Cave Expedition sets off in Siberia

A scientific expedition is setting out to the mountains in Russia’s Siberia to explore the recent reports of Bigfoot sightings, Itar Tass reports Monday, March 23.

The two-day expedition will take scientists to the cave located 120 km off Tashtagol town in Kemerovo Region, where local hunters spotted huge human-like creatures.

“We intend to find certain proofs, study the landscape, and conclude whether Bigfoot {Snowmen} could live there,” Director of the International Center for Hominology, Igor Burtsev, told journalists ahead of the trip.

Burtsev, who has been looking for the relict hominid for over forty years, said he was sure that “Bigfoot were reality”.

The local administration has so far received 14 written reports from residents of far-off villages who allegedly saw Yetis near the Azasskaya cave. According to the reports, the creatures were heavyset, about two meters’ tall and looking a lot like bears. Their bodies were covered in red and black fur, and they could climb trees.

The cave that is to be examined during the expedition is several kilometers long, passing under a riverbed. Burtsev will be accompanied by ethnography professor Valery Kimeyev, representatives of local administration, and several of the hunters who reported the sightings.

Source: MOS-news

'Peking Man' older than thought

Original Peking Man fossils were lost in World War II

Iconic ancient human fossils from China are 200,000 years older than had previously been thought, a study shows.

The new dating analysis suggests the "Peking Man" fossils, unearthed in the caves of Zhoukoudian are some 750,000 years old.

The discovery should help define a more accurate timeline for early humans arriving in North-East Asia.

A US-Chinese team of researchers has published its findings in the prestigious journal Nature.

The cave system of Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, is one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the world.

Between 1921 and 1966, archaeologists working at the site unearthed tens of thousands of stone tools and hundreds of fragmentary remains from about 40 early humans.

Palaeontologists later assigned these members of the human lineage to the species Homo erectus.

Researchers Study Cave’s 'Breathing' For Better Climate Clues

Erik Pollock of the Stable Isotope Laboratory at the
University of Arkansas, climbs into tight spaces to study
carbon dioxide cycling in caves. Seasonal differences can
provide clues to paleoclimate proxies.

A University of Arkansas researcher studying the way caves “breathe” is providing new insights into the process by which scientists study paleoclimates.

Katherine Knierim, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, together with Phil Hays of the geosciences department and the U.S. Geological Survey and Erik Pollock of the University of Arkansas Stable Isotope Laboratory, are conducting close examinations of carbon cycling in an Ozark cave. Caves “breathe” in the sense that air flows in and out as air pressure changes.

The researchers have found that carbon dioxide pressures vary with external temperatures and ground cover, indicating a possible link between the carbon found in rock formations in the caves and seasonal changes. They presented their findings at a recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The movement of carbon in cave systems is controlled by the concentration of carbon dioxide. When conditions are right, this carbon can be deposited as layers in stalagmites, stalactites and soda straws. These layers resemble the rings found in trees, except that they can date back millions of years, hold information about cave conditions.

White-Nose Syndrome Death In Bats: First Prevention Proposed By Ecologists

Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) affected by
WNS hanging from the ceiling of a cave at a graphite mine.
Credit: Al Hicks

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a poorly understood condition that, in the two years since its discovery, has spread to at least seven northeastern states and killed as many as half a million bats. Now researchers have suggested the first step toward a measure that may help save the affected bats: providing localized heat sources to the hibernating animals.

"We have no idea why it's spreading so rapidly," says Justin Boyles, a graduate student in biology at Indiana State University and the first author of the paper, published the week of March 4 in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment e-View.

The syndrome has baffled scientists since its discovery in the winter of 2006 in upstate New York, where hibernating bats were found with a mysterious white fungus growing on their faces and wing membranes. Hundreds of emaciated bats were found dead in and around their caves, suggesting that they had starved to death during their hibernating months, and affected populations commonly suffer 75 to 100 percent mortality.

The origins of WNS are virtually unknown – scientists just identified the fungus species last month. But they are still mystified by its relationship to such unprecedented bat mortality.

Financing your speleological project

Dear Caving Friends

As you might know, in 2008 seven speleological projects have asked a EuroSpeleo Projects (ESP) funding : expeditions, congresses, publications, protection and scientific projects. On this year 2009, we can help you fincancing your speleological project if it includes at least 5 European countries (members or not of the EU). For the moment the grants are between 100 to 500 euros, and they might be increased on the 2nd semester 2009.

And a great news is that we have negociated an official partnership with Beal ropes manufacturer that is starting today 1st of March. Now, every ESP projects will receive over the financial grant, a donation of 500 meters of caving rope from our Official Partner Beal !

You can visit their website in 5 languages on : www.bealplanet.com

All the information and the application form for the ESP projects are available on :

http://fsue.ffspeleo.fr/main6/eurospeleo-projects.html

Direct link of the application form is here .

If your project includes Latin American countries, we can also help you in the frame of the FEALC-FSE agreement. In fact can the speleological projects that includes 5 countries from Europe or Latin America (members of FSE or FEALC) can now be included in the EuroSpeleo Projects.

Should you have any further question, please let us know at : contact@eurospelo.org

See you soon in Sardinia at the 4th EuroSpeleo Forum,

For the Bureau FSE,
Olivier Vidal
Secr. General FSE
European Speleological Federation
+33 - 6 81 61 16 70
Email : contact@eurospeleo.org
Forums : http://fsue.org/forums/