Translartion. Region: Russians Fedetion –
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
Balancing the diet of African potto primates, making recommendations for improving the conditions of rare and endangered species, and trying to collect data on the world’s most secretive and least studied animals are the challenges facing Moscow Zoo. On February 12, it celebrates its 161st birthday. The zoo is not only an entertainment venue where you can see exotic representatives of the fauna and, without leaving the capital, take a trip through the jungle, savannah and desert. Scientists also work here who study the behavior and characteristics of animals, try to create conditions for them close to the natural environment, and make every effort to preserve and reproduce rare species on the planet.
We tell you what the zoo’s scientific department is working on, why giant anteaters have become the focus of specialists’ attention, and whether it is possible to see a Pallas’s cat in the steppe.
From the South American sector to zoological books
The Moscow Zoological Garden was founded in 1864 by Professor of Natural Sciences Karl Roullier and his students Anatoly Bogdanov and Sergey Usov. From the very beginning, scientists planned to collect here rare animals, birds and fish living not only in different parts of the Russian Empire, but also in distant hot countries. Inquisitive visitors were allowed here, but the zoo was never a fairground attraction, but a serious research center.
“It is thanks to the efforts of zoos that we have managed to save species that are on the verge of extinction. Among them are the sable, the Przewalski’s horse, David’s deer, the bison, and the California condor,” says Sergei Khlyupin, head of the scientific department of the Moscow Zoo.
Today, the scientific department has a team of five employees. It also includes a sector of South American inhabitants, where giant anteaters, capybaras, llamas, vicuñas and guanacos are kept.
“For example, giant anteaters last lived in the Moscow Zoo in the late 1970s. When they were brought here again, we began collecting information about the care of these animals, observing their behavior, and sharing data with colleagues from other zoos around the world,” notes Sergei Khlyupin.
In addition, the scientific department includes a library. “It contains 16 thousand books on zoology, some of which were published back in the 19th century. The collection is constantly being expanded. Now access to scientific literature is open to everyone. You can come with your passport, sign up, get a user card and read the publications in the reading room,” says the mos.ru source.
Natural habitat
According to Sergei Khlyupin, one of the main tasks of his employees is to help preserve endangered representatives of the planet’s fauna.
“Zoos create conditions as close to natural as possible so that animals do not lose their behavioral repertoire. In this way, we will have the opportunity, if necessary, to release extinct species into the wild (this is one of the main goals of zoos), where they can survive,” notes Sergey Khlyupin.
During the day, zoologists watch animals on monitors: the broadcast from video cameras is conducted around the clock. They process the received data, enter it into computer programs and tables.
In 2024, Moscow Zoo staff began working on a project to assess the welfare of capybaras.
“We answer questions from a special questionnaire every day: how the animals behave, what they react to, how often they eat, and so on. This protocol was adapted to assess the conditions of keeping capybaras, methodological recommendations were developed, and a background assessment of the level of well-being was conducted. At the end of the year, together with colleagues from the Sakhalin and Leningrad zoos, the Limpopo zoo (Nizhny Novgorod) and the Moskvarium, we assessed the well-being of the capybaras. Next, we plan to adapt the methodology for other animals,” says Sergey Khlyupin.
The results are published in the annual collection of scientific research of the Moscow Zoo. It was first published in the 90s of the 20th century under the direction of Vladimir Spitsyn, who held the position of director at the time. The publication also includes articles from zoological organizations of the world, translated into Russian.
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The right diet for potto
The staff of the scientific department are currently preparing the next collection of scientific research of the Moscow Zoo in two volumes for publication. Among the articles there will also be works devoted to the African primates potto.
“There are six pottos in the zoo: three males and the same number of females. These are small primates native to Africa. They cannot jump and move quite slowly. Visitors are often surprised that these animals are primates. Pottos are rare representatives of the fauna, and you will hardly ever see them in other zoos. The difficulty is that these semi-apes are endemic to the western part of Central Africa, live in forests, become active at night, move silently, can sit motionless for hours, hiding from predators, and almost never come down from the trees. Therefore, it is not easy to observe them in the wild,” explains Anna Kizik, a senior researcher at the Moscow Zoo.
Previously, when pottos were brought to zoos, the animals were fed dairy products and fruits, thinking that this was suitable food for mammals from the tropics. However, such a diet led to metabolic disorders in the prosimians, and their lifespan was shortened. Employees of the scientific department of the Moscow Zoo tested more than 50 types of products and found out that the inhabitants of Africa do not like sweets, eat watery fruits from trees only in the rainy season, and in drought they feed on resin and hunt insects.
“Although they have the same conditions in the zoo all year round, the air temperature is always 23 degrees, their biological clocks work properly: pottos clearly sense the change of seasons, so they need to be fed in accordance with these internal ‘sensors’,” adds the mos.ru interlocutor.
It was also possible to find out that pottos are social animals and love to communicate with their relatives. At the same time, they can have different characters and habits. For example, some prefer to sleep longer, while others do not.
Pottos at the Moscow Zoo have created three families, and one of the females is the daughter of an older couple. “The birth of a baby is our achievement, since pottos usually do not reproduce in captivity. When we introduced the female to a single male, their relationship was very touching. At first, they looked at each other for a long time, and then the future husband gave his favorite hammock to his bride,” laughs Anna Kizik.
From the Zoo to Expeditions
Another area of activity for the scientific department employees is participation in expeditions. Thus, in the spring of 2024, a delegation from the Moscow Zoo went to the Kalmyk reserve “Chernye Zemli”.
“We usually go on an expedition when we need to help animals in trouble or collect additional information about their life in the wild. In Kalmykia, we had to assess the health of saigas and check them for infectious diseases, including pasteurellosis, which is dangerous for them. In the spring, the animals have a breeding season, during which veterinarians can notice weak individuals leaving the pack and collect the necessary material. We also visited Altai, where we discussed with colleagues the preservation of snow leopards and manuls in the wild – the rarest cats in Russia. We installed camera traps to observe them. We managed to see one manul in person, despite the fact that they almost always hide from people,” says Sergey Khlyupin.
And in October last year, specialists from the Moscow Zoo visited the Land of the Leopard National Park, the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, the Utes rehabilitation center, the Tiger Center interregional public organization, and the Primorsky Zoo in the Far East. “We discussed wolverines, Far Eastern leopards, Amur tigers, Himalayan bears, and yellow-throated martens, as well as the goals and objectives of further cooperation,” says our interlocutor.
The Moscow Zoo’s scientific department cooperates with various research institutes, reserves, national parks and other nature conservation organizations throughout the country and beyond. After all, the planet is one and maintaining its ecosystem is a common cause.
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