Science
Sanctuary Asia
Summer With A Chiropterologist
“Jisne forest ko raat me nahi dekha, usne kuch nahi dekha (one who hasn’t seen the forest at night, hasn’t seen anything),” said Rohit, as Zarif and I sat beside him.
4 min |
March 2017
Sanctuary Asia
Corridors For Giants
Why did the elephants cross the road? Because we built one across their traditional migratory path, that’s why!
2 min |
March 2017
Sanctuary Asia
The Sal Tree
“Once upon a time, a king in Benaras decided that he wanted a grand palace that would rest on only one column. In his palace grounds was a huge sal tree that stood straight and strong. The royal family had always honoured and worshipped the tree and it was a favourite of all those who lived in the kingdom. However, when no other tree in the kingdom was good enough for constructing such a column, the king ordered that the sal tree be cut down.
2 min |
January 2017
Sanctuary Asia
Fighting The Good Fight!
India’s modern-day freedom movement.
6 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
What's That?
What’s That?
1 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
Parashuram Mahadev Lad (December 29, 1934 – January 17, 2018)
P. M. Lad was a legend in his lifetime. A member of the Indian Forest Service, he spent a lifetime defending wildlife and the forests he loved. Kishor Rithe writes about this passionate birder, who visited every Indian state, save for Tripura, to study and enjoy the avians of the Indian subcontinent.
6 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
How Do You Dream Of Going To Sea?
Writer, conservation advocate and passionate wildlife lover, Neha Sinha has been using her impressive knowledge and penmanship to highlight threatened species and ecosystems. Winner of a Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award in 2017, she writes here about the important, but mostly ignored, problem of how human trash is impacting marine ecology.
6 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
Ulu Muda Kedah's Neglected Eden
Ulu Muda Kedah’s Neglected Eden
10 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
Roads To Nowhere
Roadkills – a citizen science inititiative.
4 min |
April 2018
Sanctuary Asia
To Save A King
On October 25, 2018, my friend Dr. Shilpa Penhayade came across a tiny bundle of feathers. A security guard had saved the resplendant Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher from stray dogs and crows at the District Hospital at Mapusa, Goa...
2 min |
May 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Fixing A BFO Bone!
On April 16, 2017, we received a call from a news reporter Sanjog Patil of Lokmat informing us that an unusual bird had been found injured by a farmer in Tambave.
2 min |
July 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Birding With Pastels
A dusty box of oil-pastels in the cupboard reads mixing ka magic – richer and intermixable: 15 shades. There is no paper or pencil around. There is an abandoned file on the shelf. It becomes my canvas… the oil-pastels, my medium. A black ball point pen, my highlighter and a bottle of whitener (thanks to ‘sarkaari naukri’), my enhancer.
2 min |
November 2018
Sanctuary Asia
The Sanctuary Interview - Meet Pankaj Sharma
It would be an understatement to say that Pankaj Sharma is a brave and unassuming man. Part of a crack defence team that quite literally entrusted their lives with each other, they hit back at rhino poachers who had taken to killing rhinos in Kaziranga, virtually unchallenged, in the late 1980s. Rhino deaths dropped dramatically and the Kaziranga we see today was in no small measure a result of their do-or-die determination.A stickler for the law, he was content to stay a Forest Ranger for decades, unwilling to trade forest life for a desk job in Guwahati. Still a field man, he is currently the Divisional Forest Officer in charge of the Nameri Tiger Reserve. Bittu Sahgal met him recently at Nameri and had to quite literally coerce this quiet, self-effacing man to speak about himself.
4 min |
February 2019
Sanctuary Asia
The Cranes Come Home Again To The Pangchen Valley!
The excitement in Degin Dorjee’s voice was palpable as he shared the news of the arrival of Black-necked Cranes at their wintering site along the Nyamjang Chhu river this winter.
3 min |
February 2019
Sanctuary Asia
The Numbers Game
When a species begins to overwhelm its resource base, it is destined to go down. Having decided as a young woman of child-bearing age not to bring a child into this world, Purva Variyar asks whether Homo sapiens is headed down that road.
5 min |
February 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Trapping To Protect
The Camera as a Conservation Tool.
4 min |
February 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Treacherous Links
The blood-stained trade that connects terrorism, armed conflict, narcotics and human rights violations.
10+ min |
October 2016
Sanctuary Asia
Pench - A Timeless Jungle
A loud moaning call carried across the forest causing the chital and sambar, which had come to drink to look up in anxious anticipation.
3 min |
October 2016
Sanctuary Asia
Tigers - The Disastrous Decade
For 40 years now I have served wild tigers.
6 min |
October 2016
Sanctuary Asia
The Corbett Foundation
Originally from Bombay, Dilip Khatau began exploring the foothills of Nainital District in 1959 after reading about Jim Corbett’s adventures in The Man-eaters of Kumaon. He fell in love with India’s oldest national park and became a regular visitor over the next four decades.
5 min |
June 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Adapt And Thrive… Or Fade Away
Earlier this year, the UN Secretary General warned, “If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us.”
4 min |
June 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Mugger-Man In Disguise
“It was just a palm-sized baby; in four months it has grown to almost half a metre now,”
6 min |
June 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Off Track
Billy Arjan Singh would turn in his grave on seeing this image.
1 min |
June 2019
Sanctuary Asia
A Day On A Hillock In Search Of The Famous Grouse
It was unusually hot by the time we reached the top of the hillock. The winter season was rapidly fading away. Already regretting my decision to wear a sweater, I stood there on top of a rock, scanning the surrounding areas for any signs of bird life.
3 min |
November 2017
Sanctuary Asia
Return Of The Red Kites
Red Kites, slightly larger, redder versions of Asian Black Kites, are found across Europe. These birds were slaughtered in large numbers in the Middle Ages* in Britain, as they were considered pests.
2 min |
September 2018
Sanctuary Asia
Dharti Rakshaks Of Melghat
Protecting wildlife and its habitats through GPS-based patrolling, tracking poachers with the help of sniffer dogs, conserving water in the forests till the summer months, catalysing the rebirth of grasslands – a forest guard wears many hats. Here are three extraordinary stories from the Melghat Tiger Reserve.
9 min |
April 2019
Sanctuary Asia
The Giving Tree
“There’s a lump in my throat. Seven years ago when I stood here it was a pristine, wild, enigmatic forest. I camped for three nights on the river, tree-drenched mountains fencing us in and the constant chatter of the water keeping us company.
1 min |
April 2019
Sanctuary Asia
The Quest For The Spirit Duck
Dew drops descending from the sky-high canopies of giant Hollong trees refreshed us as we moved deeper into the rainforests of Dehing-Patkai.
4 min |
April 2019
Sanctuary Asia
A Grazing Patch And A Cricket Pitch
Haven for Blackbuck and Harriers
4 min |
April 2019
Sanctuary Asia
Tribal Tigers
How a shamanic community has saved tigers in the Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh
9 min |