This road teems not just with crossing wild animals, but also vehicle traffic. In an attempt to catch a glimpse of the wild, vehicles often stop, blocking the road for other vehicles. Sometimes people go to the extent of annoying animals, like elephants, to get pictures and videos of “mock charges”, attacks and so on. I have personally observed an elephant calf get separated from its mother, unable to cross the road. The mother had to charge and drive vehicles … Read More
Bird Ringing Camp – Point Calimere, Tamil Nadu, Nov 6 to 11 and Dec 14 to 19, 2012
Note – Dates are spread across 2 batches. Please see details below.
One of its kind, the Bird Migration Study Centre is a brainchild of Dr Balachandran, Deputy Director, BNHS. The first ever bird migration project in India was started in 1950s by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). Since then BNHS has ringed over 3,00,000 birds. This camp will be a stepping stone for serious amateurs, birders and wildlife enthusiasts. Dr Balachandran will be leading the group. This tour … Read More
Melanistic and Common Leopard Pair
On August 15, 2010, we were in the Nilgiris, in search of a leopard that had killed a porcupine the previous day. It was raining heavily in the morning, but stopped around 3 PM. As the rain stopped, we noticed something black on top of a hill and we cautiously approached it. We climbed about 500 feet of the hill, but the animal had vanished by the time we reached the top. We waited for sometime and a common leopard … Read More
Bonnet Macaque With Liquor Bottle
We saw this scene en route to Valparai in Tamil Nadu. This Bonnet Macaque had caught hold of a bottle of White Mischief Vodka, and was trying to open it. We don’t know if the sun was playing tricks, but the bottle did seem to have some liquid remaining. We hope the monkey failed in his endeavor. Tourists often visit hill stations such as Valparai with the aim of having a ‘good time’. Valparai is a hotbed of bio-diversity and … Read More
Irresponsible Tourists Feeding Langurs In Mudumalai
In spite of all the advisory messages provided by the forest department to the contrary, tourists choose to feed wildlife without understanding all of its impacts. It is a shame to see these langurs, usually shy, approach vehicles for food. This was photographed in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.… Read More
Stripe-necked Mongoose Rummaging Garbage
This image was shot in Valparai, Tamil Nadu. A Stripe-necked Mongoose was rummaging through garbage for waste food. He seemed like a regular and frequent visitor as he knew the time at which people there threw out the waste food. But sadly, the mongoose may not know much about the plastic and other harmful things discarded along with the food waste.… Read More
Leopard in a Tea Estate, Nilgiris
This leopard was photographed in a tea estate, near Kothagiri in the Nilgiris. I have also seen this leopard atop a rock, watching people below plucking tea leaves. So far there have been no reports of a conflict. Thus, at the moment, the leopard lives in harmony with the people in the area.
Editor’s note: Leopards in India are often found in human-dominated landscapes. Here is another image of a leopard outside a protected area. For insights into … Read More
Q: We live in a small village, Thekambattu, near Salem in Tamil Nadu. Recently we had elephants near us for the first time in living memory of the oldest inhabitants here. We are glad to see your site because it is perhaps what would have helped us at that time. Anyway, the elephants seem to be wandering; so perhaps this is not the last we see of them. We need to know what can be done here as and when they show up without any resources, trained manpower etc. There has to be something like an Elephant Rescue team on call in the country at different places, I guess…
Answer from Shekar Dattatri, Conservation India:
The problem you describe in your question – and in more much more detail in your blog – is an extremely difficult one to tackle. Although you yourself seem to have analyzed the various dimensions to this dilemma, and may not find this answer very useful, we are posting it here for the benefit of other readers, but with this rider. No one from CI has been to the area or studied the … Read More
Q: Hi, a lot of temples in Tamil Nadu sell peacock feathers. I would like to know how one would visually differentiate between a plucked feather and a naturally-shedded feather.
Answer from Shekar Dattatri, Conservation India:
Based on years of experience as a once-upon-a-time bird keeper and pigeon fancier, I have to say that it is virtually impossible to definitively differentiate between a plucked feather and a naturally-shed feather through visual inspection. When a wing or tail feather that is still in its growth stage is plucked from a bird, some blood will be evident within the lower hollow tube of the quill, or central shaft. However, when a … Read More
Electrocuted Elephant in Sathyamangalam
This cow elephant was electrocuted on the periphery of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary on December 21, 2011. The spot is just 15 m away from the forest boundary. It did not die inside a farm. It seems to have just been foraging through densely grown bushes on the side of a cart track abutting a turmeric field. A live wire was concealed inside the bushes and in the course of foraging, the animal seems to have stepped on it, thus getting … Read More
Right of Way
This is a common scene on the Mudumalai to Gudalur route in Tamil Nadu. Vehicles often stop to watch herds cross the road, sometimes endangering both parties. … Read More
A Tiger’s Pain
On the 28th of April 2012, I was in Valparai in the Anamalais, Tamil Nadu and was surprised to hear a report of a tiger near human habitation. Leopards are common in Valparai, and a tiger, that too close to houses, was extremely rare. The tiger was sitting in the far end of a garden near a house, and appeared exhausted and unable to move. A large crowd had already gathered, and the forest department and police did a commendable … Read More
Nilgiri Marten, Anamalai Tiger Reserve
Only a handful of biologists and naturalists have had the good fortune of having sighted one of the most elusive and fascinating species of small carnivores of the Western Ghats — the Nilgiri Marten (Martes gwatkinsii). The Nilgiri Marten is a small carnivorous mammal endemic to moist and wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats—occurring at altitudes ranging from about 150 – 2200 m. It is similar to the more commonly seen and more widely distributed Yellow-throated Marten … Read More
Large-scale Waterfowl Slaughter in Puducherry
Every day, hundreds of waterfowl (both resident and migratory) and other animals notified in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, meet with a fatal end in Puducherry (Pondicherry, Union Territory). A large number of gypsies or narikoravas, hunt these birds and sell the meat right under the nose of the Forest Department. Birds are caught at the nearby Oussudu Lake (which is notified as a bird sanctuary) and openly sold for their meat at roadside stalls on Koodapakkam … Read More
Bird Trap, Sulur Lake, Coimbatore
I photographed this trap on my birdwatching trip to Sulur Lake in Coimbatore dated 05-09-2010 (05:32 pm). … Read More
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