About

Sanctuary Projects

Our Projects

Biodiversity Catalog, Migrant Empowerment, Waste Water Management, Fungi Cultivation, Endangered Species Exhibition

 

BioDiversity CataloG

The Sanctuary is dedicated to creating a library of the evolution of life over the years. It’s for this reason, an inventory of animals, plants, and fungi at the farm allows us to better understand our environment. For example, with some research, we can discover interesting medicinal plants or add some that will help our bees. It also allows us to measure the increase in biodiversity over time, especially after we enhance our landscape with the addition of our water ponds. We have had a substantial increase in birds, butterflies, frogs, dragonflies.

The Intersection of Art & Biodiversity

There is an active interplay between Art and Nature at the Sanctuary. We enjoy involving our artists in many of our projects. Inviting them to use their talents to illustrate and help us inventory the various plants, animals and fungi makes the biodiversity project more interesting and keeps a record of their stay.

Click the Images Below to Learn More About the Ever-Changing Biodiversity at the Farm

How Does This Project Support the Mission of the Sanctuary?

We would like to be a sanctuary for all creatures, big and small. We rescue domesticated animals but we also care about wildlife in an attempt to create harmony (mainly through habitat restoration). Increased biodiversity year after year is one way to measure the quality of our work which starts with healing the soil and continues with a respectful and attentive approach to growing food and caring for all creatures.

Fungi Cultivation


“Nature has been experimenting with fungi for a billion years, perfecting a lot of powerful survival tools. We can use these tools in fantastic ways— to revive damaged ecosystems, offset global warming, and even prevent diseases.”

Paul Stamets


Mushrooms are often looked at either as food or as a drug. They are so much more than that. Mycologists like Paul Stamets and others have shown that there are mushrooms with extraordinary health benefits as well as medicinal properties. They are already used against depression, and substance abuse showing excellent results. 

Fungi are the creators of soil, the connectors between plants and the mineral world. Genetic comparisons place humans closer to Fungi than to plants!

The kingdom of fungi has been understudied for a long time. It is impossible to understand soil composition without studying the role of fungi. We are looking at that world not just as a food source but also as a way to help our plants better absorb nutrients through their symbiotic relationship with fungi.

The Sanctuary has dedicated time and resources to designing and building a Fungi Cellar to grow oyster and shitake mushrooms and learning ways to inoculate specific kinds of fungi in the soil in order to help various trees thrive in often complex environments.

Waste Water Management

Water is the most precious resource on the planet. In order to consume it wisely in this arid part of the world, a multi-faceted approach is needed. Wastewater management is one of them. The idea is to purify then reuse the water for irrigation purposes.  The importance of this project on the farm will allow us to be resourceful in our use of water overall. The development of our drip irrigation system, contributes to massively reducing our water usage. 

In keeping with our commitment to growing the Sanctuary in partnership. We have started a relationship Green Watech, founded by Dr. Salma Bougarrani, a Moroccan water researcher and entrepreneur. This fledgling company has patented, a low-tech, affordable way to purify wastewater through a process called photocatalytic ozonation.

Endangered Species exhibition.. Coming in 2023

It is natural for us as a Sanctuary to create multiple events around environmental protection. Species go extinct on a regular basis, mainly because of habitat destruction. The tipping point for our engagement with this project was learning of the death of the last male Northern White Rhino in 2018. This prompted us to be more active in the area of wildlife protection.

We plan to create a multi-disciplinary exhibition that involves artists working with different media: painting, ceramics, carpets, woof sculptures. We will focus on critically endangered species allowing the artists to choose the animals/plants that inspire them.

Education

The Sanctuary is a living classroom. The resources we cultivate are powerful tools to teach individuals of all ages and from all walks of life about our responsibilities in taking care of our land and animals. We are particularly committed to being a resource to the local community, including area schools that allow us to complement their curriculum to include topics ecology, art, permaculture, beekeeping, and animal care.

SOLAR ENERGY

Solar Energy

We All Have a Responsibility

Solar is important to long-term sustainability on the Farm. Our location in Morocco has positioed us at the right latitude to benefit from solar all year round. It has been helpful to us to be located in a country that has made a conserted effort to identify ways to harvest solar production that will assist with enhancing the infrasturce of the entire country.

We have taken a responsible approach by capturing solar energy using 120 photovoltaïc panels, producing roughly 30% of the electricity we need to run our operations at the Farm.

We anticipate our commitment to solar will produce long-term benefits including:

* Access to clean and renewable energy, available nearly every day of the year in Morocco

* Reduction in fossil fuels that are the main cause for climate change globally.

* Eventually we hope to identify a solution to harness energy and store it to further reduce our reliance on the grid.

migrant Empowerment

The refugee crisis is a major problem of our times. Our farm can be a place where people can get solid training in various aspects of organic farming and permaculture. Our refugee-related effort is modest but other farms might look at us and realize that there is an untapped workforce that desperately needs an income. With a set of skills, job opportunities might also open up for these young people.

 
 
 
 

Amphibians

Amphibians are vertebrates that require water to survive, are cold-blooded, and spend time both on land and in water. Though other animals only live on land or in the water, amphibians have the unique ability to thrive equally in both.

 

MARSH FROG

The marsh frog is a species of water frog commonly found in Europe and parts of western Asia. They are the largest frogs native to Europe. Their favorite food is insects and they are solitary creatures and they can live from 5-10 years. They have permeable skin that can come in Brown, Yellow, Black, White, and Green. Their habitats are typically ponds, lakes, and rivers. Often confused as a reptile, frogs are actually amphibians. In fact, frogs make up 90% of the 6,000 species of amphibians.

 

Birds

 
 

Common blackbird a.k.a. Raven

The Raven is commonly found in open areas such as tundras, taigas, cliffs, deserts, plains, and just about every habitat except for rainforests. They are known for their intelligence and can live between 13 and 44 years. Often associated with loss and an omen, due to the notable poem, the Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, Ravens are talkers and scavengers. They are effective hunters that sometimes use cooperative techniques and contribute to recycling nutrients into the ecosystem by eating the carcasses of dead animals.

Blackbird Call

Common Chiffchaff

A ChiffChaff is a leaf warbler found in woodlands throughout northern Europe and the Palearctic. It migrates in winters to southern and western Europe, Southern Asia, and North Africa. It eats insects from trees and can be seen flying out to snap them up in flight.

ChiffChaff Call

Starling

Starlings are highly social birds that are commonly found in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. They have a shimmering, iridescent black-green-and-purple plumage, dotted with light speckles that mimics a starry night sky. They eat moths and caterpillars, flies and fly larvae, and many other insects. Fun fact: They are master mimics—they can reproduce the sounds of humans, other birds, and inanimate objects.

Starling Call

Common Swift

Swifts are among the fastest of birds in level flight and can cruise at a maximum speed of 31 meters per second. Often mistaken for swallows, they are typically found in most parts of the world, except the Polar regions, southern Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia. They typically spend their lives in the air, eating, sleeping and even bathing.

Swift Call

Eurasia Hoopoe

A vibrantly-colored tropical bird with a Mohican feathered top is known as a hoopoe. They are known for their distinctive zebra-striped wings and bright orange head crest.  Usually found across Africa and southern Europe, they have an impressive wing span allowing them to travel long distances.  They typically eat seeds, insects, and small reptiles.

HOOPoe Call

Eurasian Collared Dove

The Eurasian collared dove is a dove species native to Europe and Asia.  Because of its vast global range and increasing population trend, it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2014. Eurasian collared doves do not migrate and live in towns and cities, in urban gardens and parks. In their original range, they typically occur in semi-desert regions with scattered trees, or mixed thickets and orchards.

Eurasian Collared Dove call

Fulvous-Babbler

Found most often in forest and scrub in southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent range including Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. Most often brownish in color the legs of these birds are strong. Males and females tend to have a few differences only. They are also known to be noisy creatures.

Fulvous - babbler call

House-Bunting

These birds are mostly found in North Africa, which includes Morocco. They are omnivorous and feed on both plants and animals. Though seeds are a part of their diet, these tiny birds are capable hunters and are known to hunt and prey on small insects and spiders. 

House Bunting Call

House-Sparrow

The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water. In doing so, a sparrow may make a small depression in the ground, and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows. The House Sparrow prefers to nest in manmade structures such as eaves or walls of buildings, streetlights, and nest boxes instead of in natural nest sites such as holes in trees.

House Sparrow Call

Maghreb-Magpie

The magpie of North Africa; is very similar to the Eurasian Magpie and closely related. Slightly shorter-winged and longer-tailed than Eurasian Magpie with blue bare skin around the eye. Also lacks gloss on the tail. Found in various wooded habitats including urban and suburban gardens, woodlands, cultivated areas, and forests. The call is a rapid chatter and is slightly higher pitched than that of Eurasian Magpie.

Magpie Call

African Pied Wagtail

The only black-and-white wagtail in Africa shows a bold white eyebrow and wing panels and a broad black throat patch. The juvenile is brownish. Pairs and family groups frequent a broad range of habitats, including human-altered environments, but in drier areas, they are associated with waterside habitats. The species runs on the ground foraging for insects, characteristically wagging its tail up and down in an exaggerated motion.

African Pied Wagtail Call

Putter-European-Gold-Finch

Beautiful little finch with a sharp pink bill, cherry-red face, and brilliant black-and-yellow flashes in the wings. Uses a wide array of wooded and open habitats, from forests and gardens to steppe grasslands and meadows; often feeds on seeding thistles.

Gold Finch call

Spanish Sparrow

Also known as Willow Sparrows found in the Mediterranean region and south-west and central Asia. They are decreasing in population.  They are often mistaken for House Sparrows.  The males have a heavily streaked black breast and back and a rufous crown and nape. Females can be difficult to separate from female House Sparrows but have bigger bills and paler bellies. 

spanish sparrow call

Western-Cattle-Egret

Small, compact white heron with a relatively short yellow bill. More frequently seen in dry habitats than other egrets; rarely gets its feet wet. What do cattle egrets do for cattle?

The cattle egret removes ticks and flies from cattle and consumes them. This benefits both species, the relationship between a cattle egret and a cow is called mutualism because both benefits from the relationship and neither is harmed by the relationship.

western cattle egret call

White-Wagtail

The White wagtail is a small insectivorous bird of the open country, often near habitation and water. It prefers bare areas for feeding, where it can see and pursue its prey. In urban areas, it has adapted to foraging on paved areas such as car parks. It is the national bird of Latvia and has featured on the stamps of several countries.

White Wagtail Call

Wood Pigeon

A large member of the Dove and Pigeon family. Inhabits wooded and semiopen habitats, including towns and gardens. Forms flocks, especially in winter. Often rather unaware, and frequently crashes noisily and clumsily out of hedges and bushes. Found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Common wood pigeons are gregarious, often forming very large flocks outside the breeding season.

Wood Pigeon Call

European Pied Flycatcher

These birds breed all over Europe and parts of Northern Africa. Females and immature males are two tones of brown, while breeding males mature to become jet black on their backs. Both sexes have a white underbelly, females tend to be more dull and dusty in color. The males of this species are often polygamous and have separate territories for their separate mates and offsprings. 

Pied flycatcher Call

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

A small long-tailed hawk, with rounded wings, and notable yellow eyes. They do not soar often, mostly seen darting for quick hunting flights. They are brown with horizontal striped underparts. They are seen in woodland, forests, farmlands, gardens, and sometimes urban areas with wooded areas to hide. They are habitants of Europe, and scattered throughout parts of Asia and Northern Africa. 

Eurasan Sparrowhawk Call

Mammals

Barbary Stripped Grass Mouse

This species of mouse is native to coastal Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.  The life expectancy of the grass mouse is no more than 6 months in the wild. They construct narrow tunnels to store food.

Greater Mouse Tailed Bat

Mouse Tailed Bats live in deserts and semi-arid climates in North Africa and South Asia, from Morocco and Senegal to South Sudan, the Middle East and India to Myanmar, Thailand, and North-Sumatra. They typically eat insects, including flying ants, termites, beetles, and moths. As the temperatures get cooler, they store fat, especially in the abdominal, stomach, region. These fat deposits can equal the bat's normal body weight.

Reptiles

Many Scaled Cylindrical Skink

It is found in Morocco and Western Sahara. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, rocky areas, sandy shores, and pastureland. It is threatened by habitat loss. Skinks are the most diverse group of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards.

Mediterranean Gecko

The Mediterranean house gecko is common in the Mediterranean area. It is commonly referred to as the Turkish gecko as represented in its Latin name and also as the moon lizard because it emerges in the evening.   They are totally nocturnal and their highest activity peak around 2 am.  They love insects and rarely exceed 15 centimeters in length. They have lidless eyes and can be identified by purple or tan-colored skin with black spots.

Spanish Turtle

Endemic to North Africa, the Spanish Pond Turtle is a very long-lived animal that can live for one hundred years. It prefers stagnant or slow-flowing water. You can find them in all kinds of ponds, natural or artificial, reservoirs, dams, park and garden lakes, as well as ditches, irrigation canals, pools, marshes, streams, and large rivers. It can be mistaken with the European pond turtle.

Insects

Acrida Turrita

A type of grasshopper found in Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, Hawaii, and Australia. It is omnivorous, eating both plant and animal matter. A well-known pest of many agricultural crops.

American Cockroach

Not actually from America, the cockroach hitchhiked on ships from Africa in the early 1600s, demonstrating their resilience. Adults can live up to one year and an adult female will produce an average of 150 young in her lifetime. Environmental factors such as temperature and humidity affect the developmental time of the American cockroach.

Common Red Soldier Beetle

These widespread insects are also commonly referred to as 'bloodsucker' for its striking red appearance, but it is harmless. They are helpful to gardens because the adults eat aphids, and the larvae eat other pests.

Convergent Lady Beetle

Convergent Ladybugs don’t bite, but they consume several harmful garden pests such as aphids, and they never congregate in large numbers. Most importantly, when it gets cold they seek shelter outdoors. The female lady beetle lays 200 to 300 eggs over several months during spring and early summer.

Crimson Speckled Moth

Moths typically bland in color make the Crimson Speckled Moth stand out. Attracted to light, it’s known as a daytime flying moth, they can be found in many areas in Africa and distributed across most of South Africa.

Eucalyptus Long-Horned Borer

A species of beetle, the Eucalyptus Long-Horned Borer looks for decaying trees and branches, it inflicts critical damage on Eucalyptus trees. They are primarily active during the more temperate initial dusk hour.

European Mantis Biattodea

Commonly known as praying mantis, their name is derived from the distinctive posture of the first pair of legs that can be observed in animals in repose. It resembles a praying attitude. Some people keep them as pets. They can change color, often due to temperature changes. They don’t like to move much and some can spend their entire life cycle on a single plant. They are also known to turn their heads 180 degrees.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

Hummingbird Hawk Moth flutters its wings so quickly that it can appear orange and makes an audible hum. it can be commonly found in gardens, hovering like a hummingbird as it feeds on the nectar of honeysuckle and other flowers.

LadyBug

There are more than 5,000 species worldwide. Also known as ladybirds, they have been to space and survived. They go into hibernation and emerge when temperatures reach 55 degrees. The average lifespan is 1 to 2 years.

Large-White Moth

Most types of moths are nocturnal. During the day they hide in dark places, under the leaves of trees. Fully-grown moths survive on a liquid diet of tree sap, flower nectar, and even juice from a piece of rotting fruit. These insects only live an average of 40 days. When they see an electric light, they get confused, lose direction, and fly into the light.

Mediterranean Red Bug

Also known as Stainer, and Firebug, this invasive species is a ground-dwelling bug that feeds on seeds and seed pods. They are plant-feeding insects found mostly in the tropics and subtropics, known as a stainer due to the stain they leave on cotton plants.

Mediterranean Spotted Chafer

Also known as the “White-spotted Rose Beetle” Abundant throughout southern and central Europe, and Mediterranean North Africa. They are daytime insects and can be seen as active in the bright sun when they fly readily. They visit flowers of a range of trees and shrubs as well as herbaceous plants to feed on nectar and pollen.

Pimelia-Grandis

Pimelia is a daytime insect, emerging in the early morning and late evening but remaining under the sand during the hot hours of the day. They are a part of the darkening beetle species. Commonly found in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Senegal, and Ethiopia.

Rough Woodlouse

They need a humid environment; they relocate based on whether they currently need more or less water in their systems. They prefer moist, dark areas where it is possible to avoid desiccation. They live under leaf litter, rocks, and fallen logs in forests, meadows, and gardens, and are frequently found in splash zones, dunes, and salt marshes.

Red Veined Darter

Part of the dragonfly family is the Red Wing Darter or also known as the Neon Skimmer. They are rare to see and in some Asian cultures are signs of “good luck” They are attracted to water because they breed in water. Their young hide among water plants.

Dociostaurus Maroccanus

Dociostaurus Maroccanus, more commonly known as the Moroccan Locust, are considered the most dangerous invasive agricultural species around the Mediterranean. They can fly long distances and some years they congregate and create large swarms which prove fatal to agricultural lands. They span across Northern Africa, parts of Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. They can be either brown, green, or dark-yellow, and change based on migration and swarming patterns. 

Carpenter Ant

The Camponotus Herculeanus, is one of the largest ant species in the world. Known for the size and strength of their jaws they are also referred to as the Hercules Ant. Worker ants are about 5-12 mm in size, very dark in color, and notably have a red midsection and legs. Queen carpenter ants are 14-17mm in size and much darker, with transparent red shades along the sides of their bodies and legs.

Arachnids

Mauritania Scorpion

Androctonus mauritanicus, also called the Mauritania Scorpion is native to Morocco. They range from dark-brown to black in color with a matte appearance, and have fat-tails. This species' venom is neurotoxic, extremely painful and sometimes fatal to humans. Their size can vary from 6-10cm, and they have an average lifespan on 5 years. 

Camel Spider

Also sometimes referred to as sun spiders, are Arachnids known for their speed. They live in dry climates and feed on arthropods and other small animals. They can reach a speed of 10 miles per hour and grow to about 6 inches. Although their bite is extremely painful, they pose no threat to humans. Their powerful jaws, which can be up to a third of their body length, aids in killing and feeding on insects, rodents, lizards and small birds.  

Wolf Spider

Wolf spiders are harmless. They vary in size and can be alarming when found in homes, but they are not harmful. wolf spiders are hunters and stalk their prey. They have large eyes, giving them exceptional vision and allowing them to spy on prey.

Butheoloides Littoralis

This species of scorpion belongs to the Buthidae family, the largest family of scorpions. A female measures about 17 mm, where males measure only about 23 mm in size. This species is endemic to Morocco. They are typically yellow and brown, but can sometimes appear black.