Penguins in Szeged

Both children and adults can pay an exciting visit to the Safari Park of Szeged, where by early Saturday new penguins have arrived.

The Safari Park of Szeged established a new glass-walled pool for the new-comers, which was inaugurated by Dr. László Botka, mayor of Szeged. He also stated that last year a sum of 700 million Hungarian Forints were appropriated for the renewal of the zoo.


Each and every year about 200 thousand visitors come to the Park to have a wonderful day or afternoon and to chill out here. According to the owners' hints, in the near future Black and Hook-lipped rhinoceros species will arrive to Szeged, too.

But now the main attraction of the Safari Park is the pool of the African Penguin, also known as the Black-footed penguin. It's confined to the Southern African waters, also widely known as the "Jackass" Penguin for its donkey-like bray, although several species of South American penguins produce the same sound.

Dr. László Botka - mayor of Szeged is feeding the new penguins

They grow to 68-70 cm (26.7 - 27.5 inches) tall and weigh between 2 and 5 kg (4.4 and 11 lb).

They have a black stripe and black spots on the chest, the pattern of spots being unique for every penguin, like human fingerprints. They have pink glands above their eyes, which are used for the regulation of temperature.

The hotter the penguin gets the more blood is sent to these glands so it may be cooled by the surrounding air, thus making the glands more pink.

This monogamous penguin is at a great threat nowadays. Of the 1.5 million African Penguin population estimated in 1910, only some 10% remained at the end of the 20th century.

Commercial fisheries have forced these penguins to search for prey farther off shore, as well as making them eat less nutritious prey. Penguin eggs were also considered delicacy and are still being collected for sale. Unfortunately, the practice was to smash eggs found a few days prior to gathering, to ensure that only fresh ones were sold.

Many steps have been taken to halt the decline of the African Penguin species, such as taking them to protected zoos and safari parks to conservate them. The penguins of Szeged have arrived from Germany (by the program of EEP) safe and sound and the visitors can pay an enjoyable visit to our venue.

Ticket prices:
 - adult: 1480 HUF
 - child: 970 HUF
 - child under the age of 3: FREE
 - Retired: 1070 HUF
 - Family (2+1): 3500 HUF
 - Family (2+2): 4070 HUF additional fee for more children: 570 HUF
 - Kid, school and retired group: 700 HUF/child, person
 - adult group: 1300 HUF/adult
 - Courier/guide (2-3 hours): 11000 HUF - in English: 14500 HUF
 - Courier/guide (30 minutes): 3100 HUF
 - Birthday in the zoo: 13500 - 15500 HUF

Open from 9am to 4pm.                                                                  Map - How to get there?

e-mail: info@zoo.szeged.hu                                                  Zoo homepage - for more information
Telephone: +36 62 542 530
                   +36 62 542 531
Fax: +36 62 445 299

Upcoming world-wide famous conference in Szeged

Dear Readers!

This week an extremely important event is going to take place in Szeged from 23rd to 25th of March. Nine Nobel prize winners will visit Szeged to take part in a conference organized for the 75th anniversary of Szent-Györgyi Albert's Nobel prize award. The University of Szeged announced a competition for students to win the opportunity to introduce these Nobel prize awardees. These students are not only talented biology-fans but they also speak superb English. Out of the more than 70 contestants the strict adjudicators chose 9 students with the best English and conversational skills, style and neatness.

I have done my best to find one of these students and I have successfully come across Eszter Nógrádi, a student of Deák Ferenc Bilingual High School in Szeged, who will have the pleasure to introduce Eric Wieschaus in the conference series. I seized the opportunity to ask her a few questions just to tell us more about this palatial event. 

Editor: Where or from whom did you hear about the upcoming conference series?

Eszter Nógrádi: Actually my biology teacher recommended taking part in a competition called by the University of Szeged. I immediately wanted to participate in such a vast event, where I can meet these highly acknowledged and renowned people and shake hands with them. 

Editor: Why did you choose Eric Wieschaus? 

Eszter Nógrádi: I read all the autobiographies of the Nobel prize-winners and he was the one who was the most interesting to me. I really like genetics, the topic in which he does research, and I am also a great fan of arts and music so when I read his biography it wasn't a question for me anymore whom to choose.

 

 

Editor: Could you say just a few words about Eric Wieschaus? 

Eszter Nógrádi: Of course. He was born in Indiana just after World War II. As I said before he is also a great fan of arts, as a child he spent hours and hours by painting and drawing and doing artworks. He studied at Yale University, where he could work in a laboratory and could examine Drosophila - a kind of small fruit fly. He made enormous efforts to find key genes that were responsible for the development of a fruit fly egg into a segmented embryo. He received the Nobel prize in 1995 along with two other scientists in Physiology or Medicine.

Editor: Will there be any opportunity to talk to these scientists?

Eszter Nógrádi: Yes, those who were chosen to presents the scientist can have a small chat with them. The other two people for each scientist who were also selected from the rest of the applicants can place a question in the Open Forum, where all the visitors of the conference will be present.

Editor: Thank you for answering my questions and I wish you good luck in presenting Eric Wieschaus well.

Eszter Nógrádi: Thank you very much. :D

 
   

Must-see films in Grand Café

This month you can enjoy a wide range of films in Grand Café, Szeged, where foreigners are most welcomed. Here you don't have to worry about language problems, mainly all films are in English.

Mourning (2011):  which presents the story of a family in which a violent quarrel breaks out in the middle of the night. Being at a relative's house in the North of Iran, they depart for Teheran, but they do not bring along their son. Something terrible happens on their way ...
This breath-taking film guarantees full-night excitement.
      Shows: March 16th - 19:00
                  March 17th - 19:00
                  March 20th - 19:00

Les Misérables (2000) 4 x 90 minutes: Starring Gérard Depardieu, Christian Clavier and John Malkovich in a scene set during the French Restoration at the beginning of the 19th century. Jean Valjean is released after 19 years of prison for stealing bread. At first he has to encounter mistrust and closed doors, only the kind Bishop Bienvenue treats him fairly and takes him in. The bishop's truly Christian compassion and humanity not only restores Jean Valjean's faith in God, but also smoothes his way back to an orderly life. The motto of the film is that there is only one thing in the world that is important and that is to love each other...
It's definitely worth watching such a well-made film adaptation.
      Shows: March 21st - 18:00 (4 x 90 minutes)

 Ticket prices:

     students: 350 HUF (by showing your student ID card)

     adults: 500 HUF

Les petits mouchoirs (2010): You can enjoy a nice French movie called Little White Lies starring Marion Cotillard famous for her role in the Taxi series. The film presents the exciting story of Max, a successful restaurant owner and his wife, who invite a merry group of friends to their beautiful beach house to celebrate Antoine's birthday and kick-start the vacation. But this year before they all leave Paris their buddy Ludo gets hurt in a serious accident, which sets off a dramatic chain of reactions and emotional responses ...
     Shows: March 29th - 19:00
                 March 31st - 18:30
                 April 1st - 19:00
                 April 2nd - 19:00
                 April 3rd - 21:00

                 April 4th - 18:30

How to get there?

     Grand Café Szeged

Szeged, Deák Ferenc u. 18. II. emelet

Telefon: 62/420-578, fax: 544-099

Mojszejev Dance Crew in Szeged

Szeged can have the honorific opportunity to have the extremely famous and unique Mojszejev Dance Crew on 20th March at 7:00 pm in the sports-court of Szeged. The internationally renowed crew will celebrate its 75th year this year.


The founder of the crew, Igor Mojszejev was born in Kijev in 1906. He developed a special dancing style which is based on the folk dances of different nations and original ballet. By 1924 he had already acquired world-wide fame. His crew was established in February 1937 named after Igor. He carefully chose his dancers, considering not only their talent and ability but in case of the girls their beauty, too. Igor had received numerous awards and on his 100th birthday Vlagyimir Putyin called to see him at his home to hand him a subsequent award. His style had a great effect on other acknowledged dancers such as Michael Flatley and Mustafa Erdogan.


The crew can write off more than 160 tours in more than 60 countries. Szeged can provide a full-night program for the admirers of dancing and virtuoso music, so if you consider youself such a person than this is a must-see event.

If you find yourself interested then you can easily purchase a ticket at this website:

http://www.utazzitthon.hu/mojszejev-tancegyuttes-75-eves-jubileumi-diszeloadasa-szeged.html?gclid=CKXcjaqW4q4CFQJj3wodWh3tYA

Just in case you needed a map:

Nagyobb térképre váltás

Szeged in the middle of the attention of scientists

Albert Szent-Györgyi

An extremely rare event is under organization in Szeged at the moment. By the end of March, 9 Nobel prize winners will arrive to Szeged, to pay their duty to the memory of Albert Szent-Györgyi, the Hungarian Nobel prize winner, acknowledged for the discovery of the role of vitamin C in organisms and for isolating vitamin C.

He received the Nobel prize in 1937. This event will be the 75th anniversary of Albert Szent-Györgyi’s Nobel Prize Award. The conference is estimated to be visited by over a thousand scientists. It goes without saying that the organizers intend to provide a friendly atmosphere by preparing a variety of cultural and recreational programmes to accompany the conference series itself. 

Apart from the scientific discourses, visitors will also get the opportunity of enjoying Hungary's traditional cuisine during the conference series.