The natural world is finding different ways to reveal itself amidst the nationwide lockdown. From spotted civets in Kerala to deer in Punjab, and flamingos in Mumbai to now the endangered Ganges river dolphin seen in Meerut and Kolkata, it seems the pause button in people’s lives has created just the right opportunity for the […]
Camera Trap Captures Snow Leopards in Nanda Devi National Park, Uttarakhand
In a rare sighting, camera traps set up at the Nanda Devi National Park in Uttarakhand clicked images of snow leopards roaming around the snow laden forest. The images were taken from January through March, 2020 and show four of the elusive cats including a pair. DK Singh, director of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve said that […]
The Rise of Zoonotic Diseases
The Covid-19 pandemic has introduced into our vocabulary a word that is increasingly being understood by the general public: zoonosis. It is a phenomenon where infections caused by bacteria, viruses or other parasites, are passed on from animals to humans. Most often, the animals are not affected by the pathogen and are merely acting as […]
Gujarat Says No to Cameras to Count Asiatic Lions
The Asiatic Lion census for the year 2020 is to begin in May in the lion’s only wild abode in the world in Gujarat. However, rejecting new proposals of a tech-enabled census, the Gujarat government has decided to once again go the old-fashioned way of counting the lions. In January this year, it was proposed […]
11 Threatened Plant Species from India
India is home to approximately 50,000 plant species in the world. Around 6 percent of world species of flowering plants are found in the country. It is one of the 17 mega-diversity regions of the world, and eleventh in respect to the number of endemic vascular plant species. Around 28 percent of flora in India […]
World’s Largest Cavefish Discovered in India
In the caves of Meghalaya, scientists have discovered the largest known cavefish in the world. The fish looks very similar to the Golden Mahseer (Tor putitora), a surface-dwelling endangered fish. The newly discovered subterranean species is five times the average length of a cave-dwelling fish. There are approximately 250 species of subterranean or troglobitic fish […]
How do Trees Practice Social Distancing?
Your questions answered. Each week we pick a question asked by our readers and answer them using the help of our resident experts and occasionally guest scientists and researchers eager to resolve your doubts related to the flora and fauna of India. If you have a question, send to contact@indiasendangered.com, or reach us on our social […]
Endangered Star Tortoises Rescued and Released with Satellite Tags
In a first, conservation organization Wildlife SOS and Karnataka Forest Department have rescued over 50 Endangered Star Tortoises from smugglers and released them back in their natural habitat after fitting satellite tags on the animals to track their survival. This is the first time that a satellite telemetry study of Indian Star tortoises rescued from […]
Mass Nesting of Olive Ridley Turtles Begins in Odisha
The mass nesting of olive ridley turtles has begun at Odisha’s Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary in Kendrapara district. The phenomenon known as Arribada (Spanish for mass nesting) began on 14 March 2020. Already 15,000 turtles have come ashore to lay eggs and more will arrive soon. According to Bikash Ranjan Dash, the Divisional Forest Officer of […]
Sea Turtles are Attracted to Stinky Plastic
Sea turtles around the world are threatened by marine plastic debris, mostly through ingestion and entanglement. Now, researchers reporting in the journal Current Biology have new evidence to explain why all that plastic is so dangerous for the turtles: they mistake the scent of stinky plastic for food. “We found that loggerhead sea turtles respond to […]
Has Anyone ever seen a Malabar Civet?
Your questions answered. Each week we pick a question asked by our readers and answer them using the help of our resident experts and occasionally guest scientists and researchers eager to resolve your doubts related to the flora and fauna of India. If you have a question, send to contact@indiasendangered.com, or reach us on our social […]