The 17th Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Soqotra and Symposium was held on 25 - 28 October, organised and hosted by the ARC-WH in Bahrain. Thanks to the organisers!

It was wonderful to see so many FoS again, this time with a lot of Soqotri attending and for the first time overseas in Bahrain.

The abstract book can be downloaded here, while the minutes of the AGM are available here.

Next year will be on an island more nearby, Sicily (Italy).

Mehazelo - Cinderella of Soqotra - The real folk tales by Vladimir Agafonov

For those who are not yet acquainted with this story, do check it out!

Thanks to the efforts of Vladimir Agafonov, translated tales got published in Russian in 1995, 1996 and 1997 in editions for children.

What many people not know, as Vladimir told me himself, is that it first published in a monthly illustrated newspaper in Moscow, and its illustrations editor choose Victor Duvidov's illustrations. Later Victor became very famous for his illustrations for the Russian translations of Rudyard Kipling's tales from the Jungle Book.

So, in fact Victor Duvidov was the first illustrator in the world to have illustrated Socotran folk tales!

Thanks for sharing Vladimir.


You can find it almost everywhere on the internet, the most known way.

The first vertebrate fossil from Socotra Island (Yemen) is an early Holocene Egyptian fruit bat

Hoq cave revealed a bat fossil covered in calcite years ago, in the meantime we know more and can finally share the today published article with all of you!

Kay Van Damme, Petr Benda, Dirk Van Damme, PeterDe Geest & Irka Hajdas (2018) The first vertebrate fossil from SocotraIsland (Yemen) is an early Holocene Egyptian fruit bat, Journal of NaturalHistory, 52:31-32, 2001-2024

The Yemeni island Socotra's unique environment is at risk from the conflict in the country.

From the BBC:

The Yemeni island Socotra's unique environment is at risk from the conflict in the country.

Some positive news from Socotra and community effort in eradicating one of the invasive species...

Thanks to Dr. K. Van Damme this news:

Some positive news from Socotra and community effort in eradicating one of the invasive species, appeared today, for your interest.

A record of Notostraca on Socotra Island and the importance of local conservation of the habitat

After the cave shrimps, now another article from Dr. K. Van Damme.

During the exploration and inventory of an archaeological site at the northern plain of the island (Eriosh), Kay discovered a triops on the island!

All details of the article to be found here: https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4446.4.8

A new stygobiont species of Halocaridinides Fujino & Shokita, 1975 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Caridea, Atyidae) from caves on Socotra Island (Yemen), with notes on the genus

After some time...

Proud to show that cave exploration with a team scientist ultimately leads to more knowledge than one would expect.

Thanks to our SKP biologist, Dr. K. Van Damme a new article:
https://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4442.2.3

Information and Advice for Visitors and Tourists

Recently FOS published their "Information and Advice for Visitors and Tourists".

You can download it though their website or with the direct link below

English version

Arabic version

Socotra island: The Unesco-protected 'Jewel of Arabia' vanishing amid Yemen’s civil war

Part one of a three part series on Soqotra...

Socotra island: The Unesco-protected 'Jewel of Arabia' vanishing amidYemen’s civil war

Friends of Soqotra-Report and projects (2017-2018)

Great to be part of this "Friends of Socotra" team!

Here a small overview of the 2017-2018 report and projects:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324798113_Friends_of_Soqotra-Report_and_projects_2017-2018

Socotra 3D Model

Finally a nice 3D model of Socotra Island, made by Vricon.

Enjoy:

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation inaugurates Hawlaf Port on Socotra

The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation inaugurates Hawlaf Port on Socotra.

Picture taken from the above linked website article.

Hopefully development will not endanger the Socotra Wildlife and environmental protection initiatives stay on the alert. This new enlargement of the port might hold a critical new import of goods and jump-start big building initiatives?

Socotra: The deep Indic roots of one of the remotest places on earth

Socotra: The deep Indic roots of one of the remotest places on earth.

General article over the island, but quite good resourced!

Importance of preserving Socotra island

Great news!

A cultural heritage protection program for Socotra

The workshop aims at qualifying the members and developing their abilities in the field of preservation of cultural heritage, an aspect that has not been emphasized in the development and conservation plans...

Pictures from the above linked website article

Thanks for this fantastic initiative and best wishes to this brilliant team!