International Polar Bear Day

27th February is celebrated as International Polar Bear Day. Here's a little fact for those of you who didn't know this- The skin of the polar bear is actually black, not white; and has a thick layer of fat underneath, all of which serve as insulators. Its white appearance is due to the scattering and reflection of visible light by its fur, which is made of transparent hair shafts.

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

Why birds hate bird photographers

Ever wondered why a certain species always gives you a hard time photographing it? This is why.

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

Get Eco-Creative

Some of my cartoons on global warming and sustainability will be a part of Get Eco-Creative, an event to promote sustainable living being held in Melbourne on the 23rd and 24th of February, 2013. Visit http://www.slf.org.au/get-eco-creative for details about the event and if you're in Melbourne during that time, do make a visit.

BTW, Green Humour is now accessible to kids in India through the popular kids' magazine, Tinkle Digest. Starting Feb 2013, catch the Green Humour page every month :-) Read this cartoon titled 'The Principles of Migration' here- http://greenhumour.blogspot.in/2011/11/happy-birdwatchers-day.html

World Pangolin Day 2013

The third Saturday of February is celebrated as World Pangolin Day. The name comes from the Malay word    'pengguling', meaning something that rolls up, referring to the pangolin's defense. Its upper body is covered with keratinous scales while the belly is bare and soft, so when the animal sense danger, it rolls itself into a ball, rendering itself impenetrable to its predator's attacks. Unfortunately this harmless creature faces numerous conservation threats in hunting for bush meat, use in Chinese Medicine and cuisine, and the trade in its body parts. Reports of seizures of illegally trafficked pangolins are not uncommon. Read more about the conservation of pangolins on http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0211-hance-pity-pangolin.html

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

How Vultures Propose

Nature's ultimate janitors, vultures are capable of stripping a carcass clean off meat in just a few hours. Their sharp, hooked mandibles pierce through the toughest kinds of meat efficiently and their bald heads prevents any dbris from sticking on. Globally, vultures today are one of the most endangered group of birds, with population declines on about 50% in Central Africa and more than 90 % in India owing to the poisoning of carcasses and the use of Diclofenac Sodium, a banned anti-inlfammatory drug used for treating cattle.

Happy Valentine's Day, readers.

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

The Chinese Year of the Snake

Snakes face a number of conservation threats, namely poaching for meat and for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine, hunting for leather (the trade still being prevalent in South-East Asia and the West), road kills, habitat destruction and the resulting conflicts with humans. Let's hope that The Snake Year is slightly less painful for our serpents. 

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

GMO, OMG!

Genetically modification of lifeforms can be given many mythological allegories that all say 'Tread with extreme caution.' The technology is Pandora's box. Yet no matter how hard it is tried, only more evil seems to appear out of it. The hope-as it might have existed at time of Mendelian genetics, is long corrupted due to prolonged association with the other evils that have come. Genetically modified food is an even more intimate connection for humans as it enters our systems. Its impact needs to be studied for generations together before some extent of validity can be attributed to it. (Text- Pallavi Talware)

Growing scientific evidence proves that GM crops are a threat to the environment, biodiversity as well as human health. Read Greenpeace's Shivani Shah's article- http://in.news.yahoo.com/blogs/thewatercooler/gm-crops-and-the-food-security-fig-leaf-095615402.html

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

World Wetlands Day

A wetland is a land area that is saturated with water, either permanently or seasonally, such that it takes on the characteristics of a distinct ecosystem. Wetlands themselves are diverse, varying from region to region based on the topography, hydrology, vegetation and climatic factors of the region. Wetlands harbour a myriad of living organisms and it is of little surprise that human subsistence is critically dependent on the good health of wetlands.

The World Wetlands Day is observed on 2nd February each year. Read more about the interdependence of wetlands and living organisms on http://www.ramsar.org

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