Have you picked up a jamun or two, or seen an amaltas tree that’s still in bloom recently? Here are ten of the many trees that silently brighten up our days—even when they aren’t parading their flowers. If you’d like to monitor a tree that you love near your home, workspace, or just […]
Q&A with Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan: Elephants get stressed out too!
A conversation Pavithra Sankaran had with biologist Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan on his work on stress in elephants. Do have a listen! Music for this podcast was composed by Akaash Mukherjee. And here’s the interview in text, if you’d prefer to read it: Hi I am Pavithra and welcome to this Q&A with […]
Signs of stress—in elephant poop
We humans don’t just stress each other out, sometimes elephants too are affected by our activities. And signs of this stress have been found in what might seem like a rather unlikely place—their poop! Wildlife habitat everywhere is shrinking, and India is no exception—forests are being converted to places that aren’t as welcoming towards […]
Flexible Fish: new study from the Lakshadweep
In their bright yellow-and-blue finery, melon butterflyfish are hard to miss—you must have seen them on one of your dives. And if you’re like me, who hasn’t ever been on one, you’ve probably seen them swimming across your screen in some underwater video. These fish—the melon butterflyfish—really love being around coral, and for good reason. […]
Field tales: surveying the endangered Nilgiri tahr
by Devika Rathore Last month, we had a cross-programme survey—the High Altitude and Valparai teams got together to survey Anamalai Tiger Reserve for the endangered Nilgiri tahr! What a treat it is to watch these tahrs leap over grass-covered hills—they are found in the Western Ghats and nowhere else in the world! We woke up to the […]
Q&A: Spider Insider with Vena Kapoor
Somewhere in a certain cranny of your home, lives a little creature that’s on the lookout for mosquitoes and flies. She’s spinning up some of the strongest known natural fibres to trap these insects that often keep us up at night by singing terrible tunes right into our ears. She’s none other than your friendly […]
Like strolling around the city? Five common trees to keep a lookout for!
Flame of the Forest Flame of the forest, dhak or palaash, is a forest tree that bears bright and large reddish-orange flowers. When in full bloom, the tree has no leaves, and this accentuates its red crown that appears to be on fire. Many blooming palaash trees together make the forest look ablaze; hence the […]
Ornithology and Graphic Design: what’s the connection?
If you watch birds for long enough (and even a few minutes every other day counts), you will quickly learn to tell them apart by their size and shape—and even more easily so by the colours they sport. Today, as we dive deeper and deeper into the digital world, we associate colours with their CMYK […]
பறவைக் கோலங்கள்
கோலங்கள், குறிப்பாக மார்கழி மாதத்தில் வாசலில் இடப்படும் கோலங்கள் எப்போதுமே நம்மை வியக்க வைக்கும். சிறு வயதில் அம்மா காலையிலும் மாலையிலும் வாசல் கூட்டி, நீர் தெளித்து, சில வேளைகளில் சாணியையும் கரைத்து மெ ழுகிய பின் இடும் அழகான கோலங்களைக் கண்டு வியந்திருக்கிறேன். தஞ்சை கரந்தையில், எங்கள் வீட்டின் வாசலில், மார்கழி மாதக் குளிரான காலை நேரங்களில் அம்மா கோலமிடும் போது தூக்கக் கலக்கத்துடன் நானும் என் தங்கையும் கோலத்தின் அருகில் அமர்ந்து வேடிக்கைப் பார்த்துக் […]
A ficus full of life
After four months of desk work in Mysore, I was really looking forward to fieldwork in Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh with my Lisu friends. The Lisu are one of the local communities around Namdapha. On day 1, I was marking a transect with my Lisu friends, Ngwayotse and Adusey,when suddenly Ngwayotse, whispered ‘Paigolo’. […]