Different stock, however - I believe the individuals going onshow arrived in 2014, with the previous stock leaving for private hands in 2011.
One of the best European zoos adds another gem to its impressive collection . I am so much looking forward to revisit it next week .
Was fortunate enough to get a Zoo Grapevine preview on Friday and this is a truly superb exhibit with Lear`s Macaw as the rarest taxon but ,in zoo terms,the Blue-naped Parrot almost as rare.Other birds such as Helmeted Friarbird and Scaly-naped Pigeon prove that the house is much more than "just" rare parrots. To split hairs with the architect in the above video, only two walk-through aviaries could accurately be described as immersive,as the majority are typically dioramic...but all are superbly presented. It opens without any particular sense of newness,because plants have been given time to grow and the birds time to adapt to the surroundings...this is ,of course,a good thing. A full report will be in the Autumn edition of Zoo Grapevine and International Zoo News due in a few weeks time.
So... it is spacious enough? I was worried a little bit about that... Either way I am really looking forward to see it in, I hope near, future
I was there on opening day and the enclosures certainly are spacious enough. The corridors of the house on the other hand....
Prague now holds 2,0 Raggiana bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana). Apparently, the plan is to house them in the Rákos pavillion in the future.
For decades, we had no birds-of-paradise in local zoos or by local private breeders. And now, in span of just 2 years, they appear in 3 Czech zoos. But usually not as pairs or breeding groups but just like living decorations. Where is the source of these birds?
I would guess that as they’re raggiana which aren’t really around in private hands that they are from Walsrode...
A) direct contacts and transfers with Indonesian and other SE Asian SEAZA region zoos. B) wildlife trade under CITES ... or private breeders .... C) illegal trade and confiscation by national authorities with dispositioning to the local prof zoo network. Cannot think of other possibilities really
So after little searching, I think I found two previous owners of the said reggiana birds, a Czech and a Slovak private bird keepers. It looks like some number of birds (of several species) got imported within last ca 5 years by local private sphere and now suplus odd birds "spill over" to zoos.
Half right - the male died, the female is still there. At least one of the two came from Walsrode, as confirmed by a member of staff I have been in contact with. The other may well have come from one of these private places though...
@Thylo, imports from SE Asian zoos as well as from animal dealers happened more often in the last few years. Viz echidnas, NG wallabies, cuscus and doucs to Europe! So, none too outlandish here.
