Director´s view

I’m trying to recall how many times I came across a trace of Czechia in Central Africa. Not many. Probably the one that stuck in my mind the most was a dilapidated Zetor tractor in the depths of the Congo. But recently, in Cameroon, a completely different Czech trace surfaced in front of me.

The wait is over! Two Chinese pangolins – a male, Guo Bao, and a female, Run Hou Tang – have been at Prague Zoo since Thursday. These are truly exceptional animals. They are the only mammals to be covered in scales, so, at first glance, they look like reptiles, and they have many other remarkable features associated with...

Last Saturday morning, the director of Mykolaiv Zoo, Vladimir Topchij, published a photo with the caption “a night-time gift for our zoo”. It depicted a cluster bomb embedded in the ground. At more or less the same time, he also sent back the signed contract that was necessary for us to be able to pay him ten thousand euros...

The driver had stashed his machine gun between the front seats of the Landcruiser, but the other Kahuzi-Biega National Park rangers held theirs in their hands, even as we turned off the main road and took the muddy, deeply rutted road to the top of the hill. The car skidded and slid until we finally came to a halt at a wooden...

There are heart-breaking reports from Ukrainian zoos.

World Pangolin Day is always commemorated on the third Saturday in February. Recently, it has finally entered the consciousness, if not of the public, then at least of those interested in nature and its conservation. Its aim is to draw attention to these mammals’ uniqueness and the threat they face from illegal hunting and trade.

The most easterly provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo are still dealing with the consequences of the influx of refugees from neighbouring Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide there, and the tragedies of the two subsequent Congolese wars. These have yet to die down fully and have led to the so-called ‘Kivu conflict’,...

On Saturday, January 22nd, an Egyptian vulture flew in to Prague Zoo. From Lebanon, by plane.

The scientific paper published last year by Timothy T. Taylor and Christina I. Barrón-Ortiz may not have a very catchy title – Rethinking the Evidence for Early Horse Domestication at Botai – however, it is very interesting. After reading it, I remembered one of my favourite kaleidoscopes. Simply turn it around and the...