(8 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Prague – 8 April 2025
1. Various of older form of the rare Lord Howe Island stick insects
2. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Vojtěch Vít, expert keeper:
"Getting the Lord Howe Island stick insect was extremely difficult from the beginning and took several years of negotiation. We needed the approval of the conservation coordinators, the Australian authorities, and the community on Lord Howe Island, where they historically lived."
3. Metal cages where the insects are kept
4. Insects fixed to the wall of the cage
5. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Vojtěch Vít, expert keeper:
"There are currently only six institutions in the world that have Lord Howe Island stick insects. Two are in Australia, one is in the United States in San Diego and three are in Europe."
6. Various of the older life stage of Lord Howe Island stick insects
7. SOUNDBITE (Czech) Vojtěch Vít, expert keeper:
"We would like to support their return to the wild – which is still under negotiation – on Lord Howe Island, where they disappeared over a hundred years ago due to the arrival of rodents."
8. Nymphs (juvenile form) of Lord Howe Island stick insects
9. Keeper returning nymphs to cage
10. Ball’s pyramid, where Lord Howe Island stick insects originally lived
11. Window where visitors can see the rare insects
12. Close-up of instructions on the window
13. Place of exhibition
STORYLINE:
The Prague Zoo has joined an international effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect that had been considered extinct for more than 80 years.
The zoo is among six institutions around the world that have been able to create living conditions for the largest species of flightless insect, the Lord Howe Island stick insect, which grows up to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) long.
They are on display, a rare chance that only London and San Diego also offer.
The insect, also known as the Lord Howe Island phasmid, is native to a remote archipelago in the Tasman Sea off Australia.
The uninhabited archipelago was discovered in 1778. Rats that arrived with a ship stranded offshore in 1918 appeared to wipe out the insect’s population.
Mountain climbers found signs of the insects in the 1960s on a rocky island 23 kilometers (14 miles) offshore from Lord Howe.
In 2001, it was confirmed that specimens were surviving there. Two pairs were taken to Australia for breeding, a step considered necessary for the critically endangered species.
"We would like to support their return to the wild – which is still under negotiation – on Lord Howe Island, where they disappeared over a hundred years ago due to the arrival of rodents," Vojtěch Vít, an expert keeper at the Prague Zoo, said Tuesday.
The zoo had to create an air-conditioned building with disinfection equipment for keepers at the entrance to protect the insects that are susceptible to bacterial and virus infections, and get approval from Australian authorities for breeding.
The goal of the breeding program is to return the insect to its natural environment on Lord Howe Island after rats were eradicated there in 2019.
AP Video shot by Stanislav Hodina
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