- Opening of new flamingo aviary has been postponed to autumn (sad smiley). - The repaired pygmy hippo house is finished and open again to visitors. - The re-worked walking path along Nile hippo exhibit is open again and offers some nice views. - Two male mountain reedbucks has been placed into sitatunga pen (behind ape house), this species is on its way out from European collections so enjoy it on-show while it lasts. (Small tip for future visitors - this zoo is not actively asking its visitors to leave zoo grounds at any set hour - in comparison for example Prague zoo closes ticket sale at 18:00 and you are politely asked to leave at sunset circa 21:00. At Dvur, you can stay late into night. If you own annual ticket, you can use zoo hotel entrance to enter the zoo even during midnight or dawn. It´s official policy, not a shaddy loophole. Annual ticket is 23 Euro and you can deduct price of your single-entry ticket (10 Euro) if you decide to buy it the same day on your way out.)
An article (in czech) with some pictures from African south-west areal in construction. Safari park začne stavět pavilon pro tučňáky a vinici. Kraken se chystá do Lodže
Recently 2-year old female Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana) Banu arrived from zoo Köln. She will be paired to Arkhyz, who is genetically extremely valuable. He came from a Russian repatriation station in Sochi and is completely unrelated to all other "Persians" in Europe according to the Instagram post. I persume that Banu was born in Köln, given that 1.1 persian leopards were there in 2019. Source: Instagram of Zoo Dvůr Králové (07/07/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRB3EpciOve/
can anyone tell me if the rhinos at Dvur Kralove are all kept together, or some separately in smaller 'herds', as I noticed they have three males, and was wondering if they are kept seperately. Thanks
IIRC the setup is as follows: White rhinos - one herd of females one male with them and one kept separately Black rhinos - in multiple exhibits in which they rotate, I think they kept some young bulls together but I don't know if it's still the case. Also, they successfully managed to form a "mini herd" of two females and their offspring.
Found a recent article on their Greater flamingos who now spend the last season in their old aviary. Low temperature during spring has caused an interruption of their breeding, the colony laid two eggs in early May and left nests. But more than a month later they started again and now 7 chicks who hatched during July are running in the flock.
Berber lions have another litter born 20th July, this time one male and one female cub. Mother is lioness Khalila. They are now kept back-stage but will get moved into the safari in September. Rock hyraxes living in elephant house have one small cub of unknown sex. Western reef heron pair living in small aviary near bird house has 2 chicks, one is white and one is blue morph. Spur-winged goose pair from walk-through waterfowl aviary has 2 chicks, but they are all back-stage now because parents became too aggressive once gooslings hatched. 8 tiny Savanna vine snakes (Thelotornis capensis) hatched and keepers teach them to eat mouse babies. This is I think a second breeding success with this tree-dwelling venomous snake in recent years in Dvur.
Female Grevy’s Zebra Lukrinda has given birth to a foal named ‘Legend’, the father is Mac, who came from England. Could someone confirm that this is the same Mac who was at Chester Zoo?
Fennec foxes have a litter with 4 cubs. Mother is called Femme Fatale (from Ramat Gan) and father is Fantom (from Rome). Both adults are really shy and basically impossible to see by visitors. Article has few pics
Today, both tomistomas left for Lodz zoo. The pair came originally from Singapore zoo in 1989, the male has now 477 kg and over 5 meters. Their exhibit in Dvur will undergo a facelift/modernisation and then it will host slender-snouted crocodiles. source
The zoo received a male Black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) in September to accompany the already present female. Source: Instagram of Dvůr Králové (22/09/2021)
On the 15th of July a male and a female serval (Leptailurus serval) were born. The zoo has received 3 Common spider tortoises (Pyxis arachnoides arachnoides), according to ZTL they came from Genova (Aquarium). Currently they are kept behind the scenes and will be visible to the public at the end of this year. Sources: Instagram of Dvůr Králové (14/10/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVAutXgsl2Q/ Instagram of Dvůr Králové (10/11/2021) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWFzgHYMDId/
New flamingo aviary in new areal Jihozápad (Southwest Africa) is finally completed after delays! 75 Greater flamingos moved there from their old aviary this week. They will get some time to get accustomed in their new home and then the walk-though aviary will be open to vistors (there is a visitors path running along one inside wall of the aviary). Another 14 young Greater flamingos were sent to other zoos. At the same time, Dvur Kralove gave up dream of breeding Lesser flamingos (there was a plan for a special new house and aviary in their new areal, but apparently it won´t happen). Their two males and all 8 females were sent to Zlin-Lesna - the only other lesser flamingo holder in the Czech republic. Zlin thus now has a group of 19 pairs (gender-balanced group is important for breeding) and Dvur Kralove is left with a bachelor flock of 15 males. Consolidation is a key measure to induce breeding in flamingos but Zlin so far bred only 1 chick in all these years. So fingers crossed they will do better now. Source
