Mohelenská hadcová step

The reserve crowns a loop of the Jihlava river called Certuv ocas (Devil's Tail), where the water bends almost back on itself below a slope of dark serpentinite rock. The rock is unusually rich in magnesium, iron, chromium and nickel, and it heats up in the sun far more than ordinary ground, producing a steppe of stunted, dwarf plants alongside species that normally live much further south, including the fern Notholaena marantae, the European mantis and the European green lizard. Around 60% of all Czech ant species live here, and researchers have been logging insects new to the country on this one slope since the 1930s. A small colony of European ground squirrels also survives on the reserve's grassland. Protection dates back to 1933, one of the oldest reserves in the country, and it became a national nature reserve in 1988. From parts of the marked trail, the cooling towers of the Dukovany nuclear plant are visible on the horizon, an odd counterpoint to the ancient, treeless steppe underfoot.