Ramanujam takes us on a rollicking jaunt
across the Eastern Ghats in this witty
recollection of a vertebrate survey he and
his team undertook between 2011-2012.
BIRDING
46 A Pulicat Discovery Sambath Subbaiah
was on location at the Pulicat backwaters of
Tamil Nadu to record the very fi rst sighting
of the Grey-tailed Tattler in India.
SPECIES FOCUS
48 Fishy Encounters Even as Divya Karnad
converses with fi sherwomen who have just
landed a heap of small spadenose sharks,
she worries about the future of this near
threatened species whose meat is consumed,
fi ns are coveted and whose bodies are
off ered for vivisection to an uncounted
number of Zoology students each year.
56 Why Otters Matter Monitoring a pack
of otters along the Cauvery river with
the help of a local fi sherman, Gopakumar
Menon opines on the sentinel role otters
play in their threatened ecosystem.
PERSPECTIVE
52 Fifty-Fifty In the Anthropocene, it is
vital that we do not crush non-human life
underfoot on the planet that we neither
fully understand, nor are intelligent enough
to manage. Yet we are directly causing
our only home to wither. One the world’s
greatest biologists and thinkers, E. O.
Wilson, asks us to collectively assign half of
our planet to nature’s care. This, he rationally
and passionately advocates, is vital to saving
life on Planet Earth from extinction.
72 Being My Father’s Daughter Following
in her father, Dr. Y. V. Jhala’s footsteps,
Harshini Jhala recounts a childhood spent in
the wilds with him as he studied wild species.
Recognising that things are bleaker today, she
is ever more determined to carry forward her
father’s legacy.
CONSERVATION ACTION
76 The March of the Elephants In these
bleak times for elephants, Vivek Menon
hopes that the Gaj Yatra organised by the
Wildlife Trust of India will draw attention
to their plight.
78 Beasts of a Diff erent Stripe Exploring
the complexities of man-eating and man-
killing behaviour by tigers, Dr. Mayukh
Chatterjee explains how media sensationalism,
public panic, political pressure and muddled
thinking have woven a narrative that depicts
virtually every tiger that kills a human as a
bloodthirsty man-eater.
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52
82 The Civet in Your Cupboard
Enthralled by these master survivors,
Abhishek Narayanan, narrates unusual
rescue sagas of adaptable civets, who
are increasingly opting to live close
to humans.Technology
88 Vannya Shashank Dalvi shares details
about a mobile application which, he helped
develop and aims to bring novice and
experienced birders together.REVIEW
89 Book Neha Sinha reviews M. K.
Ranjitsinh’s A Life with Wildlife: From
Princely India to the Present.CAMPAIGN
92 It’s Time To Address The Elephant
In The Room The haunting scene,captured by Sanctuary’s Wildlife
Photographer of the Year 2017 Biplab
Hazra is proof of the magnanimous
problem that India has shut its eyes to —
Human-Elephant Confl ict (HEC). Owing to
the unrelenting march of civilisation, HEC
has reached a boiling-point in diff erent
parts of India. We must act now!YOU SPEAK
95 Networking What’s the buzz on
Sanctuary Asia’s social network pages?
Don’t get angry... get involved. Join the
conversation... broaden your horizons.
96 Readers’ Forum Where you can
comment, lament or compliment!LAST WORD
98 The Tourism Conundrum The impact
of tourism on wildlife conservation cuts
both ways.