Hand-rearing: The red ruffed lemurs are among the favorite animals of zoo director Thomas Kauffels.
Image: Wonge Bergman
Thomas Kauffels, the director of the Opel Zoo, on mistakes in interpreting animal behavior, differences between domestic, zoo and wild animals – and the delicate question of the soul.
Mr. Kauffels, you are the director of the zoo. Do you understand animals better than anyone else?
I wasn’t born a zoo director, I trained as a zookeeper and worked in the profession for five years before I went to university. The trouble is, animals don’t tell you how they’re doing. Wild animals in particular pretend that everything is 100 percent okay until they really can’t anymore. That’s why you have to be sensitive and anticipate: what could be, if? This is learned over time.