Saturday 28 September 2013

Russian Tiger Day


The largest sub-species of Tiger, the Panthera tigris altaica inhabits the Sikhote Alin mountains of the Russian far-east. It is the largest living felid and one of the biggest to have ever existed. Nearly wiped out during the Russian Civil War, recent intensive conservation efforts have helped stabilize the numbers of this rare cat, but a lot still remains to be done to counter poaching.  The IUCN lists the Amur Tiger as endangered, with just about 250 breeding adults remaining in the wild.

29th September is going to be celebrated as the Russian Tiger Day, 2013.
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Tuesday 17 September 2013

Queensland's Flying Foxes

Flying Foxes are gorgeous, fruit-eating 'megabats'. In 2008, the Queensland government banned the inhumane shooting of flying foxes as a crop protection measure. However, in 2012, the decision was reversed and farmers now are allowed to shoot a permitted number of these bats in their orchards. The fact that these bats are an indispensable element of the ecosystem as pollinators and seed dispersers has been overlooked, so has the threatened status of two flying fox species- the Spectacled and the Grey-headed Flying Foxes. The methods of extermination employed have been proven to be cruel and ineffective, and the permits are often violated. Flying foxes are slow breeders and conservationists fear that if their numbers plummet, they may not be sustainable anymore. http://www.dontshootbats.com/ is campaigning for the protection of Queensland's flying foxes. Visit the site for more information about the issue.
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Monday 9 September 2013

Vulture Awareness Day


I know I'm a little late for my post on Vulture Awareness Day which was on 7th September, but I hope the cartoon makes up for it! Did you know that the vulture's bald head has a purpose? It helps keep the head clean while feeding on rotting carcasses, the debris from which may otherwise stick to a feathered surface. With unique adaptations such as these, these janitors of nature are truly built for the job!
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Friday 6 September 2013

Go Green this Ganesha Festival


The celebrations during the Ganesha festival in India are a major source of pollution to both inland and coastal waters. The pollution can be attributed to several factors, the foremost being the immersion of idols made of Plaster of Paris and coloured in chemical paints. Several other factors include noise pollution, increased emmissions owing to traffic jams during the festival, release of plastics and other waste into water bodies along with the idols. Environmental awareness is on the rise among devotees, with many resorting to greener ways of celebrating the festival such as clay idols, idols made of recycled material and immersion in indoor tanks. A lot still needs to be done if the environmental impacts of Indian festivals are to be minimized, and I don't think it will be a bad idea to resort to the gods themselves for help- I don't mean just praying, but little tweaks in the design of the idols such as in the cartoon, shouldn't do any harm!

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Thursday 5 September 2013

Happy Teachers' Day!


The transition of a tadpole to an adult frog is a truly spectacular natural event. Frog eggs are laid as a globular mass that attaches itself to aquatic vegetation. The yolk nourishes the embryo until the larva breaks open and develops into a tadpole. In about 8 weeks, the hind limbs develop, which help the tadpole propel its body underwater. At about 9-10 weeks, the forelimbs begin to emerge, and this is when the tadpole starts to shed its tail by the process of apoptosis (programmed cell death). At around 12 weeks, the tadpole that has now grown into an almost tailless froglet, leaves its aquatic habitat. The whole transformation may claim upto a fourth of the tadpole's weight!

(For non-Indian readers- 5th September is observed as Teachers' Day in India in memory of the academic philosopher Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, also India's second President.)
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Sunday 1 September 2013

Bird caricatures



 I've been doing some bird caricatures in my free time, inspired by the amazing Brendan Wenzel (http://brendanwenzel.info/) who is among my favourite wildlife artists. Here are some of these. I'll be posting compilations as well very soon, so stay tuned. Prints are available in A3 and A4 sizes and can be ordered by emailing me.
The Black and Orange Flycatcher is one of the prettiest Western Ghat endemics. Listed as 'Near Threatened' by the IUCN, it is a birder's favourite owing to its vividly coloured plumage, plumpish and endearing appearance. It generally prefers to hunt closer to the ground, catching insects in flight.

The Indian Pitta is a strikingly coloured medium-sized passerine that breeds in the sub-Himalayas and winters in the peninsula. The name comes from the Telugu word, pitta, meaning 'small bird'. It prefers the undergrowth but its loud 'wheeeet-teeu' call gives it away.


The Heart-spotted Woodpecker occurs both in the Himalayas and in the South-west. Its stubby body and a large, wedge-shaped head make for a delightful build and the heart-shaped spots on its wings make the female birder (and possibly even its own kind) go week in her knees!



The Nilgiri Laughingthrush is an endangered endemic of the Western Ghats. Being the 350th species I've recorded in 7 years of birding (that's a very slow count, I know, but I hope to keep increasing it steadily) spotting one near Ooty in the Nilgiris was very special. It is usually seen along the forest fringes in pairs or groups, where it forages for berries, nectar and insects.


The White-throated Kingfisher is one of the commonest kingfishers in India and possibly the least dependent on water among all species in the sub-continent. A daring hunter, it kills everything from larhe insects to crabs, frohgs to lizards, small birds to even snakes and rodents! 

The OrientalDwarf Kingfisher or the Three-toed Kingfisher is the one of the smallest kingfishers in India and also one of the most colourful birds in the world! An inhabitant of small streams and a lover of densely shaded areas, it is endemic across much of the subcontinent.

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