The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve would like to invite everyone to the exhibition «Reserves of Russia: 100 years of history» at the State Darwin Museum.
In 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decrees declaring a year 2017 as a year of Ecology and Specially Protected Areas. The first event in the busy plan of events dedicated to the protection of nature was the opening of the exhibition at the state Darwin Museum «Reserves of Russia: 100 years of history», which will run until February 5, 2017.
The exhibition presents expositions of three main directions:
- Presentation of the youngest and the oldest reserves;
- Stories of people of the reserves;
- Stories about the work on the recovery of rare animal species.
The Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve has presented exclusive archived materials at the exhibition: the Nature Chronicle of 1948, a form describing a section of plant association dated to July 29, 1974 and unique photos from the personal archive of M.M. Zablotskaya, PhD in biology, which show the history of the European Bison recovery in Russia. Special attention of the exhibition is devoted to this rare epibiotic species: population of the European Bison was exterminated in the 1920s and now is making a success in recovery by hard work of the staff of the reserve in last decades. It is important to remember that all modern European bisons descended from 12 animals living in captivity.
The exhibition also features other not less interesting stories of rare species salvation. The history of the oldest Russian Barguizin reserve is related to the conservation of the sable. In 2017 this reserve celebrates its 100-year anniversary. For over 2000 years sable fur was the “national currency”, until at the beginning of the 20th century the animal came close to the edge of complete extinction. Today the population of the Barguzin sable is completely restored, and its hunting is under state control.
Predators also have suffered a lot from human cruelty. Since 2006, the Sochi National Park has started the conservation of the Persian leopard: there are only 1000 cats in the world, and just 10 of them in Russia. The largest world tiger – the Amur tiger has survived only by miracle. Thanks to the conservation work of the reserves, their population has grown from 40 to 500 animals for last 100 years.
As a part of the project at the exhibition center of the museum and in the open air, the visitors and passers-by will see more than 50 new large-format works by famous masters of the wildlife art photography – K.E. Mikhailov, I.P. Shpilenok, D.N. Kochetkov and Y.B. Shibnev. These are the photos of nature reserves and national parks in the Caucasus, Altai, Siberia, the Far East and other regions of Russia.
Briefly about the exhibition:
Year 2017 is a year of Ecology and Specially Protected Areas in Russia. The new exhibition of the Darwin Museum is dedicated to this event, where for the first time all the protected jewels of the country are presented on the same site – and there are more than 150 of them. Photos of the most beautiful landscapes of unspoilt nature of Lake Baikal, Altai, Siberia and other remote parts of Russia and the unique shots from forest cameras allow to see the lives of protected by state rare animals with your own eyes. An educational program, which includes creative and knowledge quizzes, board and computer games, was developed specially for children at the exhibition.
