Geografie 1969, 74, 22-33
Acclimatization of Animal Species in Czechoslovakia
In the course of the historical development considerable changes took place in Czechoslovakia in the composition of fauna. In the place of many extinct species rational economy has introduced many animal species attractive from the point of view of hunting and economy to all zoogeographic territories. This paper mentions 52 species of acclimatized fish, birds, and mammalia, worked out in groups according to the rate of successful acclimatization results. Successful results depend upon the ecological valence of the acclimatized game. In many cases a successful acclimatization of fauna took place in the new Central European environment, the acclimatized species having become an inseparable part of it, such as pheasants, wild rabbits. Moufflons have acclimatized in the new optimal environment so perfectly that at the present Czechoslovakia takes up the first place in the world with the quality and the number of their species. Up to the present the acclimatization of fish has not been used to its full. There are still many reserves. In the section "Re-acclimatization" the problem of the reintroduction of elks and experiments with the breed of European aurochs have been described. In both cases it is the matter of interesting isolated occurrences. Yet a free acclimatization of these two species in Czechoslovakia is out of the question because of a serious danger for forest as well as other cultures.
