You might still be in for a dissapointment, because if you desire to see Raggiana, this event specifically mentions King BoP only.
From memory, it was at the bottom of a right-facing wall in a room with several exhibits and near the front of the building
Today the zoo announced that 1 hand-reared Pel´s owling was put on show with its parents. The second chick is not even mentioned thus I guess it didnt make it. Source with pic
I’m visiting Prague for the first time next week and had a couple of questions for any regulars based on comments made up thread. Can anyone confirm if the Chinese Goral are still on show and also if the Kulan have arrived yet/are on show if so?
Unsure about the kulans, the gorals should still be onshow in a steep sloping paddock next to the viewpoint by the restaurant in the top of the zoo (along from the Eurasian elks/near the plains bisons and prairie dogs) If you download the xoo map in JPG format from the zoo's website it should show the gorals to the left of the Eurasian elks. The latest update (the image on the zoo's website itself) doesn't show them though so perhaps they've gone out of them...?
@nedpepper I can´t help with kulans and gorals because my last visit dates few weeks back. At that time gorals were in their usual spot (behind moose). And alpacas were in the pen where kulans are depicted on latest online zoo map. @Kalaw You asked about laughingtrushes in 'Birds of Southeast Asia'. I answered that only 1-2 species are left. But complete species line-up in that area (what is left from former pheasantry) in middle of March shows 3 species, going from penguins towards Darwin Crater: Bali starling, green imperial pigeon, Javan green magpie, Salvadori´s pheasant, Malaysian peacock-pheasant, pink-headed imperial pigeon, rufous-fronted laughingtrush, Forsten´s lorikeet, Luzon tarictic hornbill, bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant, pink-necked green pigeon, Sumatran laughingtrush, Visayan tarictic hornbill, hill mynah, Palawan peacock-pheasant, northern rufous hornbill, Philippine metallic pigeon, Sunda laughingtrush, black-breasted trush, Edward´s pheasant, Vietnamese pheasant
Still a very nice selection of species in those aviaries, even if they are somewhat depleted from recent years - a pity Philippine Scops Owl seems to no longer be displayed there, though.
The zoo has altered its HP and added a pic for the event. A Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise is on show in Rakos pavilion. While King BoP remains only off-show (former mention of this species was probably a blunder of an intern). Link
According to the latest facebook post, both species (Paradisaea raggiana and Cicinnurus regius) will be on show.
3 young Egyptian vultures that hatched at Prague and Ostrava zoo have been placed in acclimatization aviary in Bulgarian mountains and will be set free in 2 months. Source
Director announced on his Facebook death of another Tasmanian devil, meaning only one from the originally importet quartet remains. Nonetheless, in the same post he also announced that Zoo will obtain two phased-out females from Copenhagen, so the exhibit is filled untill they manage to import breeding group from Tasmania.
Finally visited Prague last Friday and no wonder it’s considered one of the best in the world. Had a couple of questions for curiosity’s sake for anyone who may be able to answer: - I’ve read the giant salamander enclosures are interconnected, but is that just in terms of water flow or do they move freely from tank to tank too? Also, surely the open topped tank built into the ground near the entrance is just for show and not a part of the exhibit? - One of the only no shows I was disappointed by was the black and rufous sengi, but in the enclosure I saw what I thought looked just like an Etruscan shrew but didn’t notice another species signed in addition. Is that how young black and rufous sengi appear or does anyone know whats the species was if not? - Another species that always alludes me is the echidna as was the same case here, but looking at the enclosure there was barely anywhere I can imagine them being able to hide from view anyway. Is there a hidden private area for them connected to the main exhibit that I didn’t notice perhaps? A minor update is that the on-show indoor area for Tasmanian devils is covered over and being refurbished, I was fortunate to catch a glimpse of the last remaining specimen outside briefly though.
I´m glad you liked your visit. Giant salamanders cannot freely migrate between individual enclosures in their house. The tank on the ground has a horizontal glass panel just under water surface thus it´s not open topped at all (that is just an optical illusion). Have you seen Karlo? He is the largest salamander (over 160 cm and 40 years old) in the second tank from entrance. He came 2014 from Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karslruhe where he got famous by bitting off a thump of one of his handlers. Black and rufous sengi is hard to see most of time and they sadly don´t beed at Prague. I´m not aware of any other species being kept there instead or mixed with them maybe some regular can chim in. Echidna spends most of the day fully burrowed underground. There is off-show room for them but it´s not usually connected with the exhibit. The indoor area you saw covered doesn´t belong to Tasmanian devils (devils have only off-show indoor rooms). It belonged to long-nosed potoroo, wonga pigeon and blue-faced honeyeater. I don´t know if these species will return there after the refurb is finished.
Thanks for all the helpful info! I believe I did see Karlo, in fact I stepped back and nearly fell into what I thought was the open topped tank at the same time. Unless the second tank from entrance is the one you can stand underneath in which case I saw him there. Didn’t realise they were strong enough to inflict that kind of damage! Apologies for the fake news RE: the refurb exhibit.
I should correct my answer about giant salamander house. I usually see the same animals in same tanks on several consecutive zoo visits. That leads me to logical conclusion that salamanders living there can´t freely move from tank to tank. However, those 5 show tanks were indeed constructed interconnected. The original idea was to let salamanders climb from one tank to another on their own - to mimic their travel up and down a stream (especially during mating season).
