From January 2026, an Order of the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On the introduction of a ban on the use of the Central Asian tortoise, its parts and derivatives in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2040” (No. 351 of December 18, 2025) came into force.

Berdikulov Bekzhan Talgatovich, Acting Head of the Laboratory of Ornithology and Herpetology of the Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan, successfully defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Employees of the Institute of Zoology of the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan took part in the “International Training Course on Aquatic Biological Identification and eDNA Data Analysis”, held in Wuhan (China) from 16 to 29 November 2025. The course was hosted by the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), one of the world’s leading centres for freshwater ecosystem research.

The Institute of Zoology took part in the jury of the annual children’s creative lapbook contest themed “Flora and Fauna of Our Home”. The aim of the contest was to develop children’s interest in the plants and animals of Kazakhstan, stimulate creativity, foster ecological culture and a responsible attitude toward nature, and encourage an active civic position.

The II International Congress of Young Scientists of Kazakhstan was held in Almaty on 11–12 December 2025. The plenary session was hosted at the “Gylym Ordasy” complex, while section meetings and master classes took place at five leading universities of the city. The forum brought together more than 1,000 young researchers, over 80 foreign scientists from 24 countries, representatives of the scientific community, academicians, deputies and heads of scientific organizations. The Congress was dedicated to the UNESCO theme “Trust, Transformation and Tomorrow: the science we need by 2050”. The Institute of Zoology was represented by Gulzhanat Tanabekova, PhD, Academic Secretary of the Institute.

In 2026, the first state nature reserve of Kazakhstan and Central Asia – Aksu-Zhabagly – will celebrate its 100th anniversary. To mark this milestone, a team of authors prepared a book dedicated to the oldest reserve of our country. The compiler and editor of the book “Aksu-Zhabagly 100 Years” is A.F. Kovshar, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, and Chief Researcher of the Institute of Zoology of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Fifty young researchers from around the world gathered at Lund University (Sweden) to take part in the course “Ecology of Animal Migration”, designed for the advanced training of PhD students and doctoral candidates.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Kazakhstan has announced a key decision of the 20th Conference of the Parties to the CITES Convention, held in Samarkand from 24 November to 5 December 2025: the zero export quota on saiga horns originating exclusively from the Kazakhstani population has been lifted. The decision was made following extensive consultations and discussions both at the Conference and in preparation for its work.

“STRATEGY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG SCIENCE: FROM PROBLEMS TO SOLUTIONS” was the theme of the Republican round table of the Council of Young Scientists under the MNHE of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which took place on 28 November at the Kazakhstan-British Technical University.

The 9th Asian Arachnological Conference took place in Vang Vieng, Laos, from November 10 to 14. Kazakhstan was represented by Leonid Kim — Junior Researcher at the Laboratory of Arachnology and Other Invertebrates and Chair of the Council of Young Scientists of the Institute of Zoology.