Dear friends,2012 will be the year of the first European cave animal.
The European Society of Archnology elected the cave spider Meta Menardi to the next European Spider of the Year. Meta Menardi was suggested by the German Speleological Federation VdHK.
Since 2009 VdHK promotes the German cave animal of the year with great success and recommends publicity to protect subterranean biodiversity with this very easy tool. All we do is a homepage (www.hoehlentier.de) with download material as flyer, poster and press release. VdHK offers posters and flyers to members and showcaves.
Print media follow the idea "nature of the year" and pick information from the internet. Today you can find the German cave animal of the year not only in newspapers and magazines but also in school material and calendars.
It would be great if other speleo federations join this project, it is less work and good outcome.
VdHK will be pleased to assist (you could use our texts, layout etc.)
The European Society of Archnology present Meta Menardi in several languages.
http://www.european-arachnology.org/esy/esy12/english.shtml
You may contact the national arachnology organisation in your country aswell.
If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch,
hope to hear from you soon
with German underground regards
happy holiday and a good speleo 2012
Baerbel
Baerbel Vogel President German Speleological Federation Verband der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e.V. www.vdhk.de www.hoehlentier.de www.karstinstitut.org Graßlergasse 24 D - 83486 Ramsau ++49-(0)8657-98b.w.vogel@gmx.de