New Year in Siju Cave: the RGS Team Has Started Its Work in India

Комплексная экспедиция Русского географического общества в северо-восточные индийские штаты Аруначал-Прадеш, Мегхалая и Нагаленд началась 27 декабря 2022 года.
Комплексная экспедиция РГО в северо-восточные индийские штаты Аруначал-Прадеш, Мегхалая и Нагаленд началась 27 декабря 2022 года. Фото: © Леонид Круглов

The nature camp of the Russian Geographical Society has started in India. Its participants observations the state of Meghalaya and began in Siju Cave.

"The area is very interesting," Leonid Kruglov, a member of the nature camp, shares his first impressions. "It borders Laos and Myanmar. There are jungles, tropical flora, a lot of animals, birds. Siju Cave is huge, deep, with many branches. So far we have been able to move only one kilometer deep. Then the system of multiple branches begins. If possible, we will go there, although it is very difficult. Already we saw a huge number of interesting objects on the first kilometer: crustaceans, arachnids, insects. We are sure that intresting observations are waiting for us."

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Участники экспедиции достигли индийского штата Мегхалая и готовятся к изучению пещеры Сиджу. Фото участников экспедиции

"The cave is visited quite often, scientific researches is carried out there," continues Natalia Kuznetsova, member of group. "The interest of our group is to observe small organisms that attract attention rarely, but nevertheless represent a huge diverse world. These are groups of protists, small arthropods. There  are also various crustaceans: cave-dwelling crayfish, shrimp, crabs. They are interesting there - white, long-mustached, very picturesque. It would seem that large objects are well studied, but they have almost never been considered from the point of view of their genetics, so conducting molecular biological studies would be very interesting. Firstly, it may be significantly supplement our knowledge of large objects, and secondly, the data obtained will contribute to the discovery of new species."

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Экспедиция РГО будет изучать мелкие организмы, которые представляют огромный разнообразный мир. Фото участников экспедиции

"Indeed, there is a possibility that new species will be discovered once," says Maxim Kulikovsky, biologist. "The fact is that this territory is underexplored, as well as the regions around. And in neighboring countries, new species are being described, including from the group we are studying. We assume that the material from this point would be extremely interesting. Of course, using different approaches will allow you to find and describe new taxa. And, most importantly, not only to describe, but also to complement the phylogeny, the evolution of various groups."

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Пещера Сиджу скрывает много тайн. Фото участников экспедиции

"We also conduct observations in the field of ecology and sustainable development," says Anton Yurmanov, nature camp leader, biogeographer, Director of the Youth Work Department of the Russian Geographical Society. "This region is actively developing, including in terms of agriculture. Areca palms are found everywhere, under the plantations of which forests are being burned, and, in fact, this is slash-and-burn agriculture. We see  how these processes affect the environment, local biodiversity. Of course, we would all like to conduct research together with our Indian colleagues.”

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Антон Юрманов, руководитель экспедиции, биогеограф, директор Департамента по работе с молодежью Русского географического общества, обсуждает рабочие планы с индийским специалистом.

Russian Geographical Society camp members celebrated the New Year in Siju cave, where they conducted nature observations and recorded a video greeting addressed to members of the Russian Geographical Society, activists of the Youth Clubs of the RGS and all nature lovers.

About the expedition

The Russian Geographical Society's complex nature camp to the northeastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland began on December 27, 2022. It is the first complex travelling progect in the history of the Society to a underinvestigated area of India. Although, previously conducted works within the framework of research trips of members of the Society brought important scientific discoveries, but they did not have such a scale and variety of tasks. At the moment, the camp in north-east India is a unique project reviving the journey to the Himalayan foothills by the Russian Geographical Society and its associates and creating an important platform for further projects of the Society abroad in special climatic and ethno-cultural conditions.

The purpose of the nature camp. Creation of a promising scientific direction for the annual journeys of the Russian Geographical Society to the Indian Himalayas, as well as conducting comprehensive observations of natural, historical, cultural and military-historical objects of the territories.

The main tasks. Conducting ecological, biological, geographical, geological, ethnographic (among the Adi, Mishmi, Cognac tribes) observations, search activities to identify the crash sites of Allied military aircraft in 1943-1945.

The venue. The Republic of India, the Tadjourah region, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

Anton Yurmanov, group leader, biogeographer, Director of the Youth Work  Department of the Russian Geographical Society: "An example for us is Andrey Evgenievich Snesarev, a military geographer, orientalist and a full member of the RGS, who studied the territories between Russian Turkestan and India, the Amur principalities of Hunza and Nagar, the principality of Gilgit, the upper course of the Indus at the beginning of the 20th century. We are facing a very unusual task observation this region, this is a unique opportunity for participants."