Askaniia-Nova Nature Reserve. A state reserve in the steppe of the Chaplynka raion in Kherson oblast. A zoo was established there in 1875 by a Prussian colonist, F. Falz-Fein, on the lands of his father, a wealthy landowner. He acclimatized wild animals from Asia, Africa, America, and Australia that were related to extinct species of steppe fauna. In 1910 Professor I. Ivanov worked at the reserve and conducted experiments in acclimatizing the Przewalski wild horse and the European bison, and in crossing the European bison with the buffalo, the bison-buffalo with horned cattle, the zebra with the domesticated horse, and so on. During the revolutionary period a local peasant, K. Siianko, who was a self-taught zoologist and Falz-Fein's assistant, saved the reserve from complete ruin. On 8 February 1921 the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic declared Askaniia-Nova a national nature reserve under government supervision. An experimental station, zoo, botanical garden, zootechnical station, and breeding farm were set up at the enlarged reserve in 1921–5 under Mikhail Ivanov. In 1932 the All-Union Scientific-Research Institute for the Acclimatization and Hybridization of Animals was established there. In 1956 the institute was renamed the M.F. Ivanov ‘Askaniia-Nova’ Ukrainian Scientific-Research Institute of Animal Husbandry of the Steppe Regions.Today the Askaniia-Nova Nature Reserve consists of a 11,200 ha section of virgin fescue-feather-grass steppe, a 23,000 ha research farm, an acclimatization zoo, and a botanical garden. The task of the reserve is to preserve and study the virgin steppe with its wild flora and fauna and to acclimatize, study, and breed plants, birds, and animals that have agricultural value. In the reserve there are about 270 species of wild bird (the steppe eagle among them), roebucks, hare, Askanian steppe bucks, bats, moles (see mole), squirrels (see Eurasian red squirrel), rock martens, and other animals. The zoo contains a unique collection of wild animals: antelopes, bison, buffalos, zebras, Przewalski horses, etc. Among the wild birds are ostriches, flamingoes, American rheas, and casuari. Experiments in hybridization are performed in the zoo. In the botanical garden the acclimatization of various trees and bushes that are suitable for foresting the dry regions of southern Ukraine is studied. About 150,000 tourists visit Askaniia-Nova every year.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Visti Derzhavnoho stepovoho zapovidnyka ‘Chapli’, 1–7 (Kharkiv–Askaniia-Nova, 1924–9)
Trudy Nauchno-issledovatel'skogo instituta gibridizatsii i akklimatizatsii zhivotnykh Askaniia-Nova imeni akad. M.F. Ivanova, 1–3 (Moscow 1935–49)
Bielozerov, S. Askaniia-Nova (Kharkiv 1960)
Treus, V.; Kramarenko, V. Zapovidnyk ‘Askaniia-Nova’ (Kyiv 1968)

E. Zharsky