Water Buffalo from the Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn in Use at the Leiser Berge Nature Park

The two one-year-old water buffalo from the Vienna Schönbrunn Zoo are being used as landscape managers in the Leiser Berge Nature Park on a four-hectare area with reeds, grasses, and trees. They have numerous tasks to accomplish. With every step and every bite, they shape the vegetation in the Leiser Berge Nature Park.

Water Buffalo from the Vienna Schönbrunn Zoo Promote Habitat Development in the Leiser Berge Nature Park

"The animals provide natural grazing – without intensive human intervention. This form of landscape management ties into the historical role of large herbivores that have shaped natural habitats over millennia. They prevent overgrowth, create small-scale structures, and thus promote the development of diverse habitats. Numerous native animal and plant species benefit from this," says Alexander Ernst, Managing Director of the Leiser Berge Nature Park.

The two water buffalo from Schönbrunn are the foundation for a new population of water buffalo in the Weinviertel. "The water buffalo are an essential component in giving the Weinviertel its wild heart back. We are extremely grateful to the zoo for entrusting us with two of its animals," says Jennifer Kraus, Managing Director of the startup "Meine Blumenwiese" and both a content and financial partner of the project. The buffalo moved at the end of September. After a short acclimatization on their own pasture, they have adapted well to the nature park. In the future, the animals will be housed in the Wild Solutions Park in the Leiser Berge Nature Park.

"It is wonderful that through the successful keeping and breeding of domestic water buffalo in the zoo, we can bring large herbivores back to the Weinviertel. We are very proud of our continuous and well-functioning breeding program. Currently, we are delighted with two young animals. The little buffalo are the siblings of those animals that have moved to the Leiser Berge Nature Park and are now strengthening our herd again," says Zoo Director Dr. Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck.

(Red)

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