[i]Melogale orientalis[/i]
At the time the only ferret-badgers in Europe and cause of one of the oddest but most pleasant zoo moments of my life. We'd seen these curled up asleep earlier in the day; but three of us were keen for a better view so went back to the exhibit before we left. Afer trekking back to the Nocturnal House and making a bee-line for this exhibit, we were met by a very friendly female keeper who was clearly over the moon to have visitors who realised how special these animals were. Despite a certain language barrier (though as usual her English was streets ahead of our Magyar!), she was very keen to show the animals off and for us to get a good view and some decent photos, to the point of waking the animals up, taking us right into the enclosure and encouraging us to use flash to make sure they came out! I think we made her day by taking an interest just as much as she made ours by taking us in with these wonderful animals.
If she should happen to read this, thank you!
Budapest no longer has Javan Ferret-badgers, but the Chinese species ([i]M. moschata[/i]) can be seen at Prague.
