Moscow Zoo switches to spring hours

From 1 March, the Moscow Zoo will shift to a new schedule as the days get longer. Guests will be able to view polar bears, Asian elephants, Gentoo penguins and other animals from 9 am to 6 pm daily. Ticket offices will be open from 9 am to 5 pm.

“Spring is a special time in the life of the zoo. Lots of animals become more active and many of them are gearing up for the mating season and for producing offspring. You can already see the impressive sight of courtship between black swans, red-crowned (Japanese) cranes and pheasants. Lynxes, the Far Eastern leopard, Amur tigers, pumas and other big cats are also looking forward to the spring. They are starting to shed their thick winter fur for a lighter coat and spending a lot of time outdoors, soaking up the sun and playing. Even the “unsociable” Pallas’s cat (manul) makes an appearance, to the delight of the public,” said General Director of the Moscow Zoo Svetlana Akulova.

The General Director added that preparations for the new season were well under way. In the greenhouse, zoo staff have been cultivating flowers and ornamental plants that will later fill the flowerbeds all over the premises and the front garden near the Klyuev House. Shortly, cozy armchairs will return to the area and the canteen will open its outdoor veranda where guests will be able to relax and have snacks.

Hibernators will soon wake up from their winter-long sleep. Jerboas that spent the cold season in a special refrigerating chamber will be roused in mid-March. Hedgehogs, tenrecs and dormice will soon join them. Zoologists expect that in late March-early April common raccoons and raccoon dogs will start to come out of their warm houses and by late April, marmots will appear. 

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Female brown bear Roza and her Himalayan family will emerge from sleep near the end of March. As late as May, bats that city residents brought to the Moscow Zoo’s Winter Bat Care Centre will awaken. Specialists will release the wing-handed animals into the wild following a few weeks of amplified feeding and the restoration of their flying skills in an indoor enclosure.  

When a plus temperature sets in, a family of Asian elephants with calf Philemon (Filimon), who has now grown a little, will be allowed out for short walks in the outdoor enclosure. Other warmth-loving species, including capybaras, tapirs, flamingos, lowland gorillas and orangutans, will not go outdoors until mid-May.

In 2019, the Moscow Zoo marks its 155^th anniversary . Throughout the year, festive concerts, performances, quests and excursions will take place. By the end of the spring, the bas-relief featuring a Pallas’s cat will resume its place on the arch at the main entrance. This anniversary year, the rare wild feline will return as the symbol of the Moscow Zoo. Ahead of the festive date, the zoo has composed its own anthem which will go public in mid-spring.