Sofia Zoo marmoset, and macaques. The predator sector houses big cats, bears and small predators, including lions, tigers, leopards, pumas and brown bears. In January 2011 the zoo received eight Humboldt penguins on loan from Germany. The penguins are on loan for about 18 months, after which they will be returned, with any offspring to stay at the zoo. The zoo has some 1,400 individual birds representing 192 species. Waterbirds are housed in a lake, and Imperial eagles, Griffon vultures, Egyptian vultures and buzzards in a large walk-through aviary. Other species of birds at the zoo include ostriches, Silver pheasants, peacocks, flamingos,
Breeding programs at Zoo Basel on June 22, 2010 zoo officials consider a calm hatching time and ideal weather as reasons for this record. Zoo Basel hatched the first flamingo, a Chilean flamingo in a European zoo in 1958 and a year later the first greater flamingo in captivity. While at first Zoo Basel had all six flamingo species, it decided to focus on the greater flamingo in the 1980s. The Zoo Basel holds international studbook for the Indian rhinoceros since 1972 and coordinates since 1990 the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), which ensures that the captive Indian rhinoceros population stays as genetically healthy as