It happened at last! Part 6. Barnaul.
And so here is the sixth part of my story (and I had wanted to fit it into one post).
One of the places where manuls live in the wild in Russia is the Altai region. In zoos, manul kittens are also called Altai. But our Russian manul named Altai lives in the Republic of Udmurtia (the city of Izhevsk).
If you look at the map of Russia, you will find two regions with similar names. I can’t say for sure, but I’d say Russia has one of the most complicated federal structures. I’m sure there are people here who don’t fully understand it either. So. On the map there is Altai Krai (its capital is Barnaul, and Chip lives here) and the Republic of Altai (this is where manuls live in the wild). The Republic of Altai is mountains and steppes. The Saylyugem National Park is located here, where snow leopards (irbises) and manuls live. And the republic also borders Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan, i.e. countries where manuls also live in the wild.
The Republic of Altai is a tourist destination, so I combined a visit to Chip (https://manulization.ru/manuls/chip.html) in Barnaul with a trip around Altai.
Until January 26, Chip lived in Barnaul with his sister Pepe, who has now become a star of St. Petersburg and is raising 4 children by Shu. Which means our hero is the full brother of Moscow’s Timofey.
Chip is considered very reclusive; catching sight of him is a great stroke of luck. And on August 8, luck was on my side. True, for more than two hours he never once came down from the highest shelf, but through the camera lens I managed to make him out. And the first thing that caught my eye was that he looks a couple of years older than Timofey. I can’t judge his build while he’s walking, but he was sitting on the shelf and looked very massive. Definitely bigger than summer Timofey.
That day there was a celebration at the Barnaul zoo and lots of photo spots like this one, with the words: recreate the photo:
And here is Chip’s little house itself (on the right). Yes, very modest, but there are shelves on the walls. On the left is Pepe’s former enclosure (it’s empty now, hopefully only temporarily)
Chip has alpacas on his TV. At least they don’t make that piercing noise like the goats and sheep do at Altai’s place in Izhevsk:
Don’t distract me from important business, you little humans!
What is this nonsense — I can’t get any privacy for my morning grooming!
I want to look like Grusha!
Just let me sleep already!
I liked the comment on my photo — that Chip and Timofey are like two brothers separated in childhood. One got Barnaul (not that the city is small — 600,000 to 700,000 residents, but it’s modest, far from the central part of the country. By the way, Barnaul is only a 4-hour train ride from Novosibirsk), and the other got Moscow.
Maybe Chip will be lucky enough to find a family too, since his sister managed it!😃
That’s the kind of manul pilgrimage through every zoo with manuls in Russia I made in just under two years. Naturally, my interest hasn’t faded. I’m already heading to Novosibirsk for the 8th time, but I really want to go to Yerevan to see the redheads.
Here you can find all parts of the story https://manulization.ru/manulover/l83/posts
Adding this. I also visited Chip at the end of my Altai trip on August 17, but it was raining, and in weather like that a rare manul will leave its cozy little house.
Comments 5
Congratulations on completing such an amazing quest! 🎉 Can we hope perhaps that Pepe's former enclosure might one day soon host a bride for dear Chip? 🤞
There is another even more interesting observation about the geography of Altai Krai and the Republic of Altai. After the republic separated from Altai Krai, it formally ceased to be a krai and became Barnaul Oblast. But renaming an entire oblast is very expensive, so they left it as Altai Krai, even though it contains no autonomies at all.
mnamosyna (rachael), Oh, it’s so hard to find brides these days) And Timofey still hasn’t been matched into tender fluffy paws, so Tsar Boris from Krasnoyarsk must not be left without a wife.
But maybe a second little manul will move in nearby, maybe a niece)
I’m not quite sure how to make the caption visible. Otherwise, it isn’t visible in the message.
Chip can rival Zhora in sheer toughness😁