Steppe Mammoth - Russia

Russia, stretching across Europe and Asia, is the largest country in the world. At over 17,000,000 square kilometers, Russia is nearly as big as the combined area of Canada and China, the 2nd and 3rd largest countries. The land area controlled by the former Soviet Union consisted of over 22,000,000 square kilometers.

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Mammuthus trogontherii - The steppe mammoth is an extinct member of the elephant family and once roamed throughout Northern Eurasia during the middle Pleistocene epoch. This mammoth was the ancestral link between two other mammoths, the southern and woolly mammoth. Standing 4 meters tall, the steppe mammoth was the largest member of the elephantidae family. The tusks of an mature bull could reach lengths of 5 meters, but they did not extend out far from the body; the tusks had a sharp upwards curve.

Red Raspberry - Russia

Rubus idaeus - Red raspberries, also known as European raspberries, are perennials grown primarily for their fruit. Raspberries, blackberries, and similar plants are aggregate fruits; each edible berry is made up of several smaller fruits called drupelets. Each berry can contain more than one hundred drupelets. True berries include blueberries, cranberries, and many of the currant plants. Raspberries are grown throughout the temperate zones of the world and are an important food crop.

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The Grand Duchy of Moscow was inherited by Daniel I in 1283. It was a minor state consisting of a mere 22,000 square kilometers. Daniel I began the process of expanding the Russian state through diplomatic and military actions. By the time Ivan IV ascended the throne in 1547, the Duchy had transformed itself into the Tsardom of Russia and was enlarged to more than 4,000,000 square kilometers. In 1721, Peter the Great proclaimed his realm as the Russian Empire.

Corn Crake - Kaliningrad

The Kaliningrad Oblast is an exclave separated from Russia by approximately 320 kilometers. An oblast is a Russian term defining a political division equal to a province. The area, located along the Baltic coast, had been part of East Prussia, but was transferred from Germany to the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.

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Crex crex - Corn crakes are medium-sized rails ranging between 27 and 30 centimeters in length and weighing less than 200 grams; females are smaller than males. It is distributed along a band stretching from the British Isles to Mongolia. Birds in the extreme northern regions will winter as far as Southeastern Africa. For protection against predators, the corn crake prefers building its nest in tall vegetation. Unless breeding or forming migration groups, the corn crake is shy and solitary; migrating flocks rarely exceed 40 individuals.