For the past month, I have had the opportunity to witness the might and beauty of the Kabini River as she flows through the landscapes of Nagarahole and Bandipur Tiger Reserves in southern Karnataka. Here, I delve into a few of the Kabini's many moods that I have seen thus far this monsoon.
The long-snouted gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) has been my favourite crocodilian from the moment I saw one at the Madras Crocodile Bank at the age of six. Well, to be specific, there must have been at least ten floating lazily in the brackish water of their enclosure, but it was feeding time, and one particularly ambitious…
Thunder rumbles as the clouds sweep in, sealing off the valley below. Sitting high up on the water tank of our home, I can look down at the clouds. Around me are swirling puffs of greyish-white, which will form thunderheads as the pressure builds. My forehead throbs; yes, an electrical storm is moving quickly our…
The forests of India are alive with the presence of the tiger, whether or not one actually sees this magnificent cat. To the amateur wildlife enthusiast, the cat is a treat to spot at national parks and wildlife reserves. To the seasoned biologist or those who share space with the tiger, it is a ghost.…
In a universe where perfection does not exist, we have lost a near-perfect pearl in a sea of pebbles. There is one constant in the history of the universe - its past, its present, and, certainly, its future - and that is entropy. Entropy, or disorder, is constantly increasing in our universe of infinite particles…
In India, where people and wildlife often find themselves on each other's doorstep, the public mindset towards nature can go three ways. It can blossom into a healthy respect and love for our beautiful wildlife, or it can result in a matter-of-fact ambivalence towards our wild neighbours. Occasionally, relations between people and wildlife go sour.…
Today, on the advent of UN World Wildlife Day 2018, join me on a brief journey into the lives of two of India's rare and elusive big cats - the snow leopard and the clouded leopard.
Dive into this post about the world's least-studied canid, the dhole (Asiatic wild dog). Learn about the ecology, behaviour, and threats to the continued survival of this wild dog in an increasingly human-dominated world. Will science and conservation efforts be able to bring this dog back to its former range?
As an entire city struggles to take a breath of fresh air, Maharashtra's urban development department sanctions the conversion of 33 hectares of tree cover in Mumbai's Aarey Colony to create a metro shed. Spread over 3,160 acres (1278.8 ha) of land, Aarey Milk Colony is a veritable Garden of Eden in Mumbai's Goregaon East,…
The air became more turbulent, and then suddenly, as though a curtain were whipped aside, skyscrapers reared up their grey heads below us, cropping up like the world's fastest-growing grass. Startled, I realized that we were much closer to ground than the view from my window had led me to believe. And the cause of this loss of visibility was evident - smog.
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