Prague Zoo

Lions, tigers and bears! Oh my! This is my post about the Prague Zoo! Please click through and enjoy all my animal photos.

I decided to visit the zoo on my free day in the city. I really do enjoy zoos and the Budapest Zoo had been wonderful but it had severely lacked in the Tapir department.

It was a Saturday so the zoo was quite busy. I hadn't arrived as early as I had when I went to the Budapest Zoo but I was lucky on the transit because I walked from the hostel to the metro station where the bus to the zoo was waiting for me. I hoped on, paid the fare and took a seat to go to the zoo.

Arriving I got in line with everyone else. The Prague Zoo lets people bring their dogs in for a fee. The zoo itself for adults costs 200 CZK or $11 Canadian. $11 for a zoo. Definitely worth a visit just for the price.

The zoo occupies 45 hectares in Troja, a district north of Prague. It houses 4,400 animals that represent more than 690 species from all over the world. Including Tapirs!

What I didn't know about the zoo when I arrived was how big it was. I also did not know that it was built up on a hill. There is a lower area for some exhibits but you climb a winding path up higher and then go down on the other side, seeing different exhibits this way. I was not handed a map when I arrived so struggled a little to find where I was and where the Tapirs were. They even have a chairlift to get to the top of the hill or you can also take a train.

I worked my way up the hillside, enjoying all the animals I found along the way and arrived at my goal. Tapirs! Beautiful, beautiful tapirs.  Look at its little big body and its tiny little tail!  There were two Brazilian lowland tapirs. I was very happy to see them and sat and watched them for a bit.

Look at that curly snout! What a cutie! I was only distracted away from them by this orange cat that had been basking in the sun in their exhibit. As it left I followed it and it allowed be to give it some head scratches.

As I was wandering around more, enjoying all the different animals I came across another map and inspected it closer. What! Two different type of tapirs!  I happily raced through the place like a mad women and came across the Panda Tapir, just kidding the Malayan Tapir! There was two of them and they were so cute!

Look at this one's feet!

The Malayan Tapir is the largest of the five breeds of Tapir.  I have seen three species of Tapir now. You'll meet the Baird's Tapir in Berlin. The only two I have not seen are the Mountain and the Kabomani. I really want to see the Kobomani because its known as the little black tapir and is the smallest tapir species. It is also the first odd-toed ungulate discovered in over 100 years!  Maybe my dream is to go to the Amazon and find some wild tapirs.

Tapirs are chubby things and typically weigh between 250 and 320 kgs. They have four toes on each front foot and three toes on each back foot. The Malayan tapir has rather poor eyesight, but excellent hearing and sense of smell. Who couldn't have a good sense of smell with that nose!

The Prague Zoo was a lot of fun. I went by myself again as I did with the Budapest Zoo but had no less fun. Sometimes doing things by yourself is more enjoyable than in company because you can spend ages oogling chubby pig elephants or...Tapirs.

I also purchased my favourite souvenir of my entire Top Deck trip which was a stuffed toy Tapir. I went into the gift shop nearest the Malayan Tapirs and found this beautiful creature. I stared at it on the shelf, half wondering if what I was seeing was actually what I thought it was. It was! A tapir! Never in my wildest dreams did I think they would have a tapir stuffed toy. I was so happy. He cost me about $25 but I happily paid for my little guy and carried him through the rest of my trip with joy.

It's true love.