Science | Nature | Conservation
The government’s move to demarcate eco-sensitive zones around protected reserves is a timely move. But, wildlife corridors too need equal attention. Every animal, from a hare to an elephant, and a snow leopard to a butterfly, needs the forest in its entirety and cannot survive in fractured fragments. Development has to be woven around wildlife,…
Atula Gupta narrates the story of exploitation of the mangrove forests that border West Bengal and Bangladesh, and also suggests a few measures to save the mangroves. The mangrove forests in Sunderbans consist of 54 tiny islands, criss-crossed by innumerable tributaries of the Ganges that were once infested by Arakanese and Portuguese pirates. But today,…
A study has shown that the body size of marine species is disproportionately affected by warmer temperatures. According to researchers, the most likely cause of the drastic shrinking size of marine animals is due to the much lower availability of oxygen in water than in air. Warming increases the need for oxygen across species, but…
Centuries-old trees provide nesting and shelter for up to 30 per cent of all birds and animals in some ecosystems. They store huge amounts of carbon, recycle soil nutrients, create rich patches for other life to thrive, and influence the flow of water within landscapes. In India, the banyan and the peepul are still plentiful,…
The year 2012 was a mixed bag in terms of conservation. While the official toll of tiger deaths has risen to 83, the IUCN has taken out Asiatic lions from the critically endangered category because of their stable population in the jungles of Sasan Gir, writes Atula Gupta. Henry Thoreau, a 19th-century writer had once…
Atula Gupta finds out that the number of vultures which had drastically fallen around 2006, owing to the use of the drug, Diclofenac, has stabilised in the recent past. A recent study shows that for all three critically endangered species of vultures in India and Nepal, populations have remained stable in the last few years,…
A survey of fishing cat numbers in areas with high human density in West Bengal has revealed that the major reason for their decline is the degradation of wetland habitats. A cat that depends on wetlands and marshes also symbiotically helps preserve this crucial ecosystem, observes Atula Gupta. India is home to 15 species of…
Sasan Gir National Park in Gujarat is still the last bastion of the Asiatic lion, and the local Maldharis have lived peacefully with the wild cat. What is upsetting the fragile natural balance is the increasing livestock population that is competing with the wild ungulates for the same forest sources, observes Atula Gupta. Sasan Gir…
The Supreme Court’s order of banning tiger safaris in core areas of all the 42 tigerreserves in the country was made with a simple reasoning – to provide the tiger withmuch needed solitude and let the big cat enjoy its kingdom without the houndingpaparazzi. But leaving the tiger alone is the last thing in the…
When the tiger is saved, it sets off a domino effect that saves its prey, their food source and every small and big species thriving in the vast habitat. The tiger thus ensures that the entire kingdom is safe, observes Atula Gupta The kingdom of an emperor is defined by its geography and its dwellers…