The Fishing Cat: a feline fisher hunting by the night in wetlands
In early August this year, staff at the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, in coastal Andhra Pradesh, wrapped up their first census of the elusive fishing cat, a species that is otherwise…
Mongabay series: Almost Famous Species
Our Almost Famous Species series is a take off from Mongabay.com's Almost Famous Animals series, both created "in the hope that familiarity will help generate concern and action for these under-appreciated species". Through the series, we'd like to introduce to you India's gamut of invertebrates, birds and marine flora and fauna, which perhaps don't get as much attention as our more popular big cats and elephants.
Saving the hornbill with crowdsourced data
A citizen science project to monitor hornbill population in India, Hornbill Watch, is gaining momentum among the bird enthusiasts and researchers in the country. With the aim of assessing the…
Batman of Meghalaya: Caving and cataloguing to save bats
Unlike fictional Gotham City’s Batman and Batgirl, this crew of researchers - some of whom describe themselves as “batman” - did not band up to deal out their brand of…
[Photo-feature] Meet the new species of dragon lizards from the Western Ghats
The Western Ghats have revealed two new genera of dragon lizards from the family Agamidae -- Monilesauras and Microauris. Using a combination of extensive field surveys, detailed taxonomic analyses and genetic…
Home gardens and polluted fields are helping conserve this perfume source
The primary source of agarwood and one of the world’s most expensive trees, the evergreen agar tree (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.) is a step away from extinction in the wild. In…
Following the sound trail: pulling India’s cicadas out of oblivion
On a wet rainy day in 2014, Kiran Marathe was busy looking for loud, clamorous cicadas hiding in the bushes, in Verlem district in South Goa. Marathe, a young 20-something…
Seeking a second home for Manipur’s dancing deer
Is time running out for the 260-odd endangered sangai deer which have their only home Manipur? The sangai or the Indian Eld’s deer (Rucervus eldii eldii) resides as an isolated single…
Netwinged insects: The invisible caretakers of forests
Insects are known more for the harm they cause than for the good they do. But diverse families of insects are doing the job of protecting forests from sap sucking,…
Once in a blue bloom: Kerala’s famed Neelakurinji set for rare mass bloom
Starting late July, the Anamalai hills near Munnar in Kerala will be resplendent, clad in a purplish blue carpet. The famed neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) will burst into flower – a…
The unglamourous millipede is a strong soil nutrition builder
When talking about biodiversity, it is that of the forests, oceans and large biomes that often get the most attention. Correspondingly, charismatic species such as tigers, elephants, apes, birds, snakes,…
