The big, bright, green-coloured Andaman day gecko is a sight to behold; only that, you have to go all the way to the Andaman Islands to get a glimpse of it. Endemic to the islands, these geckos live in trees and are active during the day. Thanks to cash crops grown on these islands today, they can be found in plenty, feeding on bananas, coconuts and betel nuts. They belong to the genus called Phelsuma, believed to have evolved from Madagascar, an island about 6000 km away from the Andamans! A new study has traced their evolutionary history and has thrown some light on how they differ from the other geckos in the Andamans.
In the heart of Central India lies the Panna Tiger Reserve, a sanctuary that has seen a remarkable revival of its tiger population thanks to reintroduction efforts. But how are these majestic creatures adapting to their new environment? A team of researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun is trying to find out.