Wildlife xxx!

Mating for the male tiger is a tough task. The female lets him know that she is in heat through chemical messages left on objects such as rocks and trees. She also uses a mating call to proclaim that she is looking for a mate.  The males have to battle it out among themselves to emerge the suitor. The tiger's job doesn't end there, he now has to win the female over who tries to avoid the males advances (yes, even tigers can never be sure what a woman wants!). Once he has impressed his lady sufficiently, she will present herself by lying on her belly. The male mounts her with knees bent to avoid any weight on the tigress, and grabs the loose skin folds on her nape. Tigresses are induced ovulators, i.e. the act of mating induces the release of the egg which is then fertilized. Several copulation attempts are made by the tiger to ensure fertilization. This may last for a few days, after which both the cats part ways to lead their usual solitary lives.  

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Identifying a Pipit

Fellow-birders will relate. For non-birders, here's a compilation of some pictures of Pipits I've taken. 

Pipits are a genus of slender-bodied, generally long-tailed, ground-feeding, drab-looking insectivorous birds that are an amateur birdwatcher's nightmare! Classified in the genus Anthus, they ALL LOOK THE SAME! Leaving the problems pipits cause to birdwatchers aside, the perform excellent pest control services in grasslands and are extremely efficient insect killers. Pipits in turn are food for raptors such as harriers and falcons, and are hence a very important grassland/ open country species.

Blood on the tracks

Bholu the Elephant is the mascot for the Indian Railways. Ironically, the very creature that is endorsing this mode of transport is getting violated by it frequently. Train tracks criss-cross prime elephant habitats across India and extremely gory deaths from train collisions are getting frequent. This is definitely not the way the National Heritage Animal deserves to be treated.

Here's a cartoon I did for The Elephant Family's campaign to protect the Indian Elephant from speeding trains, called 'Blood on the Tracks'. Read more about the campaign here- http://www.elephantfamily.org/what-we-do/conservation-news/13-elephants-killed-by-trains-within-a-fortnight/

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Big Bird Brawl

Bird races and other birding events are becoming a common occurrence in India. Inspired by the American 'Big Year', an informal contest for birders in which a birder who spots the most species in a year wins; these contests promote a healthy sense of competition and goodwill among birders and more importantly, reveal numerous trends about migration, stranded and vagrant birds and even the status of bird populations, grasslands and wetlands. 

With birding contests being held across the country, I wouldn't be surprised if we get to see all this 'action' soon :-) I am sure birders from the USA will also relate.

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tiger beaten to death in Bangladesh

Man-animal conflict is on the rise and areas around fragile ecosystems such as the Sunderbans are extremely prone to such grim incidents. Aid from the forest departments takestime to reach the problem-struck areas and facilities are often mismanaged. More than two-thirds of the Sunderbans is in Bangladesh, hosting an estimated 270 tigers.

Read the news here- http://dunyanews.tv/index.php/en/WeirdNews/141719--Villagers-beat-Bengal-tiger-to-death

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

(Hou)Bara vs Arab

Pakistan's Houbara Bustards are in trouble. Listed as 'Vulnerable' by the IUCN, there numbers continue to decline because of hunting and falconry. The Arabs prize its meat as an aphrodisiac, and Pakistan has issued several hunting permits to dignitaries from the Gulf. That an internationally protected species is being treated in this manner, is absolutely shameful. Recently, this issue had been a cause of border-related tensions between India and Pakistan. Read more on http://www.conservationindia.org/single-external?external=http://tribune.com.pk/story/487785/royal-sport-bird-hunting-keeps-arabs-happy-but-leaves-india-anxious/

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Not Okay to Poach a Tokay!

Tokay geckos are among the largest geckos in the world, native to South-east Asia. Indiscriminate hunting for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine is threatening the conservation of this species. The geckos are easily located by trackers owing to their distinctive ‘tuco-tuco’ call. The trackers then set fire to their shelters, flushing the geckos out, capturing them in bags for smuggling. The geckos are killed and dried for inclusion in medicinal wines. As with many other TCM commodities, there is no scientific evidence to substantiate the medicinal value of the reptile. Although poaching of Tokays is a punishable offence, the trade remains unchecked because of the high number of poachers. Hundreds of Tokays are being poached by the day and conservationists fear losing out yet another species to Chinese Medicine. 

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

The Green Humour Birding Guide

How much does a Coppersmith Barbet earn? What is the Booted Eagle's shoe size? Which cricket playing country does the Black-capped Kingfisher represent? What makes the Red-headed Bullfich charge at you? How does one untangle the Great Knot? Find the answers to these questions and a lot more in the Green Humour Birding Guide!

Caution- To be used as a field guide at your own risk! The compilation is available as A3 poster prints. Email me to order your copies, and don't forget to mention your postal address and the number of copies you want. Happy new year, bird lovers! :-)

This work by Rohan Chakravarty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.