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Similar to a dragon, it hovered in the Cambrian seas by waving its body. It had large compound eyes, to help it search for trilobites, long appendages, a kind of claw, protruding from the front of the body, a circular, downward-pointing mouth with lamellar plates, for crushing prey, and a series of flaps along the body that,...

Finally they’re here! The “venerable frogs from Lake Titicaca” came to Prague Zoo and I saw with my own eyes how truly exceptional they really are. Soon, you too will be able to see them for yourself. Our “venerable turnip”, the Czech name for this wonderful amphibian, will be presented to you at our new Titicaca...

On Friday evening, a package of seventy Titicaca Water Frogs arrived at Prague Zoo. These frogs are exceptional in many aspects; they only live in Lake Titicaca, however, they are critically endangered, primarily due to pollution. Prague Zoo, in conjunction with certain North American and European zoos, is taking part in a...

In the belief that World Pangolin Day has already entered public awareness and that the media would provide information about it in copious amounts, I devoted the last Director’s View to the recent birth of a male giraffe. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Despite the fact that just four days before, the...

The first official ride of the new Wandering Bus took place in Cameroon. This will lead to nature conservation for the next generation of children in the surroundings of the Dja Biosphere Reserve in the east of the country. Not only will it give them the opportunity to see the gorillas at the Méfou Rescue Station, but they can...

After climbing 565 stairs in the Indian town of Tirukalukundram, we reached the top of the mountain, which features a Hindu temple complex known as the Eagle or Vulture Temple. This has gained fame outside of the state of Tamil Nadu because it was on these cliffs, with a broad view of the surrounding countryside, that the...

On Wednesday evening, Ginni, an Asiatic lioness originally from the Indian state of Gujarat, underwent artificial insemination. This was carried out in Prague Zoo by a team led by Professor Thomas Hildebrandt, from Berlin’s Leibniz Institute, in cooperation with Prague Zoo’s veterinarians. The sperm used for the procedure...

My fairy tales featuring gorillas from Prague Zoo were written for my children years ago. Later, they reached many other Czech children in book form. In the end, however, it was in Central Africa that they celebrated their greatest success. Twenty thousand copies of Gorilla Fairy Tales – some of which were written by Tereza...

In the last issue of the journal The Science of Nature, we published a paper summarizing the results of our research on how people evaluate the beauty of the mammals in Prague Zoo. Beauty here is related solely to appearance, with no consideration given to movement or any other activities of a given species or the presence of...