Celebrations dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Yekaterinburg Zoo were held in the city of Yekaterinburg on September 16 through 20. Over 150 guests from 66 institutions in various cities of Russia, as well as from Kazakhstan, Singapore, and China took part in the celebrations.
More than 130 guests attended the International Scientific and Practical Conference “A Zoo in the Large City”. The plenary session was opened by Svetlana Prylepina, Director of Yekaterinburg Zoo, who delivered a report “On the Development of Infrastructure of Yekaterinburg Zoo in 2015-2025”. Then, Alexey Suslov, Zoological Director of Moscow Zoo, gave a report on the activities of the EARAZA/RUZA conservation programs. Mrs Cheng Dandan, Director of the DSL Company, China, made a presentation on the very important topic: “How to use modern technologies to save energy and improve efficiency for achieving green standards.”
Conference participants showed a great interest in the presentation “Clinical Case of Adenocarcinoma of the Ear Canal in the Chimpanzee ” made by Nikita Melnikov, veterinarian of Yekaterinburg Zoo. The case was the topic of multiple publications describing the unique surgical procedure that was jointly performed on Martina-the chimpanzee by specialists from the Sverdlovsk Regional Oncology Dispensary and vets from Yekaterinburg Zoo.
Anna Postovalova, the Head of the Yekaterinburg Zoo Education Department, spoke about main areas of the Zoo’s conservation education activity.
Further work of the Conference was held in topic sessions in the facilities of Yekaterinburg Zoo. Participants of the main professional session discussed the theme of animal management, breeding and behaviour in captive environment and shared knowledge and experience in the field of veterinary care.
The session “Scientific and Education Work at Zoos and Aquariums” included not only presentations but also a master class and practical classes on the topic under discussion.
The session titled “Issues of Construction, Design, and Operation of Zoo Facilities» began with the visits to some renovated facilities of Yekaterinburg Zoo, including Zoo’s kitchen, enclosure complexes for Polar bears and brown bears, and Primate House. Particular attention in the reports was also given to the engineering and technical aspects of enclosure and exhibit design, as well as to creation of comfort housing conditions for zoo animals.
The exchange of experience allowed colleagues from different cities and countries to acquire new knowledge and initiate valuable discussions that will promote further development of zoos and aquariums.
A total of 31 reports were presented at the Conference. Conference proceeding under the same title, A Zoo in the Large City, have been published and distributed to the participants.
