On June 21st the Little Snowflake Grant Panel members held a meeting in order to evaluate the projects that had applied for its current edition. The grant provides its winners with a 9,000 € allowance to conduct their research project within 12 months.

The 16 projects presented were of an outstanding quality and high scientific interest. The finalist studies dealt with issues linked to the preservation of habitats in South America (2), the research of cognitive abilities (1) and of the effects of ebola on the gorilla population (1). Their titles are the following: “Comparative Study on the Ecology and Behaviour of the Alouatta guariba clamitans in two protected areas with a different use history in the Atlantic Wood of Misiones, Argentina”, directed by Dr. Janson of State University of New York; “Relationship between the response to new objects and self-recognition mirror tests on primates belonging to the Hominoid family”, directed by Dr. Colell of Universitat de Barcelona;   “Nutritious Ecology of the black and golden-mantled howling monkey (Alouatta caraya) in a fragmented wood of the Northeast of Argentina”, directed by Dr. Zunino of the Biological Station of Corrientes (Argentina); and lastly, the winning project, “Ecology of the ebola virus and its effects on the gorilla population of the plains in Santuario de Lossi (Republic of Congo)”, developed and directed by Dr. Rodríguez Teijeiro of Universitat de Barcelona. This research project was selected, among other reasons, for its relevance in the preservation of coast gorillas through the study of one of the illnesses that is causing the greatest amount of deaths within this species.

The Panel also wanted to remark on the quality of the project entitled “Nutritious Ecology and variability of dental microwear of a population of Papio cynocephalus from Amboseli National Park (Kenya)”, directed by Dr. Martínez Pérez-Pérez and Dr. Blas Esteban of Universitat de Barcelona, which despite its not being a purely ethological project like the rest, deserved special recognition.

Barcelona Zoological Park would like to thank the participation of the project heads and directors, and appreciates the very significant effort they made. We would like to thank as well the Panel’s members for their invaluable collaboration. Because of all of them it will be possible to make a new contribution to the defence of biodiversity, which unfortunately is so needy of both individual and institutional initiatives, financial resources, intellectual work and imagination. Congratulations to all on a job well done.

Barcelona Zoological Park – Barcelona de Serveis Municipals, SA