Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden Budapest Zoo

Correction

I have got the information just right now that the upstairs of the ’Venomous House’ (with the venomous snake section) will be on public display a bit later.
 
Where abouts are the white rhinos, are they in the savannah? I've looked at the map and it says zebras where I think I saw them last time (opposite the elephants). Thanks
 
I visited this zoo back in October, 2007 and I really enjoyed my time! I was fascinated with the combination of old historic buildings and a great collection of animals. When I was there, the Zoo was a construction zone, with many exhibits being renovated or rebuilt.

My question for my Hungarian friends: Does Hungary have any other zoos that are as good as Budapest, or is this the nation's best zoo?
 
It is quite subjective to call any zoo the best in any country. Budapest Zoo is the national, and the oldest zoological collection in Hungary. Typical central zoo with all of those characteristics: long history (been exist since 1866), small area (only 10,7 hectares of total, the fifth smallest capital zoo in Europe) with nicely renovated crowd of historic buildings and all these associated with relatively special collection of species within the country. I think it is absolutely worth a visit if you are in the area.

But we have another 10 zoos which member of the National Federation of the Hungarian Zoos (six of them are EAZA-members including Budapest Zoo) and some other, mainly small and specialized collections. Almost each of them has their own speciality.

Just mention a few:

Sosto Zoo at Nyiregyhaza:
This collection started as a typical wildlife park concentrated only on native species some decades ago, but after the extremely vigorous growth of the last decade it turned to be the biggest animal collection after the capital, keeping some curiosity as well. Their newest project, called the Green Pyramid, is under process at the moment, which will be the biggest rainforest hall in Central-Eastern Europe (construction will be completed by 2010). I will create an own thread for this soon.

Szeged Zoo is our newest zoo, established in 1989, is situated on 44 hectares in a mostly natural, wildlife park setting. Great zoo with many rarities (mainly inside the country). The collection plan was originally concentrated on South-American animals (and still a nice collection of its kind in the country), but nowadays the Africa and Asia-themes are very strong as well.

Jaszbereny Zoo is our newest EAZA-member: one of the smallest Hungarian zoo mainly with common species but with a unique feeding enrichment program which educational value makes it a great institution. This is a well practicable plan after understanding the really bad economic situation in the country. Anyway, this small zoo was totally and quite nicely renovated in the last decade.
 
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Orycteropus,
Thanks for the info. You certainly know your Hungarian zoos! Why then, is your location listed as "London, UK"? Are you Hungarian
 
ANyhuis, you’re welcome. Location means the place where I am living at the moment, not my nationality. ;)
 
Gorilla Baby Born

from F?városi Állat- és Növénykert

Gorilla Baby Born
2010. January 06.


After ten years, a gorilla baby was born at the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden. The baby was born on January 5 and, thus, is the first newborn of the year in our institution. The baby and mother can be visited from Thursday, January 14 at the Apes’ House.

A gorilla baby was born in our Zoo on Tuesday, January 5 at 9:13 AM. The last such joyous event in Budapest took place in 2000. The baby and mother, the nine-year-old N’Yaounda are well, although it is uncertain whether the nurturing of the baby gorilla will go without problems. The keepers are monitoring if the baby is feeding well and if the mother is looking after her young properly. This is N’Yaounda’s first offspring, and she cannot be considered experienced in caring for her baby.



Since the baby is fed with reassuring frequency and the mother’s behavior remains normal, and the other members of the group behave calmly, we opened the Apes' House for public on Thursday, January 14. Volunteers supervise the visitors' area for providing the less disturbance. For the sake of the gorilla family's peace and quiet we kindly ask our visitors to avoid loud sounds and use of flash in the territory.



Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) have been living in our Zoo since 1989. In the last two decades, three babies were born from the now 33-year-old Liesel and the 3 years younger Golo, the two animals that arrived in 1989. Among them the youngest male Ebobo still lives here. Besides them, two young females arrived in Budapest in the last few years. Iringa came from France in 2000 and N’Yaounda, the mother of the newborn, came in 2008 from the zoo of the Dutch city of Arnhem famous of its bridge.



Approximately 750 western gorillas live in zoos throughout the world. Among this population, there were altogether 16 births in the last 12 months. It is safe to say that gorilla births are quite rare around the world. This is, however, not characteristics of zoos only. The trend is similar to the reproduction strategy of gorillas living in the wild. The essence of this strategy is that gorillas reproduce quite rarely and give birth to only one offspring at a time. The low birth rate is compensated with well-developed nurturing of their young, a behavior that provides better chances for reaching adulthood. The first gorilla born in a zoo was born in the Columbus Zoo in the USA in 1956.





Why “western” the western gorilla?



According to our current scientific classification, there are two species of gorillas, the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and the eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei). Both species are divided into two subspecies. The two subspecies of the eastern gorillas are the eastern mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) and the eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri). The two subspecies of the western gorillas are the Diehl-gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) and the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). The gorillas at the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden are western lowland gorillas. This subspecies is native to Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Central African Republic. According to its conservation status, these gorillas are classified as critically endangered.
 
Gorilla baby ready for visitors

Gorilla baby ready for visitors
2010. January 14.



Since January 14, the public may visit the one and a half weeks old gorilla baby born on January 5. For the peace of the newborn and mother, no visitors were allowed in the Apes’ House in the last few days. Even among the staff of the Zoo, only designated workers could enter the animal house. Both the baby and mother are healthy, and the little one is developing well. Hence, there are no obstacles to reopening the Apes’ House.

Now the public can also visit the youngest resident of our Zoo. Until now, only their keepers and veterinarians could see the baby, because for the peace of the mother and her young, the Apes’ House was closed to date. Since the baby is developing properly and the nine-year-old N’Yaounda proved to be an excellent mother, limiting visitation is no longer justified.



According to the keepers, the gorillas’ behavior did not change significantly. The dominant male of the gorilla family, the thirty-year-old Golo, and the other ten-year-old male Ebobo are still protecting the mother and her baby from the other, ocassionally too curious members of the group. In this respect, Golo is a lot more active, so it is possible that after reopening the Apes’ House, the dominant male will spend a good deal of time near the glass wall to protect their territory from the visitors. Of course, the public will have to use some effort to spot the little one in the spacious animal house, because N’Yaounde is hugging the baby close almost all the time.



Although the public now is allowed in the Apes’ House, the sudden light might disturb the animals. Hence, we kindly request our visitors coming to see the gorillas to pay special attention to our rule, in effect at all times, not to use flash when taking pictures of the animals.
 
If anyone can help me, I'm putting together a database with statistics of some of the world's top zoos. Essentially, I need the annual attendance figure for the Budapest Zoo:

Can anyone help me?
 
Australia House

Budapest Zoo opened Australian pavilion, 26th January 2010

Blue-tongued lizards were watching the air parade of brilliant-feathered king parrots with open mouths at the opening ceremony of the Australian House in the Budapest Zoo.

The new facility, providing a broad cross-section of Australian fauna, was inaugurated by ambassadors Alex Brooking of Australia and Mangasi Sihombing of Indonesia, Mayor Gabor Demszky and Director Miklos Persanyi.

The ceremony was held on Australia Day, the official national day of Australia commemorating the arrival of the first European settlers in the region of Sydney in 1788.

A separate section is reserved for nocturnal animals, including fox-bats and a variety of small marsupials. The facility is complete with an exhibition about aboriginal culture and the first explorers of Australia.

This is the largest display of Australian fauna in Central Europe, Persanyi said, disclosing that even the garbage in the parrots' cage has been imported from the remote continent.

Source: Home - Caboodle.hu

Some of the species being on display in the Australia House:

Mammals:

Acrobates pygmaeus, Flying Mouse
Bettongia penicillata, Brush-tailed Rat-kangaroo
Macropus fuliginosus, Western Grey Kangaroo
Petaurus breviceps, Sugar Glider
Phalanger gymnotis, Ground Cuscus
Pteropus lylei, Lyle's Flying Fox
(Trichosurus vulpecula, Silver-grey Brush-tailed Possum)

Birds:

Casuarius casuarius, Double-wattled Cassowary (in neighbouring enclosure, next to the Australia House)
Geopelia cuneata, Diamond Dove
8 species of Psittacidae
several species of Fringillidae

Reptiles:

Chlamydosaurus kingii, Frilled Lizard
Morelia spilota cheynei, Jungle Carpet Python
Pogona spp.
Tiliqua gigas, New Guinea Blue-tongued Skink
Tiliqua rugosa, Shingleback Skink
Varanus prasinus, Emerald Monitor
and others …

Amphibians:

Bufo marinus, Giant Marine Toad
Litoria caerulea, White's Tree Frog

Fish:

Melanotaenia boesemani, Boesemann's Rainbowfish
Melanotaenia herbertaxelrodi, Lake Tebera Yellow Rainbowfish
Melanotaenia lacustris, Lake Kutubu Rainbowfish
Melanotaenia parkinsoni, Parkinson's Rainbowfish

Invertebrates:

Acrophylla wuelfingi, Queensland Titan Walkingstick
Extatosoma tiaratum, Giant Prickly Walkingstick
Holconia immanis, Large Huntsman Spider
Macropanesthia rhinoceros, Giant Burrowing Cockroach
Polyrhachis dives
 
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I am delighted with Giant Burrowing cockroach. They are quite rare cockroach species as their breeding is not so easy. But I am curious what is their exposition look like? As the name whisper, they are burrowing so not a good chance to spot them in normal exposition.
 
several of the species in the Australia House are actually from New Guinea which I don't have a problem with, but Lyle's flying fox? Surely there was a more geographically apt species available than that?
 
Chlidonias, You are absolutely right. The Zoo has previously had the Lyle's Flying Foxes in the collection (they have been on show in the Palm House), probably this is the reason why they exhibit this species in the Australia House. At moment I don't have any info on exchange the species for an other one which suits more properly in terms of geographic range.
 
Do anybody know, where do flamingos live during summer and winter months in Budapest? Could maybe somebody post a pic or two of their exhibit (house and outside exhibit)?
 
Other two historical buildings will be rebuilt soon

Between the 1909-12 period most of the buildings at Budapest Zoo planned by two famous Hungarian architects Károly Kós and Dezsö Zrumeczky, including the historic Buffalo House and Giraffe House. Both of these were destroyed during the World War II. Currently most of the buildings in the zoo are considered to be historical monuments and the recent reconstruction reached the state to rebuild these two mentioned buildings, and demolishing the newer ones which were constructed in the 1960s.

You can see the buildings here:

F?városi Állat- és Növénykert | Újjászületik a háborúban elpusztult Zsiráfház és Bölényház

Picture no. 1 shows the historic Buffalo House, which will be rebuilt soon (on photos below You can see the recent Buffalo House).
In picture no. 4 You can see the historic Giraffe House, below this the newer one.

The construction is in progress. Of course the upcoming copies of the historic buildings will resemble of the original ones only in terms of appearance, these will have proper accomodations for the animlas which will meet their biological needs.

Buffalo House: 278 square meters, species will be on display including Congo Buffalo, Red River Hog, Sitatunga, Zebra and Fennex Fox.

Giraffe House: 438 square meters, will be home mostly for bird species. New Flamingo exhibit (485 square meters) will be added to the area as well.
 
Flamingos at Budapest Zoo

Jana, here is one pic about the old Flamingo exhibit, after that the birds have been moved to a very similar exhibit, next to the Main Gate. AFAIK the Flamingos spend the winter inside the Elephant House. This was always a problem because there is no direct „connection” between the summer and winter accomodation, but the upcoming new Flamingo Exhibit (see my previous post) will solve this difficulty, and make moving the animals easier.
 
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