BHUBANESWAR: The State Forest Department and Dehra Dun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) may have a huge difference of opinion over exact number of tigers in the State, but the agencies are unanimous over presence of melanistic tigers in Similipal.
Cities are as old as settled human history. This is abundantly clear in South Asia, with Harappa and Mohenjodaro being early indigenous examples and Varanasi representing a living embodiment of this tradition.
To ensure flawless counting and monitoring of tigers in the wild, the Wildlife Conservation Society- India Project and Trust for Environment Education have come out with a video training module.
CHENNAI: The elephant population in the State is reasonably stable, according to R. Sukumar, professor and chairman of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Prof. Sukumar, who was here recently, told The Hindu that in the past few years, the incidence of poaching had come down all over the country, and this could be one of the reasons for the stabilisation of the elephant population.
Washington: A new research paper has warned that elephants face the thereat of extinction by 2020 because of a high fatality rate due to poaching. African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989.
But the public outcry that resulted in that ban is absent today, and a University of Washington (UW) conservation biologist has contended that it is because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals' plight.
NAGAON, July 31: "Although 35 Rhino have been killed by the poachers since March 31, 2006 to 2008 yet Rhino population in Asom have increased to 1,855 as per the census done in the year 2006, ' Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain said.
The Minister also said that in the meantime all possible stern and affective measures have been taken from the Government against the poachers for protecting the rhinos and all other forest wealth and inmate animals.
A tiger census in Sundarbans is in the offing. The census, which will take place in November comes against the backdrop of conflicting reports about the exact number of big cats in the world's largest mangrove forest. As per the last census conducted in 2005, there were 344 tigers in the Sunderbans, but a section of the media reported that the number was dwindling, the state forest minister, Mr Ananta Roy informed the state Assembly today.
Amid reports of declining tiger population nationwide, there is still hope for wildlife lovers and forest officials in Madhya Pradesh as the number of tiger cubs is increasing. Madhya Pradesh is known as Tiger State, but the average number of tigers came down to 300 in the last census.
