Things To Do

1.Introduction

Most tourists visit the Czech Republic’s capital to enjoy its numerous sightseeing treasures. But Prague also offers an amazing experience for all animal lovers. In the Troja quarter of the city, next to a beautiful eponymous Chateau (Zámek Troja), one of the best zoological gardens in the world is awaiting its nature-loving visitors.

Prague Zoo covers an area of over 0.5 square kilometers (about 60 hectares), in which it houses more than 4 thousand animals of over 650 species, including a large number of those listed as threatened.

2. History

Prague Zoo was opened to the public in 1931, but its history reaches much further back in time. That is to the year 1881, when Count Sweerts-Sporck (hrabě Špork) initiated the establishment of a zoo in Prague. The process took place over the following decades and involved, among other things, the emergence of The Association for the Establishment of a Zoological and Acclimatization Garden.

Another important milestone was the donation of land in the Prague borough of Troja for the zoo to be built there by a very rich farmer, Alois Svoboda. Finally, on the 28th of September 1931, Prague Zoo was officially opened. The zoo has been continuously developing since then, and nowadays is allegedly the 4th best zoological garden in the world.

3. Floods

2. Floods

The very successful operation and continuing development of Prague Zoo was discontinued and even threatened by major floods several times. The worst ones struck the Troja quarter in 2002 and 2013. The biggest one in the history of the zoo was that of 2002, when Prague (as well as a significant part of Europe) was hit by the so-called “millennial floods”. The water levels reached over 7 meters above the landscape and many animals in the zoo unfortunately became victims of the floods. The flood-wave in 2013 was catastrophic as well, but this time the zoo’s employees were better prepared and managed to evacuate almost all animals from the flood plains in time. The damages brought giant costs nevertheless.

4. Animals in the Prague ZOO

Apart from the above mentioned creatures, thousands of birds, reptiles, mammals, and all imaginable animals from every corner of the world have their home in Troja, in various environments created according to their specific needs and closely resembling their natural habitat. Prague Zoo over the years of its existence gradually created the current total of 12 pavilions and over 150 exhibits…

We’ve already mentioned Prague Zoo’s gorillas. One of them, a female Western Lowland Gorilla called Bikira, was voted the most popular celebrity not only of Prague Zoo, but all Czech zoological gardens. The recognizable gorilla, who is unique thanks to, among other things, her lightly pinkish lips and upright walking, is very friendly and gentle.

If you like elephants, the giant but usually quiet and tender mammals, visit the Prague Zoo’s Elephant Valley. And when you are there, pay special attention to Shanti, the Asian elephant who is also an artist. She became very famous when the caretakers discovered her creative talents, and her abstract paintings were even displayed in galleries and some of them sold at high costs.

Other very interesting dwellers of Prague Zoo live in the above mentioned Giant Salamander House, which was actually built as a tribute to them. That is because salamanders are especially popular in the Czech Republic, thanks to one of the country’s most famous writers Karel Čapek and his legendary book “War with the Newts”.

Yet another tender giant of Prague Zoo can be found in the Hippo Pavilion. Slávek, the captive born hippopotamus, is very calm and tolerant. Despite his three-and-a-half-ton body he is not as dangerous as hippos tend to be and he earned his nickname: “the gentleman” because it is even possible to keep the calves around him. The youngsters usually need to be isolated from the hippo males in order to protect them.