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(May 22, 2018) One of our volunteers from our line-transect surveys pens his account of an incredible sighting of the shy, nocturnal Indian Pangolin, which is also one of the most trafficked mammals on the planet.Camera-trap photo of a pangolin. © Ullas Karanth/WCSIt was relatively a pleasant morning and a usual drive back to our base camp after the Line Transect Survey conducted by WCS India.This survey is done to estimate the prey population which is crucial for the survival of predators. As usual,...

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(May 18, 2018) An Assam Forest Department – WCS India initiative 'Know Your Elephants' seeks to create a photographic database of individual elephants in Kaziranga National Park.Every elephant is distinct. Their facial features, personality, ability to reproduce, tendency to disperse, propensity to raid crops, are different. Just as we subconsciously use facial features to distinguish one person from another, we can, in a more systematic and explicit manner, use morphological features to individually ide...

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(May 09, 2018) Waking with a leopard sleeping by your bed may not be everyone’s dream come true. But what a banana trader in Mysuru experienced earlier this year could be the shape of things to come, as wildlife habitats continue to shrink. While panic is the first response, it is not the best. According to leopard experts, the animal too is in a state of heightened panic and the best option is to make way for it to leave.Traditionally many forest tribes and communities coexisted with leopards and tigers...

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(May 03, 2018) In 2008, 60 tribal families from the DB Kuppe range of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve voluntarily relocated outside the forest to the Sollepura relocation centre through a government funded relocation program. Inside the forest, the tribals were hunter gatherers, but when they moved out, they had to familiarize themselves with the art of agriculture. Despite initial difficulties, with time they slowly learned, practiced and are now proud first-generation farmers.Chia being grown as a second crop in So...

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(April 26, 2018) A long time ago, deep inside the Kali Tiger Reserve, in a cave high up on the hill outside the village of Pesose, a villager entered, only to never return. Perplexed and concerned, the villagers discussed amongst themselves. “Would he have gone to stay there as a sadhu?” one asked, while another questioned, “Do you think there is a ghost in there who might have consumed him?”The discussion went on for a few days, before one brave villager took on the challenge to go explo...

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(April 23, 2018) Every Saturday afternoon at 4 pm, a few citizens from Chikmagalur, Karnataka, meet to discuss ongoing affairs of their town. They come from diverse backgrounds–law, medicine, journalism, business owners–and many are students. The common cause that binds them together? Concern for the environment and natural landscapes that surround their hometown. This ceremonial meeting first took place nearly twenty years ago, and the tradition continues till today; its participating members belong...

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(April 20, 2018) The real Ajoba, caught from a well, in a village north of Pune. ©John LinnelDr Vidya Athreya (right) and team radio-collaring Ajoba before releasing him at Malshej Ghats. ©Jimmy BoraAn Indian film, where a wild animal plays the central role, comes very close to highlighting the complex issues that surround human wildlife interactions in India, a country which is unique in the way a high density of people share space with large wild animals even today.Made with a leopard as its protagon...

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(April 17, 2018) MEET OUR STAFF: SRIKANTH RAOSrikanth Rao in Amrabad Tiger Reserve, Telangana ©Ankur Singh ChauhanIn the moist deciduous jungles of Nagarahole in Karnataka, it was another busy day for field staff of the tiger monitoring team run by WCS India. Srikanth Rao, along with his colleague, was in the middle of the forest collecting camera-trap data, when suddenly he felt his colleague freeze and back away quietly. Then he noticed something towards his right. Standing a bare 25 metres away from them...

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(April 12, 2018) Naik family at their new house in Joida. ©Jayanand DerekarSituated deep in the Kumbarawada range of Kali Tiger reserve, the Naik family struggled to survive in isolation. Around 14 kms away from the nearest town, in the village of Naifed, the family had a tough life since they had no access to basic amenities such as schools, hospitals, and markets.  This family is one of the several families which approached the Forest Department and WCS –India for their relocation in 2013.Naik'...

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(April 03, 2018) It’s 6 am and Saraswati Rohidas Mirashi, a 35-year old lively woman, wakes up to start her daily grind. A mother of two young children, Saraswati prefers for her kids to stay at their relative’s house, 20 km away from the village. She insisted on this difficult separation, despite the emotional toll of having to spend a life away from her own children, but she believes this is necessary to ensure a better future for them. She was born in a small village called Daria and married into ...

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