san diego zoo safari park platypus

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With a duck-like bill, a fur coat, big webbed feet, and a paddle-shaped tail, the platypus looks like no other mammal. And even more unusual: this mammal lays eggs. The platypus is a monotreme (like the echidna), which lays eggs, incubates them, and nurses its young when they hatch. Found only in Australia (in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania), the platypus lives in freshwater habitats, including streams and ponds. It forages about 12 hours a day, eating shellfish, worms, and insect larvae—and it must consume the equivalent of about 20 percent of its body weight each day. The platypus locates food by using electroreceptors in its soft bill, which detect their prey's movements.

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• Class:  Mammalia
• Order:  Monotremata
• Family:  Ornithorhynchidae
• Genus:  Ornithorhynchus
• Species:  anatinus

The platypus is as fascinating on the inside as it is on the outside! Among Australia’s most iconic wildlife, this semi-aquatic, egg-laying species is also one of the few venomous mammals. At a glance, it looks like a hodgepodge of animal pieces stitched together: a paddle-shaped tail from an otter, a sleek body covered in dense, chestnut-colored fur like a mole, a wide, flat duck-like bill attached in front of its little round eyes, and big webbed feet like a pelican.

All these characteristics come in handy for its freshwater lifestyle—that bizarre looking bill is laden with thousands of receptors that help a platypusl navigate the murky depths and detect tiny movements of potential food like shellfish or insects.

Just “fur” fun.   While their range is just one small area of the world, they weather many climate extremes (and fresh water sources) from toasty plateaus and rainforests, to the chilly mountainous regions of Tasmania and the Australian Alps. Their dense fur makes fine insulation, both in the water and out.

Platypus fur is waterproof and traps an insulating layer of air to keep its body temperature stable, even in cold water. Long guard hairs protect the dense fur underneath, which stays dry even after a platypus has been in the water for hours. Mostly brown on its body, there’s a flash of white fur beneath its eyes, and its belly is lighter in color, too.

Those big webbed feet help propel them through the water, and the claws make digging burrows a breeze. While lumbering somewhat awkwardly on land to protect the webbing on its feet, they are sleek missiles in the water. Its plump tail serves as a stabilizer during swimming and stores extra fat for energy. Its rear feet serve as rudders and brakes.

Ready for the bill.   Its signature “duck bill” is actually soft and pliable, not hard like a duck’s bill at all. It is dark colored, nearly black in contrast to its chocolate-colored coat. This strange-looking snout is laden with “pushrods” that respond to stimuli like touch, pressure, sound waves, and motion. Additionally, about 40,000 electroreceptors help them find the direction and distance of prey (its eyes and ears are closed while it’s underwater) by detecting electrical impulses generated by living creatures. Moving its head back and forth, it can find prey nearby and swiftly move in for the kill.

Platypuses stow their prey in cheek pouches, and swim to the surface to eat. They (and their relatives the echidnas) don’t have teeth, but instead grind their food between mouth pads made of keratin. These pads are replaced continuously throughout its lifetime. Interestingly, freshly hatched platypuses have molar-like “milk teeth," but these are shed around the time they leave the nesting burrow.

More wow.  Of course, its major claim to fame is being an egg-laying mammal, or monotreme. While most other mammals have so-called live young, platypuses (along with echidnas) lay eggs, incubate them, and nurse their young. Wow!

Other interesting characteristics include extra bones in the shoulder girdle, which is absent in other mammals. On land, the platypus has a reptilian gait because its legs are on the sides of the body, rather than underneath. The white spots on the fur under its eyes make it look like its eyes are open underwater, but they’re not.

There is considerable variation in size among platypus populations. Generally, body size increases with latitude. So “Down Under” platypuses are smaller in northern regions, and larger in southern regions. For instance, a large male platypus in Tasmania can weigh three times as much as an average male in a northern population. Overall, males are larger than females and can measure 16 percent longer and 40 percent heavier than them.

HABITAT AND DIET

Wet and wonderful.   According to the platypusspot.org website, ideal habitat for these monotremes “includes permanent water, stable earthen banks consolidated by the roots of native riparian vegetation that is also overhanging the water, and an abundant supply of macroinvertebrates.” Needless to say, natural changes like prolonged drought or human-made alterations like dams, tree clearing, and development, all impact the platypuses’ necessary habitat. Humans competing for fresh water poses even more threats to the platypus.

Platypuses may also be found in shallow lakes, artificial water sources like water storage lakes, weir pools, ponds, and farm dams. They occasionally dip into brackish areas of estuaries, but mostly stick with freshwater areas.

Adult male platypuses have larger home ranges than females—as long as 9.3 miles (15 kilometers)! A male may travel over 6 miles (10 kilometers) in a single night’s jaunt. Females tend to hunt closer to home, and her turf is usually less than 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) long.

Detecting dinner.   While they may make repeated short dives of 30 to 60 seconds or so, they can stay underwater for up to 2 minutes. Dive time and depth is reliant on air in its lungs—they usually dive less than 16 feet (5 meters), though they occasionally take deeper dives to about 26 feet (8 meters). They come to the surface to recover for 10 to 20 seconds between dives.

These underwater forays enable it to feed on insect larvae, freshwater shrimp, freshwater crayfish called "yabbies" (which it nuzzles out of the riverbed with its snout or catches while swimming), and worms. It uses cheek pouches to stow its bounty until it reaches the surface, where it can eat. Each day, a platypus needs to eat about 20 percent of its body weight, which requires about 12 hours of looking for food.

Lacking teeth, the platypus must scoop up bits of gravel with its food to help “chew” its meal. They swallow soft parts of their prey and spit out the chitinous exoskeletons (like the shells of crayfish and insects).

Due to its somewhat limited ability to hold its breath, the platypus forages in more shallow lakes and bodies of water, between  3 and 16 feet (1 and 5 meters) deep.

Nice digs.   Male and female platypuses dig simple burrows along rivers and streams outside the breeding season. They can also make their home under rock ledges, roots, and debris, where they rest throughout the day. However, pregnant females dig a deeper, more elaborate nesting burrow, with multiple chambers and entrances, called a nursery burrow. When the female leaves her young behind to forage, she makes a soft covering of soil and debris to plug the opening. Resting burrows are used by males and nonbreeding females.

Runs cool.   The average body temperature of a platypus is about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), while most placental mammals run about 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). It is able to maintain this temperature even when foraging for hours in water below 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). Brrrr!

FAMILY LIFE

Nocturnal journal.   The platypus is generally active at night and dusk, and occasionally active by day. It emerges from its burrow in late afternoon to forage for food. By early morning, it is ready to re-enter the burrow. One scientist found that platypuses in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria spent 11 to 17 hours holed up in the burrow. Others have found that platypuses can hunt for 10 to 12 hours at a time. Its high-calorie diet of crustaceans enables the platypus to sleep soundly for up to 14 hours a day! Interesting side note: the platypus spends nearly 60 percent of its daily sleep in deep, brain-active REM sleep (in contrast, humans spend about 25 percent of their slumber in that rich, REM state).

Pregnant females spend time building a cozy nest, nursing and nurturing their young, and foraging for food. While platypuses are not considered hibernators, they may be inactive for extended periods of time.

Watch out!   For the platypus, leaving its burrow is a high-risk proposition, even at night. When drought or altering of waterways occurs, platypuses are forced to travel on land, making them more vulnerable to predation. Aerial predators like owls, eagles, and hawks may prey upon them. Native threats like dingoes, Tasmanian devils, monitor lizards, snakes, and water rats also await. Invasive feral and unleashed dogs, cats, and foxes also take them. Low platypus numbers in northern Australia may be due to heavy predation by crocodiles.

Male platypuses have spurs on the rear ankles, connected to a venom gland located over its thighs. If the spur pierces the skin, it can release enough venom to kill a medium-sized dog. (It is not fatal to humans, but is excruciating, and causes swelling.) The venom is more plentiful during breeding season, leading scientists to believe that it is used to defend mates and resources from rival males.

As air-breathing, aquatic mammals, platypuses can quickly drown after getting entangled in discarded litter, fishing line, and mesh netting. “Opera house” nets that people set to catch crayfish and yabbies can be death traps for platypuses, turtles, and water rats, as wildlife cannot escape. These underwater traps (roughly shaped like the Sydney Opera House, hence the name) are often set during summer months, when female platypuses may be pregnant, which exacerbates the impact on fragmented populations.

Even common items like rubber bands, plastic rings, or hair ties can be lethal when caught on the legs or neck of a swimming platypus.

Say what?   The platypus is largely solitary, so a vast vocal repertoire is not necessary. It emits a growl when disturbed, and a range of other vocalizations have been noted.

Scent glands on both sides of the neck produce a musky scent during the breeding season. They rub against logs and rocks near the water to mark objects. When swimming, the platypus will make a big splash when alarmed as it slips beneath the surface, likely to give other platypuses a heads up. Usually, they are nearly silent when diving.

You’re a good egg.  Males compete for breeding opportunities (hence the venomous spur), while females typically mate with a single male. Once she has settled on a male, aquatic courtship ensues, with the pair diving and swimming past each other, then grasping and rolling together.

Pregnant platypuses seek shelter in a burrow chamber dug into a riverbank to lay 1 to 3 eggs. (The four echidna species are the only other living egg-laying mammals, which are called monotremes.) This elaborate burrow is much deeper and blocked at intervals with plugs, which may protect her eggs from predators or rising waters, or regulate humidity and temperature in the burrow. She lines this nesting chamber with wet leaves, twigs, and vegetation, which she carries into her burrow between her hind feet and her tail.

Safely sealed inside, she keeps her eggs between her rump and her tail to keep them warm, only leaving the burrow to defecate and wet her fur. Typically, her eggs are about 0.7 inches (1.7 centimeters) in a diameter and rounder than bird eggs. The shell is soft and pliant.

After about 10 days, the hairless, bean-sized babies hatch and begin to suckle for the next 3 or 4 months. The mother does not have nipples, but rather special patches of skin on the abdomen that exude milk for her babies to slurp up. By the time they are weaned and leave the nest, the baby platypuses have fur and can swim on their own.

The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is currently the only zoo outside Australia to house platypuses. When two platypuses—a male named Birrarung and a female named Eve—arrived in San Diego in October 2019, it was the first time in more than 50 years that platypuses were cared for outside of Australia. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance recognizes that we are only the most recent stewards of wildlife that means a great deal to Australians, and holds cultural significance for the Aboriginal Nations of Australia.

The two platypuses were flown to San Diego from their home at Australia's Taronga Zoo Sydney to serve as ambassadors outside their native Australia, to help communicate the importance of fresh water for both humans and wildlife. Freshwater resources and habitats are being affected by pollution and climate change. People are encouraged to be part of the solution and protect wildlife through water conservation measures and practices that help slow climate change.

Guests can now see the platypus pair in Walkabout Australia's new Nelson A. Millsberg Platypus Habitat, which includes three pools, naturalistic river banks, extensive tunnels, and nesting areas. The platypuses quickly acclimated to their new home, exploring every inch of their surroundings, playing in the waterfalls and hunting for crayfish. Because platypuses are most active during dusk and nighttime hours, the lighting cycle in their habitat has been reversed to mimic evening light during the day and daylight at night.

CONSERVATION

Fresh water is a precious resource.   As development and growing human populations disrupt these aquatic ecosystems, it can impact platypus populations. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is proud to support a cutting-edge conservation effort in southeastern Australia that benefits endemic wildlife, including the platypus. A collaborative team is using a new technology called environmental DNA (eDNA) to map the distribution of and threats to five kinds of fish and the platypus. The goal is to secure populations in at least three natural catchment areas.

As living things shed their DNA through skin, hair, scales, feces, and eggs, water samples collected and filtered through a special unit that strains out cells and analyzes them will reveal the wildlife that are present. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is pleased to be supporting the “boots on the ground” efforts to preserve endemic wildlife, including the platypus.

By supporting San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, you are our ally in saving and protecting wildlife around the globe.

Length from tip of bill to tip of tail: males 16 to 25 inches (40 to 63 centimeters); females 15 to 22 inches (37 to 55 centimeters)

Weight: males: 1.8 to 6.6 pounds (0.8 to 3 kilograms); females: 1.3 to 3.7 pounds (0.6 to 1.7 kilograms)

Length at hatch: about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters)

Life span: 7 to 14 years; or up to 21 years in zoos

Gestation: approximately 21 days

Incubation: approximately 10 days Number of young at hatch: 1 to 3 eggs per breeding season; usually 2 eggs

Age of weaning: 3 to 4 months old

The word “platypus” is derived from a Greek word meaning “flat foot.” The correct plural ending is “es”—making “platypuses” preferred over “platypi.”

The platypus and the echidna are the only living mammals that lay eggs. They are called monotremes.

Females don’t nurse their young with nipples, rather they exude milk through skin patches.

Adult male platypuses have venomous spurs, an unusual characteristic among mammals, used to defend mates and territory from rival males.

Females have two ovaries, but only the left one is functional, similar to many birds and some reptiles.

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San Diego Zoo Safari Park Launches New Platypus Cam Presented by Animal Crossing™: New Horizons

We’re Here Together Campaign Brings Platypuses to Your Home—Virtually

While the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is temporarily closed to on-grounds visitors due to COVID-19 restrictions, online guests can now visit the platypuses at the Safari Park’s Walkabout Australia on their smartphone or computer. The all-new Platypus Cam presented by the Animal Crossing™: New Horizons game provides livestreaming video of the Safari Park’s platypus pair as they swim and frolic in their world-class habitat—including three pools, naturalistic river banks, extensive tunnels and nesting areas. The Animal Crossing: New Horizons game is available on the Nintendo Switch system and invites players of all ages to create their own island paradise while making friends with charming animal residents in the process.

“San Diego Zoo Global is grateful for Nintendo’s support of Platypus Cam, adding to the many ways our guests engage with wildlife during these trying times,” said Ted Molter, chief marketing officer of San Diego Zoo Global. “Platypus Cam is the newest addition to San Diego Zoo Global’s We’re Here Together Campaign, which invites guests from around the world to stay connected to their favorite animals and species through a wealth of free online content, entertainment and educational tools.”

Guests at home can view livestreaming video from the platypus habitat at   sdzsafaripark.org/platypus-cam .

The two platypuses featured on the cam—an 8-year-old male named Birrarung and a 15-year-old female named Eve—serve as ambassadors for the species outside of their native Australia. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is currently the only zoo outside of Australia to house platypuses.

Platypuses can be difficult to see, both in the wild and in a zoological setting, so being able to get a glimpse of these elusive, busy animals is a rare and special experience.

The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal found along the eastern coast of Australia, within the states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. They live in freshwater streams, creeks and rivers. The two platypuses at the Safari Park communicate the importance of fresh water for both humans and wildlife. Freshwater resources and habitats are being affected by pollution and climate change. People are encouraged to be part of the solution and protect wildlife through water conservation measures and practices that help slow climate change.

To understand what is occurring with platypuses in Australia—and to better understand the conditions they live in, and those affecting other river species—San Diego Zoo Global has pledged an ongoing commitment of funds to field conservation of platypuses. San Diego Zoo Global, the University of Melbourne and the environmental research and conservation group  cesar  have teamed up on a unique project designed to learn more about the elusive platypus and the threats to its survival. The project uses innovative technology, in which samples of water are tested for traces of environmental DNA (eDNA) to learn about the species present in freshwater ecosystems.

Platypus populations were considered to be at risk before the 2019 wildfires that burned through Australia. The species’ status was recently uplisted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, to Near Threatened. Unfortunately, the region that burned was considered to be a stronghold for the platypus, with some of the healthiest populations in the country. With funding raised by San Diego Zoo Global’s Australian Wildfire Relief Campaign, researchers are now also going to assess the status of the platypus population in the wake of the fires, with the hope of guiding future recovery for the species.

In addition to the Platypus Cam presented by the Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, San Diego Zoo Global offers 12 other live wildlife cams where online visitors can check in on their favorite animals and enjoy daily updates . Recently, the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park have seen a 1,000% increase on average in online webcam viewership. The live wildlife cams are reaching audiences around the world—from the United States to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, India, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Germany and China, #WereHereTogether provides a wide array of supplemental curriculum on wildlife , plants and animals , and habitats, with engaging content for students in grades K–12, animal care professionals, educators, parents and fans alike, including:

• K–5 Students: Youngsters can jump right into the world of wildlife with San Diego Zoo Kids  video stories, hands-on activities and games, with links to live wildlife cams and information about how to be a superhero to help save species. Kids can also tune into the San Diego Zoo Kids YouTube Channel any time of day for dedicated wildlife content that is provided at children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses around the world, or visit the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park YouTube channels. ZOONOOZ Online also includes fascinating stories about wildlife and ongoing conservation projects around the world, with new features posted each week.
• Middle School and High School Students: Dig into science on the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research Science Blog , with posts that cover everything from what happens inside a pathology lab to information on interning with the alala education program in Hawaii. Or, become a “citizen scientist” and contribute valuable data to conservation researchers by counting, identifying and tracking burrowing owls, giraffes and other wildlife online, at San Diego Zoo Global’s Wildwatch Burrowing Owl and Wildwatch Kenya . Participants can help researchers by viewing and classifying wildlife images from remote trail cameras. In addition, San Diego Zoo Global Academy offers middle and high school teachers and students access to 22 free, self-paced online courses covering a variety of taxonomic groups and individual animal species, including monotremes. These fun, fast-paced, interactive courses are designed to be completed by students in as little as one to two hours. They include video, images and quizzes to teach students about mammals, birds, primates, bears, reptiles, monotremes, marsupials and more.  

Anyone with a smartphone or computer can bring wildlife into their homes today, and engage using the hashtag #WereHereTogether. And for anyone who engages in online meetings via Zoom, San Diego Zoo Global has created new downloadable backgrounds featuring some of the most beloved animals. With just a click, you can add platypuses, hippos, rhinos and more to your meetings! Visit SDZSafariPark.org for more information, and to see the latest offerings in the We’re Here Together campaign. #WereHereTogether

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Rare Platypus On Display At San Diego Zoo Safari Park

A pair of platypuses were introduced to the public on Friday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

The animals are the only platypuses on display outside of their native country.

The male and female have actually been living in San Diego for just over a month.

The Australian government donated the pair of unusual animals to the San Diego Zoo after more than a decade of negotiations.

“As the world’s only island continent we were surrounded by water for millions of years,” said Chelsey Martin, the consul general at the Australian embassy. “This means that our plants and animals have been able to evolve in an incredibly distinctive way.”

RELATED: Endangered Birds Released In Tijuana River Estuary

The platypuses come to San Diego from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney where they also shared an exhibit space.

“A platypus is a monotreme which means it is an egg-laying mammal," said Lori Hieber, a San Diego Zoo Safari Park lead mammal keeper. "They share that characteristic only with four species of echidna so they’re pretty unique.”

The animals live both in and out of the water.

“They’re small brown animals that tend to live in brown water,” Hieber said. “They’re nocturnal and crepuscular so they’re most active at night and during dusk and dawn so they’re very hard to find.”

And that makes putting them on display a challenge. But zoo officials came up with a solution. The day and night times are upside down in the exhibit. When it is light out the exhibit is dark and vice versa.

It has been more than 60 years since platypuses were on display in the United States.

Zoo officials are hopeful the animals will rear some young, but they said the pair has lived together for several years without producing any young.

Platypuses are big eaters, but their prey are small. They  eat mostly insect larvae and crustaceans like crayfish. Sometimes, they eat worms, clams, aquatic snails, and tadpoles. 

description

Filling the bill

A platypus is the only mammal with a bill. The dark gray skin on the bill is hairless and moist. Grooves along the sides of a platypus’s bill help it filter food from the water. A platypus grinds its food with tough pads in its bill; it has no teeth. A platypus spends 10 to 12 hours each day looking for food underwater.

It's electric!

Did you know that animals produce electric fields? Probably not, because the electrical fields an animal makes are too weak for us to feel. Platypuses are much better at detecting electricity than we are. Sense organs on a platypus’s bill detect even weak electrical fields—and help a platypus find its food. 

Venomous males

Adult male platypuses have a venom gland in each thigh. The venom gland is connected to a small spur on its hind leg—think of a platypus’s spur as a tiny horn, about as long as your fingernail. Only males platypuses produce venom, and only during breeding season. As they fight for a chance to mate with a female, both males try to drive their sharp spurs into each other. The venom doesn’t kill a rival; it just slows him down for a while. 

Night and day

Platypuses are active at night, when they are busy finding food in the water. During the daytime, a platypus hides in its burrow in an earthen stream bank. Inside a platypus burrow, tunnels lead to oval-shaped chambers.

At home with mom

A mother platypus lays one or two eggs and keeps them warm inside her nursery burrow. She curls up and nestles an egg between her body and her tail. About 10 days later, the baby platypus hatches. It is very tiny, naked, and blind—kind of like a gummy bear! Baby platypuses stay in nursery burrow for the first three or four months. Like other young mammals, they drink their mothers’ milk. 

A mammal that lays eggs?

Platypuses are one of only five mammals that lay eggs. The other four are species of echidnas.

Cheeky fellows

A platypus's cheek pouches hold food while it dives.

Coming or going?

A platypus's hind feet point backward.

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Your symbolic adoption supports collaborative efforts to save platypuses. These Australian icons are one of the world’s only egg-laying mammals.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance works with partners through our Australian forest conservation hub to protect platypuses and preserve their native freshwater habitats.

Conservation is at the heart of everything we do. As an ally, you offer hope to wildlife worldwide and we cannot thank you enough. Because when wildlife thrives, all life thrives.

Adoption Packages

$25 Virtual Platypus Adoption

Share your passion for wildlife with friends and family by sending your loved ones a Virtual Platypus Adoption. Your gift will be sent through email and will include a Virtual Platypus Adoption card! This option does not include a mailed adoption package.

$100 Platypus Adoption

Your generous gift fuels critical conservation worldwide and offers hope to the world’s most extraordinary wildlife, including platypuses. Your $100 Platypus Adoption package includes 1 soft 10” platypus plush, a 5” x 7” Platypus Adoption card, and a limited edition San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance pin.

$500 Platypus Adoption

$1,000 Platypus Adoption

Your generous gift fuels critical conservation worldwide and offers hope to the world's most extraordinary wildlife, including platypuses. Your $1,000 Platypus Adoption package includes 1 soft 10" platypus plush, a 5" x 7" Platypus Adoption card, a backpack, a beach towel, a thermos, a limited edition San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance pin, and a 50% discount gift voucher for one guest on select tours at the San Diego Zoo or Safari Park.

For questions on San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Adoption Program, please contact us at  [email protected] .

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San Diego Zoo Safari Park welcomes okapi calf to the herd

The as-yet-unnamed calf will be able to be viewed by safari park visitors daily starting in april in the safari park's african woods area, by eric s. page • published april 8, 2024 • updated on april 8, 2024 at 6:07 pm.

The number of okapis at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park increased by one recently with the birth of a male calf of the unique species nicknamed the "forest giraffe," it was announced Monday.

The as-yet-unnamed calf will be able to be viewed by safari park visitors daily starting in April in the safari park's African Woods area.

The calf was the first born to Mahameli (“Meli,” mother) and Mpangi (Mm-pong-ee, father). Zookeepers say the young buck nurses several times a day and "likes to run circles around his mom and even playfully kick her once in a while," the safari park said in a news release sent out on Monday. "He also started taste-testing the [vegetation in his habitat], following Meli’s lead."

A reclusive species rarely seen in the wild, Okapi are native to central Africa and were discovered by Europeans in 1901. Although often confused with a zebra due to the black and white striped patterns on its front and hind legs, the okapi is actually the closest living relative to the giraffe.

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Various causes, including habitat destructing and hunting, threaten the wild okapi in its native Central Africa, but, fortunately, "one-fifth of the okapi habitat within Africa’s Ituri Forest was designated as a wildlife reserve [in 1992,]" the news release also stated. "And since okapis are an 'umbrella species,' by aiding in their conservation, we also contribute to the protection of other wildlife that coexist in their African habitat."

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Wear comfortable walking shoes. Maximum of 2 children per adult; ages 15 and younger must be accompanied by a paid adult. Ages 5 and up; recommended for ages 12 and older. Walking is required; guests will be on their feet for one hour, including walking uphill. Guests must be able to traverse hills and steep inclines. Wear comfortable walking shoes. Pathways are paved, and the route is wheelchair accessible. Please notify us if special accommodations are needed. Some tours require walking to visit several exclusive areas. Maximum of two children per adult; children 15 years old and younger must be accompanied by a paid adult. All tour participants require a ticket, regardless of age.

• Ages 5 & up; recommended for ages 12 & up
• Offered select dates

Maximum of 2 children per adult; ages 15 and younger must be accompanied by a paid adult. Ages 5 and up; recommended for ages 12 and older.

Walking is required; guests will be on their feet for one hour, including walking uphill. Guests must be able to traverse hills and steep inclines. Wear comfortable walking shoes.

Pathways are paved, and the route is wheelchair accessible. Please notify us if special accommodations are needed.

Change/Cancellation: Reservations may be changed up to 5 days before the program and will be subject to a $15 Administrative Change Fee. Less than 5 days, changes not permitted. Cancellations received 5 days before scheduled program are subject to a $25 Cancellation Fee. Less than 5 days, payment is non-refundable. 



Skip the snooze and join us for an unforgettable early morning adventure! Led by our wildlife experts, this 60-minute tour introduces you to both pint-sized pygmy hippos and iconic river hippos. Strap on your sturdiest sneakers and kick-start your day with this unique hike at the San Diego Zoo!

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Okapi calf born at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

ESCONDIDO, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — The okapi family at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park has just welcomed a new addition.

A male calf was born to first-time parents, Mahameli and Mpangi. In a release Monday, the zoo said Mahameli (Meli), the mother, can often be seen basking in the sun with her unnamed calf.

According to the zoo , okapis have black-and-white striped hindquarters, similar to zebras, although they’re actually related to the giraffe. Okapis are native to the deep forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and are known to be elusive and highly alert.

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Reviews — zoos in europe, his­tory description, his­tory documentary.

Dur­ing the sec­ond half of the nine­teenth cen­tury the first menageries in Moscow were estab­lished as enter­tain­ment facil­i­ties. The first was founded in 1855 by two French­men (names unknown), while the Kreuzberg fam­ily owned a pri­vate menagerie that opened its door to the pub­lic in 1862 . Together these ani­mal col­lec­tions formed the heart of the Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den founded by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals, which was estab­lished by pro­fes­sors of the Moscow State Uni­ver­sity. The ini­tial idea for such a zoo­log­i­cal gar­den came in 1857 , but it took the Soci­ety, includ­ing one of its found­ing fathers pro­fes­sor Ana­toly P. Bog­danov, until 1863 to be able to buy prop­erty for the future zoo. The Zoo was opened to vis­i­tors on 13 Feb­ru­ary 1864 at the loca­tion where it still exists until this very day. On open­ing day 287 ani­mals were on dis­play, of which 134 were domes­tic ani­mals, while the oth­ers were exotic spec­i­mens such as tigers, lions, jaguar, leop­ard and rhino.

In those days it was an unique exper­i­ment to cre­ate “a liv­ing museum out­doors,” as pro­fes­sor Bog­danov said, in such severe cli­matic con­di­tions of cen­tral Rus­sia. The pri­mary pur­pose of the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den accord­ing to the mem­bers of the Soci­ety was:

to col­lect alive spec­i­mens of higher ver­te­brates ( firstly — the ani­mals of Russ­ian fauna) for sci­en­tific observations;

to estab­lish a col­lec­tion of typ­i­cal ani­mals that could serve edu­ca­tional pur­poses, i.e. dis­tri­b­u­tion of zoo­log­i­cal knowl­edge among the wide pub­lic communities;

to carry out sci­en­tific exper­i­ments and obser­va­tions of impor­tant ani­mals, espe­cially domes­tic ani­mals of Russ­ian breeds.

The Zoo was financed by the entrance fees and pri­vate dona­tions, includ­ing con­tri­bu­tions by mem­bers of the impe­r­ial fam­ily. In the first years the annual num­ber of vis­i­tors grew up to ten thou­sands. Nev­er­the­less, the incomes did not cover the expenses and the Moscow City Coun­cil refused to give finan­cial sup­port. So, the Zoo went into pri­vate hands of the Ryabinins’ fam­ily in 1874 . They trans­formed the Zoo into an amuse­ment park and in three years time ruined the place. In 1878 the Zoo was run by the Soci­ety for Acclima­ti­za­tion of Plants and Ani­mals again, includ­ing fund rais­ing activ­i­ties. This time the Soci­ety was able to man­age the Zoo suc­cess­fully, and even to buy a num­ber of ani­mals. But in the tur­moil of the Rev­o­lu­tion of 1905 the Zoo was severely dam­aged: the build­ings were ruined, the library was set on fire, many ani­mals per­ished. So, for the sec­ond time the Soci­ety was forced to turn over the Zoo to pri­vate owners.

Then in 1914 World War I broke out. For the Zoo this meant that in the autumn of 1914 the only build­ing that remain to this day was trans­formed from the director’s premises to a hos­pi­tal for wounded WWI sol­diers. The WWI impact com­pounded Russia’s suf­fer­ing from a num­ber of eco­nomic and social prob­lems, which resulted first in the 1917 Feb­ru­ary rev­o­lu­tion fol­lowed by the Octo­ber rev­o­lu­tion. In the after­math of the Great Octo­ber Social­ist Rev­o­lu­tion of 1917 and the fall of the Russ­ian Empire, the Soci­ety ceased to exist, and in 1919 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was declared national prop­erty and trans­ferred under the respon­si­bil­ity of the min­istry of Cul­ture of the com­mu­nist Moscow par­lia­ment, the Mossovet. In 1922 it was trans­ferred to the author­ity of Moscow City Coun­cil and since then it has been sup­ported by the City Author­i­ties. Con­struc­tion work began on the Zoo grounds. The Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den premises almost dou­bled in size with the estab­lish­ment of the ‘New’ ter­ri­tory on the oppo­site side of Bol­shaya Gruzin­skaya street. New exhibits, which fol­lowed the prin­ci­ple of Carl Hagenbeck’s bar-​less enclo­sure design were estab­lished. One of the most inter­est­ing exhibits of the Zoo called ‘Ani­mal Island’ still exists. It was a high stony rock sur­rounded by a deep water ditch that sep­a­rated the vis­i­tors from bears, tigers, lions and other large preda­tors on the ‘Island’. The total size at the time was nearly 18 hectares.

In 1926 the Zoo­log­i­cal Gar­den was renamed ‘Zoo­log­i­cal Park’. At that time the range of activ­i­ties extended, the ani­mal col­lec­tion increased con­sid­er­ably with expe­di­tions col­lect­ing wildlife in Cen­tral Asia, the Far East and the Cau­ca­sus. New depart­ments were estab­lished, focussed on for instance sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, vet­eri­nary sci­ence and nutri­tion. In those same years Moscow Zoo was the first zoo in the world where edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties were the main priority.

In 1924 the Zoo had estab­lished the Young Biol­o­gists Club that gath­ered like-​minded young peo­ple that joined in real sci­en­tific research. Many of them became a Zoo employee. The Club was founded by Petr Man­teifel, who also was the pio­neer father of the sci­ence called ‘zoo biol­ogy’. Man­teifel and his young biol­o­gists dis­cov­ered a way of arti­fi­cial breed­ing sables (Martes zibel­lina), which were on the verge of extinc­tion due to man’s insa­tiable pur­suit for its expen­sive fur. In the 1930 s dur­ing Stalin’s great purge many mem­bers of the Young Biol­o­gists Club were arrested accused of spread­ing anti-​soviet pro­pa­ganda and liberal-​minded ideas and hav­ing con­tact with Ger­man col­leagues at Berlin zoo, some were even exe­cuted as for­eign spies. The Club was con­sid­ered a non-​governmental organ­i­sa­tion beyond the direct con­trol of the author­i­ties, which in fact was partly true because the Club was a real democ­racy, with mem­ber­ship avail­able to all.

Although many ani­mals were evac­u­ated and many of the zoo staff were called to arms at the begin­ning of World War II the Zoo was kept open. Of the 750 employ­ees at autumn 1941 only 220 remained on the staff, most of them women. Get­ting enough food for the ani­mals was a con­stant chal­lenge, for instance car­casses of killed horse at the bat­tle­field around Moscow were brought to the zoo. More than six mil­lion peo­ple vis­ited the Zoo from 1941 to 1945 to enjoy the sights of ani­mals that had remained.

At wartime the sci­en­tific work pro­ceeded, per­haps even more intense than before or after the war. The sci­en­tific staff worked espe­cially on devel­op­ment of antibi­otics. But the most impor­tant mis­sion of the Zoo dur­ing the war was to give peo­ple hope. It pro­duced the illu­sion of a peace­ful life until peo­ple sur­vived through the des­per­a­tion of the war with the Red Army sol­diers as the most fre­quent vis­i­tors of the Zoo. Which were given the plea­sure of watch­ing new­born off­spring even dur­ing the war.

Dur­ing the soviet union period ( 1922 − 1991 ) not many highly ranked peo­ple cared about the zoo — no soviet leader had any inter­est in it. The city encroached on the zoo premises, while the zoo needed addi­tional space for the ever expand­ing zoo pop­u­la­tion of ani­mals. Because the breed­ing results were still excellent.

The Zoo lived up to the goal it had set for itself and made edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties the main pri­or­ity. Zoo staff dis­trib­uted knowl­edge in the field of nat­ural his­tory and tried to raise the pub­lic aware­ness and con­cern about the neces­sity for wildlife con­ser­va­tion. The zoo assisted school­child­ren and stu­dents with study­ing biol­ogy, actively par­tic­i­pated in sci­en­tific research, and actively con­tributed to sci­en­tific pub­li­ca­tions. So, the Zoo became one of the larger sci­en­tific insti­tu­tions in Moscow. And of course it still was the favourite recre­ational place for Moscow cit­i­zens and those who vis­ited the city.

As off 1974 when Igos Sos­novsky retired as direc­tor and his suc­ces­sor Vladimir Spit­syn took over Moscow Zoo became part of the inter­na­tional zoo com­mu­nity again. Sos­novsky as a WWII vet­eran hadn’t been able to brush aside the fear of repres­sion and avoided all inter­na­tional con­tacts for some rea­son. Spit­syn restored all inter­na­tional activ­i­ties from before the war and the Zoo became mem­ber of many Euro­pean and Inter­na­tional Breed­ing Pro­grammes in which it exchanged its rare and endan­gered ani­mals, shared expe­ri­ence and information.

Although already in the 1970 s improve­ment of all zoo facil­i­ties was needed and ideas of a new zoo in another region of Moscow were launched, noth­ing hap­pened due to local eco­nom­i­cal and social prob­lems. By the end of the 1980 s the Zoo’s con­di­tion became alarm­ing. Facil­i­ties were dete­ri­o­rat­ing, enclo­sures were dilap­i­dated and tech­ni­cal equip­ment needed to be replaced as well. And while a few improve­ments had been achieved — such as a par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the main entrance, the mon­key house and lion house — urgent mea­sures were still needed.

Then, in 1992 the new Moscow gov­ern­ment made a deci­sion to start the most ambi­tious recon­struc­tion project in Moscow Zoo’s his­tory with the first stage of the project to be com­pleted by 1997 , when the 850 th anniver­sary of the City would be cel­e­brated. Ana­toly A. Andreev who had been involved in the Zoo’s design and archi­tec­ture since the 1970 s headed the team of archi­tects. The project’s ren­o­va­tion objec­tives were focussed at (a) preser­va­tion or par­tial ren­o­va­tion of the his­tor­i­cally valu­able build­ings and exist­ing pools, (b) reduc­tion of the noise from the sur­round­ing streets, © con­nec­tion of the Old and the New ter­ri­tory via a foot­bridge, and (d) expan­sion of the Old ter­ri­tory by incor­po­rat­ing adja­cent areas and buildings.

Besides the preser­va­tion and ren­o­va­tion of almost all impor­tant zoo con­struc­tions, includ­ing the ones that actu­ally were dilap­i­dated, many new enclo­sures and facil­i­ties were built. Already in 1993 the foot­bridge that con­nected the Old and New ter­ri­tory was com­pleted. It allowed vis­i­tors to avoid cross­ing the busy B. Gruzin­skaya street with its heavy traf­fic. In 1993 other con­struc­tions were com­pleted as well, such as an enclo­sure for large birds of prey and a com­plex of enclo­sures for feline species, includ­ing leop­ards, Pal­las’ cats and lynx. Next, the Hagenbeck-​style ‘Ani­mal Island’, one of the most remark­able exhibits in the New ter­ri­tory, was ren­o­vated. The his­toric appear­ance with enclo­sures that resem­bled the nat­ural habi­tats of Amur tiger, striped hyena, African wild dog and Asian black bear was pre­served. Later they intro­duced Asian lions in one of the enclo­sures around the large rock in the cen­tre of the ‘island’. Dur­ing the ren­o­va­tion they cre­ated the Exo­tar­ium, which held sev­eral aquar­i­ums, inside the rock on the sec­ond floor.

The fol­low­ing years many more enclo­sures were ren­o­vated, besides the new research and vet­eri­nar­ian facil­i­ties that were put into oper­a­tion in 1994 . In 1996 , the main entrance itself (fea­tur­ing a small arti­fi­cial water­fall) was recon­structed. The same year the old, dilap­i­dated ele­phant com­plex was demol­ished and a new ele­phant house was erected at the same spot, while the inhab­i­tants (four African ele­phants and four Asian ele­phants) were tem­porar­ily moved to a a for­mer tram depot that was com­pletely ren­o­vated and spe­cially equipped. A new children’s zoo was opened in the New ter­ri­tory, includ­ing a children’s the­atre that organ­ises shows with edu­ca­tional ele­ments. And besides sev­eral aviaries, a pavil­ion for water birds was built on the shore of the large pond in the New territory.

Although in those days 4 addi­tional hectares of space was added to the for­mer exist­ing 18 hectares, the Zoo still lacked space to cre­ate favourable con­di­tions for their species to breed. And its loca­tion in the cen­tre of Moscow didn’t con­tribute to the favourable breed­ing con­di­tions they wanted of course. There­fore, the 200 hectares area near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow) that was given to the Zoo in 1996 for the estab­lish­ment of a breed­ing sta­tion was very much wel­comed (see also Breed­ing Cen­tre ).

The first major stage of the gen­eral recon­struc­tion of the Moscow zoo rep­re­sents a unique event. Not only over 50 facil­i­ties have been ren­o­vated ( 90 % of all exist­ing facil­i­ties) and newly built, but it was achieved in such a short period of time. But main­te­nance and small and larger refur­bish­ment is ongo­ing busi­ness in a zoo. So, i n 2002 , the Moscow City Gov­ern­ment and the City Coun­cil allo­cated the nec­es­sary funds to start con­struc­tion of a new pavil­ion for the Asian ele­phants. In 2003 the three ele­phants could move house already, and in spring 2009 , the first new­born ele­phant calf was welcomed.

The Moscow Zoo­log­i­cal Park has come a long way from the small zoo­log­i­cal gar­den it was to the large insti­tu­tion of sci­en­tific research, edu­ca­tion, con­ser­va­tion and recre­ation it is today. And due to the dynam­ics of the stan­dards used in the zoo com­mu­nity regard­ing ani­mal health and wel­fare, Moscow Zoo is con­stantly improv­ing its facil­i­ties, also dur­ing 2014 cel­e­brat­ing its 150 th anniversary.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 ; Zoo and Aquar­ium His­tory by Ver­non N. Kisling, Jr., 2001 ; Wikipedia)

An account of 150 years of his­tory of the Moscow Zoo

(A doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky)

The his­tory of Moscow Zoo shown through the per­spec­tive of the lives of the peo­ple who have been impor­tant to the Zoo’s devel­op­ment and con­tin­u­ous progress over those many years since 1864 . Thou­sands of pho­tographs, hun­dreds of chron­i­cles, accounts and rec­ol­lec­tions that have pre­served the story that began so long ago, against all odds, and lasts unin­ter­rupted to this day. A doc­u­men­tary about those who have devoted their lives to serv­ing a noble and reward­ing cause, those who have started from scratch, those who main­tained that work and about those who revive the Zoo as off today.

(Source: sdpavlovskiy YouTube channel)

20 . 06 . 2014

Finally, Moscow Zoo is paid a visit. I have been look­ing for­ward to this for quite some time. It has been on my to-​do list since I learnt about the large col­lec­tion of feline species on dis­play at the Zoo. So, I am here on this sunny day in June to sat­isfy my curios­ity, in the year they cel­e­brate the Zoo’s 150 th anniversary.

I am enter­ing as one of the 1 , 5 mil­lion pay­ing atten­dance yearly. Which is not even half of the total num­ber of vis­i­tors a year. This is about 4 mil­lion, because there are spe­cific cat­e­gories (e.g. dis­abled, pen­sion­ers, chil­dren, stu­dents, etc.) for whom the admis­sion is free.

OLD TER­RI­TORY

I turn left after the main entrance to visit the large preda­tor sec­tion of the Old ter­ri­tory. Not that only here you will find preda­tors, but the great­est part of their preda­tor col­lec­tion is grouped in this sec­tion. I will come back to the group­ing of Moscow Zoo’s ani­mal col­lec­tion later. After hav­ing walked along a fence that blocks most of the views on the work in progress at the lake I arrive at what they call here the ‘trop­i­cal cats’ sec­tion: Ben­gal tiger (unfor­tu­nately the genet­i­cally aber­rant ver­sion — a white tiger), jaguar and chee­tah. Both the tiger and the jaguar have their indoor enclo­sures in the same house built at the perime­ter of the premises. The chee­tahs have their shel­ter for the night and bad weather in their out­door pad­dock, so that can­not be vis­ited. The tiger and the jaguar how­ever have inter­est­ing hous­ing that serves the needs for both the cats and the vis­i­tors. The lat­ter are pleased with Asian and South Amer­i­can (Inca) orna­ments to make sure they under­stand the geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin of the species. While the walls have murals rep­re­sent­ing the species’ orig­i­nal habi­tat … Machu Pichu for the jaguar. The ani­mals them­selves have var­i­ous enrich­ment fea­tures at their dis­posal, includ­ing high level obser­va­tion posts, in rather small exhibits. The out­door facil­i­ties for these two species are acces­si­ble from the indoors. It has nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion, but not a lot. Like­wise there are not a lot of options to shel­ter from extreme weather or loud crowds. Although the cats have access to sev­eral rest­ing posts at dif­fer­ent lev­els, these enclo­sures can do with some improve­ments — at least more veg­e­ta­tion — to make them bet­ter fit for pur­pose, in my opin­ion. The enor­mous expo­sure of the cats is also due to the fact that they use win­dows to sep­a­rate ani­mal from man along almost the total length of the enclosures.

When I walk the few steps to the entrance of the Bear House, which is like the jaguar and tiger indoor enclo­sure built at the edge of the Zoo grounds, I pass in between the Pal­las’ cat exhibit and a sec­ond jaguar exhibit. The Pal­las’ cat has a flat grassy area with three large trees, some shrubs and a poten­tial pond (when filled with water) avail­able in its out­door enclo­sure. Win­dows all around and a wire mesh roof pre­vent the cat from flee­ing this scenery that doesn’t resem­ble the cat’s orig­i­nal Himalyan habi­tat. Across the foot­path there’s a jaguar enclo­sure that’s more inter­est­ing than the one directly neigh­bour­ing the tiger. This one has a small stream and loads of veg­e­ta­tion and a mul­ti­level rest­ing plat­form. Still the ani­mal is quite exposed.

The Bear House pro­vides a nice and secluded area where three adja­cent bear enclo­sures houses sloth bear and spec­ta­cled bear. As a vis­i­tor you walk via a roofed cor­ri­dor more or less in the dark along the enclo­sures hav­ing good views on the exhibit via man-​sized win­dows. The enclo­sures have a dry shal­low moat at the visitor’s side, but I don’t think this with­hold the bears from com­ing close to the win­dows. The enclo­sures are small but almost com­pletely filled with enrich­ment fea­tures includ­ing var­i­ous plat­forms, a tree trunk struc­ture, rub­ber ham­mocks and nat­ural veg­e­ta­tion. Con­sid­er­ing the design I think these enclo­sures offer peace and quiet for the bears, unless peo­ple start bang­ing the win­dows of course.

In slightly larger enclo­sures they keep Amur leop­ard, snow leop­ard and cougar ( Puma con­color ). At all of these felid species enclo­sures the dis­tance between the pub­lic bar­rier and the fence does allow con­tact when peo­ple lean far forward.

Fur­ther along the foot­path around the cor­ner the arc­tic fox and the dhole are housed in enclo­sures that have a sim­i­lar inte­rior design as those for the felids. Despite the fact that these species live under dif­fer­ent nat­ural cir­cum­stances in the wild (for­est and tun­dra habi­tat respectively).

When I walk back to have a look at the large birds of prey aviary I can­not pre­vent myself to have a brief look at the giraffe enclo­sure as well. It’s obvi­ously a relic of the past that is not fit for pur­pose any­more. Still they have one retic­u­lated giraffe on dis­play at a sad­den­ing small area. It loves to be fed by the pub­lic that doesn’t care about the warn­ing not to feed the ani­mals. On the other side of the build­ing a sim­i­lar piti­ful sit­u­a­tion for the sin­gle white-​tailed gnu can be seen.

One of the most extra­or­di­nary group of species brought together on dis­play can be found right after the row of preda­tor enclo­sures. The maned wolf from South Amer­ica has the red-​necked wal­laby and emu from Aus­tralia as neigh­bour. But also in the same area the African wild dog is on dis­play as well as white-​tailed gnu (Africa) and kiang (Asia) in the row of sta­bles along the rim of the premises.

The rac­coon exhibit is worth men­tion­ing con­sid­er­ing the afore­men­tioned acci­dent risks. It has a very typ­i­cal enclo­sure design with elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows sur­round­ing the entire exhibit. The elec­tri­cal wire is within reach of the pub­lic. So, there are numer­ous warn­ing signs! But why they installed elec­tri­cal wire on top of win­dows that are unclimbable for rac­coons? To keep out the pub­lic perhaps?

In the bird house, in the far end cor­ner from the main entrance, birds from all geo­graph­i­cal regions are grouped together, includ­ing Hum­boldt pen­guin and African pen­guin. The house con­sists of two part with one part half empty, and has also very com­mon species on dis­play, such as wild turkey, com­mon pheas­ant and Euro­pean hedge­hog. Out­side this build­ing sev­eral aviaries com­prise a large array of par­rot species (South Amer­ica and Australia).

Pro­ceed­ing with my tour around the Old ter­ri­tory I have a look at the Asian ele­phant house and its sur­round­ing grounds. The fancy steel with blue details of the ele­phant house doesn’t appeal to me, but that is just a mat­ter of taste. It is def­i­nitely the most mod­ern exhibit in the Zoo I’ve seen yet, in style and in size, with a nice pool at the visitor’s side.

I skip the rep­tile house to save some time, and money too, because an addi­tional fee com­plies. So I walk straight to another mod­ern enclo­sure — the bar-​less and moated wolf exhibit. Although it has a Hagenbeck-​style design, the space avail­able for the wolves is ridicu­lously small. The wolves will never be able to cross the water-​filled moat and climb the wall and thus break out, still there is impres­sive elec­tri­cal wiring in place on top of the wall. Again, prob­a­bly to keep out the public.

Mak­ing my way to the foot­bridge that con­nects the Old and New ter­ri­tory I pass along a very old-​fashioned row of enclo­sures built in a semi­cir­cle in front of the 16 metres high sculp­ture by Zurab Tsereteli called ‘Tree of Fairy Tales’, 1996 . The enclo­sures house sev­eral species of mustel­idae (sable, Euro­pean pole­cat, stone marten), as well as African wild cats. Then fol­lowed by sev­eral aviaries again. At this point I am really lost regard­ing the way they group the Zoo’s ani­mal collection.

NEW TER­RI­TORY

Pro­ceed­ing clock­wise I find the doors of the Trop­i­cal House closed for ren­o­va­tion. So, no but­ter­flies for me this time. But in one of the two spa­cious aviaries around this house I dis­cover sev­eral ducks, such as the man­darin duck and the black-​bellied whistling duck, together with the com­mon kestrel ( Falco tin­nun­cu­lus ), though nei­ther rare nor endangered.

Then a rather spe­cial exhibit appears, the Ani­mal Island, which was devel­oped in the 1920 s as one of the first Hagenbeck-​style enclo­sures in the New ter­ri­tory. Although it took some ren­o­va­tion activ­i­ties it still exists to this very day. In the cen­tre of this moated area they have erected a fake ruined fortress, which serves as the back­ground for the species in the sur­round­ing exhibits. These bar-​less exhibits have a more mod­ern appear­ance but it isn’t nec­es­sar­ily an improve­ment for the ani­mals. For instance the Asian black bear has a bare envi­ron­ment with minor enrich­ment avail­able and no veg­e­ta­tion, but the brown bear is even worse off in a sim­i­lar enclo­sure but next to noth­ing of enrich­ment fea­tures. The tun­dra wolf ( Canis lupus alba ) and the striped hyena have a lit­tle bet­ter place at their dis­posal, but the Asian lions have by far the best enclo­sure. They have sev­eral rest­ing plat­forms, trees and a stream that ends in the moat. Again to save time I skip an exhibit. This time the Exo­tar­ium with its aquar­i­ums that has been cre­ated inside the ruined fortress and by the way requires an addi­tional fee to get in.

One of the rare areas in Moscow Zoo where you find mixed-​species exhibits is called ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’. It has a South Amer­i­can sec­tion with capy­bara vicuna and gua­naco, and — very impor­tantly — a large pool at the dis­posal of the largest rodent on earth. Though absolutely not endan­gered, these water-​loving capy­baras should have access to water at all times, in my opin­ion. The real savan­nah area with African species has sev­eral enclo­sures. A mixed species exhibit with sable ante­lope and dikdik. And Grevy’s zebra together with ostrich and giraffe. Also this time there’s only one giraffe in the pad­dock. The loca­tion of the meerkat enclo­sure is well cho­sen, because when they sit on top of one of their hills they can watch the other ani­mals. Although it is the largest and prob­a­bly the most mod­ern facil­ity at the Moscow Zoo I still think it is dis­ap­point­ingly mediocre com­pared to other zoos I have seen in Europe and North America.

Before I go to the pri­mate sec­tion I buy myself an ice cream and walk along the horse sta­bles on the east­ern edge of the New ter­ri­tory premises. Look­ing for an answer to the ques­tion “why are there horse sta­bles at this place?” The ques­tion still waits for an answer.

At Moscow Zoo they keep both Suma­tran as Bornean orang­utans, which is quite unusual. The out­doors for the five indi­vid­u­als, includ­ing 2 young, of the Suma­tran species looks impres­sive due to the enor­mously high rock face at the rear. The wall looks extra impres­sive because it is rather close to the view­ing win­dows. Unfor­tu­nately, the exhibit lacks trees and veg­e­ta­tion other than grass while the enrich­ment is scant and I don’t see puz­zle feed­ers. The Bornean orang­utans have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure, but it is sug­gested that olive baboons ( Papio anu­bis ) are on dis­play here as well. It could be that they alter­nate in the same out­door enclo­sure, but this is not very clear.

The west­ern low­land goril­las also have a sim­i­lar out­door enclo­sure design due to which the ani­mals are enor­mously exposed to the inquis­i­tive pub­lic. Con­sid­er­ing the num­ber of young­sters Moscow Zoo appears to be hav­ing good results breed­ing orang­utans and gorillas.

Indoors, all the great ape exhibits have much enrich­ment and jungle-​like murals, but the agile gib­bon has even more enrich­ment inside. I haven’t seen a spe­cific out­door enclo­sure for the agile gib­bon but it could be pos­si­ble that it alter­nates with the Suma­tran orang­utans. Only this enclo­sure lacks high trees or other options for the gib­bon to brachi­ate, which is its nat­ural behav­iour in the canopy of the gibbon’s native habi­tat, the rain­forests of south­east Asia.

The ter­rar­ium build­ing, located behind the Pri­mate House, is beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated with lit­tle mosaic tiles. They have the usual row of exhibits, but in this case espe­cially the larger rep­tiles and tor­toises (python, croc­o­diles, alli­ga­tor, tor­toise) are kept. And out­side they have two giant tor­toise species, the Aldabra and the Gala­pa­gos tortoise.

On my return to the exit I pass the exhibits of a few of the many preda­tor species they have on dis­play at Moscow Zoo. The polar bear is pro­vided with a big heap of arti­fi­cial ice, but that’s about it when it comes to enrich­ment, though there are some plas­tic drums to play with. The enclo­sure as such is the pro­to­type of polar bear enclo­sures world­wide, rear wall of cement and large bricks, con­crete floor, large and deep water-​filled moat. Unfor­tu­nately, again here the annoy­ing reflect­ing win­dows. The yellow-​throated marten I do not see, and the same counts for the Eurasian otter in its large elon­gated out­door exhibit with a shal­low pool along the whole length. It must be great to see the sub­merged otters swim in this pool.

Con­clu­sion There are sev­eral ways to group a col­lec­tion of ani­mals which can sup­port a zoo’s edu­ca­tional efforts. Of course, some peo­ple just come to the zoo to be enter­tained, but when an indi­vid­ual is ready to learn some things the worst thing you can do is con­fuse him or her. And to be fairly hon­est, con­fus­ing it is. Some­times they group the col­lec­tion accord­ing their tax­o­nomic tree, which is the case with the felids, the bird species and the pri­mates. Then again they have decided to present the col­lec­tion by geo­graph­i­cal ori­gin, like in the ‘Fauna of the Savan­nah’, or accord­ing orig­i­nal habi­tat like the mountain-​dwelling tur and mark­hor. And at some point they just make a mess of the group­ing, for instance in the area with the maned wolf, the red-​necked wal­laby and oth­ers. In the end it seems the Zoo just want to have on dis­play as many species as pos­si­ble, because all species that live in herds they keep them in small num­bers. I do under­stand that it is not easy, requires tough deci­sions and cer­tainly is not cheap to rearrange your entire col­lec­tion, espe­cially when it is that huge as it is here at Moscow Zoo. Any­way, fur­ther ren­o­va­tion is fore­seen and prob­a­bly some rethink­ing as well.

I hope that they get rid of all these win­dows they have at so many exhibits. For some sit­u­a­tions it is inevitable I under­stand, but I sin­cerely hope they will return to the orig­i­nal Hagen­beck idea of bar-​less enclo­sures, tak­ing into account mod­ern hus­bandry stan­dards of course. As the posi­tion of the sun makes it some­times hard to get even the slight­est glimpse of the ani­mals due to the reflec­tions in the win­dows. And last but not least they have the ten­dency to have win­dows all around or at more than 50 per­cent of the perime­ter of an enclo­sure. Most of the time lead­ing to more expo­sure of the ani­mals to the pub­lic and pos­si­ble unrest.

Suma­tran orang­utan young­sters at Moscow Zoo

Just another day at the zoo for these orang­utans ( Pongo abelii ) — noth­ing much excit­ing going on in this safe and secure envi­ron­ment. But wouldn’t it be nice to see them swing­ing and romp­ing in the forests of Sumatra.….

Rac­coons at Moscow Zoo

Rac­coons are known for their habit to clean their food in the water before eat­ing it. It seems they also want to have a clean ball before play­ing with it.

Breed­ing Centre

Infor­ma­tion and education, zoo details, breed­ing farm.

The Moscow Zoo has always been try­ing to cre­ate the most favourable con­di­tions for their ani­mals to ful­fil their basic needs. Not only for ani­mal health and wel­fare pur­poses but also to breed the ani­mals suc­cess­fully. These spe­cific breed­ing con­di­tions could not be achieved due to its loca­tion in the City cen­tre and the lack of space. In 1996 the Zoo came into pos­ses­sion of an area of 200 hectares near the city of Voloko­lamsk (about 100 km from Moscow). In this pic­turesque hilly area of the for­mer quar­ries of the Sychovo min­ing fac­tory, with streams, springs and arti­fi­cial ponds bet­ter oppor­tu­ni­ties were avail­able for breed­ing var­i­ous — pre­dom­i­nantly rare — species of animals.

The main goals of the Breed­ing Cen­tre, besides main­tain­ing rare and endan­gered species of ani­mals, are estab­lish­ing breed­ing pairs and groups and devel­op­ing new hus­bandry meth­ods. Since exces­sive dis­tur­bance is likely to have adverse effect on the breed­ing efforts, the actual Breed­ing Cen­tre is not open to the public.

The con­struc­tion of the Breed­ing Cen­tre started in March 1996 . The first inhab­i­tants of the Cen­tre were birds of prey and water­fowl and they have been suc­cess­fully breed­ing birds ever since. The col­lec­tion of water­fowl has grown notably since the begin­ning. Apart from the numer­ous mal­lards and ruddy shel­ducks, the inhab­i­tants of the ponds include pin­tails, pochards, tufted ducks and black geese of the genus Branta. Bewick’s swans are thriv­ing, rais­ing their chicks every year. Japan­ese, white-​naped and Siber­ian cranes are also breed­ing suc­cess­fully and many other species, includ­ing par­rots. The breed­ing cen­tre for birds of prey is con­tin­u­ously expand­ing, with Himalayan grif­fon vul­tures, golden eagles, impe­r­ial eagles, Steller’s sea eagles, and black vul­tures among its most promi­nent inhab­i­tants. Reg­u­lar breed­ing has also been achieved in saker fal­cons ( Falco cher­rug ).

They keep car­niv­o­rous mam­mals as well at the Breed­ing Cen­tre. These include endan­gered species such as Amur leop­ard, Pal­las’ cat, chee­tah, Amur tiger, dhole, wolver­ine, and yellow-​throated marten. Of these species the Amur leop­ard is listed Crit­i­cally Endan­gered accord­ing the IUCN Red List of Threat­ened Species™ , with about 45 indi­vid­u­als left in the wild. The Zoo’s track record says they have pro­duced off­spring from Pal­las’ cat, dhole, yellow-​throated marten, and Amur tiger.

For the ungu­lates that are kept at the Cen­tre the envi­ron­ment is almost ideal. There are bac­trian camels as well as kiangs, Saiga antelopes, blue sheep and vicu­nas. Hoofed ani­mals orig­i­nat­ing from moun­tain­ous areas have large pad­docks at their dis­posal that are sit­u­ated on the slopes of the sur­round­ing hills, more or less sim­i­lar to their nat­ural habitat.

Besides the more rare and endan­gered species the Cen­tre also has an inter­est­ing col­lec­tion of domes­tic hens, a horse sta­ble and a dog-​breeding cen­tre, mainly for the breed­ing of Cen­tral Asian sheep dogs. Fur­ther­more, there is a small quail farm and a poul­try farm with layer hens.

More­over a sub­sidiary farm in Loto­shino houses some cat­tle, smaller live­stock, and the main herd of bac­trian camels and yaks. The area of the sub­sidiary farm is about 51 hectares and it com­prises hay­fields, pas­tures, a sheep­fold and an api­ary. Most impor­tantly it pro­vides the Moscow Zoo with eco­log­i­cal feed for its animals.

The Breed­ing Centre’s col­lec­tion com­prises 10 species of car­ni­vores, 6 species of ungu­lates, 74 species of birds and a great num­ber of domes­tic ani­mals, but the col­lec­tion is expand­ing con­stantly. Although it is still closed to vis­i­tors, the Zoo’s goal is to open part of the farm (as they call the Breed­ing Cen­tre them­selves) to out­side vis­i­tors soon. They plan to cre­ate an addi­tional safari park at the loca­tion of the Breed­ing Centre.

(Source: Moscow Zoo web­site; Zoo with a Human Face, to the 150 th anniver­sary of the Moscow Zoo — a doc­u­men­tary by Darya Vio­lina and Sergei Pavlovsky, 2014 )

Infor­ma­tion pan­els and Edu­ca­tion at the Zoo

First thing to be noticed of course is that the infor­ma­tion on the pan­els around Moscow Zoo is given in the Russ­ian lan­guage. And no other lan­guage. This is not unex­pected as most of the infor­ma­tion pro­vided in Moscow is only in Russ­ian. For­tu­nately, the name of the species on dis­play is given in Eng­lish as well, together with its sci­en­tific name. As far as I can tell and under­stand no infor­ma­tion is pro­vided on the species con­ser­va­tion sta­tus (or IUCN Red List sta­tus). On the new revamped web­site this infor­ma­tion is avail­able but only in Russ­ian and no icons or logos are used, so you have to rely on machine trans­la­tion ser­vices. The pan­els show geo­graphic maps of the species dis­tri­b­u­tion and some­times the IUCN sta­tus and if the species is part of EEP /​ESB, as well. But this is not done con­sis­tently, and I am not sure how reli­able the infor­ma­tion is. Nev­er­the­less I have been able to find on the inter­net a list of species that rep­re­sent the Moscow Zoo con­tri­bu­tion to the Euro­pean Endan­gered species Pro­grammes (EEPs).

There is also a zoo school that is pri­mar­ily focussed on chil­dren, and I assume that the Young Biol­o­gists Club still exist. Fore­most because it has been very suc­cess­fully deliv­er­ing a range of impor­tant staff mem­bers over the years.

• Direc­tions

direc­tions to Moscow Zoo

Address : B. Gruzin­skaya 1 123242 Moscow Rus­sia

pub­lic transport

The metro sys­tem can be quite intim­i­dat­ing for for­eign­ers because of the lan­guage issue, but I can assure you it is the best way of nav­i­gat­ing the city. The metro sta­tions are the most beau­ti­ful I’ve ever seen and buy­ing tick­ets can be done using sign lan­guage (see the tri­pad­vi­sor web­site how it is done). When you are not able to deci­pher the Cyril­lic alpha­bet on the fly it is best to pre­pare your metro trip before­hand and make sure that you know how many stops you have to travel from the depar­ture sta­tion to your des­ti­na­tion, includ­ing trans­fer sta­tions. Another way of travel sup­port is the Art-​Lebedev metro map , which has the names of the sta­tions both in Russ­ian and Eng­lish men­tioned. The most fancy way how­ever is by using the Russ­ian metro app on your smart­phone. The Yandex.Metro app — pro­vides a bilin­gual metro map which can even build con­nec­tion routes for you and esti­mate travel times.

Moscow Zoo’s main entrance is con­ve­niently located right across from the Krasno­pres­nen­skaya metro sta­tion on the Brown Cir­cu­lar line (no. 5 ). Also the Bar­rikad­naya metro sta­tion is rather close to the main entrance, Pur­ple line (no. 7 ).

by bicy­cle

As men­tioned already Moscow is a very large city. So, it really depends on how close you already are to the Zoo if cycling could be an option. The obvi­ous chal­lenge is the traf­fic which has grown dra­mat­i­cally in recent years — the cen­tre of Moscow is a non-​stop traf­fic jam. Fur­ther­more the poor dri­ving habits of Moscow motorists are noto­ri­ous, from road rage to rear-​ending. In addi­tion, knee-​deep snow and the grimy slush that inevitably fol­lows dur­ing the long and fear­some win­ters doesn’t make cycling in Moscow a very attrac­tive mode of trans­port. Nev­er­the­less the City Coun­cil tries to make the city more bike-​friendly with a bike rental scheme like in many major cities around the world. I decided to use the metro.

There is no ded­i­cated park­ing avail­able at the Zoo, but if you really want to drive your­self you can get direc­tions below by pro­vid­ing your point of departure.

From : --  Choose source      -- Moscow Zoo or

Down­load the zoo map here .

Goal: 7000 tigers in the wild

“ Tiger map” ( CC BY 2 . 5 ) by Sander­son et al., 2006 .

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