An elephantine storm in a teacup

The Nature Conservation Foundation's EcoLogic blog has been around for some time now and its content is on my reading list. NCF does so well what other eco-research blogs fail to do - present great, relevant scientific information in a thought-provoking and easy-to-read way. Not to mention some high quality writing. "An apology to the Iyerpadi gentleman", T R Shankar Raman's recent blog post on the problem of human-animal conflict, is a great example of science writing - the science is solid but not overwhelming, and it is extremely easy to read. If there are any J-school kids out there who want to take up a career in science writing (still a very, very nascent field here in India), this blog post is a mandatory cut-and-keep. Raman (those close to him know him better as Sridhar) and his wife Divya work with NCF in Valparai. On this fragile but disturbed plateau in the Anamalais stand some of the last pristine Western Ghats rainforests, fragmented and continuously usurped by tea gardens and eco-tourism that's heavier on tourism than eco. Tea gardens are not quite elephant-friendly - they offer little by way of cover, and the bushes grow densely. Elephants use ancient routes to water bodies, on which they depend. Of course, much has been changed (by humans) on these ancient routes. Ergo, the pachyderms occasionally trample through tea gardens and the settlements among them. The animals are also accused by local people of raiding their provision shops. While this, on occasion, has been documented as true by NCF researchers, investigations have shown that many 'raids' have been instances of villagers taking advantage of the situation at hand, and conveniently blaming the elephants. In a fragile and sensitive ecosystem such as that in Valparai, the conflict for space and resources between man and elephant is a screenshot of a larger systemic problem - proverbially, an elephantine storm in a teacup.

Knights of the Western Ghats - Kalyan Varma's photoessay

Kalyan Varma has relaunched his website, and with it, some very absorbing new features. His photo-essay on the Lion-tailed Macaques (Macaca silenus) of the Western Ghats is beautifully captured and enchantingly told. Ok, ok, I know I'm going wild with the superlatives, but great photography often does that to me. And by great photography, I don't refer only to images that dazzle with their excellent composition and perfect lighting. You know, the kind that has a congregation of fellow-shutterbugs go 'ooh' and 'aah' and launch into impromptu discourses on F-stops, and finally sign off with the intriguing three-letter acronym (TLA) 'TFS' (fans of India Nature Watch will know what that means). Kalyan inspires more than that. As I have said in these pages before, I admire his prowess for telling stories with his photographs, to capture interesting and insightful aspects of animal behaviour, and more than ever, to underscore the imperative for conservation. And finally, because the Lion-Tailed Macaque (or LTM, if you prefer TLAs) is itself a species very dear to me. And because on my visit to Valparai, Divya Mudappa of the NCF told me the heart-rending story of a roadkill involving a pregnant female. And because Kalyan's camera was there, without blinking, to grieve that grisly death, this story must be told. And no one but Kalyan can tell it like it is. Kalyan Varma's photoessay>>

When Wildlife Week became a fortnight

The Green Ogre has been away being more green and less ogre, and thus his stomping grounds have been quiet.

I have enjoyed the most immersive wildlife and nature experiences over the last few weeks at some exquisite biodiversity sites in southern India.

October 9 through 12, my friends Sahastra, Sandeep and I were at Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, best known to most people as BR Hills. Thanks to Dr. Prashanth, who accompanied us on the trip, we experienced the forest like never before. For the first time in three trips, we enjoyed three days of clear weather. Undergrowth was thicker even in the drier areas of the forest, which made viewing difficult. However, we were lucky to see parts of the forest that we had never seen before and get a closer understanding of the Soligas, the tribe that inhabits the forests of the Biligirirangans. Also, we had some very good sightings of the Blue-bearded Bee Eater and Changeable Hawk Eagle. More about this later.

Last week, work took me to a few locations in Tamil Nadu that offered, as a sidelight, some very enriching birding and nature experiences. On October 14 and 15, I was in Meghamalai, a cluster of tea gardens tucked away in the HighWavy hills of Theni district. On our way up into the hills, we came across stands of exquisite moist deciduous and evergreen forest. We heard an elephant snort just a few feet away from the car and caught glimpses of the endangered Nilgiri LaughingThrush and the Painted Bush Quail.

On Friday and Saturday, I visited TopSlip and Valparai in the Anamalais. The northeast monsoon was active in the hills of Tamil Nadu and mist made viewing very difficult, but the few moments of clear light in the jungle offered me memorable glimpses of Yellow-browed Bulbuls, Asian Fairy Bluebirds, White-bellied Treepies and a variety of other birds endemic to the moist-deciduous and evergreen forests.

In Valparai, I was introduced to the Jungle Striped Squirrel. As if not to be ignored, a pair of Malabar Giant Squirrels came up to the car to get a good look at me. Very cute, but also very dangerous for the squirrels. On the 40 hair-pin-bend climb to Valparai, there are tracts of lush forest where the endangered Lion-tailed Macaque and Nilgiri Tahr can be seen. We were unlucky not to see any, mostly due to the bad weather. Tourists often feed the animals, and of late, there have been a number of road casualties including a few Lion-tailed Macaques.

The Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) runs an excellent information centre, one of the best of its kind in the country, at Aiyarpadi just before the road winds onto the Valparai plateau. It is a must-stop for all those who want to learn about the biodiversity of the Anamalais.

Detailed reports will follow. (For the Gaur photograph, thanks to Nadine)