Rohit Daniel

Following the success of a pilot drone project at the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Madhya Pradesh earlier this year, the Indian government now plans to start using drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to transmit real-time images of wildlife in up to 10 biodiversity hotspots – including the Sunderbans, the Western Ghats, and the Himalayas – across India by January 2015

If you thought individual names were only for pet animals, you’re wrong! Forest officials – including the trackers and beat guards – of the Gir Forest National Park have a long standing tradition of giving the big cats in Asia’s only natural habitat of lions interesting and apt names based on their behavior in the wild.

In yet another unfortunate witness to the negative impact of human development on the ecosphere, and ultimately the biosphere, coastal erosion recently caused hundreds of Olive Ridley turtle eggs to be washed out of their nests in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

In a shocking yet bizarre turn of events, tigers living in the state of Tamil Nadu are now in danger of being poisoned to death.

Three popular festivals in India’s North eastern state Assam – Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Magh Bihu celebrated in January saw three Asiatic black bear cubs (Ursus thibetanus) end up in the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) rehabilitation center in Kokrajhar.

In yet another incidence of illegal killing of protected wildlife, poachers managed to kill an adult male rhino and get away with its horn in the Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

In what could be a major setback to wildlife conservation in the country, the beaches of Gahirmatha in Odisha are still awaiting the arrival of Olive Ridley sea turtles that normally arrive by mid-April for their annual nesting.

Commonly known as the Indian Wild Dog or dhole, the IUCN red list categorizes the canines as an endangered species and have been seen for the first time in Bengal.

In a significant breakthrough, scientists studying the survival mechanism of the world’s highest-flying bird- the bar-head goose, have indicated that the new insights gained from the study could help prevent killer medical conditions like heart attacks and strokes in humans.