Budapest Zoo » Budapest Zoo

Budapest Zoo
09-06-2008

If You are interested here You can read some short news from Budapest Zoo:

Sumatran orangutans and Western lowland gorillas received their new outdoor enclosures in the end of April.

A male Komodo dragon (called Irwin, after Steve Irwin) arrived at the end of April. He was born at Chester Zoo in the 15th of January in 2007.

The new Savanna Exhibit (or Savann-complex) was officially opened at the end of May. Unfortunately the Budapest Zoo is one of the smallest European capital zoos, so consiquently this new area is only about 0,5 hectare. This Savanna area consists of a main mixed exhibit and several smaller enclosures. The mixed exhibit houses the following species: Rothschild giraffes, Nile lechwes, Mhorr Gazelles (these species of lechwe and gazelle have never been exhibited in Hungary earlier), Ostriches, Helmeted guineafowls, Vulturine guineafowls and White storks. There are separated enclosures for the Southern white rhinos:the female Lulu, who is the mother of Layla, the world’s first rhino calf was born through artificial insemination, and the male Easy Boy. It’s worth to mention that Lulu is pregnant again, the second succesful insemination was taken in 14th of June in 2007. Other mammal species are exhibited in the savanna area: Meerkats, Yellow mongooses, Cairo spiny mouses and Greater egyptian jerboas. There are exhibited six bird and three reptile species, and additionaly 21 invertebrata species, here are the scientific names of them: Arachnids: Pandinus imperator, Nephila sp., Damon sp., Insects: Ampulex compressa, Pachnoda aemula, Pachnoda flaviventris, Pachnoda marginata marginata and P. m. peregrina, Eudicella smithi, Eudicella aethiopica, Eudicella woermani, Mecynorrhina ugandensis, Mecynorrhina obertueri, Smaragdesces africana oertzeni, Platymeris biguttata, Sipyloidea sipylus, Locusta migratoria, Schistocerca gregaria, Gryllus bimaculatus, Phaeophilacris bredoides, Periplaneta americana, Gromphadorrhina oblongonata.

A Butterfly Garden was opened at the 5th of June. This is a 260 square metres (and 1200 cubic metres) walk-through exhibit, where You can walk among 45 butterly species (approx. 600 specimens). This is a seasonal exhibit in every summer (about for three months) since 2000.

The renovation of the Big Rock will be finished soon and further new species will arrive to this area, for example Dholes and Sloth bears.

09-06-2008

I am very interested in any news from Hungarian zoos, so please - keep them coming....

09-06-2008

Is Budapest Zoo the zoo with that big historical elephant house with a tower or is that somewhere else?

09-06-2008

Yes, it is, if You interested You can see a picture and a short description of that in my gallery:

The Elephant House - Photo Gallery

10-06-2008

@Orycteropus: great photo of the elephant house, but as you say the outdoor enclosure appears to be the usual terrible habitat for such large mammals. Do you know how much space the elephants have? Is their indoor area also very small?

10-06-2008

@ snowleopard:
Yes, the current elephant paddock which You can see in the picture is not too large, approx. between 1500-2000 square metres, and it can be separated on the middle if necessary. The indoor animal holding areas for the elphants are also very small. This is a historical building and it is under protection of monuments, so any radical changes on that is not licensed. But now I should complete my first reply with some good news connecting with this theme. The new Savanna exhibit what I mentioned is next to this historical Elephant House, and now there is a new large building, the Elephant Hall, which contains larger interior exhibits for the elephants, and the outdoor enclosure also increased a bit. So the elephants have two buildings currently, because the zoo plan to hold more elephants (currently keeps two middleaged females only). The further individulas (also a bull) will arrive in September. Certainly the Asian elephants don’t perfectly fit to this Africa theme, but Budapest Zoo has a long history and lots of experience with this species so the zoo doesn’t plan to change them to the African relatives. Hopefully I will visit the zoo at the end of this week, so I upload some new pics about this developments soon.

16-06-2008

Plse could you tell us, which elephants and how many will join Hella and Zitta? And some more details of the new hall: is there sand and a free moving area inside?

19-06-2008

@ Sitara:
Sorry, currently I haven't got information about how many individuals will arrive. The new hall: yes, there is a free moving area indside, without sand at present. But this area of the zoo is not entirely finished, so there will be some changes I think (f.e. Hella and Zitta hadn't been tested the new hall yet). I will upload some pics about that to the Budapest Zoo's gallery soon.

19-06-2008

What about future plans for the other pachyderms?

Will the enlarge the white rhino group and finally start keeping them in a herd situation to perhaps stimulate natural breeding?

20-06-2008

@ jelle:
The Southern whites at Budapest Zoo (M Easy Boy, b. 29/7/1979 at Longleat Safari Park, F Lulu b. around in 1980 in Natal, South Africa, and their AI calf F Layla b. 23/1/ 2007, Easy Boy x Lulu) had have a new enclosure just a short time ago, but this area is not enough to hold a larger group of the species.
This pair lived there at Budapest Zoo together since 1983 when they were very young, so sexual interesting have never been set up between them. The professional work in regard of their reproductive biology and the preparation of the AI had began in 2001 already. Currently the second AI calf is on the way which probably will born in the end of this year. But I think You know the details. So Budapest Zoo is currently on the ’artificial’ way to breeding White rhinos …

About the natural breeding situation: Layla remain at Budapest, so when she reach the sexual maturity Easy Boy will be changed for another bull, but currently this is a long-range plan …

12-10-2008

How many orangs have they at the zoo ? names , sexes ...

14-10-2008

Hi monkeyworld, here You can find the answer:

Sumatran orangutan enclosure @ Budapest Zoo » ZooBeat Photo Gallery

25-10-2008

A white rhino has been born at the zoo
YouTube - Rhino Baby born at the Budapest Zoo

4 Weeks Ago

Hi!
Yes, and this rhino baby is the second calf in Budapest Zoo, who born after artificial insemination, and the first in the world, who came from deep-freezing sperm. So, the calfs dad is living in Colchester, UK, about 1700 km from Budapest... :-))
And you can see the calf with his mom on a webcam: F?városi Állat- és Növénykert | Orrszarvú kamera