View on Yakutsk Mammoth Museum.

A woolly rhino discovered in the Kolyma River area in Republic Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Currently, kept in Yakutsk Mammoth Museum fridge.

Mammoth and other Ice Age beasts bones on shelves in the storage of Yakutsk Mammoth Museum [in the above photo]

I love visiting Yakutsk Mammoth Museum located in the mordern building of North-Eastern Federal University (formerly known as Yakutsk State University).

It occupies pretty small premises, but full of bones and samples right from the Ice Age. Most of all, I like to be in the lab of the mammoth museum. The entrance to that rooms is very restricted, but I was lucky to get inside.

Take a look at photos of the museum and the remains of the ancient Ice Age beasts discovered in the Arctic permafrost in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia’s Siberia. If you are a big fan of paleontology, you would like them for sure.

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In the late March, I had a chance to watch fishing on the Yana River near Batagai settlement in the Verkhoyansky area of North Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.

In the above photo you can see the Yana River. Pretty complicated flow. This way all tundra rivers look. Yana is not exception.

Further, find 12 photos of how ice fishing is done and what type of fishes are caught over there. Read the rest of this entry…

Anabar is a short name for Anabarsky District, one of the northernmost region in the Arctic zone of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Siberia, Russia.

See the set of Anna Opsipova‘s photographs taken on films during her visit to the reindeer herders’ camp in Anabar. Just a few pictures, but they are very expressive.

Images were done, when outdoor temperature was much, much below -40C.

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In the early November, Yakutsk-based Vladimir Potapov (fb profile) arranged the winter snowmobile expedition to the Arctic zone of the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia (Siberia/Russia).

The route was Ust Kujga (map) — Kazach’e (map) — Laptev Sea.

The mission was to deliver the remains of the Yuka Mammoth from the area of the Yukagir community, Laptev Sea, to Yakutsk. It is the same place, where the famous Yukagir mammoth head was discovered seven years ago.

The Yuka mammoth corpse was found in the well-preserved condition by Vasily Gorokhov’s community four years ago. It has four legs, proboscis, and wool.

The expedition was filmed by BBC TV Channel and scheduled to be on the air on February 25th, 2012. It will be a 60-min story.

See more Arctic expedition photographs taken by Egor Fedorov.

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Evgenia Arbugaeva, a Yakutian photographer, keeps stunning us all the time. In September — October, she is exhibiting her pictures from the project «Tiksi In Winter» in Toronto, Canada. Her photo exhibit will be a part of so-called Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery.

Days of Sakha-Yakutia at Bezpala Brown Gallery
Sept. 30-Oct. 9; Oct. 15-30, 17 Church St., Toronto; bezpalabrown.com

If you are in Toronto, don’t miss a chance to see her images of the Russian Arctic seaport of Tiksi located in Yakutia in the area of the Lena Delta.

Some of Evgenia’s photographs you might see right now.

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This time Inga Bysykatova (in the abiove picture), who previously presented the photo report about the Siberian white crane expedition in South Yakutia, shows how the republic biology institution’s field study went in the Arctic tundra of Ust Yansky region, the north-eastern part of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, in summer of 2009.

The mission was to research Sandhill Cranes on the western border of Siberian white cranes areal in North Yakutia, if to be more precise, in the area of the estuaries of the rivers Chondon and Sellyah north of the Tumat village. See the map.

Inga says that before the expedition there were a fact of Sandhill Cranes presence registered at that place, but not proved scientifically.

Today she is able to confirm that the expansion of these birds going on to the West. Sandhill Cranes were officially registered in Chukotka before 1920s, than they moved to Kolyma by 1950s and the Indigirka river by 1990s. Nowadays, they are in Ust Yansky region.

«Our expedition was the first that proved the presence of Sandhill Cranes in the Ust Yansky tundra. That was in 2009… We counted and registered 142 Siberian cranes and 6 Sandhill Cranes,» says Inga.

By the way, it was Inga, who arranged the whole travel to the Arctic. A pretty hard work, I dare to say.

Now feel free to enjoy the summer Arctic of Yakutia, Siberia/Russia, and don’t miss amazing pictures of those bloody-sucking mosquitoes.

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A polar bear in the Arctic seashore of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Photo by Boris Gorokhov.

Polar bear population in Yakutia increased over twice as much. The experts believe that the bears may migrate because of the climate changes, informs vladivostoktimes.com. They are coming to Yakutia’s Arctic seashore regularly and it is not an extraordinary event anymore.

The experts who took part in the action «Spring Tracks» on counting of the polar bears’ dens in Yakutia registered that the beast population in the area increased over twice as much, RIA Novosti reports with the reference to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) Ministry of Nature Preservation Biological Resources Department.

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The government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) has a good habit. In each February, regional high officials travel across Yakutia, the biggest Siberian region with 3 million sq km, and give people a report on what was done in the course of the previos year. It is a sort of direct communication between ordinary people and authority representatives.

Frankly saying, I can’t remember when such practice started being exercised. Maybe, 7 years ago. In the beginning, people were sceptic to such sudden authority travels. They thought, «Well, it must be another form of telling people how good the authorities are, and, please, do a favor, vote for them in the upcoming elections.»

Irrespective of such attitude, people decided to take advantage of such direct chats with the repulic’s government officials, i.e. President, Prime Minister, Vice PM, ministers and deputy ministers. Dwellers of remote settlements started to share their own local urgent matters and problems. Like «Could you allocate funds for improving communal systems?», «Is it possible to construct a hospital in a village? Currently we need to find a car, pay for fuel and travel hundred of kilometres to the nearest regional hospital.» or «Would you say the government to give us a truck?» and so on, and so on.

Many issues are raised and, finally, included in the list of required actions for the republic’s government. If any of stated problems wouldn’t be resolved, following year people would say, «You didn’t do what you promised. What the hack do you do in Yakutsk? Just spending budgetary funds?» To avoid accusations, officials try to redeem all given promises.

Such tradition, certainly, is good. At least, officials must see, how people live in the far-away places, and check, if municipal ‘bosses’ say truth in their annual reports.

Oops. The current post is about to give brief insight into people’s life in Yakutia’s northernmost region of Anabar located in the Polar Circle. Below, please, see Nyurgun Stepanov‘s photographs. He visited Anabarsky Ulus as a member of one of the above described republic governmental delegations.

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This time we proudly present another talented young artist from the Siberian region of Yakutia. It’s Anna Osipova (her page at ArtBreak.com).

Anna graduated the Far Eastern State Academy of Arts. Currently she creates her masterpieces at the Ural-Siberian studio of the Russian Academy of Artists. Her early works were inspired by the North and reindeer herders’ life. How it was strong, check yourself.

Below find Anna Osipova’s paintings. Read the rest of this entry…

Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is featured in the 1st episode of BBC2′s Arctic with Bruce Parry. It’s called in a short way, «Siberia».

In this episode, Bruce Parry is celebrating Ysyakh, the Yakut summer solstice celebration, in Central Yakutia and traveling to Even reindeer camps in the Verkhoyansk Range.

Finally, here is the video. It’s more like a teaser. Unfortunately, the full version is not available for the Russian area yet. But… What a fun clip! Hilarious!

Below see the second vid as well.

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