Russia is a large country with many wonderful places. It stretches from the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Asia to the Baltic Sea in Europe, and from thecold, snowy Arctic to the sunny Black Sea coast. Russia has nearly every kind of weather. Also it has many kinds of land rocky mountains, dry empty steppes, powerful rivers, wide plains and great forests and lands of endless winter. The first national park, Losinyi Ostrov (Elk Sle) appeared in 1983. It is situated to the northeast of Moscow and a part of it in fact lies on the territory of the city.As for the animals, there are about 300 species of them, mostly birds. They are forest birds and water birds like ducks and geese and even gulls. Here a visitor can see mice, squirrels, foxes, hares, otters, wild boars, deer and elks which gave the name to the park. There are not so many elks living in the park now, only 20 or 30, but the scientists hope to see more of these beautiful and strong animals in the park in the future.