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Get to know one of the world’s oldest zoos: The Budapest Zoo
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It doesn’t matter if you’re an adult or a child, you will surely find something captivatingly exciting at the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden, like the baby animals that we just wrote about. However, even if you’re paying close attention to the tags next to the animals and plants, there are some facts that you can’t find there. Nlcafe.hu has collected five fun facts about the zoo.
1 One of the oldest in the world
The Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden opened its gates to visitors on the 9th of August 1866, making it one of the oldest zoos in the world. It actually celebrated its 150th birthday last year. There were 500 animals altogether, 11 big buildings on the lot, with some smaller ones, as well. Initially, the director of the zoo was Leopold Fitzinger, a zoologist from Munich, but he stepped down already before the opening, so János Xántus took over his place.
2 Empress Elisabeth’s gift to the zoo
In the early days, most of the animals residing in the zoo came from the Pannonian Basin, with only a handful exotic tenants. One of them was a giraffe gifted by Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who was Queen Consort of Hungary at that time. Her husband, Franz Joseph, King of Hungary, sent 34 animals to the zoo from Schönbrunn.
3 Ferenc Deák and the greedy bear
Ferenc Deák, 1st Minister of Justice in Hungary (during the 1848 revolution) was very keen on the zoo, making frequent visits, especially to a brown bear, named Kristóf. On one occasion, he decided to surprise the bear with a gift, but the bear wanted more: Deák tried to give the piece of meat to the bear, by pushing it close with his umbrella, but the sneaky bear took the umbrella as well.
