It seems, the Zoo doesn't have luck with its female Ratels-its happend now the second time-also the frst one escaped and was never found again.Maybe the zoo should keep the ratels in a closed, large cage in the future-so they could offers them more room and climbing opportunities than in their current, ssmall outdoor pens. Nevertheless, I hope, they will get back the precious animal.
We will see how the future of honey badgers will look like. Females are hard to get. The zoo spent months while rebuilding/increasing the pen´s walls, and with no positive result as we have seen. Maybe Prague could give up honey badgers for some time. The male can go to Dvur that tries to source this species, and Prague would have time to build a new exhibit (just my opinion). --- Whats new with elephants? Not much. Bull Mekong is in musth and separated from herd. Young cow Janita tries her dominant behaviour on Shanti, so there is some commotion within the herd, and Shanti has her superficial wounds covered by green desinfection. Old cow Gulab seems to be in pretty stable condition, despite some infection in foot and bedsores on right hip. It is still not announced the name of the young bull that is expected to arrive in next weeks. Mekong (Copyright T.Adamec, Zoo Praha)
Their sign was in place on their cage one month ago. I haven´t seen any bird, but I guess it was just my bad luck.
Special facility for redundant male primates : Gorillas to get ?retirement home? - PRAGUE POST | The Voice of Prague
Interesting idea. Sounds like it will be home for (4-6, up to 10) surplus male gorillas from all over Europe, held individually - it sounds like it will be more of a retirement home, as younger males would more likely go into a bachelor group if possible wouldn't they? It will also be open to the public, although I'm not sure if "freely-accessible" means "free" or is a slightly off translation, as it goes on to say that it would be economically-viable too.
I don´t know how realistic his plan is. If I remmember it correctly, he owns a wholetrade firm with fruit and vegetable for hotels and restaurants. This firm bought 6500m2 of a building plot where the supposed gorila-house should be built and several hectares of arable land to grow organic vegetable/green for the gorillas. But so far there was no application for building permit submited. The article in Czech press cites him the gorilla exhibit should be accesible for free. The males should live ideally in a group, but the enclosure would it allow to keep them alone or in subgroups if not compatible. He hasn´t specified how the project will be economically viable. Maybe he hopes the zoos would pay an allowance for every surplus gorilla sent there??
It sounds to me like it will just be another bachelor facility though privately run, like the USA 'Gorilla Haven'( which currently has no Gorillas now). Some existing ones already hold older males which have 'retired' from breeding as well as younger ones. It seems odd where it says 'can house up to 11- but will only house 4-6. Not quite sure why... Also at the beginning it says 'for Prague primates/gorillas' but I think that is an innaccuracy and though outside Prague, will take surplus males from elsewhere. They will no doubt be able to fill it- new holders for surplus males are always needed.
Thanks for the info Jana. I can't see zoos being keen to pay much of an allowance type thing, certainly not enough to keep the whole place operational. Will be interesting to see what happens.
The 4-6 part is what they expect to be able to hold, presumably there will be that many enclosures but if males happen to be compatible with each other then they could have more than one per enclosure and house up to 11 in a best case scenario. If too many males are being produced then zoos will need to find a way to deal with it, more zoos holding bachelor groups is a start, and this sort of set-up might work, but I can also see it being unsuccessful.
Its gone beyond that now. They have castrated a number of young male Gorillas in some European groups to see if this will allow them to stay permanently in their natal groups. These are males that would never be needed for breeding. What's happening is there aren't enough places available in existing bachelor groups, which is why another holder would be welcome. But the economics/viability of it as a facility outside of a zoo I wouldn't know.
The zoo has a new litter of 3 Busch Dogs. They were born in July, but the exhibit was closed for public for some time, and only recently the cubs has been visible. The group is now quite big - the breeding pair, 3 cubs from last year and 3 fresh ones. Last weekend saw the zoo´s one millionth visitor in 2014. Despite a very nice early spring and good summer weather, the attendance figure is only average. I guess the zoo could have around 1,30 - 1,35 million visits at the year-end. (Considering achieved cost savings due to mild winter, earnings´ rise due to new rules for annual passes, and constantly descreasing subsidies, the zoo could exceed 85% self-sufficiency in 2014. It would be really nice if the zoo could reach 100% financial self-sufficiency some day. Then it would be less vulnerable to whims of the city council.)
I rather don´t think any tayras were born recently here. The last litter of three, born in April, is still kept together with its mother while the breeding male is separated. And I don´t really believe in parthenogenesis in tayras. Six Cotton pygmy geese (Nettapus coromandelianus coromandelianus) hatched in August. Last weekend, I counted 28 flamingo chicks and still 3? eggs. In total, around 240 are kept now. Both elephant bulls are regularly put together with the younger cows, they switch them almost every day. I think it can´t take more then a few months before some of them get gravid.
Ever thought it could be because people are sick of you,always asking that question when anything has died!!!!!
