Saturn, Hitler’s alleged alligator, embalmed in Moscow

Hitler’s alleged alligator is now taxidermy and will be exhibited in a museum. 

Saturn, having survived the bombing of Berlin during WWII, died last May in the Moscow Zoo, and will be on display at the State Darwin Museum in Moscow.

Saturn lived until the ripe old age of 84, and the public will have the chance to view the elderly reptile from 16 January, when the museum reopens.

Also read: Berlin's Tegel Airport closes for good

"This is a solemn moment, Saturn has its place of honor in the North American Wildlife section," the Darwin Museum writes on Facebook.  "No reptile in the museum has such a rich biography!"

A Mississippian alligator, Saturn spent his early years in the Berlin Zoo, where he was donated in 1936 shortly after his birth.  However, when the city was bombed in 1943, all trace of him was lost.

Also read: 500Kg WWII bomb unearthed in Frankfurt, thousands briefly evacuated

He was found by a group of British soldiers three years later.  It is a mystery how he survived during this time.  He was turned over to the Moscow Zoo in 1946, where he lived for the rest of his life.  Shortly after his arrival in Russia, an urban legend began to circulate that the alligator belonged to Adolf Hitler's private animal collection.  The rumor was categorically denied by the zoo.

Despite his venerable age, it is impossible to define whether or not Saturn is the world's oldest alligator.  In Serbia, at the Belgrade Zoo, there is another alligator who is about 80 years old.