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(October 30, 2018) The palm-sized cane turtle is endemic to the Indian Western Ghats.It was a monsoon morning in the Anamalai hills. Ferns and shrubs were dancing to the pitter-patter of water droplets falling from the canopy. Very few birds were vocal as many of them were busy trying to keep themselves dry before they go hunting for their meals. Malabar Giant Squirrels and Nilgiri Langurs were contemplating whether to take a rest in such misty weather as they were crossing across tree canopies clumsily. I too was...

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(October 26, 2018) C RajendranC Rajendran grew up right next to a forest in Mithirmala, a small village in Trivandrum, Kerala. After graduating in Mathematics, he taught the subject for 5 years at a tutorial college.Following his teaching stint, he was posted briefly as a Village Extension Officer in the Rural Development Department. A year later, in 1986, he was selected for the Forest Rangers course at the Southern Forest Rangers College, Coimbatore.On completion of his training, he was appointed as a Forest Ran...

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(October 23, 2018) ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳ ಮಾಯಾಲೋಕದಿಂದ: ಪೂರ್ವ ಘಟ್ಟಗಳ ಬಂಡೆಗಾಡುಗಳವರೆಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಪಯಣ..ಗತಿಸಿಹೋದ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮೆಲಕು ಹಾಕುತ್ತ..ಸತೀಶ ಗಣೇಶ ನಾಗಠಾಣ.ಮುಂದುವರೆದ ಭಾಗ..ಅನುಭವಗಳನ್ನು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾ ಹೋದಂತೆ ನನ್ನ ಪಯಣದ ಹಾದಿ ಮತ್ತಷ್ಟು ಹೊಸ ತಿರುವುಗಳನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತೆ ಅನ್ನುವುದು ಒಂಥರಹದಲ್ಲಿ ವಿಸ್ಮಯ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು. ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಬೇಕಾದ ಸಂದರ್ಭಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವಾರು ರೀತಿಯಾದಂತಹ ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನು ನೆನೆಸಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಮತ್ತು ಘಟನೆಗಳನ್ನ ಗೆಳೆಯರ ಜೊತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸಹದ್ಯೋಗಿಗಳ ಜೊತೆ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡಾಗ ಆಗುವಂತಹ ಉತ್ಸಾಹಕ್ಕೆ ಪಾರವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು.ಬಂಡೀಪುರ ಅಭಯಾರಣ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡಂತೆ ‘ನುಗು’ ವಲಯದ ವ್ಯ...

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(October 19, 2018) Wild animals are not all 'man-eaters' waiting to pounce on humans... as the protagonist realises!Trudging along the sandy path, with the satchel weighing heavy on his shoulders, Mohan thought to himself, “I wonder how Raima ma’am will punish me today for not completing my homework. Isn’t she getting tired of same cat and mouse routine every day?”Preoccupied in his mental deliberations on the dreary Monday morning, he didn’t hear the babbling group of women approach ...

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(October 17, 2018) As a young ecologist, although I was studying ecology, my idea of ecology was wildlife ecology. People did not appear important nor was I taught so. One of my first projects as a young researcher more than 20 years ago was at the Wildlife Institute of India in a project searching for an alternative site for the Asiatic Lion.Representational image of an Asiatic lion © Kalyan VarmaWe did surveys for the habitat and prey, travelling in an open jeep in the searing heat of the summer in Rajastha...

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(October 14, 2018) Representational image © Kalyan VarmaIt is twilight and the leopardess sits licking her paws on a rocky patch outside her den and gazing at the forest below her. A gust of cool breeze blows through; the male cicadas are abuzz making sounds at varying intensities, as if ringing an alarm to wake up the forest from sleep. A group of noisy hornbills flies above the parakeets, both heading out for the same fruit on a distant tree. Water droplets are slowly evaporating from the sharp grass blade ...

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(October 10, 2018) Gurgaon was once upon a time full of farms. If you stood there today, you would think that I am joking. It has tall buildings now – each one built to look more beautiful than its neighboring architecture. Yet there are places apart from the landscaped garden patches that surround the buildings – a few dense lines of trees that stand on the outskirts of the city, that once marked the boundaries of vast farms.These trees provided the much needed shelter to the birds which did not opt t...

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(October 05, 2018) Wildlife Week Special – More and more tigers are being seen outside protected areas, leading to unfortunate clashes with humans. Even as activists push for a mercy for Avni, chances are the trigger will be pulled when she is sighted. How can we save our national animal from the pressures of human population?Representation image © Kalyan VarmaT1, F03, K1, Sundari… the fate of these majestic big cats lies in the hands of an ever-growing human population. Even as India celebrates ...

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(October 03, 2018) The theme for wildlife week this year is ‘Big cats under threat’. Often the wild predators are more scared of humans than vice versa. A mob can play havoc on a ‘dangerous’ carnivore, as revealed in field tales from Akole.(Ghule recounts…) On Mahashivratri festival, I got a call at 1.30 p.m. A leopard was trapped inside a house at Malizap village. We set up a trap cage at the door of the house and blocked all other escape routes.While we waited for the leopard to be...

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(October 02, 2018) Wildlife Week Special: Wildlife trafficking has seen a million pangolins killed, around 7000 Asian big cats have been slaughtered for body parts since 2000, 14 million reptiles traded in a decade and so on. In India, the trade is focussed on tigers, leopards, rhinos and pangolins. The networking among the crime syndicates calls for coordination between many agencies that can detect and block the transit routes.The transnational trade in wildlife and forest products is estimated to be the fourth ...

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