A study finds that the rapidly expanding land use of Mumbai is driving the region’s remaining wildlife into the remnant forest fringes.

Researchers discuss the challenges in studying human-wildlife coexistence and the way forward. 

Researchers measure the levels of stress hormones in the tail-hair of Asian elephants as a technique to monitor their health and well-being.

Researchers identify the factors affecting snow leopard density in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh.

Study evaluates regional factors that play a vital role in reducing conflicts between people and wild animals in the Ladakh region.

Rusty-spotted cat ((Prionailurus rubiginosus) [Image Credits: David V Raju / CC BY-SA]

Researchers from the USA, Australia and Canada identified some of the ‘hotspots’ and ‘coolspots’ of human activities in the world and analysed the impact of these activities on threatened and near-threatened wildlife.

India is one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world and home to a vast expanse of natural habitats from evergreen forests to grasslands. These natural havens have over the past years faced many threats from humans, but the largest threat that Indian wildlife faces is poaching. How can these vast expanses be constantly monitored in order to protect our unique wildlife? Researchers and forest officials have come up with many ingenious methods using the latest technology to take action against this threat. From realtime videos accessible on smartphones to DNA analysis - read more about how our wildlife is being protected from poachers.

Why do we see certain species of animals in one place while they are absent in the neighbouring regions? How do species inhabit remote islands? Questions like these are central to our understanding of evolution and speciation. Exploring these question in a Sri Lankan context, scientists from National Centre for Biological sciences and University of Colombo studied how a two species of small passerine birds colonized the island nation. Through phenotypic and genotypic analysis they could show that not all Sri Lankan wildlife is a subset of Indian wildlife.

Forests play a critical role in sustaining biodiversity on the planet, including humans. They once provided food and shelter when we were hunter-gatherers. Today, our relationship with forests is at a new level. We derive most of our energy resources from forests in the form of wood and coal. What are some of the implications of this relationship and how fragile is it getting in the future? On this International Day of Forests, here is an introspection of the same.