From shed hair, scientists obtain whole genomes of wild tigers
Wild tigers are hard to study. That's why India's tiger census uses camera traps to take photographs of tigers as they walk unsuspectingly by; geneticists pick up tiger poop or…
Articles by Aathira Perinchery
A new species of wood snake emerges in the Western Ghats, mottled in grey-brown
The sun beat down mercilessly. Being in the vicinity of south India's highest peak, in one of the coldest months – December – made no difference. After a tiring morning…
Bioresource access and benefit-sharing: How far have we come in India?
India became a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1994. The CBD is a multilateral treaty aimed at conserving biodiversity, its sustainable use and ensuring “fair and…
[Book Review] Travelling through India’s wildlands in the time of social distancing
“Our book is a treasure of wild places, and words.” That is how Prerna Singh Bindra, one of the three editors of Wild Treasures: Reflections on Natural World Heritage Sites…
Forests that heal: Medicinal plants as an ecosystem service
Five trillion US dollars. That's how much the overall international trade in medicinal plants and their products alone is expected to amount to by the year 2050. Estimates, as far…
Leopards fall into deep open wells in Karnataka
The tiny village of Doddamargonahalli in south Karnataka's Tumkur district, less than a three-hour drive from the state capital of Bengaluru, is a predominantly agricultural landscape. On August 31, 2014,…
The complex life of Banni
Grasses that glint like they are studded with tiny diamonds, as the salt crystals on their blades catch the bright sun. A grass species named after how its spiked seeds…
Is the increasing presence of peafowl in Kerala a symbol of climate change?
Sixty-year-old Kunjan Kurumban has lived all his life in the village of Pallavur in Palakkad in central Kerala. But the agricultural worker had never seen a peacock in the vicinity…
Towards better prediction of coral bleaching
Off the coast of Red Skin Island in the Andamans, it was a colourful world that marine biologist Vardhan Patankar dived into in the summer of 2016. Here, corals wore…
Restore fragmented forests to help them recover
A helping hand goes a long way, especially for fragmented and disturbed forests. According to a recent study published in Ecosphere, removing weeds and planting native trees in such patches…
