The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) recently concluded a year-long occupancy survey for four large carnivores in the vital Sahyadri-Konkan corridor. Wildlife biologist Girish Punjabi, who is in charge of the project, speaks to WCT’s Conservation Writer Rizwan Mithawala about valuable … Read More
As I write this, sitting in Mumbai, one of the most crowded, polluted, and noisiest cities on Earth, an excruciating noise emanating from a drilling machine plays in the background, frustrating me no end. That is not the only man-made … Read More
Periyar’s maintenance engineers After walking the length and breadth of Periyar, Dr. Anish Andheria writes with both knowledge and passion about the array of wildlife that has made this tropical forest a home. From termites and dracos, to tigers and … Read More
Extraordinary sense of smell, limitless zeal, and love for the job. With these unique traits, dogs have been assisting humans for thousands of years. As we grapple with poaching, forest fragmentation, and other human activities that harm wildlife and ecosystems, … Read More
“To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity, the very thing that we’ve removed. It’s the only way out of this crisis we’ve created – we must rewild the world.’ – Sir David Attenborough What if … Read More
A few years ago, I typed three words in the Google Alerts search box, and pressed ‘Create Alert’. The words were: leopard, road, and killed. Since then, I have been getting email alerts almost every 4 days. While all news … Read More
An expert’s take on wildlife rescue in India What is it that draws people to scenes of accidents, crimes, and calamities like moths to flames? Those that gather to spectate a person or animal in distress seem to be in … Read More
I could smell the salty sea in her heavy breath, filled with exhaustion and the quiet pain of giving up. A full-grown Olive Ridley sea turtle, she was washed ashore a beach in Dahanu, a seaside town over a hundred … Read More
“The lifting of the snake’s head had caught my eye and it was not until the head had been raised some two or three feet from the ground and the hood expanded that I realised it was a hamadryad. It … Read More
In the Middle of the Pandemic, a Water Heater Brings Hope for Human and Forest Health Even as marginalised communities in rural Maharashtra struggled with the challenges presented by Covid-19, a project to safeguard human and forest health by the … Read More
Conservation and Science Writer with WCT, Purva Variyar, and naturalist Gaurav Shirodkar talk about an obscure, yet enchanting destination in Maharashtra called the Lonar crater. Extra-terrestrial origins, unique soda lake, rare microbial life, and thriving forest, they discuss it all! … Read More
Ever wondered what fossils might have meant to our ancestors in older times, when the concepts of geology, evolution, and palaeontology were still to be uncovered? The scientific field of palaeontology (study of fossils) was formally established only in the … Read More
Manipulation is a domain that certain parasites have exploited to bizarre degrees. They can literally turn their victim hosts into fully-controlled ‘zombies’ to do their bidding. Call them Frankensteins if you will! Different parasites inject the hosts with highly-specific chemicals … Read More
More than one third of the world’s fish stocks are overexploited. Our ocean is already suffering. And right now, billions of dollars in government subsidies just encourage more fishing. The good news is that we have an opportunity to end … Read More
I grew up in a family which cooked and served the most mouth-watering seafood delicacies every so often. But I haven’t had a bite of seafood in over 15 years now. For someone who would drool on hearing the names … Read More