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 […]
21 Rare and Threatened Species of Kaziranga National Park
When one mentions Kaziranga, thoughts of the One-horned Indian Rhino roaming around verdant forests beside marshes with tall grass hugging the Brahmaputra immediately come into mind. The Kaziranga National Park (KNP) is located in Assam between Nagaon and Golaghat districts. It is approximately 40 km long and 13 km wide, crisscrossed with rivers such as […]
How Bees, Oranges and Pepper are Saving Wild Elephants
Human-elephant conflict is the negative interaction between elephants and humans when they encounter each other near human settlements. When the elephant enters farms and raid crops, resources become inadequate for people. But when farms and villages are created on ancient elephant corridors, and the remaining forests are destroyed, elephant habitats and food supply become limited. […]
114 Species of Wetland Birds visit Pong Dam Lake
Species include Bar-headed geese, and the rare Northern Lapwing, Black-bellied Tern, and the Common Pochard The pong dam lake in Himachal Pradesh was erected back in 1974 over the Beas river to generate electricity and for irrigation needs. But when birds began flocking in hundreds to winter here or permanently reside, the entire reservoir was […]
Helping the Hargila: How Assam Successfully Bred the Rare Stork
On a bamboo platform 10 feet above the ground, a baby stork is safely nestled and busy getting much attention and care from its parents. Keeping an equally watchful eye are a group of zoo authorities of the Assam State Zoo observing the family from down below. They have waited with batted breath for this […]
Saving India’s Leopards is not the Same as Saving India’s Tigers
As the number of leopard deaths due to the human-leopard conflict continue to rise in India, experts are trying to understand the leopard’s behaviour and think of out-of-the-box ideas to avoid conflict. “Sing off tune, never mind. Just sing and loud,” advises Puneet Nayyar, Deputy conservator of forest, Surat, Gujarat where leopard-human conflict is on […]
Kashmir plans to save the rare hangul deer by finding the best genes
Hangul (Cervus hangul hangul), also known as Kashmir stag, is the only Asiatic survivor of the red deer group in the Indian subcontinent. The Hangul is considered as important to the region of Kashmir as the tiger is to the whole of India. King Hari Singh, the last king of Jammu & Kashmir was so […]
New roosting site of rarest bats in the world found
Armature birders may never have imagined a bat being named after India’s famed ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali! Indeed, little is known about the Latidens salimalii or better known as Salim Ali’s Fruit Bat. In 1993 however, the bat found its fame when it entered the Guinness Book of World Records as “one of the three […]
How eco-friendly are you? One research says you might be overestimating yourself
How eco-friendly are you? One research says you might be overestimating yourself We are all familiar with environmental jargon like reduce-reuse-recycle or stop using plastic. Many of us also take these motivations seriously and act upon them. But research by the University of Gothenburg with participants from India, Sweden, England, and the United States found […]
32 Species Discovered in India in 2019
India is one of the richest countries in the world when it comes to floral and faunal diversity. The Himalayas, Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are teeming with species that you have never seen or heard of. It may possibly take a lifetime to see even a small portion […]