Geno the crocodile, who died in a rocket strike, will be turned into a museum exhibit
Gena, a 25-year-old Nile crocodile that died on July 5 as a result of a Russian missile strike on Dnipro, will become an exhibit at the zoological museum of Dnipro National University.
“They will turn it into a taxidermy specimen. This is very painstaking work, especially since the crocodile is large—three meters long—the largest of all known specimens found in zoos and aquariums in Ukraine. We already have preliminary agreements with the museum; we’re waiting for the specialists to return from vacation, and then we’ll transport the animal’s body. Right now, it’s frozen; it can only be thawed once, so we’re waiting until everything is ready so the specialists can begin their work,” Yerukh said.
The director noted that the museum already has one crocodile, which was donated back during the Soviet era, but it is significantly smaller than Gena. According to Mykola Yerukh, the crocodile that died as a result of the Russian Federation’s attack was of a size that animals of its species very rarely reach in captivity.
Gena was donated to the educational and research complex of the Dnipro National University Aquarium by a businessman who had received the reptile as a gift, the director explained. As the crocodile grew, it began to bite and behave aggressively. The businessman then decided to give the animal to a place where it could be provided with better conditions.
“This year, we were planning to renovate a terrarium for him, and funds had been allocated. Unfortunately, he didn’t live to see it, even though he had previously survived difficult conditions, including power outages,” Yerukh added.
According to the Aquarium’s director, the question of acquiring a new crocodile is not on the table at the moment, since the first step is to restore the facility, which was almost entirely made of glass.
Mykola Yerukh also noted that most of the aquarium’s inhabitants survived, including rare species of large fish and turtles. Although the blast wave knocked down one of the walls of the central tank inside the building, the water did not completely spill out, allowing the fish to survive.
Currently, representatives of the Aquarium are in talks with teams from similar institutions in Europe. They are discussing the restoration of the building and the assistance their colleagues can provide. The team at the Aquarium Educational and Scientific Complex has also announced a fundraiser for construction materials and supplies.
This was reported by the facility’s director, Mykola Yerukh, in a comment to Suspilne.
As a reminder, the Russian attack on Dnipro claimed the life of Gena the crocodile, who had been a symbol of the Aquarium for 25 years.
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