Go to Kamchatka

They do not sleep because they eat :)

“During the five years that I have been on the Kuril Lake, I have had the opportunity to shoot a huge number of bears at different times of the year, in different weather conditions and on different backgrounds. But this recent shooting made me unusually happy! Rarely coinciding conditions: no waves, excellent light. Great luck! Before you is not a crank, but a completely ordinary bear. Or rather, a bear who does not freeze and does not get sick, but does not sleep, because there is still a fish in the lake. She will go to sleep whenever she wants, "said the state inspector Kronotsky reserve Liana Varavskaya.

The beginning of winter sleep in brown bears directly depends on the presence or absence of food. While sockeye salmon spawn in the Kuril Lake on the territory of the South Kamchatka Federal Reserve, some animals are in no hurry to go to their dens.

Just a beautiful view

A six-kilometer column of ash rose above the Kamchatka volcano Klyuchevskoy

A column of ash to a height of 6 km above sea level on December 5 threw out the highest active volcano in Eurasia - Klyuchevskoy.
The ash plume extends 55 km northeast of the volcano.
For Klyuchevsky, an orange - increased - aviation hazard code has been set.
Klyuchevskoy volcano is the most active and powerful basalt volcano in the Kuril-Kamchatka volcanic region. It is located in the Klyuchevskoy group of volcanoes in the northern part of the Central Kamchatka depression on the right bank of the Kamchatka River. The nearest settlement from the volcano is the village of Klyuchi, which is located about 30 km from the giant. The height of Klyuchevskoy volcano is more than 4750 m. It is the highest active volcano in Eurasia.

In the photo: view of Klyuchevsky from the volcanological station in the village of Klyuchi (we**am)

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.5 occurred off the coast of Kamchatka

Seismologists have registered a 4.5 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of Kamchatka.
The epicenter of the earthquake, registered today at 8:29 am, was located 204 km southwest of Ust-Kamchatsk. The outbreak was located at a depth of 40 km under the seabed.

The strength of tremors in the settlements of the Kamchatka Territory is not reported. No tsunami threat was announced.

Earlier I already wrote about such indigenous peoples of Kamchatka as Koryaks and Itelmens. Today is an article about Evens. This is another indigenous tribe living in Kamchatka for a long time.
Now their number is 0.64% of all residents of Kamchatka. The outdated name for the Evens is lamuts. Literally means "sea people".
The Evens have always held in high esteem blacksmithing, which developed here, and there were real masters among the representatives of the tribe.

For the Kamchatka Evens, a chum of cylindrical-conical shape served as a dwelling place. It looks more like a Koryak yaranga when you look at the device. In winter, in order to keep warm in their homes, they attached a special entrance in the form of a tunnel to the plague.

By the way, only the Evens did not practice dog riding, unlike their "brothers", other indigenous Kamchatka peoples.
The Evens' reindeer are not easy - strong, hardy, big. A little more than a hundred years ago, one reindeer herd could number up to 5000 heads. Now the herds of reindeer herders are much smaller and, as a rule, do not exceed 500 heads.
Men should take care of the reindeer. The animals are caught with a lasso, bells are held around the neck, which help to determine the location of the deer. It takes a long time to overtake the herd, because one passage in distance takes from 10 kilometers. The wife, who also rides on horseback with 2-3 deer and children, takes part in driving the herd. It is impossible to cope with the herd together, therefore other Evens are taking part in the case. During the wandering to the last deer in the caravan, parts are fixed on the sleigh, from which the frame of the dwelling will be assembled later.
Evens use spears, bows, knives, guns and various traps for hunting. Hunting is carried out on horseback on a deer, and if you need to catch large prey, another deer is used as bait. The hunters are also assisted by a specially trained dog. Previously, the Evens often hunted bears, observing strict rituals and rules.
Kunja and grayling were obtained from the fish using hook tackle. The Evens began to use the seine and the net only in the 20s of the last century. To this day, blacksmithing has survived, which men are engaged in. Women make skins, clothes, covers and bedding. Trade between neighboring settlements is highly developed. First of all, the Evens trade and exchange things with the Yakuts. The most important commodities are jewelry and precious metals.
The Evens' style is quite strict. Family ties play the leading role in it. Each clan unites with another, the association forms groups led by the headman. All groups try to stay close to each other, hence the custom of sharing the caught prey was formed. The Evens are still engaged in nomadism, and the main thing in the process is always the father, who even in old age commands the eldest sons.
At birth, each Even receives a small herd, which he will own when he reaches adulthood. This applies not only to men, but also to women. There are many customs related to hunting. For example, if a bear was caught, a real holiday was organized on the occasion of its catch. The bones were to be laid out in the appropriate anatomy order and the spirits were to be thanked.

If one of the community members fell ill, it was required to sacrifice the deer, then eat its meat and hang the skin on a pole.
Bones and remnants of food are still sacrificed to the fire, thanks to the spirits.
At the holiday and in everyday life, people lead round dances, arrange dances.

Many nations negotiate a ransom before matchmaking. Evenks are no exception here. They have a custom, according to which the tori (ransom) must be several times higher than the price of the dowry that the groom receives from the bride's family. You cannot choose a wife from your own family. Previously, polygamy and betrothal among minors were common. Nowadays, such phenomena practically do not occur. Before entering the chum, the groom had to go around it 3 times, then the bride was escorted to the house, where she had to cook soup with meat. The dowry was left near the chum for everyone to see.

Now the dead are ordered to be buried in the ground in accordance with Christian traditions. Until the 18th century, the burial ceremony looked different. The deceased, if he was a man, was given a knife, pipe and pouch. Jewelry for a woman. Partly the funeral rite is observed today. In particular, a figurine of a wooden bird (usually a raven) is placed over the grave, things that belonged to the deceased are put, and a frame is installed.
Now the main religion of the Evens is Orthodoxy. There are still families of shamanism. Not much is known about Even shamanism; at present, ethnographers and linguists are actively studying its features. The main feature of Even shamanism is the worship of spirits that personify nature.

The cause of water pollution on the Khalaktyrsky beach of Kamchatka is named.

A technogenic version of an ecological emergency in Kamchatka, when many marine inhabitants died in Avacha Bay, and people who were on the shore were injured, is completely ruled out, it was a rare natural phenomenon. This is the conclusion reached by the participants of the "round table" held at the presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
The authorities, scientists and ecologists were looking for the cause of the disaster on the Khalaktyr beach. Photo: RIA Novosti The cause of the disaster on the Khalaktyr beach was sought by the authorities, scientists and ecologists. Photo: RIA Novosti The cause of the disaster on the Khalaktyr beach was sought by the authorities, scientists and ecologists. Photo: RIA Novosti
"We rely on facts, not emotions," assured the head of Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova. "To date, we have carried out almost 5,000 studies, taken hundreds of samples. Their data indicate that we do not see a pronounced man-made character." However, individual exceedances of the maximum permissible concentrations were found, their sources are known, all information has been published, work is underway with the leaks, but they could not provoke such a massive death of animals, added Radionova. The data of Russian scientists were confirmed by their colleagues from other countries, and environmental organizations noted the openness and transparency of research.
Scientists say that, understanding the causes of the phenomenon, they ruled out one version after another. After making sure that there was no man-made character here, they raised the data of seismologists, space observation, data on samples of water, soil and tissues of dead animals, they came to the conclusion that this is a natural phenomenon of the "red tide", explained Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Andrei Adrianov.

"We saw a change in the color of the water, massive foaming," he said. "Among the discarded and dead aquatic organisms were only benthic invertebrates and fish: sea urchins, stars, mollusks." In combination with the very powerful bloom of microalgae recorded by satellites near Kamchatka in late September - early October, which was observed extremely rarely in previous years, and the fact that marine mammals were practically not affected, this allowed us to draw a conclusion that was confirmed by laboratory data.

"The mass death of benthic aquatic organisms occurred as a result of exposure to toxins of a complex of species of the genus Karenia and as a result of the formation of mass deaths on the seabed as a result of a significant depletion of oxygen in water, when a huge amount of organic matter settled to the bottom and oxygen was required to oxidize all this rotting mass," he concluded Adrianov.

Life is already returning to the affected waters, but it is unclear whether a repetition of the "red tide" can be ruled out
According to environmental organizations, life is already returning to the affected waters. Now questions remain, what caused such a massive algal bloom and how big is the chance of a recurrence of the emergency in the future. The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources Dmitry Kobylkin proposes to establish these reasons during future scientific expeditions to the shores of Kamchatka, in which both Russian and foreign scientists can take part.

Kuril lake

All over the world, it happens that wild animals enter cities. Sometimes these are wild boars, moose, deer. In the capital of Kamchatka, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, these are sea lions. You can easily find them on the waterfront.
Video from the personal archive of red_nasty
https://zen.yandex.ru/leto_na_krayu_sveta

Сивучи

This is a downy owl, a member of the owl family no larger than a pigeon. In Kamchatka, it lives mainly in the stone birch forest. This wonderful photo was taken in 2012 during the winter route counts of animals by ornithologist Alexander Perevozov.

Have you heard the wolves howl?

The song of this beast was recorded near the cordon "Aerodrom" in the Kronotsko-Bogachevskaya tundra by the state inspector of the Kronotsky reserve Alexey Maslov.

An employee of the conservation service has been watching the wolf for many months and has studied a little of its habits. The wolf allows to observe itself from a short distance.

The polar wolf is one of 54 mammal species that live in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. Secretive predators hunt collectively, in packs. This distinguishes them from foxes, who prefer to forage separately, in a narrow family circle. When communicating with congeners, wolves use a huge palette of sounds, including during the hunt.

The wolves howl Have you heard the wolves howl?The song of this beast was recorded near the cordon "Aerodrom" in the Kronotsko-Bogachevskaya tundra by the state inspector of...

As can be seen in these frames, a large male living on the shores of Lake Kuril in the South Kamchatka Federal Reserve is well-fed and acquired warm and thick fur after molting.
That is, he is completely ready for winter sleep. However, the animal is in no hurry to lie down in the den - sockeye salmon spawn, and this process can continue until the end of winter.

Kuril Lake is one of the few places on the planet where you can watch brown bears in the snow. We thank the state inspector of the Kronotsky reserve Liana Varavskaya, who installed a camera trap on the path of this handsome man.

Bears never sleep

In the wild, on vast expanses without roads and high-rise buildings, power lines and other structures and buildings that provide the vital activity of a modern person, it is clearly visible how the world around is changing.

These pictures from Cape Siyushk on Lake Kuril, where the Travyanoy cordon is located, were taken by the state inspector Liana Varavskaya at intervals of several minutes. At first it seemed that the day would be gloomy, but after half an hour the clouds cleared away, and the cold beauty of the reserved coast began to play with warm shades.

Forgotten boats of Kutha.

In Kamchatka, there is an old legend that the god and creator of the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka, the raven Kutkh, left his huge boats to dry after fishing, and forgot about them.

Or maybe the deity himself liked how the Kutkhins bats looked, and he left them for the joy of people). The pumice rocks, carved by wind and water, are truly impressive in their scale and beauty.

Today it is one of the unique natural objects of the South Kamchatka Federal Reserve, which is annually visited by travelers from all over the world, and thanks to the state inspector Nina Kim, we can admire them from the height of the drone flight.

Russian Cyberfarm

RUSSIAN CYBERPUNK FARM // РУССКАЯ КИБЕРДЕРЕВНЯ They say that Russia is a technically backward country, there are no roads, robotics do not develop, rockets do not fly...

Residents are gradually arriving on the lava islands of the Samang archipelago.

Every year, lonely bears and mothers with cubs use the natural caves of the islands, towering over the surface of the Kuril Lake, as a shelter for winter sleep and the creation of a new home. At the end of autumn, around the archipelago, there is a lot of spawned sockeye salmon, which is not difficult to catch.

"The bears pick up the spawned fish, eat up the mountain ash, yawn and prepare for the onset of winter cold," says the state inspector of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and the author of the photographs Nina Kim

Today's article is about the indigenous people of Kamchatka - the Itelmen.
The Itelmens are the most ancient northern people, whose ancestors settled in the Kamchatka region 15,000 years ago. Genes, mythology, and rituals unite them with the North American Indians. Household and family habits are shocking, making up the original Itelmen culture.
Now there are 3193 of them. Most of them live in Kamchatka. The most substantiated information about the number of Itelmens at the end of the 17th – 18th centuries was given by the Soviet ethnographer B.O.Dolgikh. Using materials from yasak books, he came to the conclusion that in 1697 the number of Itelmens was 12,680 people, and in 1738 - 8448 people. The main reasons for the decrease in their numbers were the imported infectious diseases (smallpox, "rotten fever", etc.), the colonial policy of Russia and the process of assimilation of the Itelmens with the Russians.
Over the past 70 years, the number of Itelmens has increased approximately threefold.
Scientists have found similar genes in the Navajo Indians of the North American tribe and the Alaskan Tlingit. The visits of the Itelmens to the remaining representatives of the tribes confirmed the presence of similar elements in culture, rituals, and mythology. The traditional beliefs of the Itelmens - animism, totemism, fetishism - are associated with the worship of master spirits. The "master of the sea" Mitg was especially revered, providing the main food product - fish. The Raven (Kutkh) was considered the creator of the earth and the first ancestor. The Itelmen were alien to the idea of a single god. There was also shamanism, but the Itelmen shamans did not have ritual clothes and tambourines. The shamans were usually women. From the middle of the XVII century. the Itelmens adopted Christianity.
According to ethnographic research, in ancient times the Itelmens practiced the rite of air burial. This is one of the most ancient religious rites of the burial of a deceased person, in which the burial is performed by hanging the body of the deceased in the air with the aim of giving the body of the deceased to air, spirit, light and wood. The cycle of legends about the raven character Kutkha is widely known. The largest number of Itelmen fairy tales were recorded at the beginning of the 20th century. by the Russian ethnographer V.I. Yokhelson. The Itelmens were distinguished by their endurance, they could run for a long time without shortness of breath, and do hard work. Despite the unsanitary conditions, they were distinguished by good health and longevity: the average age was 60-75 years. By the time the Russians arrived in Kamchatka, a man played the leading role among the Itelmens, but the remnants of matriarchy occupied a significant place. Women were not offended, they were honored in every possible way, they fulfilled any whims. The custom of "working off" a potential groom in the bride's house has been preserved. The man moved to the yurt of the girl he liked, where he performed any work as a servant. Sometimes the "service" dragged on for several years, and the bride's consent to marriage did not mean. The paradox: while living together during the "working off" potential husband and wife indulged in carnal pleasures. The wedding ceremony was also an obstacle to marriage. When the man decided that he had already served enough and won the sympathy of the bride, he offered to carry out the "Grab" ceremony. The chosen girl was tightly tied with ropes on her legs, entangled with nets and dressed up in several layers of clothing. The groom's goal is to unravel the shackles and touch her va**na. The task was complicated by the female relatives gathered around the bride, who obstructed the ceremony. They beat, bit, and scratched the man not in a comic manner, but in full force. Often the ritual ended in serious injuries: then, after healing the wounds, the ritual was repeated. If the goal was achieved, the bride would say “no, no”: after the marriage was considered concluded.
Innocence in the world of the Itelmens was not among the virtues; the morals in the communities were free. Marriages within the clan between cousins were allowed, levirate and polygamy were actively practiced. The only obstacle to polygamy is the custom of matchmaking, so the Itelmens preferred to have easy, non-binding relationships. It was allowed for men and women. If Itelmen decided to have a second wife, he asked permission from the first. If the ladies liked each other, they began to live together as a large family. Otherwise, the husband was constantly moving from one yurt to another. They did not dare to refuse a man: he could leave for good, divorce was not considered shameful.
In winter, the tribal community lived in one common house: a semi-dugout, dug 1.5 meters deep, fenced in with a small rounded canopy with a roof covered with turf and snow. It was called a yurt, along the side walls there were sleeping places: bunks, mats laid on the ground. A wooden idol, the guardian of the clan, was placed in the far corner. A hearth was raised in the center, the smoke came out of the window of the upper side part: through it, men descended into the dwelling. For women and children, a side access was built: it is more convenient to get inside through it. In summer they settled in huts, equipped on four poles up to 4 m high. The quadrangular huts had a conical roof. From afar, the settlements of the Itelmen looked like cities with towers. The Cossacks who arrived interpreted the bizarre shape in their own way, calling the dwellings "booths". The wind blew freely between the poles: the place was used for drying and drying fish. Nearby, simple ground structures were erected for cleaning fish. Religion Religious beliefs of the Itelmens are diverse: animism, shamanism, fetishism, totemism. The people believed: the earth is flat, in the lower part there is an "underground sky", where the season is opposite to the Itelmen one. There was no single god, the world was inhabited by many spirits: hosts patrons assistants satellites pests The protagonist of the myths is the Raven God Kutkh, the creator of heaven and earth, present in the beliefs of the northern peoples, Indians. It's funny, but the Itelmens did not respect him: they composed ridiculous and obscene stories about his adventures. The ruler of the underworld was considered the son of Kutkh by the name of Gach, and his spies in the world of the living were lizards. So that they would not pass on the news about the life of the people to the lord, the lizards they met were chopped into small pieces. The Itelmens believed: living beings, from man to fly, after death are reborn in the underworld, where they begin to live better. Death did not frighten: at the slightest dissatisfaction with reality, the Itelmens easily went to su***de. After the arrival of the Cossacks, who greatly complicated their life, mass su***des began. The people, distinguished by their ingenuity, noticed that the Cossacks after death, according to their stories, go to heaven. This means that in the underworld they will not bother the revived northern inhabitants. Friendship played an important role for the Itelmens: the tradition of dedication to best friends is unusually bizarre. The chosen candidate came to visit his future friend, who was preparing a sumptuous feast for the visit and hotly drowning the chum. Both went into the dwelling, stripped naked, the candidate began his meal, the owner poured water over the hot stones, like in a bath. When the guest began to beg for mercy, the brought things, clothes, dogs were taken from him. In return, they gave castoffs and sick animals. After a while, the roles were reversed: after a return visit, the friendship was considered to be sealed forever. The basis of the diet of the Itelmens was made up of salmon fish. The national dish is yukola: dried salmon cut into 6 parts. Caviar was dried with bark of trees; they ate it and yukola all winter. A shocking dish for modern people, which is considered a favorite delicacy of the Itelmens - fish heads fermented in special pits or barrels. When they reached a clear smell, they were washed and ate with particular pleasure. Unlike other peoples of Kamchatka, the Itelmens subjected fish to heat treatment. Since they did not know metal boilers, they came up with an ingenious method: stones red-hot on a fire were thrown into wooden containers with water. Less often the fish was baked over a fire, smoked. Salting began only with the arrival of the Russians: the difficulty of delivering salt did not favor this method of preparation. Itelmen women were engaged in gathering of mushrooms, roots, herbs, pine nuts, berries. Bread was replaced with sarana onions, crushed with blueberries: foreigners noted the pleasant taste of this dish.

Today I am writing about the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka.
At the moment, the national composition of Kamchatka is as follows

Russians 85.92%
Ukrainians 3.91%
Koryaks 2.26%
Itelmen 0.81%
Tatars 0.81%
Belarusians 0.64%
Evens 0.64%
Kamchadals 0.53%
Chukchi 0.51%

Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars and Belarusians came to Kamchatka in the 18th century as a result of the expansion of the Russian Empire to the east.
The indigenous peoples include the Koryaks, Itelmens, Evens, Kamchadals and Chukchi.

The largest group of indigenous people at the moment are Koryaks. Their total number in Kamchatka is now about 6640 people.
It is believed that their ancestors inhabited the territory of Kamchatka as early as the first millennium of our era. For the first time, the name of the Koryaks began to appear on the pages of Russian documents from the 17th century. This was due to the advancement of Russia to Siberia and the Far East. The first Russian visit to this region dates back to 1651. The conquest of Kamchatka by Russia started at the end of the 17th century. It was started by Vladimir Atlasov, who, together with his detachment, captured several Koryak villages. However, the Koryaks have revolted more than once. But in the end, all the uprisings were suppressed. Thus, the population of Kamchatka, including the Koryaks, became Russian subjects. In 1803, the Kamchatka region was founded in the Russian Empire. ... After the October Revolution in 1930, the Koryaks were granted national autonomy. The administrative center was the urban-type settlement Palana.
Koryaks are divided into two groups - nomadic, who live off deer and sedentary, who live by fishing.
Nomadic aborigines are engaged in fur trade and reindeer herding, driving herds of reindeer from pasture to pasture. In the past, the meat of ungulates served them as their main food, the Koryaks made tools and household items from the bones and horns of animals, and clothes and light portable yarangas were sewn from reindeer skins. Today, on the eastern outskirts of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, on the shores of the picturesque Khalaktyrskoye Lake, the ethnic village "Tanynaut" is built. Here you can not only visit the Koryak yarangas, but also learn how to build them. And also - try to make fire on your own, play the jew's harp and tambourine, dance to national motives and hunt.
Among the Koryaks, the holiday of the First Fish is still held, designed to "lure" fish into the Kamchatka rivers.

Sedentary Koryaks lived by fishing and hunting sea animals - seals, bearded seals and whales, and they went fishing on canoes trimmed with skins of sea animals. Clothes and footwear, household items were also sewn from skins. The indigenous people have achieved high skill in processing not only skins, but also bone, metal, stone. The Koryaks also learned how to build houses ideally suited to the harsh and changeable weather of Kamchatka. The walls of two layers of logs with a layer of earth and sod between them reliably protected from the cold during the long winter. In summer, it was possible to enter through a long hallway, and when a blizzard swept everything around, a special hole in the ceiling served as an entrance. Due to the unusual shape of the roof - “windbreak” - the dwelling was never covered with snow.
Today you can visit a traditional house, get acquainted with the way of life and traditions of the Koryaks in the Eyvet camp. A kennel for sled dogs is located nearby. You can try your hand at sledding!
Most of the Koryak believers today are Orthodox Christians, although the remnants of shamanism that came from the traditional beliefs of this people remain quite strong.

In the near future I will write in more detail about the Itelmens, Evens, Kamchadals and Chukchi, devoting a separate article to each of the peoples.

News from the Russian north
On November 9, Russian TV channel Mir reported that the Laptev Sea in the Arctic Ocean did not freeze for the first time in the entire history of observations. According to the TV channel, over the past four years, almost 1 million square meters have melted there. km of ice. Now in the Laptev Sea, the water temperature is as much as five degrees above normal. The entire ecosystem can suffer from such climate changes, experts say. Because of the melting ice, the Arctic reflects less heat and the planet heats up more than usual.
What do you think will happen to the planet when resort hotels can be opened in the Laptev Sea?