Ancient insights

“Constructing an island for birds is the best demonstration of the environmental sensibility here in landlocked Kars. Beside providing a haven for breeding birds, this island will promote Kars and Lake Kuyucuk,” he said. “We have so far recorded 206 species of birds at Kuyucuk, sometimes exceeding 40,000 individuals at once,” he said. The reedbeds around the lake that provided shelter and nesting areas for birds had been gradually destroyed because of overgrazing — more than 5,500 cattle and sheep graze around the shoreline. “This island will provide a haven from human and cattle disturbance and from fox predation. Bird numbers should increase as a result of higher breeding success,” he says. “We expect the reeds will grow on the island due to the lack of grazing. In time, we hope to have a waterbird colony, hopefully reminiscent of the breeding colony of Manyas bird paradise in western Turkey.” “The island and its birds will attract more nature tourists and will increase local income,” he said. Almost 60 per cent of Turkey’s sparse wetlands have disappeared over the past five decades — a result of irrigation projects and climate change. This has made the struggle to save Kuyucuk for birds more urgent, researchers say. Volunteers work regularly at the lake to monitor the bird population. “We want to see where they go, what the trends are and how global warming is affecting things,” says Alan Brooks, a volunteer from South Africa. “Tens of thousands of birds use this place. It is one of the few wetlands of its type left. We must preserve it. It’s very important”, he says. “Conservation is still seen as a luxury in Turkey,” says Seckercioglu, “though in Kuyucuk awareness is improving — encouraged by talk of ecotourism and a potential income for the villagers.” The European Destinations of Excellence prizes promote sustainable tourist developments across the European Union and candidate countries. The key feature of the selected destinations is their commitment to social, cultural and environmental sustainability. Conservationists hope that the project and prize will inspire further projects in Turkey. Jerry Hooker, of London’s Natural History Museum. Investigations suggest that the individual was an independent female that died in the first year of life. This fossil includes both skeleton, soft body outline and contents of the digestive tract. Study of all these features allows a reconstruction of life history, locomotion and diet. Any future studies of EoceneOligocene primates should benefit from this find, researchers believe.