“Can we climb up here?” I ask in the tone of a six-year-old child near the wooden stairs hidden in the crown of a pear tree.

“Sure, climb up,” says our guide, biologist Volodymyr Buchko. Hidden in the branches, there is a platform and a table with a bench. 

“I drink coffee here in the evening and watch animals come out into the open. There’s a ram over there and a deer…”

From the terrace on the pear tree, you can see the hilly western Ukrainian steppe, the Burshtyn Reservoir, and scattered thickets where deer, mouflons, and other animals hide from the heat. Kasova Hora Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration Center is located near the city of Halych in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, where Daniel of Galicia is a Ukrainian historical figure and the king of Rus’ (from 1253). He is described as an exceptionally gifted ruler, who built a number of cities (including Lviv), reformed the military forces, and brought European cultural influences to Ukraine. Adapted from: Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine.Daniel of Galicia once lived. Volodymyr appears to have as much right to be proud as the king, for his long-held ambition has come true here: Ukraine’s largest ungulate rehabilitation center, where animals recover and restore the steppe.

“Just mow it”

There is no entrance fee, but there is a donation box and a charity account. Right at the entrance, fallow deer are resting in the shade. They spot us and jump up. As we ascend higher, the chimneys of the Burshtyn TPP is a coal-fired power plant located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Source: Wikipedia.Burshtyn TPP and the blue reservoir on the Hnyla Lypa River appear on the horizon.

The Gorgany Mountains stretch across the skyline. From Kasova Hora (hora means “mountain” in Ukrainian), you can see far into the distance. 

Where does the name Kasova come from? In Ukrainian, it means “cash register.” What could that possibly have to do with a mountain? Locals tell a story that Daniel of Galicia once hid his treasure in one of the many caves here. However, it is more likely that the name comes from the word kosovytsia (“haymaking”). And haymaking plays an important role here!

But even if the treasures are really here, there is also a more valuable and undiscovered treasure—a rare natural area.

Kasova Hora is the largest fragment of meadow steppe in the region. “This is the benchmark for the Western Ukrainian steppe. There are other areas like this one, but they are very small,” explains Volodymyr, confidently strolling through Kasova Hora in his Crocs. “The ecosystem here is very rich. There are 380 species of vascular plants, more than 30 of which are listed in the The Red Book of Ukraine is an official national red list of the threatened animals, plants and fungi that are protected by the law in Ukraine. Source: Wikipedia. Red Book of Ukraine.”

Vsevolod Levytskyi, a nature conservation specialist of Shevchenko Scientific Society is a Ukrainian scientific society devoted to the promotion of scholarly research and publication, founded in 1873. Source: Wikipedia.Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv, was the first to want to protect this steppe. In 1936, he wrote a letter to the Metropolitan of Galicia and the Archbishop of Lviv, Andrey Sheptytsky is a priest and theologian of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church who served as the Metropolitan of Galicia and the Archbishop of Lviv from 1901 until his death in 1944. Source: Wikipedia.Andrey Sheptytsky, asking him for the land of Kasova Hora, which at that time belonged to the church. Scientists and representatives of the Greek Catholic Church gathered at a conference and jointly decided to create a nature reserve on Kasova Hora. However, World War II thwarted these plans. During the Soviet era, a nature reserve was created here after all. Initially, 7 hectares were protected, and since 1988, 65 hectares have been protected.

In other areas, people mowed hay. However, where the deer now graze, sheep were kept until the 1990s. Plowing was impossible here, as limestone and gypsum come to the surface, so a plow cannot pass. This is what saved this piece of the steppe from destruction.

In 2019, renowned botanist Yakiv Didukh visited Kasova Hora, Volodymyr recounts. He did not recognize it. The steppe had become extremely overgrown, leading to thickets and invasive species. Soon there would be nothing of value left in terms of nature conservation.

“I said we would preserve it,” recalls Volodymyr. “And Yakiv replied, ‘Take a scythe and just mow it.’” It was impossible to mow so much. That’s when I came up with the idea of creating a rehabilitation center for ungulates.

“So that they could graze and take care of the area?”

“Exactly!”

Teeth and horns vs. thickets

By eating trees and shrubs, ungulates preserve the steppe. Otherwise, the area becomes overgrown. Then, valuable species disappear, replaced by invasive species that are not characteristic of the steppe.

Volodymyr’s idea to bring ungulates to Kasova Hora was supported by IFAW, which financed the initial costs. Scientists organized an expedition there. Together, they created a project on how to manage the territory. In 2023, the Burshtyn City Council supported the project and leased the land to Volodymyr Buchko for 20 years so that the plan could be implemented under his leadership.

The restoration of an ecosystem to its original state is called rewilding. At Kasova Hora, this process was carried out by ungulates, or rather their teeth. Kasova Hora is a two-in-one project: the rehabilitation of ungulates that had previously lived in unsuitable conditions and the restoration of the steppe.

In addition, species that previously lived in Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe located in the west-central and southwestern parts of Ukraine and northeastern Moldova. Source: Wikipedia. Podillia are being returned to the wild here. This is a reintroduction.

Volodymyr, his wife—botanist Lesia Buchko— and one hired staff member work on the wide terrain. Volodymyr is presently serving in the military, thus he can only visit the reserve while on leave. It would be difficult to function without volunteers.

“UAnimals coordinates volunteers for us. And now I’ll show you how they’ve helped us!”

Volodymyr leads us to an area where cut bushes and trees are visible. This area has been cleared. Most of the branches and logs were removed by the volunteers. There are three such areas at Kasova Hora. Botanists have taken notes on them and will now monitor how the steppe gets restored in these places.

Volodymyr crouches down next to a gnawed sapling. “This tree has dried up, and that’s a good thing. Male European roe deer rubbed their antlers against it and stripped off all the bark. That’s why the tree died. We allow individual trees to grow, but if there are too many of them, the steppe becomes overgrown. If you cut down a tree, the undergrowth remains and continues to grow. But here, everything has been gnawed away, so it won’t grow anymore. In other words, roe deer regulate the ecosystem.”

Peter, Vasyl, and who else?

There is a roe deer in a small quarantine enclosure. However, this animal has not yet started working on the ecosystem. He looks like a small goat and runs to a bottle of milk to suck eagerly. “This is little Peter. He was found on Peter and Paul Day, so that’s what we named him,” says Lesia.

There are eleven roe deer at Kasova Hora. They were handed over from private keeping. “They all have the same story,” Volodymyr complains. “People come to the forest, see a baby roe deer, and take it home. The deer grows up and starts eating everything. And then we are asked to take it away, as soon as possible. No matter how much you explain that you can’t take babies from the forest, people still can’t resist doing it!”

In the neighboring enclosure, Vasyl, a deer from Boryspil, was also brought from private keeping. Right now, the deer is resting in the shade.

“Why is he in quarantine?” I ask.

“He got into a fight with another deer. We’ll release him soon. He’s actually phlegmatic and tame. When he was brought, he just stood there and didn’t want to leave the cage. To get him to walk out, you had to push him from behind. He’s terrified of machinery. Maybe he was in some kind of accident.”

The rest of the animals roam Kasova Hora wherever they want. However, the area itself is limited, covering just 23 hectares. This is how much land Volodymyr has been able to fence off so far. The ungulates live here in conditions close to their natural ones. They hide from people, and it is not so easy to see the animals.

“Kids come here and say, ‘We want to see the animals,’” shares Volodymyr. “I always tell them that this isn’t a zoo. Wild animals live their own lives, but you can walk around and look for them. Maybe you’ll find them, but no one can guarantee you that. It’s a kind of quest in itself.’”

The ungulates to the foreground  

I love quests, so we continue on our way. Ahead, a reddish, curious head peeks out from the grass. It is a female Przewalski’s horse.

She was the first resident of the center and settled here with the help of UAnimals. She used to live in the former hunting residence of Ukraine’s ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych is the fourth president of Ukraine, from 2010 to 2014. Yanukovych was removed from the presidency during the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, which followed months of protests against him. Since then, he has lived in exile in russia. Source: Wikipedia.Viktor Yanukovych. There is now a recreation park there. 

The animal had a fiery temper, so in the spring of 2022, the staff decided to put her down. Concerned people intervened, and UAnimals joined to support the animal. The organization paid for sedation, veterinary care, and transportation of the animal to the Ivano-Frankivsk region. She lived for another year at the stadium in the city of Burshtyn, as there was no enclosure yet for her at Kasova Hora.

Her neighbors are a herd of nine northern spotted deer that used to live in the Lviv region in a cramped enclosure of a recreation center. The place went bankrupt, and there was no one to take care of the animals. UAnimals, together with Volodymyr, transported them to Kasova Hora, where the deer now have incomparably more freedom. Later, one of the females gave birth to a fawn, so now there are ten animals in the herd. They share the vast territory of Kasova Hora with two other spotted deer, three European fallow deer, four mouflons, and eleven European roe deer.

The animals do not reproduce at the center, so during the mating season, males and females get separated. To do this, they are lured into a special enclosure with food. “They went in and moved in a circle. At one point, the whole herd came in, and I closed the door,“ explains Volodymyr. “The male approached the edge, so I got him in a cage and released him in a different area.” 

The animals receive basic care. They are vaccinated and treated for ticks (after being lured into the enclosure, the herd gets sprinkled with powder that protects against parasites). In winter, they are given a bit of oats and corn. In summer, they are only given salt licks. Everything else is as it is in nature. 

Souslik’s comeback: How spotted ground squirrels get reintroduced

The tin fence glitters in the sun, almost hurting the eyes. “And this is a souslik’s nest,” Volodymyr explains.

Seventy years ago, Kasova Hora and the surrounding area were full of them. Ihor, an animal expert from a local village, said that sousliks lived in the area, and he used to chase them with his friends when he was a child. The spotted souslik is more widely known as the spotted ground squirrel (Spermophilus suslicus). In Ukraine, this species is on the verge of extinction.

People were deliberately eradicating spotted ground squirrels because they caused significant damage to farms and gardens. In addition, spotted ground squirrels need steppes and meadows to survive. These are also disappearing. Unplowed land is being plowed, resulting in fewer livestock to graze and clear the overgrowth. Just a little while later the species might have vanished from Ukraine entirely. Scientists are currently working to restore it, including here at Kasova Hora. UAnimals supported the entire spotted ground squirrel reintroduction initiative.

The spotted ground squirrels that settled at Kasova Hora came from the Lviv region. The area where they lived with others of their kind was partially plowed. Experts caught several animals there and relocated them to Kasova Hora.

The so-called nest of the spotted ground squirrels at Kasova Hora manifests as an area surrounded by a metal fence. In the center of it, there is a smaller mesh enclosure. The animals lived there for two weeks, getting used to their new home. Then this mini-enclosure was opened, and the spotted ground squirrels went to explore the half-hectare adaptation enclosure.

Won’t they dig under the fence? No, because the metal is 50 centimeters deep in the ground. There is also a camera there to observe how the animals are settling in. Soon, a camera with a greater zoom will be installed.

A ground spotted squirrel scurries through the grass, but unfortunately, I am too busy examining the camera. The burrows and tunnels are clearly visible, with sunflower husks scattered here and there. “They’ve eaten everything,” Volodymyr inspects. “We give them sunflower seeds, which are quite fatty. The animals need a lot of fat to survive the winter. In nature, they eat seeds and hunt for beetles: grasshoppers and locusts.“

The spotted ground squirrels have been living here since June 1. Later, they will leave this enclosure and live at Kasova Hora, wherever they like. Volodymyr and those involved in the project want the colony to grow to at least 500 animals. For now, these few are being protected from predators.

An electric fence has been installed around the enclosure for this purpose. “If a ferret or a fox comes along, it will sniff it, get shocked, and run away. And we have a scarecrow to scare away birds,” Volodymyr points out.

Even I am scared of this “man” as he moves eerily in the wind.

“I made it move on purpose. The ground spotted squirrel’s biggest enemy is the lesser spotted eagle. It will see a person and not attack. So this ‘man’ protects our colony well.” I take a picture of Volodymyr with the scarecrow. “You can call it ‘The Two on Guard for the Spotted Ground Squirrels.’”

Euphorbia volhynica is endemic to Eastern Europe (it grows only there and nowhere else in the world). It is also a relic, a plant that existed from prehistoric times, when nature was very different. It bears witness to earlier eras.

We encounter the pheasant’s eye (Adonis vernalis). Without the blossoms, it resembles dill. It’s also known as the yellow pheasant’s eye due to its vivid yellow color. The plant is used to produce heart medicine. However, you cannot use it to brew a cup of tea for yourself. It is toxic.

Here and there, Chamaecytisus podolicus grows. It is also a local endemic species that loves rocky slopes. It is protected by international nature conservation lists. The spiky fescue underfoot feels good to the touch.

We are in Opillia, the westernmost part of the region. During past geological eras, seas covered these highlands. Gypsum and limestone formed at the bottom, resulting in rocky slopes. These places were not cultivated, therefore they became relics (they were little affected by humans and preserved many species). These are the region’s richest ecosystems, with the greatest diversity of animal and plant species.

We climb to the top. It is windy. A Eurasian goshawk is hunting above us. From the observation tower, you can see how fragile this beauty is. Right behind the fence, soybeans grow thickly, corn is visible below, and the neighboring hill is covered in bushes. “There used to be steppe on that hill too,” Volodymyr points out. “But now it’s overgrown. Either it will be plowed up, or it will turn into low-value forest.” Such forests are not rich in terms of biodiversity. There are few species of plants and animals there.

We descended for a while through purple moor grass and eagle fern. These are undesirable species here. They are not characteristic of the steppe and grow densely, suppressing other plants. “We mow the fern, but it just grows back.” Dane weed and the European dewberry are also a nuisance. Hoofed animals do not eat everything. They avoid dane weed because it smells bad to them.

“This is a bad spot,” Volodymyr nods at the eagle fern and dewberry. “But these slopes are great.” They are gray with feather grass. Przewalski’s mare appears again and watches us with her shiny dark eyes.

Beyond ungulates and spotted ground squirrels

We sit down near some piles of earth. They look as if a small excavator had been at work there. In fact, this is the work of the Podolian mole-rat (Spalax zemni). It is an endemic species, found only in the region of  Podillia. It is truly blind. Its eyes shrunk because it does not need them, as it lives underground. According to a local legend, when the mole asked God to give him sight, God ordered it to dig as many piles of earth as there are stars in the sky.

Instead, the Podolian mole-rat has long incisors, which it uses to gnaw passages in the ground. It eats the underground parts of plants. It lives alone and only meets other mole-rats to reproduce.

At Kasova Hora, “the population has miraculously survived,” says Volodymyr. There is another one in the Mykolaiv region.

Among the mammals on the mountain, there is also a team of nine hares, all undergoing rehabilitation, from different parts of the country.

Where there are many plants, there are also many insects. A rare purple bumblebee lives at Kasova Hora—the splay-footed carpenter bee (Xylocopa valga). The female builds containers from pollen for each of her eggs. At the bottom of the hill, there are wooden houses ready to welcome this rare insect.

In addition to bees, Kasova Mountain is home to the Ukraine bright bush-cricket (Poecilimon ukrainicus), which is a wingless grasshopper. Only a few individuals remain in nature due to the disappearance of the steppes. Therefore, it is listed in the Red Books of Ukraine and Poland.

Another wingless grasshopper is the predatory bush-cricket (Saga pedo). They are a girls-only club. Males exist in nature, but they are extremely rare. Reproduction occurs without their participation. New insects develop from eggs without fertilization. This type of reproduction is called parthenogenesis. Grasshoppers are predators, catching other insects from ambush.

We wander through the grass to the wild apple. Finally, a bit of shade! Volodymyr searches the ground for a ripe apple, but there is nothing there. Finally, he picks one from a branch.

“You see, the ungulates eat everything. The apples are tart, but they like them. A badger also comes here to eat. He used to live in abundance here, but poachers constantly caught him. Now they can’t do it!”

In the collapsed slopes of the mountain, there are burrows of the European bee-eater, the sand martin, and wild bees. Volodymyr and an employee created one such place for birds by hand, using shovels. Birds have indeed settled there.

While I am looking at the feather grass, I am called down to another solitary tree. It turns out that there is also a cave there. “This is the cave of the peacock butterfly. They hibernate there, and lots of them gather here,” says Volodymyr, settling down in the shade.

The peacock butterfly is a red butterfly known to all of us, and its Latin name is Aglais io, in honor of the beautiful Io, one of Zeus’s lovers.

A camera trap is hidden in the crown of a wild pear tree to monitor which birds fly here. Magpies, great grey shrikes, Eurasian goshawks, lesser spotted eagles, and thrushes are captured on camera.

Another observation point is located on a different pear tree. We climb a wooden ladder to a small terrace right in the crown of the wild pear tree. For Volodymyr, this is also a place for coffee and reflection.

Brainstorming on a tree

“There’s plenty of work to do,” says Volodymyr, leaning back on a bench where a pleasant breeze finally cools the heat. “Right now, I’m building a field kitchen for volunteers. You know, the kind with big frying pans so you can cook potatoes, just like at home.”

The man plans to set up an enclosure for animals that live in water. There have already been four cases where rescued otters could have been settled at Kasova Hora. However, there was no space, and the otters had to be sent elsewhere.

However, the main difficulty is to fence off the other areas of the plot.  Volodymyr currently leases 71 hectares of property, 23 of which have already been secured with a fence. If the same is done in other sections, males can be separated from females during mating season, and animals that cannot live together in a single enclosure, even if it is huge, can be allowed. “Someone asked me to take the red deer, but I couldn’t. He would attack everyone up here.”

By fencing off the second plot, according to the plan, the center will be able to accept another 50 ungulates.

“Everyone benefits from the existence of the center here. The community benefits because I preserve degraded land and pay land tax. And I am happy because it was my dream,” says Volodymyr.

Nowadays, tourists visit Kasova, and distinguished guests come here. However, not everyone is satisfied. Some people really want to see the animals, but this is not always possible. The animals do not sit around waiting for visitors.

School kids also come here. The local schools have introduced outdoor lessons at Kasova Hora for various grades, starting with the 6th grade. “First, we have a tour, then we sit down and talk with the children,” says Volodymyr. “We teach them to be compassionate towards wild animals. We show them how animals should live. Wild animals should live in the wild.”

“Where did you get that bite from?”

“From the marbled polecat”

“Oh, you have such interesting animals biting you. Was this somewhere in the tropics?”

“No, in Ukraine”

While waiting for the shot of a rabies vaccine in the hallway of the Kharkiv emergency room, zoologist Volodymyr Yarotskyy tried to explain to people what kind of animal had bitten him. No one there had ever heard of such a beast.

What is the marbled polecat? It is a small but mighty creature. This carnivorous animal is similar to a European polecat, but it has its own peculiarities. It has long claws, strong muscles, and can scream loudly.

Returning the marbled polecat into the wild was an adventure in itself for Volodymyr Yarotskyy. Continue reading to find out how it went. You will also find out what the marbled polecat can do and what helps and restricts its reemergence in the Ukrainian steppes.

Face to face with a beast

Volodymyr shares, “In the summer of 2020, I was leading a tour to the Homilsha Woods National Nature Park [in the Kharkiv region]. And that’s when my colleagues called me and said that they had caught a marbled polecat at the biological station of the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in Haidary is a village in the Kharkiv region.Haidary. We went there to have a look at the animal. It was in poor shape, and it bit me. I knew how to properly hold a ferret, just under its front paws. Then it can’t bite. In a marbled polecat, however, the tilt of the head is sufficient to bite your finger. The Mustelidae family, similarly to pit bulls, has the unique ability to bite through the flesh. Even though I was wearing welder’s gloves, the marbled polecat bit through them. It was my first encounter with an animal.”

The marbled polecat is a member of the Mustelidae family (aka mustelids), which includes animals that are both strong and plastic. Thus, it is related to the European ferret, marten, badger, otter, and skunk. And it has even more certain similarities to the skunk, but more on that later.

The animal’s Latin name, Vormela peregusna, comes from the Ukrainian language! The term peregusna is derived from perehuznya (перегyзня), which means “polecat” in Ukrainian. Vormela means “little worm”. Its body is very long and graceful, similar to that of a ferret or a weasel.

The species is known as the marbled polecat because of its color. The part pole, which means “chicken,” suggests that the animal is capable of stealing poultry. Yes, it did get caught doing this.

Marbled polecats prefer solitude. They spend time together only during the mating season.

In the article, Ukrainian zoologists refer to marbled polecats as the “occupied fauna”, i.e., animals that are not monitored by Ukrainian scientists. The scientific establishments, where the animal was safeguarded, are currently occupied, and the animal often shows up where there is active fighting.

Animals frequently play dead in the face of danger, a phenomenon known as apparent death. The most likely explanation is that predators are drawn to moving objects, and something that shows no signs of life will not draw their interest. However, some animals exhibit this behavior for different kinds of reasons. Certain snakes can wait for prey, whereas ants do so to avoid conflict.

Snakes, fish, insects, and mammals all pretend to be dead. For instance, possums. “Playing possum” means pretending to be dead or sleeping so that someone will not annoy or attack you. The black-footed ferret, skunk, and weasel can all do this. And the marbled polecat is an expert at playing the role of the dead.

But first, the marbled polecat will try other methods. When it detects danger, it stands on its hind legs and flashes its bright colors, which serve as a warning signal throughout the animal kingdom. In addition, the marbled polecat has special anal glands that can secrete a pungent odor. It also does this when it pretends to be dead or when it feels threatened.

Broken plans 

Volodymyr continues, “The girls placed the marbled polecat in a rabbit cage in an abandoned apartment that was cluttered with stuff.

I went to Lysychansk via Kreminna is a town in the Luhansk region, close to Lysychansk. Kreminna because I have family there. And I have a friend, Brian, from the US, who fell in love with Ukrainian forests and lived in Siverskodonetsk. I said, ‘Brian, can you give me a ride from Kreminna to Lysychansk? We need to pick up some rare animals, go to the forest, and release them. An hour there, an hour back…’ 

‘Don’t they stink?’

‘It’ll be fine.’ His wife was pregnant, and she was worried about the car being clean and her husband coming back as soon as possible.

I was going to vaccinate the marbled polecats against rabies, and I wanted to also take their paw prints and DNA material. But nope! It turned out that one of the marbled polecats had damaged the cage and gotten out. We spent three hours searching. We discovered it where half a brick had been broken off, behind the toilet. The animal curled up there, sleeping. We had to dismantle the toilet to get it out. Obviously, I was unable to do anything with the animals [vaccinate them and engage in research] because they were too frightened. We had to bring them to the forest, but I was bitten again.”

With its strong paws and long claws, the marbled polecat digs a spacious hole. Although when it is not in the mood to dig, it can sleep in someone else’s.

With the help of radio tracking, it was found that the marbled polecat covers up to one kilometer a day, rarely repeating its previous route and changing its den and territory of activity every 2-3 days. It spends time hunting, and when it is tired, it sleeps.

Temporary inconvenience

Volodymyr recalls, “When the marbled polecat bit me for the second time, I realized that I needed to get vaccinated against rabies.

Well, it’s 10 pm. We are going to an emergency room. They have no idea what the marbled polecat is there. And the rabies vaccine that was present contained six doses… Finally, they told me firmly that I needed to return for my next dose or find another vaccine from the same series.

They monitored me for two hours following the vaccination. Meanwhile, the marbled polecats were screaming. Plus, it smelled like there were skunks in the car.

Finally, when we went to release the animals, it was night . Brian brought me to Siverskodonetsk and said, ‘I’m not taking you to Kreminna, because my wife is waiting, but I’ll get you a taxi.’ And it was raining so heavily! Just a downpour! We also drove all over Siverskodonetsk in search of an ATM at two in the morning. We couldn’t see the road, there were streams of water everywhere.

In Kreminna, they quickly checked whether there was a batch of the vaccine I needed. And there was! So I got vaccinated there. And then I went home to Kharkiv and made 7 calls to get a referral for further vaccination. This is the twenty-first century, yet not everyone receives full vaccinations. People arrive on the first day, do not continue, and die from rabies.”

The boom of marbled polecats

Volodymyr elaborates, “In 2022-2023, there was a wave of mice in the trenches. At that time, there were many reports that marbled polecats were seen there. These are not very good stories, because these marbled polecats ended up in private hands. My colleagues from the NGO Ferret Galaxy and I called around to find out what the fate of the animals was. We were told that they were released. But it turned out that this was not always the case.

It happened that people realized that they could not keep a marbled polecat because it is a very special animal. Even though it appears adorable, it jumps at you, bites, and stinks. And then the animals get released. We know of two such cases.

This is the rarest species among mustelids. However, they are often captured.

Another marbled polecat I know of was in the Donetsk region. The animal was found near Kramatorsk is a city in the Donetsk region.Kramatorsk and was almost sold on the street. And then the man turned to Ferret Galaxy to consult about the maintenance of the animal… He swore that he had released the marbled polecat. But I don’t know if that really happened.” 

At the turn of the twentieth century, the marbled polecat was a common sight in the Azov steppes and on the territory of the modern Donetsk region. In the second half of the century, the animal began to die out.

The virgin steppe was plowed up more and more intensively, and cattle were grazed on what remained. The dogs that helped the shepherds herd their flocks caught wild animals in the steppes, including marbled polecats.

In the 1990s, scientists believed that only 100-150 marbled polecats remained in Ukraine. Gradually, cattle breeding in the East began to decline. And the predatory animal was seen more often. The revival of the marbled polecat began in 1998, as scientists later recorded. And since 2009, there has been a boom in the number of marbled polecats (if you can even call it that, given there have only been 29 of them identified over 43 years).

In 2010, a fight between two males was seen in Pryazovia is the geographic area of the north coast of the Sea of Azov, located in south-eastern Ukraine. Source: Wikipedia.Pryazovia, watched by another marbled polecat, probably a female. In 2016, a female was caught near Kramatorsk, which was a local sensation. According to the author of the study, 7 marbled polecats were found around Kramatorsk from 2016 to 2023.

In recent years, videos of marbled polecats from the trenches have been shared online. Last year, “a marble cat” was seen near a lake in Dnipro. And this year it was also spotted near Ukrainian military positions.

If you ever come across one, here’s a quick reminder: It is against the law in Ukraine to keep a Red List animal in captivity or to sell it.

The cover photo shows a marbled polecat at Magdeburg Zoo in Germany. Photo by Klaus Rudolph. Source: http://www.biolib.cz

What comes to mind when you think about a wild hamster? If you just imagined a Syrian hamster, which is often kept as a pet, you might get the wrong impression about its Ukrainian relative. It is a real giant among rodents, as the largest ones weigh more than a kilogram!

The European, black-bellied hamster, or common hamster, is a true fighter for a place in the sun. It will desperately chase away anyone who tries to cross its borders. However, the European hamster, despite its fiery character, is under the threat of extinction. It is marked by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species as an endangered species.

The European hamster is fond of Ukrainian gardens, so many people think of it as a dangerous pest. “According to my estimate, more than a thousand hamsters are getting exterminated in Ukraine every year,” says zoologist Mykhailo Rusin. “Sometimes a video of a wild hamster will pop up on YouTube or TikTok. Half of the comments under it are something like ‘What a cutie’, and the other half: ‘This pest must be killed immediately’. When we write that it is a Red Data Book animal, the response is usually: ‘Then come and get your precious hamster out of my garden!’” That’s exactly what Mykhailo once did and founded the Hamster Rescue Center.

The team of experts actually catches wild hamsters in the area, provides them with medical treatment, and releases them into the wild. This initiative earned Mykhailo a special award at the 2024 Animal Protection Award by UAnimals.

Ready to throw hands

Does the European hamster have the behavioral features that other animals do not?

Yes, a defense stance. If a hamster is threatened by a person or animal, it stands on its hind legs and jumps at the perpetrator, trying to drive it away. This is a very characteristic behavior.

The hamster is a greedy animal. This is an adaptation technique to life in nature. It gathers food and stuffs it behind its cheeks, then brings it to the burrow and hits its cheeks, knocking it all out. When a hamster runs with stuffed cheeks, they are wider than its body. You know, it looks like a hammerhead shark with those big cheeks.

What does a wild hamster do during the day?

Hamsters can come out of their burrows during the day, but the main period of their activity is nighttime. Then the hamster gathers food and brings it into its burrow, into a special pantry. It eats plants, but it can also eat insects, even small mice or eggs of small birds.

By the way, the hamster never crawls into the soil, eating potatoes or carrots. This is done by completely different species.

What does the European hamster do in winter time?

Normally, it sleeps. It goes through a true hibernation. The body temperature drops to 8 degrees Celsius, and the heart slows down to one beat per minute. Like all species that are inactive in winter, the hamster puts on weight in the fall. It eats a lot to store fat. It also stores food in the pantry so that it has something to eat when it wakes up.

Aggressive dating strategy 

How do wild hamsters interact with each other?

They are true loners and do not form families. The male and female live separately, and they often beat and bite each other with their paws. A female can even kill a male — this frequently happens during mating. Although males are usually bigger, females are more aggressive and fight harder.

During their stay in our center, we always put them separately to prevent fights. If they are kept in groups, there is a high chance that only one will survive.

How do they react to other species?

Wild hamsters do not run from a fight. They get into their defense stance and start jumping to defend or attack. Sometimes, a hamster tries to chase away a dog or a cat in this way. Despite this, cats often kill hamsters, and this is a big problem.

Why do wild hamsters disappear? 

We have already mentioned that the wild hamster is endangered. How critical is the situation?

It is predicted that by 2050, hamsters as a species will simply disappear. This is based on a mathematical model built on birth and death rates. The hamster is a species that produces a lot of offspring. Under ideal conditions, a female is able to give birth to babies three times a year, and each litter can contain 6, 8, or even 10 hamsters.

This used to be the case, but in the last decade, litters have been produced only once a year. The number of babies in a litter is also decreasing.

In nature, the hamster does not care much about its offspring. The female usually leaves the young in about a month. At the same time, they have a high mortality rate, primarily due to predators.

If the modeled trend continues, scientists predict that the species may disappear completely.

Why is life getting worse for the wild hamster?

The climate is warming up, and winters are now less stable. Previously, the European hamster used to hibernate in November and sleep until March. Now it’s snowing, and on New Year’s Eve it’s raining, and then it’s snowing again… And the hamster goes to sleep and wakes up.

This is a very high energy expenditure. If the hamster is constantly in this change, the animal is exhausted. European hamsters often die during the thaw.

Wild hamsters are also threatened by many pesticides in the fields. The decline of small-scale farming also plays a role here. This is very important, as hamsters have always had plenty of high-calorie food in small gardens. Now, however, they are increasingly finding themselves in huge fields planted with a single crop. This is what the animal has to eat. However, according to research by French scientists, a mono-diet worsens a hamster’s health.

Do military actions affect hamsters?

I suppose so. There was a population of European hamsters northeast of Kharkiv. And it was through the area where the hamsters lived that the offensive took place in 2022. Everything there was dug up. There were trenches everywhere, and they became traps for animals.

The main thing is the human factor. Sometimes I see someone urging people to keep European hamsters at home. Such suggestions are criminal. Ukrainian laws prohibit keeping Red Data Book species at home.

Sometimes someone either buys European hamsters or offers to pay people for them at the center. This is such a shock to me! Red Book animals and plants should not be sold, ever, and to anyone.

I’ll just have a bite —the hamster’s motto

Why do hamsters go from the meadows to vegetable gardens?

They come there to eat. This creates a dangerous trap. On the one hand, hamsters like the fact that there is a lot of varied and tasty food there. On the other hand, people want to get rid of them, kill them, because they consider them pests. Moreover, cats and dogs also try to catch them. The Hamster Rescue Center exists to safely remove the European hamster from the human area.

Hamsters love berries, fruits, and vegetables. In the garden, they nibble on the vegetable and are not interested in the stem. They like to bite into sugar beets. They especially like strawberries. The wild hamster does not eat one strawberry completely but runs around and bites a piece off many berries. Sometimes it does it also with beets, zucchini, and cucumbers.

Once in the Rivne region, people saw a hamster and told us about it. They said that it didn’t really bother them. Until they saw how many strawberries had bite marks! We caught the hamster and relocated it.

Can it make a hole right in the garden?

Yes, but this is more common in places where people don’t walk much or where the yard is neglected. For example, elderly owners can’t weed out all the wild plants, and somewhere under a pear tree a hamster digs a hole. Or sometimes it looks for a place under a shed or under an outdoor toilet.

It’s quite easy to distinguish a European hamster’s burrow, but it takes some experience. Usually, it is a large hole. Often an entire arm can go into it. The tunnel goes either vertically downward or at a 45-degree angle. If it is a hole for winter, the depth is up to two meters. There may also be a mound, especially in early spring. If the hamster hibernates there, it clears the hole and takes out the soil. 

Note that hamsters never make surface horizontal passages. Those mean that moles or voles have been at work. Or even blind mole-rats, especially if it’s eastern or southern Ukraine.

How do people usually treat wild hamsters?

A woman from Kharkiv contacted us and asked what she should plant in her garden so that hamsters could live there! It seems that her neighbors had wild hamsters. She asked, “How can I make it so that I have more wild hamsters than them?” We agreed that she would grow alfalfa in half of her garden because wild hamsters love it. This story makes me quite happy.

The point is not in saving a few dozen hamsters from gardens but in gradually changing people’s attitudes towards animals. We want to move in the direction of having people treat them with more compassion.

From the garden into the wild

Let’s imagine that I see tiny bites on vegetables and realize I have a hamster in my garden. What should I do?

I would ask you to provide some proof. Show us a photo of the animal or a video on your phone. Sometimes people manage to film the hamster. But if a person has just seen a wild hamster and can adequately describe it, then we believe them.

If we find out that it is indeed a European hamster, we first persuade people not to kill it. And then we can go to their place. There we will try to catch the animal and release it somewhere away from people.

How can you catch a wild hamster?

It doesn’t look like an action movie. The hamster is nocturnal, so what do you do? Run around at night with night vision goggles? The hamster runs, and you chase it? It does not work like that. In the daytime, we inspect the area, find traces of vital activity, and then set up special live traps. If there are burrows, we set them near the burrows.

We put bait inside. The wild hamster does not miss anything tasty, and it will definitely get in there.

People without experience should not do this, even if they have good intentions. Hamsters can die. We have never had this happen because we are professionals.

There are all sorts of methods people use, like pouring water over the holes, but it’s just cruel.

Do you immediately put them in a box and take them away from people?

We transport them in a trap, as it serves like a cage. We try to release them where there are already wild hamsters so that the animal can find a mate. But we don’t do a “hard release”, when you just open the cage door, kick it under the butt, and move on! It may look good on video, as the animal runs beautifully away from the cage. However, this method cannot be used with a hamster.

If you release a bison or a wild boar, you just open the door for it and it goes away. No one can do anything to it. But literally everyone wants to kill or eat a hamster: birds of prey, ferrets, cats. In the new territory, the hamster is disoriented. We need to give it at least a minimal shelter so that it stays a little longer at the release site.

We make a hole about half a meter to a meter deep, put the hamster in it, put food in it, and cover the hole with something heavy. Recently, we have been using paving slabs that can be bought at a hardware store. We put a small supply of food inside, such as apples, carrots, and some grain.

Within a day, the wild hamster digs its way out and begins to explore the territory. In this way, we give the animal a chance to gain a foothold in a new area, as it will immediately have a shelter. Otherwise, it will simply run away, and all the work we have done will be in vain.

The Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Center for Rare Species in Kyiv Zoo is also trying to increase the population of the European hamster. Here, we breed hamsters according to a special program and then release them into the wild. The program has been in place since 2019.

Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Center for Rare Species 

How many wild hamsters live there now?

About 30. At first there were a few captured ones. Now there are only one or two hamsters from the wild there; all the rest were born in captivity.

Do you distinguish them somehow?

They are completely different. There are phlegmatic, calm ones, and very aggressive, even hysterical ones. The males try to spend as little energy as possible, you know, there are some lazy, fat males. Females are smaller and more anxious. Although there are also calm females and very aggressive males. One male bit me many times when I was examining him or weighing him.

Weren’t you wearing gloves?

They bite through any gloves! Their teeth are so sharp that they can even pierce special Kevlar animal handling gloves.

Aren’t you afraid to take them?

I am. Those incisors penetrate very deeply. There is a technique for taking wild hamsters as safely as possible. And even then, it happens that you can’t avoid being bitten. This is a problem when you work with animals: There is always a danger that you will be bitten or scratched. That’s why we don’t allow anyone to handle wild animals, except for those people who have been trained and instructed on that.

Where do hamsters from the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Center for Rare Species end up?

We release them in the Tarutyns’kyj steppe in the Odesa region in cooperation with the organization Rewilding Ukraine. We have built enclosures for adaptation there.

Last year, we released a little over 20 animals into the wild. This year we will continue. We plan to release 50 hamsters into the steppe.

Imagine: thousands of people in a grand hall holding their breath, their eyes focused on the stage.

The hosts finally open the envelope containing the winner’s name. After a pause that feels like an eternity, they finally announce, “And the award goes to…”

One more moment, and they will say your name. Get ready to step onto the stage and claim your prize. But wait… which award is it? Let’s find out in our quiz!

Giant mutant rats and two-headed dogs — the legends surrounding Chornobyl are countless. Add to that the eerie vibe of deserted, desolate lands, and it’s no wonder tourists from around the world have flocked here, particularly fans of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series and viewers of HBO’s miniseries. 

But Chornobyl isn’t about romance; it’s about tragedy. This land suffered deeply under Soviet rule in the 1980s, and now, since 2022, it faces similar harm from its successor, russia. On the very first day of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, their troops entered the Exclusion Zone, occupying it and the Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve. They dug trenches in the Red Forest, raising radioactive dust with their heavy equipment.

Now, after liberation, Chornobyl is also a militarized zone, as Ukraine’s army works to prevent the occupation from happening again. At the same time, it remains a nature reserve. The head of scientific research at the Chornobyl Reserve and the researcher who authored the book The Terrible, The Beautiful and The Ugly in Chornobyl details the transformation of local nature from the post-disaster era to the wartime period.

After the Disaster, or the Natural Stages of Acceptance

“When the accident occurred at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, specialists and military personnel — the so-called liquidators — filled the 30-kilometer zone around it,” says Denys Vyshnevskyi, who has led the Chornobyl Reserve’s scientific department for five years.

He adds that in the first days, efforts focused on reducing radioactive emissions from the damaged reactor and minimizing environmental consequences. 

“Ukrainian zoologists and botanists who began studying the Zone after the disaster developed a timeline of the ecological consequences of the catastrophe. They identified three stages, which we now refer to as shock, reset, and stabilization,” Vyshnevskyi explains.

Shock

The first stage, which lasted a few months, saw the most intense radioactive impact on the environment. 

“During this period, within a 10-square-kilometer forested area around the station — which bore the brunt of radioactive dust emissions following the reactor explosion — the pine trees began to die. Pine is nearly as sensitive to radiation as humans. The needles lost their chlorophyll and turned a rusty red color. This became the Red Forest,” says the scientist.

Reset

Then came the reset phase, which began in the latter half of 1986 and lasted until 1991. Vyshnevskyi describes it as follows: “Certain animals left Chornobyl, typically those dependent on human presence, such as the common pigeon and the house mouse. Some livestock animals perished due to being abandoned. Wild species moved in, replacing them, since they now had more space and less competition. This led to a gradual revival of typical Polissia [natural geographic region] wildlife.”

In some cases, domestic animals turned feral, a phenomenon still observable today. “A unique ecological experiment has unfolded in Lubianka, a village near the former town of Poliske. There, a man who kept cattle passed away, and his cows have now roamed freely for five years, living like wild aurochs along the river’s floodplain,” Vyshnevskyi shares.

Stabilization

By 1991, Chornobyl’s environment had reached a stage of stabilization and gradual recovery, where changes began to follow natural processes again. Vyshnevskyi notes that since then, the Zone’s ecosystem has started to resemble Polissia’s typical landscape.

Radiobiologist Olena Pareniuk recalls that around 2010, the Chornobyl Reserve experienced a surge in wild boar populations. “At that time, protection against them was installed. The animals would break through to the Zone and gnaw everything around them. And then, due to a plague, the number of wild boars decreased dramatically. For some time there were no wolves in the Zone, and then they appeared. It was incredible to see how nature changes and regulates itself.”

However, making conclusive scientific conclusions about how nature has adapted or why remains premature. Radiobiologist Kateryna Shavanova emphasizes that three decades of research are insufficient; at least another thirty years are needed.

In reality, long-term studies have been limited. Pareniuk notes that despite inspirational discussions about Chornobyl being an open-air laboratory, consistent funding, essential for any kind of research, has always been lacking for scientists studying the area.

“Studying wildlife, and especially evolutionary changes in wildlife, requires an experiment. Not a three-day laboratory experiment but an experiment throughout the entire life cycle. No one has ever conducted such research [there] because funding is only available now and then. Such things, however, require consistency. Therefore, unfortunately, no one can say with scientific accuracy how radiation affected the fauna of the Zone. We can only conclude that the animals have adapted,” explains radiobiologist Kateryna Shavanova, though she cautions that even this observation is not scientifically definitive.

In the absence of rigorous science, pseudoscience often takes hold. It plays into myths and rumors, abundant fantasies born of fear and ignorance.

Radiobiologist Kateryna Shavanova says that there are some unscrupulous scientists who have a fairly high citation index. However, the experiments of these scientists from different countries raise many questions: “They study, for example, two pairs of animals but make large-scale and ambitious conclusions. In fact, it’s freak research, which is then used to build conspiracy theories.”

The researcher also adds that in Chornobyl studies, it is crucial to factor in not just radiation but also climate change. 

“Yes, we can observe differences between animals in the Chornobyl Zone and those outside it. But we need to understand where these differences come from — whether they’re due to radiation or other environmental factors,” she explains. 

Olena Pareniuk emphasizes that it is also essential to accept the fact that nature does not always adapt. When animals moved, they were exposed to radiation, and the next generations could no longer be viable. In this case, we will not see adaptation: nature simply wiped someone out.

Chornobyl and War

“Sometimes I want to lament how the war affected Chornobyl. To lament the mining, the fact that the reserve suffered through the fighting… But then I remember how the chalk mountain landscapes in the east are being demolished, and I realize that complaining doesn’t seem ethical,” says Denys Vyshnevskyi.

He explains that although hostilities did harm nature, they did not destroy it. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed. Over the 36 days of occupation, russian forces looted approximately two million hryvnias’ worth of equipment, stole vehicles, and damaged facilities.

Estimating environmental damage from landmines, unexploded munitions, and forest fires is more challenging. In a report on the condition of the Chornobyl Reserve after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, its employees said that russian troops were quite active in the air over the protected area. The noise from planes and helicopters causes stress to wild animals. For example, it was reported that a nilgai antelope died in the Askania Nova reserve as a result of the invaders’ flights over the reserve, causing the exotic animal to crash into the fence of the enclosure.

russian military vehicles also traversed the reserve, and Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant staff reported russian tanks moving through the Red Forest. Likely due to this, on February 24, 2022, Ukraine’s State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate detected a spike in gamma radiation near the plant.

Thus, since the liberation, Chornobyl has become a bizarre fusion of the military and the pristine. Where once there was an industrial-pristine mix, a third aspect has been added. “We visited Chornobyl in May of this year. The area is now well-prepared for defense — trenches, dugouts, mines… On the one hand, that is not what a reserve should be like. On the other hand, because of the strong defenses, the russians will not be able to break through from this direction again,” says Olena Pareniuk.

Still, researchers emphasize the importance of preserving Chornobyl as a conservation area.

“Polissia no longer exists as it once was. The swamps are drying up — climate change is doing its job. At the same time, however, swamps are an important factor that slows down climate change. Chornobyl is the area that is most strongly reminiscent of the authentic Polissia,” Kateryna Shavanova explains.

Moreover, the swamps also hinder enemy movement. Thus, restoring wetlands can enhance the defensive properties of the protected landscape in an environmentally friendly way. At least in this way, the war could have a positive impact on Chornobyl. Currently, it only causes destruction, hinders the development of the reserve, and prevents it from fulfilling its educational and research functions. 

Denys Vyshnevskyi says that the primary goal of the Chornobyl Reserve until 2006 was to overcome the consequences of the disaster. Then came the so-called empty era. Only in 2016, under the leadership of Vitalii Petruk, Director of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management, a new concept was proposed for the development of the reserve: not overcoming, but using the territory. In particular, the Exclusion Zone was to become a research site and a place for testing radiation protection technologies.

All of this is about safety, and in this concept, the workers of the reserve identified the development of safety as the main task of the Zone. Back in 2016, they had no idea how right they were.

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

Main and last images: The Exclusion Zone through the eyes of airborne assault troops. Source: WAR CREW Telegram channel

Militaries worldwide emit greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming. russia, with all its emissions caused by war, is accelerating the process even more. Meanwhile, we are no more than four years away from a 1.5°C rise in the global average annual temperature relative to pre-industrial levels.

Can anything still be done?

Olha Chevhaniuk, Head of Strategic Initiatives at UAnimals, talked about this with Lennard de Klerk live on air. We share the highlights of this conversation.  

A Little Green Capitalist

I grew up in a Dutch village with three older brothers. All of us brothers had several nicknames. One of my nicknames was Green Capitalist. Capitalist — because I didn’t mind making money, Green came because I was always concerned about the environment and cleaning up our mess.

My father had a factory. He produced packaging material for flowers, which is very fitting for the Netherlands. As a child during summers, I worked in the factory, and because of that, I became interested in the environment. You know, see all the plastic, you have waste materials… I was often working with a small recycling machine, trying to reuse the plastic materials. It was already a circular economy in the early days.

I started my studies in the early nineties when the Soviet Union fell apart. I realized that we in the West had no clue about what we called the East block, about all these different countries and nations. My parents had a satellite dish and I was playing a lot with it. I managed to get all these TV channels from Hungary, Romania, and the Baltic states. I got sort of interested in the part of Europe I knew nothing about. So, I started working in an engineering and consulting firm, which had its biggest office in Kyiv.

I knew nothing about Ukraine. I’m ashamed to say it now, but like many of us, I thought it was “sort of russia, but a little bit different.” I lived there for several years, traveled around the country, and learned about its regions and proud history, and I fell a little bit in love with the country. It was 1999-2001 — these were difficult times for Ukraine. The murder of the journalist Georgiy Gongadze happened, Leonid Kuchma was a president, so it was not always going in the right direction, but you could see a country developing so much differently from russia.

To cut a long story short, when I got back to the Netherlands, I started working for the Dutch government and got involved in climate change, helping to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

What brought you to research the impact of the war on climate change?

I live in Hungary and run a climate-neutral resort there. When the full-scale invasion started, we were able to house many Ukrainians who were on their way to Europe so that they could recover from the week in a car. I thought, what can I do besides helping refugees?

Since climate change is my expertise, I started thinking about what russian aggression does to the climate. When I started to work on this topic, I told friends and colleagues, and we realized that this was never done before — to look at the impact of conflict on climate.

The impact of this war is mostly on Ukraine’s territory. However, it also increases greenhouse gas emissions and accelerates global warming. I believe that by telling this story, we will also be able to show that russian aggression impacts the world.  

A Reminder about Climate Change

Climate change is caused by the emission of so-called greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, but we have other gases besides CO2: methane, nitrous oxide, halogenated other gases. There are also gases such as sulphur dioxide, ammonia and black carbon aerosols. They all accumulate in the atmosphere. As a result, they trap the heat of the sun. That is why the average temperature in the world is going up.

In the UN’s Paris Agreement, we agreed to limit this increase in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. We cannot stop climate change anymore, it’s too late. But if we limit it to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, it is more or less manageable.  

If we get to 2 degrees or more, we will not be able to manage it anymore: catastrophic weather events can occur. We will have people on the move, etc. 

We only have 4 years left before the amount of greenhouse gases accumulated in the atmosphere is already enough to raise temperatures by 1.5 degrees.

So, we really have to work very hard to reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. But russia, with this war, is doing the opposite — it is causing more emissions. It is basically accelerating the growth of temperature and, therefore, the impact of climate change. 

War in Ukraine and Greenhouse Gases — What’s in Common?

What are the key environmental consequences of this war?

We concluded that the total emissions caused by the war were 175 tons of CO2.

•   It is the same as the Netherlands, with 18 million inhabitants emits in a year. The Netherlands is a highly industrialized country.
•   It is the same as putting 90 million new petrol cars on the road.
•   Or building 260 coal-fired power plant units of 200 MW each.

It is significant. 

Of course, if you look at the total picture of the world’s emissions, it is relatively small. But again — you should understand that we should bring the emissions down, they should ultimately reach zero. But the war is pushing emissions in the opposite direction.

How much of an impact do the burning russian oil depots have on climate?

We looked at different categories of emissions, including energy infrastructure — all the emissions caused by the damage done to power stations. That includes the emissions from oil depots that are put burning not only in russia, but also the oil depots that russians have destroyed in Ukraine. The total impact of energy infrastructure is 10%. But if we look at burning deposits, it’s relatively small. It’s below 1% of the total.

More important is the direct use of the military. All these tanks, all these vehicles use enormous amounts of diesel and kerosene. And that causes tremendous amounts of emissions.

Are more emissions generated in russia since they are at war, increasing manufacturing and energy use?

Yes, in particular in the production of military equipment. They use a lot of steel, and steel is a very carbon-intensive material. We haven’t seen the numbers yet. Every country must report their emission numbers to the UN with a 2-year delay, and russia hasn’t published its report for 2022. But I do expect an increase there.

Where does russia rank in terms of emissions on a global scale?

The first one is China, second is the USA. russia is ranked fifth.

Ukraine is much lower, simply because it’s a smaller country.

If the war doesn’t stop, what changes will we have?

Climate change will continue. It might very well be that these extra emissions caused by russia will not impact Ukraine but will cause flooding in Bangladesh or fire in the Amazon. It’s a global phenomenon. You cannot distinguish who caused what. This is just contributing to the buildup of greenhouse gases. 

The Indirect Impact

Do you feel your studies influence decision-making? 

It’s an eye-opener. As it was an eye-opener for me to see that conflict does so much to climate.

Militaries all around the world emit much CO2, even if there’s no war. Military emissions are about 5% of the world’s total. They train, they practice using military transport…  

russian aggression made all Europe realize that we are not safe—therefore, we have to invest more in defense. Many countries in Europe are increasing military spending and investing more in military equipment. That means military emissions will also go up. With a delay, it will increase emissions worldwide.

I fully understand that climate change is not the biggest problem for Ukraine now. You are fighting to survive as a nation. This story doesn’t hit the headlines in Ukraine; I think it’s normal.

But what you see in Europe, militaries like NATO realize that they contribute a lot to climate change. One of my latest conferences was in June in Oslo, about European defense, where several militaries came together to discuss how they can reduce the environmental impact of what they do. Climate change was one of the main topics. They agree to start working on decarbonization, reducing emissions. So it is getting there.

Another interesting impact of wars is that the war also changed supply lines in the world.

russia closed its airspace above Siberia for Western airplanes. If you fly from London to Tokio, it normally takes 11 hours, but now airlines take completely different routes over Canada, which makes the flight 4 hours longer, meaning more kerosine, more CO2 emissions. We are working on getting more precise numbers of the impact on aviation.

It has parallels with conflicts around the world. For example, houthis are attacking ships in the Red Sea. A lot of marine transport is avoiding the Red Sea; it has to detour Africa, meaning more diesel and more emissions.

After the War

What impact are you expecting from your studies?

The most significant impact would be to hold the russian federation accountable for those emissions. That is a long shot. The legal system works slowly, and it would be particularly for this case. There is no precedent. It will definitely take years. But when it happens, it will show to the world that anyone will be responsible in case of this part of aggression — environmental crime.

A study published in Nature describes the total damage caused by every ton of CO2 emitted to the atmosphere: 185 US dollars. If we consider 175 million tons of CO2, we are talking about damage of almost 33 billion US dollars. This damage will happen somewhere in the world. We don’t know when or where, but it will happen.

That is the compensation we are anticipating from russia.

The idea is that part of the money goes to Ukraine to recover, for example, by replanting the forests that went up on fire because of the shelling. Also, for the reconstruction of buildings, by using less fossil fuels, less steel, but more climate-friendly materials.

The other part should go to the Global South — the developing countries impacted by climate change to improve water management, for example.  

You in Ukraine have such a strong civil society. Once this horrible war is over, reconstruction will be done in a way that is thought-through.

Civil society organizations should be very loud to the government about how to work on it. There will be a lot of money coming from the West to help Ukraine recover, but it is your role as a civil society to make sure this money is well spent.

It will not be easy, but I’m confident you will do it right in a sustainable way. You are tough cookies.

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

Main image: Lennard de Klerk. Source: Ministry of Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine

“On February 22, 2022, we were in the park on an expedition. We had come to study the population of the Red Data Book species, Crocus reticulatus. It was so quiet,” recalls Oleksandr Khodosovtsev, an employee of the Kamianska Sich National Nature Park. “That was the first time we recorded a white-tailed eagle in the park, and by evening, we reached Puhach Cape. Around 4 o’clock, we set off for Kherson. Only 36 hours remained until the full-scale invasion.”

The invaders entered Kamianska Sich on March 9. After nine months, the Ukrainian Armed Forces drove them out of the steppe in the northern Kherson region, but the park remains under threat from russian forces on the left bank of the Dnipro. Enemy drones hover over the area, and combat engineers are clearing mines by the hundreds.

The park also bears the scars of the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam, as part of the former Kakhovka Reservoir’s water area used to be part of Kamianska Sich.

How has the war altered the landscape, and how does it continue to influence it?  What is happening in this nature park under constant fire? UAnimals Media spoke to the park’s researchers, who initiated its creation — Ivan Moisiyenko and Oleksandr Khodosovtsev. Both are professors at the Department of Botany at Kherson State University.

A Diversity of the Steppes

Most of Ukraine’s steppe reserves are located on the left bank of the Dnipro River and in the south. Kamianska Sich, on the other hand, preserves steppe ecosystems on the right bank in the northern part of the Kherson region. And what a steppe it is!

“This is an area of true, or temperate, steppe,” explains Ivan Moisiyenko. However, it’s not just that. On the south-facing slopes, there are fragments of desert steppe. Its natural zone in Ukraine stretches as a thin strip along the Black Sea. In addition, the park hosts species from the meadow steppes of the forest-steppe zone, such as Stipa tirsa and the European feather grass.

“Desert steppes are located 150 kilometers to the south, while the forest-steppe lies about 200 kilometers to the north. Yet all of these are present in Kamianska Sich! This is truly a unique diversity of steppes,” summarizes Ivan Moisiyenko.

The botanist is also proud of his discovery in the park: “During an expedition, I spotted an unusual grass. It turned out to be Psathyrostachys juncea. This is only the fourth recorded site in Ukraine and the first on the right bank of the Dnipro. Usually, Psathyrostachys juncea is found in the semi-deserts of Kazakhstan.”

Overall, about 500 plant species grow in the park, 10% of which are protected.

Why has the steppe survived here? Parts of it were once used as sheep pastures, so they were never plowed. The broad Mylivska and Kamianska ravines, with their limestone slopes where the Kamianka River once A meander is a curve in the channel of a river.meandered, also remained untouched. Ivan Moisiyenko and Oleksandr Khodosovtsev proposed to the government that this area be designated a protected nature reserve. They had been studying the steppe long before the park was finally officially established in 2019. Ivan recalls, “At first, the steppe seemed just vast. But as we started studying it, we discovered it was also incredibly rich!” And not just plant-wise. 

“That Mole Vole Ruined All Our Excavations!”

“Archaeologists were excavating a Late Scythian settlement. The site was riddled with holes, like Swiss cheese. They asked, ‘What’s been digging around here?’” Ivan Moisiyenko remembers when he was surveying the future park’s territory. The culprit was the endangered northern mole vole. “That mole vole of yours ruined all our excavations!” the archaeologists complained.

Kamianska Sich is home to a large population of mole voles, a small rodent that spends most of its life underground, feeding on the roots of plants. In Ukraine, it is classified as an endangered species.

Another creature that troubles archaeologists is the solifuge, a member of the arachnid family. “This unique species comes to us from the east, from Crimea, and can be found in Kamianska Sich. They look quite terrifying as they scuttle about!” Ivan says. “We had to hide from those solifuges during our expedition in Kazakhstan. They were huge, running around at night. I even saw them in Morocco. And now they’re here in Sich!”

Ivan Moisiyenko first encountered the solifuge in the Kherson region in 2017, and it was, without exaggeration, the meeting of the century. Together with his Polish colleagues, he documented the find in the Ukrainian Entomological Journal. While preparing the academic paper, they unearthed records showing that solifuges were last seen in the Kherson Governorate in 1886-1887. No one had seen them since — until 130 years later when a solifuge was encountered near Kamianska Sich!

The Park After the Invasion

The park was liberated from russian forces on November 10, 2022. On December 1, 2022, Ivan Moisiyenko and Oleksandr Khodosovtsev made their first visit back to the park after its liberation. They were greeted by tons of trash left behind by the invaders.

“We had heard about the ‘love for cleanliness’ of the russian military, but seeing it in person… It was shocking. There was an enormous amount of household waste; about 300 tons were removed from the park,” Oleksandr recounts. Nothing remained of the park’s property — its administrative building was in ruins. During the occupation, the russians took everything: office equipment, vehicles, and boats.

During their first visit, the researchers inspected the steppe slopes of the Mylivska ravine. On their second attempt to access the same area, the military blocked them, as the site had been remotely mined with “butterfly” mines, Oleksandr explains: “It’s still inaccessible because no one has cleared these butterflies.’”

On June 30, the scientists descended to the bottom of the former Kakhovka Reservoir for the first time. “The water had receded more than 10 meters vertically. It was like some kind of Martian landscape,” recalls Oleksandr.

Another remarkable discovery was the reappearance of the Kamianka River, which had existed in this area until 1956 and now flows again through the steppe. In the 18th century, a Cossack fortress called the Kamianska Sich is an administrative and military centre of the Zaporizhian Cossacks.Kamianska Sich, which gave the park its name, stood along its banks.

“Before, we studied nature. I [focused on] lichens while Ivan [studied] plants,” Oleksandr says. “We never thought we’d end up studying the impact of war on the environment. But from our first expedition [after the invasion], that’s exactly what we started doing.”

What Is Impacting the Park’s Ecosystem?

·       ALTERED LANDSCAPE

Explosions in the steppe have left craters—areas of Bombturbation is the disturbance of soil caused by explosions.bombturbation. russian forces also dug trenches and other fortifications on the slopes of the ravines. “The worst part is that a few trenches were dug directly in the untouched, virgin steppe within the protected zone. There aren’t many, but they’re there,” Oleksandr explains.

These fortifications alter the landscape of the flat steppe. Weeds quickly take over these depressions, making it difficult for steppe plants to grow.

“And it’s also a trap for animals. Burrowing animals dig into the trenches, fall in, and can’t get out — both insects and rodents. In Kamianska Sich, even a roe deer fell into a trench and died,” adds Ivan Moisiyenko.

According to park employees, restoring the steppe will require human assistance. Trenches need to be filled in layers: soil on top and limestone on the bottom. Seeds of steppe plants should be sown into the ground. However, this can only be done after complete demining.

·     MINES

“The impact of mining on nature is minimal. In some cases, you could even say it’s positive, mostly for the plant cover, since people can no longer access these areas for illegal activities. It provides temporary extra protection for the reserve,” Oleksandr explains.

However, in mined areas, no field research or monitoring can be conducted — only remote observations are possible. In addition, animals can trigger mines. Mines also cause chemical contamination of the soil that can persist for decades.

The park is being demined by its director, Serhiy Skoryk, along with six volunteer employees who underwent training to become deminers. They carry out the demining work partly on their own and partly in collaboration with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

As of early September, 639 TM-62 anti-tank mines were discovered and neutralized in the park. The workers handed them over to the National Police of Ukraine’s Tsunami assault regiment, which is part of the separate Liut (Fury) assault brigade. These munitions will be used to liberate the left bank of the Kherson region.

·     FIRES

“Fires that occur once every 5-10 years can even benefit the steppe, but frequent fires are harmful,” says Ivan. “Grassy plants generally aren’t affected by the fires; they have underground bulbs that allow them to regenerate the following year. However, shrubs suffer because their regenerative buds are located above the ground.”

According to the scientist, fires don’t cause catastrophic damage to the steppe itself. However, the frequency of fires has exceeded the “safe” limit. The area is constantly burning due to artillery fire or explosives from drones. While the park recorded only three fires in 2021, there were 26 in 2022, 34 in 2023, and more than 30 already in 2024, with the total expected to surpass 50 by the end of the year.

Oleksandr says that fire and heat affect different elements of the Lithophytes are plants that can grow on stones without soil cover. biotopes in various ways. He studies lichens: “If lichens are exposed to thermal radiation from an explosion in the early morning when everything is moist, they will die. We studied one such explosion site and found that within a 100-meter radius of the epicenter, the trees were alive, but the lichens on them had perished.”

On the other hand, lichens that grow on limestone are incredibly resilient. “We examined a crater in the rocky steppe after a Grad [rocket] hit and just a meter from the explosion’s epicenter, we found live lichens on the stones,” Oleksandr explains.

·    DAM DESTRUCTION

“In any case, the biggest impact on the park’s ecosystems came from the destruction of the [Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant] dam,” Oleksandr Khodosovtsev asserts. The landscape has since changed, and scientists now face the question: what will become of this territory? It was a disaster for aquatic ecosystems, which have simply disappeared. “However, the recovery of terrestrial ecosystems on the former Kakhovka Reservoir’s bed is happening at a rapid pace,” Oleksandr adds.

Many have heard of the willow thickets that have sprouted from the silt on the former reservoir bed. Even botanists did not expect nature to recover at such a pace. “But the slopes covered in meters-thick layers of dead shells are slow to regrow,” says Ivan Moisiyenko.

In his view, the spread of steppe vegetation to the slopes is being hindered by a strip of willows and reeds that grew along the former shoreline. Still, Ivan is confident that a so-called Lithophytes are plants that can grow on stones without soil cover. lithophytic steppe will eventually form on the shell deposits: “This is an ideal environment for such steppes. There’s no doubt that they will recover; it will just take time. If the war ended, we could launch a project to restore the lithophytic steppe.” This would involve mowing steppe plants and scattering hay with seeds onto the shell deposits. Otherwise, weeds will take hold first, slowing the steppe’s recovery.

In 2024, botanists visited the bed of the former Kakhovka Reservoir in the Zaporizhzhia region. The area was vast: the distance to the left bank was 15 kilometers. According to the researchers, the situation in the natural environment there is similar to that in Kamianska Sich.

It turns out that the willow thickets will soon become a forest. Previously, these thickets were only called a forest metaphorically, as a true forest has different layers. Now, those layers are beginning to form. Ivan explains: “This year, we observed a more complex plant structure and the development of layers. The tallest willows have risen above the herb layer — this is now the shrub layer; bryophytes have appeared, forming the moss-lichen layer. In our classification, plants taller than 5 meters fall into the tree layer. Next year, the tree layer will definitely appear, and a forest will have formed.”

The number of plant species on the former reservoir bed has also increased. During the first expedition, 11 species were recorded. During the second, 69 species were found, and in the third expedition to the Zaporizhzhia region, around 30 more species were discovered. In total, more than 100 species of plants have appeared in the area within a year.

Additionally, a protected species, rye sedge, was found on the former bed for the first time. “This indicates that the plant cover is acquiring conservation value,” says Ivan.

“They Directed Fire at Us”

Near Kamianska Sich, the Dnipro River is 4-5 kilometers wide, with its narrowest point being just 3 kilometers and 300 meters across. “You can see people walking [on the other shore] through binoculars,” says Ivan Moisiyenko. This area is easily reachable by russian drones and artillery, which regularly bombard the park. Despite this, the park’s security service and its director, Serhiy Skoryk, remain on-site, demining the area, monitoring fires, and keeping an eye on the water bodies.

Even in demined areas, research is impossible due to the threat from russian drones. Oleksandr Khodosovtsev recalls an incident in October 2023 when a reconnaissance drone hovered over him: “They directed fire at us. Five minutes after we moved away, they fired three mortar shells at that spot.” FPV drones, which are now frequently used, can be almost undetectable, and there isn’t always enough time to react. “The only defense against them is EW stands for electronic warfare measures that can jam drones.EW, but you can’t stay in a vehicle all the time — you’ll need to step out into nature. To properly document the vegetation on a monitoring plot, you need an hour. In that time, enemy drones will definitely spot you.” As for zoologists, they haven’t even been able to conduct research in the park, as their tasks require significantly more time.

At this point, the researchers are not only focusing on nature but have also begun collecting data on human activity. This includes the memories of park employees—nature protection inspectors — who, during the occupation, assisted the Ukrainian Armed Forces in destroying a significant amount of enemy equipment.

The botanists are also searching for information about the first Ukrainian soldiers who entered Kamianska Sich after its liberation. Oleksandr explains: “We want to learn the names of the fallen Ukrainian heroes who were the first to step onto the park’s steppe slopes and honor their memory. Unfortunately, their vehicle hit a mine, and they all perished.”

Reaching the Old Riverbed

Ivan Moisiyenko and Oleksandr Khodosovtsev are determined to continue their research, and they remain hopeful that, despite current conditions, they will be able to work directly in Kamianska Sich. So far, they have managed to visit the northern edges of two ravines, which were previously inlets of the Kakhovka Reservoir. Now, they aim to reach the Dnipro River’s course.

“I think Ivan Ivanovych [Moisiyenko] and I will experience a new emotional surge when we finally reach the Dnipro’s shore in Kamianska Sich,” says Oleksandr.

The researchers are particularly eager to reach the Dnipro’s original bank, which existed before 1956 and is now once again in its original location. They hope to explore the main riverbed and observe the liberated left bank of the Kherson region from the right side of the Dnipro. 

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

There’s a persistent stereotype that swamps are nothing but rotting, darkness, and treacherous bogs that will immediately swallow you whole. I only agree with the last part: swamps do pull you in—you can’t help but want to explore their unique features more and more. This exploration is both desirable and necessary for preservation.

First, let me clarify: in this text, for simplicity, I refer to wetlands as “swamps.” Wetlands are divided into five categories: marine, estuarine, lacustrine (lake), riverine, and palustrine (marsh). All of these types are carefully protected and studied globally because they are incredibly valuable.

In fact, as far back as 1971, world leaders established the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The countries that ratified this convention committed to creating nature reserves to protect swamps. To date, 172 countries have ratified this convention—Ukraine joined in 1996. Unfortunately, not all significant wetlands have yet been designated as Ramsar sites.

So why is it so important to care about swamps? Because they are natural reservoirs of fresh water. Contrary to popular belief, the water there is not stagnant or rotten. Thanks to special soils—peats—water in swamps is naturally filtered, and the vegetation on their surface slows down evaporation under the sun.

Swamps also absorb seasonal water surpluses, protecting people from floods. They act as local temperature regulators during particularly hot periods, which is why they are so crucial in our era of climate change.

Moreover, swamps are hubs of life and species interaction. About 40% of Earth’s living organisms reside, reproduce, and feed in wetlands. Each finds a safe and comfortable niche within the waters. For example, birds like the Eurasian penduline tit, the aquatic warbler, the marsh warbler, and the great reed warbler build their nests in the heart of swamps, where it’s moist and out of reach for predators.

The Ramsar Convention particularly focuses on protecting waterfowl. And it was through birds that I became involved in wetland research. Completely by accident.

It all started with a childhood dream of buying a house by a lake. In 2019, I made that dream come true, and by the spring of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had settled near Lake Supii. The village I moved to has only one street, with gardens that lead straight to the water. This is how I became a constant spectator of nature’s theater and one morning, I witnessed something extraordinary: about 100 mute swans filled the sky and then descended onto the lake. Until then, I had only seen such sights on National Geographic. This sight moved me so deeply that I started to explore our swampy surroundings more actively. Eventually, I registered a civil society organization to study and protect the local environment.

Since then, I’ve learned that our region has a long history of swamp destruction for agricultural achievements. During the Soviet era, drainage systems were built on the Supii and most small rivers in this part of Ukraine, and the rivers themselves were straightened and channeled. Their natural winding courses were redirected through canals, and the areas where the rivers used to flow were planted with sunflowers. In this way, wetlands were industrially converted into arable land, disrupting natural processes.

I’ve met with the Ukrainian scientists who planned and implemented these drainage projects. They told me their intentions were positive: to increase crop yields and boost the country’s economy. Now, they acknowledge that even if we restore all the rivers “broken” back then, only about 20% of the ecosystem would recover. The rest is lost. Forever.

Still, agricultural machinery continues to plow closer and closer to the edges of the swamps near Lake Supii each year. To understand how this affects nature, our organization constantly monitors local biodiversity. Almost daily, we record the flora and fauna in the same areas using the iNaturalist app by National Geographic. We also track bird populations with the Merlin Bird ID app by Cornell University.

For instance, this summer, we noticed that due to plowing near the swamps, the population of the aquatic warbler has decreased. This is a vulnerable species listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

To preserve our vulnerable bird species and their habitat—the swamp—we need to create Ramsar sites on Lake Supii and other wetland areas. The Ramsar Convention must not just remain a signed piece of paper—it must be actively implemented. As an activist, I believe that what helps the most is raising awareness and fostering a sense of responsibility for nature in each of us. That’s why I never tire of explaining: swamps are valuable ecosystems, meticulously designed by nature, and our task is simply to study them without interfering.

The texts in the Columns section reflect only the author’s opinion and do not necessarily align with the position of UAnimals media’s editorial team.

The Black and Azov Seas are home to three species of dolphins, each suffering in its own way due to russian aggression. What do we already know about how military actions affect them, and how can we help nature endure? Pavlo Holdin, a zoologist, ecologist, and expert on modern and extinct marine mammals, sheds light on these issues.

Currently, there are many conflicting reports regarding the number of dolphins killed since the full-scale invasion began. Some say 50,000, others mention 60,000 or more, while some believe these numbers are exaggerated. What do you think?

Any number mentioned right now—whether it is 10 dolphins or 100,000—has no scientific basis whatsoever. In 2019, Ukrainian researchers conducted an extensive aerial survey of the Black Sea. After the war, after our victory, we can fly again and cover all our waters, including those around Crimea. That will give us an idea of where dolphin populations have increased or decreased and how many remain in total, and then we can assess how many may have died. 

Until then, I believe it is premature to draw definitive conclusions. For now, the figures we [the Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of Sea] provide relate to the bodies of animals found onshore. Of course, this assessment can and should be supplemented in the future with ecological modeling and extrapolated to estimate total losses.

So, what confirmed data do we have?

In 2022, more than 900 cases of dolphin deaths were recorded in the Black Sea region. This includes Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia. Naturally, this does not cover all the incidents, but it is a starting point for analysis and modeling. 

It is also important to note that we only work with verified photos and video recordings of deceased dolphins. Whenever we receive such materials, we verify them to ensure they are not fake, as media reports have sometimes falsely claimed sightings of dead dolphins that turned out to be from different locations or times.

Can I assume that such disinformation, especially if coming from russians, aims to undermine and discredit ecocide documentation efforts?

I do not know. But if we look at the official russian discourse, they try to downplay the scale of the deaths and claim nothing is happening, even when a dolphin carcass washes ashore in the center of Sevastopol.

There is a significant difference between their official and unofficial narratives. Their only similarity is that both are lies.

Can we identify an event or series of events that are most likely causing dolphin deaths?

The only cautious conclusion I can make is that the animals are dying for various reasons. It is unlikely we’ll find that all the deaths stem from a single cause. 

To draw an analogy, though it may seem imperfect, let us look at how war affects people. There are direct life-threatening factors, such as bombardment with various weapons. But people also die from heart attacks, strokes, or from not receiving timely medical care, lacking clean water, or from increased infection rates. 

When forensic pathologists examine the deceased, they find various causes of death, but investigators and prosecutors may conclude that the root cause is war.

The same applies to wildlife, including dolphins. There are multiple threats to their lives and health. Missile launches from surface and underwater naval vessels, whether successful or not, pose a danger. A failed missile that crashes into the sea contaminates the dolphins’ environment with rocket fuel. Even a missile that was successfully launched underwater exposes the animals to harmful noise. Speaking of noise pollution, another source is russian radar systems, which also harm marine mammals. Thus, due to the war, animals are suffering from both acoustic trauma and chemical pollution.

Stress is another threat to the animals. And it is not just the dolphins that are stressed; the fish they feed on are too. To put it simply, the fish get scared and move away, and the dolphins follow. This migration into unfamiliar conditions increases the risk of them getting caught in fishing nets.

There is also speculation that dolphins can suffer from concussions even far from combat zones. A recent article in Science suggested that mild concussions might be a possible cause of whale strandings around the world. While we need technologically complex studies to confirm this, it is not something we can rule out as being connected to the war.

The destruction of sewage systems or larger-scale events, such as the russian military’s destruction of the Kakhovka dam, is also dangerous for dolphins. These incidents release large amounts of organic matter into the sea—from agricultural fertilizers to sewage from cities. This raises the risk of infectious diseases and provides the conditions for phenomena like “red tides,” massive algal blooms. Some of these algae release toxins into the sea.

If a dolphin washes ashore in Bulgaria or Georgia, for example, can this also be linked to the war?

Biological and veterinary analyses are needed to confirm that. When we study what is happening to dolphins in the Black Sea, we must consider everything, because there are no state borders for animals. The impact might occur within our economic zone, say, halfway between Snake Island and Crimea, but the aftermath could manifest in Bulgaria or Turkey.

Then, it is important to establish cooperation with other countries to jointly assess the effects of the war on marine animals. Is such cooperation in place, and how does it work?

Yes, cooperation has been established. Colleagues in Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Georgia perform autopsies on dead dolphins, conduct laboratory analyses, and share their data and findings with us. 

However, as in Ukraine, the capabilities for such research are limited in all Black Sea countries: no government funds autopsies or analyses. Scientists carry out these studies only when they can and out of their own initiative. 

Considering that dolphin bodies decompose quickly, very few are suitable for autopsy. As a result, the data we receive is quite scarce.

As far as I know, dolphins are at the top of the food chain. How does their death affect the Black Sea ecosystem?

Yes, dolphins are at the top of the food web. We use the term “web” because it is not a single chain but a network of interconnected chains. 

Dolphins are considered keystone species, meaning that top predators like them stabilize entire ecosystems. In the Black Sea, dolphins regulate fish populations, and in turn, fish control the populations of zooplankton, phytoplankton, crustaceans, etc.

So, if dolphins are absent (or too few), fish begin reproducing uncontrollably. When there are too many fish, they deplete zooplankton, and that leads to the unchecked growth of microalgae. The toxins from these algae can kill both zooplankton and fish. In the end, we end up with a sea overrun by algae where little else can survive. 

Moreover, when dolphins die out, their place is often taken by jellyfish or, even worse, comb jellies. There have been cases in history where the mass death of dolphins led to ecological disasters.

In the 80s and 90s, up to 90% of Black Sea dolphins perished. This was caused by the dolphin hunting industry, which thrived until 1983. Around the same time, a species of comb jelly, Mnemiopsis, entered the Black Sea through ballast water. With no competition, it multiplied rapidly—an aggressive spread of an alien species is known scientifically as a bioinvasion. As a result, in the 1990s, Mnemiopsis consumed the eggs of almost all common fish species, and anchovy catches dropped 100 to 200 times by 1991. It was even said the Black Sea could become a dead one.

Ironically, the dolphin population recovered partly due to another bioinvasion, an accidental one at that. In 1997–1999, another species of comb jelly, Beroe, was introduced into the Black Sea, and it fed on Mnemiopsis.

In your opinion, how difficult will it be to restore the dolphin population after the war?

Ukraine is home to various dolphin populations. We have three species: the harbor porpoise, the common dolphin, and the bottlenose dolphin. Each species has its own life cycle, lifespan, reproduction rate, and so forth.

As of now, the common dolphin, is doing relatively well. This species is mostly found in the open sea and stays away from the coast.

On the other hand, the harbor porpoise suffers greatly due to human activity. Although no one hunts it intentionally, it often gets accidentally caught in fishing nets. Each year, 12,000–16,000 porpoises die this way, one of the highest rates in the world. Due to this constant pressure, porpoises reproduce quickly: females give birth almost every year and reach sexual maturity at just three years of age, or perhaps even earlier now.

In contrast, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin reproduces much more slowly, giving birth only once every three years, and reaching sexual maturity at 5–6 years, sometimes even later. This species is listed as endangered and is the largest dolphin in our waters with the smallest population.

Bottlenose dolphins are divided into several local groups. Some groups can be large, numbering in the hundreds, while others are much smaller. For example, near Dzharylhach Island, between 2016 and 2020, we studied a group of fewer than 50 bottlenose dolphins.

Bottlenose dolphins have strong cultural traditions and sophisticated social relationships—they are highly attached to their home territory. If some russian soldiers were to shoot them near Dzharylhach, the dolphins would simply disappear from that area, leaving it desolate for decades.

Therefore, even if we assume that the overall dolphin population in the Black Sea recovers, it does not mean that each small group of bottlenose dolphins will survive. It is entirely possible that while things may look fine in the center of the sea, the situation near the shores—particularly near our shores—will be much worse. And it is crucial to understand this: the bottlenose dolphin population cannot be replenished in captivity. Second-generation offspring simply do not get born in captivity.

Thus, bottlenose dolphins are the most at risk, especially in peripheral areas where fighting occurs, and even in areas without direct combat.

What non-combat measures negatively affect them?

The russians are distorting nature. They do not just destroy dams—they build new ones, and that is bad.

They constructed a causeway between Dzharylhach Island and the occupied mainland of Ukraine. Fortunately, nature took care of it: in 2023, a massive storm washed it away. But that causeway posed a threat to the Dzharylhach Bay ecosystem by blocking the water exchange with the open sea.

As for the Kerch Bridge, it does not just threaten nature—it has already caused harm. 

Firstly, its construction generated severe acoustic pollution, harmful to dolphins.

Secondly, there is now a dam between Tuzla Island and the Caucasian shore, damaging the ecosystem of the Taman Bay and the Kerch Strait, where small herds of bottlenose dolphins live. It also endangers the entire ecosystem of the Sea of Azov, home to a unique population of harbor porpoises.

What can Ukraine do to protect Black Sea marine mammals? How can we at least reduce our own negative impact on them?

Scientists propose three main areas of work, which align with the international convention that came into force in Ukraine back in 2003.

• The first is to reduce accidental dolphin deaths. We can learn from the experience of Romania and Bulgaria, where special devices are installed on fishing nets to deter harbor porpoises.
• The second is to expand the network of protected areas. This requires political will since it requires legislative changes. It is crucial to start this process now, even during the war, and especially to create these protected marine areas in Crimean waters.
• The third area is to strengthen government control over pollution sources—biological, chemical, and acoustic. This is not about punishment but about systemic recommendations. In other words, experts should be present to say, “Do not operate here right now because fish are coming,” or “This area is clear for operations.”

Will the abolition of dolphinariums affect the dolphin population? 

It will, and significantly. We do not have large herds of bottlenose dolphins like in the Pacific, where they number in the thousands. Our groups are small, each with its own routes and feeding grounds. When a dolphinarium poacher catches five bottlenose dolphins, it can have fatal consequences for the entire group.

For our country, dolphinariums are evil. Public pressure is key here—going to dolphinariums should become bad taste.

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

Main photo: NGL media. Photographer: Maxym Kozmenko

One of the most pervasive myths about the Middle Ages is the claim that cats were treated horribly during that era. Of course, the image of black cats suffering in the flames alongside their witch owners provides a compelling representation of the so-called “Dark Ages.” However, like many other myths, the idea that medieval people universally hated cats does not hold up under the scrutiny of historical sources. These sources, in fact, reveal evidence of tenderness, care, and genuine curiosity with which Europeans treated cats of all breeds and colors. Through these sources, I aim to demonstrate that the notion of widespread demonization of cats in the Middle Ages doesn’t hold any more water than the contemporary belief in a flat Earth.

But first, let’s take a closer look into the demonization itself: it was during the medieval period that black cats began to be associated with evil forces. The most well-known example of such superstition is Pope Gregory IX’s Papal Bull Vox in Rama, issued in June 1233, which was aimed against the heresy of Luciferianism. The bull described an initiation ritual that involved kissing a giant black cat under its tail—a variation on the theme of worshipping Lucifer, with whom the cat was identified.

Due to this association of black cats with demonic influence, historian Donald W. Engels concluded that the spread of the plague in Europe was caused by the mass killing of cats. Supposedly, many cats were put to death, leaving no one to catch the rats that were considered the main carriers of the plague.

Indeed, from the late 15th century, after the publication of Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), large-scale witch hunts began, with cats (particularly black ones) being considered their essential companions. This belief was likely fueled by cats’ nocturnal lifestyle. Nighttime activity, as with owls and frogs, was seen by medieval theologians as evidence of connections to evil forces, which were believed to manifest primarily at night.

However, there was no widespread mass killing of cats in the Middle Ages. The closest historical event to the myth of a “great cat massacre” actually occurred in the early modern period, not the medieval one, as described by historian Robert Darnton. In Paris, on the Rue Saint-Séverin in the late 1730s, printing apprentices, furious at the appalling conditions of their lives, captured, beat, and eventually hanged their masters’ cats. The cats suffered because their owners had provided them with a much better standard of living than the poor apprentices had. This “great massacre” was confined to a single street and, as far as I know, was the largest such event recorded by historians.

The “cruel” Middle Ages are often contrasted with cat-loving ancient Egypt, where the goddess Bastet, with her feline head, and cat mummies, now showcased in the great halls of museums, are commonly cited.

But recently, I came across a record from 899, widely shared online, from the diary of the 17-year-old Japanese Emperor Uda, who wrote about his black cat. “My cat,” Uda wrote, “moves silently, without making a sound, like a black dragon above the clouds.” On one occasion, the emperor addressed his beloved pet with these words, “You possess the forces of yin and yang and have a body that is the way it should be. I suspect that in your heart, you may even know all about me!” To this, Uda noted, “The cat heaved a sigh, raised his head, and stared fixedly at my face, seeming so choked with emotion, his heart so full of feeling, that he could not say a thing in reply.”

These words are filled with love and gentle irony. They show that in the Middle Ages, the emotional bond between cats and their owners was not so different from today, even though this example comes from an Asian source. Moreover, evidence of affection for cats can also be found in European texts from that period.

Let’s start with encyclopedias, whose authors attempted to organize and explain the world around them. In his multi-volume Etymologies, Isidore of Seville sought to explain the nature of things through their names. He links different names for cats to certain traits, “Common people call it the cat (cattus) from ‘catching’ (captura). Others say it so named because cattat, that is, ‘it sees’ — for it can see so keenly (acute) that with the gleam of its eyes it overcomes the darkness of the night. Hence ‘cat’ comes from Greek, that is. ‘clever’“

Thomas of Cantimpré, in his encyclopedia De Natura Rerum, describes cats as follows: “It is very easy for people to provoke them to play; they delight in flattery. They love warm places, where they sometimes burn their fur out of sheer laziness. They have long fur on the sides, and its removal leads to a loss of courage. They are happy when touched by a human hand, and they express their joy by singing… The cat is spoiled by such an amount of love for it.”

Bestiaries—medieval collections of stories and legends about animals, birds, plants, and even stones—visualize the descriptions from encyclopedias. They depict cats with mice in their paws, grooming themselves and even wearing crowns. All these depictions are not much different from modern Instagram photos.

As we can see, much of what was written about cats was based on observations of their natural behavior. Unlike lions, cheetahs, dragons, or unicorns, cats were an integral part of everyday medieval life. The same monks who wrote encyclopedias and adorned manuscripts also kept cats, even allowing them near their most precious possessions—books. There is ample evidence of this, the most striking being the paw prints left in manuscripts.

In an English copy of the aforementioned Etymologies by Isidore of Seville, one can see the prints of dirty cat paws. Judging by their placement, the cat walked onto the page (the first print is very clear) and then made itself comfortable there—this is evident from the subsequent smudged prints on the page. Interestingly, the material of the manuscript allowed for these marks to be erased, but the monk chose not to—perhaps leaving them as a fond memory of his beloved pet.

In contrast, a 15th-century treatise from the Dubrovnik State Archive bears traces of how a cat first stepped into ink and then walked confidently across the pages of the manuscript. This confirmation of cats’ love for interrupting our work was discovered by historian Emir O. Filipović. He didn’t expect his finding to cause such a stir, but mentions of the cat’s paw prints in the treatise quickly spread across the internet—from Twitter to personal blogs. The story was even picked up by well-known online publications, including The Guardian, The Atlantic, and Smithsonian Magazine. For some, this discovery was a revelation: the cats lying on keyboards in today’s photos have direct predecessors in the Middle Ages!

Cats were not only physically present in manuscripts but also appeared in miniatures (illustrations) and marginalia (drawings on the edges of pages). The most popular motif of cat “iconography” in marginalia was a scene where a monkey feeds a cat. Artists often depicted these scenes as a parody of nativity images: a kitten swaddled in a manger while one or a pair of monkeys hover above it.

Cats also made their way into the workspaces of saints. In a 16th-century Book of Hours from Bruges, while Saint Matthew is writing the Gospel, a cat sits behind him with a silent reproach in its eyes, evidently waiting patiently for the work to end so that its owner might finally feed it.

The love for cats among monks and nuns was sometimes so intense that it provoked criticism. The Dominican friar John Bromyard, in his 14th-century sermon, addressed the monastic elite, reproaching them for their excessive fondness for cats. He wrote, “Cats, as the learned doctor says, can indeed rid our homes of parasites, but as life has shown, they cannot be trusted. I once heard of a fool who found that mice were eating his cheese in a wooden chest; so he placed a cat in the chest to protect the cheese. But what did the cat do? It ate not only the mice but also the cheese.”

So, was love stronger than prejudice? Despite the superstitions and myths about cats that formed on the pages of medieval encyclopedias, treatises, papal encyclicals, and eventually in popular oral culture, there is more evidence of love for cats. One only needs to look at the miniatures in medieval Books of Hours, where cats and their owners are depicted in affectionate embraces. This love for “dragons above the clouds” in the Middle Ages united East and West, clergy and peasants alike, just as it unites us today. The notion of unrelenting cruelty towards cats in the Middle Ages is more of a myth than a historical reality.

When most people think about the work of archaeologists, they imagine the search for ancient settlements or burial mounds, the discovery of golden Scythian ornaments, Trypillian ceramics, or Sarmatian weapons. Rarely do they consider the study of animal skeletons. Yet, this is precisely the focus of zooarchaeology, a very young but rapidly progressing field of study.

Zooarchaeologists focus on the remains of animals found during excavations. Interestingly, they are not primarily interested in dinosaurs or the search for semi-mythical creatures but rather in species that lived in historical periods and coexisted with humans.

Imagine removing even a single species from the history of our planet, say, the horse, and consider how differently history might have unfolded. In ancient times, the absence of horses would have made interregional contact more difficult and slowed the exchange of information, thereby hindering the development of civilization. If a ruler had left the capital for more than three months, the likelihood of a coup would have been very high. Consequently, states would have been smaller, and small empires tend to be more brutal. Without a mobile army to suppress rebellions at the borders, rulers would resort to terror to ensure that uprisings did not occur again soon. These are just a few examples. It is nearly impossible to imagine life in a world without horses.

This is exactly the type of complex question that zooarchaeology addresses. This field of study explores how the animal world and humanity have coexisted and influenced each other over millennia.

The first professionals in this field explored animals in agriculture, examining which species humans domesticated in different eras. Today, zooarchaeology also helps to study the impact of humans on ecosystems, the connection between animals and climate, and, most importantly, what we can do to protect the environment from irreversible changes.

Humans have always been clever and resourceful predators, inevitably impacting their environment. Homo erectus and the earliest representatives of Homo sapiens were on par with other predators: even if they harmed the environment, it was no more than, say, a tiger. Much also depended on the conditions in which they had to survive. The more favorable the environment, the more impact the predator could have. Imagine a cat landing on an island and encountering weaker competitors and easy prey — the local fauna would not fare well. Ancient humans were often like such cats, frequently dominating certain areas.

However, what began to happen from the late Paleolithic period is of particular interest to zooarchaeologists. It was then that humans began using more sophisticated weapons, mastered the most effective hunting methods, and started to change the landscapes of entire continents.

It is important to note that many people still hold the stereotype of the bon sauvage or noble savage: the belief that ancient people lived in harmony and unity with nature. This view is often expressed about Australian Aborigines or indigenous peoples of the Americas. Unfortunately, I must disappoint you. Firstly, they were not as wild and primitive as often portrayed: Australians mastered seafaring even earlier than Europeans and were generally intelligent and inventive. Secondly, due to this inventiveness, they significantly (and sometimes drastically) altered the ecosystems in which they lived. Australian Aborigines had no competitors in their area in terms of intellect and hunting skills, leading them to exterminate many animals. One of their hunting methods was to set vegetation on fire. Have you guessed why the contemporary Australian bush — the shrubby environment of the continent — is so prone to fires? About 60,000 years ago, the ancestors of Australian Aborigines practiced widespread burning of local forests. This shaped ecosystems that adapted to such fires.

The same occurred in North America: the Clovis culture, during its 300-year existence 12,000 years ago, completely destroyed many species, fundamentally altering human history. However, it is not fair to blame ancient peoples for being insufficiently environmentally aware. Such a stage in human development was predictable and inevitable. Remember, humans are skillful predators, and for a predator, dominating competitors and taking everything from the environment is natural.

However, there is a unique trait that sets us apart from other hunters. Unlike, say, a lion, humans are capable of reflecting on their actions and questioning whether they are doing the right thing. Imagine if, at some point, lions had eaten all humans and wiped our population off the planet. It’s unlikely they would lament, “What a pity, humans were so nice!” In contrast, humans, especially modern ones, have come to understand that despite their negative impact on the environment, they need to reduce this impact and protect vulnerable species.

This is where zooarchaeology comes into play with its studies of the past of these species. First and foremost, it helps determine how populations of various animals fluctuated, where they were widespread, and how humanity influenced all of this. For example, right now, with Dr. Oleksandr Kovalchuk and Tyt Volynskyi, we are researching the fauna of modern Ukraine — the species that our ancestors hunted the most. This is part of the project “Valuable Animal Species of Ukraine’s Fauna According to Archaeological Materials: Taxonomic Composition, Population Dynamics, and Spatial Distribution.” Of course, the phrase “valuable species” in the title is somewhat outdated and underscores a consumerist attitude towards nature. However, it is appropriate when talking about the past. After all, for ancient people, a bison, for example, was more valuable and necessary for survival than a water vole. Valuable species had a hard time because humans often reduced or even wiped out their populations.

Research shows that the most valuable species for people in the lands of Ukraine were hoofed animals and predators, diurnal and nocturnal birds, and sturgeon fish. Specifically, until the Bronze Age, there was active hunting of the eagle owl in Ukraine, which most likely had significant ritual importance. During the Iron Age, they had an easier time, but diurnal predators, especially eagles, buzzards, and kites, began to be persecuted. During the times of Kyivan Rus, there was a lot of hunting for the Eurasian goshawk. Also, the white-tailed eagle was always considered particularly valuable for some reason, yet it managed to adapt and remained quite numerous until the 20th century when these birds began to be systematically hunted in Soviet times.

Observing an ecosystem without comparing it to the past does not provide us with enough information about its normal state. For example, there is currently a debate about the great cormorant — a bird that lives in colonies and settles near the sea and also along the Dnipro and Buh rivers, consuming quite a lot of fish. Fishermen working on these rivers are very unhappy about this and insist that cormorants should be culled. Their argument is that the mere presence of this bird on the rivers is an anomaly; they claim that the birds have moved far from the sea due to man-made reservoirs. However, zooarchaeologists know that the great cormorant has always moved up the Dnipro and Buh during warming periods, even when there were no reservoirs. Therefore, this is not an anomaly that should be eradicated and forgotten but a reality of the local environment, no matter how unprofitable and unpleasant it may be for some.

There are also contrasting stories where we perceive certain species as native, although they do not belong to our ecosystem at all. For instance, the pheasant may seem quite “ours” to many. There is a belief that the ancestors of pheasants lived on Ukrainian territory 2.5 million years ago, and therefore this species is native to our fauna and should be protected. However, after collecting research materials, I realized that the pheasant is a species introduced by humans, probably in the 18th century. Its homeland is the Caucasus, but it could have been brought to Ukraine as semi-domesticated birds from the Mediterranean or Central Europe. Although there is data suggesting that pheasants were found in antiquity, among these remains, one bone does not lend itself to analysis, one turned out to be a duck bone, another a falcon bone, and yet another belonged to a small chicken. Thus, all those identified as “pheasants” were various other birds. If so, it turns out that the pheasant is just as non-native to our territory as, for example, the chestnut. One way or another, they displace “our” (scientifically, autochthonous) species. Therefore, before worrying about preserving pheasant populations, it is worth investigating the degree of their impact on the ecosystem.

There are species that have relatively recently arrived in our territories and pose a threat to local wildlife. We call them invasive species. Some of these species enter new environments on their own, while others are introduced by humans, often due to gross negligence. For instance, jellyfish appeared in the Dnipro likely because aquarium enthusiasts released them into the river. Some insects or snails travel long distances with grain, reproduce in new areas, and then can harm crops. The rose-ringed parakeet is also gradually spreading — this clever and strong bird competes successfully with many other species. Interestingly, it provides an example of the delayed effect of introduced species: nowadays, this parrot seems quite common in the Mediterranean region, but its presence in Chernivtsi raises concerns. In fact, the rose-ringed parakeet is not native to Europe at all — it was brought from India by the troops of Alexander the Great 2,300 years ago. Currently, we do not know what to do with such species — we are merely studying and determining which animals are “ours” and truly need protection and which are alien to the ecosystem.

So, what can science do to preserve “our” species?

First, it can help restore their populations. By studying remains, we know where these species lived and whether their distribution was natural. If, for instance, we want to restore the saiga or the steppe eagle, archaeological finds will tell us where they used to live and where they should be reintroduced. It is also important to know the natural population size, as not all species need to be numerous — some are rare by nature, such as the demoiselle crane. Although it is listed in the Red Data Book, its finds have always been few, especially compared to a similar species, the common crane.

Second, we can predict certain changes in populations to find ways to protect them. Here, for example, we can combine climatology with zooarchaeology. Climatology studies climate as a system that includes plants and animals, and changes in this system involve not only temperature fluctuations but also the appearance or disappearance of species. For example, the great bustard is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine — its numbers are relatively high during cold periods and decrease during warm periods. However, as the planet becomes increasingly hot, this temperature change adds extra pressure on the population of these birds. Therefore, we should be more attentive to the great bustard — it is not adapted to new, hotter climate conditions.

I hope that now when you hear the word “archaeology,” you will associate it a bit more with animals and their conservation. Studying the past of animals and understanding humanity’s role in the extinction of some species can be the first step toward restoring vulnerable populations. And zooarchaeologists are taking these steps, paving the way for animal protectors.

I am often asked about the lives of medieval people: what they ate and drank, how they treated illnesses, what made them happy, how they loved, and what they sought for happiness. However, no one has ever asked about the lives of medieval dogs. Did they buy them soft cushions and toys? Did they search for unknown delicacies to feed them? In short, was the life of medieval dogs significantly harder than that of modern dogs?

In my opinion, the answer to this question can reveal as much about medieval society as the study of exclusively “human” history. A society’s attitude towards animals reflects its core values. Therefore, I propose delving into the complex history of medieval dogs.

This history is complicated not by a lack of sources—there are many, and they are very diverse. The complexity arises when we try to separate the symbolic from the real. Dogs in medieval records appear not only as real flesh-and-blood animals but also as symbols of friendship, loyalty, civilization, and even savagery and envy.

Dogs were an integral part of medieval households. Ancient Romans also kept dogs for protection and companionship. Numerous mosaics bearing the inscription “Cave Canem” (Latin for “beware of the dog”) at the entrances of homes indicate this constant presence of dogs in the ancient world.

In the Middle Ages, however, guarding was only a secondary task compared to hunting. All feudal nobility had to participate in regular hunts, during which dogs were essential helpers. Detailed accounts of hunts and hunting dogs can be found in Gaston III de Foix’s treatise The Book of the Hunt. The count began writing this treatise on May 1, 1387, a few days before the Feast of the True Cross, which marked the beginning of the hunting season. Gaston III de Foix spent two years writing this unique treatise. The book contains 85 chapters and magnificent miniature illustrations. In one miniature, the artist depicts scenes of everyday care for hunting dogs: washing paws and bodies, trimming nails, checking teeth, and so on. The author discusses the animals hunted and those used in hunting, not limiting himself to formal descriptions but also addressing their psychology.

Hunting dogs were much more than just hunting aides; they were friends in life and death. This is confirmed by medieval tombstones—gisants. Rarely were they without dogs curled up at the feet of their owners. For example, on the tombstone of the Archbishop of Canterbury (1381–1396), a dog with a precious collar sits faithfully at the feet of the master. Its eyes are open, and its head raised as if still guarding the peace of the archbishop.

Collars in the Middle Ages were not just items of material culture or decoration. They had symbolic meaning. In the miniature “The Restrained and the Unrestrained” from the Dutch manuscript “Deeds and Sayings of the Ancient Romans,” peasants and aristocracy feast at two tables. Although the miniature adorned an ancient treatise, it illustrates the realities of the late Middle Ages. Peasants drink, eat, and embrace unrestrainedly, while the nobility dines decorously and nobly. Observing this instructive scene is a dog standing between the two different tables as if comparing the two life strategies. The fact that the dog wears a collar symbolizes the tamed human nature rising above instincts.

In comparison, just look at the dogs fighting over a bone in numerous late medieval and Renaissance “Last Suppers.” In the “Last Supper” of 1527 by Dutch master Pieter Coecke van Aelst, two dogs fight over a bone at Judas’ feet. One has white and red fur, reminiscent of Judas’ red hair in the painting (red-haired people were often considered traitors in the Middle Ages). These dogs symbolize the “low” and “animal” nature, including that of Judas, and thus wear no collars.

In the Middle Ages, a hunting dog could even become a saint, albeit inadvertently. This was the fate of a greyhound who, after a tragic death, was transformed into Saint Guinefort. The Dominican monk Stephen of Bourbon recounts this story with evident disapproval in his treatise On Superstitions. Once, parents and a nurse left an infant unattended. During this time, a giant snake slithered towards the cradle, intending to kill the child. The faithful dog guarding the heir attacked and killed the snake. When the nurse returned, she saw blood on the floor, the dog’s muzzle, the cradle, and the child. So she made a hasty conclusion and began yelling that the dog had killed the child. The enraged master rushed in and immediately killed the dog. Only afterward did they realize that the baby was peacefully sleeping in the cradle, and the remains of the snake were on the floor.

“Realizing then the true circumstances and deeply regretting the unjust killing of such a useful dog, they threw him into a well in front of the estate, piled a large heap of stones on top, and planted trees to commemorate the event. Now, by God’s will,” wrote Stephen of Bourbon with righteous satisfaction, “the estate is destroyed, its inhabitants have left, and the area has become desolate. But the peasants, having heard about the dog’s behavior and how he was killed for a praiseworthy deed, visited this place, honored the dog as a martyr, prayed to him when they were ill or in need, and many fell victim to the temptations and illusions of the devil, who thus misled people. But above all, women with sick or weak children would come to this place.” Despite the Catholic Church’s efforts to eradicate this superstition, it was unsuccessful. The custom of coming and praying to “Saint Guinefort” for health and recovery for oneself or one’s child persisted until the late 20th century.

While men preferred hunting breeds like greyhounds, alaunts, mastiffs, and spaniels, women often kept Maltese lapdogs. Unlike hunting dogs that lived outside under the care of designated servants, lapdogs (and, from the 16th century, pugs and Pekingese) lived in the private spaces of their mistresses. Sometimes they were so close that the ladies suffered from fleas as much as the dogs themselves.

Such pets appear in contemporary art as symbols of marital fidelity. Perhaps the most famous is Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait, where a Maltese lapdog stands between the husband and wife in the foreground, symbolizing fidelity as the foremost marital virtue. Its fur is almost the same color as Giovanni Arnolfini’s woolen cloak, but the dog stands closer to the woman, linking them together.

Ladies cared for their pets. Geoffrey Chaucer humorously criticizes an abbess in The Canterbury Tales who fed her dogs roast meat and white bread—products that were inaccessible to most medieval people.

Thus, not much has changed since medieval times in the attitude towards dogs. They accompanied their owners everywhere; they were given beautiful collars and fed the tastiest food. Gaston III de Foix boasted, like other dog owners throughout the centuries, “I speak to my dogs as I would to a person […], and they understand and fulfill my will better than any man in my household.” Today, we no longer expect our will to be carried out by servants, but we still believe that no one will understand us better than our canine friends.

The texts in the Columns section reflect only the author’s opinion and do not necessarily align with the position of UAnimals media’s editorial team.

One blood donation can save three people. Last year alone in Ukraine, donors gave blood at least 14,000 times. So, over the years — even centuries — of blood transfusion history, millions of lives were saved. This was made possible thanks to animals, namely the first dog-to-dog blood transfusions. Let’s dive into history and learn about the risky and often inhumane experiments that paved the way for modern blood donation — lifesaving and safe.

Liver or Heart: How the Circulatory System Works

Imagine this: it’s the early 17th century. Copernicus has already shown that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Yet people still do not fully understand the workings of their own bodies, particularly the circulatory system. Since Ancient Roman times, the theory of Claudius Galen prevailed, claiming that the liver produces blood and distributes it throughout the body like a centrifuge.

But one man in the Kingdom of England set out to prove that these ideas were incorrect. This was physiologist and anatomist William Harvey. Observing the hearts of living animals, he realized that during systole (the contraction of the ventricles and atria), blood is pushed out. The scientist then demonstrated that valves in the veins allow blood to flow in only one direction — this is how the blood returns to the heart.

Ultimately, William Harvey hypothesized that blood circulates in animal bodies. In the eighth chapter of his book “De Motu Cordis” (“On the Motion of the Heart”), he explained it like this: “…through dissection of the living in order to experiment and through the opening of arteries, from the symmetry and magnitude of the ventricles of the heart and of the vessels entering and leaving… I had very often and seriously though about… how great the amount of transmitted blood would be [and] in how short a time that transmission would be effected… I began privately to think that it might rather have a certain movement, as it were, in a circle….”

Thanks to William Harvey’s research, he discovered and described in his research that:

• The heart contracts 1,000 times in half an hour, initiating blood circulation;
• With each contraction, approximately 6 grams of blood pass through the heart, with its total capacity being 43 grams;
• Blood moves in circles through the system of blood vessels in one direction (from the heart via arteries, and back via veins).

From the Theory of Circulation to the Practice of Transfusion

Following William Harvey’s discovery, the development of this branch of medical science accelerated, and by 1665, physician Richard Lower conducted the first blood transfusion between dogs. For this, he drew blood from a medium-sized dog “its strength was nearly gone” and then transfused blood from two large mastiffs.

The procedure was successful — an outcome tempting enough to try on humans. But there was a catch: at first, doctors experimented not with human-to-human transfusions but with… animal blood. Such attempts were bound to result in losses: animal blood cannot mimic human blood due to differences in the properties of red blood cells across species.

However, some studies found that, among tested animals, sheep blood most closely matches the viscosity of human blood. This explains the documented case of interspecies transfusion without fatal consequences: in 1667, French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys transfused blood from a lamb to a 15-year-old boy and a woman who had recently given birth. Both survived but suffered severe anemia. Not all experimental patients were so fortunate, and some cases resulted in death. Therefore, blood transfusions from animals to humans were soon prohibited.

From Practice to Understanding the Principles of Donation

In 1818, scientist and physician James Blundell performed the first successful and documented human-to-human blood transfusion.

Blundell’s patient was dying of postpartum hemorrhage, so to save the woman, the doctor used her husband as the donor. Between 1825 and 1830, James Blundell conducted 10 blood transfusions, but only half were successful. Why was the blood sometimes unsuitable?

It took science nearly nearly a century to figure out the concept of blood types and how critical they are for successful transfusion. We owe the most to Karl Landsteiner, who in the 1900s described all blood types and received a Nobel Prize for his discovery.

Notably, zoologists contributed to this progress as well. In 1875, one of them, Hermann Landois, discovered that when animal blood is transfused into humans, foreign blood cells “clump together” and break down in the blood vessels, releasing hemoglobin. Between 1901 and 1903, Karl Landsteiner noted that a similar reaction occurs during human-to-human blood transfusions. This can cause shock, jaundice, and hemoglobinuria (abnormal breakdown of red blood cells), as seen during early attempts at transfusion.

At first, this reaction was overlooked. However, in 1909, Karl Landsteiner classified human blood into the now-familiar types A (II), B (III), AB (IV), and O (I). He demonstrated that when blood type A is transfused to a recipient with the same type, blood cells remain intact. But if blood from another type — B or AB — is transfused, the red blood cells are destroyed. Additionally, there are universal donors: people with the blood type O (I).

This is just a brief outline of the journey toward a functional system of blood donation between humans. But let’s admit, we owe many of these great discoveries to animals. So why shouldn’t animals also benefit from science to live longer, healthier lives? Let’s explore blood donation among animals.

Blood Donation in the Animal World

Around the same time when human blood types were being studied, scientists were also researching dog blood types. However, a complete classification wasn’t achieved until the 1950s. For dogs, the DEA system (Dog Erythrocyte Antigen) is used, while for cats, the AB system is applied — somewhat resembling the human blood type system.

Animals that regularly participate in blood donation become true heroes. For instance, a dog named Woodie from Leicestershire, England, saved 88 dogs by regularly donating his rare blood type.

Entire blood banks are already being created to save animals. For example, the Pet Blood Bank operates in the United Kingdom. In Ukraine, similar banks exist based at research institutions, veterinary clinics, or municipal enterprises like Lev in Lviv.

However, due to a shortage of animal donors, scientists are also searching for alternatives to blood products. Currently, synthetic colloids and oxyhemoglobin are being considered, but they are not yet effective. For example, synthetic colloids cannot carry oxygen, and oxyhemoglobin has limitations such as high cost and limited availability. Additionally, this type of hemoglobin performs its function for only 3 days.

Therefore, while researchers continue their work, finding donors must be simplified. For this purpose, UAnimals created the Animal Donor Platform. Those whose cats and dogs can donate blood can register there, as well as those looking for donors for their pets. From there, the process works like a dating app, except the “date” happens in a clinic and is often life-saving for the animal.

The journey to inventing and perfecting blood donation was arduous, filled with mistakes and sacrifices. Let the knowledge gained save as many lives as possible — both human and animal.

Once known as the Grand Meadow, the ancient Ukrainian steppe, the area has become the bed of the Kakhovka Reservoir by Soviet engineers who built a dam. The recent act of ecocide by the russians, who blew up the dam, has been studied under the #StopEcocideUkraine project to understand how nature is recovering.

Seventy years ago, the floodplains, meadows, and steppes in the south of Ukraine were teeming with life, flourishing with wild vegetation, abuzz with birds, and home to various fish and reptiles. Between 1955 and 1958, Soviet engineers flooded this area to create the Kakhovka Reservoir, submerging a fascinating and diverse landscape that decayed under the water for decades. This stagnant water bloomed with cyanobacteria.

Despite the degradation, over 65 years, the Kakhovka Reservoir developed important A biotope is an area of land or a part of a body of water with a homogeneous relief and a range of living organisms inhabiting it.biotopes, mainly colonies of waterfowl.  

Additionally, a water supply system was built around the reservoir, providing fresh water to southern Ukraine.

In June of last year, the Kakhovka Reservoir drained due to the dam’s destruction by russian forces, exposing approximately 2,000 square kilometers (772 square miles) — an area the size of 250,000 football fields. 

This raised concerns about the freshwater supply for parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and even Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The government plans to restore the reservoir. According to a government decree, during the war and for five years after, the Kakhovka area can only be used for restoring the reservoir and constructing hydraulic facilities. 

However, some ecologists argue this is a flawed idea, suggesting that a more valuable biodiversity area could develop in place of the stagnant water body.

In any case, realistically, reconstruction is impossible as long as most of the reservoir’s left bank remains occupied by hostile forces. Currently, nature is the sole designer and builder of the former reservoir bed.

Dnipro Floodplains. Photo by Viktor Petrochenko

Science Under Fire 

“It was just mountains of trash. We called them ‘horkulents.’ Whatever the russians ate, they threw away, plus they stole various items from the village: carpets, chairs, and tables. It was all lying out in the open,” recounts botanist Ivan Moisiyenko, co-founder of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, about his first trip to the reservoir shore. He arrived at the Kamianska Sich National Nature Park three weeks after Kherson’s liberation — on December 1, 2022.

The national park removed the trash, but trenches and dugouts left by the invaders still remain: for over a month, that territory was a battlefield.

Subsequent trips by the botanist to the now-former reservoir were not without danger, “My colleague and I were accompanied by park staff because the area was heavily mined: you need to know where to walk. The first time, we traveled along the Kherson-Beryslav-Marianske road (over the former reservoir). At the checkpoint, we were warned of the threat of FPV drone attacks. The next time, this road was already closed because FPV drones had been attacking civilian cars. We had to take a long detour.”

The very act of researching the area is highly risky. Being on the former reservoir’s territory means being within reach of russian artillery. Additionally, any movement could trigger a reaction from enemy strike drones.

“Research can be cut short very quickly — just as you’re starting,” says Vasyl Kostiushyn, a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and a researcher at the Institute of Zoology.

This is how scientists study insects. Photo provided by Oleksiy Vasyliuk

Botanists at least have the chance to study the vegetation at the former shore’s edge or use aerial photography. Zoologists, however, need to venture deeper into the territory. Completing most tasks quickly is not feasible, explains ecologist Oleksiy Vasyliuk, head of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, “To study land animals, you need to set up special zoological traps of various types and inspect them every half hour. For a complete picture, insect studies are necessary. Different species fly at different times, so such expeditions need to be conducted multiple times. Many insects are nocturnal, and to learn about them, you need to set up powerful spotlights and use them for several nights.”

To observe large mammals, camera traps are placed along their paths, which first need to be located. “There is no information about the current state of the reservoir’s fauna. It’s unknown if zoological research can be conducted before full de-occupation,” adds Oleksiy Vasyliuk.

So, what have researchers managed to discover in the year following the catastrophe?

The Grand Meadow is Not Really a Meadow

The area filled by the reservoir in the 1950s is historically called the Grand Meadow (Velykyi Luh). Be careful, though, as the name can be misleading. Before the flooding, this area comprised not only meadows but also a network of channels, lakes, swamps, floodplain forests, and steppe fragments.

Oleksiy Valysiuk explains that, until the 1950s, this was the number one area in Ukraine for biodiversity, “Looking at the relief of this territory, one can assert that it housed the most diverse and dynamic landscape in Ukraine. It played a crucial role in global seasonal bird migrations. Since the 1920s, scientific and state institutions had been striving to create a nature reserve here.”

The Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, after studying satellite images, concluded that there is hope for the restoration of the channels and floodplains. The relief under the water’s surface hasn’t leveled out; it still retains the depressions of former floodplains and swamps.

Satellite image taken on July 15, 2023. Source Wikimedia Commons

Already, the Kamianka River, which had been buried under stagnant water for 65 years, is flowing through the area.

However, it is futile to hope that nature will regenerate exactly as it was before the reservoir, says biologist Vasyl Kostiushyn. “All the distributaries and floodplains form when the river is alive, meaning there are annual floods. But now the Dnipro’s course is almost nowhere natural: it’s entirely regulated by reservoirs. We can’t know if there will be floods,” explains the scientist.

He doubts that the Dnipro will be allowed to return to its natural course. Canals used to branch off from the Kakhovka Reservoir, supplying water to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Kryvyi Rih district, and, in the past, Crimea. Additionally, groundwater was connected to the reservoir. Part of the water from this reservoir reached wells, as the natural groundwater is brackish and unsuitable for drinking.

“Biological diversity is unlikely to be a priority. I hope the government will agree to at least an intermediate solution,” says Vasyl Kostiushyn.

The Institute of Hydrobiology has proposed such a solution: they want to separate the shallow northeastern part of the river from the reservoir with a dam. If this dam also regulates the water level, it could simulate a flood, explains the biologist. This would create meadow and floodplain biotopes: it wouldn’t be exactly what existed before the Kakhovka Reservoir was created, but it would resemble the previous landscapes of the Grand Meadow.

Floodplain with water lilies. Source: Grand Meadow National Nature Park

Vasyl Kostiushyn suggests, “I think this area will be a mix of open biotopes and sections overgrown with shrubs and new forests. Without water, it could become a desert.” On the bottom of the former reservoir, a whole tapestry of ecosystems could appear. What it will be like entirely depends on the water level.

The Victorious Willow and Valuable Steppe

The former reservoir bed has turned green with willows. This both surprised and pleased botanists: they feared it would become overgrown with alien species. The willow grew on the silt. But the willow shoots will still struggle for survival — over time, the thickets will thin out in this struggle.

Additionally, in the areas accessible to researchers, the petrophilous (rocky) steppe should have been restored — a valuable site for biodiversity not only in Ukraine but in Europe as well. Therefore, botanical expeditions studied the limestoneRock outcrops are bare, exposed rocks that are older than those that cover them. outcrops

on the slopes of the ravines. The steppe was slow to regrow, says Ivan Moisiyenko: 

“My theory is this. The steppe areas that exist now were separated from the reservoir by willow thickets, reeds, and shrubs. The steppes that existed before the reservoir and are now exposed are isolated from other steppe areas. The seeds of steppe species did not reach that limestone. We started looking for a place where the steppe almost reached the water. And we found it.”

There, researchers found about 10 steppe species. For example, they added the toadflax (Linaria macroura) to the herbarium. Ivan Moisiyenko says, “I believe the steppe will restore itself on the outcrops that were the reservoir’s bottom. But it will take some time for the seeds to reach them.”

Fans of the Current

In the final years of the Kakhovka Reservoir’s existence, about 46 fish species were recorded there, explains ichthyologist Yuliya Kutsokon. The reservoir was home to common roach, common bream, silver carp, and Black Sea sprat. However, the dominant species was the Prussian carp, “It made up about 70% of the entire catch. This is an invasive fish species,” says Yuliya. This carp, by the way, is not demanding in terms of water quality and can live in silted waters with low oxygen content. Most of its neighbors were also foreign to the Dnipro, artificially reproduced for fisheries.

Before the reservoir was built, the fish fauna in this section of the Dnipro was richer and more diverse, with around 60 species: beluga sturgeon, Russian sturgeon, Pontic shad, Vimba vimba, Black Sea roach, common nase, Alburnus sarmaticus, blue bream, white-eye bream, gudgeon, Dnipro barbel, weatherfish, burbot, Donets ruffe, and European flounder. In the reservoir, these species either disappeared or their numbers decreased so drastically that no one had seen them for many years.

“If this section becomes a river again, it will definitely have a positive impact from a conservation perspective,” says Yuliya Kutsokon. Then, populations of rheophilic fish — those that love currents — might have a chance to appear.

For instance, a current is needed for the spawning of sabrefish, says Yuliia: “Sabrefish needs a large river. Its eggs develop in the water column but must have a current; otherwise, the eggs settle and die.” Sabrefish is included in international conservation lists.

Additionally, species that migrated from the sea to the river could gradually reappear if any remain either in the lower Dnipro or its tributaries. “Desna, for example, is a powerful place for preserving many rheophilic populations. It has an interesting fish, the common nase. The Sluch has the Dnipro barbel — now an extremely rare fish listed in the Red Data Book. Perhaps something will return here as well.”

Among mammals, beavers and river otters, which still live below the former reservoir, may come to the floodplains.

And What About the Land?

The animal world will depend on the tapestry of biotopes that form. Open water and shallow areas will attract waterfowl, says Vasyl Kostiushyn. If it is dry, the area will host larks and wheatears; if there are bushes, warblers and various passeriformes will appear; if forests develop, thrushes, woodpeckers, and birds of prey will settle there.

“Foxes might already be exploring these areas. The wild boar — an undemanding animal — uses everything from reed ponds to ancient forests,” says the biologist.

What the fauna of the Grand Meadow was like before the flooding is not precisely known, says Oleksiy Vasyliuk, “There is no paper that properly describes this area, nor is there any living zoologist who remembers the territory before the flooding.”

The Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group hopes to organize zoological expeditions as soon as it becomes possible. They promise to publish more detailed studies about the state of the animal world on the bottom of the former reservoir and the prospects for the Grand Meadow.

Main photo: Kamianska Sich National Nature Park in August 2023. Vegetation on part of the riverbed. Photo by Serhiy Skoryk

This publication was compiled with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework «European Renaissance of Ukraine» project. Its content is the exclusive responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation.

Careful observations of animal behaviour, searching for locations for their safe movement and charity art exhibitions to help shelters — all this is done by students of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in their projects. We got acquainted with several teenagers to ask them about their animal protection ideas and research.

So, together with the JASU, we present the young authors of scientific and social projects who make this world a more humane place.

Both elk and crab have to cross the road

Yehor Basatskyi likes to play basketball and learn languages — English and German. He studies at Liko School in Kyiv.

Last year, Yegor received an honorary award at the international school project competition on ecology GENIUS Olympiad Ukraine. The boy researched where ecoducts could be built on the future Kyiv Bypass Road. He will tell you what it is and why it’s important.

An ecoduct is a bridge over the road or a tunnel under it. It is built so that animals can safely cross the road. Ecoducts save both animals and people from accidents.

For example, if there is a pond on one side of the road, and an animal lives on the other side, it has to get to the water somehow. With an ecoduct, it won’t have to cross the road in front of cars. And also, sometimes an animal lives in one part of the forest, and there is prey in another. People have built a road and blocked the animal’s usual route. Ecoducts are built so that animals can move through this obstacle.

When I started working on the project for the Junior Academy, I didn’t even know what ecoducts were. Then I delved into the topic and found out that many of them were built both in America and Europe. I went on a trip and started noticing ecoducts: I saw bridges for large animals in Poland and Austria. In fact, there are also tunnels, but they are just harder to notice.

Ecoducts are built not only for large animals like deer and wild boars but also for turtles and crabs. On Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, there is an unusual bridge for crabs. Every year, millions of these animals simultaneously head from the centre of the island to the ocean to mate. Special tunnels were built for them, and where it wasn’t possible to make a tunnel, they built a rectangular bridge 5 metres high. Its “road surface” is a mesh that crabs can easily cling to with their legs. Moreover, in Japan, there is a passage for turtles under the railroad. And the most interesting thing for me was to learn that in Asia and South America there are ecoducts for monkeys: these are ropes above the road, hanging like lianas, so that monkeys can move from one part of the forest to another.

Both near Kyiv and in Polissia, we have deer, wolves, foxes and roe deer. And even for small animals like hares, for example, ecoducts can be built.

My project was related to the Kyiv Bypass Road. I looked at where it should pass: where the forests were, where the water bodies were. I learned about the surrounding reserves and the animals living there. I also received statistics on accidents with animals in Ukraine. I thought about how the road could interfere with the routes of animals. So, where the highways divide the animal habitats, I suggested building ecoducts. For example, near Bucha, the road should pass through the forest. In one part of it, there is a pond on the Bucha River. An ecoduct can be built there so that elks, deer, roe deer or wild boars can safely reach the water.

How do predators feel in the zoo?

Sofiia loves animals very much and can easily find common ground with them. She has a cat, 4 guinea pigs, 5 rats and 4 mice.

In her research paper for the Junior Academy of Sciences, she studied how the number of zoo visitors affected the behaviour of lions and tigers living in captivity. Sofiia took second place at the All-Ukrainian Contest for the Defence of Scientific Research Projects of the JASU in the Zoology section in 2023.

Disclaimer from UAnimals media: we are against capturing animals from the wild to keep them in zoos. However, we appreciate Sofiia’s research: it’s important to care for those animals that are already in captivity and take into account their needs for solitude and interaction.

I’ve always enjoyed communicating with animals, so I joined a group of young naturalists. It was there that I decided to write a research paper. I wanted to study the behaviour of tigers and lions because they are very intelligent animals.

My research supervisor and I were thinking about the most useful topic. We settled on researching how the number of visitors to the zoo affected the animals. It was important to me that tigers and lions in captivity could feel as comfortable as possible.

The lions I observed at the Kyiv Zoo were Hercules, Liliia, Khrystyna and Daryna, and the tigers were Rena, Maliuk and Amba. I came two to three times a week and observed from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. It was crucial to stick to the schedule because animals behave differently throughout the day. If I had observed them at different times, it could have affected the results.

The weather, of course, also affects the activity of tigers and lions. They hide when it rains or when it’s too hot. So I selected observations when the weather was approximately the same. These were sunny days in May and June.

I had an ordinary notebook in my hands. Every 5 minutes, I stood near the enclosure and recorded what the tiger or lion was doing. The enclosures at the Kyiv Zoo are arranged in a circle, so I had to run very quickly from one animal to another. It was difficult at first, but then I got used to it. For example, at 3:00 pm I observed lions, at 3:01 pm — a tiger, at 3:02 pm — another tiger, at 3:03 pm — one more, and then lions again. Towards the end of the research, the tigers started to recognise me.

At first, I wrote down what the specific animal was doing because I didn’t know their behavioural patterns. Then I summarised the records and divided the behaviour into such patterns: inactive — when the animal sleeps or lies down; comfort behaviour — for example, a tiger licking its fur; interaction — a tiger looks into the visitor’s eyes, shows interest, may meow; feeding; movement; exploratory behaviour — can sniff something, touch it with a paw; marking — the animal leaves its scents in various places of the enclosure; social — tigers and lions can vocalize or interact with each other in another way.

When there were no people around, the animals spent time inside the enclosures — in the part of the structure invisible to visitors. They also hid when there were too many people. According to my observations, they felt most comfortable on weekdays, when the number of visitors was average. Then lions and tigers showed the most comfortable and exploratory behaviour.

Artistically helping a dog shelter

Tetiana is studying architecture at the Sumy College of Civil Engineering and Architecture.

In 2022, she joined the Agents of Change civic engagement school. This is one of the areas of work of the Junior Academy of Sciences. Here, teenagers who implement their own projects to make the country and society better are called agents of change. At this school, Tetiana created the Paws in Palms project — she exhibited and sold her paintings to help a dog shelter.

When I applied to the Agents of Change School, I already knew that my project would definitely be related to animals. A year before, I had got a dog — a Shar Pei named Bucks. During the year, he got sick a lot. And when the war began, I thought about the following: we help him because he has us. But some animals have no one. I really wanted to help them.

So I organised a charity exhibition at the branch of the city library. I just needed help finding contacts and then hanging the paintings. And everything else was done by myself.

Most of the paintings at the exhibition were mine, but some were provided by friends. There were still lifes, landscapes and animals. I love working with oil paints the most, so the paintings were painted in oil.

We sold 8 works at the exhibition. The most expensive one was a painting by my friend Mariia Kadurina called ‘Venice during the holiday.’ It’s a bright, large, very positive painting.

Among the sold works was mine, with birches — my mom’s favourite painting. Of course, it was hard to give it away. But when I arrived at the shelter, I realised I was ready to give away all my paintings for this. It was incredible! Firstly, the understanding that I was helping. And secondly, these paintings would be kept somewhere on the balcony, but this way they brought joy to people.

At that time, I helped the True Friend public organisation shelter. It’s a small shelter for dogs. With the money collected from the paintings, my mom and I bought cereals, bowls, leashes, collars — various items at the request of the staff.

Honestly, before I got a dog, I hadn’t been interested in stray animals at all. While I was working on the project, I visited the shelter for the first time.

The dogs there are very friendly! They run around both in their enclosures and outside. Several dogs greeted us right away. They were so cheerful — jumping, playing, everything was interesting to them. It was cool.

And it was sad too… The girls who work there told us where these dogs had come from. I even cried because it touched me deeply.

In the future, I want to design a shelter and a clinic for animals. I hope I can bring this idea to life as soon as possible.”

It’s heartening that young Ukrainian scientists and activists are concerned about the fate of animals and the environment. 

Photos: Kyiv Zoo, Parks Australia (Commonwealth of Australia), Mongabay, All That’s Interesting