Fig. 1. Remains of skulls and mandibles of equids from the studied localities: A - chilotherium (Chilotherium schlosseri), B-D - aceratherium (Aceratherium incisivum), E-K - hipparions (Hipparion verae and H. tudorovense). In a new study published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, employees of the Laboratory of Ecology, Physiology and Functional Morphology of Higher Vertebrates at the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution  RAS Ruslan Belyaev and Natalya Prilepskaya, together with their colleagues from the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social and the V.I. Vernadsky State Geological Museum RAS, studied the feeding habits of carnivorous and ungulate mammals that inhabited the territory of the Northern Black Sea region in the Late Miocene. The unique collection of skulls, lower jaws and individual teeth studied in the work (Fig. 1) was assembled at the beginning of the 19th century by the Tiraspol icon painter and fossil hunter F.V. Frolov at the locations of the “hipparion fauna” discovered by him: Grebeniki (Ukraine), Chobruchi and Tudorovo (Moldova). The remains of the animals were collected by Frolov for sale to Moscow and Odessa Universities. Subsequently, the collection of the Geological Cabinet of the Imperial Moscow University passed into the funds of the V.I. Vernadsky Geological Museum, in which it is stored today. The age of the studied fossils corresponds to the end of the Tortonian (Grebeniki and Chobruchi ~8-7.5 million years ago) and the middle Messinian centuries (Tudorovo ~6.5 million years ago) of the Neogene period. The “Hipparion fauna”, named after the genus of Neogene three-toed horses, in the Northern Black Sea region was represented by elephants (Deinotherium and Stegodon), hornless rhinoceroses from the subfamily Aceratheriinae (Fig. 1), antelopes, camels, giraffes, bulls and horses, aardvarks, primates, saber-toothed cats from the subfamily Machairodontinae, hyenas and civets, as well as ostriches. But how could these animals, which we associate with the African savannah and equatorial forests, inhabit the territory of the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions? The answer to this question is connected to climate change. Moreover, the appearance and spread of the hipparion fauna is associated not with climate warming, but with the cooling and drying of the region. Fig. 2. A - mesowear index in modern and Neogene ungulates. Two-dimensional graphs of microwear of teeth in the studied ungulates (B) and carnivores (C, D). Graphs B–D show 95% confidence ellipses for microwear of teeth in modern folivorous and herbivorous ungulates (B) and various carnivorous species (C, D). The Miocene (23.0–5.3 Ma) was the last episode of warm climate at the planetary level, and its middle part was the warmest period in the entire Neogene. Thus, the average annual temperature in Eastern Europe was 15-18°C, and the average winter temperature was 7-12.5°C. The Middle Miocene flora of the East European Plain was dominated by extremely diverse and taxonomically rich forests: deciduous forests with various species of walnut, elm and beech, evergreens (including myrtle, laurel, magnolia), tree ferns and vines. Among the conifers, taxodium and sequoia remained. However, at the end of the Middle Miocene, a noticeable cooling and drying of the climate occurs. A decrease in the average annual temperature by more than 5°C opens the Tortonian Age in the lowland areas of the Northern Black Sea region. Along with the cooling and drying of the climate, purely herbaceous biotopes appear in the landscape. The regression of the huge Eastern Paratethys basin (the remnants of which are the Black, Azov, Aral and Caspian Seas) drains large areas of the shelf, which are immediately occupied by halophilic land plants. Amaranthaceae and wormwood begin to play a significant role, and in some places even dominate in the palynological spectra. In the late Miocene (~10-9 million years ago), the zone of continuous forests was divided into separate massifs, forests first disappear from watersheds, being replaced by open forests and remaining only in river valleys, and then in the open spaces between rivers there is a change from open forests to savanna-steppes, first prairie meadow type, and then dry. Climate and landscape changes in the region have been accompanied by changes in animal communities. The fauna of forest mammals, named after the small primitive horses of the genus Anchitherium the “anchitherium fauna”, is gradually replaced by the “hipparion fauna” of open spaces. By the end of the Tortonian, to which the faunas of the studied localities of Grebeniki and Chobruchi belong, the share of relicts of the anchiterium fauna in the communities of large mammals drops to 20%. As a result, in the Late Miocene of the Northern Black Sea region, an ecosystem most similar to that of the modern African savannah was formed. In order to study the feeding habits of fossil carnivores and ungulates, methods for analyzing meso- and microwear of tooth enamel, well established on modern mammals, were used. Both of these approaches make it possible to obtain reliable data for determining the diet of mammals over two different time periods - the average annual and the last weeks of life. Mesowear of teeth is based on assessing the morphology of the relief of the chewing surface of the tooth and allows us to assess the abrasiveness of food of ungulate mammals over long time periods. Tooth microwear analysis is based on counting the number of enamel microdamages on the chewing surface of teeth and is used to study both ungulates and carnivorous mammals. Observed wear patterns vary greatly depending on the food consumed, allowing the distinction between mammals specialized for different food sources. How similar was the diet of mammals in the modern and Neogene savanna? Most ungulates inhabiting savannah and woodlands in today's Africa are, to one degree or another, specialized in feeding on grass. The ungulates that inhabited the Late Miocene savanna of the Northern Black Sea region, on the contrary, were mostly leaf-eaters (Fig. 2). Thus, in the communities of herbivorous mammals from the large localities of Grebeniki and Chobruchi 1, foliage was characteristic of 65.3% and 82.8% of the studied individuals, respectively. This may indicate that specialization to a new food source (herbaceous plants that began to dominate the flora of the region) in ungulate mammals is somewhat delayed compared to changes in the landscape. At the same time, the studied material shows how in the late Miocene of the Northern Black Sea region there was a shift in the nutrition of hipparions from pure foliage (~8-7.5 million years ago) to a mixed diet of foliage and grass (~6.5 million years ago). Did any of the Late Miocene ungulates of the Northern Black Sea region manage to fully master feeding on grass? Yes, the study showed that hornless rhinoceroses from the genera Chilotherium and Aceratherium were herbivorous (Fig. 2). In addition to the conclusion about the nature of nutrition for hornless rhinoceroses, it was possible to confirm the hypothesis about the herd lifestyle of these animals. The variability in tooth wear indicates that the formation of both localities with numerous remains of hornless rhinoceroses (Grebeniki and Chobruchi 1) corresponds to short-term catastrophic events. The sudden death of a large number of rhinoceroses in a small area of territory indicates that these ungulates were characterized by living in fairly large permanent groups. It is interesting to note that among modern rhinoceroses, living in large permanent groups, as well as specialized feeding on grass, is characteristic only of white rhinoceroses. When studying predators, it was shown that the pattern of tooth wear in the mahairod (a large saber-toothed cat) was most similar to that of modern lions, indicating a specialization for feeding on the meat of large animals. Tooth wear in the most common Neogene hyenas of the genus Adcrocuta was found to be similar to that of the largest living hyena, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), as well as the fossil cave hyenas C. spelaea and C. ultima ussurica. This is especially interesting because, unlike other modern hyenas, the spotted hyena is an active predator that hunts as much as a lion, and is also capable of very effectively chewing even the thickest bones, digesting cartilage, tendons and bones. At the same time, microwear of teeth in young individuals of A. eximia differed significantly from adults; moreover, the noted pattern does not overlap with any of the carnivorous species studied to date. Significant differences in microwear between juveniles and adults of Adcrocuta must have had a behavioral basis. However, currently available data do not allow reliable interpretation of these differences. As a hypothesis, it can be assumed that it was not typical for adult Adcrocutus to carry the carcasses of killed ungulates into their shelters, as modern spotted hyenas do, and as a result, it was less common for the cubs to play and chew bones. Source: Florent Rivals, Ruslan I. Belyaev, Vera B. Basova, Natalya E. Prilepskaya. (2024) A tale from the Neogene savanna: Paleoecology of the hipparion fauna in the northern Black Sea region during the late Miocene // Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 112133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2024.112133

Fig.1: (A) Anabar Plateau – the site where a new species was found (above); (B) researcher on an expedition (bottom left); (B) Diacyclops yabdar (bottom right) Photo authors: Aseev N.A (A, B) and Novikov A.A. (IN) Scientists from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), together with colleagues from the Kazan Federal University and the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Irkutsk), described a species of copepods from the order Cyclopoida (Copepoda) that is new to science. Diacyclops dyabdar (Novikov, Sharafutdinova, Mayor & Chertoprud, 2024) inhabits flowing water bodies of the Lena River delta and the coast of Tiksi Bay, as well as the Anabar Plateau. The species is named after a creature from the mythology of the Evenks, the indigenous inhabitants of the north of Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, to which the known range of the species is currently limited. The fairytale snake Dyabdar lives underground, and with its body makes river beds. This is consistent with the feature of the new Diacyclops, which lives exclusively in rivers and streams, and was only found twice in wet mosses. The described species differs well from the others in its large body size, ornamentation of the swimming legs and caudal branches. The results of molecular genetic analysis for four genes also confirm the specificity of the isolated taxon. In parallel with the description of the new species, a revision of the species group Diacyclops crassicaudis which it is included in, was carried out. Several taxa of the subspecific and species level were reduced to synonyms, since they did not have significant morphological and morphometric differences from the type representative of the group. The dubious status of two species and two subspecies of Diacyclops previously discovered in Iran is substantiated. It turned out that the descriptions of these taxa were based on immature individuals belonging to several different genera of the order Cyclopoida. Identification of new species from specimens that have not yet reached maturity is, unfortunately, not a rare story for copepods. This is due to the fact that in young individuals both the number of body segments and the structure of the limbs differ significantly from adults. However, sometimes it is quite difficult to accurately determine the molting stage, and with it the age of the crustacean, which leads to errors. Thus, thanks to research into the aquatic fauna of the Arctic territories, not only was a previously unknown species described, but also order was brought to one of the segments of the extensive genus Diacyclops. The research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 23-24-00054. Novikov A.A., Sharafutdinova D.N., Mayor T.Y., Chertoprud E.S. 2024. A new species of Diacyclops (Copepoda, Cyclopoida) from the D. crassicaudis (Sars, 1863) species group with critical taxonomy remarks // Diversity. 16, 208. https://doi.org/10.3390/d16040208 Related materials: PoiskNews: "A new species of copepods has been discovered in Siberia. Ecological indicators of water bodies" Rambler. News: "Biologists have found a new species of copepods in Siberian streams" RSF: "Biologists have found a new species of copepods in Siberian streams" Mail.VFocus: "Biologists have found a new species of copepods in Siberian streams" Indicator: "Biologists have found a new species of copepods in Siberian streams" Scientific Russia: "A new species of copepods was found in Siberian streams"

It has recently been shown that there has been a widespread decline in terrestrial insect populations over the last century, but trends in other indicators of biodiversity are less clear. Authors from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of  RAS, the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Studies (iDiv), the Universities of Jena and Halle (Germany), and the Center for Ecology and Hydrology (UK) studied long-term trends in 923 terrestrial insect communities, monitored in 106 publications. Based on the results of the study, scientists also found a decrease in species diversity. In studies that were carried out at the species level (551 points in 57 studies), a decrease in the numbers of initially abundant species was observed over time, but the amount of rare species did not decrease. At the population level, it was found that species that were most abundant at the beginning of the time series showed the largest average decline. The number of rare species also decreased on average, but this was compensated by an increase in the number of other species. The results indicate that the observed decline in overall insect abundance can largely be explained by widespread declines in previously abundant species. This contradicts the common belief that biodiversity loss is mainly characterized by the decline of rare species. Although the results show that fundamental changes are occurring in insect communities, it is important to recognize that they only reflect trends from those points for which sufficient long-term data are available. However, given the importance of abundant species in ecosystems, their overall decline is likely to have major consequences for food chains and ecosystem functioning. One of the authors of the study, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Gongalsky, says that according to the authors’ findings, the main reasons are recent anthropogenic changes. For example, special studies attribute the decline in the numbers of some common species to climate change, intensification of land use and a decrease in the nutritional value of plants. Some species may also have been abundant in the past because they were dependent on certain types of historical land use (such as traditional agriculture), but their numbers have declined recently as land use has changed. Massive species are often disproportionately important to the structure and functioning of ecosystems and to the diversity of higher trophic levels, so their decline has likely already led to widespread ecosystem restructuring, and the situation will continue to worsen. Van Klink R., Bowler D.E., Gongalsky K.B., Shen M., Swengel A.B., Chase J.M. 2024. Disproportionate declines of formerly abundant species underlie insect loss. Nature 628: 359-364. Related materials: Ведомости. Экология: "Ученые: насекомые исчезают из-за сокращения массовых видов"

Starting May 18, Russian cinemas will begin showing a documentary film shot entirely in the wild - on the territory of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. The plot of the film is not fiction - it reflects the real story of a family of foxes in natural conditions and the flow of life situations that happened to them. This flow of situations is unique in the life of each animal and forms the system of its reactions to the outside world in a unique way. The film itself was conceived back in 2014, at that time Anna Yachmennikova, an employee of the Institute of Economics and Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was working on the territory of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve. Anna studied the patterns in behavior formation of fox cubs in natural conditions. This work was a logical continuation of her dissertation work on the study of behavior formation in wolf cubs. The Kronotsky Nature Reserve managed to preserve the conditions of their natural life for animals without a trace of many years of human influence. And the opportunity to observe how animals develop in nature with all the nuances of their intraspecific relationships and the influence of the experience of interspecific interactions is a rare chance. Some of the results of this work were published in scientific articles: Formation of behavior of fox cubs (Vulpes vulpes) in the wild: development of interactions with crows (Corvus corone) and bears (Ursus arctos)), Hidden patterns in the play behavior of fox cubs (Vulpes vulpes) in the wild : differences in the structure of the game in ontogenesis. However, most of the materials are still awaiting publication. Following in the footsteps of Anna’s work and with the help of the understanding of foxes that she developed over 5 years in the Reserve, a film crew of only two people - Dmitry and Anna Shpilenok - was able to very accurately document the life of wild foxes of Kamchatka and observe the same family continuously for 3 years, which in itself is not easy. This film, in a way, also became an independent research work: very complex, both in terms of expedition and in terms of organizing filming and working with wild animals in natural conditions, which cannot be asked to turn around at the most favorable angle in front of the camera. Filming of the highest quality very subtly conveys all the unique beauty of the nature of Kamchatka, the features of facial expressions and the gracefulness of fox movements. Anna Yachmennikova became a scientific consultant for the film, thanks to this the film will turn out to be biologically literate and therefore conveys to a person far from events in nature its harmony and reflects the completeness of the interconnections of all living things - through the image of a fox. Anna herself admits that these red animals taught her a lot. A colorful popular science book was also released for the film - an educational guide about foxes, specially prepared and anticipating the flow of interest in the fox and its biology that will arise after the film. Related materials: AiF Kamchatka: "A film will be made in Kamchatka about the adventures and family life of foxes" Russian Geographical Society: "Social behavior of foxes" Elements: "Lecture by Anna Yachmennikova "Foxes - resourceful inhabitants of open spaces" Kamchatinfo: “Biologists in Kamchatka are studying the specifics of family relationships of Kronotsky foxes” AiF Kamchatka: “The main characters of the film “Kamchatka. A Tale of Foxes” do not aspire for stardom” News from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Bezformata: “Exemplary foxes live in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka” News agency "Kam 24": "Residents of Kamchatka will be told about the life of the foxes Egor and Anfisa" NEWs: "The biologist told how to behave when meeting a fox in the city" Basegi Nature Reserve: "A very caring father fox" Kamchatinfo: “A very caring father fox was discovered in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka”

Corresponding member of the RAS, Professor of the RAS Alexey Alekseevich Kotov for the third year in a row has been included in the Research.com ranking of the best scientists in the Animal Science section. The ranking is based on data combined from several sources, including OpenAlex and CrossRef. The position in the ranking is based on the scientist's D-index (Discipline H-index), which includes only articles and citation data in the discipline being studied. Congratulations to Alexey Alekseevich on his well-deserved regular inclusion in the ranking!

Congratulations to the veterans of the Great Patriotic War and colleagues on Victory Day! This holiday has become a symbol of the courage of our people, their unshakable fortitude and unyielding spirit! Today we remember everyone thanks to whom victory was achieved in the destructive war of the last century. We are proud of the successes and contribution to the victory of domestic scientists who solved the most important problems to protect the country and ensure the security of the state. Veterans paid a high price for victory, many of them are no longer with us. But we will never forget their deeds! We have a section on our website in which we talk about the Institute’s employees who participated in the Great Patriotic War. The section “They Fought for the Motherland” contains materials about the Second World War from the personal family archives of the institute’s employees. These living testimonies of the past terrible and difficult years will forever remain in the memory of our people and preserve the memory of the great achievement. Also on the website are published excerpts from the report of L.A. Orbeli “Biology and War”, prepared for the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences on May 7, 1942. Happy holiday to you, dear veterans and colleagues! We wish you good health, prosperity and fruitful work for the benefit of our Motherland!

Fig.1. Excavation of burial site In the Fayum oasis (Egypt), employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS, together with archaeologists and historians from the Center for Egyptological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, studied the unique joint burial of humans and dogs in an ancient Coptic cemetery. Fig. 2. Mummy of an adult dog The age of the burial is about 2000 years (Roman period). In total, at least 142 individuals were found, 70% of which were puppies under three months of age. The bodies of puppies and the muzzles of some adults were tied with papyrus stems cut lengthwise, and the preserved soft tissues were subject to natural mummification. Traces of clay and silt were found on the skin and bones of many dogs, and the folds of dried skin were filled with puparia of flies and the remains of adults and larvae of carpet beetles. Fig.3. Burial of a man and dogs Morphometric analysis of the bones of adult individuals showed the similarity of the studied dogs with modern stray dogs from Egypt and Sudan. A very large number of puppies indicates their origin from nurseries. Puppies under three months of age fall into two clear groups, suggesting the presence of at least two dog breeding kennels in ancient Fayum. The presence of traces of clay and fly pupae indicates that the corpses of the dogs lay for quite a long time near the water and decomposed. Fig.4. Mummy of a puppy in wrapping The very fact that these dogs entered the cemetery, the presence of wrappings and some other features indicate that these half-decomposed corpses were collected with due care by the residents of Fayum and brought to the burial site. It is known that when the Nile floods in August-October, lowlands are flooded, including the Fayum Lowland. It is likely that an abnormally high flood could include some areas where, according to scientists, dog kennels could be located. Apparently, the kennels were fenced or were buildings from which it was difficult for the dogs to get out, which led to their death. Belova G.A., Khasanov B.F. Krylovich O.A. Ikram S. Vasyukov D.D. & Savinetsky A.B. A Pack of Hounds and its Master? A Bi-Species Burial from the Necropolis of Deir El-Banat (Fayum). Archaeofauna. 2024; 33(1):81-100. http://www.doi.org/10.15366/archaeofauna2024.33.1.005. Related materials: RAS: "Изучено захоронение собак древнего Египта"

Fig.1. Photo by S.V. Pavlova In 2023, employees of the Laboratory of Population Ecology, together with the Voroninsky Nature Reserve, began a project to restore the population of the speckled ground squirrel, a species listed in the Red Book of Russia, whose numbers and distribution are steadily declining throughout its entire range in Russia and Europe. Ground squirrels are ecosystem engineers and play a key role in the sustainable dynamics of grassland ecosystems. Their burrowing activity ensures the normal functioning of soils, supports the diversity of vegetation and the existence of hundreds and thousands of living organisms. Ground squirrels themselves are an important food source for a variety of terrestrial and feathered predators. The reduction in their numbers and range leads to disruption of the sustainable functioning of pasture ecosystems. The project was initiated by Olga Anatolyevna Burkanova, director of the Voroninsky Nature Reserve, as well as independent researcher Sergei Fedorovich Sapelnikov and employee of the Voronezh Nature Reserve Inna Igorevna Sapelnikova. Employees of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences got involved at the very first stages and provided scientific support for the project,along with regional authorities and the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation. At the first stage, an enclosure 40x40 m was built in the Voroninsky Nature Reserve in the Tambov region - the original habitat of the speckled ground squirrel, where it became extinct before. In the summer of 2023, 40 ground squirrels, captured near Lipetsk in one of the last known large settlements of this species, were released into an enclosure in which holes had been drilled in advance. Fig.2. Photo by S.V. Pavlova The ground squirrels quickly settled into the enclosure, and hormonal analysis showed that just three days after release, the stress level had dropped to normal. In August, they went into hibernation and, as surveys in April 2024 showed, they overwintered safely, creating the basis for the first semi-free population in Russia and Europe, which should become a source for the reintroduction of ground squirrels into nature. The Ministry of Natural Resources expressed great interest in continuing the project, noting with gratitude the special contribution of IEE RAS employees Olga Nikolaevna Shekarova and Lyudmila Evgenievna Savinetskaya. Congratulations to them! Fig.3. Photo by S.F. Sapelnikova (From left to right: S.V. Pavlova with her son Vanya, the youngest researcher, O.N. Shekarova, L.E. Savinetskaya, O.A. Burkanova, A.V. Chabovsky)

Three scientists from Russia were included in the ranking of the best scientists in the field of ecology and evolution. Two out of three are employees of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of RAS: Andrey Varlagin (Laboratory of Biogeocenology named after V.N. Sukachev) Alexey Tiunov (Laboratory of Soil Zoology and General Entomology) The third edition of Research.com's ranking of the top scientists in ecology and evolution is based on data combined from multiple sources, including OpenAlex and CrossRef. Bibliometric data for building citation indicators was collected on November 21, 2023. Ranking position is based on a scientist's Discipline H-index, which includes only articles and citation data in the discipline being studied. Congratulations to our colleagues on their well-deserved inclusion in the ranking!

Fig.1: Some of the most common inhabitants of the Volga steppes are rodents / Vladimir Yanchenko/RG Employees of the Saratov branch of the A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Olga and Mikhail Oparin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta journalists how the fauna is changing and why this is connected to more than global warming. Expat from "Africa" Recently, RG-Week spoke (“Saving the Bustard”, dated January 24, 2024) about the critical situation with the world’s largest flying bird, the bustard, living in the Saratov region. Scientists associate the sharp decline in the number of the Red Book bird, which has long adapted to living in fields cultivated by humans, with changes in agriculture and the active use of new agricultural technologies in recent decades. In order to protect the bustard, according to experts, we need cooperation between the state, science, agricultural enterprises and a set of measures, including changes in legislation. Thanks to the chemicalization of agriculture and the active use of pesticides, there are fewer weeds and pests in the fields, but at the same time the food supply is decreasing not only for the bustard, but also for other birds, such as larks and partridges. As a result, their numbers are also greatly reduced. Following the decrease in the number of partridges, an unexpected newcomer who appeared in the region about a quarter of a century ago - the African wildcat - has almost disappeared from our region. The common habitat of the African wildcat, or Felis lybica, is southern countries, including the African continent. It also lives in Central Asia, but the northwestern border of the distribution of this animal usually ran along the Emba River in Kazakhstan. However, at the end of the 90s of the last century, the cat began to be found in the Saratov region. This is a large animal, weighing up to 10 kilograms, with a characteristic yellow color with dark spots and seven dark stripes on the tail. This cat lives in holes, and does not dig them itself, but occupies those of others. Its common prey in desert and semi-desert areas are gerbils. Since they are not found in our area, the cat switched to other rodents, including hares, as well as partridges. When, after several snowy winters, the number of partridges sharply decreased in our country, we almost stopped seeing the alien predator. According to Mikhail Oparin, the last time a small, apparently young, African wildcat was seen was in 2018 at a pond in the Fedorovsky district. Time of the jackal Another immigrant from the south, the common jackal, or, as it is called in Europe, the golden jackal, has successfully taken residence. It  is not surprising, as this animal, as it turned out, has excellent adaptability to a wide variety of conditions. Over the past decades, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of this predator and its spread throughout Europe. Back in the middle of the last century, the jackal was found on the territory of the European part of our country only in the Caucasus, and in Europe - occasionally on the Balkan Peninsula, in Greece. Since then, the jackal has tirelessly explored new lands and today has reached Norway. And on the territory of the Russian Federation, an individual of this animal was recently discovered also far to the north - in the Arkhangelsk region, in the Pinega Nature Reserve. The first reports of the appearance of a jackal in the Saratov region date back to the late 80s and early 90s of the last century. The first jackals were spotted in the area of the Dyakovsky forest, and since 1995, hunters have reported from these places that broods of jackals have already appeared. In 1998, the chief forester of the Dyakovsky forestry enterprise, Eskov, killed a male jackal while hunting hares with hounds. In the winter of 2010-2011, jackals appeared on the right bank of the Volga in the Krasnoarmeysky region, and soon the animal spread throughout the Volga Upland. Nowadays, it is also found in the area between the Khopr and Medveditsa rivers, tributaries of the Don. Several cases of jackal sightings have already been recorded in the Penza region. According to Mikhail Oparin, such a wide distribution cannot be explained by climate warming alone; most likely, there is a whole complex of reasons, but special research is needed for more accurate conclusions. Apparently, the widespread distribution of the jackal became possible thanks to the unpretentiousness of this animal. “The jackal can eat pheasants, hares, partridges, eats carrion, berries, insects, waste from slaughterhouses, landfills and garbage cans,” says the scientist. And jackals are not particularly afraid of people either. Recently, a hunter caught this animal near the village of Aleksandrovka on the outskirts of Saratov. It was believed that the factor limiting the spread of the jackal to the north was the depth of the snow cover, but apparently these predators are able to withstand snowy winters. While some animals, for various reasons, move to the northern regions, others migrate to the south. In recent years, residents of the Penza and Ulyanovsk regions have repeatedly observed brown bears, which had not been seen in these areas for a long time. And recently, a camera trap recorded a bear very close to the border with the Khvalynsky district of the Saratov region. In search of the muskrat As scientists say, sometimes it can be traced that the spread of new animal species occurs as a result of direct human impact on the environment. Thus, in the Volga region, biologists have discovered an expansion of the range of small mammals: the bank vole and the yellow-necked mouse. Back in the 30s of the last century, these types of rodents were found only in the meadow steppe in the Samara region, and by the end of the century they settled in more southern areas. As it turned out, says Olga Oparina, the migration of rodents took place through forest belts planted by humans from north to south. And in the Krasnopartizansky region, another rodent - the tundra vole, which is generally considered a taiga inhabitant, has successfully mastered the new landscape created by man. As Mikhail Oparin says, there was a system of ponds there, then they were abandoned, the dams broke, this area was overgrown with shrubby wormwood, but the area still remained moist, so rodents chose it. At the same time, it has long been known that the emergence of new species of animals, especially when people import them from other countries or even continents, can pose a great danger to the biodiversity of nature. The story of the American mink is well known, which not only supplanted its European counterpart, but also destroyed some rare species of local animals. Scientists believe that the not very successful attempts in our country to restore the population of the ancient endemic animal, the muskrat, are largely related to the spread of this new predator. In the Voronezh region, an entire reserve has been created to protect the muskrat, but the muskrat is no longer there. For decades they have been trying to resettle the muskrat in the Saratov region. On the Khoper, Medveditsa, and Balanda rivers, conditions seem to be suitable for this animal. Occasionally, in hard-to-reach places, it is still found, according to local hunters. However, scientists have not yet been able to detect the muskrat in our area in recent years.