The 100-year-old Prague Zoo will be even more beautiful, says its director Miroslav Bobek
The book is called Supi at the Continental Hotel and you will learn about other attractions. For example, the fact that polar bears like the smell of basil. Or that the Morse tapir was named after the cream dots and dashes on its fur.
Prague Zoo celebrates ninety years. Is it enough, or not enough, for all natural processes to sit in it, so to speak? What is the average lifespan of such institutions in the world?
The oldest zoos were founded much earlier than ours. Prague even opened its zoo as almost the last metropolis of developed Europe. This was due to the fact that in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Vienna and Budapest were at the forefront, and immediately after the establishment of Czechoslovakia, other concerns probably arose. However, every zoo is a complex organism that must be kept running and continued. The diploma thesis is a great benefit of the zoo when it is located in a beautiful natural environment – which is best evidenced by the Prague Zoo. As for the transformation of zoos over time, both their concepts and main tasks are gradually changing. Today, we place great emphasis on the best possible conditions for animals and the role of zoos in preserving biodiversity, ie the protection of endangered species and their environment. And I think that will apply to the future to some extent.
You are talking about the environment. From your new book Supi at the Continental Hotel, it is clear that you have not only a close relationship with the animal inhabitants of the Prague Zoo, but also with the place itself. Would you enjoy the work you do, even if the garden is in a different place?
I would definitely enjoy it, but the place is important. In our case, it is a careful balancing of the needs of the Prague Zoo and a photograph to preserve the landscape of the Troja district, which surrounds the garden. That is why we have also invested considerable resources in ensuring that the newly built gorilla pavilion blends as well as possible with the slope on which the famous Sklenářka homestead stands.
The director of the zoo has a difficult position in that he heads the experts themselves. They probably can’t be treated like regular employees. They take care of the animals they fully understand, they are afraid of them, they enjoy their joy. They are full of emotions. In short, it seems to me that the zoo can be a sensitive place when it comes to communication and diplomacy.
Definitely! The zoo is really very diverse in terms of professions and human types. Not to mention how different actions must be conceived. After all, I answer your questions on the plane after I left the guardian of the Congolese Kahuzi-Biéga National Park. And I still have talks with the Ministry of the Environment in the capital Kinshase today.
While the public visits the zoo mainly for fun and education, you can also see your more serious aspects of the profession. In fact, you’re constantly saving something – and you’re losing something, too. Have you armored yourself over the years, or will each new failure (and finally success) decide you again?
You have to reckon with problems and various failures every day, if not every hour. So armor must be to some extent – but it’s not too much, because that’s how you would approach apathy. But when it comes to success, it always encourages. Just this month, we received the WAZA Conservation Award, which is probably the highest award a zoo can receive. And it is also another confirmation that we belong to the absolute top of the world.
The award is a reward for your commitment with your colleague in recent years in the return of Převalský’s horse to the wild. I remember that when I was a boy, I went to Troy to look at him like a mythical animal. It was such a miracle in Prague, and it never occurred to anyone that he could ever live out of captivity. Do you consider the rescue of Převalský’s horse to be the highest goal you have ever achieved?
I would definitely not just talk about myself and my current colleagues. Coincidentally, it has been just a hundred years since Převalský’s first horse came to Prague. Hipologist František Bílek brought him from Halle, Germany. He later moved his breeding to the Prague Zoo, and over the next decades its workers contributed to the lion’s share of saving the last wild horse. Our “Return of the Wild Horses”, ie the transport of military aircraft rolls to Mongolia and many other associated activities, is only one stage in the long-term efforts of many, many different people and organizations. The fact that there are now so many Przewalski’s horses in western Mongolia that their population is sustainable in the long run and therefore no need to drive more is, of course, together with the WAZA Conservation Award, the achievement of certain goals, perhaps even the highest. But you still have to look ahead – and that applies to every effort. As for the overwhelms, we are now preparing a project for their return to eastern Mongolia.
What else makes you in a good mood at the zoo? Conversely, what makes you have a heavy head?
I am happy not only with new cubs or praise from visitors, but also, for example, when I learn something new about some animals. Or when the smallest detail succeeds, it was created somehow extra. And worry? There are seemingly infinite ones. But who doesn’t have them? I don’t think we should burden them with the public. Of course, a different situation occurs when there is a crisis. During the lockdown, we shared the mayor of our income with our supporters. And we really got extraordinary support from them.
While reading your book, I was pleased to find out that the zoo also has its colorful figures. Namely, the snug penguin you call the Lover. Can you introduce me to other distinctive figures?
I wouldn’t talk about the figures with permission, it seems a bit pejorative. Some animals may arouse a certain astonishment, but in the case of the Lover, his “affection” is due to the fact that he was bred artificially and imprinted man as his sexual partner. However, many animals are great personalities. And I don’t mean just Richard or other gorillas, but also Gulab elephants or the male turtle Eberhard. After all, the Meet It! Campaign was built on this principle. The first during my director… We introduced the biggest animal personalities of our zoo. And when I answer you now, I think we could repeat it years later.
Animals are like humans. Some like it at first glance, otherwise you have to find a way. Would you remember an example of a work that you didn’t feel much sympathy for at first, but gradually fell in love with?
Do you know that I don’t remember such an animal? At least not in recent years. Probably because we are trying to approach animals without prejudice. Knowing that each is something interesting and unique.
Probably the most famous story associated with the Prague Zoo is that of a runaway monkey who haunted, that is, swung on the bell in a chapel in the neighboring vineyard of St. Clare. Is it more common for a creature to find its way out and then make trouble around?
Is this really the most famous story? That would make me quite sorry. But sometimes, of course, some animal is unique. During my time, perhaps the most watched was the “hunt” for rock ibises, which flew after their aviary was damaged by snow. I described him in detail in the book The Trojan Lion. That’s when I wrote a tweet on the way to the zoo, how romantic it is today, such a beautiful snowfall. But it didn’t take long and the first of the ibises was gone. I quickly wrote about it on the social network and asked the public for help, which was slightly decided by our spokesman at the time. But I did well. Not only did all the other ibises fly away, but the refugees deliberately began to make themselves in front of the entrances and windows of the largest media houses. Fortunately, the journalists already knew what was going on and helped us a lot. Thus began an incredible search for runaway ibises and their capture. For example, one was caught by a postman and then carried in a letter bag. In the end, everyone managed to catch up.
I’ve wanted to ask you one thing for a long time. We go to the zoo with the children at the beginning of the year, when it is usually quite dry, but there is a strange, pensive mood in the garden. And along the way, we regularly meet a lot of Russians who celebrate their Christmas in Troy. It seems to me that he prefers to howl loudly at the wolf enclosure. Have you observed that other nationalities also prefer certain species?
When one of the original inhabitants of New Guinea visited the Prague Zoo, he was most impressed by the hippo. Yes, different ethnicities have different animal preferences. This is, after all, one of the topics of ethnozoology. And it’s not just about gathering interesting facts that one nation likes it and another likes it. An ethnozoological survey conducted in Cameroon has helped us to understand the approach of local people to different species of animals and to adapt our work to better reduce poaching. By the way, do you know which animal came out of the survey as the most popular? Luskoun. No need to worry about it, it is quite easy to catch and tastes great.
Finally, a logical question: How would you like the zoo in Prague to look when it celebrates a hundred?
In less than a year, we will open a new gorilla pavilion. Over the next few years, we want to completely transform the so-called Plains, where we will breed rhinos, for example, build a new Arctic exhibition and also rebuild the old elephant into a modern pavilion dedicated to South America. I would like the century-old Prague Zoo to be even more beautiful and interesting, even more friendly for animals and visitors – and also to be able to boast many new rare offspring and other successes in saving endangered species.
MIROSLAV BOBEK
He was born on February 10, 1967 in Mladá Boleslav. He studied zoology at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. From 1993 to 2009 he worked as an editor and reporter at Czech Radio. Here he became famous for the project Revelation, in which he watched the life of a gorilla in a Prague zoo in the form of a reality show. In 1994, he initiated the African Odyssey project, in which the migration of black storks was monitored via satellite. From 1998 to 2000, Bobek was the editor-in-chief of the Prague radio station, and also co-founded the Leonardo station. After the departure of Petr Fejk, she won the competition for the position of director of the Prague Zoo. Under his leadership, we managed to break the record annual attendance and build a number of new complexes (Valley of the Elephants, Hippopotamus Pavilion, Grand Locator, Reed Pavilion, Darwin Crater).