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Prague Zoo One Of The World's Best
Parrots magazine
|November 2019
Ask someone what is the best thing about the Czech Republic and it is quite likely they would mention the word ‘beer’! However, I have never sampled the beer, but I do know that the Czech Republic has some of the very best zoos in Europe and that their parrot breeders are numerous and very knowledgeable.
In June this year, I made my third visit to this fascinating country. I spent one week visiting three of their best zoos, at the invitation of my friends, Roland and Daisy Wirth, from Germany. We traveled by train because this form of transport is incredibly cheap, comfortable and fast. The welcome and hospitality we received at the zoos of Prague, Pilsen, and Ostrava was outstandingly warm and generous.
It was four years since my last visit to Prague Zoo, which is renowned for its curator, Antonin Vail. Under his direction, one of the best bird collections in the world has been assembled. The zoo is of outstanding interest for the range of unusual species, and not only birds, and for the high rate of breeding successes. Antonin’s knowledge of, and intense love, for birds, is extraordinary. It is such a pleasure to be in his company!
The methods he has used to provide a good diet, persuade pairs to produce chicks, then to ensure their survival, impresses me deeply. Some of the species reared have rarely or never been bred previously in Europe. Sustained successes with many difficult species would be impossible without the numerous off-exhibit breeding aviaries, which total well over one hundred.
In this article, I will describe only the parrots, but the extensive bird collection is one for the connoisseur with so many species that are not seen in other zoos! At the time of my visit, there was a limited number of parrots on exhibit, but this changed on 28th September when the new Parrot Pavilion opened. Antonin took us to see it.
This story is from the November 2019 edition of Parrots magazine.
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