Science | Nature | Conservation
गंगा, ब्रह्मपुत्र और मेघना नदियों के संगम पर स्थित सुंदरबन दुनिया का सबसे बड़ा ज्वारीय खारे पानी का मैंग्रोव वन है। भारत और बांग्लादेश के लगभग 10,000 वर्ग कि.मी. में फैला यह वन, किसी परिकथा की काल्पनिक दुनिया से कम नहीं। घने मैंग्रोव वन, ज्वारीय जलमार्ग, नम-भूमि और द्वीप, जिनमें धरती, आकाश और पानी में…
एक समय था जब वैज्ञानिक यह मानते थे कि पलास फिश ईगल हिमालय के उत्तर में, विशेषकर मंगोलिया में प्रजनन करते हैं। यह अनुमान इतना गलत भी नहीं था क्योंकि अधिकांश प्रवासी पक्षी ठंड के मौसम में गर्म इलाकों की ओर बेहतर भोजन और संसाधनों की तलाश में उड़ते हैं न की प्रजनन के लिए।…
In 1970, an album titled ‘Songs of the Humpback Whale’ was releasedwith 35 minutes of sound recordings of these whales. The album wasnothing like anything people had heard before and it went on to sell 30million copies worldwide. The operasque sounds created by the whales,dolphins and most other cetaceans continue to fascinate scientists eventoday with…
Flamingoes have been known to fly into high-tension wires strung over saline wetlands, where the birds like to feed, but efforts to take the wires down have seldom succeeded. Brijesh Shah of Bhavnagar Animal Helpline has had a habit of visiting the salt pans of Kumbharvada, a known feeding site for flamingoes, on the city’s…
The deaths of tigers and other wildlife have brought to the forefront a situation where the ‘management’ of one animal leads to the accidental deaths of another. A hundred and twenty-one snares were dismantled in a single day by the Karnataka forest department in a massive combing operation around the Nagarhole National Park boundary on January…
When this flood blocks the road, I am worried more by my soil getting washed, than by getting late, to reach my destination,” wrote Nepalese poet Suman Pokhrel. For India, no words could be truer for the year 2015. If something has blocked the road of India’s savvy future in the last year, it has been the…
The Asiatic Lion has doubled its territory in Gujarat with one-third of Saurashtra under its reign. While the news is promising for the future of lions, it highlights the concern that they roam outside the protected area, leading to human-animal conflict. Atula Gupta writes… When the Asiatic Lion truly lived the life of royalty, its…
Going by the size of Sunderban tigers, it was believed that they were a different subspecies, but it has now been established that they share their lineage with Central Indian tigers, writes Atula Gupta. When mud and water is the land you tread on and the forest is nothing but a floating mass, even a…
The rising water levels in the mangroves of Sunderbans has created an imbalance in the area which is otherwise blessed with a unique species diversity. The reason for this is unplanned aquaculture which needs to be immediately checked, writes Atula Gupta. The impermeable floating jungles on the seashores of India and Bangladesh, Sunderbans, are both…
Camouflage has not helped the cause of the elusive snow leopards in this day and age as rampant cashmere goat rearing has left no food for their prey — the local wildlife. The ‘Ghost of the Himalayas’ will soon disappear if we don’t mend our ways, reckons Atula Gupta They are rare, beautiful and so…