The Moscow Zoo or Moskovsky Zoopark () is a zoo, the largest in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

History

The Moscow Zoo was founded in 1864 by professor-biologists, K.F. Rulje, S.A. Usov and A.P. Bogdanov, from the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

. In 1919, the zoo was nationalized. In 1922, the ownership was transferred to the

Government of Moscow The Government of Moscow (, ) is the highest executive body of state authority of Moscow. The Government of Moscow is headed by the highest official of the city of Moscow, i.e. the Mayor of Moscow. The members of the Government of Moscow are the ...

and has remained under their control ever since. The zoo had an area of when it first opened, with 286 animals. In 1926, the zoo was expanded to adjacent lands, increasing the area to . In 1933, Vera Chaplina, a naturalist and future writer, created the "green platform", a special enclosure for young animals where different cubs that their mothers refused to feed were not only raised, but also taught to live peacefully together. This experiment aroused great interest among visitors, and for many years the "green platform" remained one of the Moscow Zoo's main attractions. In 1990, the zoo was renovated. Notable additions include a new main entrance in the shape of a large rock castle, and a footbridge that connected the old (1864) and new (1926) properties of the zoo. In addition, the zoo was expanded once more. New exhibits were opened including a sea aquarium, an aviary, a creatures of the night exhibit, a sea lion exhibit and a section aimed at children. The Moscow zoo has over 7,500 animals representing about 1,000 species and covers an area of about .

Moscow Zoo Museum

Founded in 2008 in a two-storey building of the 19th century, built in the late XIX - early XX centuries, located on the territory of the zoo. Since 2015, the museum has been open to the public and everyone. In the central and side halls, there is an exposition devoted to the history of the Moscow Zoo and a natural science permanent exposition. The collection of the museum includes more than 10,000 zoo coats of arms from all over the world, hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and drawings by the masters of Russian animalistics, such as

Vasily Vatagin Vasily Alekseyevich Vatagin (20 December 1883 – 31 May 1969) was a scientific illustrator and wildlife artist who worked on a variety of media producing paintings, sculpture, reliefs and illustrations. His works have been used in books and ar ...

, Alexei Komarov, Vadim Trofimov, Andrei Marts and Alexei Tsvetkov.

Research & Educational Center

The Moscow Zoo has its own educational institute and research center. In addition to full training for zoo staff and teachers, there is a continuing education program for zoo and aquarium staff,

veterinarians A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...

, teachers and volunteers, as well as courses in zoo psychology. Since the Moscow Zoo has been chairman of all zoos in Russia since the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, it is a national training center. This was founded in 2017 by the current director Svetlana Akulova and Björn Stenvers.

Animals & Exhibits

Old Territory exhibits

Flamingo Pond

Greater flamingo The greater flamingo (''Phoenicopterus roseus'') is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. Common in the Old World, they are found in Northern (coastal) and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Subcontinent (south of the Him ...

American flamingo The American flamingo (''Phoenicopterus ruber'') is a large species of flamingo native to the West Indies, northern South America (including the Galápagos Islands) and the Yucatán Peninsula. It is closely related to the greater flamingo and ...

Black bears

* Asian black bear

Fauna of China

Giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

Bird World

Scarlet Macaw The scarlet macaw (''Ara macao'') also called the red-and-yellow macaw, red-and-blue macaw or red-breasted macaw, is a large yellow, red and blue Neotropical parrot native to humid evergreen forests of the Americas. Its range extends from south ...

* Green-winged Macaw * Military Macaw *

Blue-and-Yellow Macaw The blue-and-yellow macaw (''Ara ararauna''), also known as the blue-and-gold macaw, is a large Neotropical parrot with a mostly blue dorsum, light yellow/orange venter, and gradient hues of green on top of its head. It is a member of the large g ...

* Blue-throated Macaw * Yellow-faced Amazon * Umbrella Cockatoo *

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo The sulphur-crested cockatoo (''Cacatua galerita'') is a relatively large white cockatoo found in wooded habitats in Australia, New Guinea, and some of the islands of Indonesia. They can be locally very numerous, leading to them sometimes being ...

Cockatiel The cockatiel (; ''Nymphicus hollandicus''), also known as the weero/weiro or quarrion, is a medium-sized parrot that is a member of its own branch of the cockatoo family endemic to Australia. They are prized as exotic household pets and compa ...

Budgerigar The budgerigar ( ; ''Melopsittacus undulatus''), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie ( ), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot native to Australia. Naturally the species is green and yellow with black, scallop ...

* Eclectus Parrot

Elephant Museum

Indian elephant The Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus'') is one of three extant recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, native to mainland Asia. The species is smaller than the African elephant species with a convex back and the highest body po ...

* Bush hyrax

New Territory exhibits

Animal Island

Outdoors: *

Asiatic lion The Asiatic lion is a lion population of the subspecies ''Panthera leo leo''. Until the 19th century, it occurred in Saudi Arabia, eastern Turkey, Iran, Mesopotamia, and from east of the Indus River in Pakistan to the Bengal region and the Narm ...

Spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...

* Kamchatka brown bear *

Golden jackal The golden jackal (''Canis aureus''), also called the common jackal, is a wolf-like canid that is native to Eurasia. The golden jackal's coat varies in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter. It is smaller a ...

* Sloth bear *

Striped hyena The striped hyena (''Hyaena hyaena'') is a species of hyena native to North and East Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Hyaena''. It is listed by the IU ...

Siberian tiger The Siberian tiger or Amur tiger is a population of the tiger subspecies ''Panthera tigris tigris'' native to Northeast China, the Russian Far East, and possibly North Korea. It once ranged throughout the Korea, Korean Peninsula, but currently ...

Indoors (Exotarium):

Polar World

Polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

Tur Hill

* East Caucasian tur

Animals of Africa

* South African giraffe *

Grévy's zebra Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi)'', also known commonly as the imperial zebra, is the largest living species of wild equid and the most threatened of the three species of zebras, the other two being the plains zebra and the mountain zebra. Name ...

Common ostrich The common ostrich (''Struthio camelus''), or simply ostrich, is a species of flightless bird native to certain areas of Africa. It is one of two extant species of ostriches, the only living members of the genus ''Struthio'' in the ratite group ...

* Slender-tailed meerkat *

Sable antelope The sable antelope (''Hippotragus niger'') is a large antelope which inhabits wooded savanna in East and Southern Africa, from the south of Kenya to South Africa, with a separated population in Angola. Taxonomy The sable antelope shares the genu ...

* Kirk's dik-dik *

Honey badger The honey badger (''Mellivora capensis''), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It is the only living species in both the genus ''Mellivora'' and the subfami ...

Other Animals

Golden eagle The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known bird of pr ...

Bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

* Griffin vulture

Former exhibits

Dolphinarium

From 2001 to 2014, the operated on the grounds of the zoo's old territory. The exhibit was dismantled following unsanitary conditions and improper husbandry procedures. * Beluga whale * Common bottlenose dolphin

Directors

Directors of the zoo have included: * (1864–1867) * (1867–1873) * Alexandr Maklakov (1878–1880) * (1878–1881) * Alexandr Chelyukanov (1881–1883) * Vladimir Wagner (1883–1886) * (1889–1894) * Alexandr Walter (1894–1895) * Ippolit Antushevich (1895–1904) * Vladislav Pogorzhelsky (1904–1917) * Yury Belogolovy (1917–1919) * Aleksandr Kots (1919–1924) * Mikhail Zavadovsky (1924–1928) * Sergey Novikov (1928–1932) * Yevgeny Klimek (1932–1936) * Lev Ostrovsky (1936–1940) * Trofim Burdelev (1940–1950) * Sergey Butygin (1950–1951) * (1951–1977) * (1977–2013) * Natalya Kolobova (2013–2016) * Svetlana Akulova (2016–)

Notes

Sources

* Vera Chaplina ''True Stories from the Moscow Zoo'' (1970) Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey;

Prentice-Hall Prentice Hall was a major American educational publisher. It published print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market. It was an independent company throughout the bulk of the twentieth century. In its last few years it ...

, Inc. P. 152 (translated by Lila Pargment, Estel Titiev). * (in Russian)

External links

*
photography Moscow Zoo 2010
on zooinstitutes.com

on zooinstitutes.com
Moscow Zoo Academy
{{authority control 1864 establishments in the Russian Empire Zoos in Russia Buildings and structures in Moscow Tourist attractions in Moscow