Among Kangaroos and Rothschild Giraffes: A journey through Olomouc Zoo
The zoo in the Moravian city of Olomouc is located just outside the city on Svatý Kopeček (Holy Hill). One of its priorities is the preservation of endangered species like the Rothschild giraffes. But visitors can also take a safari train ride into the enclosures of kangaroos or wolves. Members of our team visited the site to find out more.
The black-and-white ruffed lemurs are one of several lemur species kept at Zoo Olomouc. But during our visit, it’s the gibbons that are delighting visitors, thanks to their offspring. Zoologist Libuše Veselá explains:
"At the moment, all our gibbon species have babies. They were born this spring, one even last week. We have three species: the southern yellow-cheeked gibbon, the lar gibbon, and the siamang. The babies are all with their mothers. It's very exciting for visitors, and we’re proud of it."
That’s just one of the zoo’s breeding successes. With 43 hectares, Zoo Olomouc is one of the larger zoos in the Czech Republic. Marketing manager Pavel Javůrek adds more on its successes:
"Our zoo will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year. It was founded on June 3, 1956. Back then, it looked nothing like it does now. Especially in recent years, we’ve built and renovated a lot. We specialize in several species, but our main attraction is the Rothschild giraffes. We house about 400 species and around 1,700 animals across the zoo."
The animals are housed in open enclosures, seven pavilions, and two aviaries. One unique feature: a stairway lets visitors reach the terrarium roof, bringing them up close to the heads of the Rothschild giraffes. Veselá with more:
"We don’t have as large a group of these giraffes as we used to, currently 13 animals. We’ve been breeding them since 1977 and have had over 70 calves. In recent years, the European Endangered Species Program paused breeding because there were more giraffes than places for them. For ten years, we didn’t raise any calves. But last year, breeding resumed, so now our group includes nine adults and four young Rothschild giraffes."
And this breeding program is crucial, Veselá says:
"This species, or rather subspecies, is one of the most endangered in the wild. Only a few hundred remain in their natural habitat. They used to live in Tanzania, Uganda, and Sudan, but now their range is limited to a small area in Uganda."
But Olomouc Zoo isn't only proud of breeding rare species; it also runs a successful reindeer program. While reindeer are common in the North Pole, Veselá says keeping them in central Europe is often unsuccessful:
"We’ve been breeding them for years and have studied how to optimize their diet. Most people think reindeer are low-maintenance because they mainly eat moss and lichen in the wild. But we found they need a very balanced diet. In spring and summer, when they’re pregnant and nursing, they need large amounts of plant protein."
Thanks to this expertise, the zoo maintains a reindeer herd of around 20 individuals of various ages. Reindeer can live up to 18 or 19 years, which is considered old for the species.
When it comes to the tropics, Zoo Olomouc is also involved in field conservation—most notably through the Kukang Rescue Program, a Czech-Indonesian initiative. Marketing chief Javůrek had this to say about the program:
"One of our zoologists works half the year in Sumatra with the Kukang Rescue Program, which protects slow lorises. These animals are often captured by locals and shown to tourists because of their cute appearance, but this causes them great harm."
Though slow lorises don’t flee, they bite and use venom. To make them “safe,” poachers cruelly remove their sharp teeth, rendering them unfit for the wild. Such individuals are brought to a rescue center.
At the zoo itself, you won’t find slow lorises, but you can enter the enclosures of anteaters or red kangaroos. The kangaroos currently have young, which Veselá explains is both exciting for visitors and a breeding success:
"We have over 20 red kangaroos. The joeys are at various development stages. Some left their mother’s pouch in spring, others are just now starting to venture out, and with some mothers, you can see their pouches are still full."
So even in summer, visitors can see baby kangaroos.
If you're not a strong walker, you can take the visitor train. It offers close-up views of animals, says Javůrek:
"The tour starts at the South Africa Pavilion, where we have an aardvark, for instance. Then it moves into the Africa Safari with oryx antelopes, through the kangaroo enclosure, on to the reindeer, and finally the Eurasian safari. The last part goes through the predator area, where wolves are waiting. But don’t worry: our staff lowers the safety gate before the train enters."
The oryx are also part of a conservation program, as the zoo is a member of Antelope Conservation, co-organized by the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. Veselá explains that while oryx are not endangered, the two other antelope species at Olomouc are. She introduces one of them in more detail:
"The addax antelope (or Mendes antelope) is critically endangered. There’s a European breeding program for them, led by the zoo in Hanover. It’s working well. For a while, there were also reintroduction efforts in North Africa, in which we participated. Some of our addaxes were flown there."
The other antelope is the white-tailed gnu (black wildebeest), whose breeding program is coordinated by the safari park in Dvůr Králové nad Labem.
Olomouc Zoo is also active in the conservation of predators, including Barbary lions. Since the 1990s, around 20 cubs have been raised there:
"Barbary lions were extinct in the wild by the 1940s. They lived in the Atlas Mountains of Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. But they were hunted down as firearms and farming expanded. They would have vanished entirely if not for the King of Morocco, who gave his lions to the zoo in Rabat. The Moroccan kings not only kept Barbary lions but maintained breeding records. Though we can’t guarantee that no other lions were ever mixed in, 22 of these lions were sent from Rabat to seven zoos worldwide, forming the basis of today’s population."
Olomouc's Barbary lions came from Dortmund, Veselá adds.
Besides species protection projects, the zoo also supports regional conservation efforts. Javůrek says that an agreement with the Olomouc city council ensures that 2% of ticket sales go to local nature protection. A recent success was the construction of a birdwatching station near Přerov, in a former sandpit:
"There, we have bee-eaters, very colorful birds that nest here in spring and migrate back to Africa later in the year. We funded the station, which is open to the public and bird researchers alike."
And construction continues inside the zoo too. By 2027, Olomouc Zoo plans to build a new educational center and a large shark aquarium.
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