‘Why is the tiger the bad guy?’: Q&A with author and conservationist Paul Rosolie
Heart-breaking. Raw. Beautiful. Vital. These are just a few of the words I can use to describe Paul Rosolie’s new novel, The Girl and the Tiger. While the book tells…
Pangolin smuggling to China thrives as rhino poaching declines in Assam
The global focus on the smuggling of rhino horns and tiger parts from India to China has led to a drop in smuggling, but that has been replaced by a…
Genetics shake-up for India’s tiger conservation plans
A recent study, by scientists from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, states that India needs a paradigm shift in its tiger conservation approach. India should stop…
Sacred sites in Bengaluru: Where heritage helps conserve biodiversity
In India’s IT capital Bengaluru, sprinkled within its concrete jungle, are shady peepal trees adorned with serpent stones, bells and sacred threads, standing majestically atop gated raised platforms. Often a…
Bid for greater protection of star tortoise at the ongoing CITES conference
In June 2019, law enforcement agents stopped a car to check four trolley bags that passengers had loaded in a rush at a railway station in Kolkata. In July, officers…
[Commentary] Tiger-tiger burning bright: Historical efforts have yielded conservation results
The hall at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence was filled with a sense of jubilation as he announced the results of the 2018 countrywide tiger estimation on July 29, 2019,…
Insect-eating bird population drops in heavily extracted Himalayan oak forests
Long-term rural extraction of biomass in oak-dominated Himalayan forests disturbs the forest structure. This, in turn, affects diversity and composition of insect-eating birds and oak forest specialists, which were the…
Tigers are vanishing outside protected areas in the northeast
The annual marathon used to be a big event in Bokolia, a small town in eastern Assam’s picturesque hill district of Karbi Anglong. The participants would run from Bokolia to…
[Commentary] Does India’s tiger conservation policy impact local people and the forest?
Once every four years the Indian government releases an estimate of the total number of tigers in India. The estimate for 2018 was announced on July 29, 2019, which is…
The Tamilian Warrior becomes a state symbol
The southern state of Tamil Nadu has recently declared Tamil Yeoman (Cirrochroa thais) as its state butterfly to symbolise its rich natural and cultural heritage, in a move aimed at…
