Both pairs of bearded vulture had a chick hatch this winter and both will be released into wilderness - one goes to France and one to Spain. Zoo poskytla dalšího orlosupa pro vypuštění do přírody - Novinky - Novinky - O zoo - Zoo Ostrava EDIT I see that those two Sri Lankan leopard cubs born in Fabruary were not mentioned here yet. Nice addition.
Short update on their onager herd. They live within Asian safari part in area of 1 hectare (over 2 acres) which you can drive-through using a little train. The breeding herd consists of 1 stalion (came last year from Sigean) and 9 mares of different ages. I think we can expect a nice baby boom in near future. They are mixed with bachelor herd of gazellas and Persian fallow deer and this arrangement works well over years. Koňovití - Novinky - Chov onagerů v Zoo Ostrava
Had a chance to visit the zoo on friday. The new primate enclosures is not done yet. Any news what is the current opening date plan? Additionally if they plan to demolished the old monkey house what will happen with mandrills?
Sometimes in autumn after the animals settle there. AFAIK they will stay in their current exhibit, only new indoors will be built for them.
Baby boom among deer herds during this spring: 4x Père David's deer, 3x Vietnameese sika deer and 13x chital (axis) deer. Attendance numbers are pretty good. Visitor number 250.000 came 19 days earlier than in record year (2019). I would predict ca 640k-650k at year end - still solid no.3 among Czech zoos (unless Dvur Kralove can overtake them with boost from new penguin exhibit, which I doubt).
A new species on show - Roseate spoonbills. They were added into the walk-though La Pampa aviary. The yellow cardinal pair living in La Pampa aviary recently managed to rear 4 chicks from one nest, a welcome boost for its captive population.
The expected baby boom is here and the onager herd got 7 youngsters born in recent weeks, 4 males and 3 females. The colony of Lord Derby's parakeet near zoo entrance (living in former eagle owl aviary) has 14 chicks and most of them have just left nesting boxes.
The new exhibits for lion-tailed macaques and white-cheeked gibbons are not officially open for visitors. Nové expozice pro gibony a makaky se otevřely - Novinky - Novinky - O zoo - Zoo Ostrava
Two Barasingha deer were born in August. This species lives in the Indian enclosure of safari, mixed with axis deer, nilgai, water buffalo and blackbuck.
Small-clawed otters have 2 small cubs. New species kept at the zoo - vicuna. Two females came from Zoo Hannover. Another 1,1 are expected to arrive in next weeks. The next construction project is exhibit for penguins. Planned species are African penguin and Atlantic tarpon fish. Construction should start in 2023. Following future projects are - Amfibiárium (house for amphibians) near zoo entrance, walk-though Andes and Australian sections both with large aviary each, and new Amur tiger exhibit (long in planning but always pushed back). Pics of planned penguin exhibit
A zoo with huge potential - yes, that is perfect definition. It just needs to fully unlock it. While its animal exhibit developement goes in right direction, accenting both ABC and zoo-nerd species. Still I would prioritise return of tigers over penguins if I were them. planned exhibits But the biggest Achiles heel of the zoo is probably visitors amenities. Their only restaurant (where I had my worst zoo-food experience, few years back) is currently closed indefinitely. They should take inspiration from Dvur Kralove or Zlin with multiple dining options, on-side accomodation, brewery, cafes, event planning etc. I will repeat myself, but Ostrava could substantially rise its attendance if they would become ambitious. Silesian agglomeration on Polish side has 4,3 million people (plus another 1 mio on Czech side of the border). They could become major zoo for this huge market. The Polish side sees increase in population and rapid wealth growth. Tap it and own it!
Yup. I think that Ostrava "can into" such natural exhibits (Chitwan with bears). I think that there are two weak spots among Ostrava exhibits - monkey house (currently mostly empty and soon to be demolished?) and lion house - though I was there yeears ago and don´t remember it that much (not great not terrible?)
The zoo re-opened their only restaurant Saola after maintenance period. Vietnamese crocodile lizards (kept at the new gibbon house) have bred for the first time since their arrival - 4 little babies were born recently, but will stay back stage in near future. Article
What's the determinator that Ostrava has Vietnamese as opposed to the typical Chinese Crocodile Lizards? ~Thylo
Origin of the population. Ostrava got a pair of lizards from Köln zoo (Cologne in Germany) last year and they got them collecting in Vietnam. The female came pregnant already. This is quoting the zoo itself: "Ostrava Zoo is one of five European zoos that keep the Vietnamese subspecies of the Chinese crocodile lizard. They are not kept by any institution outside of Europe. Including our four cubs, the current European population is only 29 individuals. Breeding has been successful so far only in Cologne zoo, which is intensively devoted to these reptiles and it supports scientific and conservation activities directly in Vietnam." Link