Amazon Rainforest Researchers Visit Campus
The Amazon rainforest is a long way from the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo, but the two places are inextricably linked by one of the zoo’s namesakes—Dr. Thomas Lovejoy ’59. The AZA-accredited zoo and focus on environmental stewardship at Millbrook School helped inspire Lovejoy to initiate world-changing research in Amazonia with the help of fellow alum Rob Bierregaard ’69. So, scientists Rita Mesquita and Mario Cohn-Haft, who are carrying on Lovejoy’s still-running experiment in Brazil, felt right at home when they stopped in for a short visit.
Mesquita and Cohn-Haft—along with Lovejoy’s daughters Kata and Betsy, Bierregaard, President of the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo Board of Trustees Kelly Coles ’86, and other special guests—spent busy days on campus on Thursday and Friday. They were here to share about the important conservation work they do in Brazil through Lovejoy’s Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) with faculty and students. Also, the visit laid the groundwork for potential Millbrook student trips to Lovejoy’s Camp 41 in the Amazon jungle.
“Camp 41 has been visited in the past by many Millbrook folks, including our last three heads of school…and our zoo Director Dr. Alan Tousignant,” the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo staff explained in a social media post. “Our hope is that the Millbrook connection to this place will remain strong in the future and Millbrook students, faculty, alumni, parents and friends will continue to visit this place and learn from [Dr. Lovejoy’s] legacy in the actual place where he did so much of his work.”
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In various science classes and at a special dinner with a select group of students who work at the zoo and lead stewardship efforts on campus, the scientists captivated their audiences with depictions of their work. Mesquita, who is the National Secretary for Biodiversity, Forests, and Animal Rights in Brazil’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, described her work studying forest fragmentation. She passionately made a case for preserving biodiversity in Amazonia while explaining the legal and social challenges she faces in her government role. Cohn-Haft, who met Mesquita while the two were bird banding for BDFFP and later married her in 1991, is an ornithologist by trade. He regaled students and faculty with interesting facts and stories from his over 40-year career studying biodiversity.
During their time here, they took advantage of our 800-acre campus’s diverse ecosystem by going birding—even convincing a couple of students to join despite the 7 a.m. start time! They also visited the nearby Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and representatives from the institute were also on campus on Friday for the Camp 41 dinner presentation.
The visit provided a unique opportunity for students to gain insider insight into a topic that’s always in the zeitgeist but not necessarily understood—saving the rainforest. Perhaps the group's visit inspired more than one student to follow in Dr. Lovejoy’s footsteps from Millbrook to the forefront of environmental conservation.
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