On November 24 the Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve will present its works at the Darwin Museum exhibition – “Reserves of Russia: 100 years of history”.

2017 is a Year of Environment and Specially Protected Natural Areas of Russia. The new exhibition of the Darwin Museum was dedicated to this event, where for the first time all the protected jewels of the country will be presented on the same site – and there are more than 150 of them! The uniqueness of nature will be reflected in a variety of materials of the exhibition: from photos of the most beautiful landscapes of unspoilt nature of Lake Baikal, Altai, Siberia and other picturesque parts of Russia to the unique shots from forest cameras that allow to see the lives of protected by state animals with your own eyes. The protagonists of the exhibition will become the rare animals, the key role in whose salvation belongs to reserves and national parks.

At the interactive part of the exhibition, visitors can learn an educating story of one of the largest and most ancient animals in Europe – the European bison, population of which was exterminated in the 1920s. All modern European bisons descended from 12 animals living in captivity. The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve made its contribution into restoration of this species: organized in 1948, the Bison Breeding Centre has become the centre of bison breeding aiming at the conservation of insured gene pool of the species in Russia, as well as the resettlement of the animals to form sustainable populations in the wild, selective work and study.

The exhibition features two research papers from the reserve archive: the Nature Chronicle of 1948 and a form describing a section of plant association dated to July 29, 1974.

Today, the size of protected areas in Russia covers 12.2% of land and 0.7% of our country’s sea waters. The exhibition at the Darwin Museum tells about 103 nature reserves and 49 national parks in Russia, about the difficult service of their staff members, and also displays professional portraits of forest inhabitants made by naturalists and famous wildlife photographers.

The main photo by I.P. Shilenok.