To commemorate the International Year of Biodiversity, the Biodiversity Foundation is bringing to Zaragoza the exhibition “The Wild Gaze”, which will be open to the public from March 25 to May 9, in the Nature Classroom of the Primo de Rivera Park. It is a work by the prestigious nature photographer, Andoni Canela.

This unpublished document shows the visitor the life of 40 species photographed in a state of absolute freedom and, at the same time, hides the complexity of portraying the elusive inhabitants of our nature reserves without altering their environment in the slightest.

The selection offered to the public is made up of 50 photographs that represent the diversity of the natural heritage of one of the richest territories on the continent. The tour starts with large images of specimens of Iberian fauna (varnished by hand and mounted on oak wood frames from beams more than three centuries old) and with explanatory panels that account for the places where they have been taken, as well as the state of conservation of each species.

Bears, lynxes, wolves, capercaillie, foxes and bearded vultures serve as ambassadors of the International Year of Biological Diversity to provide citizens who come to visit them with a message of conservation and respect for the habitats where they live. Three of the privileged settings covered by the exhibition belong to Aragonese territory: the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Los Monegros and La Laguna de Gallocanta.

“La mirada salvaje”, which began its itinerancy in Valencia and is mounted in Zaragoza with the collaboration of the Zaragoza City Council and SEO/BirdLife Aragón, proposes the enjoyment of the contemplation of these images of emblematic animals as an approach to the richness of our natural heritage. With the help of the Biodiversity Foundation, the exhibition will tour, throughout 2010, three other Spanish cities: Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid.