We raise the rarest ducklings in Prague

Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Zoo Praha

Let me remind you that Brazilian merganser is a beautiful, dark-coloured piscivorous duck, the last representative of the Mergus genus on the south hemisphere. At the same time, it is one of the rarest water birds, it was even considered to be extinct in the middle of the 20th century. Fortunately, this turned out to be a premature conclusion, but the reality is that its numbers in the wild are extremely low, being estimated at less than 250 individuals, and that it is critically endangered.

In Brazil, efforts to save Brazilian merganser are being made primarily by the non-profit organization Natureza do Futuro and Zooparque Itatiba, which have been significantly supported by Prague Zoo since 2020. In total, we have already provided almost one and a quarter million Czech Crowns to Brazil for breeding the Brazilian mergansers in human care and their research in the field. Also, thanks to this support but mainly to an excellent reputation of our breeders, we received a group of these mergansers in the autumn 2023 from Itatiba as the very first and the only one breeding facility outside of Brazil. And now we are raising first five chicks!

Breeding Brazilian mergansers is not easy and even in Itatiba it occurs with varying degrees of success. This is why we inform about our chicks only now, although we are not fully out of the woods yet. But enjoy the photos of the Brazilian ducklings which I took during their development starting from January 31, when they left the box. If everything goes well, we will introduce them to you in the outdoor aviary on Good Friday.