An already fascinating species made more fascinating by the virtue of it being super elusive. In India, even today, first-time reports of the honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also called ratel, continue to pour in from various regions, taking one and… Read More
Nature’s laws of survival demand that predators feed on their prey. A tiger chasing a deer, a desert fox scanning the desert floor for spiny-tailed lizards, dhole bringing down a sambar stag. All normal scenarios playing out in the wildscape.… Read More
This article is part of a special WCT #TrappedInTrade blog series which is focused on the problem of growing demand for exotic wild animals in India and the urgent need for stronger wildlife laws for better regulation of the same. … Read More
The world is stressing on the need to adopt a sustainable way of life and yet the political and economic decisions are steering the society away from the coveted goal of sustainability. Take for instance wetland ecosystems – they provide … Read More
Understanding Anxiety and Distress in Times of Climate Change ‘Severe heat wave sweeps India, temperatures to rise. IMD issues yellow and orange alerts’‘Rains wreak havoc in Northeast India, landslides and floods in Assam’‘IMD warns of heavy to very heavy rainfall … Read More
The amazing complexity of multicellular organisms arises from pure simplicity – a single cell. Organisms boast of their idiosyncratic morphologies which follow seemingly distinct paths but be it a human arm or a chicken leg, it all grows from a … Read More
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others*: A review of carnivore research in India (1947-2020) Paper titled ‘Chasms in charismatic species Research: Seventy years of carnivore science and its implications for conservation and policy in India’… Read More
In 2018, WCT President Dr. Anish Andheria sent me to the Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, to witness the life and work of frontline forest staff, so that I could be their voice. With each of the forest guards… Read More
What is the value of a 100 year-old Banyan tree sustaining countless animals and providing oxygen, shade as well as aesthetic reprieve to people? What price would you assign an entire mangrove forest that buffers a city from bearing the… Read More
The Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) has been categorised as ‘Endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s latest Red List Assessment of the species. The species’ status remains the same as it was in previous assessments, given… Read More
WCT held its Annual Review Meet (ARM-2022) at the NCBS field station in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, on June 28-30, 2022. WCT’s Satpura field office is located within the NCBS campus. Heads and representatives of WCT’s verticals including Conservation Research, Conservation … Read More
Millions of years of evolution has gifted this planet with astonishing diversity of life forms. Insects in particular, which make up three fourths of all the world’s animal and plant species, come in staggering sizes, shapes and forms. Every insect … Read More
What if I told you that a carnivorous dinosaur even more ferocious and stronger than the Tyrannosaurus rex, once lived here in India? We had our very own “king lizard of the Narmada” or the “royal lizard” with a characteristic … Read More
Bramhapuri, Maharashtra: A nippy November night in 2019. Kishor Bansod is circled by a rapt audience of more than a hundred. A mic in one hand and a bucket of water in another, he pours into a one metre high… Read More
Sea turtles have graced the oceans for millions of years, evolving resilience to countless challenges. But the dawn of the Anthropocene has brought newer, deadlier threats: millions of tons of plastic, destruction of nesting beaches, light pollution that disorients hatchlings … Read More