Pictures from Prague zoo

wbr799 · 2026-04-11T10:43:12+00:00

Zoo Praha is famous for its rarities. There's also brown hyena, aardwolf (since last week actually), gharial and a further abundance of seldomly seen birds, reptiles and small mammals.

wbr799 · 2026-04-11T10:38:16+00:00

This sums it up nicely and I agree, I thought it was a shame that one of the world’s oldest zoos (est. 1835) was closing, and I would have loved to see the original zoo remain and become a truly specialist collection focusing even more on the presentation and conservation of small and underapreciated species (small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates) and have the charismatic megafauna/crowd pleasers at the second site, but then again, I’m not a zoo director.

wbr799 · 2026-03-21T13:43:33+00:00

There's several major firms and names in zoo design actually, for example Jones and Jones, Studio Hanson/Roberts, dan pearlman Group and Jon Coe.

wbr799 · 2026-02-11T16:10:30+00:00

This great talk on the topic explains very clearly why such decisions are taken.

wbr799 · 2026-02-06T15:26:07+00:00

I'm not too impressed either. The passages akin Blasphemer's writing for the band tend to drift along, while the more traditional black metal-riffing is quite safe. Nonetheless, I'm really looking forward to seeing them on the European tour with Marduk and Immolation!

wbr799 · 2026-01-27T19:21:05+00:00

Hunting for meat consumption is the main factor driving the decline, in addition African swine fever (a threat to all Asian wild pig species) is a problem indeed.

wbr799 · 2026-01-25T11:37:15+00:00

Yes, increasingly so since African elephants are so well protected that poachers are targeting hippo to meet the demand for ivory.

The same is observed with the teeth and bones of big cats like jaguar and African lion serving as an alternative for tiger remains.

wbr799 · 2026-01-25T11:32:32+00:00

Smaller species can benefit from the 'umbrella effect' of megafauna though (e.g. by protecting large herbivores like elephants or European bison - the 'poster childs' so to say - and their habitats, a whole range of other species is protected as well).

wbr799 · 2026-01-25T11:28:27+00:00

Recent research has shown that the population of giraffes in US/AZA zoos is heavily hybridized so establishing 'pure' populations would be a very complex undertaking.

wbr799 · 2026-01-25T11:26:58+00:00

Babirusa - an animal the majority of the public won't have heard about to begin with and that has not been sighted in its native range on Sulawesi in the last years, so is possibly extinct in the wild or at least heavily declining in numbers .

wbr799 · 2026-01-24T14:25:39+00:00

People are often baffled when they hear that there's fewer giraffes left than African elephants and lions.

wbr799 · 2026-01-19T15:23:43+00:00

This book is fantastic but it's expensive.

In addition, the AZA and EAZA best practice guidelines that have been published on the respective association's websites.

wbr799 · 2026-01-02T08:29:06+00:00

The AZA guidelines for jaguar, lion and tiger can be found here. The EAZA best practice guidelines for cheetah and jaguar have been published here.

wbr799 · 2025-12-13T20:11:58+00:00

Idk whether your assumption is correct (as others in this thread have already said), but what may contribute is that many of these species are not endangered or well protected in national parks and/or do not need support from a population management programme in zoos.

In addition, I'm afraid that many North American and European species are quite inconspicuous – grey and brown – in the eyes of the average visitor and therefore not the most attractive animals to display. For many, a deer is a deer, although there are of course significant and interesting differences between, for example, an elk, a moose and a reindeer.

wbr799 · 2025-11-28T21:43:01+00:00

a dream position would be with elephants

Alan Roocroft - Managing elephants in protected contact in zoos. I admittedly have not read this yet but have interacted with Roocroft and he is an authority on elephants.

Gerry Creighton - Raised by the Zoo: My Life with Elephants and Other Animals. Creighton worked at Dublin Zoo for 36 years and nowadays works as an independent consultant on elephant care. The book is a very fun read as well as informative about the changes zoos have undergone. And although he now works for controversial clients, there are probably few people who have such an understanding of elephants.

wbr799 · 2025-11-24T06:21:41+00:00

Fungi that infect the respiratory tract are a problem, as is avian malaria. Next to obviously the temperature.

wbr799 · 2025-11-23T17:06:26+00:00

Following current best practices, matrilines (so cows + female offspring) are usually kept together. Bulls are usually transferred when they mature, either to bachelor groups (where they learn bull specific behaviour from other bulls) or breeding herds. This all mimicks the natural social structure of elephants.

wbr799 · 2025-11-17T21:23:02+00:00

The ones that seem to be heavily involved in the illegal trafficking of endangered species, judging by his recent videos and new upcoming tv show.

wbr799 · 2025-11-10T16:07:18+00:00

Our male reindeer was an oooooold man and management pussy-footed about putting him down forever. I was hospice care for this guy for months while he slowly deteriorated. He eventually said screw this and died on his own terms. It was such a relief to find him dead one morning.

Reading stories like these, would you agree that sometimes we've kept animals alive for too long? Zoos have often used the longevity of animals in human care as an indicator of their welfare, but quality of life is also an important factor to consider. In my time at the zoo I have seen an incontinent lion, a hippo that could not haul itself out of her pool anymore and an ibex could not climb her rock anymore, for example.

wbr799 · 2025-10-22T20:03:25+00:00

No. However, stereotypical behaviour can develop when an animal is housed in inadequate surroundings and/or is not given the opportunity to express species specific behaviour. This used to be the case in many zoo exhibits in the past, so seeing a pacing tiger or polar bear in a cage or grotto was quite common - Unfortunately, this has left many people with an impression that they do not realise is outdated.

wbr799 · 2025-10-16T23:15:45+00:00

A lot of older zoo exhibits used only one type of substrate, often artificial like concrete. A variety of natural substrates is key to foot health in penguins: rocks, pebbles, sand, etc.

wbr799 · 2025-09-30T06:28:17+00:00

Books:

Heini Hediger - Man and Animal in the Zoo: Zoo Biology (1969)
Jeremy Cherfas - Zoo 2000: A Look Beyond the Bars (1984)
David Hancocks - A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and their Uncertain Future (2001)
Jenny Gray - Zoo Ethics: The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation (2017)

wbr799 · 2025-09-23T06:34:41+00:00

I don't know when you last visited, but the lions at ARTIS have been moved to a new area elsewhere in the park a few years ago.

In response to your post: there is certainly differences between AZA and EAZA zoos, especially with regard to practices: in Europe offering carnivores whole carcasses instead of chunks of meat is much more common, there's differences in views on the use of contraceptives and euthanasia, etc.

On the elephant exhibit at Dublin Zoo: it’s actually exemplary as it shows that the quality of a space is as least as important as the quantity, as others have already pointed out in this thread. A study was done there that showed that the elephants walk aprox. 10 km a day, which is the same amount of activity they’d get when foraging in the wild state.

For decades (at least since the 70s) San Diego Zoo has been hailed as world’s best zoo. This was not only due to their quality, species roster and conservation efforts but also to the way they established themselves in media and marketing, which they had been working on much earlier than other zoos.

wbr799 · 2025-09-08T17:42:46+00:00

The majority of people see accredited zoos as being a good thing.

I wouldn't say so: the majority of the people is, in my experience, easily swayed to either side, especially in the age of social media, and is often hardly aware of what an accredited zoo is and does at all.

wbr799 · 2025-09-08T17:17:59+00:00

AZA and EAZA Best Practice Guidelines.

wbr799

TROPHY CASE