Crocodiles from Tatarskoye marsh

First record about "crocodile" belongs to German diplomat and traveler baron Siegmund Freiherr von Herberstein who visited our region. In his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (literally Notes on Muscovite Affairs), he mentioned that Byelorussians kept "some snakes with four short legs and black fat body who are more than three spans (45-60 cm) of length" as home deities.

There really were big lizards, very similar to crocodiles, about 1 meter length in Tatarskoye marsh in Minsk (at the place of modern Palace of Sport). In 1885 last crocodile of Minsk was caught. Its dummy was kept during long time in one of city's non-classical secondary schools.

Translated by Ekaterina Ludvigovna Prokopovich, Odessa

Crocodiles from Tatar Marsh

The “crocodile” is first mentioned by Sigismund von Herberstein, a German diplomat and traveller, who visited our land in XVI century. He mentioned in his “Notes on Moscovite Affairs” that Belarusians kept as home deities “some snakes with four short legs, with black and fat body, more than three spans (45 — 60 cm) long”.

Big lizards similar to crocodiles that were up to half a meter long really lived in Minsk, in the Tatar Marsh (where the Palace of Sport stands today). The last Minsk “crocodile” was caught in 1885. Its dummy stood for a long time in the Head`s office of one of non-classical secondary schools.

There is an interesting fact in the Chronicle of Novgorod, where an invasion of horrible “crocodiles” in XVI century is described. According to it, fierce crocodiles came out of the river in the summer of 1582. These monsters even invaded the Volkhov River. People in Novgorod were so scared that they prayed in churches, believing that these creatures were some kind of divine retribution. Some “crocodiles” were killed, the rest ran away. One can see the picture of these reptiles in the Chronicles. They really look much like the crocodiles we know.

Maybe these were the monsters that lived in the Tatar Marsh.

The mythology of Litvins, Belarusians, Masurs, and Samogitians is full of stories about these creatures, which our ancestors called zhivoity. Krivichi, Yoyvingians, and other Western Balts deified zhivoitys. That was the creature that Sigismund von Herberstein saw in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on his way to Moscovia. In his book “Notes on Moscovite Affairs” he wrote about the territory of the present Northern Belarus: “This territory is full of groves and woods, where one can witness scary deeds. That is the place where a lot of pagans still live. They feed at home some snakes with four short legs similar to lizards, with black and fat body. People worship them with some fear…”

Another foreigner – an Englishman Jerome Horsey – also wrote about coming across a local “crocodile” in 1589. Leaving Warsaw he saw “a dead crocodile” lying on the bank. Horsey`s servants examined that strange creature and cut it open. Horrible stench spread around, and even infected Jerome so that he had to receive some treatment in the nearest village.

A journalist of the Russian newspaper “Rabochaya gazeta” wrote in the issue dd. February 16, 2008 about coming across such a creature those days. The scientists analysed his description of the creature and came to conclusion that it could be Ichthyostega – a cross of Crossopterygians and Amphibians. But this predator lived in the marshes 300 billion years ago.

Translation by Irina Zhilko