American Bird Nomenclature

A controversy is brewing in the world of ornithology and birdwatching, with the American Ornithological Society's proposal to rename birds with problematic eponyms, as many of these names celebrate colonizers and white supremacists. While many young birders support the decision, some old-timers oppose it. The Scott's Oriole and the Audubon's Shearwater have given their verdict. What's yours?

Cartoon for DW Environment.

Tickell's Blue Flycatchers Tickle Samuel Tickell

Here's a birdwatchers' tongue-twister for you from my column with Roundglass Sustain: Tickell's Blue Flycatchers tickling Samual Tickell (the British army officer and ornithologist the bird and many other species are named after).

Taxonomists need Therapy

Taxonomists need therapy! Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine. 

Naked Rumped Tomb Bat

Difficulties of being a Naked-rumped Tomb Bat (yes, there's actually a bat species by that name, and yes, it's rump is really naked, and yes, it is found in India!). Cartoon from my Roundglass Sustain column.

Which Butterfly Family is Your Balding Pattern

Match the right butterfly family with your balding pattern! (Mine is a Lycaenid. Sigh!) Cartoon from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. Prints and merchandise on my webstore here , shipped internationally. (For orders within India, mail me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com)

New Zealand Pygmy Pipehorse

Meet Cylix tupareomanaia, a Pygmy Pipehorse from New Zealand : the world's first creature to be officially named in collaboration with an indigenous tribe, the Ngatiwai. The species name in Maori translates to 'garland of the seahorse'.

Comic from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Identifying a Pipit

On identifying pipits from my column with Roundglass Sustain. For those who have struggled with pipits like I have, Birdcount India has some great articles on demystifying these 'pale passerines' here. 

Once a Herpetologist Always a Herpetologist

On herpetologists from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

The Bohemian Waxwing

The Bohemian life of the Bohemian Waxwing. Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

Inaturalist and Skink

I'm celebrating my 200th observation on Inaturalist.org with this comic! For the uninitiated, Inaturalist is an online social network of naturalists, which helps you identify your observations and doubles up as a citizen science and biodiversity mapping project, with over a million users! From my column with The Hindu.

Killer Whale

The Killer Whale wasn't born a Killer Whale. Society made it one. 

I personally prefer the name Orca. Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Red Panda Species Split

The Red Panda is now two different species (Himalayan and Chinese), thanks to geographical isolation by the Yarlang Tsangpo river, and a new molecular study! My gratitude to my Sikkimese friend Minla Lachungpa, a wildlife veterinarian with the Gangtok Zoo, for the Nepali translation, and my Chinese friend and journalist Yuli Yang for the Chinese translation :) Comic from my column with RoundGlass Sustain

New Discoveries of 2019

2019 was not exactly a good year for conservation in India, but India's conservation biologists have still made several breakthroughs. Here are just some of the newly discovered species of fauna and flora from 2019. And much like the Impatiens balsam, I too am already impatient about the discoveries that 2020 will bring!

Comic from my column with Pune Mirror today.

Laughing Dove Meets Mourning Dove

The Laughing Dove meets the Mourning Dove in my column with RoundGlass Sustain. Both species are named after their respective calls. 

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.

New Snake Discoveries 2019

First the good news- biologists in India are breaking new ground every single day! THREE new snake species have been discovered in India in the last two weeks! The Arunachal Pit Viper, a vine snake from Central India: Aheatulla nasuta, and a new genus of snakes from the North-east: Smithopsis! Now the bad news- the Indian media is an abomination.

Greenland Sharks on Instagram

A comic on the Greenland Shark's lifespan from my column with RoundGlass Sustain. A Greenland Shark reported to be 512 years old has been found in the Arctic recently, which makes it the world's longest living vertebrate!

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.

Nutcrackers

Meet the nutcrackers, a genus of, well, nutcracking birds closely related to crows and jays. Nutcrackers specialize in feeding on pines, and store pine nuts for later consumption. This habit makes them crucial to the dispersal of pines! Nutcrackers are also known to have exceptional memory, remembering the exact locations of storage!

There are three species of Nutcrackers- Spotted, Kashmir (recently split from the Spotted), and Clark's, who I guess his eponym William Clark wouldn't really like to meet.

Prints and merchandise available on my webstore here. 

Kiwis

Meet the 5 species of Kiwi in this brand new poster! Flightless and endemic to New Zealand, Kiwis are the smallest of the living ratites (a group that includes ostriches, cassowaries and rheas and emus). While the Great Spotted is the largest Kiwi, the Little Spotted is the smallest. The North Island Kiwi is the commonest among the five, and the Rowi the rarest. All the five species are threatened by habitat loss and invasive species. 

Kiwi prints, tshirts and merchandise are out now on my webstore here. 

For orders within India, e-mail me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com. The range of products for Indian orders is as follows-

A0 Posters (Matte surface, loose)- Rs. 3500 for the first print, 3000 for the second print onwards

A1 Posters (Matte surface, loose)- Rs. 3000 for the first print, 2500 for the second print onwards

A2 Posters (Matte surface, loose)- Rs. 1200 each

Mounted Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 2000

Loose Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 500 for the first copy and Rs. 200 for the second copy onwards

Fridge Magnets (65 x 65 mm, Printed in sets of 4)- Any 4 caricatures for Rs. 1200

Coffee Mug (Compilation)- Rs. 850

Tshirts (individual species/compilation)- Rs. 1300 (White, Cotton, roundneck, sizes- S,M,L,XL)