Visits that arouse animal passions

SOMEONE told me It's all happening at the zoo. I do believe it, I do believe it's true.

It's a light and tumble journey

From the east side to the park;

Just a fine and fancy ramble

To the zoo.

American songsters Simon and Garfunkel wrote these lyrics nearly 40 years ago, and the sentiment is perhaps more true today than in 1967. Edinburgh Zoo attracts more than 600,000 visitors each year, second only in Scotland to Edinburgh Castle.

The unique and sustained attraction that the zoo has for its visitors is the rich and fascinating array of living animals in a comfortable and secure setting. In an increasingly urbanised world we are all becoming disconnected from nature yet increasingly aware that we are consequently destroying the very thing that we regard as having true value - life on Earth; biodiversity.

Edinburgh Zoo is managed by The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) which celebrates its centenary in four years' time. In 1909 the society set out to study, explore and protect threatened species and habitats around the world and in 1913 constructed and opened the zoo on its current location on Corstorphine Hill.

Since then the society has grown and evolved into a very diverse organisation that relies on very different skills and programmes to meet its core aims of conservation, education and research. However, all activities in the zoo and those of the RZSS as a whole point in the same direction - biodiversity.

The entire animal collection at the zoo is a part of a much bigger programme of species conservation. This programme allows coordinators at one zoo to manage the whole population that is dispersed among the many zoos around the world.

For example, the 40 or so Asiatic lions in European zoos are all part of a single breeding programme managed from London. Diana monkeys from central Africa are part of a programme co-ordinated here at Edinburgh Zoo.

As more and more species are forced perilously closer to extinction the need to secure their immediate future becomes more pressing. The demand for space in captive breeding programmes and competition for the limited resources that support them is rising each year, forcing regional zoo organisations to prioritise the species that are maintained and bred in zoos and aquariums around the world.

Today, many animals in captive populations are descended from founders from the early 20th century through many generations of successful breeding. However, as new species are identified for conservation support, new programmes have to be established, new facilities constructed and keepers trained to meet their specific biological needs - complex diets, behavioural patterns and breeding requirements.

Since 1992 we've all been juggling with this new word "biodiversity". For the first time world leaders have had to put in place strategies that will enable individual countries to protect species of animals and plants and their habitats that are locally and globally important. Last year, Scotland launched its strategy, and the annual Scottish Biodiversity Week is one opportunity to promote the role we can all play in conserving biological diversity in Scotland. Even before this the UK Biodiversity Action Plan enabled local governments to produce their own "roadmaps" for conservation, and the first Edinburgh Biodiversity Action Plan (EBAP) was launched in 1999 and updated last year.

With so many visitors spending a day at the zoo we recognise what an important role we can play in inspiring people with real examples of biodiversity (our animals). Every species from every continent is surrounded by fascinating facts of biology, evolution and survival, but we can also make these stories fun. There is no better way to engage visitors (and staff) with the wonder of living animals than by getting close up. The sweet, pungent smell of a gorilla, 50 penguins swimming and diving or an armadillo curling into a ball are powerful tools for reminding us of what we have and what we might lose if we don't continue to act.

In March this year, the RZSS Conservation Fund was launched. The fund enables us to expand on our captive breeding programmes for endangered species and tackle some of the issues that are causing species and habitat decline.

We are actively involved in project work in many parts of Africa and other parts of the world such as Bolivia and the Falkland Islands. Increasingly our skills as a teaching and learning organisation will extend beyond Edinburgh Zoo, reconnecting many people with the importance of biodiversity in their own country.

The RZSS and Edinburgh Zoo are already well established along the pathway to celebrate biodiversity, inspire people and engage with nature.

Danielle DeVeau Crawford is head of development at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland