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Alligator rumored to be Hitler's pet goes on display

December 15, 2020

Saturn, an American alligator that escaped death in Berlin during World War II, has gone on display in Moscow. Sometimes referred to as "Hitler's alligator," he spent seven decades in the Moscow Zoo before dying in May.

https://p.dw.com/p/3mlRU
Saturn, a North American alligator in the Moscow Zoo
From Mississippi to Soviet Russia via Nazi Germany — Saturn the alligator lived a legendary lifeImage: Mikhail Bibichkov/AP/picture alliance

Moscow's State Darwin Museum has announced that Saturn, a deceased North American alligator who spent 70 years in the Moscow Zoo, has been preserved and installed in the museum's permanent collection.

"The installation of Saturn in the permanent exhibition is the culmination of six months of work by our taxidermists and the entire museum," read a statement. The museum recently released a tweet of Saturn being installed in the North American wildlife showcase alongside bison, raccoon and porcupine.

Epic life journey

Many of the specifics of Saturn's life remain a mystery but the outlines alone make his story remarkable. Born in Mississippi in the United States in 1936, the gator, which grew to be 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long and weigh 200 kilos (441 lbs), was taken to the Berlin Zoological Garden in then Nazi Germany while still very young.

Though it is not known when exactly he entered the zoo's collection, he was there during World War II and the Battle of Berlin, when Allied bombers pounded the Zoological Gardens. Though some animals were evacuated to safety, most were killed — in all, only around 90 of the zoo's original 4,000 animals survived the war.

A few animals, however, escaped. When the zoo was bombarded on November 23, 1943, Saturn was listed as surviving but his whereabouts were unknown. He remained missing until British soldiers came across him in 1946, eventually handing him over to the Soviet Union.

Saturn was transferred to Leipzig, then in the Soviet sector of occupied German, and eventually made his way to the Moscow Zoo, where he lived for the next 70 years.

In the wild, alligators have an average life expectancy between 30 and 50 years. When Saturn died of natural causes on May 22, 2020, he was 84. Saturn outlived two female partners. Although he mated, he produced no offspring.

Adolf Hitler with dog Blondie and wife Eva Braun
Though Saturn was never Hitler's pet, the Nazi leader would have seen him at the Berlin Zoological Garden Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo

'Hitler's alligator'

Saturn has often been rumored to have been Adolf Hitler's personal pet, though experts at the Moscow Zoo contend there was never any evidence to support the claim. Nevertheless, they do acknowledge the Nazi leader would certainly have seen the reptile on one of his many visits to the Berlin Zoo.

Saturn's remains were donated to the State Darwin Museum by the Moscow Zoo shortly after he died in May. The museum, which has been closed to visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic, is scheduled to reopen on January 15, 2021