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Bogdana Vashchenko is excited to announce that she has just signed a contract as a PR campaign coordinator for the United Nations Environment Programme. Over the next six months, her team will develop educational resources about bats for Georgian schools in collaboration with the Tbilisi Zoo Educational Center. This initiative will include lesson plans, informational materials, learning activities, educational videos, and creative tasks that align with the methodologies and requirements set by the Ministry of Education of Georgia. Additionally, they will create printed informational materials on bat conservation for Georgian teachers and other stakeholders, and organize masterclasses for educators.
I am thrilled to share our work in the final issue of National Geographic Magazine—Georgia for 2024. In this article, I showcase the inspiring journey of the Ilias State University of Georgia researchers team as they successfully located and captured the greater noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus), a species that has eluded Georgian scientists since 1971!
Text by: Bogdana Vashchenko Photography by: Viktor Lyagushkin
And more of our published Chukotka stories. The indigenous peoples of Chukotka still survive today by hunting and fishing. They go to sea in kayaks, as they did 500 years ago. What and how is a modern Chukchi-Yupik kayak made of, and what is it for?
Text by Bogdana Vashchenko, Viktor Lyagushkin’s photo in the German magazine Kanu (March-April) 2/2024.
In the cover feature story Life On The Edge for Asian Geographic Magazine, I explored the modern way of life of the Indigenous people of Chukotka.
I highlighted the connection of the Yupik and Chukchi people with nature and their humble and brave characters. The article can be found in issue #162, Green Edition of Asian Geographic. The amazing photographs are by Viktor Lyagushkin, and the text is by Bogdana Vashchenko.
While bats are still sleeping here in Georgia, On March 16th, I lectured at the Tbilisi Zoo Educational Center on Bats in the World and Georgia. Ioseb Natradze, an Assistant researcher at the Laboratory of Vertebrate Animals of the Institute of Zoology of the llia State University of Georgia, and I talked about how incredible these creatures are, their Super Skills, and their importance to ecosystems.
The students were super interested in all sorts of things, like what bats eat, their social structure, how they give birth, and how they fly. We only left the Educational Center because the room was needed for the following class.
In our next discussion, we will focus on studying bats’ contribution to Tbilisi’s sound environment with the help of researchers from the Ilia State University. I want to thank Irma Bochorishvili for providing us with this fantastic opportunity.
The Editor-In-Cheif traditional foreword in the January 2024 issue of National Geographic Magazine – Georgia is almost all about bats and our cover feature story, published in. Text: Bohdana Vashchenko, photography: Viktor Lyagushkin.
Thank you, Ketevan Chumburidze, for your help and work! It was a great pleasure to collaborate with you and all the team on the story.
The project was funded by the National Geographic Society.
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.
Look what I have! I am holding something very special! My bat cover feature story, Night Shift, is inside National Geographic Magazine — Georgia!
It’s all over: terrifying moments when nothing worked, when we couldn’t find bat colonies and perform photo shooting or the animals escaped and stultified our efforts; moments full of joy when we got more than expected; hot summer fieldwork when we dreamed the night would come quickly and bring some coolness.
Stunning bat photographs by Viktor Lyagushkin (Vitya, CONGRATULATIONS!), ten spreads, 3,000 words, 67 days in the field.
It is winter here in Georgia, and our wingy models are hibernating. Sleep well, my bats; we did a great job!
Many thanks to the editorial team of National Geographic Magazine – Georgia for the fantastic work and great layout and your hints and ideas! Ruso and Katie, you are the best! Thank you, chiropterologists Ioseb (Soso) Natradze, Giorgi Sheklashvili, Alexander Bukhnikashvili, and Andrey Kandaurov, for your patience, friendly support, and knowledge; it was so lovely to work with you! Many thanks to Valeri Barbaqadze for your expertise in caves and to Amiran and Irina Tkabladze for your kindness and hospitality.
