He had survived the hell of the bombing in Berlin during the Second World War. Saturn, a legendary alligator, died at 84 years of age at the Moscow Zoo after living "a long and eventful life," the establishment said in a statement released on Saturday evening.
"Our Mississippi alligator died of old age on May 22," wrote the zoo, adding that he left "at the respectable age of around 84 years". In the wild, these alligators only live between 30 and 50 years.
Born in the United States in 1936, Saturn was then transferred to the Berlin Zoo from where he escaped after the bombing of November 23, 1943, having claimed the lives of several reptiles of this establishment. In 1946, he was discovered by British soldiers and returned to the Soviet Union, the three years of his life between these two events constituting a "mystery".
He "loved being massaged with a brush"
Saturn was taken to Moscow in July 1946 "and almost immediately a myth was born, according to which it would have belonged to the personal collection of Hitler", specifies it.
"The Moscow zoo has had the honor of hosting Saturn for 74 years and has done everything possible to treat the honorable alligator in the most caring way possible," said the Russian establishment. He was finicky when it came to meals and loved being massaged with a brush, he says.
“Saturn for us is a whole era […]. He joined us after the Victory (over Nazi Germany, editor's note) and celebrated with us the 75th anniversary of this Victory, ”underlines the Moscow zoo. "It was a great pleasure to be able to be next to him, to look into his eyes", he continues, adding: "We hope we did not disappoint him".
