Scientists don’t make sweeping statements. They speak, and write, objectively. Research papers, even those on climate change, don’t have alarming titles. Rousing public emotions, and appealing to the collective conscience of humanity, is the work of writers like me. Scientists … Read More
Through the Science of Bioacoustics If only we could ‘see’ sound, the whole acoustical spectrum of intricate natural ‘noise’ would be laid bare in front of our eyes. We would see then that the acoustical environment is not simply a … Read More
The fight against wildlife crime is an uphill battle all the way. Law enforcement authorities are often left breathless trying to cope with the growing scale and ever-changing modus operandi of wildlife criminals, whose destructive handiwork has led wildlife crime … Read More
It permeates our world, it will outlast us Bright red anemone, bright blue polythene; white squid egg-cases, white sachets of gutka tobacco; red carapace of an egg crab, red crushed cola can. These juxtapositions are neither staged nor imagined. These … Read More
“It is hard to believe that since life began nearly 3.8 billion years ago, 99 percent of all living things that have ever lived on Earth have become extinct. What we see today is just a minuscule 1 per cent … Read More
The concept of wildlife corridors though astonishingly simple in principle, has a cloud of ambiguity hanging over it when it comes to defining it, especially in legal and policy terms. It is plain and simple that myriad species need to … Read More
A large part of the Earth’s allure lies in the strange, invisible and seemingly bizarre connections that underlie everything from ecosystems to planetary motions! How deep these connections among nature’s creations run is anyone’s guess. We are only left to … Read More
In Late Stone Age Europe, 20,000 years ago, a teenage hunter is tossed over a cliff by a bison. He survives the fall, just fracturing his foot. On his way back home, he is attacked by a pack of wolves, … Read More
It is hard to imagine large swathes of forests on land made up of anything other than plants, isn’t it? Just thinking of giant mushrooms sprouting from the earth, dwarfing everything else by a long shot seems like a scene … Read More
“Every contact leaves a trace” says the ‘Locard’s Exchange Principle’, a simple and powerful premise on which forensic science rests. Any scene of crime, even wildlife crime, is replete with different forms of evidence waiting for a trained, forensic eye … Read More
“What exactly is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?” I meekly ask, cutting in on my colleague Aniket’s articulate, but jargon-filled explanation about an intriguing project he and his Conservation Behaviour team at the Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) are working on, which involves … Read More
My new home overlooks an old cemetery. Surrounding the gold-plated finial atop the dome of a Sufi’s mausoleum in the centre of the cemetery are crowns of palm trees, interspersed with a mix of natives and exotics. Surrounded by a … Read More
On a rainy July evening in the Kanha National Park in Central India, forest guard M. P. Kartikey was returning to the anti-poaching camp after patrolling his beat, when he accidentally came uncomfortably close to sloth bears – a female … Read More
We have no idea what lies frozen in the ice sheets and permafrost of the Arctic where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the world. Last year in 2020, as the world was reeling from COVID-19, … Read More
The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) recently concluded a year-long occupancy survey for four large carnivores in the vital Sahyadri-Konkan corridor. Wildlife biologist Girish Punjabi, who is in charge of the project, speaks to WCT’s Conservation Writer Rizwan Mithawala about valuable … Read More