Tommy the Gecko and Eden Planting

 

TOMMY the gecko has the Distinction of being the Eden Project’s first wildlife guest.

After spending two years in quarantine Tommy will eventually be joined high up in the canopy of the Humid Tropics biome by a limited number of birds and other reptiles which will provide an in-house pest control service. 

Humid tropics curator Robin Lock says: 'There are absolutely no chemicals being used to control plant pests because Eden is a public domain. 

"We will introduce between two and three species of small birds, quail, and reptiles which will be carefully selected to help us control the pest problem."

Robin, who has spent the last six years in the tropics studying a vast range of plant life, says that what the public will see when Eden open fully next Easter will be very different to what they'll find in five years time.

'The challenge is that we're planting not one, but four different types of rainforest - all in an artificial setting. There will also be the cornucopia area of the biome which will demonstrate all sorts of different crop plants.

So the buzz will be in controlling and co-ordinating this amazing, vast greenhouse."

"We are not like Kew Gardens which concentrates a great deal on rare plants, but at Eden the emphasis is on telling the story of plants and how much humans depend on them."

Plants have come from universities and botanical garden all over the world, some having had to spend up to six months in quarantine at Eden's Watering Lane Nursery before they are given an all-clear by Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food inspectors.

( Report from the Cornish Guardian 05/10/00 Cornwall's best newspaper.)

Links

Humid Tropics Biome Planting Starts

 

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