Director´s view

Director´s view
Director´s view
Lord Howe Island stick insect. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

For a very long time I wished to get Lord Howe Island stick insect (Dryococelus australis) from Australia to Prague Zoo. Not only is it probably the most massive species of flightless insect, but the story of its alleged extinction, rediscovery and rescue is extraordinary. And after years, my wish has finally come true!

Inuit carving of a polar bear from the collections of the National Museum—Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures

The “cornerstone” of the Artic Exhibit, which we will tap next Saturday at Prague Zoo, will be very unconventional. We will place an ice cube measuring 1 x 1 x 1 meter on a stone base and a thousand pieces of small souvenirs will be frozen in it. As soon as the ice gradually begins to thaw, visitors will be able to take them away.

Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Zoo Praha

We kept a lid on it for a long time, but we are not going to keep this excellent news secret any longer. We have another unique chick! They are amazing—no ugly ducklings, quite the opposite. And extremely rare, on top of it. The first in Europe. What’s more, the first in the world, except Brazil. Yes, we are raising five...

Red-necked wallabies—though not the continental subspecies, but rather the Tasmanian one—can be seen today in Darwin’s Crater in Prague Zoo. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

This year marks 120 years since the football club AFK Vršovice, today’s Bohemians 1905, was founded. That’s why I made a little search into the history of kangaroos, which are inseparably connected with this club.

Altogether 1,043 young of reptiles, birds and mammals have been born or hatched during 2024. It is not so much about their total number, but rather the exceptionality of many of them. Only a few zoological gardens can boast of three ape babies in one year, and no other zoo in Europe has raised a second pangolin baby. However,...

Photo: Kristýna Čechlovská, Prague Zoo

The area of the Strictly Protected Area Great Gobi A in southwestern Mongolia is comparable with Switzerland. It is a deserted, remote part of the world, but for years we have been participating here in protection of the wild camel. An uninformed layman would probably not be able to tell it apart from the domestic Bactrian...

Connie eats the diluted mixture “flavoured” by the ants. Photo by Miroslav Bobek

Five-month-old pangolin female Connie hasn’t even noticed the special diluted mixture. She even walked through it in the plastic feeding box and smeared it on the bottom. She thus clearly illustrated the big problem that we had been struggling with for weeks: we could not graduate her from the mother’s milk to the food of...

Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) in Prague Zoo. Photo Miroslav Bobek

Lions as well as other large carnivores occasionally also hunt porcupines, probably mostly when they don’t have enough of their usual food, or when young males in particular test their limits (which is, all in all, a feature of all young males of a lot of animal species including humans).

Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) in Prague Zoo. Photo: Miroslav Bobek

Porcupine’s spines are an item in demand, weather as a souvenir, or a material for fishing floats. However, when I visited the Archives of the City of Prague, I discovered to my surprise that the restorers also use them when cleaning the bindings of old books. Lo and behold! I immediately offered that our zoo would become...

Six months old Gaia in Prague Zoo. Photo Miroslav Bobek

Today the female gorilla Gaia is exactly six months old. To have current pictures of her for this opportunity, I went to take her photos ahead of time.