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The President of the Czech Republic and the Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism jointly opened the Gobi exhibition at Prague Zoo

Prague Zoo ceremoniously opened the Mongolian Gobi exhibition and launched its 93rd main season. The ribbon cutting was performed by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, the Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism, Bat-Erdene, and the Director of Prague Zoo, Miroslav Bobek. The new exhibition complex primarily provides a home for the iconic Przewalski's horses, which Prague Zoo has been reintroducing to the wild for a long time.

"When in 2011 the first Przewalski's horses were successfully transported to Mongolia, and then it succeeded eight more times, and when I saw how in western Mongolia the Przewalski's horse was successfully breeding and returning to the local nature, I consider it a global uniqueness. I would like to express great respect not only to the director and the Prague Zoo but also to our Mongolian colleagues and friends, because, of course, it would not be possible without close cooperation," stated Petr Pavel, the President of the Czech Republic.

President Petr Pavel thus recalled the Return of the Wild Horses project, within which, from 2011 to 2019, Prague Zoo transported a total of 34 Przewalski's horses to western Mongolia. Now it is preparing further transports, this time to the east of the country.

"The Gobi exhibition not only features Przewalski's horses in an environment faithfully imitating the Mongolian landscape but also eleven other species of local animals," said Miroslav Bobek, Director of Prague Zoo. "Visitors can also view a number of Gobi artifacts - an authentic yurt, traditional Mongolian ovoos, dinosaur bones, or mysterious petroglyphs. Mongolia, where we have been reintroducing Przewalski's horses long-term and successfully, we simply want to present in the most diverse form possible."

A representative of the Mongolian government, who traveled to Prague with the Mongolian state delegation for the opening of the new Gobi exhibition, also delivered a speech.

"It is amazing to see such a beautiful Mongolian area here in Prague. It is worth adding that the memorandum signed yesterday between us and Prague Zoo has brought closer the reintroduction of wild horses to the east of Mongolia, where they also historically occurred. I am glad that the successful cooperation of the two nations will continue. The Przewalski's horse disappeared from the wild due to humans, and now it is up to us to return them to the wilderness again," said Bat-Erdene, the Mongolian Minister of Environment and Tourism.

Slavnostní přestřižení pásky před novou mongolskou expozicí Gobi. Zleva ředitel Zoo Praha Miroslav Bobek, prezident České republiky Petr Pavel a ministr životního prostředí a turismu Mongolska Bat-Erden Bat-Ulzii. Foto Václav Šilha, Zoo Praha