The Plzeň Zoo opened the Waharoa exhibit with brown kiwis, keas and other birds from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia.
The zoo in Plzeň has opened the Waharoa exhibit, which presents birds of the Australasian biogeographic region, mainly from New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. The construction cost seven million crowns including VAT, was carried out by the company Plzeňské stavitelství and is the zoo's main new exhibit of 2026.[1][2]
The exhibit
The exhibit stands near the Tropical Pavilion and the flamingo enclosure and consists of two small pavilions and several aviaries. It follows on from the zoo's project "In the Footsteps of Humans in Nature". Part of it was built on the site of former aviaries and a wooden structure. An educational system presents the fauna and flora of New Zealand. The entrance is symbolised by a stylised Maori gate, because a waharoa is a traditional carved gateway to a fortified village or to a sacred space of the community.[1][2]
The animals
The main species are the brown kiwi and the kea parrot. According to the zoo, six gardens in Europe keep the brown kiwi, two of them in Czechia. The male, which arrived in 2022, has had a female since autumn 2025, who is still young according to zoo spokesman Martin Vobruba. The Plzeň zoo has kept keas since 2012. They were first bred successfully in 2025, and the zoo has a breeding pair and two young reared.[1][2]
The exhibit is also home to the kagu, a flightless bird from New Caledonia kept by four European zoos, a scrubfowl, a frogmouth and a boobook owl. The Plzeň zoo has two male kagus, and according to Vobruba there is only one female in all of Europe, so breeding the species is not realistic at present. Zoo director Jiří Trávníček said of the scrubfowl that the male builds a mound of leaves and soil in which the female lays her eggs.[1][2]
Chronology
- — The zoo in Plzeň opened the Waharoa exhibit with brown kiwis, kea parrots and other birds from New Zealand and Australia; construction cost seven million crowns. Deník: Plzeňský kraj Plzeňská Drbna
Sources
- Deník: Plzeňský kraj — 22 October 2026
- Plzeňská Drbna — 22 October 2026