What if life on Earth is older than Earth itself, and arrived aboard an interstellar rock from within the unexplored hinterlands of our cosmos? Space rocks like asteroids and comets abound in our cosmos. Stars are forming and dying constantly … Read More
Conservation is not just about activists and field biologists – it is replete with niche players. It is amazing to think of the varied professional backgrounds and specialisations of those working in wildlife conservation. Broadly defined communities of experts such … Read More
Mind boggling connections have emerged in the course of evolution of species. Innumerable species have established a multi-faceted range of partnerships with each other. There are mutualistic (or symbiotic) partnerships, as well as parasitic and commensal (an organism benefitting from … Read More
In the past, tiger conservation strategies have been highly focused on addressing tiger numbers within Protected Areas. However, there is emerging evidence that increasing local tiger abundance, while important, will still be an inadequate conservation strategy in the absence of … Read More
September of 2016. A brief break from the rains, a bit of sunshine. Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park shimmered with various shades of green. Being a naturalist partial to the understory, I found myself in the Nagla Block, the northern … Read More
At the heart of a multitude of Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (WCT’s) projects lies science. Science drives and underscores the organisation’s approach to its broad and diverse range of conservation work, be it research, capacity building, conflict mitigation or advocacy. Photo … Read More
Those of us who co-occur with domestic felids either in the capacity of pets or tolerate their occasional visits to our abodes, know about their great affinity for fish. But we also know that they hate water and the thought … Read More
On rocky shores, we walk past them, oblivious. Tide pools are microcosms of the sea, teeming with life. From just a few inches to a few feet in depth and diameter, these shallow pools of seawater are found in the … Read More
Untapping Environmental DNA’s Unbridled Potential in Conservation A cup of water or handful of soil carries within it enticing evidence of life, past and present, in a larger ecosystem. This isn’t some far-fetched or a romanticised claim. It is a … Read More
Understanding the threats invasive species pose to native biodiversity We, humans, are unarguably the biggest agents of change on the planet, today. Many of our actions, even smallest of them, tend to leave in their wake much unpredictable, magnified, chaotic … Read More
Nachiket Kelkar is an ecologist working towards identifying ways to both conserve endangered riverine biodiversity and secure livelihoods of fisherfolk. He believes in interdisciplinary science and conservation approaches that may enable both entities to coexist, even as they remain affected … Read More
Comprehending Non-human Intelligence “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Illustration credit: Lisa Gonsalves Albert Einstein is believed to … Read More
My fascination for the most unlikely associations in nature continues. Upon digging deeper into the reasons and causes behind various natural phenomena, highly interesting linkages between unexpected entities emerge, reasserting the deep interconnectedness within nature’s design. In the previous and … Read More
More than a forest… a miracle The Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a vital source of water for the city of Mumbai, with the Tulsi and Vihar lakes located within its protected confines. Dr. Anish Andheria has known this city-forest … Read More
Dozens of Blue Tiger butterflies jostle for space on a few bruised leaves of rattlepod. Each square centimetre on these blackening, bleeding leaves is precious, enough for four claw-tipped legs and a proboscis. The claws scratch the leaf, the proboscis … Read More