The Zoological Museum The Zoological MuseumInformation on visiting the
Zoological Museum:
A few of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the museum each year.
"Dima" a mummified baby mammoth found in 1977. This is just one of the Zoological Institutes world-famous specimens.
Prof. Dr. R.L. Potapov, Director
S. N. Bakkal (Passerine birds-ecology); S. I. Fokin (Senior Taxidermist); N. S. Ivanov (Senior Taxidermist); B. M. Kataev (Coleoptera); V. M. Khrabryi (Aves, urban ecology); S. O. Mamonov (Principal Keeper); A. G. Pantykina (Taxidermist); E. A. Pavlova (Galliform birds-taxonomy, ecology); R. L. Potapov (Aves-taxonomy, evolution); A. Yu. Sinelshchikova (Artist); N. V. Slepkova (Octocorallia, Cnidaria); Yu. V. Starikov (Taxidermist); V. G. Vysotsky (Passerine birds-population ecology)
The Museum was founded as a separate academic institution in July 1832. In 1930, the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences was organized on the basis of the Museum's collections. Currently approximately 40,000 animals are included in the exhibitions of the Museum, and its scientific collections include more than 15,000,000 specimens. The exhibitions of the Museum are organized in two parts, systematic displays and ecological dioramas. The systematic exhibition was formed before 1930, and new exhibits have been added as a result of expeditions by staff of the Zoological Institute. The greatest changes in the systematic exhibition took place between 1947 and 1954, when the Museum was headed by Prof. V. B. Dubinin. The identity of all exhibited specimens was reevaluated and new label texts were prepared during the period from 1954 to 1964, when the Museum was headed by Prof. A. I. Ivanov.
From 1964 until 1984, the Museum was headed by Dr. D. V. Naumov. During this period introductory exhibitions of all large taxonomic groups were created, several exhibit cases showing the applied and economic roles of several groups of animals were added, and many new ecological groups and dioramas were installed. The ecological groups and dioramas included "Numbrays," "Rookery of Fur Seals," "Sea Shore Colony of Birds," and "Komodo Dragon." Also during this period many new specimens of invertebrates and fish were added to the systematic collection as a result of expeditions by the staff of the Laboratory of Marine Research to the tropical oceans as well as to the Antarctic regions. During the same interval, an exhibition illustrating Darwin's theory of evolution was reconstructed and opened. Over the past twenty years, the Museum has organized a number of large exhibitions in this country and abroad. These popular exhibitions of recent and fossil material have been successful in drawing world attention to the faunal diversity of Russia.
Since 1984 the Museum has been headed by R. L. Potapov. The Zoological Museum is comprised of the Taxidermy Department, Scientific Department, and Guide's Service. The staff includes, in these departments, seven, eight, and six people, respectively.
The Museum of the Zoological Institute is one of the largest museums of its kind in the world and the largest in Russia and in Europe. The dissemination of biological knowledge and the popularization of the biological sciences are regarded as the main objectives of the Museum's work. The Zoological Museum is extremely popular in St. Petersburg and is well-known throughout the country and abroad. Approximately 700,000 to 900,000 people visit the Museum each year. More than 4,000 tours of the Museum on approximately 20 different subjects are organized annually. The tours are intended for a wide segment of the public, from children to students and adults at different levels of knowledge.
Staff members of the Museum are available for consultations. Several dozen technicians and taxidermists from many museums in Russia and other countries received their practical training in the Museum's Taxidermy Department. E. A. Pavlova has been known for 15 years to television audiences in St. Petersburg and Moscow as a writer and narrator of a popular children's program about animals.
Museum staff members conduct their research in laboratories of the Institute. Over the past 10 years, three theses have been defended by scientists of the Museum: one by Potapov for the degree of Doctor of Science and two for the Kandidate's degree.
Each year, the staff of the Museum participates in expeditions. Their collections enlarge the systematic portion of the Museum's exhibition program and provide specimens and incentive for the preparation of new biogroup dioramas. Three joint Russian-Japanese expeditions aimed at studying rare birds of the Russian Far East have been organized and conducted.
From 1984 until 1990 approximately 30 new biogroups were prepared and put on display in the Museum. These include "The Sitka Deer," "The Asiatic Black Bears," and "Birds of the Tundra." A particularly noteworthy and popular special area, "Mammoths and the Mammoth Fauna," was added to the Hall of Mammals. "Mammoths and the Mammoth Fauna" was prepared with the participation of N. K. Vereshchagin. The latest major exhibits in this special area are a male baby mammoth found in 1977 and a female baby mammoth found in 1988.
Work on new dioramas continues. One of these, entitled "Lions" has just opened, and another, "Giraffes in Savannah," is near completion. New exhibits have been prepared under the guidance of Zaslavsky, the Museum's most experienced taxidermist.
In keeping with the primary goals of the Museum--dissemination and popularization of biological knowledge--the staff has prepared and submitted for publication a number of popular science books and booklets. These publications include: The Zoological Museum: A Brief History and Description of the Exhibition (Naumov 1980); The Zoological Museum, in Russian, English, and French texts; two volumes of The World of the Oceans (Naumov 1982, 1983); The World of Corals (Naumov, Propp, and Rybakov 1985); a new Manual on Zoology for secondary school students (edited by Naumov 1983); The Grouses (Potapov 1990); Rare Animals of Our Country (edited by Potapov 1990); Atlas and Guide to the Identification of Birds (Khrabryi 1988); and Birds of Urban Gardens and Parks (Khrabryi 1989), and The Zoological Museum, in Russian- and English-language versions (edited by Potapov 1995). Several manuals on the techniques of taxidermy have been published by Zaslavsky.
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