RICH YEAR 2021 IN THE PRAGUE ZOO
# 1 Silent Zoo
Closure of the Prague Zoo until April 15 and subsequent measures reducing attendance directly to an extraordinary drop in income. However, the zoo received a lot of help from both its founder and its supporters. For example, 27,336 people support the purchase of meal vouchers for animals during the year, and many have shopped regularly or repeatedly. Others adopted or sponsored animals and acquired merchandising at the Prague Zoo. The symbolic connection between the closed zoo and its fans has become the pictorial publication Silent Zoo, which recapitulates the period from the beginning of March 2020 to the end of February. There was an extraordinary interest in this publication – partly because it was sold to those interested with the signatures of breeders at the Prague Zoo.
# 2 Construction at the zoo, covid thank you
Despite the covid, all major investment projects continued at the Prague Zoo, especially the construction of a new gorilla pavilion. It is almost complete by the end of 2021, and after opening on September 28, 2022, it will take visitors on an area of 7,700 m2 (1,700 m2 indoor and 6,000 m2 outdoor) along an imaginary journey through Cameroon, starting in the countryside through secondary and primary rainforest. forest to forest clearings with gorillas. Zoo expert Anthony Sheridan, who had the opportunity to visit the pavilion, said it would be a new standard of quality in the presentation of gorillas. In addition to many smaller events, the reconstruction of the so-called Plans has also begun and preparations for the Arctic project are continuing.
# 3 Great chicks
In 2021, 1,037 cubs of 200 species of reptiles, birds and mammals hatched or were born in the Prague Zoo, many of which are important for various reasons. For example, the young eagle owl, which hatched in early October, is the first naturally bred young of this parrot in European zoos. For the first time in twenty years, the Congolese duck has also been bred in Europe. Of the mammal pups, the breeding of the female South American tapir, which is the first descendant of the Taluen female imported from French Guiana, is very valuable, and the surprising exception is the fours of the tiger beast. Probably the largest public then attracted the attention of the third young silver gibbon in the Prague Zoo.
# 4 “Rollers” at Dívčí hrady
On Monday, April 19, 2021, the first four mares of Převalský’s horse ran into the almost twenty-hectare enclosure at Prague’s Dívčí hrady. The project implemented by the Prague Zoo, which aroused extraordinary interest and a generally favorable response from the public, has several goals. The first is to help restore the original plant and animal communities with the help of grass grazing. The second is to revive the location above the extremely valuable Prokop Valley. The third will gradually create another breeding space for Převalský’s horses. And fourthly, keep the opportunity to see this last wild horse in Prague even during the reconstruction of stables and paddocks in the zoo.
# 5 Amazing Bojana
On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, a female scavenger vulture named Bojana returned to the Bulgarian Rhodopes from Africa. She was bred in 2017 at the Prague Zoo and from there she went on a delayed release to Bulgaria. Using this method, the bred birds are kept in the aviary until the following spring and only then released. Bojana was one of the first four “scavengers” to return to nature. In September 2018, she went to Africa, where she gradually visited more than two dozen countries. With her return to the Rhodope Mountains, she then gained significant prominence – only then followed the method of other birds releasing the delayed release. This is a great success of the Prague Zoo’s activities in the field of biodiversity protection, which continued on the continent on five continents.
# 6 A turtle with a Hollywood story
In August 2021, the Prague Zoo became the only publicly accessible facility outside Asia where it is possible to see Bengal water turtles. Not only is it one of the rarest and most beautiful turtle species in the world. it’s a turtle with a story that contains elements of a Hollywood blockbuster: a complex search, a “spy” obscuring its true identity, complicated negotiations with superstitious peasants, losses and signs of a happy ending. The Austrian peterologist Peter Praschag played a big role in this story, and he started working for the Prague Zoo and provided nine young Bengal bataguras to the Čambal pavilion.
# 7 Ninety years of Prague Zoo
On Tuesday, September 28, 2021, ninety years passed since the opening of the “construction site” of the Prague Zoo to the first visitors. In connection with this anniversary, a conference of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums was held “in Prague” – unfortunately only virtually due to the covidid. During the celebrations themselves, which took place in the spirit of the 1930s, the comprehensive book by Hana Heráňová Zoo for the capital mapping the decades of preparation for the construction of the Prague Zoo and the first years of its existence was christened. This is the first systematically processed book publication dedicated to the history of the Prague Zoo. The commemorative Trojan tolars, printed by the State Printing House of Valuables, and the comprehensive board game In the Footsteps at the Prague Zoo were also introduced.
# 8 Night tours with thermal imaging
In 2021, the offer of the Prague Zoo expanded to include many new educational, visitor, marketing and fundraising projects. Random are online programs for schools or activities associated with bears, which include experience programs and a wide range of merchandising, including specially brewed Devil’s beers. However, the established night tours have aroused great public and media interest since September. In addition to commercial infrared cameras and other technologies, they use special military equipment that is extremely sensitive and not available elsewhere in the civilian sector.
# 9 The highest award for the Prague Zoo
On Tuesday, October 12, 2021, the Prague Zoo received the WAZA Conservation Award during the Annual Conference of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It was only the sixth of this award that has been awarded so far. Prague Zoo is acquired for the Return of the Wild Horses. However, it is not possible to perceive “only” the activities of the last decade under this name, including the transport of Převalský’s horses to Mongolia, but all the merits of the Prague Zoo and its staff in saving Převalský’s horse and its return to nature throughout almost history.
# 10 The first wombat
The wombat – one of the symbols of Australia – is a special and at the same time very attractive animal for the public. On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, a male common womb was brought to the Prague Zoo and placed in Darwin’s crater, part of which was built for wombats. However, visitors will not see it until after the replacement quarantine at the beginning of January 2022. The male named Cooper belongs to the Tasmanian subspecies and is in the Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover. Females are to arrive from Tasmania. Other important animal arrivals at the Prague Zoo include, for example, the raven’s cockatoo or the red-lobed hoko.
Thank you to everyone who helps Prague Zoo, and to those who just love it!