While volunteering on a conservation project in Arunachal Pradesh, I chanced upon a curious bushy-tailed creature that resembled a squirrel but for its pointy snout. An inquiring text to a wildlife expert produced the necessary identification: Tupaia belangeri, the northern tree shrew, an insectivorous mammal more closely related to primates than rodents. That expert was Vivek Menon, executive director of Wildlife Trust of India and an award-winning conservationist, environmental commentator, author and photographer.
Menon’s capacious wisdom is compiled in the second edition of his field guide to Indian mammals, updated after five reprints of the first. Although at least 440 mammal species can be found in India, most visitors to our national parks will probably recognise 10. The big-bucks business of wildlife tourism is preoccupied with charismatic megafauna like large carnivores, rhinos and elephants.
Denne historien er fra August 14, 2023-utgaven av India Today.
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Denne historien er fra August 14, 2023-utgaven av India Today.
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Delhi's Belly
Academic, historian and one of India's most-loved food writers, PUSHPESH PANT'S latest book-From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi-delves deep into the capital's culinary heritage
IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO
Hemant and Kalpana Soren changed Jharkhand's political game, converting near-collapse into an extraordinary comeback
THE MAHA BONDING
At one time, Fadnavis, Shinde and Ajit Pawar were seen as an unwieldy trio with mutually subversive intent. A bumper assembly poll harvest inverts that
THE LION PRINCE
A spectacular assembly election win ended a long political winter for Kashmir and his party, the National Conference. But Omar Abdullah now faces crucial tests—that of meeting great expectations and holding his own with the Centre till J&K gets its statehood back
TRIAL BY FIRE
Formal charges in a US court, an air marked by accusations of bribery and concealment of information, the attendant political backlash, pressure on stock prices, valuation losses. Yet the famed Adani growth appetite and business resilience stays
'Criticism has always been a source of motivation for me'
It’s just day five since he was crowned 2024 FIDE World Chess champion (which he celebrated with a bungee jump), and Gukesh Dommaraju is still learning to adjust to the fanfare.
THE YOUNG GRANDMASTERS
GUKESH DOMMARAJU IS NOW THE YOUNGEST EVER WORLD CHAMPION, BUT THAT IS JUST ICING ON THE CAKE IN INDIA'S CHESS STORY. FOR THE 'GOLDEN GENERATION', 2024 WAS THE YEAR THEY DID IT ALL
SHOOTING QUEEN
Manu Bhaker scripted a classic turnaround at Paris 2024, putting the ghosts of the past behind her through sheer willpower to engrave her own destiny
THE COMEBACK KING
It was in no one's script: Naidu's standing leap from near-oblivion, to a place where he writes the destiny of Andhra—even New Delhi
HALTING THE BJP JUGGERNAUT
A roller-coaster year saw the Opposition coalition rebound with bold moves and policy wins, but internal rifts continue to test its durability
