The tigers that live in a thermal power plant
Tigers are known for living in dense forest areas, away from human settlements -- unlike the other big cats, leopards, that are quite comfortable living in human-dominated habitats and in…
Bera’s free-roaming leopards walk on thin ice as tourism grows
Bera in the Pali district of Rajasthan is often nicknamed ‘Leopard Country’. Widely regarded as being home to one of the highest densities of leopards found anywhere, the otherwise shy…
The wild side of India’s educational campuses
Snow trout in cold Himalayan waters, bat roosts, crocodiles basking in the sun, sprinting blackbucks, and prowling leopards -- India’s higher education campuses are home to diverse wildlife species, warranting…
Captivating carnivores: Saving India’s only pitcher plant
High up in the majestic hills of India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya lies an elusive and unusual carnivore: a pitcher plant. The species is known popularly as ‘monkey cups’ because…
Hunted and traded for body parts, the Bengal slow loris needs a conservation strategy
Trying to trace the shy and nocturnal Bengal slow loris, primatologists in India’s biodiversity-rich northeast India kept missing the gum and sap-feeding endangered primate species till 2008. It was only…
States propose minimal eco-sensitive zones around protected areas
India has a countrywide network of protected areas (PAs) including wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves. Owing to the pressures of human habitation and infrastructure development projects the eco-sensitive…
Silent Valley to soon get a conservation ring around it
When Scottish botanist Robert Wright reached Sairandhri Valley on the banks of river Kunthi in the present Palakkad district of Kerala way back in 1847, what baffled him most was…
Conserve both large intact and small degraded habitats to maintain biodiversity
Scientists are undivided on the need to conserve natural habitats to maintain biodiversity, but divided on which ones to prioritise: intact wild habitats, or fragmented, degraded lands that are becoming…
Mapping conflict hotspots as leopards adapt to unlikely habitats outside protected areas
Unpacking patterns of leopard attacks on livestock and landscape features in the Indian Himalayas offers clues to potential human-leopard conflict hotspots, a study has said amid increasing encounters of wildlife…
[Commentary] Making communities central to conservation
Wildlife conflict is the flavour of the season. Almost everyday, we are exposed to scenes of the forest department struggling to handle jeering, stone-throwing, and hooting mobs while managing an…
