Prague Zoo breeds world’s heaviest flightless insect for first time in Czechia

Prague Zoo has successfully bred the Lord Howe Island stick insect (dryococelus australis), considered the heaviest flightless insect in the world. Adults can grow up to 15 centimetres long and are nicknamed “tree lobsters” because of their size. According to the zoo, this is the first time the species has been bred from eggs laid and hatched in Czechia. The insects were once thought extinct after rats wiped them out on Australia’s Lord Howe Island in the early 20th century. A small surviving population was rediscovered in the 2000s. Prague Zoo now hopes its breeding programme will help expand international knowledge about the rare species.