Director´s view

When I wrote last week about the aardvark female Pieta, who became the oldest representative of her species in the world, also the oldest historically, I should not forget some other representatives of the oldest animals also living in our zoo.

I preferred not to talk too much about it, not to jinx it and waited patiently until Saturday. Then I went to congratulate Pieta with a handful of mealworms.

I missed the first two mountain bongos this year – by that I mean I did not see them on the day they were born - but the third one was a Sunday baby and I managed to be there. I found it lying at the feet of his now 14-year-old mother Maureen, who was watching me attentively. Everything seemed to be running smoothly....

The female of Chinese pangolin Šiska was half-a-year-old on Wednesday. We can consider her breeding completed – and we can add another item to the list of historical achievements of Prague Zoo, in this case in bold.

Whenever we release in western Mongolia Przewalski’s horses transported from Europe, I experience a feeling of satisfaction. Of course… However, I had a similar feeling also last week, when we returned to the East of Mongolia, the Valley of Monasteries, after half a year.

I have collected some photos of butterflies during my walks around the zoo. When I looked at them yesterday, I realized that it is a decent collection and includes some very rare species. Even the experts, who determined the relevant species, refer to a few shots from Sklenářka in their reports.

In Darwin Crater we have recently introduced Winkleigh, the wombat female, to the public. And now we also have a contemporary of dinosaurs in this exhibit. It is Wollemia nobilis, whose unbelievable story began to unfold in front of the eyes of people all over the world less than thirty years ago.

When I left my office to watch the couple of hamerkops that were tirelessly carrying material to their already gigantic nest in the aviary under the cliff, Helena Růžičková’s replica from the well-known Czech comic film Sun, Hay and Strawberries came to my mind: “If you build an extension, we’ll add a whole floor!”...

“200 km straight, then a mild curve to the left, again 200 km straight, right turn and after another 50 km we will stop for the night,” I wrote home with only a little exaggeration when we were heading by cars to the “Golden Steppe” Altyn Dala after the afternoon flight to Kostanay in northern Kazakhstan. The following...