Zoological Center of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University started its work

16 July 2020 Department of Information and Media Communications
The Zoological Center of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology at Altai State University has started its work, uniting two laboratories of the flagship university - Museum of Nature and Altai-Falcon.

By organizing a new scientific and educational center in its structure, the management of IBB of AltSU set a goal not only to develop the scientific potential of the Institute, to improve the professional training of students, but also to continue breeding rare species of birds of prey, such as saker falcons of various colors and peregrine falcons included in the Red Book, as well as to work to form a brand in the field of zoological research. The new structural unit of the university is headed by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Sergey Snigirev.

“Our immediate plans are to improve the material and technical base of the Institute. In particular, with the support of the administrative and economic services of the university, we carried out work to assess the possibility of building a new road to the Altai-Falcon nursery for rare birds, engineering systems and life support systems of this laboratory, and its gasification. We also plan to complete the construction of an educational and laboratory building on the territory of the nursery, prepare premises for an incubator, a poultry reproduction laboratory, cold rooms for storing feed, a veterinary office and are preparing to receive a veterinary and sanitary passport of the facility, which is necessary for all poultry enterprises”, Sergey Snigirev emphasized.

In accordance with modern requirements, according to the director of the Zoological Center of IBB AltSU, now a genotypic passport must be drawn up for each bird in the nursery. In this regard, within the framework of a cooperation agreement between Altai State University and the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS, a program is being developed to determine the genotypes of falcons and to study the genetic mechanisms of their speciation. Another area of activity of the center will be osteology, which will be developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources of Altai Krai and the Region Hunting Management, replenishing the collection of the Museum of Nature with new exhibits.

“The creation of the Zoological Center, founded about a month ago, made it possible to speed up the work of the Institute in several directions at once”, says Sergey Snigirev. - At present, the Zoological Center of the Institute of Biology and Biotechnology of Altai State University is the only scientific and educational institution in the region that solves a wide range of issues. The city also has the Barnaul Zoo, which is engaged in keeping wild animals, and a private ostrich farm, but all of them solve different problems. The main task of our center is to expand scientific and educational activities on the basis of the laboratories Museum of Nature and Altai-Falcon.

The long-term plans of the Zoological Center IBB AltSU are to enter the Association of University Falconry Nurseries of the World, which so far includes only five higher education institutions, including the famous Oxford. But in order to solve this problem, the recently created subdivision of IBB of AltSU needs to achieve certain results of scientific research, improve the material and technical base of the nursery, improve the technologies for keeping and breeding birds, and solve a number of other urgent problems.

Printable version