Sahyadrica

From inside the dung of a macaque a seed sprouts. It will be carried in the swell of this wild Kalu River till it takes hold along the riverbank and bury its roots deep into the earth, making its mark in rewilding the Earth. A zoochorous seed’s journey Towards the beginning of winter when wild grass is heavy with seed, clumps of discarded seedcoats can be seen at terminals of tiny whitish lines drawn across the forest floor. These small lines belong to a specific ant – the Harvester Ant. In India, ants in the genus Monomorium , Pheidole , and Meranoplus discard parts of seedcoats in heaps – called ant middens – around burrows that lead to their underground nests. Midden of a Harvester Ant ( Monomorium  sp.) in a meadow in northern Western Ghats. Grass seeds are dispersed by wind, eaten up by passerines, and collected by mice. Ants are the lesser-known hoarders – more than handfuls of seedcoats of assorted grasses can be collected from the middens in the peak of the harvest seaso...

A sow takes her stance as her sub-adult cubs scamper behind her for protection in Pench Tiger Reserve " What I portray here is a picture of a sloth bear that is not different than Baloo – a wild Baloo – the last to be free to come and go as he pleases; who relishes nuts and roots and honey; whose necessities are indeed bare; who does not wish to cross paths with humans. Who – and I say this picturing a dark cloud looming over his brooding face – wishes humans would be a little more considerate with his jungle. Equipped with the right intentions and actions — both social and ecological – an era of coexistence is comprehensible. " -- I studied the parameters of human-sloth bear interactions in the Kanha-Pench corridor between 2016 and 2017, here are some publications of that study: Cover story in Sanctuary Asia's 2018 issue:  http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/magazines/cover-story/10766-bear-necessities-reimagining-baloo-of-central-india Full-length scientif...