Polar bears on the roof of Budapest Zoo’s main gate (2018) (Globetrotter 19)
Page under construction
Facility
Location: Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden
Address: Budapest, Állatkerti krt. 6-12, 1146 Hungary
Telephone: +36 1 273 4900
Email: info@zoobudapest.com
Website: https://www.zoobudapest.com/en
Exhibit: Polar bears are in the Little Rock area of the Zoo
Bears
Belij (male). Born 22 November 2015, Izhevsk, Russia. Mother: Dunka. Father: Nord.
Serij (male). Born 22 November 2015, Izhevsk, Russia. Mother: Dunka. Father: Nord.
Details
The polar bear enclosure was built in 1912 and in 2006 work was undertaken to modernise the facility. The floor space was tripled and a new 350 cubic metre pool added. The new pool incorporates an underwater viewing area where the bears are separated from the public by a 55mm thick glass viewing wall. The old 18 cublic metre pool was filled in with soil to provide the bears with a digging area.
We understand that there are tentative plans to further extend the facility to accommodate breeding females when the present male bears reach sexual maturity. This would be around 2023.
To date we have no further information on the facility and will, later in 2019, be submitting a detailed questionnaire to the Zoo to endeavour to obtain more information.
Concerns
- Proposal to commence captive breeding in the future
- The area available to the two bears is reportedly very small.
At present we have no information on the feeding, exercise, medical and enrichment regimes at the Budapest Zoo
Taken in 2018 this photograph of Belij & Serij gives an indication of the unsuitability of their enclosure (lintworm – Creative Commons Licence)
The video below of Belij and Serij was published online in March 2017 and was filmed shortly after their arrival at the Zoo.
Return to Captive Polar Bear Directory
Page updated 22 July 2019