In nature, everything has a meaning, including the colours adorned by various species. For example, the stripes of tigers act as camouflage to help them hunt prey. The stick insects’ colour and appearance, blending them with the surrounding vegetation, make them less noticeable to predators. The vibrant colours of resplendent peacocks help them attract females […]
It was a beautiful, calm spring morning in February. Lush tea gardens carpeted the landscape on either side of the road through which the car was passing. I was travelling from Jorhat town towards the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in the Jorhat District of Assam to set my eyes on a highly threatened species – the […]
Housed in the historic Hornbill House, the headquarters of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at Fort, Mumbai, is a natural heritage of immense significance – the BNHS Natural History Collections. It is an invaluable treasure trove of natural history specimens collected from across the Indian subcontinent and beyond. Over 1,50,000 specimens of fauna across […]
As the car swerved into a narrow, unmetalled road leading into the wilderness, a large signboard with a tiger featured on it along the barricaded entrance to the road glared at me, warning me that it was a tiger roaming zone. Another smaller signboard a short distance away repeated the warning along with two messages […]
अनेक वर्षांपूर्वी डॉ. सालीम अलिंचे नाव ऐकले होते तेव्हा हे सुद्धा कळले की ते मुंबईच्या बॉम्बे नॅचरल हिस्ट्री सोसायटी (बी. एन. एच. एस.) ह्या नामांकित संस्थेत पक्षीशास्त्रज्ञ म्हणून काम करीत होते. ह्या संस्थेबद्दलचे कुतूहल तेव्हापासूनच लागून होते. नंतर इथेच नोकरी लागली आणि बी. एन. एच. एस. ला जाणून घेण्याची संधी मिळाली. स्वातंत्र्य पूर्व भारतात इंग्रजांचे […]
भल्या पहाटेच बंटी आणि चिकू जंगलात आले होते. निमित्तही तसेच होते. मुंबईचे प्रसिद्ध पक्षीतज्ञ डॉ. सालीम अली त्यांच्या गावाला आले होते. सालीम अंकल (खरे तर आजोबा) त्यांच्या बाबांच्या परिचयातले होते. त्यामुळे सकाळी फिरायला त्यांनी ह्या दोन चुणचुणीत मुलांना सोबत न्यायचे कबुल केले होते. मुलांना थोडी भीती वाटत होती. कारण ते खूप म्हणजे खूपच मोठे शास्त्रज्ञ […]
In recent times, heart-wrenching photos of wild animals, dead or dying on highways and railway tracks in India, have flooded social media. These pictures portray the stark reality – the massive issue of the country’s growing appetite for linear infrastructure and its catastrophic consequences on wildlife. Linear infrastructure refers to railways, highways, canals, pipelines, electric […]
आपल्याला नेहेमी लागून असलेले कुतूहल म्हणजे महाराष्ट्रात स्थलांतर करून येणारे पक्षी नेमके कुठून स्थलांतर करून येतात किंवा इथून ते कुठे स्थलांतर करून जातात? ह्या प्रश्नाचे उत्तर एका वाक्यात जरी देता आले नाही तरी आपण असे म्हणू शकतो की विविध पक्षी प्रजातींचा स्थलांतर मार्ग आणि येण्याची जागा वेगवेगळी असू शकते. त्यामुळे सगळे स्थलांतरित पक्षी “सायबेरिया” वरून […]
There before my eyes were the sprawling salt pans of Mankhurd. The sun was setting on this raw, unkempt, yet beautiful landscape, and it all appeared very magical. A very secluded, almost forgotten part of Mumbai, these salt pans serve as a vital wetland habitat, one of the last refuges of migratory birds arriving in […]
