A Celebrity's Guide to Handling the Paparazzi by the Tiger

Some quick tips for all you celebrities here by the superstar of India's forests. From my column with Sunday Mid-Day. Happy World Tiger Day!

NHAI and tigers, from my column with The Hindu Sunday magazine. I hope you'll have a happy World Tiger Day tomorrow, because tigers won't.

The Wildlife Map of Maharashtra

Maharashtra's geography is as complex and intriguing as its animals. From the Western Ghats in the west home to a myriad endemic frogs, geckoes and birds, to the dry deciduous forests of the east home to a majority of India's tigers and the critically endangered Forest Olwet, Maharashtra has a staggering biodiversity. The state finds its state symbols in the Indian Giant Squirrel or Shekru (in Marathi), the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Hariyal in Marathi), the Blue Mormon butterfly, the Jarul flower and the Mango tree. Some of its true wonders are species that are found only in the Sahyadris such as the Amboli Bush Frog, the Koyna Toad, the Vigors' Sunbird and numerous varieties of hill flowers such as Karvi and the Satara Aponogeton. But possibly the biggest surprise of all is a mammal that's only found here and nowhere else in the world- the Kondana Rat, endemic to Pune's Sinhagadh!

A big thanks to WWF Maharashtra (Ms. Vaibhavi Shitut Amle, Ms. Caroline Pais, Ms. Farmeen Mistry) for commissioning the project and for giving me a chance to draw my home state! Thanks also to Dr. Parvish Pandya for reviewing the project and to marine biologist Abhishek Jamalabad for his valuable inputs. The map will soon be used in campaigns at schools associated with WWF India.

(click on the images for a larger view)

Meet the Yellow throated Marten

Like all weasels, the Yellow-throated Marten is among the cutest-looking animals you'll ever see. And like all weasels, Yellow-throated Martens can shock you with their killing abilities! The comic appears in my column with RoundGlass Sustain, and is inspired by a recent report of a marten taking an adult Rhesus Macaque (an animal nearly twice its size) down in Corbett National Park.

Offbeat Olivia's Offbeat Travels

Offbeat Olivia's offbeat travels. From my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

Indirana Tadpoles and Climate Change

We've all been hearing and reading about species going extinct because of climate change. But imagine losing an entire genus!

Last month on a field trip to Kerala's Athirapilly Falls in the Western Ghats, I stumbled upon something truly bizarre. An entire rockly hill slope, wet with networks of rainwater streams, was full of tiny tadpoles, that were climbing the rock! Upon closer inspection I found that these tadpoles had very long tails, and visibly well-developed hind legs. The adult frogs too weren't far, taking cover wherever foliage offered, constantly emitting partridge-like quacks, and keeping a watch on their egg clusters (and tadpoles?). Anurologist pals Gururaja Kv and Madhushri Mudke were quick to not only identify the frog species for me (Indirana yereda, the Genus being endemic to the Western Ghats), but also to explain the behaviour and lifestyle of these frogs, which eventually became this comic strip.

The comic appears in my column with PuneMirror.in today. For those interested in finding out what these tadpoles and frogs actually look like, I've added some photographs clicked by me here:

Indirana yereda tadpoles

Indirana yereda adult (about the size of a human little finger)