Prague Zoo Praha Prague Zoo News 2025

hawkkeye said:
Two mountain bongo males were born. Source: Pomáháme jim přežít
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They have been called MERU and EBURU.
Prague Zoo Conservation on Instagram: " Prague Zoo has ceremonially named two male mountain bongos! Meru and Eburu – that’s what the two rare calves of this forest antelope, born this August, have been named. Their godfather became the YouTuber Stejk! Critically endangered mountain bongos now survive in the wild only in Kenya’s Aberdare National Park, where their population numbers roughly thirty to forty individuals. Breeding backup populations in zoos is therefore absolutely essential for the species’ survival. Prague Zoo has been keeping these rarest forest antelopes since 1988, and the newly born calves are the 58th and 59th offspring. Take a look at how the naming ceremony went! Zoo Praha slavnostně pojmenovala dva samečky bongů horských! Meru a Eburu – taková jména dostala dvě vzácná mláďata této lesní antilopy, narozená letos v srpnu. Jejich kmotrem se stal youtuber Stejk! Kriticky ohrožení bongové horští dnes přežívají ve volné přírodě pouze v Národním parku Aberdare ve střední Keni, kde jejich populace čítá zhruba třicet až čtyřicet jedinců. Chov záložních populací v zoologických zahradách je proto pro záchranu tohoto druhu naprosto zásadní. Zoo Praha chová tyto nejvzácnější lesní antilopy už od roku 1988 a nově narozená mláďata jsou už 58. a 59. přírůstkem. Podívejte se s námi, jak „křest“ probíhal! #zoopraha #praguezoo #biodiversityconservation #wehelpthemtosurvive #pomáhámejimpřežít #zooprahachráníbiodiverzitu #mountainbongoantelope"
 
The female Common Wombat WINKLEIGH carries now one joey
Zoo Praha on Instagram: " MÁME SKVĚLOU ZPRÁVU! V následujících týdnech budeme v Zoo Praha netrpělivě čekat, až na nás z vaku své matky vykoukne druhé pražské mládě vombata obecného Samice Winkleigh ho zatím pečlivě ukrývá a chovatelé o něm vědí jen díky pohybům v jejím vaku. Malý vombat by měl začít prozkoumávat okolní svět nejdříve za měsíc. A to není vše! Už tuto sobotu můžete s námi oslavit Mezinárodní den vombatů a nahlédnout do života těchto pozoruhodných vačnatců! WE HAVE SOME WONDERFUL NEWS! In the coming weeks, we’ll be eagerly waiting for the moment when the Prague's second wombat joey peeks out from its mother’s pouch at Prague Zoo The female, Winkleigh, is carefully hiding her little one, and our keepers can only tell it’s there thanks to the tiny movements inside her pouch. The joey should start exploring the world around it in about a month. And that’s not all! Join us this Saturday to celebrate International Wombat Day and get a glimpse into the fascinating life of these remarkable marsupials! : @rhino_olie #ZooPraha #PragueZoo"
 
September list of arrivals:

0.1 votsotsa from Jihlava
0.2 Reeves muntjac from Liberec
1.0 De Brazza monkey from Barcelona
1.0 Borneo earless monitor from Zagreb
1.0 bongo antelope from Parco faunistico le Cornelle

births:
northern treeshrew, 3x tayra, 3x coleto, common squirrel monkey, 2x emerald dove, De Brazza monkey, 3x Goodmans mouse lemur, moholi bushbaby, 2x Chilean flamingo, 3x Sunda box turtle, 5x helmethead gecko (Tarentola chazaliae), 2x boat-billed heron, Senegal bushbaby, Texas gopher tortoise, 3x Malaysian giant pond turtle, 2x Cuban iguana, 4x capybara, 5x steppe agama, hamerkop, rufous-cheeked laughingthrush, Pel's fishing-owl
source

This newest fish-owl chick is from second breeding pair, other than the pair that bred a chick earlier this year.
source:
 
Really surprised to hear of Miroslav Bobek’s resignation. I very much enjoyed his books and it seems he really does live and breathe conservation and zoos. On an object level, he seemed like a great director, although I’m not sure how he compares to other directors as this isn’t an aspect I’m knowledgeable in.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Is the selection committee a zoo entity or is it more municipal driven?
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100% municipality driven. It is an ad hoc committee of 9 members.

- 1 committee chairman (Štěpán Kyjovský), seems to be a career official, current Head of the Municipal Department of Environmental Protection of Prague City, and interim zoo director for 1 month
- 3 members are local politicians representing 3 parties that form a coalition that reigns the city hall currently (Piráti, ODS, STAN).
- 1 is reptile curator (Petr Velenský) representing Prague zoo employees.
- 1 is director of Liberec zoo (David Nejedlo) that represents Czech and Slovak zoo association,
- 1 is external HR consultant
- 1 is director of AOPK (František Pelc), Nature and Landscape Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic
- 1 is independent economist (Miroslav Zámečník)

People have now 1 month to send their CVs. The committee has to chose a name of the new zoo director latest till 16th of February when the city council will meet and vote that person in.
 
@Jana, thanks for explaining the full selection process and the individual select members and their quaifications. I do have full confidence that they will be able to make a good choice for a new zoo director (BTW: Dr. Velensky is one of the most respected curators of the Praha zoo animal management team).
 
Cuban crocodiles are not on display. There are no plans to build for them an exhibit anytime soon, afaik. They are indeed kept in a building that is called Statek (farm house), in upper zoo part, next to small mammal house (Afrika zblízka) and orangs outside exhibit. The zoo offers guided tours to meet them.

That building is called statek because the zoo during WWII was mostly self-sustaining in animal food, when zoo employees produced not only green fodder and hay, but also vegetables, corn, feed bulbs, fruit etc for animals, by farming the upper zoo part. Statek was building where they stored farm machinery, tools, produce, hay, draft horses... It was built in year 1940, and since then it was repurposed several times.

The crocodiles arrived because I think they have interesting genetics for the studbook but there was no other zoo to take them in. So as not to dissapear into private sphere, Prague accepted them and houses them in their spare capacity. If any male should come - I dont know.
 
I assume, and may be completely wrong, their public exhibit could be part of refurbished old pachyderm house?* (I don´t know any other place they could possibly fit, maybe big cat house? I doubt there is enough space, unless some bigger rebuilding takes place...)
* we speak about some vague, probably more distant future here
 
Jana said:
Cuban crocodiles are not on display. There are no plans to build for them an exhibit anytime soon, afaik. They are indeed kept in a building that is called Statek (farm house), in upper zoo part, next to small mammal house (Afrika zblízka) and orangs outside exhibit. The zoo offers guided tours to meet them.

That building is called statek because the zoo during WWII was mostly self-sustaining in animal food, when zoo employees produced not only green fodder and hay, but also vegetables, corn, feed bulbs, fruit etc for animals, by farming the upper zoo part. Statek was building where they stored farm machinery, tools, produce, hay, draft horses... It was built in year 1940, and since then it was repurposed several times.

The crocodiles arrived because I think they have interesting genetics for the studbook but there was no other zoo to take them in. So as not to dissapear into private sphere, Prague accepted them and houses them in their spare capacity. If any male should come - I dont know.
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I've never visited Prague Zoo, but is it simply because there isn't enough space to exhibit Cuban crocodiles?
 
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captain alligator said:
I've never visited Prague Zoo, but is it simply because there isn't enough space to exhibit Cuban crocodiles?
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Exactly, The zoo has only one exhibit suitable for crocodiles and it has gharials in. The zoo planned to rebuild the old empty pachyderm house into Amazonia, with plans for 2 crocodile species (I think black caimans was the second one), but it got shelved indefinitely in year 2013, due to lack of money.
 
Jana said:
Cuban crocodiles are not on display. There are no plans to build for them an exhibit anytime soon, afaik. They are indeed kept in a building that is called Statek (farm house), in upper zoo part, next to small mammal house (Afrika zblízka) and orangs outside exhibit. The zoo offers guided tours to meet them.

That building is called statek because the zoo during WWII was mostly self-sustaining in animal food, when zoo employees produced not only green fodder and hay, but also vegetables, corn, feed bulbs, fruit etc for animals, by farming the upper zoo part. Statek was building where they stored farm machinery, tools, produce, hay, draft horses... It was built in year 1940, and since then it was repurposed several times.

The crocodiles arrived because I think they have interesting genetics for the studbook but there was no other zoo to take them in. So as not to dissapear into private sphere, Prague accepted them and houses them in their spare capacity. If any male should come - I dont know.
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I would hope that before long they can source a pure-bred adult male so ZZ Praha can create a breeding group with the - assumed pure-bred genetics wise - 2 female Cuban crocodiles BTS.
 
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