Krakow ZOO

Hi,

It's summer, holidays, a nice summer day and we are on vacation in Poland. We planned each day in advance and agreed where we would go. Although with two small children it is sometimes necessary to improvise.

Today, however, everything is going according to plan. Krakow Zoo is less than an hour away from our accommodation. Children like animals, so right after breakfast we go on a trip.

The zoo is located in a beautiful forest park near Krakow. This forest park is called Wolsky les. There are many hiking trails and it is a popular location for walking in the forest and relaxing.

The size of the zoo is among medium-sized zoological gardens. I read that 270 species of animals live in the zoo. That's a pretty decent number. It would probably be unrealistic to describe all of them in this article, so I chose a few of them, which I will tell you a little more about.

After a small crowd in the parking lot, I finally managed to park the car. We enter with enthusiasm and open the ZOO map that we received upon entry.

One of the first animals we see here is a small panda. You may also know her under the name red panda. It is a species that lives in the mountainous regions of China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and India.

It feeds mainly on bamboos. This is actually the only thing that connects it with the more famous giant panda. It lives 8-10 years in the wild.

The little panda is an endangered species. Only 16,000 - 20,000 individuals live in the wild. They are endangered due to the loss of the natural environment.

We are walking along the sidewalk when some kind of animal runs. I turned around and in the aviary there were these Hryvnia Paovs.

This species comes from North Africa. It lives in the rocks of the mountains. However, it rarely occurs here. You can see it in the wild in the south of Europe or in North America. It belongs to the endangered species.

We pass by the seal. He looked sadly at the water flowing into his pool. They were just changing his water and he was waiting for the pool to fill up.

We enter the pavilion of nocturnal animals. In addition to bats, you can also see other species of nocturnal mammals and rodents. However, we stop already at the entrance, where a family of Rock Damans (Procavia capensis) stares at us.

The rock daman lives in Africa. Although it resembles a guinea pig or a rabbit, its closest living relative is an elephant. This information really surprised me and that's why I decided to mention this particular animal in my post today.

It inhabits rocky dry areas, Sub-Saharan Africa, but you can also see it in Syria or Saudi Arabia. They are herbivores that like to bask in the sun during the day.

However, this is the Liberian Hippopotamus. It is a species of hippopotamus that lives in the tropical rainforests of West Africa. We learned about its existence only in 1914. It belongs to the endangered species and only 2000-3000 of them live freely in nature.

This smaller relative of the hippopotamus likes swamps and marshes. However, he spends most of his time on land. It is a solitary animal. After mating, only one cub is born to the mother and lives with her for two to three years.

The life of the Liberian hippopotamus in the wild is threatened by humans. Cutting down the rainforest reduces their living space. Another problem is poaching.

I learned something interesting and new again at the ZOO in Krakow. They are beautiful animals and nature is incredibly diverse. Sometimes it's sad to look at animals that we may not find in the wild in a few years. Hopefully we will be able to stop this trend and live in harmony with nature.

Thank you.