A museum in Moscow has displayed Saturn, the famous crocodile that survived the Berlin bombing during World War II, after being taxidermied following its death aged 84.
The Darwin Museum announced last week that the embalming of the beast, which was transferred from a zoo in Moscow where it stayed until its death, was completed.
"The installation of Saturn in the permanent exhibition is the culmination of six months of work by our taxidermists and the entire museum," the museum said in a statement. It said specialists began work in June, treating Saturn's scales with a special solution.
Born in the United States in 1936, Saturn was moved to the Berlin zoo where it escaped on November 23, 1943, after a Soviet bombing raid that killed several of its fellow reptiles.
In 1946, the beast was found by British soldiers who handed it over to the Soviet authorities. Its whereabouts during the intervening three years are "a mystery," the Moscow Zoo stated when Saturn died May 24.
When Saturn was brought to Moscow in July 1946, rumors began circulating that it had been part of Adolf Hitler's personal collection, the zoo said.
In the meantime, visitors will not be able to watch the crocodile despite its display in the permanent exhibition, as museums in Russia will remain closed until the lift of restrictions related to the coronavirus.
