Leopards in Guwahati’s hills jostle for space
On a lazy Sunday morning in June this year, with the pandemic keeping most people indoors, chaos ensued at Katahbari Pahar (hill) area in Guwahati - the rapidly urbanising capital…
Children sketch human-elephant conflict and coexistence in Odisha
A pencil sketch shows an elephant trying to dismantle a thatched roof. Another depicts a pachyderm helping itself to succulent sugarcane stalks from a farm as people brandish fire torches…
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…
Deep below the surface, boreholes offer clues to past warming in the Western Ghats
Mapping changes in temperature with depth in boreholes drilled in Maharashtra’s Koyna region has thrown light on past climate warming in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats. The results detailed in a…
Tigers and their habitats under threat from the boost to the mining sector
Tigers are increasingly facing a threat from mining and this threat could intensify in the coming years if the focus on boosting this sector continues. The mining sector is currently…
Discoveries and rediscoveries: Stoneflowers in northeast India
To anyone else, the dried herb pressed neatly into crisp white paper would have been just another herbarium specimen. But for scientists at the Indian Institute for Science Education and…
Despite an early vision for sustainability in mining, is India’s progress faltering?
Despite its known ill-impacts, the mining sector directly or indirectly contributes significantly to India’s economy. India had a vision to incorporate sustainability in this sector at least almost a decade…
[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…
