AJ blok 3 2018 Sestava 1 - zoobrno.cz file ZooReport 3 Editorial s Dear Readers, Recently, we...

the magazine for friends of the Brno ZooNo. 3

october 2018

Amazing Flamingoswww.sevhlidka.cz

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Content

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october 2018No. 3/18, volume XXpublisher four times per yearMK ČR E 17723

Editor:Brno Zoo and Environmental Education Centre, semi-budgetary organizationU Zoologické zahrady 46, 635 00 Brno,Czech RepublicIČ: 00101451tel.: +420 546 432 311fax: +420 546 210 000e-mail: [email protected]

Publisher:Moravian Museum Zelný trh 6, 659 37 BrnoCzech RepublicIČO: 00094862

Editor’s office addresZoo Brno a stanice zájmových činností, p. o.redakce ZooreportuU Zoologické zahrady 46, 635 00 Brno,Czech Republictel.: +420 546 432 370fax: +420 546 210 000e-mail: [email protected]

Editorial board:Mgr. Jana Galová (children’s supplement),Bc. Jana Hadová, MVDr. Martin Hovorka, Ph.D.(chairman of editorial board), RNDr. BohumilKrál, CSc. (specialist reader), Ing. MiroslavaPiškulová, Bc. Eduard Stuchlík (editor man-ager), doc. Ing. Josef Suchomel, Ph.D., Mgr.Michal Vaňáč.

Distribution:400 pcs in the English version1,600 pcs in the Czech version

The author of non-attributed texts and photos is:Michal Vaňáč

First page: The greater flamingos Photo by Michal Vaňáč

UNSALEABLE

the magazin for friends of the Brno Zoo

04 FlamingosEverything about flamingos

13 New even-toed ungulatesHimalayan tahrs at Brno Zoo

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14 Rescue StationStories of 2018

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16 Centre of Environmental EducationHolidays at “Hlídka”

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20 Traditional events

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Unique exhibitionNational Geographic exhibits in Brno

Expected transportNoria goes to Germany

FlamingosSpecial rugs and no corners

News from the ExotariumEgernias add to the Australian collection

Brno Dragon– Legend

Is Back

Available at Tourist Information – Radnická Street

FlamingosInteresting details about the life of flamingos


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Editorial s

Dear Readers,

Recently, we transported a young polarbear to Rostock in Germany. Of course,we miss Norinka, but you can readabout her journey to Germany here.We also have photos of her first days inher new home and the insights sharedby the breeders there. Norinka is verypopular there, but that is not surprisingbecause we know her very well, and weknow how great she is. Anyway, wehope she feels great in her new sur-roundings.

With the summer temperaturestouching intolerable levels, one maythink that we should rest as much aspossible. But reality is exactly the op-posite. It is in July and August that wehave the maximum number of visitorsat the zoo, and we want all of them tohave a good time. In the Exotariumpavilion, you can see reptiles of theEgernia stokesii species. One of the in-teresting things about them is how they

defend themselves from their predatorswith their thorny tails. You can readmore it on page 13.

Another novelty are the Himalayantahrs, living next to alpacas since Au-gust this year. It is worth seeing themin the winter months. They have a red-dish-brown to dark-brown thick coatand a strong undercoat. In winter, thecoat keeps them warm. But in thespring months, the warmth is notneeded, so they lose most of it, and thecolour of their coat in summer is gen-erally lighter.

Also, this time, we have covered ourevents at the Centre for EnvironmentalEducation “Hlídka” and in our JinačoviceRescue Station.

Finally, I’d like you invite you to twoevents, and I assure you that they willdefinitely be worth your time. The firstone is not directly connected to BrnoZoo, but you should not miss it in thecentre of Brno. The world-renownedNational Geographic Society is exhibit-ing its photographs on Radnická Street6. Sixty large-format wildlife photo-graphs from around the world are on

EDITORIAL

display and they have been shot byleading National Geographic photog-raphers, including Chris Johns, RobertB. Haas, Michael Nichols and BillCurtsinger. It is open on all days, exceptMonday, from 10am to 6pm.

The second invitation is more tradi-tional, and I’m sure that it will makeyou happy. Like every year, this yeartoo, we will host Halloween at BrnoZoo. So on Saturday, October 27, carryyour spoons and knives and come toBrno Zoo to gouge pumpkins andenjoy other fun activities. We will have1000 pumpkins again, and they will befree for visitors. So you only have to paythe entrance fee, and we will take careof everything else.

To all the supporters of Brno Zoo,I wish you a pleasant read and a beau-tiful season of autumn ahead!

Mgr. Michal VaňáčHead of External Relations

You may have walked past thesecreatures in the zoo, but they are def-initely are worth every bit of your at-tention. They are the flamingos – beau-tiful, majestic and the main topic of2018’s penultimate issue of Zoore-port magazine. At Brno Zoo, we havea species called the greater flamin-gos. At first glance, it may appearthat taking care of them is easy, butin the following pages, you will learnthat flamingos need and rightfully de-serve special care. You will also learna lot of interesting details about theirlives. It is unfortunate that only twoof our supporters have contributed tothe breeding of these beautiful birds.If you would like to change that, youcan join our adoption programmefrom the “Support us” page on ourwebsite or write to [email protected]. Thank you!

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Flamingos

What a Flamingo Looks Like q

Flamingos are over two metres tall withextremely long neck and legs. Bothsexes look the same, differing occasion-ally in size. Except for black flight-feath-ers, their feathers are coloured in shadesof white and pink to dark red. The in-tensity of the colouration correspondsto the amount of carotene in the diet orthe health of the bird. Carotene is a pig-ment that is not independently synthe-sised in the body, so flamingos need toregularly receive it as part of their diet.Decrease in carotene intake may be as-sociated with a certain amount of en-ergy; for example, birds nestling or tak-ing care of their young ones and losingtheir red colour.

Everything aboutFlamingosIn scientific classification, flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) are grouped together withparrots as one of the most popular set birds kept in zoos. It’s because of their fragility,elegance and colour. The flamingo has a small order of only six species, spread acrossthe continents of the world, barring Antarctica and Australia. Their closest living rel-atives are probably Recurvirostridae of the order Charadriiformes or Podicipediformes.

The lesser flamingo. Photo: Petr Suvorov

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The black flight feathers, on the otherhand, are full of a pigment calledmelanin, because it mechanicallystrengthens the most stressed featherson the wings to last longer. Colouredvariants, barring a few exceptions, haveneither been found in nature or captiv-ity. In 2015, a full black flamingo wasrepeatedly sighted on the salt lake ofAkrotiri in Cyprus. It was obviouslya melanin aberration, and it was a com-plete rarity.

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Interestingly, flamingos shed all theirfeathers at once (like cranes or geese), sothey are unable to fly for some time of theyear. During this period, aware of theirdisability, they stay in the worst availableswamps and wetlands as far away fromtheir natural enemies as possible.

A characteristic feature of theflamingo is a massive, light, curved beakwhose cavity is filled with a fleshytongue. Their nutrition strategy is filtra-tion, and their organs are perfectlysuited to this. The bird bends its necknear the water, sucks water into its beakand slips it through the tongue so thatthe small invertebrates stay inside thebeak and the water flows out. Discardingof the water is aided by soft spines on thetongue. Some evolutionary biologistscompare this mechanism to the filteringof krill by whales using the whalebone.But flamingos did not always have thecurved beak – fossils of flamingos of thegenus Palaelodus prove that prehistoricflamingos had straight beaks.

The long and thin legs end in digitswith small claws between which thefloating membrane is stretched. Thebirds usually use their feet to search forfood. They trample on a spot, swirlingsmall invertebrates in the mud underwater, and then suck the water straightinto the beak and filter.

At first sight, the built of a flamingomay give the impression that it has avery small chance of defending itselfagainst any predator. They bird has twomain survival strategies. The first issafety in numbers – if there are numer-ous flamingos feeding together, there isa smaller likelihood that a particularone may fall prey to the predator whomay randomly attack. (2) The secondstrategy is occupying inaccessible areas.Because of their low weight of 1–4 kg(by species), these light birds can neston very unstable muddy subsoil, wheremost four-legged predators cannotreach. That is why the birds stay on theislands in the middle of lakes. Mostwater areas that the birds inhabit havesalty or brackish water. Although theydo not do it often, they can swim in

deep water and, if necessary, sink andemerge.

Reproductive System q

The family life of flamingos is surpri-singly simple. The mating takes place ina group. Birds march in a flock in onedirection and at certain intervals theyrotate their heads or stretch the wings.Couples live together in monogamousbundles, although in human care, ne-sting in triplets (one male, two females)has been observed in exceptional cases.Because the individual pairs stimulateeach other to nest, the size of the co-lony can become quite large. The ruleis simple: the more we are, the moresuccessful we are in nesting.

As with all long-legged birds, the malehas to learn to climb the female's backduring copulation. This topic has beenextensively discussed in zoos in recentyears. The Flamingo Research Group re-commends keeping the birds in aviary,rather than in zones with limited flyingability, as fully flying birds have a higherproportion of fertilised eggs.

When the time comes, a couple willbuild a nest shaped like an upside downpot from clayey soil that can be from 6to 40 cm in height, with a nesting holeof 20-25 cm in diameter. Some couples‘steal’ an already built nest from others.Flamingos lay a single egg on whichboth parents sit for about a month. Egglaying is synchronised throughout thecolony, which may have a purely prag-matic effect (see more in box). Theyoung are hatched downy and are de-pendent on the care of their parents.Both partners take care of the young.

t Flamingos in the African Village of Brno Zoo. Photo: Eduard Stuchlík

The greater flamingos in Cyprus. u

Photo: Petr Suvorov

The Andean flamingo. Photo: Petr Suvorov


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The young are fed a liquid mixture thatforms in the craw of adult birds. Parentscan fly daily up to 90 km for feeding.From the age of about two weeks,youngsters are grouped in “nurseries”.Parents mostly still feed them for about2.5 months (in captivity sometimes toone year) until they are completely inde-pendent. They change feathers roughlyon the 50th day after their birth and areconsidered fully grown up at aroundthree years of age.

Lifespan q

Despite their fragility, they have a longlifespan. In the wild, it is about 40 years,and in captivity nearly twice as much.The oldest flamingo in human care wasprobably a bird that passed away in theAdelaide Zoo in Australia in 2014. Hisage was probably 83–95 years. The birdwas brought to the zoo between 1919and 1933 either from Cairo or fromHamburg as a full-grown. Because of hisage, he was nicknamed “Flamingo One”.

Population Statistics andProtection of Flamingos q

Because flamingos are well known amongthe public and conspicuous by theircolour, there is growing awareness to-wards protecting them. However, onlytwo of the six species are not on the en-dangered species according to the IUCN– these two are the greater flamingo(Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Amer-ican flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber).The greater flamingos mainly inhabit thewarm coastal areas of the Old World, aswell as some inland areas of Africa and

India. On the other hand, the Americanflamingo inhabits islands of CentralAmerica and those adjacent to continen-tal areas. The population of both thesespecies is on the rise, though at the begin-ning of the 20th century, the Americanflamingo was almost extinct due to inten-sive hunting in some areas. Because of itscolour, this species is also the only specieslisted in the CITES Appendix 1A of theAnimal Trafficking Directive. The currentglobal population of these flamingos isroughly around a quarter of a million.The greater flamingo has fared slightlybetter. Population estimates suggest thattheir number is almost half to three quar-ters of a million. Still, flamingos are beingillegally caught for captivity.

The most common species of flamingo,the lesser flamingo (Phoeniconaiasminor) is paradoxically already an “almostendangered” species. This is mainly be-cause of its vulnerability. The current po-pulation size of these flamingos is about 2.5million individuals, and they live mainly insub-Saharan Africa, the Arabian Peninsulaand the north-eastern coast of India. At theNatron Lake nesting site in Tanzania, 1.5–2.5 million birds can be seen each year, ne-arly 75% of the world’s population. Thus,the location is very crucial for the futuresurvival of the species. However, the lakeis also a strong reservoir of soda, and mi-ning companies are pushing for more andmore area to extract this substance. Miningwould threaten the nesting of flamingos.By sucking water from the lake, one half amillion tons of soda can be made each year.The lesser flamingo is susceptible to any

long-term fluctuation in water or changein water composition, and this may resultin abandonment of the nest. Birdlife Inter-national is therefore actively monitoringthis topic and has tried to control the mi-ning, while it is still possible.

At the centre of the conservation inter-ests are the three remaining mountainspecies of flamingos from South America,namely the Chilean flamingo (Phoeni-copterus chilensis), the Andean flamingo(Phoenicoparrus andinus) and James’sflamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi).While the first species inhabits almost theentire southern part of the South Ameri-can continent, the area of the two remain-ing species is limited only to the lakes inthe mountainous areas of Andes, from2,500 to 5,000 metres above sea level.With a bit of luck, one can find locationswhere all three species can be observed inthe wild together. The current populationestimates are about 300 thousand wild in-dividuals of the Chilean flamingo and be-tween 50 and 100 thousand of the remain-ing two species. However, given theinaccessibility of the terrain in which birdsare seen, these data may be inaccurate.The main causes of threat are egg collec-tion in the last century and changes in thewater column of wetlands because of min-eral mining. As a result, James’s flamingowas officially considered an extinct speciesbetween 1924 and 1957; however, later,living individuals were found in enoughnumbers in the Andes Mountains and inthe surrounding areas of Chile. Neverthe-less, the species deserves conservation at-tention, especially given its small area ofinhabitation.

While flamingos may benefit from theirpopularity, it is important to rememberthat the causes of their decline may be verylarge and often related to system errors. Itis therefore appropriate to say that this isthe ideal flag species, under whose protec-tion dozens of other, less attractive speciescan be sought. At the same time with theprotection of a particular species, it is nec-essary to protect its natural environmentand maintain a high degree of species di-versity in the landscape. It is up to us to de-cide our long-term attitude towards theprotection of flamingos and other speciesof animals and plants.

RNDr. Petr Suvorov, Ph.D.Bird Breeding CuratorThe American flamingo. Photo: Petr Suvorov



Flamingos sThe greater flamingo is known to most zoo visitors. Photo: Petr Suvorov

The Chilean flamingo. Photo: Petr Suvorov

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Interesting Details Aboutthe Life of FlamingosPerhaps, the northernmost nesting flamingo colony can be found in Zwillbrock-erVenn sanctuary on the border between Holland and Germany. In 1983, thiscolony was founded by birds who fled from private breeders. The current flockis composed mainly of Chilean flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) and toa less extent of greater flamingos (P. roseus). In the group, we also can seesome lone American flamingos (P. ruber) and a few lesser flamingos (Phoeni-conaias minor). The colony began to produce offspring in the 1980s. The prob-lem, however, is the interspecies breeding. Therefore, at present, the EuropeanAssociation of Zoos and Aquariums is concerned that the birds will graduallybe caught from the wild. Dissemination of cross-breeds across Europe canhave fatal consequences for wild populations of the greater flamingo, whichis growing in the Mediterranean.

On some drying salty African lakes (e.g.in Namibia), lesser flamingos (Phoeni-conaias minor) and greater flamingos(Phoenicopterus roseus) nest together.To ensure room at the nesting site, thelesser flamingo nesting season is bal-anced against the greater flamingo sea-son. When greater flamingo youngstersare already flying, the lesser flamingosstart to nest. During their nesting, thelakes gradually dry out. When the lakesare reduced to salty swamps, the lesserflamingo youngsters are still not fit tofly. Therefore, they form flocks andmarch away from the salt marshes sev-

eral tens of kilometres to another watersource. The youngsters who hatch later,unfortunately, become victims of thesalt swamps – when they move in thebiotope, the salt mud sticks to their feetand forms a hard, stony and heavy crust.This prevents their movement and theyeventually die.

Today, most zoos want to havea beautiful and large flock of flamingos.The world's largest registered flocks offlamingos are probably at Dubai SafariPark (1,300 specimens), JurongBirdPark in Singapore (402 specimens),Slimbridge Waterfowl and Wetland

Trust in Great Britain (289 specimens),and National Zoological Gardens ofSouth Africa in Pretoria (228 speci-mens).

Most zoo visitors know three speciesof flamingos – greater flamingo, Amer-ican flamingo and Chilean flamingo.True rarities in human care are twoalpine species of flamingos: the Andeanflamingo and James’s flamingo. At pres-ent, you will find them only in BerlinZoo and the Slimbridge Wetland Parkin the UK, which is perhaps the mostspecialized flamingo breeding centre inEurope.

Berlin Zoo holds the Andeanflamingo group 8 males and 7 femalesand a James’s flamingo 4 males and 6 fe-males. Slimbridge has a flock of 22 An-dean flamingos and one old maleJames’s Flamingo. In the Czech Repub-lic, James’s flamingos were kept inPrague Zoo from 1973 to 1977, butwithout much breeding success.

The reproduction of both species issporadic. While in 2014, James'sflamingo was reproduced in Berlin, theAndean flamingo in Slimbridge was re-produced after several long years ofwaiting. The two species therefore pres-ent a breeding and conservation chal-lenge for the future.

RNDr. Petr Suvorov, Ph.D.Bird Breeding Curator


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How does the breeding of flamingos in Brno Zoo take place? t

We currently have the 16 greater flamin-gos in Brno Zoo. The first group camefrom Borås Zoo in southern Sweden; theother birds are from Liberec, Bratislavaand from the German Zoopark Erfurt.Some of them are on the verge of sexualmaturity. Others have begun to exhibitcertain signs of sexual behaviour – notin terms of mating, but in seeking a part-ner. At the time of arrival, they were noteven fully coloured, so they have gradu-ally become coloured. Visitors can easilydistinguish the youngest birds becausetheir legs are still dark and theircoloured beaks are not fully coloured.

How old are the flamingos of Brno? t

The oldest flamingo is a female born in2010, and the youngest birds were bornin 2014.

What does everyday care for these beautiful fliers look like? t

Like all waterfowl, flamingos producea large amount of excrement thatneeds to be cleaned daily. For this, thebreeders put all the birds out in theopen aviary and then clean the indoorexposition. There are plastic carpetswith a massage function, becauseflamingos often suffer from foot galls.These carpets must be washed witha high-pressure cleaner. After clean-

ing, their food is put into an indoorswimming pool. During the day, thebirds move in an enclosure witha water basin. There, they can filter theinvertebrates that naturally occurthere, mainly larvae of different waterinsects. In addition, they are able toconsume tiny particles of plants. Even-tually, the flamingos are brought backinto the inner quarters.

How is the aviary for flamingos special apart from the carpet? t

An observant visitor may notice thatmost of the internal quarters for flamin-gos are circular or oval. Althoughflamingos are calm in the daytimeaviary, they do not tolerate changes verywell. If they get trapped, they becomepanicky. It is therefore best for theirquarters to be as simple as possible with-out obstacles or corners.

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Special Rugs and No Corners.Breeding of Flamingos at Brno ZooBrno Zoo has been home to the big flamingos since the opening of theAfrican Village exposition in 2014. The details and the special care neededby these beautiful birds is described by Petr Suvorov, the Bird Breeding Cu-rator of Brno Zoo.


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So what food do they get? How is it different? t

Proper nutrition of flamingos is a long-term focus. In the wild, they consume foodwith a pigment called carotene. Caroteneis not synthesised in the body of flamingos,it is taken through food. The morecarotene, the better is the condition of thebird. The better the condition, the more in-tense is their colour on the scale from yel-low / pink to red. It is therefore necessaryfor flamingos to receive feed with a highcontent of this substance. Nowadays, highquality granular feeds are already availablein the market, which provide all the nutri-tion that the birds need. In addition tothese granules, we also serve soaked Gam-marus, which adds diversity to their diet.

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ods is cutting the last wing item twodays after they are hatched. This causesa permanent handicap, but it ensuresthat the bird does not need to be caughtor held for the rest of its life and thusavoids stress. The second and less inva-sive method is the annual trapping andtrimming of flight feathers, but it ismore stressful. Basically, Europe is ad-dressing the dilemma of how to keepflamingos properly so that we can havethem in open spaces. There is no clearrule.

How do we deal with it at Brno Zoo? t

Our birds have come from differentzoos, including from places where thefirst method is prohibited by law. Theflock at Brno Zoo must be trapped andtrimmed because some birds have beenbrought in as fully flyable.

Who is in their aviary with them? t

Flamingos are a group of birds that areuniquely peaceful and can be kept withmany species of water birds. It is possibleto combine them with a wide range ofAnseriformes, but we must be carefulabout large species that could harm theflamingos. In Brno Zoo, we keep twospecies of whistling ducks together withflamingos, fulvous whistling ducks andwhite-faced whistling ducks.

RNDr. Petr Suvorov, Ph.D., Bird Breeding Curatort

Flamingos in the African Village of Brno Zoo.Photo: K. Teličková

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Flamingos on the Mniší hora have come fromseveral zoos. Photo: Václav Pokorný

Many visitors ask how is it that the flamingos don’t fly. Will you tell us what’s the secret? t

The flight of the flamingos can be re-stricted in two ways. One of the meth-


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Expected transport


Noria stole the hearts of her breedersright on arrival. A few days later, she waslet into an entirely new outdoor space.“She was very curious and checked everybit of her new home. She mostly swamand explored all the water areas that theexposition had to offer. She also walkedto see the big glass panes, and then shemet her breeder. She is very attentive andcheerful. We really fell in love with her,”said Antje Zimmermann, Curator of theRostock Zoo.

The Brno girl has already met her fu-ture partner – Akiak. But our Germancolleagues say that it was not love at firstsight. Akiak is larger than Noria, butthey two will haveas much time as theyneed.

The young Noria was transported tothe zoo in Rostock, Germany, on Satur-day, 15 September, without any compli-cations. Noria managed the journeyperfectly.

“The transport was originally sched-uled for the end of August, but we wereasked to postpone it. Thanks to that, weavoided the heat and had more time fortechnical arrangements. The breederstried to assemble the transport box inadvance, and the bear had the opportu-nity to test it before the trip,” said Mar-tin Hovorka, Director of Brno Zoo.

“Noria’s co-operation was excellent;she went into the box on the first at-tempt and did not have to be sedated.She started her nearly 800-kilometre-long trip to Rostock shortly after halfpast nine and mastered it like an expe-rienced traveller. For a part of the jour-ney she was sleeping well and she evenate at one of the check-ups,” said DorotaGremlicová, Mammals Curator of BrnoZoo.

The transporters checked the bearregularly and in addition to snacks, theyhad carriedchilled water and ice in caseshe wasnervous or if the journey be-came too long, and the bear started tooverheat.

According to Zimmermann, Noriaarrived on the same day in the eveningand was immediately admitted to theexhibition enclosure, so that she didn’thave to prolong her stay in the box.

Noria was born on 21st November2015. She is the fifth bred cub of hermother Cora since 2007.

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The young polar bear is already at home in her new enclosure in Rostock,Germany, for which she left 15 September. Noria, as she is known inBrno, mainly uses the swimming pool and other water elements.

Noria goes to Germany

Noria in her new home. Photo: Rostock Zoo


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News from the Exotarium


“There are a lot of interesting features tothis species. One of them, for example,is how they defend themselves againstpredators, with their thorny tails. Atfirst, they run away from danger, but ifthey are not successful, they will puff upand cling to the surface. This is a hugeproblem for the predator along withtheir thorny tail, because the predatorhas to tear the prey off the ground,” saidPetr Šrámek, the curator of reptiles atBrno Zoo.

These reptiles are also unusual be-cause they live in groups with their fam-ily relatives who actively defend theirterritory. Thus, it is easy for them tospot possible predators (dingo, foxes,cats, birds of prey, varanids and snakes).

The egernia (Egernia Stokesii) lives inseveral mutually separated areas of dry

Australian inland. This helps classify thespecies into several subspecies, whichdiffer in colouring. Over the years, thepopulation of these skinks has declinedsignificantly because of negative habitatchanges, and this species survives onlyin these isolated subpopulations.

“Threats from loss of natural environ-ment persist to this day. They include,among other things, felling, burning,conversion to pasture, salting, changingthe cycle of fires and removing alterna-tive sanctuaries such as man-madehabitats –piles of wood or waste,” ex-plained Mr. Šrámek.

In nature, egernias live in the wood-less areas on rocky outcrops, as well asin places where trees grow. Egernias in-habit tree trunks and old hollow trunksand branches.

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Visitors can see the new inhabitants of Brno Zoo in the Exotarium Hall.In a special terrarium, two egernias (Egernia stokesii) soak up the sun.

Egernias Add to theAustralian Collection inthe Exotarium Pavilion

Egernia has a thorny tail to protect itself against predators. Photo: Petr Šrámek

Visitors will surely see how the twoegernias enjoy the sun in open places.They are omnivorous and consumewhatever their poor environment offers,i.e. insects, their larvae, other inverte-brates, but especially plant parts likeflowers, fruits and leaves.

They reproduce once a year, they are vi-viparous and have 1-8 juveniles that bornup to 12 days. They live for about 20 years.

At Brno Zoo, we currently have twoegernias that were brought from Ger-many to the zoo at Mniší hora. Mostlikely, these are females.

Both egernias like to soak up the sun. Photo: Petr Šrámek


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New even-toed ungulates


colour of their coat is generally lighter.The coat of adult males is particularlylong and dense, so they look distinctfrom females. Both the sexes have horns,though the horns on the males are longerand can measure up to 46 centimetres.They are also curled back and towardsthe body, which prevents serious injuriesduring duels in the mating season.

Himalayan tahrs live in small herds ofup to 20 individuals. They inhabit themountain slopes of the Himalayas fromwest India to east Bhutan, and up to 5000metres above sea level. Isolated popula-tions are also found in New Zealand, Cal-ifornia, New Mexico and South Africa,where they were brought for hunting.

They are herbivores and feed mainly ongrass, plants and shrubs, if the pastures arecovered with snow. They live for up to 14years, and in human care, it can be 20 years.

Himalayan tahrs are an importantpart of the food chain for “mountainspirits” or snow leopards. Their speciesis threatened by excessive hunting andthe degradation of the natural environ-ment. They on the red list of endangeredIUCN species and are considered asclose to being extinct (near threatened).

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“A total of six tahrs arrived in the sum-mer: first, four females from France andthen two males from Košice. The cou-pling was easy. Initially, the males re-mained aloof, but soon they followed fe-males, and now the whole herd movesand rests together,” said Dorota Grem-licová, Mammals Curator of Brno Zoo.

Tahrs are the first new species in the Hi-malayan enclosure, which aims to intro-duce visitors to the most common animalsfound in harsh and extreme climate regions.

Tahrs are perfectly adapted to moun-tain life. They have hoofs with hard edgesand a soft elastic core that allow them togrip to the smooth surface of the rocks.

Their most visible feature is the red-dish-brown to dark brown thick coatwith a strong undercoat. In winter, thiscoat keeps them warm, but in the springmonths, this warmth is not needed, sothey lose most of it. In summer, the

Brno Zoo is now home to a few shaggy inhabitants of high mountains.A herd of Himalayan tahrs has settled in an exposition located above thatof the white-lipped peccary, where the Iberian ibex was housed earlier.

The Himalayan TahrsArrive at Mniší hora

t The female tahrs arrived at the Mniší hora inAugust from France. Photo: Eduard Stuchlík

The length of the pregnancy of the female tahrsis at least half a year. One of the females gavebirth to this little female in Brno Zoo.

Photo: Eduard Stuchlík q


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Rescue Station


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Eurasian Eagle-OwlAn interesting patient at our station was the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubobubo). It was found near Čebín – people walking around the Čebínkaarea found the eagle-owl on the walking path and unable to fly. One ofthe walkers placed it under their coat, took it home, gave it some waterand called the rescue station. Upon arrival, we found out that the bird-had a wounded wing but was in good shape. He was immediately takento a veterinarian who discovered the dislocation of the wing. The eagle-owl is in our careand will be released back into the wild around Čebínka.

Deep Ululation A regularly nesting and stable bird ofour fauna, our biggest owl. Over theday, it sits among a shelter of rocks orold trees, outside the forest. In theevening, its deep ululation can beheard. It lives in forests of various

kinds, especially on slopes with rocks,but hunts mainly in the open terrain.It nests on rocky ledges, in high alti-tudes. The nest has two to three eggs.It hunts mammals, birds, and does notignore carrion. It is active mainly atnight.

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The Eurasian eagle-owl. Photo: RS Jinačovice

The Eurasian eagle-owl caught nearČebínka.Ithad a wounded wing. Photo: RS Jinačovice q


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Rescue Station


Animals and DroughtAt the beginning of the year, the stationwas struggling with rescued bats in thewinter and was gradually preparing forspring reintroductions. Many survivinghedgehogs have also come to Jinačovice.They are mostly underweight and maynot have made it through the winterwithout care. In the warm spring sea-son, the animals were release into na-ture.

In the summer months, birds werebrought to the station – illegally cap-tured, bitten by pets or unwell for vari-ous reasons. Our most common patientswere tits, blackbirds, thrushes or birds ofprey and owls. Among mammals, wecared mainly for squirrels, fawns, orhares. People often found animals on theroad with fractures caused by vehicles.Unfortunately, we were unable to savesome of them, because their injuries

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t Hare “kindergarten” at our station. After re-aring, we reintroducedthe hares back into thewild. Photo: RS Jinačovice

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Young fox freed from the drainage ring.Photo: RS Jinačovice

were severe or they were already ina critical condition by the time theycame to us.

For much of this year, drought wasa big problem. So the animals were de-hydrated. They were weak, confused, andneeded water and help. After their treat-ment, feeding and recovery, they are re-leased back into nature. We thank all thepeople for their support and also for notbeing indifferent to the fate of our fauna.

The Jinačovice Rescue Station has been in operation for three years. The stationhas undergone some changes and has shifted to rescuing animals of our fauna.

Year in the Rescue Station

We took care of the white stork after it collided with the high voltage line.Photo: RS Jinačovice

A young tawny owl found in Rosice at the entrance to the church of the HolyTrinity. After treating, we let it back into the wild. Photo: RS Jinačovice


Centre of Environmental Education


As part of this year’s camp game, chil-dren were familiarised with prehistorictimes, where they had to master someof the skills of mammoth hunters.

On Monday, it was handicrafts time.Our hunters made ceramic bowls usingone of the oldest techniques – gluingwith clay rolls. Then, together with othermembers of their tribe, the children as-sembled a skeleton of a prehistoric crea-ture from paper rolls. These were thendecorated with handmade copper jew-ellery and an amulet. The rest of the daywas filled with games and informativeactivities. The children spent their freetime in the playroom of the centre. Al-though the playroom is for younger chil-dren, their older friends also joined in.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday aretraditionally dedicated to animals. Wespend the first two days at Brno Zoo and

the third in another zoo. This year, it wasOlomouc Zoo. Accompanied by zoobreeders, the children were acquaintedwith the animals; they even fed some ofthem. Although the children saw all theanimals in the zoo, they were asked topay special attention to those species thatprehistoric hunters could have actuallyencountered and hunted, such as thereindeer, bear, wolf, wolverine, Europeanbison and wild horse. Basic knowledge ofthese species was recorded by the chil-dren in their “Hunting Diary” This infor-mation was supplemented with morenotes on prehistoric living, clothing, artand weapons on Friday, after they visitedthe Anthropos pavilion. Friday afternoonwas dedicated to the highlightactivity ofthe camp –the prehistoric “Olympiad”.Children participated in archery, targetpractice, obstacle run, mammoth run,

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The main summer activity at the Centre for Environmental Education “Hlídka”is, as always, suburban camps. This year, we organised seven tours with morethan 160 children. The popularity of these camps and the happy faces of theparticipants are always a source of joy to us.

“Hlídka” hosted a fun-filled holiday programme

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During the visit to Brno Zoo, the campersfed giraffes. Photo: Centre for Environmental Education “Hlídka”

The best rewards are the posts in our guest-book. This was written by a ten-year-old cam-per in the beginning of August. Photo: Centrefor Environmental Education “Hlídka”

carrying water, prehistoric ritual dancesand painting. Not only did they enjoynew experiences, they also gained newknowledge and, of course, won prizes.

Holidays at “Hlídka”, however, are notjust about the camps; they also involvevarious educational events. The mostimportant of these are the Fair Trademeeting, the popular “Recycle” gamesand two quiz tracks in the zoo, comple-mented by hand manufacturing andsimple experiments. The first quiz trackwas about life in the forest, the secondone was about life in water.

The holiday activities ended with thetraditional Harvest Festivities, a day full ofaction and creativity, with lessons on foodspecies and the significance of field cropsand tasting of different kinds of pastries.


Centre of Environmental Education


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A lovely dance performance. Photo: Centre forEnvironmental Education “Hlídka”

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Creativity played an important role in decora-ting. Photo: Centre for Environmental Educa-tion “Hlídka”

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The tribe members assembled a skeleton of aprehistoric creature from paper rolls. Pho to :Centre for Environmental Education “Hlídka”

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In the prehistoric “Olympiad”, the children alsoparticipated in archery. Photo: Centre for Envi-ronmental Education “Hlídka”


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Unique exhibition


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The world-renowned National Geographic Society exhibits its photo-graphs in Brno – on Radnická Street 6.

Brno Hosts a National Geographic Photo Exhibit

Sixty large-format photos mounted onnatural panels show wildlife captured intheir natural habitat by leading NationalGeographic photographers, includingChris Johns, Robert B. Haas, MichaelNichols and Bill Curtsinger.

One of the main photographers of theexhibit is Robert B. Haas – a brilliant andcommitted photographer as well as a fi-nancier and patron. Having graduatedfrom the prestigious Yale and Harvarduniversities with a doctorate in law, Haasis a professor in multiple fields, managesa strong financial and investment groupand sponsors cultural and charity events.In his spare time, he is suspended on har-nesses attached to a Cessna or a helicopter,taking aerial photographs of wildlife. He

says about his photographic work, “Thegreat irony of photography is that whenlooking through the viewfinder, we findsomething in the resulting picture that wehave not seen with the naked eye. This isthe case with aerial photographs. Fromthe first-class perspective – the deck ofa flying machine – the lens captures whatcan be intimately familiar to us in its con-

tent, but completely unknown from a per-spective.”

On Radnická Street, Haas’s photographsare displayed horizontally, which is anun-conventional angle. It allows visitors toview the images from the photographer’spoint of view, i.e. from above.

The National Geographic exhibit inBrno is open to visitors daily from 10 amto 6 pm, except Mondays. Entrance fee foradults is 50 Czech crowns; for childrenaged 6 to 15 years, students and seniors, itis 20 Czech crowns; and families pay 120Czech crowns.

The National Geographic Society wasfounded in 1888 by Sir Alexander GrahamBell, among others. From its very begin-ning, the organisation’s showcase wasa magazine by the same name. In the thirdyear of its existence, the editor-in-chiefGilbert H. Grosvenor took a seeminglybold and, in the opinion of some membersof the editorial board, non-serious andunscientific step. He decided to publishthe first photo.

A few years later, the photographs of theNational Geographic magazine acquireda formidable reputation and convincedreaders that pictures could tell stories aswell as the written word. Since 2002, Na-tional Geographic has also been availablein Czech. Even since, the Czech editorialstaff of the magazine has hosted exhibi-tions of its treasures – the best photos ofnature.

The common hippopotamus, together with thebuffalo, is the most dangerous animal in Africa.

© Chris Johns/National Geographict

Elephant embryo. © Chris Johns/National Geographic A bird's eye view of a herd of wild camels. © Robert B. Haas/National Geographic


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Content


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october 2018No. 3/18, volume XXpublisher four times per yearMK ČR E 17723

Editor:Brno Zoo and Environmental Education Centre, semi-budgetary organizationU Zoologické zahrady 46, 635 00 Brno,Czech RepublicIČ: 00101451tel.: +420 546 432 311fax: +420 546 210 000e-mail: [email protected]

Publisher:Moravian Museum Zelný trh 6, 659 37 BrnoCzech RepublicIČO: 00094862

Editor’s office addresZoo Brno a stanice zájmových činností, p. o.redakce ZooreportuU Zoologické zahrady 46, 635 00 Brno,Czech Republictel.: +420 546 432 370fax: +420 546 210 000e-mail: [email protected]

Editorial board:Mgr. Jana Galová (children’s supplement),Bc. Jana Hadová, MVDr. Martin Hovorka, Ph.D.(chairman of editorial board), RNDr. BohumilKrál, CSc. (specialist reader), Ing. MiroslavaPiškulová, Bc. Eduard Stuchlík (editor man-ager), doc. Ing. Josef Suchomel, Ph.D., Mgr.Michal Vaňáč.

Distribution:400 pcs in the English version1,600 pcs in the Czech version

The author of non-attributed texts and photos is:Michal Vaňáč

First page: The greater flamingos Photo by Michal Vaňáč

UNSALEABLE

the magazin for friends of the Brno Zoo

04 FlamingosEverything about flamingos

13 New even-toed ungulatesHimalayan tahrs at Brno Zoo

08

14 Rescue StationStories of 2018

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16 Centre of Environmental EducationHolidays at “Hlídka”

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20 Traditional events

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Unique exhibitionNational Geographic exhibits in Brno

Expected transportNoria goes to Germany

FlamingosSpecial rugs and no corners

News from the ExotariumEgernias add to the Australian collection

Brno Dragon– Legend

Is Back

Available at Tourist Information – Radnická Street

FlamingosInteresting details about the life of flamingos


the magazine for friends of the Brno ZooNo. 3

october 2018

Amazing Flamingoswww.sevhlidka.cz


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