History behind Rhesus macaques monument in Kharkov
History behind Rhesus macaques monument in Kharkov
The history of the city of Kharkov is full of various interesting events and facts, one of which is the story of three Rhesus macaques that survived the German occupation. It was to these primates on the day of the city of 2008 that a monument was erected in the Kharkov zoo, opposite the monkey house. In order to clarify the situation, it is necessary to tell in a few words the story of the survival of Desi, Rosa and Hector – the rhesus monkeys, which survived the war time.
Having managed to escape from the zoo before it got under the wave of high-explosive shells (one of which got into the monkey house), the macaques found their salvation in the building of the administration (Gosprom). When it was especially cold they hid in attics of the houses, and with warming returned again to their shelter. Meanwhile, their shelter became one of the offices of Gosprom, where they arranged for themselves a den in the closet.
Noteworthy, in Kharkov, from the late autumn of 1941 to the spring of 1942, there was a terrible famine. Despite the plight of the occupied Kharkov and the starvation of wartime, ordinary Kharkov residents didn’t leave poor primates in distress and tried to feed them as much as they could.
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