While on patrol in Ladakh's Hanle village, in 2002, Khenrab Phuntsog, now a 45-year-old wildlife guard with the Ladakh forest department, spotted a cat-like creature descending the hillside. "When I…
The picturesque Munnar in Kerala, with its lush green tea gardens carpet rolling hills, sits at the south of biodiversity hotspot that is the Western Ghats. Coffee and cardamom plantations…
In Scotland, the population of the country's wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) has dwindled so much they're now considered functionally extinct. There are fewer than 30 Scottish wildcats, also known as…
In September 2011, a team of researchers from the Institute of Mountain Environment (IME), University of Jammu, found a pair of jackals dead on the Jammu-Poonch national highway. “Sadly, the…
Extinction is the termination of all members of a species and it occurs because of environmental forces, overexploitation or evolutionary changes. What can fossils tell us about extinction? They provide…
Its call is hard to miss. A series of high-pitched and staccato chirrups reverberate through the dense forests where it is found. Follow the sound and you might spot the…
The high peaks of the Himalayas, rising in places to more than 8,800 metres (29,000 feet), act as a physical barrier separating nuclear-armed neighbours. The mountains serve as a wall…
It’s a scorching day in June, and Mohammad Mudasir Bhat, the person responsible for the Wildlife Control Room in Kashmir’s Shopian division, is out in the dense apple orchards, in…
The tiger is among the world's most iconic and awe-inspiring animals, deeply embedded in human culture and legends. Its distribution ranged from Russia in the north to Java in the…
The months of March and April are busy for the people of Masiyari, a village in Madhya Pradesh, adjacent to a forest. It’s the season for mahua flower collection. Everyone…
Arecanut and coconut plantations sweep across the landscape and eventually into forests that creep up the hills of the Western Ghats. At a distance, windmills perched on a hillock oversee…
The United Nations declared the decade of 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recently released the first draft of a new framework…
The first clear photographic record of two pheasant species in Arunachal Pradesh’s Upper Siang district has brought in a mixed bag of emotions among birding enthusiasts and researchers. The Himalayan…
The state animal of Chhattisgarh, the wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is in danger. Despite all the efforts by the government, the population of wild buffalo is not increasing in…
River Tillari originates at an altitude of 750 metres (2461 feet) on the gently west-tilted flatland at the Karnataka-Maharashtra border. It is dammed on the plateau and the water is…
A tree-planting frenzy has taken over many countries to counter climate change. In July 2019, Ethiopia announced that they planted more than 350 million trees in one day. A month…
Institutionalised conservation efforts in India started with the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972 and the launch of the Project Tiger - to conserve the apex predator and…
As Mangalore resident Spandana walked on to Padukere beach in the first week of April, a menacing sign restricting the entry of anyone connected with the marina project on to…
When Terde Yomcha brought Luba home, she was so tiny that she could fit in his hands. Luba is an Asiatic black bear cub—a species threatened by illegal wildlife trade…
Concerned with the burning of grasslands and felling of trees, 34-year-old Bhabesh Mahanta is helping build a food forest for birds on a chapori (riverine island) near Guwahati in Assam.…
