This author has yet to write their bio.Meanwhile lets just say that we are proud administrator contributed a whooping 70 entries.
We have often been told: “this place is sacred, keep it as it is” about Cheetal Walk. In a way, it reveals that people associate pristine nature with sacredness. Cheetal Walk however is nothing like pristine. For millennia, people have inhabited this area, hunted, cultivated, cut trees and herded cattle. It looks pristine today because […]
As I am often far from Pondicherry where we live, my wife purchased three ducks for company. One male duck is territorial and charges. I have seen our servant giving him a good whack with a stick (she was told not to hit the duck) because she is frightened of him, even though he is […]
It is now two years that I live almost continuously in the jungle surrounded by elephants. Little by little, I rediscover for myself what must have been the tribal’s knowledge. Therefore, I am not the first on the elephants’ continent, far from it. I even remember seeing on TV Indonesian villagers allowing elephants […]
The Pope’s Encyclical is a welcome wake-up call for the Christians, particularly Catholics of course, and some Protestants and maybe other people of other faiths as well. It reminds the Catholics of the importance of the environment and of other forms of life, a welcome move since to the Christian view, Man is the lonely […]
I came to know about Dame Daphne Sheldrick through our book Giant Hearts. She graciously offered to write the preface and I discovered the extent of her work in Africa. I also discovered this picture of her on the web and somehow, this fragile old lady holding a young African elephant that looks absolutely overpowering […]
We live near the Masinagudi – Ooty road, coming from Mysore. It is a small road because it crosses protected areas. However, getting out of the jungle on the road, is being caught in a worse type of jungle. During the week, the first vehicle you are likely to encounter is a jeep taxi rushing […]
Even though we belong to this narrow field of conservation biology, we have an eye on other sciences, including physics. Not a very knowledgeable eye though, don’t ask for explanations. Our vision is sufficient however to know that when facts falsify theories, revolutions happen. This is exactly what happened to Suchitra Sebastian (the serious scientist […]
http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4332.7436-42 We recently published a paper (link above) on elephant mortality to analyze the causes of elephant mortality in some reserves of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. Poaching has decreased although it remains a threat, but others such as disease, accidents and “unknown” causes of death are on the rise. The “unknown” cause of death is […]
I recently went for the pollution control test in Ooty, the Queen of the Hills, in the center of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve. Our jeep is 8 years old and, it is good to know whether or not we choke people when we go to the market in the already over polluted Ooty. Elephants kill […]
We are very happy to announce that our book on elephants is now published. In this book, renown scientists and authors take you to the world of elephants. Meeting elephants needs more kindness that you would imagine, this book can show you how to go. Giant Hearts is available at Amazon (here Amazon India): http://www.amazon.in/Giant-Hearts-Travels-World-Elephants/dp/8129136996/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434879149&sr=8-1&keywords=Giant+Hearts+travels+in+the+world+of+elephants […]