Scientific report – Loro Parque

On wednesday morning, we were able to visit the Loro Parque together and marvel at various rare animals, spectacular shows and enthusiastic staff. We learned a lot about the sustainability projects and species conservation, Loro parque does, and in this context, we also heard heartwarming stories, which can be heard in the following. Nevertheless, out pre-existing aversion to zoos was strengthend throughout the day, and we all left the park with more or less negative feelings.

Most of us took the bus from our hostel to Loro Parque, the others went there from school. From the bus stop, we walked to the entrance of Loro Parque together (Loro means parrot, by the way). There we were offered a guided tour to get a look behind the scenes of the park, but we declined, to be able to explore the park by ourselves. 

In the park, we immediately were very shocked at how confined the animals were in their enclosures. Some animals, as the anteater for example, circled around their enclosures the whole time. The parrots also screamed incessantly.

Apart from that, we were still impressed by the performances, such as the dolphin show, although we had a weird feeling about it. There were aquariums that you could walk throgh and observe the sea animals from all sides. 

Despite the fact that keeping animals in zoos such as Loro Parque is not entirely species-appropriate, which is unfortunately unavoidable, Loro Parque supports many species conservation projects, as can be seen in the story of Morgan, the rescued female Orca. 

She was found washed up on the beach in a neglected state and nursed back to health before it was discovered that she was deaf. Therefore she would not abe able to hunt alone in the sea without her family, as orcas use echolocation to do so. Thatˋs why she was brought to Loro Parque and introduced to the orca group, where the staff developed special lighting techniques to communicate with Morgan. In 2025, Morgan even gave birth to offspring.

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In general, we are grateful for the experience of visiting Loro Parque, especially because it helped us to form our own opinions on an topic that is really important and current. We were able to learn what it means to critically question real things, and not only do that in class.

After all, even the many species conservation projects that Loro Parque does canˋt hide the fact, that animals are locked up and exist in an articial environment.