Page 29 - April 2016 Life In Naples Magazine

ZOO GUESTS WALK BENEATH THE CANOPY OF founded the Bird-Friendly® certification overseen Naples’
A WEST AFRICAN RUBBER TREE IN THE HISTORIC GARDENS. by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Look oldest
for this logo to get the industry’s gold standard & best
for shade-grown, organic coffee. We serve this at custom
Naples Zoo and you can buy it in bags at Wynn’s picture
Market. It’s harder to find in K-cups, but consider frame
buying a reusable K-cup filter. You’ll not only enjoy the best coffee, shop
you’ll also save significantly over the $35 to $50 a pound that regular
K-cup coffee costs. Now Located in Downtown Naples

LAND FOR LEMURS THE FRAME UP
CUSTOM FRAMING
With Madagascar about 90 percent deforested, efforts to protect (239) 261-4413
remaining forest and restore degraded areas are both exciting and 550 10th Street North | Naples, Florida 34102
challenging. This past year, Maya Moore, Program Director of naplesframeup.com | naplesframeup@aol.com
the Madagascar Fauna and Flora Group (MFG), and her team
helped take a growing reforestation project to a new level through
a conservation credit program that created better monitoring and
even stronger involvement by the community. The MFG is also part
of a long-term program to grow the seeds of critically endangered
species in nurseries and plant them in protected areas to prevent
their extinction. After all, without the forests, there would be none of
the amazing lemurs, fosas, and chameleons which is just one of the
reasons we are a Managing Member of the MFG.

LIONS AND LIVING WALLS

If you take a cutting from an African myrrh tree, dry it, and put
it in the ground, it will start growing in the rainy season. Dr. Laly
Lichtenfeld and her team with the African People and Wildlife Fund
use this Maasai tradition for a new purpose. A ring of these trees
combined with chain link form a “Living Wall” around livestock at
night that was shown to be 99.9 percent successful over a 10-year
study in preventing predator attacks. In turn, this protects lions by
eliminating retaliatory killing by angry herders. Owners also don’t
need to constantly replace drying thorn branches and wood posts,
which benefits the habitat and wildlife by decreasing human pressure
on the local trees.

LIVING LEGACIES

All of these people and
organizations as well as the
trees they are planting are
creating a legacy. There’s an old
saying that says the best time
to plant a tree is twenty years
ago. And the next best time is
now. I hope you’ll take time to
appreciate the legacies left to us
by others and start or expand
on one of your own today.

Far from the simple
menageries of past, today’s
nationally accredited zoos are centers of learning and natural crossroads
for biologists, educators, environmental scientists, and researchers - as
well as for students, conservationists, and all animal lovers. Naples Zoo
at Caribbean Gardens is a trusted, private 501(c)(3) nonprofit serving
wildlife and families here and around the world. More information at
www.napleszoo.org.

Life in Naples | April 2016 29