New Species of 2023

Newly discovered species from 2023 congratulate India's biologists for all the discoveries and rediscoveries made this year! Let's hope that our biologists will BRB with new ground-breaking science in 2024! Comic for Roundglass Sustain.

Himalayan Wildlife Celebrates the Rhododendron Bloom

Come March, and red Rhododendron flowers can be seen painting the Himalayas red their vibrance. Here are some Himalayan animals celebrating the bloom, and wishing my readers a happy Holi. Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Birdwatching in Arunachal Pradesh

The dilemma of birdwatching in bird-rich regions. Arunachal Pradesh has consistently been yielding surprise after surprise, adding new species to the Indian checklist like the Yunnan Nuthatch and Red-flanked Bluetail among others, giving India even more reason to conserve its forests. Cartoon from my Roundglass Sustain column. 

China's Superdam on Brahmaputra

China's upcoming 'superdam' on the Brahmaputra will have severe environmental consequences downstream. Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

Wildlife Institute of India and Dibang Dam

Funded by Jindal Power (which will be executing the Etalin Dam project in Dibang Valley, along with the State Hydropower Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh), the Wildlife Institute of India conducted a 4 month study (despite a multiple seasonal replicate study being mandated by the Forest Advisory Committee), and concluded with a green signal for the project. 24 wildlife scientists from across India who have worked in Dibang Valley, have peer-reviewed the study, pointing out major flaws in the study, and the very fact that the study was designed to look more like research for a mitigation plan rather than analyzing the impacts of the projects in the first place.  

Read more on Arunachal Times here.

Mishmi Takin and Dibang Dam

If you are convinced that dams in Dibang Valley are a bad idea, please consider signing the petition against the Etalin Dam in Dibang Valley here , and write an email to adgfc-mef@nic.in, dgfindia@nic.in and igfc-mef@nic.in voicing your objection (email me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com for a letter template if needed).

Comic from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

Dibang Etalin Dam

A Forest Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for today via video conferencing has in its agenda to make way for several forest clearances, one of which is for the the disastrous Etalin/Dibang Dam project. A simple Google search on the environmental impacts of Dibang Dam will lead you to numerous articles about why tribes and communities in Arunachal have been opposing this project tooth and nail. Other agenda of the meeting can be accessed on forestclearance.nic.in.

Road through Pakke

The East-West Corridor Road being planned through Pakke Tiger Reserve could wreak havoc on one of India's most biodiverse parks. I urge people reading this comic to write to the CM of Arunachal Pradesh on apcm876@gmail.com / cmoffice-arn@gov.in  to scrap the route through Pakke and consider an alternative route. Let's get our 'nation-building' right.

Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Modi versus Wild

Modi meets Bear Grylls, in my column with Sunday Mid-Day today. 

Six Morphs of the Asian Golden Cat

In recent camera trap records in Arunachal Pradesh's Dibang Valley, six different colour morphs of the Asian Golden Cat have been recorded! No other place in the world has so many different morphs of any single wild cat species! These variations are thought to be evolutionary adaptations to blend in with different densities of vegetation in the cat's rainforest habitat. 

The observations were made by Sahil Nijhawan, scientist at the Zoological Society of London, along with Iho Mitapo and Jibi Pulu from the native Idu Mishmi community. (I had the privilege of staying at Mr. Pulu's homestay and interacting with him during my field visit to Dibang Valley in 2018).

The comic appears in my column with Sunday Mid-day.

Manouria Impressa

Meet Manouria impressa, or the Impressed Tortoise, earlier known only from Southeast Asia, that has recently been recorded from Arunachal Pradesh in India! Spotted in a chance rescue operation in the Kamle district of Arunachal, this tortoise takes India's inladn turtle count to 29! Read more here. 

The Arunachal Pit Viper

A Bugun Liocichla introduces you to the Arunachal Pit Viper in my column with The Hindu today! Discovered recently by researchers in West Kameng, Arunachal, the Arunachal Pit Viper bears a close resemblance to the Hump-nosed Pit Viper of the Western Ghats. The discovery was made by Rohan Pandit and Wangchu Phiang, a member of the Bugun community that has been earning laurels for their community conservation work in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.

Uses of the Hoolock Gibbon's Really Long Arms

A comic on the amazing Hoolock Gibbon from my column with Mid-Day. Prints available on my webstore here. For orders within India, email me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com.

I first saw Hoolock Gibbons with my brother in Borjan Sanctuary in Eastern Assam, and thiiiiiiiiis is how excited we got!

Similarities between the Apatani Glory Moth and the Apatanis

A recently discovered moth from Arunachal Pradesh's Ziro Valley, zoologically known as the Eclysma ziroensis, has been given the common name 'Apatani Glory' in honour of the Apatani people of the region. The Apatanis are known for their colourful culture, their unique style of piercings and body art, and for bamboo craft.

The comic appears in my column with Mid-day today. A special thanks to my friend and DFO of Shergaon (Arunachal), Mr. Millo Tasser for his inputs, who is an Apatani from Ziro Valley.

Community Reserve for Red Pandas in Arunachal

The Lhaghyal, an old Monpa monastery in West Arunachal Pradesh recently declared the forested areas around it as a community reserve to conserve the Red Panda! At a time when the rest of India is consumed by an unplanned development rage, this comes across as both a breather, and a much-needed lesson.

Here's a toast to my favourite Indian state, Arunachal Pradesh, from my column with Mid-Day today.

Kameng Raft Fall

On World Cartoonists' Day, I pay tribute to my muse, and the best cartoonist herself, Nature! Here's a comic based on a true incident, from earlier this year, in Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh. Thanks to my companions on the raft, Kime Rambia, Pratibha Riswadkar and Wangta for saving my life as well as giving me this experience, and to my friend Nandini Velho for making the trip happen. The comic appears on Nature in Focus today.

Here's a picture of me with the crew moments before I fell off the raft! (With me are the dynamic Range Officer Kime Rambia, and field biologist Pratibha Riswadkar).

Rivers of North East India

On hydel-power, the greatest threat to the rivers of North-East India. From my column with The Hindu BL-ink today.

Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary- an Illustrated Map

Here's an illustrated map of India's premiere birding destination- Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary! Named after the Red Eagle Division of the Indian army, the park is situated in West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh, and is known the world over for hosting the only known population of the recently described and critically endangered Bugun Liocichla. Eaglenest shot to worldwide fame in 2006, when Dr. Ramana Athreya discovered and described the Bugun Liocichla from Lama Camp in the park. The park is home to over 450 species of birds, the 'big six' being the face of birdwatching in the sanctuary- the Rufous-necked Hornbill, the Beautiful Nuthatch, the Blyth's Tragopan, the Ward's Trogon, the Wedge-billed Babbler and the liocichla itself. Its mammals include the elusive Golden and Marbled Cats, several species of Himalayan squirrels, the Asian Elephant, Dholes, Himalayan Black Bears, Barking Deer, and the Red Panda. Eaglenest's lesser known fauna includes a wide array of rare reptiles, amphibians and insects, including the coveted Ludlow's Bhutan Glory (a swallowtail butterfly species), the Bompu Litter Frog (found only in the Bompu area of Eaglenest), the Anderson's Mountain Lizard, the Abor Hills Agama, the McLelland's Coral Snake, the Darjeeling False Wolf Snake and the Pope's Pit Viper.

As much colour as the birds bring to the park, so do its people. The two major communities in the region are the Bugun people (after whom the Liocichla is named) and the Shertukpens. Numbering only 2000, the Bugun people are restricted to the region, and speak an endangered language, "Khowa". The park is also famed for being on The Dalai Lama's exile route into India. A Bonsum tree planted by His Holiness in the park in 1959 still stands tall, and features on the illustrated map. For better insights into the lives of communities dwelling around Eaglenest, follow the Eaglenest Memory Project, run by my friend Dr. Nandini Velho.

I travelled to Eaglenest to gather references for the project in December 2016, aided by the dynamic Divisional Forest Officer, Mr. Millo Tasser. The map is soon to be a part of the Nature Interpretation Centre at Ramalingam in Eaglenest, where it will be displayed as posters and prints.

Prints of the map-cum-spotting game are available on my webstore here. For orders within India, see below-

The prints of the map are available in A0 and A1 sizes. The prices, inclusive of shipping within India are as follows-

A0 size (841 x 1189 mm, matte)- Rs. 3500 for the first print, 3000 for the second print onwards.

A0 size (841 x 1189 mm, canvas)- Rs. 5000 for the first print, 4500 for the second print onwards.

A1 size (594 x 841 mm, matte)- Rs. 3000 for the first print, 2500 for the second print onwards.

A1 size (594 x 841 mm, canvas)- Rs. 4500 for the first print, 4000 for the second print onwards.

The orders can be placed by mailing me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com, mentioning the number of prints, your postal address and contact number in your e-mails.

Here are some previews from the map-

(The key and the 'Spot Them' game with illustrations and names of the fauna and flora of the park)

Oil Palm Monoculture in North East India

After causing complete annihilation in several tropical countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, palm oil is all set to crush India, starting with the North East. The comic appears in my Sunday column with Mid-Day today.

More reading on the issue here-

http://www.conservationindia.org/articles/oil-palm-should-not-be-expanded-in-arunachal-pradesh

http://www.arunachaltimes.in/an-inclusive-oil-palm-policy-for-people-and-biodiversity/

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/mizoram-bamboozled-by-land-use-policy/article6005950.ece

Bugun Liocichla- Cartoon Workshop at Eaglenest

While India was grappling with a near financial crisis and the USA was busy making a fool out of itself, some of us were having a blast with school kids from Arunachal Pradesh at Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary! The 4th annual nature camp organized by the Shergaon Forest Division, and designed by my friends Dr. Nandini Velho and Dr. Umesh Srinivasan brought us together. Umesh conducted several presentations and film screenings, while Chandini Chhabra from Leaps and Bounds engaged the kids in some delightful and interactive lessons in biology and ecology. Satem Longchar, an Oxford alumnus and wildlife biologist from Nagaland held talks on the mammals of Eaglenest and microscopy, while Lhopsang Tashi from NERIS enlightened us all about medicinal plants. As we speak, Gerard Martin from 'The Gerry Martin Project' is with the kids conducting activities and lessons on herpetology! 

I too conducted a wildlife cartooning workshop with the kids, creating cartoon characters out of Red Pandas and Bugun Liocichlas (a critically endangered bird species known only from Eaglenest WLS), and took them through the process of creating a comic strip with a conservation message. Here's the strip I drew with the kids. Not surprisingly, many of them came up with their own strips by the end of the lesson!

A big thanks to Nandini, Umesh and DFO Mr. Millo Tasserfor having us there!