The Sóstó Zoo is one of the best zoos in Europe

It was a good year for the Nyíregyháza Zoo: it had 430 thousand visitors in 2015, many animals were born and it even won a prestigious award.

Travelo.hu writes that the zoo of Nyíregyháza, in draw with two Danish zoos, finished in first place in the ‘under five thousand visitors’ category according to the survey of an independent zoo analytical organisation.

Anthony Sheridan’s professional zoo foundation looked at a 100 European zoos divided into three categories by the number of visitors. The zoo of Nyíregyháza finished in first place along with the zoo of Aalborg and Odensee, in the category of zoos with visitors between 250 thousand and 500 thousand. By analysing the number of visitors they get a view at the income generated by the number, which determines the opportunities of a zoo.

The zoo is not only the most visited countryside zoo in Hungary but also the one that functions the most effectively in proportion to the population of the city. Moreover, it doesn’t make use of maintainer’s support; the zoo maintains itself so it is also a very successful economic enterprise.

2015 was quite a reproductive year with 173 animals born. The star of the year was an African baby elephant. Visitors could see its growth through from the beginning and even its name was chosen from visitors’ suggestions. Kito, which means a child feared for and dear treasure in Swahili, is healthy and he is doing great.

Broutille, the pygmy hippo mama is proudly observing how her few-months-old calf swims in the lake of hippos. This is the second pygmy hippo calf, which is a much endangered species, to be born in Nyíregyháza. The harbour seal family welcomed Bonifác this year who is hoping for some snow. Also, four calves were born in one week in the reindeer family that counts 15 members.

The two Siberian tiger cubs, Katja and Vladim are beautifully growing. They weighed 4 kilograms at one-month but in a few years they might weigh 300 kilograms after becoming sexually mature.

Ring-tailed lemurs and yellow-bellied lemurs were visitors’ favorites this year. Visitors could observe them closely because anyone can go for a walk into the lemur forest in spring and summer.

According to travelo.hu, the Victoria house is the collection of special and bizarre animals. Although it mainly exhibits the flora and fauna of South-America, visitors can observe African and Asian species as well. Out of these, many species are on the verge of extinction like the Sumatran tiger that only has 400 individuals left. All together four tiger subspecies can be seen in Sóstó Zoo.

It wasn’t only a simple zoo experience for all 430 thousand visitors since fortunate visitors could witness the birth of more than one animal.

Photos: www.facebook.com/sostozoo

Copy editor: bm

Source: http://travelo.hu/