Trees around the world are essential to daily life and operations ranging from supporting wildlife to many commercial industries. Trees provide food, shade, habitat and materials. They help improve air and soil quality, while also contributing to aesthetics and outdoor recreational activities. Trees positively impact our lives in such a way that many countries globally recognize their importance in observance of Arbor Day, a holiday dedicated to the care and planting of trees! As zoological horticulturists, we acknowledge and understand the significance of trees and greenspaces here every day in our daily duties, plannings and functions.
Trees introduce beauty and dimension into the gardens. Flowering trees and shrubs bring color and texture at different heights and attract important and captivating pollinators. Trees within the gardens, exhibits, parking lots and the Zoo as a whole, allow shade and cooler temps for guests, employees, animals and even other shade-tolerant plants in warmer Jacksonville weather conditions. We plant certain trees to serve as a more attractive privacy screen for exhibits, buildings and other types of infrastructure. We also plant trees within our gardens as memorials in remembrance of loved ones in the community. Trees within the gardens provide habitats for native wildlife from the top of the tree canopy down to their root system. The list goes on and on!
What really makes trees so important is the immense and abundant benefits they bring to the wellbeing of our resident animals. Trees and other plant life within exhibits allow their home to resemble and function similarly to the species’ natural habitat. Trees that were planted, along with native ones, are given out to the animals for enrichment and nutritional purposes. For example, our lovely elephants are given the trunks of palm trees to explore and play with. Or, when certain trees and shrubs, approved by our veterinarians, are pruned, we give the plant material to the animal keepers to be used as browse, which helps encourage natural foraging behaviors. We also use large, pruned branches to provide perching materials for several different bird species within their exhibits.
Trees have a vast and significant role in many different ecosystems globally and especially here at Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. You can experience all of the amazing attributes trees bring from aesthetics to food by planting one in your very own landscape this year. Happy Florida Arbor Day!