Zoo News

Our zoo is home to one of Europe’s largest and most successful breeding groups of greater flamingos. These elegant wading birds usually bring us nearly two dozen chicks each year – and this season even more hatched from their eggs.

The oceanic whitetip shark was once the most common predator of the open seas, but overfishing has now pushed this species to the brink of extinction. By signing the Shark Trust’s petition, you can help secure a future for these sharks.

Thanks to the joint efforts of many of our colleagues and international experts, last year we published an educational booklet about the Western Crowned Pigeon and the pigeon family.

Anyone visiting us recently may notice that youngsters of various species have been growing up all around the zoo. Our collection of young animals has recently grown with the arrival of a golden lion tamarin baby.

In just over a month, we will once again hold the Day of Children with Disabilities, organized together with the National Federation of Associations for People with Intellectual Disabilities and Their Helpers. This will already be the thirty-third event of its kind. Besides this now traditional program, the Zoo also takes part in many other forms of social responsibility.

Visitors can now see the recently arrived female red panda in the enclosure, who is intended to be the future mate of our resident male, Bendegúz. The young panda came to us from a zoo in Germany.

We could say we didn’t know it was “impossible,” so we went ahead and did it — but in truth, we knew from the start it was possible. That’s why we decided to relocate a huge London plane tree, which has since remained the largest tree ever transplanted in Hungary.

Our Zoo is one of the oldest in the world: we first opened our gates to the public on 9 August 1866. This Saturday marked our 159th birthday. Alongside many different birthday programmes, of course, there was cake too!

Statement regarding recent press reports.

Animal welfare is a far more complex and sensitive issue than it might seem at first glance. General statements are not enough to fully understand the topic—especially when viewed from the perspective of zoos and global wildlife conservation, where many additional factors come into play.

The giant otter, a species once native to Argentina but missing for decades, has now returned to the country. The reintroduction program involves zoo-born individuals and their descendants, most of whom came from European zoos. Several institutions participating in the European breeding program for giant otters, maintained by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA), have contributed to this effort, including the Budapest Zoo.

We previously shared the news that our colleague, Borbála Kocsis, was appointed Vice Chair of the parrot advisory group within the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). Now, we’re pleased to report another international achievement linked to her work.