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 …
IRATE South Africans are protesting the European Union (EU) ban on their ostrich meat and live birds following an outbreak of Congo fever. The EU ban came into effect after an abattoir worker died recently and 16 others were infected with the fever in Oudtshoorn, a town close to South …
In April, this year, a group of researchers set out for the Itombwe forest in eastern Zaire, an area known for its rare and fragile biodiversity. The team, whose trip was funded by New York's Bronx zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, was treated to a brief encounter with the Congo bay …
According to the latest red list of endangered species brought out by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), mammals top the list of animals facing extinction. This runs contrary to the generally held assumption that birds are the most threatened class of creatures. Interestingly, the new list suggests that 11 per …
peregrine falcons have bewildered researchers by giving them the first-ever comprehensive account of their autumnal sojourns. The use of tiny satellite transmitters
the title of the book might convey the impression that it is limited to birds and their habitats. But it actually gives an exhaustive overview of the environment, with birds as the parameter for judging the state of the natural world. A rare degree of knowl edge and experience is …
The days are certainly numbered for the northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), one of the world's rarest birds. Their numbers dropped sharply by 17 per cent when 38 of them were struck down by a mysterious disease. The bald ibis once occupied the grasslands of North Africa and the Middle …
The largest flying creature ever- a pterosaur called Arambourgiania philadelphiae that lived some 65 million years ago -has been identified by British and German palaeontologists as the owner of an elongated neck bone which was found in Jordan in 1943. The pterosaur had a wingspan of 12 metres. Wrongly identified …
IN THE struggle for existence, the feathered creatures are losing out to the denizens 6f the deep. Every year, Scotland carries out licenced. killing of at least a thousand wild birds to save salmons. Conservationists claim that there is no scientific justification for the cull. The Scottish Office (so) is …
INDIAN ornithologists are a worried lot these days. The departure of four Siberian cranes - before satellite transmitters could be fixed on them to monitor their return journey - is only one of their concerns (Down To Earth, Vol 4, No 23). The number of these rare visitors has been …
Birds like female blue tits control the sex of the eggs they lay, but this crucial decision hinges on the health of their mates. If the males are more active and healthy, the females produce more sons than daughters. This was revealed in a study conducted by researchers from Lund …
MIGRATORY birds may not find their return journey to their homelands in Europe as hazardous as before. The European Parliament, after a heated debate, has finally agreed for the hunting season to close on January 31 each year. 'Environmentalists and anti-hunters won the day after the amendment to close the …
A THREE-YEAR study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-International for the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) reveals that sea birds inhabiting the Midway Islands in the,north Pacific have concentrations of persistant organic pollutants ajhigh as those in the birds found around the shores of the Great Lakes, North America …
A crow making tools? Sounds in- credible, because the cognitive ability to design, make, standardise and use tools is normally thought to be an activity of the intelligent " human race. But according to Gavin R Hunt, a biologist at Massey University in Palmerston, New Zealand, the tool-making capacity of …
What do red-knobbed hornbills of Indonesia have in common with the -rain forest of Sulawesi? A 16t, it seems. They help in maintaining and regenerating the rain forests of the region while depending upon it. "The hornbills are the farmers of the Sulawesi forest," says Margaret Kinnaird of the 'Wildlife …
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) recently carried out the third annual nationwide bird count in India, targeting the commonly seen or heard species. The campaign was aimed at creating environmental awareness among people and collating data to enable the BNHS to prioritise conservation activity areas and to determine the …
ALL-OUT efforts have been launched to safeguard the maroon-fronted parrot, a rare species of parrot which has its home in the towering limestone cliffs of El Taray in northern Mexico. The parrot, distinguished by a maroon forehead and yellow eye rings, is the size of a pigeon and is found …
In a recent presentation on The Threatened Birds of India, at the India International Centre, New Delhi, Bikram Grewal, a prolific writer on the birds of India, revealed the sad statistics of India's depleting forest cover and its impact on the avian population. The Red data book of the Zoological …
THE majestic pelicans have found a safe haven in a quaint little village in Karnataka, Kokkre Bellur. The villagers here have been safeguarding them and other birds like painted storks. The spotted billed pelicans are an endangered species. There were one million of them in the world in 1920. Today, …
