Harvesting wild honey has been the main occupation of the Cholanayakan and Kattunayakan tribes of Wayanad, in Kerala, for centuries. But the recent drought and delayed summer rain have affected the harvesting of wild honey. The number of beehives has come down drastically, by over 50 per cent from 2023. Honeybees make hives every year on the same big trees. The right amount of rain, according to the season, is crucial for honey production. But unseasonal rain is posing a huge threat to it, affecting the tribes that depend on honey collection for their survival...
Check out some amazing honeybee facts about these nature's tiny engineers and their sweet secrets.
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How many eyes do honeybees have? Bees have FIVE EYES and SIX LEGS.
How do honeybees share information with each other? By DANCING. They do a figure of 8 dance called the ‘waggle dance’. Through this dance, they tell the other bees where pollen, water, etc. is available.
How many flowers do honeybees have to visit to get a kilo of honey? About 40 LAKH flowers. But one bee makes only about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. So, you need thousands of bees to make a kilo of honey...
About the troubling tourism on the peaks and how ‘eco-tourism’ can provide us some relief...
On this Earth Day, trace the impact of humans on their planet throughout history
An inspiring story of a school teacher, transforming a barren hilltop into an evergreen haven with sheer grit, indefatigable passion, and true love for nature.
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My name is Jeevan Singh. I was duly appointed in government service by my state’s education department in 2010. But I got properly initiated as a teacher only when I was posted at the Government Primary School, Sidhot, based in Salooni Educational Block of Chamba district in Himachal...
Showcasing how visionary projects can nurture future leaders who are not only academically adept but also environmentally conscious and aware.
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In an era of urbanization and technological advancements, the importance of connecting the youngsters with nature cannot be overstated. My school, the Sacred Heart in Kalyan, Maharashtra, stands as a beacon of inspiration in this regard. Their authorities had given me the mandate to set up a butterfly garden and provided all the required finance and manpower. And as our pioneering effort flourished with time, I was duly absorbed as a Nature educator...
The triple planetary crisis refers to three interconnected environmental crises that pose a threat to humanity—climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. We need to address this crisis by adapting to nature-based solutions that can leverage the inherent resilience of our ecosystem. One such solution is the conservation of mangroves.
Mangroves are the kind of trees that are found in intertidal zones, between high tide and low tide, in tropical and subtropical regions...
Many of us love pets, especially dogs. But do you know that over the last five years, they have killed more than 300 people, mostly poor and rural children? Over 20,000 rabies deaths have been caused by homeless dogs and more than 30 endangered species have been hunted by them in the wild. The human-animal conflict between people and stray dogs in India has reached an alarming level. So, the next time you venture outdoors, please take care of yourself!
What can you do at home to pump up the oxygen levels in your surroundings? Read this motivating account of some ordinary but nature-friendly activities.
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From the past few years, my family has been undertaking certain chores which have helped us in connecting with nature in a better way. For instance, we make compost from raw fruit and vegetable scrapes, using the three-tier pot method.
At first, we gather a lot of green and brown waste from the kitchen. (Green waste means anything organic that can be composted...
Trees are indispensable for our survival. We rely on them for fuel, fodder, medicine, and innumerable other necessities. They make our planet conducive for life. According to a research published by Nature Climate Change, the world’s forests sequestered about twice as much carbon dioxide as they emitted between 2001 and 2019, thus playing a critical role in mitigating climate change. Therefore, keeping in mind the saying, van se vayu, vayu se aayu (air from forests, life from air), planting saplings is very important for conserving our environment...
An interview with Deepak Bhati and Gauri Arora, Programme Officers in the Sustainable Food Systems team of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, simplifying the complicatedness of antimicrobial resistance for our young readers.
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Hi Deepak and Gauri! We’ve been hearing about this complex and scary thing, ‘Antimicrobial Resistance’ (AMR). Can you please unpack it for our kids?...
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?...
Mushrooms have always enthralled our imagination. Let’s step onto a captivating trail to understand them and the world they inhabit.
Knock-knock, who’s there? The holy Brown Rock Chat. A holy who???... That’s how a timid bird perplexed me at 3:30am in the dark of dawn. It was February 2019 and I was calming the anxieties of my daughter, who was fearing her imminent exams. Persistently knocking my door—I hesitated to investigate any such visitor at an ungodly hour. So, I peeped out from an adjacent window to survey my doorway and was delightfully surprised to find a beautiful, winged creature.
“Mama, look who’s come to wish me luck!" My doll whispered in ecstasy...
The Limca Book of Record holder, Rakesh Khatri, will offer an inspiring chitter-chatter on sparrow conservation.
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...
India’s total forest cover is 21.71 per cent of its total geographical area and the target is to reach 33 per cent. The Forest Survey of India defines ‘forest cover’ as all land with minimum one hectare of tree patches and canopy density above 10 per cent... Read more.
