I had a nice winter visit in the Budapest zoo yesterday. Have been here 20 years ago, but the only thing that seems familiar is the beautiful Elephant house and the Rocks.
If one wonders, which zoo to visit during the European cold days, I would definitely recommend the Budapest zoo. In his relatively small area, they are holding all ABCs + serious amount of intriguing species, 90 % visible in their houses. Practicaly all of the warmer climate animals can be observed in their indoor exhibits. The zoo 29 buildings have very smart heating system, using the thermal waters coming from Széchenyi Thermal Baths, which minimises the huge cost. Budapest zoo development has interesting history. Build in 1866 and totally renovated in 1912, the zoo was severly damaged during the WWII. After the War the socialist architects took over and the old charm completely vanished. In the 90's desicion was made to bring the zoo to its romantic image combined with modern husbandary. Iconic Buildings, like Palm house(Tropical house), Crocodile house, Buffalo house, Australia house and Giraffe house were rebuilt based on the original plans from 1912. The modern husbandary also took effect for many aspects of the collection, but some parts unfortunately left in 20th century. While primates are very well accommodated in a nice Great Ape house, Madagascar house and few outdoor islands, the most of the Carnivores enclosures looks like they missed the renovation process. There are some discrepancies too: The Wolverine replaced the Striped Hyena in the Indian house and the Asian Elephants are living in the African Savanna complex.The last will probably change, when the new Biodom area is ready. The project seems well underway.
Even without the Koalas, the Australian collection is still superb. The Tasmanian Wombat, The Echidna, The Kowari and Brushtail Possum have their own buildings. And the walkthrough night exhibit in Australia house, holding The Ground Cuscus, Brushtail Bettong, Lyel's Flying Fox and Sugar Glider is almost surrealistic highlight. One of the newest addition to the zoo is the Magic mountain - four floors educational complex/invertebrate collection hidden in the Great rock. The life size Sperm Whale model is one of the stars here. The Venomous snake and Rodent collections are also not to miss. The Budapest zoo is a place with promising feature and like the Hungarian capital itself, combines classic architecture with modern buildings. Looking forward to the new 1.7 hectars Biodom, won a lot of awards already and expected to open in 2020.
This was the mom's first calving...
utdoor
