Will they be part of a zoo-geographical display / area?
One Spider tortoise (Pyxis arachnoides brygooi) hatched and one fertile egg is still in incubator.
The zoo started with this species in year 2004 when it took care of 6 males from Vienna international airport confiscation case. But they could not find any females of this subspecies in European zoos for a long time. Only in 2015, Toronto zoo allowed transfer of one adult female to Brno. Already last year, one tortoise has hatched and is still alive.
Zoo Brno is now a studbook keeper and breeding coordinator for Spider Tortoise ESB in EAZA.
The zoo started with this species in year 2004 when it took care of 6 males from Vienna international airport confiscation case. But they could not find any females of this subspecies in European zoos for a long time. Only in 2015, Toronto zoo allowed transfer of one adult female to Brno. Already last year, one tortoise has hatched and is still alive.
Zoo Brno is now a studbook keeper and breeding coordinator for Spider Tortoise ESB in EAZA.
Some sousliks / European ground squirrels bred at the zoo have been reintroduced in České Středohoří (NW of Czech rep). Here is short video.
Here is another video, from last year, it shows sousliks bred at Zoo Ohrada and reintroduced at small local airport Hodkovice. It shows better the techniques used to start a colony.
Here is another video, from last year, it shows sousliks bred at Zoo Ohrada and reintroduced at small local airport Hodkovice. It shows better the techniques used to start a colony.
If only..... 
They've been there for at least couple of months, they just went on show now.
Ubelieveable things are happening...After 4 years (no, I'm not kidding) of construction, the local fauna exhibit will be opened this weekend.
Species present:
European greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus)
European badger (Meles meles)
European green lizard (Lacerta viridis)
Species present:
European greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus)
European badger (Meles meles)
European green lizard (Lacerta viridis)
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Whereabouts in the zoo will this area be? And why has it taken so long to construct?
On the road from tiger enclosure to the entrance, previously there was an exhibit for handicaped animals.
About the lenght of construction...I would say the main reason is negligence of Zoo's board
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
Thank you for your reply. Without knowing the place that well - I've visited it three times, once in 1995 (when it was awful) and then again in 2015 and 2016 (when it was much, much improved) - it has struck me as being a well-run sort of place: certainly, some of the developments over the past years have taken it from being a really horrible place into being somewhere that could stand alongside the better Czech zoos. Would that view not be wholly accurate, do you think?
Eh, partly. I certainly have to give them that the new developments are making the zoo better (although every single one of them has a bunch of flaws, that are way to noticable and you would expect them to be fixed already in the project stage, but not in Brno). Some of the issues are on internal level (understaffing of some sections, overstaffing of others...), some would stay internal if not for very enthusiastic visitors (polar bear transport drama) but all of them goes back to the general term - negligence.
The board seemingly doesnt care at all, for example, admin of zoo's official Facebook page had something like sort of snap lately and now he's a bit too honest for his position. And during this honesty phase he just straight up told someone that "there was barely any job done on the new Chimp outdoor enclosure in the last couple of weeks." I mean, I don't blame him, he has the hardest job of all PR people in Czech zoos, but I couldn't understand that a) Zoo seemingly has no control mechanism about their social networks, other than those admins and b) Zoo seemingly has no mechanism to "force" building company to do its job (I know there may be other reasons why there was no work being done, but I struggle to believe that they occured at this specific case).
But to end this on a positive note, some members of the zoological department are doing pretty good job given the conditions, not without mistakes but those are alwyas bound to happen and I think if the board supports those people, things will be looking good for Brno.
Photos would-be nice!
In Zooreport ( Zoo Brno magazine) I read that Javan ferret-badgers "are soon to be moved to Tiger Rocks exposition".
This has now happened, and the species is on display in the restaurant within the tiger complex - and, at the time of my visit a fortnight ago, were very showy!
On another note, it appears that Brno now holds Siberian Weasel, per the presence of a small but quite nice exhibit for the species (designed to look like the inside of a large log) next to the Bald Eagle aviary
