This year, the Scientific-Experimental Base “Chernogolovka” of IPEE RAS celebrates its 45th anniversary! We have prepared a small report (see video report under the text) about the workings of the base at the moment and the scientific research conducted there.
The scientific-experimental base "Chernogolovka" is located approximately in 60 kilometers from Moscow. Its location in the forest prevents onlookers and curious locals from interacting with the animals kept there.
The base is located in a dense forest, with minimal interference into the wildlife, paths connecting the houses of scientists and cages, kennels and fenced areas in which animals are kept. Despite the fact that the base is far from the city, the scientific life does not stop on weekdays or weekends. Employees of the IPEE RAS can be stationed at the base comfortably - even on weekends. The results of their research at the base are published in international scientific journals.
Several types of animals are studied at the base. However, the spectrum of research is similar - first of all, the study of animal behavior and its formation in ontogenesis, their communication, the biology of reproduction and hybridization, and environmental physiology. Based on the study of these aspects, rare breeding technologies are being developed for their conservation.
Seven different types of cats are currently undergoing research supported by a Russian Science Foundation grant. Researchers are studying the effect of multiple paternity on the offspring of a domestic cat and on the condition of females during pregnancy. During that period, the comparisons are made of a number of physiological features - blood is tested in domestic and wild cats for changes in the ontogenesis and changes under the influence of a number of factors, including seasonal changes. The main work is carried out on Eurasian lynx, Far Eastern forest cat and domestic cat. Besides, the base contains red lynx, caracal, serval and even one ocelot.
Massive scientific work is being conducted on the study of the behavior of marten under the supervision of the director of the IPEE RAS, academician Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Rozhnov. Work is primarily done on ferrets and sables. Unlike the ferret with its one and a half month pregnancy, sable has a very long pregnancy period, almost nine months, and the mating time falls in mid-summer, when the female still has her cubs born a couple of months ago. The familial relationships - the male with the female, ready for breeding, the male with the cubs, who just recently stopped being breast-fed, are of particular scientific interest.
Another group of scientists led by Yulia Mikhailovna Kovalskaya deals with the karyosystematics of different types of voles and their interspecific relationships: they study the hybridization of different forms, the presence of different karyotypic forms of a particular species, their distribution, and the ability to crossbreed.
Doctor in Biological Sciences senior researcher Marina Vladimirovna Rutovskaya studies bioacoustics in different species of mammals - what sound signals they emit and what kind of semantic or emotional meaning they carry for their relatives. Under her leadership, together with the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, work is also being done on camels to obtain various antibodies to a wide variety of compounds - both pathogenic and artificial. Marina Vladimirovna is also actively working with insectivores - she studies the features of hibernation in hedgehogs.
Together with the Doctor of Biological Sciences, the leading researcher Elena Vladimirovna Kotenkova, cross fostering and the subsequent development of cubs on different types of rodents is underway. The behavior of animals in adulthood is under study as well.
A massive amount of work is carried out on forest voles under the direction of Ph.D. researcher Olga Osipova. Scientists are engaged in interspecific hybridization in forest voles and the formation of social behavior - both interspecific and intraspecific. Of particular interest, including epidemiological, are the relationships between the bank voles and red-backed voles.
It should be noted that it was in Chernogolovka, on our base, that the musk deer biology was studied in detail for the first time, subsequently developing the technology of intravital capture of a jet (musk) from males. Previously, the males were killed to obtain this musk, and it is still a widespread practice. These studies were completed in Chernogolovka, and the obtained results being used on farms throughout the country.
The life of the Chernogolovka scientific and experimental base is very active: it is not only a scientific, but an educational center as well. Scientists from the most diverse corners of not only Russia but the world work on the basis of a living collection of wild species of mammals contained here. At the same time, much attention is paid to working with young scientists. Every year, students from the Moscow Pedagogical University and the Russian Agrarian University - Moscow Agricultural Academy - K.A. Timiryazev ICCA, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Peoples Friendship University of Russia and other universities.
Very small “researchers” also come to the station — open and free tours for schoolchildren take place at the Chernogolovka base. Sergei Valerievich Naydenko, deputy director of the IPEE of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Biological Sciences, says: “First of all, we receive schoolchildren from Chernogolovka, but sometimes school groups also travel from Moscow. We are open about eight months a year - from June to early February. We are closed for excursions only during the rutting and breeding of animals, so as not to disturb them. Moreover, we began to conduct interactive excursions, on which we not only show animals, but also give children the opportunity to see how the devices work, to look into the microscope themselves - try for yourself what it means to be a scientist! This interactivity has undeniable effect on our guests.”
Text: Anna Lavrova
Video report: Svetlana Naydenko