Saturn was an American alligator residing in the Moscow Zoo. He was the subject of an urban

Saturn was an American alligator residing in the Moscow Zoo. He was the subject of an urban myth that he was previously Adolf Hitler's "pet alligator".

After hatching in Mississippi, Saturn was brought to Nazi Germany, residing at the Berlin Zoological Garden. It was here that his association with Adolf Hitler originated, as Hitler reportedly enjoyed visiting the zoo and especially liked the alligator. However, while Hitler may have viewed Saturn at the zoo, he was never Hitler's personal pet. During World War II, the Berlin Zoo was destroyed, but Saturn was discovered by British soldiers three years later. The British then gave the alligator to the Soviets in 1946. He lived at the Moscow Zoo until 22 May 2020, when he died of old age.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Saturn was described as having been 2 to 3.5 meters long, and weighed 200 kilograms (441 pounds). Like most alligators, he had green scales, a broad mouth, and yellow eyes.

BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN
Saturn was hatched in the wild in the U.S. state of Mississippi in 1936. He was captured that year and was shipped to Berlin, where he was brought to the Berlin Zoological Garden. It was from this period that the popular rumor emerged that Saturn was Adolf Hitler's "pet". This may have originated with the author Boris Akunin, a Russian writer who hypothesized in an article that this may have been the case. In actuality, he was not Hitler's personal pet, as he was on public display at the zoo. However, some sources report his display at the zoo as being part of a personal menagerie of Hitler's, while Dmitry Vasilyev, a veterinarian at the Moscow Zoo, contends that while Saturn was not Hitler's pet, the two certainly came into contact, as Hitler was known to have visited the Berlin Zoo on occasion.

During World War II, much of the Berlin Zoo was destroyed. Of the zoo's 16,000 animals, only 96 survived. When the aquarium building was destroyed by a bomb on 23 November 1943, 20 to 30 alligators and crocodiles were killed. Press reports documented that the streets near the aquarium were littered with alligator and crocodile corpses, but that some, including Saturn, had survived and were wandering through the city in search of food.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_(alligator)

TAGS: Saturn (alligator), Individual animals in the United States, Individual animals in Russia, Individual animals in Germany, Individual alligators, Berlin Zoological Garden, Animals in politics, Animals as diplomatic gifts

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