The 100th Anniversary of Moscow Zoo, USSR

Another Z day and another ZOO post. Just as last time, so I really need to dig in a bit better for the next round of Z and find something different.
I do really like though this set of USSR stamps issued on 18th June 1964, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Moscow ZOO, which had an area of 10 hectares when it first opened, with 286 animals while nowadays it has over 6500 animals representing about 1000 species and covers an area of about 21.5 hectares.

Unlike the Animal Cubs from the Budapest Zoo featured in the previous entry, these animals don't come with names. However, the animals shown on these stamps are:

- The Asian elephant, the only living species of the genus Elephas, distributed in Southeast Asia, from India and Nepal in the west to Borneo in the south, enlisted as endangered since 1986.

- The giant panda, the adorable bear native to south central China. It is easily recognized by the large, distinctive black patches around its eyes, over the ears, and across its round body.

-  The Polar Bear, whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. (The total number of Polar Bears left in the world is 20,000 to 25,000)

- The moose (North America) or elk (Eurasia), which is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the largest and heaviest extant species in the Deer family. Moose are distinguished by the broad, palmate (open-hand shaped) antlers of the males, and they usually inhabit boreal forests and temperate broadleaf and mixed forests of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate to subarctic climates. Unfortunately, here we have another case where hunting and other human activities have caused a reduction in the size of the moose's range over time.

-  The great white pelican, which breeds from southeastern Europe through Asia and Africa, in swamps and shallow lakes. It has been rated as a species of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Specie.

- The Bengal tiger, which is the most numerous tiger subspecies in Asia, and was estimated at fewer than 2,500 individuals by 2011. Since 2008, it is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is threatened by poaching, loss and fragmentation of habitat. None of the Tiger Conservation Landscapes within its range is considered large enough to support an effective population of more than 250 adult individual.

- The bearded vulture, the only member of the genus Gypaetus. and the only known animal whose diet consists almost exclusively (70 to 90 percent) of bone. It lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Tibet, laying one or two eggs in mid-winter that hatch at the beginning of spring.
Populations are resident but unfortunately continue to decline. Until July 2014, it was classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as being of Least Concern; it has, however, since been reassessed as Near Threatened.

I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I am not fond of zoos, even though I may be really fascinated at how some of them are structured and maintained and all. However, I strongly believe animals should live in their natural habitats and not be confined to living in ZOOs for the sake of people's entertainment (and education).


So that would wrap up another round of the ABC edition of Sunday Stamps. For more Z-entries, check out today's episode of Sunday Stamps.