Pheasant chicks were born in the Prague Zoo, another garden in Europe failed to do so this year
Cabot’s satyr is included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Prague Zoo maintains its European stud book. This year’s cubs are all the more valuable. Photo: Petr Hamerník / Prague Zoo
Not only in spring, but in mid-summer, the Prague Zoo is full of cubs. The additions of representatives of the East Asian fauna – mythical-sounding gorals or satyrs – are valuable for breeding. In a press release, the press officer of the Trojan Garden, Filip Mašek, informed about this.
In the Small American Mammals exhibit, people can observe two-week-old cubs of hutias—Cuban endemic rodents sometimes called “tree nutria.”
“At first glance, they look a bit clumsy, but they are great climbers. However, the cubs will learn that too. It’s all the more fun to watch the little huties get to know the world,” describes Denisa Zběhlíková, senior breeder of small mammals, about the frolicking triplets.
However, it is not only mammals that are busy. The high clay nests these days are abandoned by the young of two species of flamingos – pink and Chilean. However, unlike hutis, these are not small copies of their parents.
“After hatching, a small, gray-feathered flamingo spends about three days in the nest. Then they jump down and together with other birds form a kind of nurseries. In these, they mate before they grow into adults in about four to five months,” bird curator Antonín Vaidl explains the maturation process.
Additions between operants can continue up to dozens throughout the zoo. It is very valuable to interpret the satyrs of Cabot. The pheasant-like bird, the male of which resembles the mythical creature of the same name from Greek mythology thanks to the “roses” of feathers on its head, is included in the IUCN Red List – there are only a few thousand individuals left in eastern China. The Prague Zoo maintains his European stud book.
“Our three chickens are the only additions to the zoo in continental Europe this year,” Vaidl reminds us of the difficulty of raising satyrs.
No less valuable is a young male Sichuan gorilla. Like the satyr, this cloven-hoofed animal is a representative of East Asian nature, and in its case, it is the only addition of this species in Europe this year.
“He was born on July 15 and 10 days later he and his mother ventured into the outdoor enclosure for the first time. People can now observe the family group, including this year’s Benjamin, in the upper part of the zoo – they are most active between 10:30 and 11:30 in the morning,” ungulate curator Barbora Dobiášová entices.
Almost 700 cubs in 155 species were born at the Prague Zoo this year: 188 mammals, 341 birds, 147 reptiles and 14 amphibians. In the area, visitors can also observe the spring, already grown-up young, for example Humboldt penguins, maned wolves, two-humped camels or executioner lemurs.