Hunting animals used to be central to the survival of most human communities over most of human history, whether it be for food or medicines or to use their fur and skin as clothes and rugs. Communities had developed ways to hunt animals without overexploiting them, such that the animals and humans could survive together. While we try to inculcate the values of sustainability in people today through classes and lectures, such values used to be a matter of common sense. If you kill all the animals this year, what are you going to hunt next year?...

From privileges for a few to rights for all

There was a time, not so long ago, when the so-called ‘civilised’ world was divided into free humans and slaves. Free humans were those who had the right to own property while the slaves were those who were considered as property. Free humans had the privilege to make decisions not only for themselves but also for their slaves.

As we learnt from others who we thought were less civilised than us...

A simple, lucid explainer on the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of wildlife corridors.

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When I was little, my grandparents used to tell me stories about how they left their small village in Rajasthan to travel to the big city of Jaipur for better opportunities. Today, I have left Jaipur for the even bigger city of Delhi to try my luck. I am sure all of you know of family members and friends who have migrated for studies, jobs, or marriage. All of us witnessed the plight of lakhs of people who migrated back to their villages on foot during the lockdown imposed in response to COVID-19. . All these people had come to cities for livelihood and they all went back when their livelihood dried up...

You know Jackie Chan, right? Or was he a superstar when I was growing up? Yes, you are right, you probably do not know Jackie Chan, the greatest martial artist to have ever walked the earth. The world changes fast these days. Heroes of my childhood are not the heroes of your childhood. Jackie Chan was a household name in urban India when I was growing up. He was an action hero who did all of his stunts himself. Yes, that’s right, no stunt double, no CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery), nothing, and he got hurt, really hurt, while performing his stunts, but he just went on and on like a trooper...

In 1887, 18 years before they divided Bengal into two, the British laid down a railway line through the Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary, located on the south bank of the Brahmaputra river system in Jorhat district. While the railway line connected British tea plantations in Tinsukia with those in Jorhat and Dibrugarh, it divided the sanctuary into two unequal compartments—one roughly 150 hectares (370 acres), the rest roughly 1,950 hectares (4,820 acres)...

Kendrapara is now a privileged district because it is the only one which hosts all three species of crocodilians found in India. Saltwater crocodiles have liked to hang around the area for some decades now. So, they are old news, nobody gets excited about them. Sort of a ghar ki murgi dal barabar situation. People get excited when new and unexpected things happen, when things happen that make us feel special.

Thus, news was made in 2016 when for the first time in the history...

When we think about biodiversity, we usually think only of animals, birds, insects and plants. We forget that fungi are also biodiversity. According to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK, fungi are ‘distinctive organisms that digest their food externally by secreting enzymes into the environment and absorbing organic matter... 

Have you ever wondered what wild-lifers do? What inspires them to go to work in the jungle? How they protect themselves in the jungle? How they count tigers? Dr Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India answers questions about tigers and the work he does with them. 

Active conservation efforts of the state government and the Bishnoi tribe together are yielding positive results in rescuing the famous Great Indian Bustards.

Where does electricity come from? Most of us have not seen the power stations where it is generated but we have all seen the wires that deliver electricity to our homes. Yes, those wires, hanging overhead on the streets, which seem to have been built for pigeons and crows to perch upon...

An inspiring story of an ordinary Adivasi woman, Jamuna Tudu, who used the superpowers of diligence and persistence to defeat the timber mafias in Jharkhand.

I am sure all of you have seen Tarzan cartoons. What if I told you that we have a real Tarzan in India and that too a lady! Jamuna Tudu of the Santhal tribe of Central India, began her journey towards becoming ‘Lady Tarzan’ in 2000. This was when she got married, barely at the age of 17, and moved from her childhood home in Odisha to her husband’s village in Jharkhand...