I have a question about said excellent article; There is a picture of a gibbon enclosure at Jihlava, but i couldn't make out any mesh or means of containing the animals, could the author (whoever they may be) please clarify.
There is mesh just-about-visible in the photo, but it is behind where it "should" be - some of the poles which appear to provide the framework of the enclosure are in fact aesthetic and decorative, rather than practical, as far as I can see. There are also babirusa in the area surrounding the gibbon cage; I'm not sure, however, whether they are on the side of the exhibit visible in this picture. Gibbon enclosure by sooty mangabey posted 21 Nov 2016 at 11:02 PM The house at the back of this photo divides the two gibbon cages; it also features an enclosure for a palm civet. all-in-all: a rather nice, if rather cramped, set-up.
@sooty mangabey When you were in Moravia, did you see much progress on the 21 hectare (50 acre) expansion at Zlin Zoo? There is an image of the future zoo map in the new book Zooming in on Europe's Zoos and the project looks to be an immense undertaking called "Karibuni - across Africa".
As far as I'm aware, the work has yet to start on the African expansion; possibly closer to completion is the area for American animals, which has been cleared, I think, and once a herd of vicuna is rehomed, could be developed. I guess the problem is funding....
You are right, Zlín actually stopped working on that American area and now is putting all funds to the Karibuni project
Not really any particular reason to post this, but I thought I might as well mention that I will, finally, be doing the aforementioned trip after the delay that I posted about in the last page. I'm in the UK for Christmas at the moment, but I will be flying back to Warsaw in a couple of days then heading to Brno on Friday (30th) to spend four nights there, with the same itinerary as originally planned. Hopefully the zoos will still be pretty good in winter, I believe they are open.
I had a very enjoyable visit to Brno Zoo today, a very nice zoo with quite a few particularly nice exhibits. I hope to upload some pictures and post a short review in this thread before I go back to school in the second week of January. (though I do have quite a bit of work that I have to do when I get back to Warsaw, so no promises). Tomorrow I am planning to visit Zlin Zoo (after dragging my family out of bed early on New Year's morning - wish me luck ) and the next day I am planning to visit Jihlava. And thanks to HOMIN96 for showing me around Brno Zoo today, it was nice to meet you.
So, how did you find Zlin? possibly not at its best at this time of year, but hopefully, interesting nonetheless. At Brno, how is the work going on the new primate enclosure, to the right of the chimpanzee and baboon house?
@sooty mangabey, the last I heard and seen was that the new project is very much extension of the African Valley safari with carnivores et cetera. Another project should be the Polar Bear complex and the birds of prey area. Cannot for a moment phantom or perceive how on Earth they could build a new primate enclosure next to chimpanzees and baboons (this is seriously old school zoo and not a particularly enchanting sight!). But perhaps our more recent visitor can tell you otherwise. After checking other fora: August 2016 - new Anubis baboon complex 300m3, built into a rocky outcrop. No idea where this was sited. Assume up along the mountain side. Same month: new Lion exhibit ground breaking (African Valley).
Zlin was very nice. I could see that it was not its best, but it was easy to see what it would look like in the summer when the water is flowing, the plants are green, and the animals are out in their enclosures and I'm sure in summer it would be a fantastic zoo, rather than a very good zoo as in winter. The rows of empty aviaries were a bit depressing though, and what was also annoying was that both the Black-legged Seriema and Gambian Mongoose were locked in their indoor areas all day where there is no viewing. More frustrating was that I could hear the Seriema banging on the sliding metal hatch to let it into its outdoor area and I could see the door moving and I could also hear the Green Oropendola, which shares the enclosure with the Seriema, very clearly. I did see the African Pygmy Kingfishers, Curl-crested Aracari, and Guiana Toucanet though which are all species that I was very pleased to see. I also thought Jihlava zoo was fantastic, and I liked it even more than Zlin in the winter, but I think even in summer I would probably still slightly prefer Jihlava to Zlin. I hope to post a few more thoughts on each of the three zoos, as well as some pictures, in the next few days. I think the primate enclosure that you refer to is now finished and houses the baboons. @HOMIN96 mentioned that the enclosure was new this year. It's not a particularly fantastic or pretty enclosure, but it's not bad. Other enclosures that I saw under construction on my visit were an aviary for European birds near the entrance as well as the lion enclosure at the African area.
Thank you! The new baboon enclosure is to the right of the house, on the sloping ground there (hillside would be putting it too strongly). The baboons were in a relatively attractive (though still small) glass-fronted enclosure, while the chimps were in heavily-barred cages; I would presume that the baboons would move into the new enclosure, leaving the chimps to take up residence in their erstwhile cage.
Thank you for this answer (which crossed with my own, to KB's, discussing primate accommodation). Jihlava is certainly a zoo which would be good to visit in winter with all those houses - even if I must admit to finding it all just a little bit too crowded-in on top of itself. What was the third zoo to which you were able to make a visit on this trip?
Hello Sooty M, I checked on the Zoo Brno website and I can confirm that some more developments are in train. The latest Zoo Report informs on plans for the new Chimpanzee outdoor complex (2,000m2) and that in 2010 indoor facilities were enlarged. Another smaller primate species would also get an outdoor area at the front of the new complex. This is to the left of the Primate House. A raised walkway would take visitors along the outdoor from the Primate House. The front would be refurbed too for a small primate species and the ugly bar systems taken down. A refreshments area should be situated in the middle. Did not see the plan on the right side of the Primate House advertised. I remember previously the front entry area had lemurs (I think ring-taileds, but not sure from memory). They as of October acquired 0.2 black white ruffeds and 1.1 + 0.0.1 offspring black lemur!!!
Thank you for this; I really am impressed by the way in which Brno has been developing in recent years, and has gone from being a pretty dodgy zoo to one which has a great deal of merit. I really hope it can continue to develop in this way! My apologies - my ability to count beyond two appears to have been impaired. I blame a combination of old age and heavy cold!
On tuesday, new sketches of planned chimpanzee exhibit emerged and here they are: Zoo Brno dostane nový výběh pro šimpanze I´m deeply sorry, if I didn´t mention to you @LaughingDove , where the new chimpanzee exhibit will be. Or maybe I wasn´t clear enough...nevertheless I hope that I didn´t bore you with my long lecture about every possible exhibit in Brno and I also hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip.
Those are here only on loan from Hodonín, because there is reconstruction of roof in monkey house going on
You certainly didn't bore me, thank you very much for the great tour of the zoo and the interesting discussions about the goings-on and Brno Zoo. And I did indeed enjoy the rest of the trip very much as well.
So, I thought I'd post my thoughts on each of the three zoos that I visited on this trip, Brno, Zlin, and Jihlava. Unfortunately, I don't have time to post proper long, detailed reviews as I have done in the past for places like Prague and Plzen, but here are some brief thoughts. Brno Zoo: Brno was the first of the three zoos that I visited as I was staying in the city centre of Brno itself (which is very nice, by the way) and I had the pleasure of being shown around the zoo by the local resident HOMIN96. Brno is a decent sized zoo, not huge by any means, but quite a nice general zoo with a fairly diverse collection ranging from mammals to fish. It's quite easy to see that the zoo has improved in recent years and continues to improve as there are a fair few old, out of date enclosures, such as some very old primate enclosures, as well as some very nice new enclosures such as the excellent Kamchatka Bear exhibit and the African area where there is further development going on with the construction of a lion exhibit. The restaurant and gift shop building is also very nicely done-up and certainly one of the prettier ones I have seen with a squirrel enclosure and an aviary inside as well as viewing into the tiger exhibit. Though I don't think there is anything super-rare at Brno Zoo, there are certainly quite a few unusual species worthy of note, and main ones that come to mind are Kamchatka Brown Bears, Sri Lankan Leopards, Cuban Hutias, Altai Wapiti, Northern Fur Seal, Canada Lynx, and a few unusual fish, amongst other things. A few further exhibits that I particularly liked were the walkthrough for Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby (though it seemed quite empty with only two wallabies), and the huge walkthrough aviary for Bald Eagles. I also enjoyed watching the North American Beavers, which were particularly interesting that day, as they swum under the ice, climbed on top of the ice, and brought bits of mud and twigs into their indoor 'dam' which has a viewing window into it So, Brno certainly has its flaws and is by no means perfect, but generally the new developments are excellent and the zoo seems set to continue to improve so all around it's a very nice zoo and well worth a visit if you're in the area. Zlin Zoo: The next zoo that I visited was Zlin Zoo. Zlin is located a little over an hour by car from Brno and the zoo is located a little out of town and in the countryside. I had been forewarned that the zoo was quite large so would need as much time as possible with the short winter openings (luckily the zoo had extended opening until 5PM on New Year’s Day when I visited) and I had also been warned that the zoo would not be at its best during winter. Zlin does very well in both the unusual species and the excellent exhibit department and being winter and -8 degrees outside, I enjoyed the Yucatan tropical hall very much where there was a reasonably large free-flying colony of Caciques building nests, three free-flying Capuchinbirds with my first time hearing the call of the latter species – fantastic experience - and a fenced off area marked with 'bird breeding area' which had sufficiently large gaps in the fence for me to peer through to see, and photograph, two fantastic Ramphastidae species that I had wanted to see for a long time, both Curl-crested Aracaris and Guiana Toucanets. In addition to the tropical hall, the other excellent indoor building was that with the Cow-nosed Rays where food for the rays can be purchased allowing the public to feed them. Additionally, there was a nice little exhibit with another fantastic species in the building that I was very keen to see - African Pygmy Kingfishers. Though I did see three species that I was very keen to see, I unfortunately missed a further two that I was also keen to see due to the cold, frosty weather. These were the Gambian Mongoose and the Black-legged Seriema and although I saw the exhibits for both species, they were locked inside their indoor areas with no indoor viewing (I'm sure they were not let out at any point during the day because the frost was still undisturbed at the end of the day). The lack of indoor viewing was quite prevalent in many of the enclosures at Zlin, and there was substantially less indoor viewing than most European zoos, it seemed. Additionally, there were a few rows of aviaries that stood completely empty during the winter months, though I was pleased that the signs had been removed because it would have been more frustrating to see the empty exhibits with the signs still on. Speaking of frustrating, when I decided to return to the Seriema enclosure just before leaving the zoo (just in case), I actually saw the metal door leading into the outdoor enclosure being knocked at by one of the birds inside and I could very clearly hear the Green Oropendola - which shares the Seriema's exhibit - calling from inside the building. So close, yet so far. As I have alluded to, most of the zoo's enclosures are outside, and although many were devoid of animals and all were covered in frost, I still feel I got a good idea of what the enclosures would be like in summer. There were lots of really nice open outdoor enclosures themed to fit their geographical areas, and although there may have been too much theming for some people, I feel that a very good balance was met with the right amount of decorations so that they remained as theming, and didn't cross the fine line to become superfluous rubbish rather than appropriate decorations. The enclosures themselves were mostly very good, though a few were more mediocre, and they were quite spread out, taking advantage of the zoo’s rural location, to give plenty of breathing space between exhibits. Though of course the zoo is much better in the summer, and some areas had a sad, neglected, forlorn air during my visit, I feel that it goes from a very good zoo in winter to an excellent zoo in summer, and I don't want it to come across that I didn't enjoy my visit, because I most certainly enjoyed it very much. Jihlava Zoo: The final zoo that I had time for on this trip was Jihlava Zoo which is located in the town of Jihlava, also about an hour from Brno by car. The zoo is much closer to the centre than Zlin or Brno, and some parts of the centre of town look over the zoo. I didn't have time to visit the town because we only got to the zoo at 11, and by the time I was done at 3:30 it was already getting dark, but my parents spent the day in the town and I have been told that it is very nice. During winter, Jihlava is certainly my favourite of the three zoos, and I suspect I would have had the same impression in the summer, but I can understand the different, more open, appeal of Zlin. The mammal collection at Jihlava is excellent with a huge range of species including many quite unusual ones, and if I am counting correctly, 16 felid taxa, of which the Jungle Cat was a new species for me. The herpetological collection was also quite extensive with a fair few species in the tropical house (brief note here; when I was going around Brno Zoo, HOMIN96 mentioned the large amounts of cabling and wiring inside the reptile enclosures at Jihlava, and I’m not sure if I would have noticed otherwise, but I certainly noticed and thought it looked very odd and probably rather dangerous), but the bird collection was very small and Zlin certainly exceeded on that front. Jihlava Zoo doesn't have nearly as much space as Zlin, so the exhibits are much more tightly packed with less breathing room between exhibits, but I don't think the zoo is excessively crowded. The zoo also has a rather odd long, thin shape and there is no obvious path around the zoo unless you really planned carefully (unlike Zlin and to a slightly lesser extent Brno, both of which had obvious routes) with exhibits that were a bit more higgledy-piggledy. This problem is, unfortunately, made much worse by the map, which is horrendous. To start with, I only saw a single board with a map in the entirety of the zoo and none were given or sold at the entrance. This single map only had a few of the major pathways marked, and didn't have the exhibits or buildings labelled but instead had extremely childish cartoons of animals dotted around the map. Then surrounding the edge of the map were random drawings and hieroglyphics that I could make absolutely no sense of (though there were some words in Czech that would probably have helped with understanding), and though it is a minor complaint, I wanted to mention how awful the map was. Another complaint that I have with Jihlava is that in a few places, the theming crosses the line I mentioned in my Zlin review of going from decorations to superfluous rubbish (in my opinion). The two places I feel where this was worst was with the Australian house where the indoor area for the Australian exhibit was supposed to look like an outback house thing with Red Kangaroos sitting inside, and also with the crashed 'Jihlava Airlines' plane in the tropical house and I thought both of these were excessive and just looked silly. In the Australian house, there was also one example where I felt these decorations made the exhibit worse for the animal where the Australian Water Rat just had a small bathtub as the water area rather than something larger as I felt it should have had. Generally, I also felt that although all the exhibits looked very new and they were all very attractive - the zoo advertises itself as 'a zoo without bars' - many of them were just mediocre for the animals and not all were excellent both in looking good and in being good for the animals. Though of course the actual quality of the exhibit can be very difficult to judge beyond the superficial appearance. And just as a passing note, ‘a zoo without bars' does have disadvantages in winter, I was completely unable to see into the outdoor tiger exhibit, I don't mean the viewing was obstructed, I couldn't see in at all, because the viewing is entirely glass which was completely frosted over. So, I think that's all for my thoughts on each of the zoos. I very much enjoyed my trip and would have loved to have stayed in Brno longer to visit some other local zoos, but I'm very pleased with the three I managed to visited and overall, I liked them all very much. Lookout for some pictures from the zoos in the galleries (hopefully) in the next couple of days. I'll try to remember to link to the galleries here when I get around to uploading a few pictures.
