Parrots from the "Linear"

Photo: Prague Zoo’s archive

Professor Janda’s favourites
Prague Zoo’s founder and first director, Professor Jiří Janda, was a great lover of birds, especially parrots. Apart from a tame cockatoo, he also owned several amazons, which were brought to the newly opened zoo in 1931. Over time, the tame birds were replaced with breeding pairs and breeding successes, which culminated in the reproduction of the Yellow-billed Amazon in 2008, one of the first such achievements in a zoo globally.

Zoo’s firsts
Prague Zoo has recorded several firsts in the “Linear”. The Burrowing Parrots, imported to the zoo in 1950, were among the world’s first to reproduce in human care. They were followed by Lord Derby’s Parakeets, whose first import to Central Europe in 1952 was to Prague Zoo, where they began to breed soon. The third to make history was the Slender-billed Parakeet, which reproduced in Prague Zoo in 1979 – probably the first time ever in a zoo.

Sociable screamers
Some of the first parrots at Prague Zoo were the Monk Parakeets, which have been kept at the zoo since 1930s, an almost uninterrupted tradition. They have been reproducing here since the 1950s and during that time several hundred chicks have hatched. Apart from them, there have been several other representatives of the smaller South American parrots, including colourful conures such as the Sun Conure.