Order of the Supreme Court in the matter of M K Ranjitsinh & Others Vs Union of India & Others dated 21/03/2024. The matter related to protection of Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and Lesser Florican. The SC order of April 19, 2021 imposed restrictions on the setting up of overhead …
T he vulture is a very patient bird. It is waiting patiently for its next flight, which may very well be into oblivion. Meanwhile, experts try and figure out what is killing the vulture. Ornithologists fear that India's vulture populations have declined in recent times. The vulture has a host …
About 11 per cent of all known bird species are threatened with extinction, according to the World Resources Institute. Fragmentation or loss of habitat is mainly responsible for this decline, but harvesting for food and trade and competition from introduced species are also responsible. For example, conversion of traditional coffee …
more than one in 10 of the aquatic birds in Spain's Donana National Park are suffering from the effects of high levels of heavy metals after a toxic spill at the Los Frailes zinc mine a year ago, said a report. The report by Spain's Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas …
with the mercury already soaring high, there are unusual customers for desert cooler. To kill the heat, desert coolers fans and exhaust fans will be installed in cages housing monkeys and exotic birds in Delhi's National Zoological Park. The zoo staff is busy roofing the cages of these inmates with
owls are providing scientists with tips on improving the design of the Stealth aircraft. The winged predators could provide clues to reducing noise in future aircraft. The prey of owls
predatory birds and mammals are being poisoned after eating rats which have high levels of pesticides in their bodies. The proportion of barn owls found with anticoagulant rodenticides in their livers increased from 5 per cent in 1983-84 to 36 per cent in 1995-96. This was stated in a study …
The forests and the environment minister of Bangladesh Sajeda Chowdhury, has urged the country's Jahangirnagar University authorities not to lease out its water bodies as it will disturb the habitat of migratory birds. Every year thousands of birds from Siberia and other parts of the world throng the varsity sanctuaries. …
BIRDS can sleep with one eye open and half of their brains awake. It is called Unithemispheric Slowave Sleep (usws). It allows birds to detect approaching predators while still getting a bit of sleep. "They are able to make behavioural decisions about whether to keep one half of the brain …
Chilka lake in Orissa has become a poacher's delight. The railway station in the sleepy town of Bhusandpur, the gateway to the lake, has become a thriving market for birds caught in and around the lake. Rafi, one of the traders who has been in business for several years, says, …
This time, there are no excuses. It was not climate change, not a meteor and not global warming. Humans, and not any other agent, may have pushed Genyornis , an ostrich-sized Australian bird, into extinction some 50,000 years ago, recent research has revealed. More than 40 of Australia's animals disappeared …
A verstile digital scarecrow promises to put a virtual cat among the pigeons. Birds soon get used to conventional scarecrows, and though simulated gunshots are effective, they are too loud. Now Bramley and Wellesley, a company based in Gloucester, UK, and Phoenix Agritech of Canada are all set to patent …
DUTCH elm disease (DED), a dreaded fungal disease that afflicts elm trees, has had a ghastly record. Spread by bark beetles, DED has wiped out tens of millions of trees around the world. It first appeared in the Netherlands in 1917, from where DED reached the UK through infected elm …
Environmentalists in Japan have found high levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and Dichloro dimethyl-trichloro ethane (DDT), in dead Golden Eagle chicks and unhatched eggs around the country. Experts say that further tests are needed to find out if these chemicals are responsible for the plummeting breeding rates …
Flight into obllivion The vulture is disappearing in India. Nobody knows why. Some experts blame pesticides O n october 3, 1998, the Centre For Science and Environment ( cse ), New Delhi, received a letter from Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society ( bnhs ), Mumbai, mentioning a …
T he pesticide threat first emerged in the West, the us in particular. In the early 1930s, the Dutch elm disease spread across the us. A fungus disease spread by beetles, it proved fatal to trees, blocking their water-conducting vessels. In 1954, us farmers began spraying ddt to kill the …
More studies are required to confirm the number of vulture/bird death reports in India. However, it has been known that urbanisation and deforestation have been responsible for a gradual decrease in several species of birds of prey. Scientists and ornithologists say that in southern India, where domestic livestock carcasses are …
When noted British author Aldous Huxley finished reading Silent Spring , he was distraught. "We are losing half the subject matter of poetry,' he remarked. He was not quite right. The chemicals have found their way up the food chain and after the birds, humans could be next. Huxley might …
A survey conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, in December 1998 confirms the presence of high levels of pesticides such as HCH and DDT in cattle and pig carcasses collected from areas surrounding the Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur : Vulture cuisine). Eight samples were collected, …
