"It happened by sheer accident"

More great discoveries in the realm of science get stumbled upon by the unprepared mind than untangled by methodical research. dna fingerprinting,…

The goat gamble

It has been a slow and steady shift over decades. Forced by declining returns from farming in ecologically fragile areas, small farmers have been …

The crossbreeding scam

Local animal breeds are better adapted to their specific environment than foreign imports, but today in India they are under threat

Go Gokul gone

For all the noise around cow protection, NDA's cow mission, the very first it announced on assuming power, has nearly died

Waiting for the "white" revolution

Using artificial methods to increase the number of superior breeds of cows and buffaloes, scientists hope to make India abundant in milk.

Deliverance by detention

Conservation strategy stands on a fork in the road: one leads to animal protection in their natural habitats, or sanctuaries; the other to …

Reviving the Tharparker cattle breed

An NGO in Barmer has launched Tharparker animal breed improvement programmes in Minjrad and another village in the district. Two pure Tharparker …

Livestock largesse

Farmers and livestock owners are herding in a fortune as the animal sciences go into overdrive and squeeze out maximum yields

Cage the abusers

In battery cages, egg-laying hens are suffocated, debeaked and injected with antibiotics. Their only hope lies with the Delhi High Court, which …

Officials shed crocodile tears

Crocodiles today abound in captive breeding centres in India. But the government still applies to them a protection law that was relevant two …

Sexual distinction

A new technique enables the determination of the sex of cattle and goats at the embryonic stage

Unhearthed

Human encroachment has created imbalance in the avian ecology. Better management practices are needed for the conservation of species diversity

35 crocodile nests seen in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park

Bhitarkanika, a vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp, is home to at least 1,742 salt water crocodiles

COVID-19 calls for a thoughtful appraisal about humanity’s equation with animals

Animals in captivity in zoos, circuses and other facilities, should be given humane treatment, should not be bred indiscriminately and should be …

How cow became the mother of demigods

The current political discourse on cow protection disregards the history of beef eating in India

Disappearing Act

Only special breeding programmes and creation of corridors can save the lion-tailed macaque from extinction

It’s high time to move towards compassionate, responsible wildlife tourism

Elephants used for tourist rides in Amer Fort in Jaipur, Rajasthan are part of the tourism packages that subject these wild animals to live in …

Fewer ribbits in Western Ghats? Erratic, deficit rainfall hits breeding cycles of frogs

Researchers say amphibians are not getting enough time to complete the breeding cycles, eggs drying out early

Breed basket

Even when it comes to dogs, we still haven't got over the colonial hangover. We import breeds and give them English names. Rajat Ghai speaks to S …

Vanishing breeds

While people worry about patenting of upmarket plant products like neem because of transnational interest, India's unique biodiversity of …

Left to die

The double-humped Yarkandi camels in Ladakh are on the route to extinction after the closure of the 'silk route'

Beastly Existence

Overcrowding and inbreeding are responsible for rising wildlife deaths in Indian zoological gardens

A pair too rare

Gaolao breed of cattle is cherished for its capacity to carry load and quality milk, but only 3,000 of them are left

Why the attack on Kashmir's pastoralists is a big concern

Gujjars and Bakkerwals, the nomadic pastoralists of Jammu and Kashmir, now face a new deadly enemy: Gau Rakshaks

Republic of the Congo gets its first ever marine protected areas

Three zones include nesting grounds for leatherback turtles, critical habitats for Atlantic humpback whale