Black and White Stripes

May 1971 was exceedingly hot in the plains of Tamil Nadu and some of us were holidaying in a cardamom estate in the Kalakad hills (now part of Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve), nearly at the southern end of the Western Ghats.

- A J T Johnsingh

It turned out to be the turning point in my life as I met Mr. J.C. Daniel of the Bombay Natural History Society and Mr. Romulus Whitaker from the Madras Snake Park. They had come to these hills on a wildlife survey. Mr. Daniel, on learning that I was a post-graduate in Zoology and was teaching in a college, encouraged me to take up wildlife studies. This eventually led me to study dholes or Asiatic wild dogs in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Karnataka during 1976-78.