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News

The Caribbean is home to a vast array of reptiles and the largest of its islands, Cuba, is a real treasure trove. Over 150 species of reptiles dwell there (13 times more than in the one-quarter smaller Czech Republic) of which more than 90 per cent do not live anywhere else!

Clouded leopard

Cats are the masters of disguise. Whether they have spots, rosettes or stripes, their fur patterns help them to break up the contours of the body. Each pattern makes for great camouflage in the very environment where the specific cat lives. Can you find four felines hidden in these pictures?

There were perhaps up to one hundred thousand tigers living in the wild at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, by 2022, the population size was estimated at approximately 4,600 tigers, of which 3,100 were mature. Moreover, all extant subspecies apart from the Bengal tired numbered in the hundreds.

Tygr sumaterský, tygr malajský a tygr ussurijský

Prague zoo is one of a few zoos here you can see representatives of all three basic variants of tigers: from large and light-coloured felines from the cold north to much smaller, richly contrast-coloured tropic dwellers

At Prague Zoo, two to three hundred reptile babies hatch each year, belonging to about forty species. The ways in which they can come into the world are quite varied, from the diverse factors that determine their gender, through the degree of parental care, to the very process of birth.

You would hardly find any vegetarian snake. All of them follow an animal-based diet. However, even though most people think they eat exclusively or mostly rodents, it is not always the case: their diet can be surprisingly varied. Come and learn more about snakes´ feeding habits!

Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) in Prague Zoo. Photo Miroslav Bobek

Lions as well as other large carnivores occasionally also hunt porcupines, probably mostly when they don’t have enough of their usual food, or when young males in particular test their limits (which is, all in all, a feature of all young males of a lot of animal species including humans).

Indian crested porcupine (Hystrix indica) in Prague Zoo. Photo: Miroslav Bobek

Porcupine’s spines are an item in demand, weather as a souvenir, or a material for fishing floats. However, when I visited the Archives of the City of Prague, I discovered to my surprise that the restorers also use them when cleaning the bindings of old books. Lo and behold! I immediately offered that our zoo would become...

The western lowland gorilla, one of Prague Zoo’s flagship species, will be at the exhibition. Source: Garden of Lights

More and more animals and plants are gradually being added to Prague Zoo’s lower grounds. This is the Zoo of Light project, which is being readied by a company called Garden of Lights. The Zoo of Light will include lanterns of 33 species of animals totalling 110 specimens, as well as plants, projections on the ground or...

Six months old Gaia in Prague Zoo. Photo Miroslav Bobek

Today the female gorilla Gaia is exactly six months old. To have current pictures of her for this opportunity, I went to take her photos ahead of time.