The Prague Zoo has joined an international effort to ensure the survival of a rare insect which had been considered extinguished for over 80 years. As the AP reports, the zoo is one of the six institutions around the world that have been able to create living conditions for the largest kind of insect without theft, the stick insect of Lord Howe Island, which reaches almost 6 inches long. They are now exposed, a rare chance that only London and San Diego also offer. The insect, also known as Phasmide of Lord Howe Island, or “Tree lobster”, is from an archipelago far from the Tasman Sea off Australia. The uninhabited archipelago was discovered in 1778. The rats that arrived with a stranded ship in 1918 seemed to destroy the population of the insect.
Mountain climbers found signs of insects in the 1960s on a rocky island 14 miles off Lord Howe. In 2001, it was confirmed that specimens survived there. Two pairs were taken to Australia for breeding, a step considered to be necessary for criticizing species. “They had to make a huge effort to survive at 100 years in a place as difficult as the ball pyramid, and now need as sensitive care to live in captivity,” Vojtech Vit, an expert goalkeeper at Prague Zoo on Tuesday.
The zoo had to create an air -conditioned building with disinfection equipment for entry to the entry to protect insects likely from bacterial and viral infections, as well as the approval of the Australian authorities for farming. The objective of the breeding program is to make the insect in its natural environment on the island of Lord Howe, because the rats were eradicated there in 2019 (stories of more threatened species).).
