Pomegranate - Tajikistan

The Fedchenko Glacier is located in the Pamir Mountains of Eastern Tajikistan. It is the largest glacier found outside of the polar regions. The glacier has a long and narrow body of dense ice covering an area of 700 square kilometers. Evidence has shown the Fedchenko Glacier is shrinking at an accelerated pace.

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Punica granatum - The pomegranate’s name is derived from its scientific name, Latin for “seeded apple.” Pomegranates were first cultivated in Central Asia and Persia 4,000 years ago. The seeds are edible, but are commonly used for making juices. Grenadine, a juice originally made from pomegranates, is used as a flavoring in other beverages or for cooking. Pomegranates are grown throughout the world and are known for their hardiness; they are drought resistant and can tolerate low temperatures and frost without damage.

Aeolesthes Sarta - Tajikistan

Aeolesthes sarta - Many insects are specialized feeders, but aeolesthes sarta, a tree boring insect, is a polyphagous insect, a term describing an insect able to feed on several types of food. Aeolesthes sarta can fly, but rarely does. They tend to stay within a small area, sometimes limiting themselves to one single tree. Natural distribution is therefore limited and localized. Several hundred generations can develop and mature on the same tree until the tree eventually dies. 

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The Tajik people gradually fell under Russian domination during the 1860’s. The Russian Revolution of 1917 sparked a brief independence and protest struggle known as the Basmachi Movement in denouncing the conscripting of Tajik men to fight for Imperial Russia during World War I. By 1920, the movement was crushed and Tajikistan was incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic. Following the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tajikistan became independent.