The goral breeding pair moved to Plzen in March this year. Prague is now without this species. They were moved because of disturbance caused by construction of Arktida nearby.
source- FB
source- FB
Prague Zoo Praha Prague Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Kalaw
- Start date
August was slow month, some births:
- 8 D'Albert's pythons, 2 Horsfield’s tortoises, red-billed curassow, 3 Goodman's mouse lemurs, 2 male bongos, female addax, guanaco, pink pigeon, Javan rusa, 5 Texas gopher tortoises, 7 northern vipers, 2 Indonesian box turtles, 2 secret toadhead agamas, female mexican spider monkey
source
- 8 D'Albert's pythons, 2 Horsfield’s tortoises, red-billed curassow, 3 Goodman's mouse lemurs, 2 male bongos, female addax, guanaco, pink pigeon, Javan rusa, 5 Texas gopher tortoises, 7 northern vipers, 2 Indonesian box turtles, 2 secret toadhead agamas, female mexican spider monkey
source
4 capybaras were born yesterday. Source: V pražské zoo se narodila čtyři mláďata kapybar, dlouho si tam nepobudou
Père Damian's Deer
Well-Known Member
Mammals:
Outside and inside*:
Sumatran Tiger*
Malayan Tiger*
Asiatic Lion*
Fossa*
Amur Leopard Cat
Geoffrey's Cat
Fishing Cat*
Inside:
Palawan Leopard Cat
I don't remember the reptiles that well, but I remember there being a large Cuban Iguana enclosure
Panda_Fan
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Interesting to see that Prague has such an interesting collection of cats. Has there been any breeding with the small cats? Also, are the big cats geriatric? I think I read once that one of the species of tigers were young individuals, but unsure which; and also unsure about the lions. Thanks again.
This cat house opened in 1991 and was already outdated for large cat keeping then.
List of cat species kept that are no longer at the zoo or housed today elsewhere within the zoo areal:
- Amur leopard - kept and bred in miniature metal cages along south side of the house where now small cats live, imported ca 1990 from North Korea, kept there since opening date till they got evacuated in flood 2002, returned to zoo into upper part near Amur tigers (2005), last animal sent away this year and their exhibit got demolished
- Javan leopard, kept only 1.0 for few years on loan from Berlin, in aviary where now fossa lives
- clouded leopards - kept and bred several times, in small cat line of exhibits, last animal died recently
- jaguars - kept pre-flood of 2002 in last miniature cage between Amur leopards and lions, I can remmember 1,1 (black and yellow), bred once, spent last years off-show
- jaguaroundi - kept and bred where former jaguars lived after those cages got demolished and built new much larger aviaries, since then moved into upper zoo part into former oncilla enclosure
- caracals - kept and bred for several years in second of the small cat cages, kept only outdoors
- Sri Lankan rusty spotted cat - short time of 2 cats on loan from Ostrava, kept only indoors
Some other mammals were kept there only off-show for capacity reasons like brown bears. Also Amur tigers lived there for some time but I´m unsure if they were on-show. Golden-headed lion tamarins lived few years mixed with Cuban iguanas. Edit: Also green akuchi that lived with tamarins and iguanas.
I hope somebody else covers reptiles.
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Kalaw
Well-Known Member
I can provide the reptile list from August 2024 per my review of the collection from that time.
To help you better picture the pavilion, understand that with the exception of the first desert vivarium and the anaconda tank, all the reptile displays are in one big 'island' in the centre of the house, with the indoors for the cats around the perimeter. Like most of the pavilion, the island has a rather unusual shape (see Google Maps for a better idea of the building's layout). None of the cats' outdoor enclosures can be seen from the inside, and must be seen externally. The only taxa which strangely doesn't have outdoor access is the Palawan Leopard Cat.
I'm not sure why 'islands' are so popular in reptile houses. I remember hearing that it's something to do with the keeping of venomous snakes, allowing for antivenoms to be stored adjacent to the enclosures themselves, but I can't quite make sense of that.
Needless to say that none of the names I'm using for the various vivariums are official by any means, but I feel they're helpful.
First desert vivarium (immediate left of entrance):
Eastern Collared Lizard
Giant Horned Lizard
Zebra-tailed Lizard
Common Chuckwalla
Baja Blue Rock Lizard
Desert Spiny Lizard
Desert Iguana
Anaconda tank:
Green Anaconda
Silver Dollar
Silver Arowana
Second desert vivarium (at the front of the 'island'):
Steppe Agama
Secret Toadheaded Agama
Frog-eyed Sand Gecko
Ocellated Skink
Iraqi Spiny-tailed Lizard
Russian Tortoise
With the rest of vivariums on the island listed roughly in an anti-clockwise order:
Gaboon Viper vivarium:
Western Gaboon Viper
First Iguana vivarium:
Lesser Antillean Iguana
Large Southeast Asian vivarium:
Annam Pond Turtle
Murphy’s Pricklenape
Common Tree Frog
Tokay Gecko
Indochinese Box Turtle
Frilled Lizard & turtle vivarium:
Malayan Flat-shelled Turtle
Frilled Lizard
Second Iguana vivarium:
Five-keeled Spiny-tailed Iguana
Cuban Ground Iguana
Northern Curly-tailed Lizard
Smaller Southeast Asian vivarium:
Spiny Turtle
Green Tree Monitor
Rattlesnake vivarium:
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Cuban vivarium:
Cuban Tree Boa
Cuban Cave Anole
Latin American vivarium:
Eyelash Viper
Plumed Basilisk
The final exhibit (which from memory is between the rattlesnakes and the Cuban vivarium) is of special note due to its very interesting design. It is essentially a very large, glass-roofed hall divided into three sections. Some free-flying birds have access to the entirety of the hall, whereas three groups of iguanas belonging to two different species, plus some turtles, roam the ground portions. This allows the territorial iguana males to each have their own zone and their own group of females for breeding. Prague has been very prolific with Cuban Ground Iguanas (and, I think, iguanas as a whole) over the years. I love enclosures like this where you have smaller areas (turtle pools and iguana enclosures) placed within the context of a larger ecosystem, with the fact that all species are Latin American aiding with that.
Main reptile hall:
Cuban Ground Iguana
Green Iguana
North Antillean Slider
Cuban Grassquit
Ruddy Ground Dove
House Finch
So in total, the building has 34 species of reptile, 8 species of mammal, 3 birds, 2 fishes and 1 amphibian, so 48. As you can tell, lizards, and specifically iguanas, are the specialty, with some series rarities and breeding success. Unique mixed exhibits and, especially for the desert enclosures, really good landscaping are other notable features. I felt the small cat enclosures were excellent and the tiger enclosures decent, but the lion enclosure quite poor.
To help you better picture the pavilion, understand that with the exception of the first desert vivarium and the anaconda tank, all the reptile displays are in one big 'island' in the centre of the house, with the indoors for the cats around the perimeter. Like most of the pavilion, the island has a rather unusual shape (see Google Maps for a better idea of the building's layout). None of the cats' outdoor enclosures can be seen from the inside, and must be seen externally. The only taxa which strangely doesn't have outdoor access is the Palawan Leopard Cat.
I'm not sure why 'islands' are so popular in reptile houses. I remember hearing that it's something to do with the keeping of venomous snakes, allowing for antivenoms to be stored adjacent to the enclosures themselves, but I can't quite make sense of that.
Needless to say that none of the names I'm using for the various vivariums are official by any means, but I feel they're helpful.
First desert vivarium (immediate left of entrance):
Eastern Collared Lizard
Giant Horned Lizard
Zebra-tailed Lizard
Common Chuckwalla
Baja Blue Rock Lizard
Desert Spiny Lizard
Desert Iguana
Anaconda tank:
Green Anaconda
Silver Dollar
Silver Arowana
Second desert vivarium (at the front of the 'island'):
Steppe Agama
Secret Toadheaded Agama
Frog-eyed Sand Gecko
Ocellated Skink
Iraqi Spiny-tailed Lizard
Russian Tortoise
With the rest of vivariums on the island listed roughly in an anti-clockwise order:
Gaboon Viper vivarium:
Western Gaboon Viper
First Iguana vivarium:
Lesser Antillean Iguana
Large Southeast Asian vivarium:
Annam Pond Turtle
Murphy’s Pricklenape
Common Tree Frog
Tokay Gecko
Indochinese Box Turtle
Frilled Lizard & turtle vivarium:
Malayan Flat-shelled Turtle
Frilled Lizard
Second Iguana vivarium:
Five-keeled Spiny-tailed Iguana
Cuban Ground Iguana
Northern Curly-tailed Lizard
Smaller Southeast Asian vivarium:
Spiny Turtle
Green Tree Monitor
Rattlesnake vivarium:
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Cuban vivarium:
Cuban Tree Boa
Cuban Cave Anole
Latin American vivarium:
Eyelash Viper
Plumed Basilisk
The final exhibit (which from memory is between the rattlesnakes and the Cuban vivarium) is of special note due to its very interesting design. It is essentially a very large, glass-roofed hall divided into three sections. Some free-flying birds have access to the entirety of the hall, whereas three groups of iguanas belonging to two different species, plus some turtles, roam the ground portions. This allows the territorial iguana males to each have their own zone and their own group of females for breeding. Prague has been very prolific with Cuban Ground Iguanas (and, I think, iguanas as a whole) over the years. I love enclosures like this where you have smaller areas (turtle pools and iguana enclosures) placed within the context of a larger ecosystem, with the fact that all species are Latin American aiding with that.
Main reptile hall:
Cuban Ground Iguana
Green Iguana
North Antillean Slider
Cuban Grassquit
Ruddy Ground Dove
House Finch
So in total, the building has 34 species of reptile, 8 species of mammal, 3 birds, 2 fishes and 1 amphibian, so 48. As you can tell, lizards, and specifically iguanas, are the specialty, with some series rarities and breeding success. Unique mixed exhibits and, especially for the desert enclosures, really good landscaping are other notable features. I felt the small cat enclosures were excellent and the tiger enclosures decent, but the lion enclosure quite poor.
These being called respectively "Sonora terrarium" and "Big terrarium" on ZooTierliste, which I think gives the idea pretty well.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
I think ‘big’ is too easily confused with the iguana and bird hall. I also don’t remember it being much bigger than the Sonoran one.
My guess is that "big" is due to the amount of species sharing space, rather than the actual size.
Kalaw
Well-Known Member
Again, less species than the 'Sonoran,' so that doesn't work either.
Unless the zoo has official names for the vivariums which we don't know about, I don't think it really matters what we call them.
According to the curator of mammals in Prague Zoo Pavel Brandl they will continue with keeping leopards in upcoming new enclosures in upper part of the zoo, but they still haven´t chosen which taxon. He also mentioned that they stopped keeping Amur leopards because of construction of the Arctic, and Javan leopards because of new legislation regarding the size of enclosures for leopards. Source: Log in to Facebook
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Mantled guereza baby was born in Dja. Source: Monika Moudrá
Can I get a quick rundown?
Director and his deputy are accussed of bossing and employee abuse. Two different media outlets gathered multiple witness statements both from current and ex-employees (curators, zookeepers, office staff).
Denik N (one of the outlets) has also director's statement on the matter, saying the "he might've sometime used a rude language, but bossing is off the table."
Seznam Zprávy (the other medium) will have interview with director published tommorow.
Over 30 staff have publicly testified against the current zoo director Bobek describing his behaviour in his position. His penchant in constantly humiliating his subordinates, especially women.
In my humble opinion, this little narcistic piece of s**t that holds grudges and will take revenge on anybody he finds has crossed him, lover of his power and public image, should be also investigated regarding financing of various investments that were done under hig reign, figures probably wont ad-up.
The main problem is how much all this will tarnish the zoo´s perception. Public owned zoos depend both on ticket revenue and council subsidies and this can damage both for at least few years. Most zoo staff here love their job and the zoo. His behaviour must have been so unbearable they decided to go public.