The Moscow Zoo was organized by the Imperial Russian Society for the Acclimatization of Animals and Plants. The beginning of its existence is associated with the remarkable names of Moscow University professors Karl Frantsevich Roulier, Anatoly Petrovich Bogdanov and Sergei Alekseevich Usov.
The area where the Old Territory of the Zoo is now located was called “Presnensky Ponds”. The rather wide Presnya River flowed here, and it was one of the favorite places for Muscovites to hang out – green hills, water meadows, and flowering gardens decorated the surrounding area. To create a zoo, this particular site was chosen by a majority vote of members of the Acclimatization Society, since it was within an accessible distance for all Muscovites, including the poor. The territory of the Petrovskaya Academy, for example, was more convenient and larger, but traveling there would be far and expensive for most potential visitors.
At the opening of the zoo, it contained 134 specimens of domestic animals, 153 specimens of wild animals and birds, and 7 specimens of reptiles. The Russian fauna was best represented: bears, wolves, foxes, badgers, ferrets, martens, hares, squirrels, hedgehogs, deer, falcons, hawks, eagle owls, owls, bustards, cranes, herons, ducks. The creators of the garden wanted to show the audience, first of all, our native nature. There were also exotic animals on display – 2 lions, a jaguar, 2 tigers, a leopard, a rhinoceros, an alligator.