Hnutí Brontosaurus (- Czech, translated to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as ''The Brontosaurus Movement'') is a large nature conservation group in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

concentrated on the youth. Brontosaurus was founded in 1974, being the first such an organization in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. It was named after ''

Brontosaurus ''Brontosaurus'' (; meaning "thunder lizard" from Greek , "thunder" and , "lizard") is a genus of gigantic quadruped sauropod dinosaurs. Although the type species, ''B. excelsus'', had long been considered a species of the closely related ''A ...

'', name which was at the time widely used as a synonym for

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

among the Czechs. The chosen name was to remind the fate of dinosaurs, which died out during the

Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event (also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction) was a sudden mass extinction of three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth, approximately 66 million years ago. With the ...

. The founders were several young enthusiasts from the Institute of Landscape Ecology of

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

. Their preparations had started in 1972. The plan was covered in a popular journal for the youth,

Mladý Svět ''Mladý Svět'' (''Young World'') was a magazine published in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. It contained editorials, comics and other works. It is not very well known outside of the Czech Republic and Slovakia but inside these countries ...

, whose illustrator

Vladimír Jiránek Vladimír Jiránek (June 6, 1938 – November 6, 2012) was a Czech illustrator, film director and cartoonist. Information Jiránek was born in Hradec Králové. In 1962 he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, w ...

sketched the logo. In January 1974 "Akce Brontosaurus" (''Action Brontosaurus'') started as a batch of ten tasks concentrated on environment education and to be finished within one year. Unexpected success led to an indefinite extension of the programme and appearance of regional branches. Since 1978

adopted it under name "Holidays with Brontosaurus" (''Prázdniny s Brontosaurem''), massively adding to its popularity. In the same year Brontosaurus had to become a collective member of Socialist Union of Youth, a pro-regime political organization aiming to completely cater the youth population. Brontosaurus had organized numerous festivals, propagation tours and competitions and has managed to increase awareness about the numerous ecological problems. After the fall of communist party from power in 1989 Brontosaurus became independent organization and restructured internally. The organization decided to concentrate on free time activities and education and avoid involvement in politics so popular among the other environmental groups in the Czech Republic. In 1992 a group of members left and set up independent "Asociace Brontosaura" (''Association Brontosaurus''). In 1996 a conflict between two groups within Brontosaurus almost broke it down; discovery of embezzlement further worsened the situation. The conflict got largely resolved during Autumn 1999 - 2000 but the organization was financially ruined (another embezzlement by a former leader was discovered). The government stepped in providing over 80% of its budget in 2001. As of 2007 Hnutí Brontosaurus has around 1,000 members structured into 30 local groups. Concentrating on children and the youth, they organize weekend trips, summer camps, illustrated humour competition "Ekofór", education tour and courses and also ecological consultations. Budget in 2005 was around 1.6 million of

CZK The koruna, or crown, ( sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...

. About two thirds of the income came as grants by the government and municipalities, about one third was profit from business activities.

External links

Hnutí Brontosaurus website
(in Czech)
Study with the history of Brontosaurus until 2001
(

RTF RTF may refer to: Organisations * African Union Regional Task Force, the military operation of the RCI-LRA, 2011–2018. * Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, a broadcaster in France, 1949–1964 * Russian Tennis Federation, the national gover ...

, in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hnuti Brontosaurus

Environmental organizations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Czechoslovakia Nature conservation organisations based in Europe