The Himalayan Quail is a bird from the upper Himalayas in India which was last seen in 1876. The pink headed duck a mysterious duck with pink head and neck was last spotted in 1949. Just like these two there are at least 1200 other species globally that exist and are not really extinct but […]
In Conversation With The Gharial
Can you introduce yourself? Hello, my name is Gharial. I live in India and Nepal and have become a very rare animal in this world. What are some of the other names given to you? 1. Gavial 2. Fish Eating Crocodile 3. Gavialis gangeticus (In scientific terms) …but I think the name Gharial suits me […]
A Simple Test Just Proved Again How Smart Elephants Are
My pet labrador’s favourite play of the day is to stand in front of the mirror and look at himself. What’s amusing is the way he always tries to look behind or beyond the mirror and sometimes even threaten the ‘dog’ he is face to face with, with a growl. I know, he is very […]
26 Cubs And Counting…Pench Tigress ‘Collarwali’ Gives Birth To 4 More Cubs
She is known by many names – Queen of Pench, Pench Princess, T-15 technically and the most popular ‘Collarwali’ (one with a collar) because of the radio collar around her neck. But now the princess has turned mother and brought good news by giving birth to 4 tiger cubs in Pench tiger reserve in Madhya […]
When Will India’s Flamingo Hub Cease To Be A Flamingo Graveyard?
Flamingoes have been known to fly into high-tension wires strung over saline wetlands, where the birds like to feed, but efforts to take the wires down have seldom succeeded. Some of the images below might be disturbing. Viewer discretion is adviced. Brijesh Shah of Bhavnagar Animal Helpline has had a habit of visiting the […]
Don’t Be Extinct Yet, The Bustard Breeding Centre Is Coming Soon
Since 2013 there have been innumerable proposals of starting a captive breeding centre for the Great Indian Bustard – a bird on the verge of extinction. While the breeding programme is yet to take off, the bird might just become the first species to vanish caught in inter-state politics and red tapism. Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, […]
Adansonia digitata: A Heritage Tree
This post is from are archives originally published on 19 February, 2011. The state of Karnataka in the southern part of India has plenty of ancient monuments, structures and history that it takes pride in. But giving due respect to its natural heritage too, the state has now come up with the latest list of […]
Reviving The Natural Coast Guards Of Karnataka
The biodiversity of Karnataka is often represented by depicting the Western Ghats and the tigers. While the importance of both cannot be undermined, there is also the 320-km-long coastline that the state boasts of, with its magnificent rivers, lagoons, bay areas, creeks, and beaches. It is amidst this habitable conglomeration of saline waters from the […]
Turtle Thought To Be Extinct In The Wild, Discovered In Nagaland
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the black soft shell turtle as Extinct in the Wild (EW) which means wild population of the species are no more present in the world though they could be present in captivity. It comes as a huge surprise therefore when this freshwater turtle was discovered recently […]
Primate Fossil Discovered From Jammu & Kashmir, Shows A Lemur Like Primate Once Lived Here
A fossil of a new primate species discovered in Kashmir has been found to be a distant relative of the lemurs and might help change the known evolutionary history of primates of India and the world. Fossil hunters have found the jawbone fossil of a new primate species from Kashmir that lived 11 to 14 […]
Rare Dhole Home Range Studied Using Camera Traps For The First Time
A new study led by scientists from Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, Centre for Wildlife Studies (Bangalore), and University of Florida, USA, presents the first home-range size estimate of Asiatic wild dogs or ‘dholes’ based on camera trap surveys. Image via wikimedia The study, based on intensive camera-trap surveys conducted in Nagarahole and Wayanad wildlife reserves […]