E.A. Eversmann Zoological Museum and Herbarium

About museum

The Zoological Museum of Kazan University originated from the Cabinet of Natural History, or the "Natural Cabinet", provided for by the 1804 charter. Today the museum comprises eight halls on the second floor of the east wing of the university's main building. The museum's collection includes specimens from 23 animal groups. Its holdings consist of 3,500 vertebrates, 750 entomological storage units (more than 30,000 specimens), and 4,000 specimens and storage units of other invertebrates. About 1,400 items are considered especially valuable. These include the relict tuatara, a flying dragon from the island of Java, the Malayan stork-billed kingfisher, the red-breasted goose, the black vulture, the Siberian crane (sterkh), the blue-throated parrot, and the museum's pride — the South African quagga (Equus quagga). Currently there are only nine mounted specimens of this species in the world, and the only one in Russia is held by the Zoological Museum of Kazan University. Holotypes are also preserved in the museum's collections.