Union Island Gecko

A gecko endemic to the Union Island in the Caribbean, threatened by the pet trade and habitat loss, is now bouncing back, thanks to a very timely 'union' between the forestry department and conservation groups f the Union Islands! Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. 

Mizoram Parachute Gecko

Uses of the Mizoram Parachute Gecko's patagia (gliding membranes). Yes, a caped lizard actually exists in the forests of North-East India! Read more about herpetologist Zeeshan Mirza's work on this species here. 

Comic from my column with The Hindu.

The Evolution of the Legless Glass Lizard

The evolution of the legless Glass Lizard had been a mystery… until now! Comic from my column with Roundglass Sustain, on a reptile I’m dying to see in the wild, and which this article on Roundglass sheds more light on.

2022's New Discoveries Congratulate India's Biologists

Just a few of 2022's new kids on the block! Congratulations to India's biologists for all the splendid discoveries this year! We sure hope the streak continues in 2023!

From my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Calotes Courtship

Common Garden Lizards or Common Calotes, also called bloodsuckers because of the male's blood-red throat in his breeding attire, are among the most common and most fascinating reptiles to watch in urban areas in India. Happy World Lizard Day! Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

12 New Year Resolutions from Backyard Wildlife

12 new year resolutions we can adopt from our backyard wildlife, one for each month! Comic from my column with The Hindu. 

Prints are available on my webstore here, shipped internationally. For orders within India, email me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com 

(A3 prints for Rs 400 each and A2 prints for Rs 1000 each, with discounts on multiple prints, inclusive of shipping within India)

Why Horned Lizards Shoot Blood from Ocular Sinuses

Horned Lizards are a genus of North American lizards famous for their bizarre defence mechanism: shooting a spurt of blood from their ocular sinuses at their predators! Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain, featuring one of my favourite characters in cinema: Kill Bill's O Ren Ishi, played by the amazing Lucy Liu.

Brookesia nana

Meet Brookesia nana, a leaf chameleon discovered from Madagascar, which now holds the record of being the world's smallest reptile! Comic from my column with The Hindu.

New Discoveries in 2020

Trust biologists to make even 2020 a better year! Here are just a few of the many discoveries made this year in India, congratulating the biologists who unearthed them. Cartoon from my RoundGlass Sustain column. (If you wish to go through all the species discovered in India in 2020, email me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com). Happy 2021 , dear readers! Here's hoping for many more such breakthroughs in '21.

Crackdown by Governments on Artists

The crackdown of creative freedom of artists by governments is like triggering an evolutionary arms race. Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Merchandise for Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park

Some merchandise designed for Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park in the Andaman Islands. I had the great fortune of visiting the place last year, while in the Andamans for the Andaman Literature Festival. My sincere thanks to the forest department for hosting me at MGMNP and for commissioning this project, and to my dear friend, researcher and writer Krishna Anujan for making this happen!

LGBTQ+ Wildlife

Meet just a few of the hundreds of (known) LGBTQ+ wildlife species, in my column with Sunday Mid-Day. Happy Pride Month!

Wildlife Quarantine Webinar Recommendations

Some wildlife skill-sharing webinar recommendations for you during quarantine, from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

Earth Day with Underground Weirdos

Happy Earth Day from some underground weirdos from my column with RoundGlass Sustain.

Animals walking on water before Jesus Christ

Some animals that have been walking on water before Jesus Christ. Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. Wishing all Green Humour readers a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Prints available on my webstore here.

Tokay Gecko Poaching

Among the most trafficked animals in the world, Tokay Geckoes are suffering heavily at the hands of poaching for the Chinese Medicine industry, falsely believed to have (you guessed it-) aphrodisiacal properties. The recent inclusion of the species in CITES Appendix II aims to help the gecko revive by regulating and monitoring this trade.

From my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Wildlife of Seychelles

In an exciting assignment commissioned by the Save our Seas Foundation working in The Seychelles, I created a habitat illustration of St. Joseph Atoll and D'Arros Island. I got to draw and learn about many creatures I had never heard of before, and the illustration was among my work detailed work on marine fauna. Click on the illustrations for a larger view.

Copyrights to all images here belong to the Save our Seas Foundation. While the habitat illustration is to be published in the Save our Seas Magazine and posters, each of the illustrated elements will be used in merchandise.

Some talents of the Draco I wish I had

Meet the Draco, a genus of gliding lizards from South and South-east Asia. Dracos are not only known for their gliding and camouflage, but can also mimic falling leaves in colour and movement! The comic appears in my column with Saevus magazine this month (first published in Roundglass).

Biological Breakthroughs 2018

Before the year ends, let's take a moment to appreciate science. These are just some of the many discoveries made in India this year, but they go on to show how many surprises India still holds both for science and for us. If you notice, all the species are from some of the most fragile ecosystems- rainforests of the Western Ghats and the North-east. If more such treasures are to be unearthed, these hotspots will have to be protected from reckless development at any cost.

The comic appears in The Hindu (main) today, marking my debut with the paper.

Deserts and Arid Ecosystems

Deserts and arid landscapes are fully functional ecosystems in themselves, not needing any kind of artificial reforestation. This is a fact, among many others that the National Forest Policy draft of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change overlooks. Other than proposing to turn 'degraded' land into commercial plantations, the draft inclines towards the privatization of government-owned forest land and shows a preference for commercial monoculture over natural forests, while sidelining the participation of  communities in conservation.

The draft is open for public review on the MoeF website here. I request you all to send in your comments on the draft to digfpolicy-mef@nic.in, jitesh.kumar@nic.in and toforestpolicy@gmail.com  before the 14th of April.