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(November 16, 2018) India’s national animal has fallen prey to human-tiger conflict© The New Indian ExpressThe tiger is in the news, and yet again for the wrong reasons. We have lost two of our national animals to targeted killings in two rich landscapes — Yavatmal (Maharashtra) and Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh). The big cats were victims of human-tiger interface conflict.India is in a leadership position on the tiger front with almost 70 per cent of the global tiger population. We pioneered tiger conserv...

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(November 13, 2018) How fear makes the smallest wild cat in India into a dangerous leopard.Many years ago while we were studying the leopard ecology in the agricultural landscape of Akole, W Maharashtra I had many friends coming to help out especially during the camera trapping work. This was a blessing as some were good photographers, some good cooks and some terrible two wheeler drivers. Sachin Rai had come to help and one day while we were returning from our field work, I got a call from the Forest Department sa...

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(November 07, 2018) A real incident quite common in parts of India where elephants and humans share common spaces.Much has been written about the plight of elephants in the face of aggression by people and also about the immense losses people face due to elephants in human-use areas. However, the picture is not always as grim as portrayed. If the situation was indeed dismal, elephants would not have continued to persist in densely populated areas like the duars in west Bengal.In this part of India, local people hav...

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(November 02, 2018) Almost two decades since the people moved out of the forest to start a new life, what greets a visitor at the sites of rehabilitation and forest alike is hope and wonder.His shabby clothes notwithstanding, Huliyappa Gowda is a man who earns more than what an average city-bred youngster earns, toiling long hours in air-conditioned offices. He makes an annual Rs 8-10 lakh from his coffee and pepper crop grown on four acres of land. That is after deducting his expenses in terms of pesticide and man...

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(October 30, 2018) The palm-sized cane turtle is endemic to the Indian Western Ghats.It was a monsoon morning in the Anamalai hills. Ferns and shrubs were dancing to the pitter-patter of water droplets falling from the canopy. Very few birds were vocal as many of them were busy trying to keep themselves dry before they go hunting for their meals. Malabar Giant Squirrels and Nilgiri Langurs were contemplating whether to take a rest in such misty weather as they were crossing across tree canopies clumsily. I too was...

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(October 26, 2018) C RajendranC Rajendran grew up right next to a forest in Mithirmala, a small village in Trivandrum, Kerala. After graduating in Mathematics, he taught the subject for 5 years at a tutorial college.Following his teaching stint, he was posted briefly as a Village Extension Officer in the Rural Development Department. A year later, in 1986, he was selected for the Forest Rangers course at the Southern Forest Rangers College, Coimbatore.On completion of his training, he was appointed as a Forest Ran...

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(October 23, 2018) ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳ ಮಾಯಾಲೋಕದಿಂದ: ಪೂರ್ವ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳ ಬಂಡೆಗಾಡುಗಳವರೆಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಪಯಣ..ಗತಿಸಿಹೋದ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮೆಲಕು ಹಾಕುತ್ತ..ಸತೀಶ ಗಣೇಶ ನಾಗಠಾಣ.ಮುಂದುವರೆದ ಭಾಗ..ಅನುಭವಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಹೋದಂತೆ ನನ್ನ ಪಯಣದ ಹಾದಿ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಹೊಸ ತಿರುವುಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತೆ ಅನ್ನುವುದು ಒಂಥರಹದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಸ್ಮಯ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು. ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಬೇಕಾದ ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವಾರು ರೀತಿಯಾದಂತಹ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ನೆನೆಸಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಮತ್ತು ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನ ಗೆಳೆಯರ ಜೊತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಹದ್ಯೋಗಿಗಳ ಜೊತೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಆಗುವಂತಹ ಉತ್ಸಾಹಕ್ಕೆ ಪಾರವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು.ಬಂಡೀಪುರ ಅಭಯಾರಣ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡಂತೆ ‘ನುಗು’ ವಲಯದ ವ್ಯ...

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(October 19, 2018) Wild animals are not all 'man-eaters' waiting to pounce on humans... as the protagonist realises!Trudging along the sandy path, with the satchel weighing heavy on his shoulders, Mohan thought to himself, “I wonder how Raima ma’am will punish me today for not completing my homework. Isn’t she getting tired of same cat and mouse routine every day?”Preoccupied in his mental deliberations on the dreary Monday morning, he didn’t hear the babbling group of women approach ...

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(October 17, 2018) As a young ecologist, although I was studying ecology, my idea of ecology was wildlife ecology. People did not appear important nor was I taught so. One of my first projects as a young researcher more than 20 years ago was at the Wildlife Institute of India in a project searching for an alternative site for the Asiatic Lion.Representational image of an Asiatic lion © Kalyan VarmaWe did surveys for the habitat and prey, travelling in an open jeep in the searing heat of the summer in Rajastha...

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(October 14, 2018) Representational image © Kalyan VarmaIt is twilight and the leopardess sits licking her paws on a rocky patch outside her den and gazing at the forest below her. A gust of cool breeze blows through; the male cicadas are abuzz making sounds at varying intensities, as if ringing an alarm to wake up the forest from sleep. A group of noisy hornbills flies above the parakeets, both heading out for the same fruit on a distant tree. Water droplets are slowly evaporating from the sharp grass blade ...

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