The Effect of Monsoons

On monsoon and frogs from my column with Mid-Day today.

Cartoons on Wildlife Photography for Dusty Foot Productions

Dusty Foot Productions headed by the dynamic wildlife film-maker Rita Banerji came out with a manual on wildlife photography for students of its conservation film-making venture, Green Hub last year. I wrote and drew some cartoons for the manual, on the technical aspects of wildlife photography, and also illustrated its cover (the image above, with the gibbon, hornbill and the rhino checking out a video camera).

(On equipment maintenance)

(On using natural light)

(On focus)

(The rule of thirds)

(On the types of cameras used for wildlife photography)

(Aperture)

(On the different modes of shooting)

(On ISO)

(On shutter speed)

(On various shots used to frame a subject)

(On editing/sound editing)

Thanks to Rita Banerji for commissioning me for these cartoons that I had a blast doing, and to Nina Subramani for designing the manual!

Gold Mining in Costa Rica's Rainforests

Costa Rica's rainforests are believed to have the highest biodiversity for any country! This is probably because of the fact that the landmass that is now Costa Rica and Panama served as a bridge between North and South America three to five million years ago, allowing the different flora and fauna to intermingle. Costa Rica's biodiversity makes for nearly 4% of all the species found in the world!

Infinito Gold, a Canadian gold mining company has slapped Costa Rica with a $1 billion lawsuit because the country denied them the rights to start an open pit mine in the rainforest. Several predictions have been made about the toxicity of the mining activity and its impact on the health of the rainforest. An online petition has also been started against the lawsuit here- http://action.sumofus.org/a/mining-costarica/8/2/?sub=fb We've already seen the tremendous damage done to the Amazon by gold mining, and the rainforests of Costa Rica must not fall prey at any cost!

Sonoran Symbiosis

The Sonoran Toad and the Tarantula share an extraordinary symbiotic relationship- the tarantula shares its burrow with the toad, which eats the ants that could be a threat to the spider's eggs. While the tarantula ensures that its eggs are protected this way, the toad gets a meal and a free stay!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Reptilia vs Amphibia!

Toads have a very special defense mechanism to escape being

eaten- the pair pf parotid glands at the back of their heads 

produces poison! This liquid called Bufotoxin (Bufonidae is the

zoological name for the toad family) is produced when a toad

is in stress, and its potency varies from species to species. 

Although Bufotoxin is lethal to some animals, several predators of 

toads are immune to the poison, and manage to make a merry 

meal out of their warty prey.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.