Director´s view

Director´s view
Director´s view
Priest and ethnolinguist Maurice Ekoalea Mvolo. Photo: Jocelyn Ewane Aubery

There are about seven thousand languages in the world. However, some estimates suggest that 50–90 % of them could be extinct by the end of the century. So, it is fair make a comparison between endangered languages and endangered species. Moreover, one of the potentially endangered languages is in direct contact with endangered...

The tawny frogmouth. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

An analysis of 27,621 bird photos on Instagram has shown that the most aesthetically appealing feathered bird is – the tawny frogmouth.

Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

On Monday afternoon, we released four Przewalski's horse mares into the almost twenty-hectare enclosure at Prague’s Dívčí hrady. Shortly after, when I saw two of them on the horizon with Prague’s Pankrác district in the background, I felt like I was in Nairobi National Park, where the high-rise buildings of the Kenyan...

Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

There are just a few days to go until the moment when Przewalski's horses will be running around the fenced in plain of Prague’s Dívčí hrady. As they do so they will not only bring back the history of this exceptional site and make it more attractive, but their grazing should also contribute to the return of some native...

Brazilian merganser, photo: Zooparque Itatiba

Even a single electricity generator can increase the chances of a critically endangered species’ survival. This is not some theoretical example, but a cold, hard fact. Last year, we financed just such a generator at Brazil’s Itatiba Zoo.

Kamba. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

When I arrived at the visitor area of the gorilla pavilion last Sunday, Kamba had just gotten to her feet, she took a few steps forward, picked up a fresh twig, and started nibbling on it. A weight fell from my shoulders. It meant that she was much better than she had been in the previous days.

The Asia Minor spiny mouse in the background area of the Prague Zoo. Although we probably cannot consider it to be a separate species, it is a very interesting animal with a significant Czech legacy. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

The Silifke castle, no matter how ancient, did not particularly attract me; I had seen several similar castles on the southern coast of Turkey in the previous days. So, while my fellow travellers started to climb the hill toward the ruins, I drank a can of lemonade at a kiosk, then walked to the road and started...

Crucian carp. Photo: Rostislav Štefánek

The former mill race at Prague Zoo has been emptied for some time and it is now being limed. The aim is to get it ready to be stocked with some native fish, primarily crucian carp. Nowadays, this seemingly ordinary, but in many respects extraordinary fish, is one of the critically endangered species in our country. The project,...

The Pesquet’s parrot in Rákos’ House. Photo: Petr Hamerník, Prague Zoo

It looks as if it were wrapped in a black cloak lined with red silk. Added to which it has sharply cut features and a bald head. A real avian Dracula.

In the second half of 2020, Prague Zoo was closed due to COVID from October 2 to December 2, and then again from December 18. Even during the short opening in December, the Indonesian Jungle was out of bounds to the public, therefore any time it was possible I popped over to take photos of little Kawi which we shared on social networks. Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo

We received more than four thousand proposals through an online form, hundreds more in discussions on social networks and emails. And one name really caught our attention – Terry, in honour of the writer Terry Pratchett (1948–2015), the author of Discworld.