Saturday, February 16, 2013

What's at the end of the Zoological Museum?

A live bug museum! Yes, dead animals didn't quench your excitement for Filozoa ?  That's cool, because you can watch some live bugs, just a couple more Rubles. 
I have learned that the top word, is pronounced Zoopark. If you watch Cheburashka
 you will be familiar with the word Zoopark. 

This is a view from the second floor to the first floor. I am not really sure how the divide up the floors because most buildings use the basement for cloak rooms, and water closets. 

Happy Darwin Day a couple of days ago!(2.12) This is a pretty interesting presentation. Here's hoping that's not a Piltdown man though. 

The sign reads: "Systematic collections of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and birds (left side of hall). Systematic collection of the invertebrates and expositions. Birds of the geographical zones (right side of  hall)" This was on level one, with the giant whale skeleton and Seals. 



Friday, February 15, 2013

The Zoological Museum of Russian Academy of Sciences: III The mammalian side

Most of the musuem is in Russian, so when you stumble into some English, I get super excited. It can be very difficult to go so long with so little English. Even the tourist activities lack basic English instructions. Imagine my excitement when I see English. 

Have a seat, rest yer legs! Don't worry about that pissy hungry wolf to your left protecting it's delicious meal. It's not going to leap out of the glass. By the way this was a darker corner, so the flash makes it look much brighter. It was a bit disturbing to walk into this scene. 

That's my boy, and Grandpa Sergey to the right. School kids to the right. In the middle some Polar Bears just doing there thing. 

Would you like to understand the way the whole animal classification system works? Me too, unfortunately it's in Russian so good luck with that. Wikipedia I guess? 

Look at that pile of cash! I don't know if you get a detailed enough view, but those were 10 Ruble bills. (Equivalent to .33 cents.) Also check out that super safe looking fire hydrant. That was a newer model. In the Hermitage you would occasionally see fire hoses. (Side note: people smoke in the most unexpected places in Russia. We went to a fancy pants multi-story mall and on three floors there were coffee restaurants. People were actually smoking occasionally in the restaurant, which wasn't separated from the rest of the mall. So an in the round shopping experience and every once in a while I would sniff and go, "Is that cigarette smoke" to myself. )

Large and small Rodents are trying to break out! Beware! 

Real skeleton of a Mammoth? or Similar to a Mammoth. You try and sound out Russian. 

Also other Mammoth. Yes it was large enough to cram several complete and incomplete skeletons of multiple animals. 











Thursday, February 14, 2013

Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences: Part Deux Birds addition!

I literally couldn't stop taking (crappy) pictures of the animals in glass. I lost Sergey and Loki multiple times because, Animal tableau's. There happened to be a group of school children while we were there also so their reactions also totally made it more interesting. 
There are multiple displays, and I literally could not stop taking pictures. There were multiple tableau's of animals.  
Hey kids, look at how nature works. Look at how much fun those pups are having with the feathers. This happens in real life! The kids that were touring the museum weren't at all horrified. I was amazed, and at times horrified. 

Loki looking at at tamer scene of color changing ferret like creatures. 

This was in the bird section, but I couldn't understand what they were trying to show/explain. Other than this, couldn't see any wires holding these things up. How is this possible. 

So there was actually a mix of fowls and other creatures. But apparently I went insane for the birds. 

Prior to the birds you get a view of Pinnipeds. Honestly I didn't know walruses were this big, and can you believe (according to a Futurama episode) only the largest gets to mate? 

OMG penguins, baby penguins. All under glass, all frozen. Look at the detail. (Thanks Jen Yates/EpBot/CakeWrecks) 

Kids, looking at birds frozen in glass. Every so often you would stumble into a flying bird scene. Where are the wires? 

Again another image that was unexpected but occurs naturally. Most of this is in Russian, but clearly those are vulture like birds and a dead dog. 


At some point during the evening the birds try to escape their encasement's, and fly freely. 

This was largely how the sides were set up. In the middle (see picture above of broken glass.) of the room is an aisle way and tableau's. On the sides are display cases. Each with hundreds of  animals housed inside. Again the attention to detail is AMAZING. If you notice some of the stands on the tableau's you will see tracks, or bird poop. 


OMG what's that a FREAKING DODO?! Now I understand how quickly animals went extinct in the 18th/19 hundreds. How many live birds did they have to go through to get these frozen specimens. 

A different shot of the display cases. 

I mentioned above about the bird poop/droppings. Yep, someone thought that if you are going to show birds in their environment you should include the poop. Maybe, you think this is just a rock they grabbed while snatching up a flock of birds. Nope, I would walk by displays and tableau's with details like bird poop, or blood drops. 

Finally some owls for the Owl lovers out there. Again some questions that I ask, 1) how many animals did they have to go through to get these 

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Zoological Museum of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences PART 1

I literally could not stop taking pictures of this place. These are from the first level of the exhibits. Yes it has a cloak room, yes it has gift booths, yes it has a Cafe. 

\
And yes these are the favorite dogs and horse of Peter the Great (1672-1725), yes they have been stuffed and then grouped together and then placed in a case. Yes my photo skills for taking pics of taxidermied animals is horrible. But You guys have to see these pictures. I literally could not stop taking pictures. 


Sheep Foetus in jar, next to shells/mollosks ... Why who knows everything is in Russian. 

Not just taxidermied animals, but skeltons of dead animals. 


Narwhale horns!?

Cats 

Egyptian Cats 

Cats with mice. 

Pigeons because there isn't a big enough flock following you around outside, why not dead ones inside. 



Dogs,

more dogs, 

And that friendly looking fellow. 

Chickens 

different case, more dogs. 


And some more dogs. 

Rodents and gross things. Fighting Rodents. 

Birds and predators, together. 

A fawn and a baby bear, and some insects. Together. 

This thing.