Yüzüncü Yıl University

Van Cat Villa, a sanctuary dedicated to preserving the unique Van cat breed, is celebrating the birth of its first kittens of 2024 as two mother cats give birth to a total of five healthy kittens, marking the start of the breeding season at the facility.

Evidence of brain surgery has been found on the skulls of 30 of some 400 skeletons unearthed during the excavations carried out in the necropolis (cemetery) area in the eastern province of Van's Çatak district.

The "Van Cat Villa," which houses numerous domestic cats in the eastern province, has welcomed more than 90,000 visitors in five months, giving a boost to the local tourism.

The Van cats, famous for their different eye colors and pure white fur, are meticulously taken care of at the "Van Cat Villa" located on the Yüzüncü Yıl University campus.

While several major lakes in Central Anatolia are facing an existential crisis due to global warming, now the shoreline of Turkey's largest lake has begun a steady retreat, and replenishing precipitation seems to no longer maintain the basin's water levels.

With the efforts of taxidermists from Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ), rare wildlife species that were found dead in nature or who died during their treatment in the eastern province of Van will be preserved through the method of taxidermy to exhibit them in a nature museum in order to bring them to future generations.

Turkey's Lake Van basin, which is home to many different bird species, hosts whooper swans from Siberia and northern regions as the weather gets colder.

The basin, which hosts hundreds of bird species with its wide reeds and wetlands, is filled with flamingos in the summer and whooper swans in the winter.

Van cats, reputed worldwide for their extraordinary eye colors and soft, white coats, now listen to Mozart in their Cat Villa at Yüzüncü Yıl University in the eastern province of Van where they are under protection.

Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) and the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism have applied to the Turkish Culture and Tourism Ministry to include Van's distinctive regional breakfast on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

A baby donkey left to die on a road side in the eastern province of Van has been taken under protection by the Wildlife Animal Protection and Rehabilitation Center at Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYU). 

A cat at Yüzüncü Yıl University's (YYU) Van Cat Research and Application Center has given birth to three kittens through caesarian section. 

The center started using the practices of caesarian section for Van cats, with distinctive white fur and two eyes of different color, that cannot give birth naturally for various reasons.