Huge zoo in a tiny country

Tallinn Zoo is one of the largest in the world. Its area is 89 hectares, 7900 species of animals of 347 different species are represented here. I remember forty years ago, animals huddled in terrible crowding. The cage with deer was located directly opposite the cage with wolves, and the animals experienced constant stress.

But then a huge area covered with forest was assigned to the zoo. A separate area for birds and huge enclosures for ungulates were equipped here – visitors can observe them almost in the wild. There is a whole system of ponds and several tropical houses with crocodiles, marmosets, fish and snakes. There are separate sections entirely devoted to Africa, South America, a separate mini-zoo for birds, alpine meadows for ungulates …

Visitors with children can take special carts and put the kids in them. But even for an adult who is used to walking a lot, it will be difficult to go around the entire territory and see the entire exposition in one day. Therefore, it is better to take two or three days to visit the zoo.

The Tallinn Zoo also publishes a feeding schedule for animals. You can come and be curious: who, how and how much eats. For example, on Monday you can go to dinner at the lemur vari, on Tuesday – at the African mongoose kinkajou or Senegalese galagos. And so on.

By the way, about feeding. It is known that animals cannot be fed in zoos. In the Tallinn Zoo, this is often simply impossible. The staff did a great job organizing the space.

For example, here are ungulates. Large animals that can be observed from afar. One and a half to two meters of land, thoughtfully filled with plants, separates visitors from the aviary. It can be ornamental bushes, a flower bed, low thickets of rose hips or blackberries. A meter-long nettle grows in front of the enclosure with Bukhara deer!

Well, smaller animals, as well as many predators, are generally hidden behind glass.

… I knew the deputy director of the Tallinn Zoo, Vladimir Feinstein, a huge, kind bearded man nicknamed Baron Pampa. In the nineties, the Tallinn Zoo actively cooperated with Russia in general and with Moscow in particular. Baron Pampa traveled to Moscow to meet Gerald Durrell and to the Russian North in search of polar bears. Yes, and the seals that are still splashing in the pond and attracting the attention of numerous spectators are also from Russia. And white cranes. And a snowy owl. The exposition of the Tallinn Zoo is rich and varied. And in the future, its replenishment and renewal is unlikely to do without cooperation with one sixth of the land.

Yana MAYEVSKAYA.

Photo and video of the author