A question about the Novosibirsk Zoo

No.

What is more, the zoo conceals the names of many of its animals. The manul community does not know the names of some of the manuls in Novosibirsk.

Great question. I wanted to ask the same thing: were all the names—Snezhinka, Seryi, and so on—given by the Novosibirsk Zoo, or are they popular names?

dixi, If the name is unofficial and invented, for example, by Manulomaniacs, then on the website such a name is marked with an asterisk * (for example, like Gray*

).

If there is no asterisk, it means the name is official 🤓

Vika Malyshkoverified_filled, Thank you! And what is his official name? And how do you find out their official names in the first place? For example, that Anya is Anya. Do you ask the zoo?

dixi, We most often learn the names of “historical” manuls from studbooks or clarify them directly with zoos. As a rule, we ask the Novosibirsk Zoo for the names of contemporary Novosibirsk manuls, but they are rather sensitive about this subject. Manuls are challenging animals from a veterinary standpoint, with a fairly high mortality rate, and a public name places additional responsibility on zoos in the eyes of animal lovers—based on our personal observations, not all zoos can/want to/know how to (or even have the resources to) handle this. That is why everything related to this topic requires time, patience, effort, and great delicacy 🤗

dixi, Anya’s official name is Bonya. That is what the zoo staff call her.

Julia, Thank you! And what do they call Seryy?

dixi, Unfortunately, we do not yet know his official name for certain, which is why it is not listed on the website.

We know that one of the keepers who previously worked with Pallas's cats called him Pierrot, but we do not know whether this name was officially assigned to him.

In general, a Pallas's cat may have several names... Take Zelenogorsk, for example: his official name is Green, but the staff called him Zelenogorsk or Zelya because he arrived in a transport crate bearing the inscription “Zelenogorsk.”

We strive to document the history of every Pallas's cat as accurately and reliably as possible, so it is important for us not merely to learn a name, but to understand its origin and status. We would very much hate for unconfirmed information to eventually become an accepted “fact” simply because we once published it on the website.

We very much want to build a good, trusting relationship with Novosibirsk Zoo so that, over time, we can learn more about their Pallas's cats and share it with everyone. It is not always easy, but we are working on it!

As soon as we are 100% certain of his name, we will add it to the website right away 😻

Manulizationverified_filled, Thank you so much for your work! 

dixi, You're always welcome! 😻