The Wildlife India

  If Cheetah is the fastest animal on four legs,  Peregrine falcon ( Falco peregrines)   is the fastest bird , faster  than  the spotted  cat  that may soon  be  reintroduced in India, may be in some jungle of Madhya Pradesh also. A survey is on   for the reintroduction of Cheetah in India which   has a recorded speed that varies from 109.4 km per hour    to 120.7 km per hour    . But the stooping Shaheen has a diving speed of about 389 km per hour. Peregrine falcon,t he English name of this amazing predator bird may not be common but   Shaheen , the Hindi word for the bird is very popular. The India sub -species of Falco peregrines is known as Falco peregrinus peregrinator or shaheen falcon . It is a non-migratory subspecies of the peregrine falcon found mainly in the Indian subcontinent. In India, Shaheen is spotted almost across the country, mainly in rocky and hilly regions. The Shaheen is also reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Shaheen Number Unkn

When Walker wandered over 3000 kms last year, the three year old tiger seemed to have thrown the gauntlet at the government and officials busy in achieving a bizarre target, the target of doubling the tiger population. Termed as TX2, it is a global goal to make the tiger population two- folds by 2022. In 2010, all the 13 tiger range countries joined hands in St Petersburg and set the target.  India, with the largest tiger population in the world, is busy in achieving the objective. Too obsessed with their tiger number, they seemed to have forgotten the forests and preservation of the corridors.  A wake-up call from Walker underlines the significance of forest corridors. The Epic Walk In March, 2020 this radio-collared tiger in India grabbed global attention by taking a roundabout route of forests starting from Tipeshwer wildlife sanctuary in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra in June 2019. From here, the tiger went to Telangana before re-entering Maharashtra again and finally settling

Following the history of Ranthambhore National park (RNP) , four more tigers have  gone missing. These tigers have not been sighted for the past over 9 months. One of them- a tigress- is missing with her two cubs making the total number of missing cats 6. The park authorities have sought the help of the Kuno Palpur National Park (KPNP) in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh to help track them. The tigers which vanished from the Ranthambhore include T 64 , T 95 , T 97 and the tigress T 73. Two cubs of this tigress have also not been sighted. The RNP tigers often move out to the MP jungles situated on the banks of river Chambal.   Mystery Shrouds the Vanishing Act Since 2009 , the park has “mysteriously” lost 30 tigers, including seven old and 23 young ones.  Of these 23 , the number of missing tigresses was 11. And if we include the latest case of four more, the number becomes 34.  Most of the time, the park authorities term it “a natural migration”. It is also believed by Rajasthan fore

Beautiful images with good news have come out from the emerald forests of Panna , perhaps the most talked about national park of the country.  After the news of the birth of four more tiger cubs, Panna has come alive again. Though   it is a common sight in national parks, sightings of a newly born tiger always assumes greater significance to the park that had seen it's entire tiger population decimated by poaching barely 12 years ago. This was followed by the translocation of three tigers from Kanha,Bandhavgarh and Pench national parks.  Since then, there has been no looking back and  Panna has been  seen as the only successful tiger reintroduction model in the world. Also Read: From Unknown Tigress of Kanha to Mother of Panna:The Untold Story of T2 So the park authorities were jubilant  after beginning of the new year when a camera trap captured the images of  a tigress -coded as P213(31)   -clutching  delicately in her jaws one of the four cubs  while moving in the woods  to

Ahead of the controversial Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) amidst concerns over enormous environmental loss in Panna tiger reserve (PTR), two major studies have been launched quietly in the PTR -a major project for GPS Satellite collaring of 14 tigers in Panna and radio tagging of threatened vultures.  Wildlife Institute of India (WII)  is involved in both of these, one of a kind projects. All 14 tigers will be collared to study their dispersal behavior and 25 vultures will also be radio -tagged to understand movement, habits and their range of scavenging. The WII is funding both the projects which are part of the Panna Landscape planning for the KBLP. However, experts have raised eyebrows,“The project was not at all required. Tiger habits and their dispersal pattern in Panna is very well known and recorded”, they said.   “ It’s an Exercise in Futility” Eight big cats roaming in the buffer zone of the tiger reserve and 6 from Panna landscape including  the forest divisions surroundin

Gharial (Gavialis Gangeticus) has found a new home in Kuno, a tributary of Chambal river in the upstream. Over a year after a female gharial showed way to a safe haven to it's threatened reptile species, 25 gharials were released in the river , the lifeline of Kuno Palpur national park . Continued to be threatened by the illegal sand mining in National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary in Morena, the forest department decided to introduce the reptiles in the river.  Five males gharials and 20 female-reptiles were released, said the divisional forest officer of Kuno wildlife division PK Verma .Besides, threatened  chambal turtles were also released. Are Gharials Threatened by Illegal Mining in Chambal? One of the six  female gharials, who was radio tagged  in 2017   swam over 40 kms upstream last year for nesting in Kuno sand-bed. The scientist studying the reptile behavior  revealed to the authorities about the  female reptile’s journey leading to the discovery  of the new habi