The largest zoo in Russia is in the north-east of Novosibirsk. Its territory reaches 60 hectares. At present there are about 11 thousand different animals and 700 bird species at the zoo. For reference, there are only about 9 thousand birds and animals at the Moscow Zoo.
The Novosibirsk Zoo was founded in 1933 by the writer Maksim Zverev, however, before the war it was a small nursery in the center of the city. The zoo was significantly enlarged during the war. As it was in Novosibirsk that the museum valuables of Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as the animals from many zoos and circuses of the European portion of Russia were evacuated.
The full-sized zoo was created in Novosibirsk in 1947, when many animals remained there forever, however, the development of the zoo was handicapped by the smallness of its territory (less 1 than hectare) in the center of the city.
For the first time the question of the extension was raised in 1959, and though a new place was allocated, the actual construction was delayed for several decades. Consequently, at the beginning of the 90th of the past century, when the number of animals still increased and the extension became an absolute necessity, the city authorities allocated an area of 60 hectares on the bank of the Ob river in the north of the city, with a potential extension based on the Zaeltsovskiy forest areas.
The animals and birds were placed there in big open-air cages creating a spacious habitat. All of this make the Novosibirsk Zoo an interesting sight of the city, and you can visit it not only in summer but also during the winter when the heat-loving animals saunter on the snow in the open-air cages.
