Colors From Turkey

A female green turtle arrived offshore at her nesting beach alone at night. She had mated earlier with a male green turtle nearby in the water. It was time for her to lay her eggs. She might nest three or four times during a single nesting season. Though she is fast and well suited to the water, she is slow, awkward, and in danger on land. The female dragged herself out of the sea and onto the beach up beyond the reach of high tide.

She dug a pit for her body with her flippers. She nestled in it and used her back flippers, like shovels, to scoop out a bottle-shaped hole. Now she drops about one hundred white, leathery eggs that look like ping pong balls into this hole. When she finished, she will cover the nest with sand and slowly lumber back to the sea, leaving a trail behind her. After she is gone, poachers may follow this trail and steal her eggs… or a hungry fox may feat on them.

The rays of the sun heat the beach, warming the turtle’s eggs buried in the sand. The eggs develop in the nest. They are ready to hatch in about two months. The patchlings pick at their shells with a small, sharp point at the front of their snout—this particular part will disappear after hatching. The hatchlings crack their shells. All must hatch at almost the same time, for all must share the work to escape from the nest.

aThe baby turtles scrape away at the sand overhead. The sand falls upon their empty shells, forming a platform that allows the hatchlings to rise. In a few days, they have scraped their way up to the roof of the nest. Then at night, or in the early morning, little dark heads and flippers wriggle out onto the beach. Two-inch long hatchlings crawl away and look for the sea.

The hatchlings sense the direction of the sea. The brightness over the water attracts them. They stream from the nest and begin their race to the sea. Full of life, but defenseless, they struggle clumsily across the beach. Their shells are soft and offer little protection. Swift lizards attack them. Armies of crabs pick them off. Sea birds gather and catch the tiny turtles in their sharp beaks and feast on them. Few hatchlings make it to the water.

And most of these will be eaten by fish: snappers, groupers, jacks, and sharp-toothed barracudas. Only one or two of the hatchlings may live. Where they go to spend their first year of life is a mystery. It is one of nature’s many secrets. Green turtles, for example, are not seen again until they are one year old when they are found feeding offshore in turtle grass beds. They are then as big as a dinner plate.

Where Sea Turtles Nest?

Sea turtles nest in a wide, warm belt around the world. They all return to the same beach where they themselves hatched in order to lay their eggs when they reach maturity. This ability to swim sometimes thousands of kilometres to reach their beach of origin is still a mystery to the scientists who think that their sense of smell plays an important role in this.

All sea turtles in the world—the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Pacific populations are endangered species. Turtle specialists think that some of the Mediterranean sea turtles migrate from the Atlantic whereas some only stay in the Mediterranean basin.

Conservationists and researchers try to determine sea turtle migration routes by placing special talgs on the turtles.

Sea Turtles? Or Turtle Products?

The sea turtle is disappearing. And once it is gone, it will be gone forever. One reason it is disappearing is because people use parts of turtles for food or, more often, to make different products. The hawksbill is prized for its carapace to make tortoiseshell combs, brush handles, eyeglass frames, buttons, hair clips, and jewellery. Hawksbill and green turtles are killed so they can be stuffed and hung on walls as decorations.

Green turtles are slaughtered for their meat and in order to make turtle soup. The skin from the neck and flippers of greens and olive ridleys is made into leather for purses and shoes. Fat from turtle bodies is used in soaps and make-up creams. Instead of using plentiful resources for these products, the world’s few remaining sea turtles are taken.

People who live near the shore have always hunted sea turtles to help feed their families. A fisherman might harpoon a sea turtle and take it home to eat. Groups of men netted sea turtles when they rose to breathe and brought them back to their villages for food. For years, when sea turtles were plentiful, such hunting seemed to have little effect on the numbers of turtles. But the demand for sea turtles kept growing.

Money could be earned hunting and selling sea turtles. Money could be earned selling things made from turtles. Turtle hunting became profitable.So hunters took hundreds of turtles from the sea and even from the land, when they were nesting. Fewer and fewer sea turtles were left until they were almost all gone. Laws now protect sea turtles and forbid trade in turtle products. But not everyone obeys these laws.

Commercial fishing boats around the world provide food from the sea for people. These vessels cruise coastal waters, dragging large nets along the sea bottom to gather in their catch. Trawling or scraping of the sea bottom is very detrimental to sea life in general because it destroys the breeding grounds of fish, shrimp and all marine life. Unfortunately, sea turtles are often caught accidentally in these nets. The great funnel-shaped nets of shrimp trawlers, for example, trap many loggerhead turtles. The turtles are swept along in the nets with the shrimp.

They are not able to come up to the surface to breathe, and they drown. So the small numbers of sea turtles are reduced even further. A way has to be found to solve the problem. Shrimp fishermen along the south-eastern coast of the United States are helping to find an answer. They are testing newly-designed nets that let the shrimp in but keep the turtles out.

A loggerhead turtle crawls from the sea to the edge of a beach in Side on the Turkish South Coast. She pauses. What does she see? Apartment houses and hotels take up much of the beach. Only a narrow strip of sand remains, and it is crowded with people. In some places cement has been poured across the sand clear to the edge of the water. There is no place for the turtle to nest. The turtle goes back to the sea and returns at night. Hundreds of lights shine out from windows. The beach is bright. Elsewhere, along the coast, another turtle finds a small, undeveloped piece of beach and lays her eggs.

When they hatch, the young turtles crawl toward the brightness, but it is not the sea. It is the light of street lamps along a road that passes nearby. The hatchlings will die in the burning sun later that day. Once there were hundreds of miles of open shore for loggerhead sea turtles to nest on safely. It is different now.

From “Sea Turtles in every Aspect“,
a publication of The Society for The Protection of Nature

These pages are prepared with the information from “Project of Introduction of Anatolian Shepherd Dog of Kangal Race” by Head of District of Kangal, with the aid of Ministry of Culture.

When we studied history of the Kangal Dog, we could not find any documents about Kangal dogs. There are several rumours about Kangal dogs. According to one rumour, the dog was derived from the lion and the tiger, during Asur and Babil periods and were petted in order to provide protection against wild animals and use in wars and were grown up with great care.

According to another rumour, the first Kangal was given to Sultan of Ottoman (Yavuz Sultan Selim or Murat IV) by an Indian Maharajah. The dog fought with the lion in the palace and killed it. Thus the sultan was considerably interested in it. When the army went for an attack and arrived in Kangal Deliktaş, the dog got lost, and that the species of dog in Kangal was derived from this lost dog.

Evliya Çelebi mentions this dog describing it as strong as a lion in his inscription in 17th century. It is believed that the dog was brought to Anatolia by Ottoman and the Shepherd species in Europe were derived from this species as Ottoman invaded Europe.

From archives of Ottoman, it is stated that the dog was grown up with great care.

The long living of Kangal is because of its being loyal friend to farmers breeding sheep and being the best dog species in fighting with wolves. Kangal dogs can do their duties under the harshest climatic and working conditions. Care and feeding conditions are easier and simpler.

A Kangal Shephard dog which is not seen in any part of the world has a fair reputation in Turkey and the world. Particularly in England and the USA several associations have been established by lovers of this species, and several competitions have been held. Unfortunately, while people abroad have shown great interest to Kangal species, Turkey has not done the same for recent ten-fifteen years.

Kangal Shepherd dogs are very brave, quick and agile. They are quite good to women and children and quite a dissuasive weapon against bad people as they are intelligent and strong insights and are faithful to their owners. When they are scolded by their owners, they are ashamed like a child, look so sad and innocent for begging their owners to forgive the mistake. They show their feelings not only through position, behaviours, mimics and gestures, but also various toned barking.

Kangal dogs are so loyal to their duties. It is said that they wait for days to keep the sheep leaving the herd without having food and water.

Despite ignoring lasting for centuries, they have not lost anything from their blood qualifications or high spirit. They are highly blood noble. They never mate with any other dog species even when they are free. They were started to be trained for military use in 1975 and it has been proved that they have better and more skills than other dog species being trained for military missions for centurie.

The characteristics of a good dog:

1. Intelligence: Intermediate-high level
2. Trust: should not cause damage to herd and owner
3. Care: should be interested in and careful to its duty.
4. Protective: have reactions to foreign people (barking-attacking)
5. Power: strong enough to stop enemy (wolf-thief)
6. Speed: speed enough to run after and catch enemy
7. Brave: should be brave which, in our opinion is the most important one. Because the dog not being brave cannot be effective no matter if it has the other six characteristics.

It is possible to see all those characteristics in a Kangal at the highest level. That is why Kangal is number one among the other dogs in the world.
How can you have one?

You can purchase young Kangal dogs fed and grown up under control of vet with full vaccination in production farm under control of Union of Taking Services to Rural Areas (Villages) of Kangal Governor Office.

Sale Prices :

2-4 months old : DM 200
4-6 months old : DM 400

Address :

Kangal Kaymakamlığı
Kangal/Sivas

Telephone:

Office: 0.346.457 15 36
Farm : 0.346.457 26 56
Fax : 0.346. 457 17 66
E-mail: kangal@ttnet.net.tr

Every domestic animal has a different characteristic. One of the cats attracting human beings’ attention for centuries, having silky white fur, different colours, perfect hunting abilities and loving to play with water is Van cat.

The fossil of ancestor primitive of modern domestic cats can be seen about 12 million years ago. It is known that domestication of cats was made by Egyptians in 3000 B.C. The domesticated cats were treated as holy creatures and respected as goddess. Although there are various arguments about the place and time of domestication, the thing that is certainly known is that Asians took part in domestication. On the other hand some resources suggest that the cats were semi-domesticated in 1900 B.C.

Cats are carnivorous. When generalised, animals are nourished by proteins. Having sharp senses, eyes seeing well in dark, sharp paws, sharp teeth, alerted and energetic bodies, walking on their feet silently make them good hunters. They have sensitive hairs around eyes and nose which strengthen their hunting abilities.

They lose their fur hair in spring and fall, and they have facial muscles which change as a reaction to anything happening. Muscle and skeleton form are controlled in an excellent way and that is why no matter the position they fall from they always fall on their feet.

Cerebrum area is wide and indicates the intelligence of them. In addition, cerebellum is improved, which provides excellence in co-ordination.

Domesticated cats are either treated as holly creatures or are fed by people at home for hunting harmful animals like mouse, rat and insects for centuries. However, people have started to take them as close friends.

In recent years one of the cats attracting people’s attention in Turkey or in the world is Van cat. However, as required care has not been shown so far, they face loss of the species. The number of them has been decreasing day by day and the original breeds have been lost, while they were often seen in the region and almost each house had one in the past. People of Van call the cat “Pişik”. Van cats are not only seen as a pet or hunter of rats and insects but also a friend and member of the family.

It is said that Van cats used to spend summer in mountain and winter in houses. Today rarely they spend summer in Erek Mountain and summer in houses.
Van cats are described by the people of region as having long, white, silky fur, long body, tiger walking, fox like tail. Different colours of eyes (Diskrematopsi), intelligent, agile is clean, friendly, loves playing and faithful to its owner and therefore these characteristics make it a rare found cat. However, since 1950s, the cat has been introduced to the world by Europeans but this unique cat has not been introduced fully.

One of the characteristics of Van cats is the colour of their eyes. They are classified under three groups according to the colour of their eyes:

a. Both eyes blue,

b. both eyes amber colour (yellow and its tones)

c. One eye(dischromatopsy, one eye blue and the other amber).

Blue colour of Van cats usually shows turquoise blue but amber colour shows many differences in tones. The tones are amber, light amber, yellow and green almond. Although very rare, sometimes brown colour can be seen. Blue eyed cats are classified as blue eyed short, velvet furred cats and blue eyed long silky fur cats. The colour of newly born kittens is greyish. 25 days after birth the colour of eyes starts to change, and after 40 days the colour reaches final colour.

There are generally one or two black points between ears of kittens. Most of the kittens having two black points are single eyed. And this black point is taken as stamp of single eye cats. However, the black points are lost after 2 months. And sometimes they may have black hairs varying in between 8 to 30.

It is known that having different colour of eyes which human beings, dogs and doves face, is genetic defect syndrome.

Body weight of female Van cats is 2900 grams while males weigh 3600 grams.

Van cats have mating period in February-March-June. This period lasts for up to 10 days. In case of pregnancy during this period, no other mating period is seen in the same year. Pregnancy period is 62 days. The belly starts to swallow from the first month and the cat never lets any one touch her belly. Van cats like other cats prefer to give birth in the locations far away from vision, and for this reason they start to look for isolated and dark location from the first month of the pregnancy. Immediately after birth, Plasenta of the kittens are cut by the mother. Mother cat suckles its kittens for 50-60 days. However, this period can be more or less.

Van cats give birth to four kittens at one birth. The eyes of kittens are open on the 10th day. Mother licks its kittens in order to clean them and starts suckling immediately after birth. If mother deems that the location is not safe, it finds a safe place and carries the kittens there. Mother hardly leaves its kittens alone and only leaves them to meet its needs.

The kittens still with close eyes react to smells other than their mother and try to protect themselves.

The movement of the kittens at the beginning is like walking and crawling.

Kitten brothers/sisters usually fight for milk. They usually play with each other. Playing game is an essential factor for development. The game is under control of the mother and the mother teaches its kittens how to survive. If the kitten is alone, it wants to play with its mother and if mother is not there even it can play with other animals around.

The cats have a strong control over the areas they are settled in. They do not want other cats to come to their living areas. When their living places or houses are changed, they try to return to former place if they do not like the new one. Van cats get used to their new living places in 20 to 30 days. During this period, they examine the surrounding and are not interested in their owners.

The cats have more cleaning sense than other animals. They are considerably curious about cleanliness of themselves and their living surrounding. After toilet, they have instinct to burying the dirt. They clean their mouths and faces with help of their paws after eating and toilet.

The hunting characteristic of Van cats is superior. They hunt raats, mice, bird, flies and insects indoor and outdoor, and eat them. They never attack to poultry animals living with them in the house or out of the house.

Van cats love living with human beings in family environment. If they do not have relation with human beings or have a little relationship, they start to become wild.

Van cats are very affectionate, giving head butts and love bites. Especially during pregnancy they are in need of love. They are very close to their owners and love them. When they see strangers, they react and escape. They jump on the lap of the ones loving them. They are jealous of their owners showing affection to other cats and small kids.

Although there is a belief that Van cats suffer from deafness problem, only 2-3% of odd eyed (Diskromatopsy) and blue eyed cats suffer from this problem.
Van cats love to swim and play with water, and with this feature it is the only cat species.

Van cats checks the meal if it is warm with their front paws and if the meal is warm enough they eat. It is also observed that Van cats eat melon, watermelon and some fruit.

Although the fur is quite thick, they are affected by the cold.

They produce some voices in order to communicate with each other and with human beings. The voices indicate their emotions. Their meowing has some varieties. Some indicates communication with human beings some indicates communication with their kittens or for their sexual activities. The sounds generated according to their needs have different intensity and frequency. Van cats meow loudly when they see their owners in the morning in order to show their happiness. When they are hungry, they go to the kitchen door and meows to indicate that they are hungry.

When the food is given, they show their grates by means of touching their owner. When they need toilet they go to the door and meow in order to ask their owners to open the door. It is also observed that if the door needs to be opened, they jump to the handle and open it.

The studies indicated that Van Cats respond to training very well. They understand what have been taught very quickly. They immediately learn the place where soil is put for their toilet needs, and never try other places for toilet needs.

Kittens are able to learn their names when they are 2-3 months. However, it is thought that this learning means understanding the tone of the sound they are used to rather than learning the names.

It is necessary to take any actions required for preservation of lovely, friendly, intelligent, faithful, beautiful and attractive Van cats and decrease of them.