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Pallas's cat Timofey will become twice as heavy, and panda Katyusha is preparing to bathe in the snow: Moscow Zoo inhabitants are looking forward to wintering
Fluffy Timosha hid a stone under himself, like a washed-out fur hat hid a three-liter bottle. And I counted the number of birds jumping on the treetops near the cage. In summer, the Pallas's cat's weight drops to 3.7 kg - the same as the weight of an ordinary house cat. He eats once a day or even when hungry. And when winter comes, you start to gain weight. The symbol of the capital's zoo will reach its peak in December, when its weight will double.
— In nature, the Pallas's cat lives in a sharply continental climate with very cold winters. There is little food, and the snow is so deep that sometimes the animals cannot even go hunting. Therefore, it gains weight as a reserve. We repeat this dynamic constantly. The Pallas's diet is the same at any time of the year. Small birds and rodents," said Mikhail Bragin, head of the mammal department at the Moscow Zoo.
At this time, the "operator" of the animals, the caretaker, entered the cage. And he left the quail on the stump. For the sake of decency, Timosha pretended to be a hunter. He formed a circle and ambushed the corpse, dragging it deeper into the pen.
The most heat-loving animals have already been moved to closed cages. Here live the giraffe linden, honey badger, meerkat, capybara, primates, anteaters and some species of birds. The jerboas will soon be in a refrigerator with a temperature of +4. This is how animals in nature imitate the mood of being in anabiosis.
- The weather is perfect for them now. Like Sichuan (the Chinese province where the bamboo bears live – author’s note), they don’t like dry, hot air. In the wild, we climb the mountains in the summer. Even in winter, nothing changes for pandas, including their diet and fur. They don’t hibernate,” says Irina Ovchinnikova, head of the Fauna Department of China.
The open-air panda enclosure will not close until the temperature in Moscow drops to -25 degrees. Chinese bears love fresh snow. Particular fun is expected from the panda Katyusha, the daughter of the man Lui (he left the family shortly after the wedding night) and the woman Dingding.
"Last winter Katyusha was very small, so we brought her a snowman, and she did not go outside. Let's go now. Pandas love to swim in the snow and dirty it with fur. For them, it's like a new smell, a new sensation in the body," says Ovchinnikova.
Most of the zoo animals are active even in winter. So, you will be able to see the leopard Mizer, the puma Gabriel, the lynx family, the wolverine Krendel, the Amur tiger Stepan, the lion family, all the inhabitants of the Pinnipeds pavilion, as well as many representatives of ungulates - alpacas, llamas, musk oxen, deer and many others.
You can now watch the zoo enclosures via online cameras. The broadcast will be from 10 enclosures: Pallas's cat, panda, elephant, lynx, honey badger, meerkat, pygmy hippopotamus, orangutan, gorilla and South American grass (capybara, llama, vicuna, guanaco).
And at this time
The polar bear Terpei lived first in Perm, and then in the Kazan Zoo. The enclosure there was cramped. In Kazan, the zoo was even fined for the inhumane maintenance of the Arctic kings. Fortunately for 23-year-old Terpei (90 years old by human standards), the program "Protection of Elderly and Helpless Animals" was launched in Russia. He was transferred to the Moscow Zoo for an honorable old age.
For now, he has been in quarantine. Then he will be released into a regular cage, where visitors will be able to see him. The bear has survived the trip well and has a great appetite. Bears Aika and Tompa smelled him and showed interest. They joke that the women at the zoo take better care of themselves. But in reality, this area requires more attention. Polar bears are lonely. And males often show aggression towards other bears.