In Russia, close to the Arctic, there is a tiny, buff coloured bird that is born with a spoon for a mouth – the Spoon -billed sandpiper. This wader flies to Southeast Asia during winters looking for a warmer place to feed. You would think, with such a peculiar looking beak, it would be so […]
4 Critically Endangered Mammals Of India
The International Union For Conservation Of Nature (IUCN) is an international organisation working in the field of conservation of species. The biggest role IUCN is playing in this regard is the Red List which is a list of all threatened species in the world. The Red List categorises species found in our planet on the […]
Take The Vulture Quiz!
It’s International Vulture Awareness Day today and we thought the best way to celebrate these magnificent birds would be to test our knowledge about them and show you how essential they are to our ecosystem. Vultures are scavenger birds that ensure that the entire ecosystem remains clean and healthy by eating dead animals and carrion. […]
In A First, Scientists Track A Great Indian Bustard’s Over 7000 km Flight
For the first time in India, the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard has been tracked for a distance of 7774 km using satellite telemetry. This tracking has provided information about the bird such as its breeding pattern, feeding behavior and preferred habitat. With only 300 of the birds left in the wild, this insight would […]
Farmers, Forest Officials And WWF Unite To Save The Gharials
A triad of local volunteers called ‘Ganga mitras’, forest department officials and WWF members got together for a good cause – caring for, rearing and reintroducing the critically endangered gharials into the river Ganga. 35 such gharials were released into the Ganga at Hastinapur in February this year. Since the start of the programme in […]
Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard gets a Survival Chance
Often, conservation issues surrounding the more recognisable fauna in the world such as lions and tigers receive unprecedented attention, whereas other uncommon species go comparatively unnoticed. However a recent initiative by the Central and the State Governments of India to set up a Conservation and Breeding centre for the Great Indian Bustard in Kutch spells […]
Critically Endangered Gharials Tagged in Hope of Saving the Species
In an initiative to restock the numbers of critically endangered (CR) Gharials (Gavialus gangeticus) in the wild, six captive-bred gharials have been satellite-tagged and released into the the River Gandak, bordering the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar. This is the first time that the rare species have been satellite-tagged. The program was undertaken by the […]
Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard Spotted in New Habitats
NEW SIGHTING: Isn’t it a great irony that the Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), which was once a proposed candidate for the title of ‘National Bird of India’, stands today on the throes of extinction? As the new IUCN Red List of Threatened Species once again tags this magnificent bird as Critically Endangered (CR), sightings in new […]
From Gharials to Dolphins, Yamuna River Lifeline for Many Rare Species
Most people will agree that the river bodies of India like the Ganga and Yamuna are today a shrunken image of their past glory. With everything from industrial effluents to bodies dumped in these rivers; apart from canals, dams, hydro power projects, drinking water usage drastically altering river beds, it is surely a surprise to […]
Another 400 Species get Red listed
The RedList of Threatened species updated twice annually by the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was updated on today and sadly there are now another 400 species of plants and animals that have been marked as racing towards the tipping point.
132 species of Plants and Animals Critically Endangered in India
The latest Red List of threatened species has been published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and according to the list India has 132 species that are critically endangered.