The professional community of the Vadonleső (Wilderness Watcher) Program has selected the Steppe polecat as the 2026 Mammal of the Year. This community data collection initiative is operated by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Herman Ottó Institute Nonprofit Ltd., with the cooperation of the Hungarian Natural History Museum and the Budapest Zoo.
The Hungarian Natural History Museum has been surveying the population of the Hungarian birch mouse (Sicista trizona) for 19 years in Borsodi-Mezőség,the only known birch mouse population in Hungary.
The Bükk National Park Directorate has dedicated a whole autumn research week to the study of the tiny and extremely rare Hungarian birch mouse in the Borsodi-Mezőség Landscape Protection Area. Besides other research groups, the Bükk Mammal Research Group Association and the Hungarian Museum of Natural History were also involved in the fieldwork research.
The first Annual Conference of Mammalogists will be held by the Hungarian Natural History Museum and the Herman Ottó Institute Nonprofit Ltd. with the participation of the WWF Hungary in order to raise awareness and to share the novel research results with the general public.
For the first in its history, the Budapest Zoo and Botanical Garden have welcomed birch mice to its terrariums. In early June, researchers collected two pairs of Hungarian birch mice from the grassland of Borsod County. These mice were taken to the Budapest Zoo, so that the behaviour and lifestyle of these unique animals could be observed.