Western ghats News

RSS
131 stories
The surveys revealed that low-elevation forests in the northern Western Ghats harbour unique biodiversity, with higher diversity of birds and reptiles than higher elevations. Image by Irvin Calicut via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Can climate change and human pressure favour deciduous forests?

Arathi Menon 9 Jan 2026
Gadgil visits Yashawantrao Chavan Institute of Science, Satara, Maharashtra, in 2017. Image by Subodh Kulkarni via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Madhav Gadgil – a scientist, mentor and an institution builder [Obituary]

S. Gopikrishna Warrier 8 Jan 2026
M.I. Varghese, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, legal scholar, and author of A Treatise on Forest Laws in Kerala. Image by K.A. Shaji.

Forest ecology cannot be reduced to arithmetic, says M.I. Varghese [Interview]

K.A. Shaji 15 Dec 2025
Given that existing anti-venom does not neutralise the venom of a Malar pit viper, the study authors are are raising awareness about these lesser-known but medically significant venomous snakes so that antivenom manufacturers can consider adding them to their immunisation pools. Image by Bose Mudappa.

Scientists warn Malabar pit viper is medically overlooked

Arathi Menon 12 Dec 2025
Rhinophis siruvaniensis. Image by by Umesh P.K.

Scientists describe a new species of burrowing shieldtail snake

Vandana K. 9 Dec 2025

The plot twists about a river’s politics [Book Review]

Arti Das 13 Nov 2025
A stone quarry in Mangaluru, Karnataka. Representative image by Ravimum via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Quarries devour buffer forests of Western Ghats after sand mining ban

Max Martin 11 Nov 2025

How agroforests of Western Ghats support dhole populations

Simrin Sirur 7 Nov 2025
The Nilgiris hills in the southern Western Ghats. Image by Divya Kilikar/Mongabay.

A stairway from the ocean to the skies [Commentary]

C.P. Rajendran 29 Oct 2025
To find out how well the toads themselves recognise mating colour signals, researchers recorded the skin colours of toads gathered at a rock pool and fed the data into a computer model that simulated toad vision, revealing they could easily detect the contrast between yellow males and the brown females. Image by Susanne Stückler and Doris Preininger.

Male toads get a monsoon makeover to stand out from the crowd

Sandhya Sekar 23 Oct 2025

Roadkill study demonstrates urgent necessity for safeguards

Simrin Sirur 2 Sep 2025

Rohini Balakrishnan on why (and how) we must listen to insects [Interview]

Kartik Chandramouli 15 Aug 2025
Sandesh Kadur. Image ©Robin Darius Conz/Felis Images.

Sandesh Kadur on documenting the shared wilderness in the Nilgiris [Interview]

Priyanka Shankar 8 Aug 2025

Dinesh Holla on trekking the Western Ghats for ecological awareness [Interview]

Shradha Triveni 12 Jun 2025
Seeds of native trees being collected in a coffee agroforest. Image by Vijay Kumar.

Coffee agrofarms can play a key role in restoring degraded forest, study says

Simrin Sirur 17 Apr 2025
Slopes in Vishalgad in the northern Western Ghats. Image by Ankur P via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). 

Tree cover may depend on which way the slope faces

Nikhil Sreekandan 8 Apr 2025
Rhododendron trees in full bloom near Darjeeling, West Bengal. Image by Abhijit Kar Gupta via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).

Rhododendron survival depends on its conservation [Commentary]

R.J. Ranjit Daniels 13 Mar 2025
Western Ghats wayanad landslides

Caught between exploitation and extremes, Western Ghats’ future hinges on local action

Max Martin 29 Jan 2025
Cilantica agasthyaensis is one of the new species included in a new genus of trantulas from the Western Ghats. Image courtesy of Zeeshan Mirza.

New tarantulas described from the Western Ghats

Liz Kimbrough 8 Jan 2025

Relocating villages in core tiger areas based on science

Nikhil Sreekandan 7 Jan 2025