For many years the Prague zoo has been devoting itself to the return of the Prevalski horse to Mongolia. She has recently joined the Mongolian sago. It is critically endangered and its situation has exacerbated this year's plague of small ruminants. In the west of the country, less than five thousand individuals survive. The Prague Zoo has therefore decided to finance the purchase of ten telemetric collars designed to monitor their movement from the "We help them to survive" collection.
Sajga Mongolian is a medium-sized relative antelope and its typical features include wide, far-sighted nostrils that are elongated and pointed downward. This subspecies of sajga is even more rare than the more known Sajga Tatar, who lives in Kazakhstan and in Russian Kalmykia.
All ten telemetric collars in the price of 12,000 Euros made thanks to the Prague Zoo already carry sagi. Recently, Mongolian conservation workers, the Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia and the World Wildlife Fund Mongolia, captured three areas of their occurrence in the Chovdsky and Gobial River
"With satellite tracking, it will be possible to monitor the sag movement in detail, and the data we get will not only help to know the lives of these remarkable animals, but will also help them to deal more effectively with their cattle-borne diseases," he explains Miroslav Bobek, director of the Prague Zoo, who took part in capturing and marking sajg with his colleagues.
And he adds that the samge capture, which is extremely shy and can run at a speed of 80 km / h, was very demanding on a flat terrain. " Although I did not believe it initially, thanks to the experience of Mongolian nature conservationists, all ten sages managed to trap them in nets set in mild nets at the scheduled date. It was really a masterpiece, where ten to fifteen people with off-road vehicles and motorcycles were in perfect coordination. "
During their stay in Mongolia, workers from the Prague Zoo handed over to the guardians of the Great Gobi High Protected Area and the newly purchased motorcycle. This is the first contribution of the Prague Zoo to the protection of exceptionally rare wild camels as well as Gobi's bears. As part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of Prevalski's first return to Mongolia, the director of the Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek, received the highest Mongolian award for merit in nature conservation awarded to him by the Mongolian Minister of the Environment Dulamsuren Ojunchorol. Jaroslav Šimek and Roman Vodička from the Prague Zoo and David Klement and Milan Laniak from the Air Force of the Czech Army were also awarded.
Source: Ekolist.cz
Photo: Miroslav Bobek, Prague Zoo
