One more of our bats flies between rows of vines on the pages of the December 2023 issue of National Geographic Magazine – Georgia, hunting insect pests. The issue collected the best pictures of the year, and I am proud to say the photograph from our project, Bats of Georgia, is included. Congratulations to the photographer, Viktor Lyagushkin.
Bat portraits by Viktor Lyagushkin and their hunting sounds are nicely collected in the short video created by National Geographic Magazine — Georgia. The photographs were produced during my NGS-funded Bats of Georgia project.
I lectured at Akaki Tsereteli State University (Kutaisi, Georgia) on Monday, 25 November 2023. The talk was attended by students from the geography, biology, and ecology faculties in the 1st to 4th courses. National Geographic photographer @viktor_lyagushkin and I spoke at length about our project, funded by the National Geographic Society, which was dedicated to the bats of Georgia. We discussed bats’ unique abilities and the role of bats in Georgia’s ecosystems and debunked some of the myths surrounding them. We also talked about the importance of storytelling and community engagement.
I had the great pleasure of having such an interested and open-minded audience. I appreciate their enthusiasm and engagement. I want to express my gratitude to Irakli Julakidze for making this lecture possible and for his kind assistance during the event.
October 4, Moscow hosted the presentation of the sixth issue of Yevgeny Feldman’s slick magazine Svoy, which was completely dedicated to Viktor Lyagushkin’s art. Photos and stories “from caves and seas” on the pages of the new issue, and even more remarkable stories by Viktor during the presentation captivated the audience.
Photos from the presentation by Tatyana Mordvinova.
Horrible and beautiful, Dancers In The Dark, photography of Georgian bats by Viktor Lyagushkin on pages of the online magazine Republic.
The material is available by subscription. You may read one material simply by registering on their site.
My feature story for National Geographic Georgia, illustrated with Viktor Lyagushkin’s photography, about the Black Sea dolphins and dedicated scientists. During the work on the material I was deeply impressed with Professor Natia Kopaliani from Elias University in Tbilisi, who heads the program for studying and counting marine mammals of the Black Sea. There are only seven people in her group, but they manage with a huge amount of work: this includes counting dolphins and analysis of tissues of dead sea mammals for dangerous viruses and genetic analysis, assessing the diet of dolphins based on fish otoliths found in their stomachs, a lot of samples and so on. And finally, accurate and literate work with the obtained data, which then builds the most interesting scientific publications.
The work of the group made such an impression on me that I changed my original idea to devote an article to Black Sea dwellers only, shifting the emphasis to the work of scientists.
Cover story by me, Bogdana Vashchenko, illustrated with photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin in National Geographic (Georgia) about cave dwelling creatures, and also about issues appeared for the prominent touristic Prometheus cave and how to fix them.
Let Everyone Saves One Tree! – is the main message of my article about Colchis boxwood, published in the November 2018 issue of National Geographic (Georgia) Magazine.
Boxwood is a special plant for Georgia. In just a few years, the Colchis boxwood almost completely disappeared from the wildlife of the Caucasus, eaten by an invasive insect – a boxwood moth brought from the Far East.
The article describes what kind of plant it is, and what is its main enemy, what are the ways to save boxwood, and what has already been done.
Photography by Viktor Lyagushkin.
Many thanks to everyone who helped in the photoshooting and writing of the article.
A permanent exhibition dedicated to the biodiversity of the Caucasus was opened at the National Museum of Georgia (Tbilisi) a couple of days ago. The National Geographic (Georgia) Magazine took part in the creation of the exhibition. The visitors will admire dioramas, read and listen to information about the fauna and flora of the Caucasus. Among the most valuable exhibits of the exhibition are stuffed animals, some of which had been made 150 years old. It is sad to realize that already many of these species are not to be found in the wildlife.
In the National Geographic educational corner which is located in the second hall of the exposition, films are unspooled on two screens. Among them there is a documentary about the expedition into the National Park of Vashlovani. It was an assignment from National Geographic (Georgia), during which me and Viktor Lyagushkin spent a couple of months collecting material, making pictures and capturing video about this wonder of nature.
Big story in National Geographic Georgia Magazine by me, Bogdana Vashchenko, illustrated with photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin, about Vashlovani National Reserve, our of the oldest National Reserves in Georgia. It’s an honour for us to be published in the festive issue of the Magazine, dedicated to its 5-th Anniversary.
Working on the story I was so impressed how it had been possible for all sides to Mind-Meld: the government, non-state organization NACRES, and shepherds.
Here in Vashlovani it is easy to see how strongly tied humans and nature.