Mapping Past and Present of the Satpura-Melghat Corridor Betul and Hoshangabad Forest Divisions. Chances are, those reading this would not have come across these names, and the few who have would perhaps find it difficult to put a finger on … Read More
A dramatic climate gives rise to dramatic inhabitants. The more unpredictable a region’s climate, the more resilient its species must be. Nowhere is this resilience more evident than in India’s west, where life pulses in cycles dictated by harsh seasons. … Read More
Scorching heat is the defining feature of desert landscapes, making life relentlessly difficult for their inhabitants. Animals in these ecosystems often adjust their routines, maximising foraging during the cooler hours of dusk, dawn, or night. But when everyone adopts the … Read More
The Eurasian Otter in Peninsular India “The otter (Lutra vulgaris), of which genus I have never been able to distinguish more than one species in the Central Provinces… is found locally in all the main rivers and larger jungle streams. … Read More
We drive through the dusty road that promises to take us to my much-awaited destination ensconced in the Siwalik Hills in Himachal Pradesh. The hills grow bigger as we get closer, and soon we are in Suketi village, driving past … Read More
“…until we turned to another book to find the age of the Earth, the one that was written in the rocks themselves.” – Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson in ‘Cosmos’ Beauty of fossils lies not only in the fact that they … Read More
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
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
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