Take a look at the zoo in Taiwan, which gave the Czech Republic a nut shell
Horned scales cover their bodies and protect their vulnerable flanks or backs. But they are also the reason why nutcrackers are disappearing so quickly from the wild – they are the most illegally traded mammals in the world. For their protection, also the Prague Zoo, where two animals from Taiwan arrived in the spring. The Aktuálně.cz reporter visited the Asian island and behind the scenes of its own zoo.
From a special correspondent – It is raining. Nevertheless, a large number of people have been heading to the zoo in the capital of Taiwan since morning. The favorable entrance fee to the Taipei Zoo, which is around 50 kroner per adult, has attracted groups of high school students, families and visitors who come daily to film the behavior of the giant pandas.
But before they get to the cash registers, they have to pass a phone booth that is embraced by a statue of a short-tailed nutcracker.
The scaly mammal, whose appearance was also inspired by the creator of the Pokémon characters, is one of the animals that live on the island in the wild. They are also found in Nepal, India or mainland China. Nevertheless, it is sometimes called a nutcracker from Formosa, as the Portuguese colonizers nicknamed the “beautiful island” of Taiwan. Until recently, however, many residents did not know about them.
Shellfish in Taiwan’s Taipei Zoo. | Photo: Jana Václavíková
The Czechia also has an influence on the dissemination of information about them. During his trip to Taiwan in 2019, the outgoing mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates), asked to send podmen to Prague. After three years of careful preparation, the couple Guo Bao and Run Hou Tang arrived at the Prague Zoo this spring. They thus became only the second representatives of their kind to be seen in Europe.
Just like the Taiwanese, the Czechs are just beginning to learn what nutcrackers are. Director Prague ZOO Miroslav Bobek has been trying to get them ever since he saw how a different type of nutmeg is treated in Africa. “In Cameroon, they are popular animals because they are relatively close to people and are not dangerous in any way, so they love each other well. In addition, people like them,” he describes.
He therefore took advantage of the Prague mayor’s offer. “It made the process easier for us, but it wasn’t easy,” he says. “It’s hell to breed them in an environment outside of their natural range.”
![Luskouni in the Prague Zoo.](https://cdn.xsd.cz/resize/e6c6835e92b33222b214163e030f028b_resize=560,420_.jpg?hash=c269e1a8295ac9b1001420890539cccc)
Luskouni in the Prague Zoo. | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
Secret recipe
Nuts need several conditions to survive. As animals from a subtropical climate, they require a specific temperature and also night air humidity, which is provided by artificial rain in Prague. The enclosure in the Indonesian Jungle pavilion is divided into three parts so that solitary animals can find their peace and there is also room for a potential addition.
At the same time, there are trees that nutcrackers are good at climbing, and burrows where visitors can watch them curl up and sleep.
The choice of bedding also plays an important role. “Porks are very good at digging, they can dig through even softer concrete and destroy it,” explains Yuli, who heads the department of African animals at the Taipei Zoo. It was she, thanks to her previous experience at the rescue station for pods, among others, who accompanied the animals to Prague.
![Luskouni in the Prague Zoo.](https://cdn.xsd.cz/resize/488e3e3adc7533a9bf5d9ba38913445d_resize=560,420_.jpg?hash=242686d1935807d030ff4fcf81b2fdf9)
Luskouni in the Prague Zoo. | Photo: Jakub Plíhal
But what turned out to be the biggest problem in previous unsuccessful attempts to move the animals abroad was the eating habits of the nutcrackers, which eat several thousand termites and ants a day. Previously used substitutes for scaly mammals never fully replaced natural food. The Taipei breeders managed to find a suitable recipe, which is, however, a secret, only now, during the preparations for the trip to the Czech Republic.
But even here there was almost a misunderstanding. “One of the ingredients in the recipe is yeast, and we translated it that way. However, we didn’t add that it’s for cooking, but I don’t think it’s for feeding animals,” explains research assistant Flora, who is in charge of the nutmeg conservation program, in the conference room of the Taipei Zoo’s educational center.
![Flora (left) and Yuli from Taipei Zoo.](https://cdn.xsd.cz/resize/28c96dd27aab3c71897ac419faed8902_resize=560,420_.jpg?hash=878b5b0dfa5e5fbdb6e46d0e68424262)
Flora (left) and Yuli from Taipei Zoo. | Photo: Jana Václavíková
Thanks to the experience of transporting animals to Prague, which also took three years due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Taiwanese experts managed to prepare a detailed plan for how to work with the breeding of nutcrackers in zoos. “Just like with the yeast, it was a lot of little things. But thanks to that, we found out that we have to be very careful, because there’s a lot that can go wrong,” says Flora.
The pregnancy of the female Run Hou Tang can be taken as proof that the transfer of the animals was successful and that they are doing well in Prague. If all goes well, the little nutcracker should be born in a few months. It would also become the first baby of an endangered animal ever born in Europe. “We chose a pair that can reproduce, and the Prague Zoo also did a good job. Not just good, excellent,” Yuli evaluates the efforts of the Prague Zoo.
![Luskouni in the Prague Zoo.](https://cdn.xsd.cz/resize/2b653073260b337fbc22a5a932cefba6_resize=560,420_.jpg?hash=266f6a595e2965b67863a46a259953e2)
Luskouni in the Prague Zoo. | Photo: Prague Zoo
One cub will not save the entire species
Although the impregnation of the female is already a success, Flora provides that it is still a small step in the context of saving the species. “There are a lot of challenges that we have to solve. What we are doing is still not enough if we want to maintain their population,” he says, focusing on the situation in neighboring China, where he is worried about the disappearance of the natural environment and also the illegal trade, they are practically extinct.
There are between ten and twenty thousand of them in the wild in Taiwan. Although the number is not extremely low, Flora for comparison, how many of all possible pods were caught illegally between 2005 and 2015 – 240 thousand. “Taiwan is the last protected area in the world where this species is found,” he adds.
That is also why the breeders hope that it will be possible to send pods to other countries, where they could also thrive with the help of precise instructions. “We want to create a population in Europe, because if something were to happen to our pods, maybe they would send a few individuals back to us from Europe or other places,” Yuli hopes.
![Luskouni in the Prague Zoo.](https://cdn.xsd.cz/resize/ab55e802839432dc8584166da15f5af0_resize=560,420_.jpg?hash=42455088fb74805585c28ec323905da9)
Luskouni in the Prague Zoo. | Photo: Prague Zoo