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Maguari

Javan Ferret-Badger at Budapest 08/09/2003

[i]Melogale orientalis[/i] At the time the only ferret-badgers in Europe and cause of one of the oddest but most pleasant zoo moments of my life. We'd seen these curled up asleep earlier in the day; but three of us were keen for a better view so went back to the exhibit before we left. Afer trekking back to the Nocturnal House and making a bee-line for this exhibit, we were met by a very friendly female keeper who was clearly over the moon to have visitors who realised how special these animals were. Despite a certain language barrier (though as usual her English was streets ahead of our Magyar!), she was very keen to show the animals off and for us to get a good view and some decent photos, to the point of waking the animals up, taking us right into the enclosure and encouraging us to use flash to make sure they came out! I think we made her day by taking an interest just as much as she made ours by taking us in with these wonderful animals. If she should happen to read this, thank you! Budapest no longer has Javan Ferret-badgers, but the Chinese species ([i]M. moschata[/i]) can be seen at Prague.

Javan Ferret-Badger at Budapest 08/09/2003
Maguari, 5 Dec 2010
    • Maguari
      Melogale orientalis

      At the time the only ferret-badgers in Europe and cause of one of the oddest but most pleasant zoo moments of my life. We\'d seen these curled up asleep earlier in the day; but three of us were keen for a better view so went back to the exhibit before we left. Afer trekking back to the Nocturnal House and making a bee-line for this exhibit, we were met by a very friendly female keeper who was clearly over the moon to have visitors who realised how special these animals were. Despite a certain language barrier (though as usual her English was streets ahead of our Magyar!), she was very keen to show the animals off and for us to get a good view and some decent photos, to the point of waking the animals up, taking us right into the enclosure and encouraging us to use flash to make sure they came out! I think we made her day by taking an interest just as much as she made ours by taking us in with these wonderful animals.

      If she should happen to read this, thank you!


      Budapest no longer has Javan Ferret-badgers, but the Chinese species (M. moschata) can be seen at Prague.
    • Arizona Docent
      Never heard of these before - very striking animals.
    • DavidBrown
      @Maguari: are these related to the European badgers? I'm not knowledgable about badger systematics. I enjoyed your story about seeing this animal. How big is it - about the size of a European badger?
    • IanRRobinson
      I admire your good fortune Ben! I can dimly remember Chinese ferret badger at RP, and ca 1989 at Thrigby; I think these were the same animals.
    • Maguari
      They're the same family (Mustelidae) and subfamily (Melinae) as the European Badger but a different genus (European Badgers are Meles meles). They're smaller than the European species as well - about the size of a Striped Skunk I'd say. Lovely animals, though their Chinese cousins at Prague slept through my visit last year (albeit one was sleeping in full view so I did at least see one!). Hoping for better luck next year!
    • Maguari
      It still is one of my all-time favourite zoo moments and of course entirely unexpected (as so many of the best things in life are!).
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  • Category:
    Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden
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    Maguari
    Date:
    5 Dec 2010
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