Frankfurt Zoological Society

20/10/2026

ZGF-Geschäftsführer Christof Schenck bei NANO auf 3sat! 🌍

Passend zum Start der 17. UN-Biodiversitätskonferenz (COP17) in Jerewan, Armenien, war unser Geschäftsführer Christof Schenck gestern in der Wissenschaftssendung NANO auf 3sat zu sehen.

Im Interview spricht er über die Herausforderungen bei der Umsetzung internationaler Biodiversitätsziele, den wachsenden Druck auf natürliche Lebensräume und die Bedeutung einer langfristigen Finanzierung von Schutzgebieten.

🎥 Die gesamte Sendung ist jetzt in der 3sat-Mediathek abrufbar:

https://www.3sat.de/wissen/nano/261019-sendung-cop17-in-jerewan-biodiversitaet-weltweit-bedroht-nano-100.html

Leider konnten wir die von Ihnen angewählte Seite nicht finden!

20/10/2026

The Annual Report 2025 is out! 🌍

What did conservation look like for Frankfurt Zoological Society in 2025? And what have we achieved together with our partners?

Our latest annual report, Mission Wilderness 2025, takes a closer look at our conservation work around the world, highlighting key achievements, new developments, and the people and partnerships behind our efforts.

2025 in numbers:
• 28 projects and programs across 18 countries
• Around 1,000 employees worldwide
• Approximately 400,000 km² of strictly protected areas at the heart of our work
• Around €47 million invested in conservation

From expanding our work into Equatorial Guinea and the Brazilian Amazon to reintroducing 30 southern white rhinos to Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, 2025 was a year of important steps toward protecting wilderness and biodiversity.

Want to learn more about our work, achievements, challenges, and finances?

📖 Explore Mission Wilderness 2025 and discover the stories behind the numbers. You can read the full report online or download it as a PDF.

https://fzs.org/en/news/annual-report-2025/

14/10/2026

What happens after the Frankfurt Spring School?

You go home. You get back to work. You keep working on conservation challenges in your part of the world.

But you don’t leave the FSS community behind. 🌍

As an FSS alum, you become part of our growing Alumni Network, connecting conservation professionals from cohorts across the years and around the world. Through alumni events, mentoring, knowledge exchange and opportunities to connect, the community continues long after those four weeks in Frankfurt.

Don’t miss your chance to join this global community of young conservationists! Applications for the Frankfurt Spring School 2027 are open until 17 November 2026.

If you’re an early-career conservationist or a Master’s/PhD student looking to strengthen your conservation project management skills, expand your network and become part of a global community of conservation professionals, we’d love to hear from you.

👉 Apply now: https://frankfurtspringschool.de/application

The FSS Alumni program is made possible with funding from the KfW Foundation.



Goethe-Universität Frankfurt WWF Deutschland
Wildlife Conservation Society
Conservation International
BioFrankfurt
KPMG Deutschland
KfW
KfW Stiftung
Frankfurt Conservation Center
Metzler Stiftung

09/10/2026

From extinct in the wild to an icon of Białowieża. 🦬

At the beginning of the 20th century, the European bison was on the brink. The last wild bison in Białowieża disappeared after World War I.

But the story didn’t end there…

A small number had survived in captivity. Breeding programmes at several zoos, with Zoo Frankfurt playing an important role, helped give the species another chance. In 1952, European bison were released back into Białowieża Forest.

Today, seeing these impressive animals roaming freely through the forest is a powerful reminder of what long-term conservation can achieve.

Stories like this matter to us. They show what can become possible when people commit to protecting species and the landscapes they depend on - and they motivate our teams to keep working for healthy, resilient ecosystems.

Because conservation takes time. But sometimes, you get to see what success looks like. 🦬🌳

📷 Daniel Rosengren

07/10/2026

I follow rivers… 💧🎶 But where do they lead?

In Białowieża, a healthy river doesn’t necessarily take the straightest path.

Over centuries, wetlands were drained and rivers straightened, allowing water to leave the forest more quickly. The result: falling water levels and increasing pressure on an ecosystem that depends on water.

That’s why one of our priorities here is to keep water in the landscape. Together with our partners at PTOP - Polskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków we work to restore the forest’s natural hydrology - repairing dams, blocking artificial drainage channels and bringing rivers closer to their natural, meandering course.

Because those bends aren’t just beautiful. They slow the flow, help retain water and support wetlands, forests and the many species that depend on them. 🌿

Sometimes protecting a forest means letting the river find its natural rhythm again. 💧

A big thank you to PTOP and Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme for making this work possible.

📷 Daniel Rosengren

05/10/2026

This week, we’re taking you somewhere special… 🌳

Here’s your first clue: we’re in one of the last and largest lowland mixed-broadleaf primeval forests in Europe.

Ancient oaks, wetlands, rivers and an extraordinary diversity of wildlife shape this landscape.

But this isn’t just a beautiful forest. It’s also a place of fieldwork, research and restoration. Our teams and partners study the landscape and its changing conditions to better understand what this ecosystem needs - and how we can help restore its natural processes.

And water plays a particularly important role here. 💧

So, where do you think this photo was taken?

02/10/2026

Ein Wald kennt keine Grenzen. Wildtiere auch nicht. Wasser erst recht nicht. Menschen schon.

In dieser Folge reisen wir zum Białowieża-Wald in Polen und Belarus. Wir fragen, warum ausgerechnet Wasser über die Zukunft des Waldes entscheiden könnte und wie Naturschutz funktioniert, wenn politische Grenzen plötzlich mitten durch die eigene Arbeit verlaufen.

Zu Gast: Viktar Fenchuk, der den Wald von beiden Seiten der Grenze kennt.

🎧 „Białowieża - Geteilter Wald, gemeinsame Natur“: https://fzs.org/de/aktuelles/bialowieza-geteilter-wald-gemeinsame-natur-89/

Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme Feuchtgebiete Zoo Frankfurt

Ein Wald kennt keine Grenzen. Wasser auch nicht. Tiere erst recht nicht. Für Menschen dagegen können Grenzen sehr real sein. Im Białowieża-Wald zwischen Polen und Belarus wird genau das sichtbar.

29/09/2026

Want to lead conservation projects that make a real difference?

🌿 Join this four-week course and learn directly from experts working on the ground

📈 Build the tools and confidence to lead projects around the world and boost your conservation career

🌍 Connect with a global network of passionate professionals and like-minded participants

Nature can’t wait. ⏳

Apply now to join the Frankfurt Spring School on Conservation Project Management 2027.

➡️ Visit frankfurtspringschool.de



Goethe-Universität Frankfurt WWF Deutschland
Wildlife Conservation Society
Conservation International
BioFrankfurt
KPMG Deutschland
KfW
KfW Stiftung
Frankfurt Conservation Center
Metzler Stiftung

24/09/2026

It’s World Gorilla Day, and we have a slightly different gorilla story to tell. 🦍

Gorilla conservation may no longer be at the heart of our work, but gorillas have a special place in our history. Mountain gorillas were part of one of our early conservation programs supporting Virunga National Park. And that connection has stayed with us in a very visible way: through the gorilla in our logo.

Designed by wildlife artist Wolfgang Weber, it has become an unmistakable symbol of FZS. You’ll find it on field vehicles, on shirts worn by our teams, and in offices around the world.

In a way, we have taken our gorilla far beyond its natural habitat. Today, it travels with our teams across tropical forests, vast wetlands, open steppes and mountain landscapes - connecting people working in very different places for the same mission: protecting wildlife and wild places.

From Africa to South America, from Kazakhstan to Eastern Europe, our gorilla goes wherever we go.
Together, under the sign of the gorilla, we make conservation count.

22/09/2026

🦏 It’s World Rhino Day!

Across Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, we work with our partners to protect rhinos and the wild places they call home.

In Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park, our work helps protect the country’s only black rhino population, which is showing one of the highest growth rates in Africa. In Tanzania’s Serengeti, we have supported black rhino conservation for decades. And in Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park, black rhinos returned in 2021 after 27 years of absence.

Fun fact: Black rhinos aren’t black and white rhinos aren’t white. Both are grey! One easy way to tell them apart is their lips: white rhinos have broad, square lips for grazing, while black rhinos have pointed, prehensile lips for browsing. Their colour-based names can be a little misleading.

Want to help protect rhinos for the long term? Become a rhino sponsor with us. 🦏

https://fzs.org/en/support/become-a-sponsor/

📷 Daniel Rosengren