ZOO Plzeň Plzen zoo news

0,2 Chapman's zebra were moved to Zoo Dvorec and thus began the phase-out of Chapman's zebras from Plzen

 

Will they change to the Borana or maneless zebra which was talked about?

 

Maneless

 

FYI: The maneless zebra are also frequently referred to as Borana zebra.

 

Great the maneless zebra have another holder now. This is part of the Czech Republic / Slovak Republic separately managed breeding program.

Forumster Jana has set up a separate thread for this:
Maneless zebra (Equus quagga borensis) bredding program in Europe

 

Are there still other Chapman's zebras on Plzen?

 

AFAIK, there should be still some animals who are bound to leave at a later date, the maneless didn't even arrive yet so there is no need to ship them out rapidly.

 

Interesting.

 

Aaaand the day after I posted this, the zoo announced that the Zebra switcheroo is now almost finished.

In recent weeks Chapman's zebras left to following zoos: Spiššská Nová Ves (Slovakia), Dvorec (Cze) and Zoo Safari Borysew (Poland).

0,2 maneless zebras arrived at the beginning of this week from Borysew, male from the same zoo arrives today.

In other news 1,0 North-Chinese leopard arrived from Tierpark Stadt Haag

 

Article about the curator of birds and small mammals of Plzen Zoo :

The talent behind Pilsen Zoo

 

Two Barbary lions born, this time one male and one female.

Their 2 years old brother is still at Plzeň, the new lion enclosure at Chleby (where it´s headed) needs a few more weeks to finish it before it can accept animals.

 

At least 1 Goodman's mouse lemurs born in the off-show area.

 

At least 2 Brown pelicans were added to penguin aviary.

 

A "Pavilion of golden fish" has opened. That little abandoned house above birds of pray show has been demolished and built anew in Chinese style (I don´t like the end version really, looks fake, but thats me). It contains different domestic forms of Golden fish in Chinese-style pots. And an enclosure for Chinese crocodile lizards. The most notable improvement is a new visitor path leading up along the amphiteater. Instead of steep stairways, it´s now in form of serpentines that can be used by people with strollers.

 

1,0 White-striped dorcopsis is on show in former dingo enclosure.

Something about the goldfish house (pictures will be uploaded into the gallery in a while): Styled as if you would write "Asian architecture" into google image search, but I gotta say, I kinda like it. As @Jana said, the main improvement is the barrier-less access to the Asian Garden. Along the path there is a ton of plants and bushes planted, in true Plzen's fashion.

The building has essentially two not-connected levels. In the lower level is an exhibit for Chinese crocodile lizards (Shinisaurus crocodilurus) the terrarium itself is big and even though there was a lot of moisture on the glass hindering the view (that's why I don't have a photo of the terrarium itself) you could see that it gives lizards a lot of climbing and hiding opportunities. They have also a big pool available inhabited by 4 fish species (species seen in bold): Chinese barb (Barbodes semifasciolatus), White cloud mountain minnow (Tanichthys albonubes), Mackerel barb (Opsarius pulchellus) and Gold ring butterfly sucker (Sewellia lineolata). The terrarium looks nicely planted too but I couldn't tell if those plants are live or not through the moisture. The mock rock looked a bit weird too...

The upper level houses 4 different Goldfish morphs in porcelain vases. According to the zoo's press release, there are more vases on the way directly from China. Two more vases house Paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) and Japanese rice fish (Oryzias latipes). Remaining vases have various plants planted in them (Budha's hand, orchids...). There are also posters about goldfish keeping.

Honestly, I would've liked it more if the fish would be in regular aquariums (it would also look much better I would say) but the positive is that if this setup won't work, the indoors can be easily redone to house something different.

 

2020 attendance: 377 400 visitors

 

Lac Alaotran bamboo lemur born, this time to the pair kept in the off-show area.

 

Lemur baby boom within the last weeks include:
- two white-belted ruffed lemurs
- two black lemurs
- one white-headed lemur
- one common brown lemur

 

Plzen's annual report is online

 

So I´m reading the report and I´m having fun over article about history of maned wolf Manzan (who died 2020 at age of 17 years and thus a new longevity record for the species). This piece of text is ommited in English translation so I tried myself.