Science | Nature | Conservation
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…
Over 3,500 ha of Nagarhole and 2,000 ha of Bandipur Tiger Reserve were destroyed in a recent fire. In the cycle of life and death that is part of Nature, wild fires cause destruction so that regeneration may take place. But when human beings err, things can take a tragic turn, writes Atula Gupta. Normally, the…
The discovery of six slaughtered elephants in two of Thailand’s national parks last month has exposed a nasty secret about the country’s elephant tourism industry. Conservationists point out that baby elephant trade is a lucrative business in the country, writes Atula GuptaThailand’s booming tourism industry owes much of its success to the gentle pachyderm. The…
A team of scientists at Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve reason that analysing sound recordings of frog croaking combined with readings from climate data loggers could improve our understanding of the effect of climate change on amphibian populations, writes Atula Gupta Sitting 100 feet above the ground, in the dense canopies of the Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger…
Tiger numbers shot up to 1,706 this year from 1,411 in 2008. Was this good news or did it deepen the worry lines on conservationists’ faces? It has been that kind of a year for most species. Some good, some bad; some species recovering, some others vanishing, writes Atula Gupta In the beginning of 2011,…