller’s seminal study of mountain gorillas in congo. since expedition, schaller has gone on become world s preeminent field biologist, studying wildlife throughout africa, asia , south america. conservation activities continued expand under leadership of william g. conway, became director of bronx zoo in 1962 , president of wcs in 1992. active field biologist in patagonia, conway promoted new vision of zoos conservation organizations, cooperated in breeding endangered species. designed new types of zoo exhibits aimed @ teaching visitors habitats support wildlife, , encouraged expansion of wcs s field programs.

during 1960s , 1970s, wcs took leadership role in pioneering zoological exhibitions seeking recreate natural environments animals on display. under leadership of wcs director william g. conway, bronx zoo opened world of darkness nocturnal species in 1969 , world of birds avian displays in 1974. new york city turned wcs renew , manage 3 city-run facilities in manhattan, brooklyn, , queens. redesigned central park zoo opened in 1988, followed queens zoo in 1992 , prospect park zoo in 1993. 1994 through 1996 archie carr iii of wcs helped establish cockscomb basin wildlife sanctuary in belize, reserve endangered jaguar.

today wcs @ work on 500 projects in more 60 nations around world intended protect both wildlife , wild places in live. organization endeavors protect 25 percent of world s biodiversity—from gorillas of africa , tigers of asia macaws in south america , sharks, whales , turtles traveling through planet s seas. in recent years wcs has actively worked in conflict areas afghanistan, south sudan , myanmar, agreements on wildlife resource have contributed peace , stability. more 4 million people visit wcs s wildlife parks in new york city each year. wcs s zoos , aquarium inform visitors across globe state-of-the-art exhibits naturalistic settings. guests encounter variety of species threatened in wild , learn how can secure future of these animals. award-winning congo gorilla forest, presents several troops of western lowland gorillas 1 might see them in wild, bronx zoo became first zoo directly contribute exhibit admission fees field-based conservation, more $11 million raised work in central africa.

the welikia project

the welikia project project wcs reconstruct , map how manhattan looked in 1609 when henry hudson discovered island. elements being mapped include streams flowed , each species of tree grew. lenni lenape people lived there called island mannahatta, or land of many hills. project highlights ways development has altered natural ecosystems.

makira national park

in 2001, in collaboration madagascar ministry of environment , forests, wcs launched program create 372,470 hectare makira forest protected area. in 2017, wcs partnered carbon-reduction platform cool effect allow users fund ongoing carbon-reduction projects directly supporting makira natural park.