Francesco Nardelli
Encyclopedia
Francesco Romano Nardelli was born on 5 September 1953 in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, where he currently lives. He is an Italian naturalist who has dedicated his life to the protection and conservation of endangered species. He’s also the founder of the Sumatran Rhino Project, one of the most important coordinated efforts to save a critically endangered species.

In 1972, Nardelli established a private Wild Felids Breeding Center near Rome, where he successfully bred in captivity several threatened species including the Red-shanked Douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus), the Snow leopard
Snow Leopard
The snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...

 (Uncia uncia), the Clouded leopard
Clouded Leopard
The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...

 (Neofelis nebulosa) all first ever bred in Italy.

In 1980 he moved to England, where he became Curator of Howletts and Port Lympne Zoo
Port Lympne Zoo
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic mansion and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker for Sir Philip Sassoon during World War I....

, John Aspinall
John Aspinall
John Aspinall may refer to:* John Aspinall , zoo owner and gambler* John Aspinall , engineer* John Thomas Walshman Aspinall , English Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament for Clitheroe 1853...

’s Zoos in Kent. There he was responsible for the setting up of new exhibits and directed with success several breeding programs including African elephant (Loxodonta Africana), (first ever bred in U.K.), Western lowland Gorilla
Western Lowland Gorilla
The western lowland gorilla is a subspecies of the western gorilla that lives in montane, primary, and secondary forests and lowland swamps in Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. It is the gorilla usually found in zoos...

 (Gorilla g. gorilla), Siamang
Siamang
The siamang is a tailless, arboreal, black-furred gibbon native to the forests of Malaysia, Thailand, and Sumatra. The largest of the lesser apes, the siamang can be twice the size of other gibbons, reaching 1 m in height, and weighing up to 14 kg...

 (Symphalangus syndactylus), Red-shanked Douc langur (Pygathrix nemaeus) Surili langurs (Presbytis sp.) Clouded leopard
Clouded Leopard
The clouded leopard is a felid found from the Himalayan foothills through mainland Southeast Asia into China, and has been classified as vulnerable in 2008 by IUCN...

 (Neofelis nebulosa), Snow leopard (Uncia uncia).

In 1982 he conceived and directed the Sumatran Rhino Project http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/index.php?s=1&act=refs&CODE=note_detail&id=1165252955 , the first international program for the conservation of the Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). That scheme was, and it still is, a collaborative effort involving – for the first time – national governments, local agencies, European and Asian conservation centers and international zoological institutions, to save this species from extinction.

Under Nardelli's leadership, the Indonesian Government, Howletts and Port Lympne Zoo
Port Lympne Zoo
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic mansion and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker for Sir Philip Sassoon during World War I....

 http://www.totallywild.net, the Cincinnati, San Diego, New York and Los Angeles zoos, all played a crucial role in the success of the project. This plan is continuing under the leadership of the Department of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation of the Indonesian Government, assisted by the U.K. based Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino International , a UK-based conservation charity, is Europe’s largest single-species rhino charity, in terms of funds raised and grants made, and in terms of profile and positioning. They began fundraising for in situ rhino conservation projects in 1992 and were formally registered as...

 International, the U.S.A.’s International Rhino Foundation
International Rhino Foundation
The International Rhino Foundation is a Yulee, Florida-based charity focused on the conservation of the five species of rhinoceros: the White Rhinoceros and Black Rhinoceros in Africa; the Indian Rhinoceros, Javan Rhinoceros and Sumatran Rhinoceros in Asia....

 and other agencies.

The project resulted in the Indonesian government's signature of a rhino conservation agreement in 1985, the first time the Indonesian government has signed such an agreement and decided to participate in a coordinated international programme for the protection of an endangered species. The Sumatran Rhino has today a scattered population of around 300 individuals in the wild. Another legacy of the Sumatran Rhino Project is that several conservation agencies in Europe and North America, are committed to save these very few animals.

Among other success stories related to this program is the birth in captivity of three calves of Sumatran Rhinos at the Cincinnati Zoo: on 13 September 2001. Andalas, a male, was the first of his species born in captivity since 1889
. His mother, Emi, has since had two more calves in Cincinnati: a female, Suci, born in 2004 and a male, Harapan, born in 2007. "Ten years ago many people were skeptical claiming this species would never breed in a zoo. Yet today, the Cincinnati Zoo is world renowned for being the only place in the world this species is breeding successfully in captivity," said Dr.Terri Roth, Vice President of Conservation, Science and Living Collections at the Cincinnati Zoo. On April 29, 2007 Emi became the first Sumatran rhino in history to produce three calves in captivity, breaking her very own record.
Nardelli's passionate commitment to the protection and conservation of Sumatran Rhinos inspired him to author “The Rhinoceros” (Basilisk Press, London) http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!380457!0#focus a monograph featuring colored plates by renamed wildlife artist Matthew Hillier, describing the life and history of the five surviving species of rhinoceroses.

In 1987 has co-founded the Yayasan Badak Indonesia (Indonesian Rhino Foundation), in Jakarta, a non profit organization for the long term conservation of rhinos in South-East Asia and is a Patron of Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino International , a UK-based conservation charity, is Europe’s largest single-species rhino charity, in terms of funds raised and grants made, and in terms of profile and positioning. They began fundraising for in situ rhino conservation projects in 1992 and were formally registered as...

, since 2003.

He regularly contributes articles to British, Italian, and Indonesian magazines and newspapers on the themes of conservation and protection of endangered species
As an aquarium hobbyist, he is an accredited “Master of Layout”, by the Soto School of Zen in Kyoto http://www.sotozen-net.or.jp/kokusai/sotozenschool.htm.This title enables him to realize special scenarios , emerged and submerged, following complex Zen principles.

Today, Francesco Nardelli collaborates with Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino
Save the Rhino International , a UK-based conservation charity, is Europe’s largest single-species rhino charity, in terms of funds raised and grants made, and in terms of profile and positioning. They began fundraising for in situ rhino conservation projects in 1992 and were formally registered as...

 International on projects for the protection of the Indonesian rhinos and promotes several conservation projects in Italy and abroad. His work with wild mammals, in particular with the Sumatran Rhino, makes of Francesco Nardelli a respected naturalist and a reputable Italian conservationist.
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