The bison reserve in Serpukhov. Moscow region, Serpukhov district

The bison reserve in Serpukhov is located in the village of Danki (12 km from Serpukhov) in the south of the Moscow region. Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve is famous, first of all, by the fact that the central bison nursery of the Russian Federation is located on its territory. There are similar institutions in Altai and Ryazan.

Description

The bison reserve in Serpukhov has a long history. In 1861, the famous botanist N. N. Kaufman discovered on this earth rare plant species. He had like-minded people. They named their community "Oka steppe fauna".
In 1944, this territory was included in the Moscow Reserve, and three years later it was recognized as an independent park.

Officially the Terrasny Reserve (Serpukhov) was opened in 1945. At that time, it was still part of the Moscow Reserve. Three years later (1948) he officially received the status of a reserve. In the same year, the first thoroughbred bison was brought here, which was purchased in Poland. Two years later, they had jagged teeth.

The bison reserve in Serpukhov has grown three hundred and fifty thoroughbred animals in the history of its existence. Now in the nursery there are only 50 individuals. The collective of the nursery plans to increase the number of livestock to 3,000 individuals.

Climate

The terraced reserve (Serpukhov) is characterized by a temperate continental climate. Winter in these parts is moderately cold, and the summer is warm. The average annual air temperature is 3.9 ° C. The warmest month is July, the average temperature is +17,7 ° C. The coldest January is -10.5 ° C. The absolute maximum of temperatures is +38 ° C, the minimum is -43 ° C. The amount of precipitation does not exceed 550 mm per year. The warm period lasts 135 days. The snow cover appears in late November - early December, coming off at the end of April. Its thickness reaches 55 cm.

Relief

This terraced plain, gently sloping from north to south. The relief of the northern terraces does not have dune hills. Karst funnels that occur on sites with a close occurrence of Carboniferous limestones are a characteristic element of the relief of the central and northern parts of the reserve. Southern sandy terraces are characterized by the presence of sandy trees and hills (Ponikovsky and Turkish shafts). They rise 15 meters above the lower sections, hollows and depressions. They are curved by arcs, and their length reaches about 3 km.

At the high floodplain of Oka there are sites surrounded on all sides by sandy shafts. These formations are called "dolly", where a huge number of different plants grow, called "the Oka flora".

Flora

The terraced reserve (Serpukhov) has a very diverse flora. About 960 species of plants are officially registered here. Forests, in which spruce, pine, oak, linden, aspen and birch grow, occupy 93% of the territory of the reserve, which is 4,537 hectares.

The Moscow region, Serpukhov district in particular, is distinguished by prioksky burs with small areas of broad-leaved forests. They grow: a broom, a dyke dye, sedge, Veronica gray and others. On the tops of sandy trees and hills - reindeer cladonia, prealpine and forest.

Bison nursery

The Bison is Europe 's largest animal. The man almost completely exterminated him by the beginning of the 20th century. It is for certain known that the last of the bison who lived at liberty was killed in 1921 in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. In 1926 the same fate befell the three last individuals living in the Caucasus in the vicinity of Mount Alous. At that time in all zoos in the world only a few dozen bison were preserved.

Seriously, this problem in our country was taken up only after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The bison reserve in Serpukhov covers an area of 200 hectares. For animals, conditions as close to natural as possible are created. The whole territory is divided into pens, which surround the wire mesh. They are connected by long corridors.

In each of these pens there is one bison family consisting of one male, 4-5 females and bison aged up to 10 months. Then the "youth" is separated from the mothers and united into a herd of young animals. Already sent to Belarus, Ukraine, various regions of Russia, to Lithuania and other countries 328 bison.

The bison nursery (Serpukhov) is the breeding center for these huge animals, the place of scientific research in ecology, biology, bison ethology, methods of keeping them, feeding and transporting animals for natural settlement.

Excursions

The bison reserve in Serpukhov conducts a lot of explanatory work among the population. For this, regular excursions to the nursery are conducted. A group of people wishing to get acquainted with these giants is greeted by a guide, and all are sent by car to the place where animals live. The road passes through the reserve, and in some areas it is not of the best quality.

Upon arrival, the group leaves the cars, passes a special sanitary cordon. This is necessary to ensure that visitors do not bring the infection to the nursery. From now on, you are in a special zone where bison are full-fledged masters. You stroll along the alleys, which are fenced off by a powerful fence capable of withstanding the onslaught of the most powerful bull.

The easiest way to see the bison at the feeders. They do not pay any attention to tourists, behave very calmly and unperturbed.

Museum of Nature

This is a very small wooden house, which hides in the bush of lilac. There are only three rooms in it. In the first (central) you will be told about the Prioksko-Terrasny reserve, about how it was created, what tasks it faces. Here you will see a sculpture of a bison. As the guides say, this is the mascot of the reserve. All visitors must certainly touch his copper withers and stroke the horns, and in a small slot to lower the coin - to fulfill the desire.

In the second room, on the left, there is an exposition of stuffed animals that live in the reserve. It should be noted that all of them are executed very qualitatively.

In the right room the same exposition is presented, but feathered. Here there is a large artificial tree on which different birds sit.

The bison reserve in Serpukhov - how to get there?

If you are interested in this place, then for sure you are interested in how you can get there. The first way is to go by train, which departs from the Kursk railway station to the station "G. Serpukhov". The road will take you about two hours, and then you need to transfer to bus number 25 to the stop "Reserve", this way takes another 35 minutes.

Easier to reach by car. By Simferopol highway should go 97 km from the capital and follow the signs from the road to the village of Danki. At the end of it you will see a sign "Arrangement of excursions" under the signs.

The bison reserve in Serpukhov is open daily from 9:00 to 15:00. Workers recommend to come from the very morning, because at 9.00 the bison "breakfast", and at this time they come very close to the feeding troughs.

Secured territory

To reduce the impact of active human economic activity on the reserve complex, a protection zone was established in the adjacent territories, the area of which is 4710 hectares. It includes the entire floodplain Oka, the surrounding quarters of the "Russian Forest".

In the protected zone, limited economic activity is allowed. Allowed forest management, agricultural work. At the same time excavation, construction of roads, residential and industrial buildings is prohibited. The conditions of fishing and hunting are preliminary agreed with the administration of the reserve.