On Monday, divers with gloved hands gently nestled the self-bred corals from the World Coral Conservatory project among their cousins in Europe’s largest coral reef at the Burgers’ Zoo in the Netherlands.
Along with two zoos in France and the originator of the project – the Monaco Scientific Center – the zoo in the east of the Netherlands took in more than a dozen coral fragments from off the coast of Seychelles in east Africa.The Dutch zoo has been propagating the corals since 2022, allowing them to grow in a highly regulated environment before they were large enough to join the rest of the reef.
Few of the other corals at the zoo come from the wild. They are either shared by other zoos or turned over by Dutch customs officers after being confiscated. Coral poaching is a major threat to coral reefs in parts of Asia. Bleaching occurs when coral under stress expels the algae that gives them their vibrant colours. The algae is also a coral’s food source, and if the bleaching lasts for too long or is too severe, the coral could die.