Your eyes are not deceiving you, Nuremberg Airport is once again enlisting the help of water buffaloes to maintain difficult to get to meadows around the airport site.
These robust animals, which were used for the same purpose last year, contribute to the maintenance of sensitive biotopes and the promotion of biodiversity through their natural way of life, helping to preserve ecologically valuable areas.
In essence, the water buffaloes will graze the wet meadows for several weeks, quietly and effectively ensuring that the airport doesn’t have to use machinery to mow the grass.
It notes that the wet, difficult-to-access areas along the Bucher Landgraben provide the perfect conditions for the water buffalo, the animals feed by grazing (eating grass directly from the ground) and pasturing (eating plants in the pasture).
Colleagues from the environmental department internally refer to the buffalo as ‘Alma and the Gang’, as Alma is the lead buffalo and keeps the others in check.
There are five water buffaloes in action, each weighing around 600 kilogrammes.